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
MALEBRANCH's SEARCH AFTER TRUTH OR A Treatise of the Nature OF THE Humane Mind AND Of its Management for avoiding Error in the Sciences VOL. I. Done out of French from the last Edition LONDON Printed for I. Dunton at the Raven in the Poultrey and S. Manship at the Ship in Cornhil 1694. TO THE Marquess of NORMANBY My LORD THis Learned Treatise of the Famous Malebranch begs the Favour of your Lordships Patronage and if any thing could do so would almost deserve it All great Genius's are nearly related to one another at least there is a sort of Sympathy between them and the Wits of France have never fail'd of a kind Reception from those in England which the most Cruel Wars cannot hinder nor does Love to our Country forbid us from doing Justice to theirs The Translation of good French Books into our Tongue is a Reprisal on their Nation who have taken the same way by such Writings as are Famous in Antiquity doing all that was in their Power for an Universal Language perhaps to make way for Universal Empire So that Translation from them again is only a Countermining them and Fencing with them at their own Weapons And this perhaps might succeed as well in our Language as any in Europe since 't is much fuller and stronger and consequently capable of mending an Original and indeed nothing can hinder it but want of Encouragement from Men in Power or Weakness in the Performance For the First there is no one that can justly complain of it who has the Ambition of placing the Name of Normanby before his Writings it gives him a new Soul and he ought neither to think or write meanly when he considers at whose Altars his Labours are offer'd For the Second I have as little to say for it as I could wish our Criticks may have to say against it The Errors that have escap'd the Press in the Original the Difficulty of the Subject the Confinement of Language for fear of spoiling the Philosopher to gratifie the Gentleman my own necessary Avocations and the very little time I did it in cannot promise so correct a Translation as perhaps it otherwise might have been yet I am willing to believe it may in some measure be useful to such as can read it without Prejudice and it being design'd by the Author only for such as are willing to know the Errors of their Senses and Imagination and the Weakness of the Humane Mind in order to discover Truth and Happiness I cannot be very uneasie about anticipating its Fate amongst others especially under your Lordships Protection Indeed I may very well be Ambitious and Proud of such a Protection when the Government begins to be so very Sensible of the Happy Influences of your great Abilities and Interest 'T is a rare Happiness to have Prudence in Council joyn'd with Bravery in Action Nay the same Man may be a Politick-General and Master of much Personal Valour yet be far enough from an Accomplish'd Statesman But to think coolly yet act warmly to seize and improve every Advantage and yet pierce into the Depths of Futurity and disintangle intricate and distant Causes and Effects are only Accomplishments for such a King as ours and such a Minister of State as your Lordship Nor are your great Abilities to serve the Publick Good without particular Instances of your Personal Hazards and Signal Zeal for its Preservation in the late Dutch Wars when your Lordship was pleased to Command the Royal Catherine a Post that was the greatest Evidence of your Lordships Loyalty and Bravery The highest Military and Civil Honours which require great Application hinder not your Lordship from excelling in the less Severe Studies a great Genius will do best upon whatever Employment it fixes it self witness your Lordships Essay on Poetry and that admirable Product of your Youth the Temple of Death with several other Miscellany Pieces of your Lordships which like our great Roscommon's Works have a particular noble Air that is not only the Effect of a great Genius but also of a Genteel and Happy Education and therefore unimitable by our best Wits who can only plead the former Qualification Nor is it any Wonder that so great a Master should Patronize others who have excell'd in the same Divine Art which requires that force of Spirit and fineness of Thought that are necessary to all that even in Prose shall do any thing extraordinary or worthy the Perusal of such Judges as your Lordship this Malebranch is allow'd by all to have in his Native Language and therefore if he gives your Lordship no Entertainment the Defect must be in the Translation not the Original the very Faults of this great Man have something in them extreamly Beautiful and the Jewel is so dazling that the flaws are scarce discern'd The inscribing these Papers to your Lordships most honorable Patronage is the occasion of this Address wherein I have the Honor to testifie both to your Lordship and the World with how profound a Deference and Respect I am My LORD Your Lordships most Humble and most Obedient Servant Richard Sault THE PREFACE THE Mind of Man is by its Nature as it were situated between its Creator and Corporeal Creatures since according to * Nihil est potentius illâ Creaturâ quae mens dicitur rationalis nihil est sublimius Quidquid supra illam est jam Creator est Tr. 23. upon St. John St. Austin there is nothing above it but God alone and nothing below it but Bodies But as the great Elevation it has above all Material things does not hinder it from being united to them and from depending in some measure upon a Portion of Matter so the infinite distance that is between the Sovereign Being and the Mind of Man does not hinder it from being immediately and in a very strict manner united to him This last Vnion raises it above all things it gives it Life Light and all its Felicity and * Quod rationali animâ melius est omnibus consentientibus Deus est Aug. St. Austin speaks of this Vnion in many Passages of his Works as of that which is the most Natural and the most Essential to the Mind On the contrary the Vnion of the Mind with the Body debases Man exceedingly and is the Principal Cause of all our Errors and Miseries I do not wonder that the common sort of Men or that the Heathen Philosophers should only consider in the Soul its Retation and Vnion with the Body without distinguishing its Relation and Vnion with God But I am surprised that Christian Philosophers who should prefer the Mind of God to the Mind of Man Moses to Aristotle St. Austin to some wretched Commentator upon a Heathen Philosopher should look upon the Soul rather as the Form of the Body than as being made after the Image and for the Image of God that is according to * Ad ipsam similitudinem non omnia facta sunt sed
Body that are formed and they have very little consistence in Infants while they are in the Womb And it must be observed that if this Mother had determined the Motion of these Spirits to any other part of her Body by some violent titilation her Child would not have had his Bones broken but that part which had answer'd to that to which the Mother determined these Spirits had been much hurt as I have already said The Reasons of this accident may serve to explain in general how Women who during their being with Child upon seeing Persons with certain Marks in their Faces imprint the same on their Children and in the same part of the Body And from thence we may judge that advice very reasonable which bids 'em touch some hidden part of the Body when they perceive any thing which surprizes 'em and when they are agitated with any violent Passion for that may cause the Marks to be traced rather upon these hidden parts than upon the Face of their Infants We should often have instances like to what I have now related if Infants could live after having received such great Wounds but generally it causes Abortions For we may conclude that almost all Infants who dye before they are born except they be sick have no other cause of their Death than a fright some ardent desire or some other violent passion of their Mothers Here is also another very particular instance 'T is not above a Year since that a Woman having with too much application consider'd the Picture of Saint Pius when the Feast of his Canonization was celebrated was brought to bed of a Child which was perfectly like the Representation of this Saint He had the Face of an Old Man as much as it was possible in an Infant that has no Beard his Arms were crossed upon his Breast his Eyes turned towards Heaven and he had a very low Forehead because the Image of this Saint being raised towards the Vault of the Church and looking towards Heaven had almost no Forehead likewise He had a kind of a confused Miter upon his Shoulders with many round marks in the places where Miters are covered with Stones And indeed this Child very much resembled the Picture by which his Mother had formed him through the power of her Imagination 'T is a thing that all Paris might have seen as well as I because 't was a long time preserved in Spirits of Wine This instance is the more particular because there was not the sight of a Man living and agitated with some passion who moved the Spirits and Blood of the Mother to produce so strange an effect but only the sight of a Picture which yet was very sensible and accompanied with a great emotion of Spirits caused either through the Zeal and application of the Mother or through the agitation that the noise of the Feast had produc'd in her This Mother therefore looking upon this Picture with some application and emotion of Spirits the Child according to the first supposition saw it as she did with the same application and emotion of Spirits The Mother being lively affected imitated him at leaft in the Posture according to the second Supposition for her body being entirely formed and the Fibres of her Flesh hard enough to resist the course of the Spirits she could not imitate or make her self like to him in all things but the Fibres of the Infant 's Flesh being extreamly soft and consequently susceptible of all sorts of impressions the violent course of the Spirits produced in his Flesh whatsoever was necessary to make him entirely like the Image that he saw and the imitation to which Children are much more disposed perfected it as much as possible but this imitation having given to the body of this Child a figure so very extraordinary it was also the cause of its Death There are many other Examples in Authors of the power of the Imagination of Mothers and there is nothing so fantastical but has caused Abortions sometimes For they not only make Children deformed but also marked with such Fruits as they have longed for as Plumbs Pears Grapes and such like things For instance some Mothers having a strong Inclination to eat Pears the Children imagine and desire them with the same ardour and the course of the Spirits excited by the image of this desired fruit disposing it self through the little body is able to change its sigure because of its sostness So that these poor Children become like those things they wish'd for with so much ardour But the Mothers suffer no Injury because their bodies are not soft enough to take the figure of such things as they imagine Thus they cannot imitate them or render themselves entirely like ' em Now it must not be imagined that this Correspondence that I have explained and which is sometimes the cause of such great disorder is useless or ill ordered by Nature for on the contrary it seems very useful in the Propagation of Humane Bodies or in the formation of the Foetus and it is absolutely necessary to the transmitting certain dispositions of the Brain which ought to be different at different times and in different Countrys For instance it is requisite in some Countrys that Lambs should have their Brains to disposed as to fly at the sight of a Wolf because there are many of 'em there and they have a great deal to fear from them 'T is true that this Communication of the Mothers Brain with her Infants has sometimes ill consequences when the Mothers suffer themselves to be surprized by any violent passion Yet it seems to me that without this Communication Women and Animals could not easily beget young ones of the same kind for although some reason might be given of the formation of the Foetus in general as D'Cartes has happily enough attempted However 't is very difficult without this Communication of the Mothers Brain with the Childs to explain how a Mare should not beget an Ox or an Hen lay an Egg which contains a little Partridge or some Foul of a new kind I believe those that have considered the sormation of the Foetus will be of this opinion The most reasonable thought and that which is most conformable to experience about this difficule question of the formation of the Foetus is that Children are perfectly formed even before the action by which they are conceived and that their Mothers only contribute to their growth whilst they continue in the Womb. However this Communication of Animal Spirits and of the Mothers Brain with the Spirits and Brain of the Child seems still serviceable to regulate this growth and determine the parts which serve for its Nourishment and by little and little to dispose the Child like the Mother or else like some of the same Species This appears plain enough by the accidents which happen when the Imagination of the Mother is disordered and the Natural Disposition of her Brain is changed
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
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
occasionally deceive us fince they are able to incline us to precipitate and rash Assents Now since 't is necessary first to convince the Soul of its Weakness and Errors to create in it just desires of being delivered from them and that it may more easily lay aside its Prejudices we shall endeavour to make an exact Division of all its Modes of Perception which will be as so many Heads to every one of which we shall hereafter refer the different Errors we are subject to The Soul can perceive things three ways by the pure Vnderstanding by the Imagination and by the Senses It perceives by the pure Understanding Spiritual and Universal Things common Notions the Idea of Perfection and of an Infinitely perfect Being and generally all its Thoughts when it knows them by Self-reflection It also perceives some Material Things by the pure Understanding as Extension with its Properties for 't is only the pure Understanding which can perceive a Circle a perfect Square a Figure with a thousand Angles and such like things These kinds of Perceptions I call pure Intellections or pure Perceptions because 't is not necessary for the Mind to form Corporeal Images in the Brain to represent all those things The Soul perceives only Material Things by the Imagination which represents them when absent as if they were present by forming Images of them in the Brain 'T is thus that we imagine all sorts of Figures as a Circle a Triangle a Face a Horse Cities Campaignes c. whether we have ever seen them or not These sorts of Perceptions I call Imaginations because the Soul represents these things by forming Images of them in the Brain and because we cannot form Images of Spiritual Things it follows that the Soul cannot imagine them which ought to be well observed In fine the Soul only perceives sensible and gross Objects by the Senses which when present make an Impression upon the External Organs of its Body Thus it sees Plains and Rocks when presented to its Eyes and feels the hardness of Iron the point of a Sword and such like things and these sorts of Perceptions I call Sentiments or Sensations The Soul then only perceives things after these three ways which is evident if we consider that all things we perceive are either Spiritual or Material if they are Spiritual 't is only the pure Vnderstanding which can know them but if they are Material they will be either present or absent if they are absent the Soul perceives them only by the Imagination if present by the Impression which they make upon its Senses and thus as we said before our Souls only perceive things after three ways by the pure Vnderstanding by the Imagination and by the Senses We may then look upon these three Faculties as certain Heads to which we may refer Mens Errors and the Causes of these Errors and so avoid the Confusion wherein their great number would infallibly involve us if we should speak of 'em without any Method But our Inclinations and Passions act also very strongly upon us they dazle our Minds by their false lights they cover and fill it with darkness Thus our Inclinations and Passions engage us in an infinite number of Errors when we follow this false light which they produce in us We must then consider them with the three Faculties of the Mind as the Sources of our Errors and Miscarriages and to the Errors of the Senses Imagination and pure Vnderstanding also join these that may be attributed to the Passions and Natural Inclinations Thus we may refer all the Errors of Men and the Causes of these Errors to Five Heads of which we shall Treat as follows First we shall speak of the Errors of the Senses secondly of the Errors of the Imagination thirdly of the Errors of the pure Vnderstanding fourthly of the Errors of the Inclinations fifthly of the Errors of the Passions In fine after having essayed to free the Mind from these Errors to which it is subject we shall give a General Method to conduct it in a Search after Truth Let us first Explain the Errors of our Senses or rather the Errors which we fall into for want of making a right Use of our Senses We shall not insist so much upon particular Errors which are almost infinite as upon the General Causes of these Errors and of such things as we believe necessary for the Knowledge of the Nature of Mans Mind CHAP V. OF THE SENSES I. Two ways of Explaining how they are corrupted by Sin II. That 't is not our Senses but our Liberty which is the true Cause of our Errors III. A Rule not to be deceiv'd in the Vse of our Senses WHen we seriously Examine the Senses and Passions of Man we find 'em so proportion'd to the end for which they are given us that we are not of their Opinion who say they are wholly corrupted by Original Sin But to shew that 't is not without Reason that we dissent from them 't is necessary to explain in what Order the Faculties and Passions of our first Parent were whilst in a State of Righteousness and the Changes and Disorders which happen'd in them after his Sin These things may be conceiv'd two ways the first of which is this It appears Two ways of Explaining the Corruption of the Senses by Sin if we consider the Genuine Order of things that the Soul is sensible of greater pleasure proportionably to the greatness of the Goods which it enjoys Pleasure is an Instinct of Nature or to speak more intelligibly 't is an Impression of God himself inclining us towards some Good which must be so much the stronger as the Good is greater According to this Principle I think we cannot doubt but that our first Parent coming out of the Hands of God and before his Sin found the greatest pleasure in the most solid Goods Since therefore he was Created to Love God and since God was his true Good it may said that he was inclined to delight in God who induc'd him to his Love by a Sensation of Pleasure and gave him such Internal Satisfactions in his Duty as counterbalanc'd the greatest Pleasures of Sense and such as since the Fall Men are insensible of without a particular Grace Nevertheless as he had a Body which God would have him preserve and look upon as part of himself he also made him perceive such Pleasures by his Senses as we taste in the use of things that are proper for the Preservation of Life We dare not decide whether the first Man before his Fall could avoid agreeable or disagreeable Sensations in the very moment that the Principal part of his Brain was mov'd by the Actual use of Sensible Things perhaps he had this Command over himself because of his Submission to God yet the contrary appears more probable for tho' Adam could stay the Emotions of the Spirits and Blood and the Shaking of the Brain which Objects excited in
great Images upon the bottom of the Eye as those Faces which are nearer as the Senses only Perceive but never Judge to speak properly 'T is certain that this Judgment is nothing but a compounded Sensation which consequently may be sometimes false However V. That these Judgments deceive us in some particular Occurrences that which is nothing else but Sensation in us may be consider'd in respect of the Author of Nature who excites it in us as a kind of Judgment I speak sometimes of Sensations as of Natural Judgments because this way of speaking serves to give a reason of Things as may be seen here in the Ninth Chapter towards the end and in many other places Altho' these Judgments which I have spoke of are useful to correct our Senses very many ways and that without them we should very frequently be deceiv'd yet they are also occasions of Error For Instance If it happens that we see the top of a high Steeple behind a great Wall or a Mountain it will appear very near to us and very little but if afterwards we should see it at the same distance yet with many Fields and Houses betwixt it would doubtless appear the greater and at a farther distance altho' in each Station the Projection of the Rays of the Spire or its Image which is Painted at the bottom of our Eyes would be altogether the same Now it may be said that we see it greater because of a Judgment that we Naturally make viz. that since there is so much Land betwixt us and the Steeple it must be further and consequently greater But on the contrary if we saw no Fields betwixt us and the Steeple altho' we even knew there were many and that it was a great way off which is very remarkable it would always appear very near and very little as I have said And it may also be suppos'd that this is done by a Natural Judgment of our Soul which thus sees this Spire because it Judges it about five or six hundred paces distant for commonly our Imagination does not represent a greater distance between Objects and us if it be not assisted by a Sensible view of other interjacent Objects beyond which it can yet imagine farther 'T is for this cause See the 9th Chapter towards the end that when the Moon Rises or Sets we see it greater than when it is elevated above the Horizon for when it is very high we see no Objects betwixt it and us whose greatness we know to Judge of that of the Moon by comparing them together but when it is near Setting we see betwixt it and us many Fields whose breadth we know very near and so we Judge it at a greater distance because we see it at a greater It 's observable that when the Moon is Risen above our Heads altho' our reason assures us that it is at a very great distance yet it seems to us to be very little and very near for indeed these Natural Judgments of Sight are only built upon the Perceptions of the same Sight and Reason cannot correct them So that they very often deceive us in causing us to form free Judgments which perfectly agree with them for when we Judge by our Senses we are always deceiv'd but we are never deceiv'd when we conceive for a Body only Instructs as a Body but God always teaches us Truth as I shall show hereafter These false Judgments deceive us not only as to the distance and bigness of Bodies but also in making us see their Figure other than it is We see for Example the Sun and Moon and other Spherical Bodies very distant as if they were Plains and Circles because at this great distance we cannot distinguish whether the opposite part is nearer to us than the others and because of this we Judge it at an equal distance 'T is for the same reason we Judge that all the Stars and the blue which appears in the Heaven are at the same distance and as it were a perfectly Convex Vault because our Mind supposes an Equality where it sees no Inequality altho' it ought not positively to conclude but where it sees evidently I shall not tarry here to Explain at large the Errors of the Sight as to the Figures of Bodies because any Book of Optics will save me that Labour This Science indeed does only show how the Eyes are deceiv'd and all its direction consists but in helping us to make those Natural Judgments we have spoke of at such time as we ought not to make them and this may be done after so many ways that there is not one Figure in the World which may not be Painted after a thousand different manners so as that the Sight will Infallibly be deceiv'd thereby But this is not a place to Explain these things thorowly what has been said is sufficient to show that we must not trust to our Eyes when they represent the Figure of Bodies to us altho' we are not so subject to be deceiv'd by Figures as other things CHAP. VIII I. That our Eyes do not inform us of the greatness or swiftness of Motion consider'd in it self II. That duration which is necessary to be understood to know what Motion is is unknown III. Examples of the Errors of Sight in respect of Motion and Rest WE have discover'd the principal and most general Errors of the Sight about the Extension of Figures we must now correct those in which it deceives us about the Motion of Matter and this will not be a very difficult performance after what we have said about Extension for there is so great a relation betwixt these two things that if we are deceiv'd about the bigness of Bodies we must unavoidably be deceiv'd in their Motion But to offer nothing except what is clear and distinct we must first take away the Equivocation of the word Motion for this Term commonly signifies two things the first is a certain power that is imagin'd in a mov'd Body which is the Cause of its Motion the second is a continual removal of a Body that is departing from or approaching to another that is consider'd as in a State of Rest When we say for Instance that a Bowle hath communicated its Motion to another the word Motion is here taken in the first signification but if it be said simply that a Boul is in Motion it is taken in the second Sense And indeed this term Motion signifies both the Cause and Effect together which yet are in themselves two different things They seem to me to be in the grossest and most dangerous Error concerning force who attribute to it Motion and the transportation of Bodies these fine terms of Nature and impressed Qualities seem to me to be only a proper Subterfuge for the Ignorance of the falsly Learn'd See the 3d Chapter of the Second Part 6. l. and impious Libertines as may be very easily proved but this is not a fit place to
distinct from others but also all Objects lying betwixt us and that which we consider When for Example we look upon a distant Steeple we commonly see at the same time many interjacent Fields and Houses and because we judge of the distance of these Fields and Houses and see the Steeple is beyond them we judge also that it is very distant and also greater than if we saw it alone However the Image thereof which is traced at the bottom of our Eye is always of an equal bigness whether there are Fields and Houses betwixt us or not provided we see it at an equal distance which is suppos'd Thus we judge of the bigness of Objects by their imagin'd distance and the Bodies betwixt us and the Object do much assist our Imagination in it even as we judge of Duration or the length of Time after some Action done by the remembrance of a confess'd Series of Things which we have done or of Thoughts which we have successively had after this Action for 't is all these Thoughts and Actions which have succeeded one another that assist our Mind in judging of the length or duration of some Time or rather a confus'd remembrance of all the successive Thoughts about the same thing is nothing else but our Judgment of Duration even as a confus'd sight of the Fields which are betwixt us and the Steeple is the same thing as our Judgment of the distance thereof Hence 't is easie to know the true Reason why the Moon appears greater when it rises than when it is much elevated above the Horizon for when it rises it appears many Leagues distant from us and even beyond the Sensible Horizon or the Earth which terminates our sight whereas we judge it to be but about half a League from us or seven or eight times as high as our Houses when it is most elevated above the Horizon Thus we judge it much greater when it is near the Horizon than when it is very distant from it because we imagine it much more distant from us when it rises than when is it very high It 's true there are a great many Philosophers who attribute what I have said to the Vapours which rise out of the Earth I agree with them that Vapours refracting the Rays of Objects make them appear the greater I know there are more Vapours betwixt us and the Moon when it rises than when it is risen very high and consequently it must appear something greater than if it were always equally distant from us However it cannot be said that this refraction of the Rays of the Moon is the cause of these apparent Changes of its greatness for this refraction hinders not but that the Image which is traced in the bottom of our Eyes at the rising of the Moon is not less than that which is form'd there when it has been risen a considerable time Astronomers which Measure the Diameters of the Planets observe that that of the Moon grows larger in proportion to its distance from the Horizon and consequently in proportion to its appearing less to us so that the Diameter of the Image Painted at the bottom of our Eyes is lesser when we see it greater Indeed when the Moon arises it 's more distant from us by the Semi-diameter of the Earth than when it is perpendicularly over our Head which is the reason that its Diameter is greater than when it arises above the Horizon because then it approaches to us That then which is the cause of our seeing it greater when it rises is not the refraction of its Rays made by the Vapours coming out of the Earth since the Image which is form'd by these Rays is then less but it is the Natural Judgment that we make of its distance because it appears beyond the Earth which we see very distant from us as was explain'd before and I 'm surpriz'd that Philosophers should look upon the reason of this appearance and deceit of our Eyes to be more difficult to find out than the greatest Equations of Algebra This means of Judging of the distance of any Object by the Knowledge of the distance of Things lying betwixt us and it is of great use to us when the other ways which I have spoken of fail us for by this we can Judge that certain Objects are distant from us many Leagues which we cannot by any of the others however if we Examine we shall find many defects in it For first this way serves only to Judge of Objects which are upon the Earth and but very rarely and for the most very unprofitably of Things that are in the Air or in the Heavens Secondly we can't make use of it upon the Earth but in things that are a very few Leagues distant from us And thirdly we must be assur'd that there are betwixt us and the Object neither Vallies Mountains or any such thing which hinders us from making use of this means Lastly I believe there are none who have not had Experience enough in this subject to be perswaded that it is extreamly difficult to make a certain Judgment of the distance of Objects by a sensible view of Things placed betwixt them and the Object But I have enlarg'd too much already upon this head These are the Means by which we Judge of the distance of Objects we have observ'd considerable defects in them and may conclude that the Judgments which are form'd upon them must be very uncertain Hence I can easily show the Truth of the Propositions which I have advanced I have suppos'd the Object at * See the preceding Figure C considerable distant from A then it may by many steps advance towards D or B without my knowing it since I have no certain means to judge of its distance it may even be suppos'd to recede towards D when 't is imagin'd to approach towards B because the Image of the Object is sometimes Painted greater upon the Optic Nerves whether because the Air which is betwixt the Object and the Eye causes a greater refraction one time than another or whether it happens sometimes from the little tremblings of this Nerve or lastly whether the Impression which the imperfect uniting of the Rays upon the Optic Nerve are dispers'd and communicated to the parts which ought not to be affected with them for it may happen from many different Causes Thus the Image of the same Objects being enlarg'd on these occasions inclines the Soul to believe the Object is near Suppose as much be said about the other Propositions Before I conclude this Chapter I must observe that it much concerns us for the preservation of our Life to know well the Motion and Rest of Bodies in proportion to their nearness to us and that it signifies little to have an exact Knowledge of the Truth of these Things when they are remov'd to a great distance from us This will evidently show that what I have advanc'd in general about all the Senses as
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
great number of Persons that can't suffer the fight of a Rat of a Mouse a Cat a Frog and particularly creeping Animals as Serpents and Adders who know no other cause of these extraordinary aversions but the fear their Mothers had of these several Animals whilst they were with Child of them But what I chiefly desire should be observed is An Explanation of Concupiscence and of Original Sin that there is all possible probabilities that Men retain in their Brain to this day the traces and impressions of our first Parents For as Animals produce their own likeness and with the like traces in their Brain which is the cause that Animals of the same Species have the same Sympathies and Antipathies and that they perform the same actions in the same occurrences Thus our first Parents after their Sin received such great impressions and profound traces of sensible things in their Brain as they might very well communicate to their Children so that this great propensity we have from the Womb to all sensible things and the great distance from God we are in by our present state may in some manner be explained by what has been said For as it is necessary according to the established order of Nature that the thoughts of the Soul should be conformable to the traces that are in the Brain We may say that as soon as we are formed in the Womb we are polluted with Sin and infected with the Corruption of our Parents since from that time we are strongly inclined to the pleasures of our Senses having in our Brain traces resembling those of the Persons who hath given us being it is necessary also that we shou'd have the same thoughts and the same inclinations which have any relation to sensible objects Rom. ch 6.5.12 14. c Thus it is impossible but that we should be born with Concupiscence and Original Sin We must be born with Concupiscence if Concupiscence is only the Natural effort that the traces of the Brain make upon the Mind to engage it to sensible things and we must be born in Original Sin if Original Sin is nothing else but the Dominion of Concupiscence and that these efforts become Victorious and Masters over the Mind and Heart of the Child Now it is very probable that the dominion or victory of Concupiscence is what we call Original Sin in Children and actual in Men. Objections and An ∣ swers This difficulty seems only to recur that contrary to Experience we might conclude from the principles I have established that the Mother would always communicate to her Child Habits and Inclinations resembling her own and a facility of imagining and learning the same things as she knows for all these things depend as has been already said only upon the traces and impressions of the Brain and it is certain that the impressions and traces of the Mothers Brain are communicated to the Child This has been proved by the Examples that has been brought concerning Men and is also confirmed by the Example of Animals whose young ones have their Brains filled with the same impressions which is the reason that all those that are of the same kind have the same Voice the same manner of moving their Members and also the same craft to take their Prey and defend themselves from their Enemies Therefore it must from thence follow that since all the traces of the Mothers Brain are imprinted in that of the Childs that the Children must be born with the same Habits and all the other qualities that the Mothers are possessed of and even commonly so to preserve them all their Lives since the Habits they have from their Infancy are those that are the longest kept which nevertheless is contrary to experience To answer this Objection it is requisite it should be known that there are two sorts of traces in the Brain the one Natural or proper to the Nature of Man the other acquired The Natural are very deep and it is impossible to esface them perfectly but on the contrary the acquired may be easily lost because commonly they are not deep Now although the Natural and acquired differ only as to the More or Less and that often the first have less force than the second since we every day accustom Animals to do things perfectly contrary to what they are inclined by these Natural traces for Example we use a Dog not to touch Bread nor to run after a Partridge although he sees and smells it Yet there iâ— this difference between these traces that the Natural ones have if we may so say secret alliances with the other parts of the body thus all the Springs of our Machines assist one the other to preserve themselves in their Natural state All the parts of our bodies mutually contribute to all necessary things for the preservation or re-establishment of these Natural traces Thus we cannot wholly efface them and they begin to revive when we believe we have destroyed them On the contrary the acquired Traces although greater more profound and stronger than the Natural are lost by little and little if they are not carefully preserved by a continual application of those things that produced them because the other parts of the body contribute nothing to their preservation but on the contrary continually endeavour to efface and loose them We may compare these traces to the common Wounds of the body they are wounds that our Brains receive which heal of themselves as these wounds of the body do by the admirable construction of the Machine As then there is nothing in all the body which is not conformable to the Natural traces they transmit themselves into Children with all their force So Parrots hatch little ones which have the same or Natural voices with themselves but because acquired traces are only in the Brain and not dispersed through the rest of the body except some few of 'em as when they have been imprinted by the Motions that accompany violent Passions they must not be transmitted into Children Thus a Parrot who gives the good Morrow and good Night to his Master will not make his little ones as Learned as himself and so Wise and able Persons will not have Children which resemble them Thus although it be true that all which passes in the Mothers Brain passes also in the same time into that of the Child and that the Mother can see nothing feel nothing imagine nothing that the Child does not likewise see feel and imagine and that aâ— the false traces of the Mother corrupt the Imagination of the Child Yet those traces not being Natural in the sense before explained it must not be wonder'd at if they are commonly effaced as soon as the Child is born for then the cause that formed and maintained these traces no longer subsists the Natural Constitution of the â—worldâ— contributes to their destruction and sensible 〈…〉 in their room others that are new deeper 〈…〉 greater Number which efface almost
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
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
to the Wise Men of this World to Dispute the holy Truths of the Christian Religion The greatest part of Mankind are so negligent and void of Reason that they make no distinction between the Word of God and that of Men when they are joined together so that they fall into Error while they approve both and into Impiety while they despise both indifferently Nor is it a difficult thing to see the Cause of these last Errors They proceed from the Connexion of Idea's explain'd in the Eleventh Chapter nor is it necessary to insist any farther upon the Explanation of 'em here However it seems worth our while to say something of Chymists Of those that make Experiments and generally of all those that spend their time in making Experiments They are People that Search after Truth and their Opinions are usually follow'd without any Examination Therefore their Errors are so much the more dangerous because they are imparted to others with so much the more ease 'T is better without question to Study Nature than Books Visible and sensible Experiments are certainly much more evident Proofs than the Arguments of Men. Nor are they to be blam'd who being engag'd by their Profession in the Study of Natural Philosophy endeavour to improve their Skill by continual Experiments provided they apply their Labours to the Improvement of the most necessary Sciences Therefore Experimental Philosophy is not to be found fault with nor they who make it their practise but only their Defects The first is that they are seldom guided in making their Experiments by the Light of Reason but by Chance From whence it comes to pass that they become but little more Learned or Knowing after they have spent much time and Money The second is because they are more Sedulous in Curious and Extraordinary Experiments than such as are most common and familiar Nevertheless the most Common Experiments are the most Simple and therefore they ought first of all to apply themselves to those before they settle to such as are more compounded and which depend upon a greater number of Causes The third is because they prosecute those Experiments that bring in Profit and neglect those that serve to illuminate the Mind The fourth is because they do not accurately enough observe all the particular Circumstances of Time Place and Quality of the Drugs which they make use of though the least of these Circumstances is sufficient to frustrate the Effect which they desire For it is to be observ'd that all the Terms of which the Physicians make use of are Equivocal For Example Wine has as many various significations as there are varieties of Soil different Seasons different Manners of making Wine and different Manners of preserving it so that in general we may say that there are not two Tuns of Wine altogether alike Therefore when a Physician in order to the making such an Experiment says take Wine no body knows but very confusedly what he means Therefore there is very great Caution to be us'd in Experiments nor ought they to attempt Compounded ones till they know the Reason of the more Simple and Common The fifth arises from hence that too many Consequences are drawn from one Experiment Whereas on the contrary we want several Experiments to infer one true Conclusion Lastly the greatest part of Physicians and Chymists consider only the Particular Effects of Nature they never return to the first Notions of Things that compose Bodies Nevertheless 't is most certain that no Man can clearly and distinctly understand the particular Phenomena of Natural Philosophy unless he be Master of the more General Principles and unless he also know something in Metaphysics In a word they often want Courage and Constancy they are terrified and tired with the Labour and Expence There are many other Defects in the Persons before mentioned but it is not our business here to enlarge The Causes of these Defects are little Application and the Properties of the Imagination explain'd in the Tenth and Eleventh Chapter and because we never judge otherwise of the difference and alterations of Bodies than by the Apprehensions we have of 'em as has been said in the First Book The Third Part. Of the contagious Communication of Strong Imaginations CHAP. I. 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 Perswade and Impose HAving Explain'd the Nature of Imagination the Defects to which it is subject and how our own Imagination leads us into Error there nothing more remains for us to Discourse of in this Second Book but of the Contagious Communication of Strong Imaginations and that is of the Prevailing Power which some Men have to engage others in their Errors Strong Imaginations are extreamly Contagious they prevail over those that are weak they make 'em stoop to their own Laws and imprint upon 'em their own Characters Therefore because Men that have particular Idea's and a Strong and Vigorous Imagination most commonly exceed the Bounds of Reason there are few more General Causes of Error than this pernicious Communication of the Imagination For the better understanding what this Contagion is and how it is transmitted from one to another we must consider that all Men have need of one another and that they are made to compose among themselves several Bodies of which the Parts should have a mutual Correspondence one with another for the upholding of which Union it is that God has commanded 'em to be Charitable one toward another but because Self-Love might by little and little extinguish Charity and by that means dissolve the Bond of Civil Society the Almighty judg'd it convenient that Men should be united together by Natural Ties which might subsist when Charity fail'd and which might defend it against the Efforts of Self-Love These Natural Ties which are common to us with Beasts consist in a certain Disposition of the Brain with which all Men are endued to imitate those with whom they Converse to make the same Judgments which they do and to be subject to the same Passions of the Mind to which they are subject And this same Disposition usually unites Men together much more close and firmly than Charity grounded upon Reason which sort of Charity is very rare Unless a Man be endu'd with this same Disposition of the Brain to partake of our Sentiments and our Passions he is incapable of his own Nature to unite himself with us and compose one Body He is like those Stones of an irregular form for which there is no room in a Building because
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
naturally possible that a Woman and little Children being frighten'd should be able to penetrate and resist what they hear him say 'T is a Husband 't is a Father that talks of what he has seen of what he has done he is beloved and respected why should they not believe him The Shepherd also repeats his Story several days one after another The Imagination of the Mother and the Children admit by degrees much deeper traces of it they are accustomed to it the fear vanishes but the conviction remains and by and by their Curiosity will not be at quiet till they go and anoint themselves they lay themselves in their Beds in such a posture and the same disposition of their Mind still heats their Imagination more and more the traces which the Shepherd has form'd in their Brain are so very much open'd as to cause 'em in their Sleep to see as present all the Motions of the Ceremony the description of which they had heard They rise ask one another and tell each other what they have seen by this means they confirm the traces of their Vision and they that have the strongest Imagination more easily perswading the rest they fail not in a few Nights to make a formal Story of this Imaginary Nocturnal Convention Thus has the Shepherd made compleat Wizards and they in a short time will make a great many others if being endu'd with a strong and vigorous Imagination fear does not hinder them from relling such like Stories There have been sometimes Wizards in good earnest that is such as thought themselves really so and believed they went to Nocturnal Conventions and who were so convinc'd of it that though several Persons wak'd them and assur'd them that they never stirr'd out of their Beds they would not believe their Testimony All the world knows that stories of Hobgoblins being told to Children affright 'em to that degree that they will not be alone in the dark or without Company Because when the Brain admits no Traces of any present Object that which was imprinted in their Brain by the help of the story opens it self afresh and many times vehemently enough to represent before their Eyes the Apparitions they were told of nevertheless these stories are not told 'em otherwise then as Fables They that tell 'em do not relate them with the same Air as if they were convinc'd of the Truth of them and many times the Relation it self is cold and languishing No wonder then that a Man who believes he has been at a Nocturnal Convention and by consequence talks with a stedfast and confident utterance easily perswades some Persons that hear him with a kind of respect of all the Circumstances which he particularizes and transmits traces into their Imagination like to those by which he himself was received When Men discourse with us they imprint traces in our Brains like to those which they have themselves If they are deep then they talk to us after such a manner as impresses 'em deep for they cannot talk to us but they must make us in some measure like themselves Infants in the Mothers Womb see nothing but what the Mother sees and when they come into the World they imagine very few things of which their Parents are not the cause since the wisest of Men are govern'd rather by the Imagination of others that is by Opinion and Custom than by the Rules of Reason Therefore in places where Wizards are burnt there we find a great number of them because in the places where they are condemn'd to the Fire 't is really believed that they are Wizards and that Opinion is more and more confirm'd by the various discourses concerning them Let 'em but cease to punish them and deal with 'em as Mad Folks and you shall see that in a little time there will be no Wizards because they who are only so by the force of Imagination and who are doubtless the Greatest Number would return from their Errors Most certainly real Wizards deserve death and they who are only so through the power of Imagination ought not to be reputed altogether Innocent for they usually believe themselves to be Witches because they find in themselves a disposition to frequent Nocturnal Conventions and for that reason anoint themselves with certain Drugs in order to accomplish their wicked design But while we punish without distinction all these Criminals the Vulgar Opinion is confirm'd Wizards multiply through the strength of Imagination and thus an Infinite number of People are lost and condem'd to Eternal Damnation Which is the reason that several Parliaments never punishing Wizards there are fewer or hardly any to be found in places under their Jurisdiction where the Envy Hatred and Malice of wicked People cannot make use of that pretence to destroy the Innocent The apprehension of Lycanthropi or Men who suppose themselves chang'd into Wolves is a Chimera no less Ridiculous A Man through an Irregular effort of his Imagination falls into such a Phrenzie that he believes himself transform'd into a Wolf every Night This disorder of his Mind disposes him to all the Actions that are natural to Wolves or whatever he has heard reported of them Away he goes then out of his House at Midnight runs about the Streets falls upon the next Child he meets bites him and handles him very rudely Also stupid and superstitious People believe this Madman to be a real Wolf because the Poor unfortunate Fellow believes it himself and for that he told it in private to some Persons that told it again Were it casie to form in the Brain those Traces that perswade Men they are chang'd into Wolves or were it as easie to run about the Streets and commit the Ravages which these Miserable Wolf-Men commit without being absolutely Mad as it is to go in a Dream to a Nocturnal Convention these stories of Men transform'd into Wolves would not fail to produce the same effects as the Tales of Nocturnal Conventions and we should have as many Wolf-men as Wizards But the belief of being transform'd into a Wolf supposes a great disorder of the Brain which is more difficult to be produc'd then the Delirium of a Man that only believes his going in the Night to a Nocturnal Convention that is who believes he sees in the Night-time things that are not and who when he wakes cannot distinguish his Dreams from his Thoughts in the day time 'T is a usual thing for some People to Dream such lively Dreams in the Night time as to remember 'em exactly when they wake though the Dream in it self be not very terrible therefore 't is no difficult thing for some Men to perswade themselves that they were at a Nocturnal Convention for 't is sufficient to that end that the Brain preserve the Traces that were made in it by the Dream it self The chief thing that hinders us from taking Dreams for Realties is because we cannot unite our Dreams to those things which we did
when we were awake for thereby we find they were only Dreams Now Imaginary Wizards cannot judge from thence whether their Nocturnal Convention were nothing but a meer Dream For they never go to their Convention but in the Night and what passes in the Assembly cannot be united to their other Actions in the day time So that 't is Morally impossible that way to undeceive ' em Nor is it necessary that what Imaginary Wizards think they see in their Nocturnal Assemblies should be united together in any Natural Order for the more confused and Extravagant they are so much the more real they appear to be 'T is therefore sufficient that the Idea's of things done in the Assembly should be Lively and Terrible which will of necessity happen because that always unusual news and extraordinary things are there believed to be performed But it requires so great a disturbance of the Imagination for a Man to believe himself to be tranform'd into a Cock a Goat a Wolf or an Ox that it cannot happen but very rarely though these great disorders of the Brain do sometimes fall out either as a Punishment inflicted from Heaven as the Scripture relates of Nebuchadnezzar or through a Natural transport of Melancholly in the Brain of which we find several Examples among Physical Writers Although I am perswaded that real Wizards are very rare that these Nocturnal Conventions are meer Dreams and that the Parliaments who dismiss those accusations of Witchcraft are the most just and Equitable Nevertheless I doubt not but that there are any Wizards Charms Inchantments c. or that the Devil does sometimes thus exercise his Malice upon Men by a particular permission of God For the Scripture teaches us that the Kingdom of Satan is destroyed that the Angel of God has thrown the Devil bound in Chains into the deep Abyss from whence he shall not be released till the end of the World that Jesus Christ has despoil'd him of his Weapons and that the time shall come when the Prince of the World shall be Expell'd out of the World He had Reign'd indeed till the coming of our Saviour and he still Reigns in such places where our Saviour is not known but he has no longer any Right or any Power over those that are regenerated in Christ He cannot tempt them but by the permission of God or if God gives him leave 't is because they are able to vanquish him Therefore they too much honour the Devil who relate Stories as Arguments of his Power as some of our Modern Demonographers do since such kind of stories render him formidable to weak People Devils are to be despised as we despise Hangmen For we ought to tremble only before God His Power only is to be fear'd We ought to be afraid of his Judgments and Wrath and not provoke him by the Contempt of his Laws and Gospel He deserves our Attention when he speaks or when Men speaks to us concerning him But when Men speak to us concerning the Power of the Devil 't is a ridiculous thing to be troubled and dismay'd Our Terror is an Honour to him He loves to be respected and fear'd and his Pride is satisfy'd when we humble our selves before him 'T is now time to conclude this Second Book and only to observe from what has been said in this and the preceding 1. That all our thoughts which the Mind has by means of the Body or by dependance upon the Body are only for the use of the Body it self 2. That they are all false and Obscure 3. That they serve to no other use then to unite us to sensible Good and to all things that can procure 'em for us and that this Union leads us into infinite Errors and very great Miseries Though we are not always sensible or them no more then we know the Errors from whence they arise Of this we shall give the following remarkable Example Our Union with our Mothers in the Womb which is far more strict then any we can have with Men is the cause of our greatest Mischiefs that is to say of Sin and Concupiscence which are the Original of all our Miseries Nevertheless there was a Necessity that this Union should be so strict as it is to compose the structure of Bodies This Union which was broken by our Birth is succeeded by another whereby Children are joyn'd to their Parents and Nurses This Union is less strict than the first and therefore does less mischief It only enclined us to believe and imitate our Parents and Nurses in all things 'T is visible also that this Second Union was necessary for us not as the first for the Forming but the Preservation of the Body to the end we might understand all things that conduce to the Benefit of it and to dispose the Body to those Motions which are necessary for the procuring those Things Lastly The Union which we have at present with all Men does us a great deal of Mischief though it be not so strict as being less necessary for the Preservation of the Body For by reason of this Union it is that we live by Opinion that we love and esteem what other Men love and value though contrary to our Consciences and the true Idea's which we have of things I speak not here of that Union which conjoyns us with the Minds of other Men for that Union may prove serviceable for our Instruction I speak of the Sensible Union between the Imagination and the Air and Manner of those with whom we converse Thus it is plain that all our thoughts that we have by way of dependency upon the Body are false and so much the more pernitious to the Mind as they are more useful to the Body Let us therefore endeavour by degrees to free our selves from the Delusions of our Senses from the Visions of our Imagination and the Impression which the Imagination of other Men makes upon our Minds Let us carefully reject all these confused Idea's which we have drawn from that Servitude wherein our Body detains us and let us only admit the clear and manifest Ideas which the Mind receives from that Union which it necessarily has with the WORD or WISDOM and ETERNAL TRVTH as we shall explain in the following Book which treats of the Understanding or Pure Mind The End of the Third Part of the Second Book A SEARCH AFTER TRUTH BOOK III. Of the Vnderstanding or Pure Mind CHAP. I. 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 THE Subject of this Third Treatise is a little Dry and Barren We here examine the Mind considered in it self and Independent of the Body to know the Weaknesses which are peculiar to it and the Errors which it has only from it self The Senses and Imagination are
related to Infinity and which includes in it self some great thing its Inconstancy and Agitation ceases for some time for discovering this Object to bear the Character of what the Soul desires it joyns and adheres to it for a long time But this Adhesion or rather this Prejudice of the Mind to examine Subjects that are Infinite or very great is as useless to it as that Levity with which it considers things that are proportion'd to its Capacity it is too weak to finish so difficult an Enterprise and it is vain to force it self to accomplish it The Comprehension of an Infinite Object if I may so say cannot render the Soul Happy it is incapable of it but the Love and Enjoyment of an Infinite Good may do it whereof the Will is capable by the Motion of that Love which God continually impresses upon it After this we must not be surprised at the Ignorance and Blindness of Men since their Mind being subject to the Inconstancy and Levity of their Heart which renders it incapable of considering any thing with a Serious Application it cannot penetrate into any thing which includes some considerable Difficulty For in fine the Attention of the Mind to the Objects of the Mind is the same thing as fixing our Eyes upon the Objects of our Eyes even as a Man who cannot fix his Eyes upon Objects that are about him cannot see clearly enough to distinguish the Differences of their least Parts and to know all the relations these little parts have with each other So a Man who cannot fix the Eyes of his Mind upon things which he would know cannot sufficiently know them to distinguish all their Parts and to know all the Relations which they may have among themselves or to other Subjects However 't is evident That all Knowledge consists only in a clear View of the Relations that things have to one another Therefore when it happens as in difficult Questions that the Mind must see at one view a great Number of Relations which two or more things have amongst themselves it 's evident That if it has not consider'd these things with much Attention and only knows them confusedly it will be impossible for it to perceive distinctly their Relations and consequently to form a solid Judgment of them One of the chief Causes of the Want of Application of Mind to abstracted Truths is III. Our Sensations affect us more than the Pure Idea's of the Mind That we see them at a distance and things which are nearer are continually represented to our Mind a great Attention of Mind approaches if I may so say to the Idea's of Objects with which it is affected But it often happens that when we are Attentive upon Metaphysical Speculations we are diverted from them because some Sensation comes upon the Soul which is nearer to it than those Idea's the least Pain or Pleasure is sufficient to effect this the reason of it is Pain and Pleasure and generally all Sensations are within the Soul it self they modifie and affect it much nearer than the simple Idea's of Objects of Pure Intellection which though present to the Mind do not modifie it Thus the Soul being on the one hand very narrow and on the other not being able to hinder Pain Pleasure and other Sensations See Ch. 7. Second Part of this Book its Capacity is fill'd with them and it cannot at the same time be Sensible of any thing and think freely of other things of which it cannot be Sensible The Buzzing of a Fly or some other little Noise supposing it to be communicated even to the chief part of the Brain so that the Soul perceives it is capable notwithstanding all our Efforts to the contrary of hindering us from considering abstracted and elevated Truths because all abstracted Idea's do not modifie the Soul though all Sensations do IV. What is the Original of the Corruption of Manners 'T is this that causes a Stupidity and Dullness of Mind in respect of the great Truths of Christian Morality hence it is that Men only know them after a Speculative and Unfruitful Manner without the Grace of Jesus Christ All the World knows that there is a God that he must be Ador'd and Worshipped but who is it that Serves and Worships him without Grace which makes us taste a Sweetness and Pleasure in all our Duties There are very few who are not Sensible of the Emptiness and Instability of the Goods of this World and even who are not touch'd with an abstracted yet always with a very certain and evident Conviction that they deserve not our Application and Concern But where are those that Practically Despise these Goods and who are not Anxious and Careful to obtain them 'T is those only who perceive some Bitterness and Disgust in their Enjoyment or else by the Grace of God are made Sensible of Spiritual Good by an inward Delight which God hath joyn'd to them who overcome the Impressions of their Senses and the Efforts of Concupiscence The bare Contemplation of the Mind does not therefore make us ever resist the Efforts of Concupiscence as we ought to do an Internal Motion of the Heart must also second it This Light of the Mind only is as some say a Sufficient Grace which enables us to Condemn our selves and informs us of our Weakness and that we ought to have recourse by Prayer to him who is our Power But this inward Sentiment of Heart is a Lively Grace which operates 't is this which affects and fills us which perswades the Heart and without there is no one can think heartily Nemo est qui cogitet corde All the most constant Truths of Morality lie hid in the Secret Recesses and Windings of the Mind and so long as they stay there are Barren and without any Power since the Soul does not taste them But the Pleasures of the Senses are nearer the Soul and it being impossible that it should not be sensible of and love its * With a Natural Love for one may hate Pleasure with a Hatred of choice Pleasure it 's impossible to be freed from the World †Because a Love of Choice cannot long refrain from conforming to a Natural Love and shake off the Charms of its Senses by its own Power However I do not yet deny that the Righteous whose Heart hath been livelily turn'd towards God by prepossessed Delight cannot without this particular Grace do some deserving Actions aad resist the Motions of Concupiscence there are some that are Generous and Constant in the Law of God by the Power of their Faith by an assiduous Privation of sensible things and by a Contempt and Disgust of all Temptations There are some who act for the most part without tasting preventing and unthought of Pleasure the only Joy which they find in acting Piously is the Pleasure alone they are sensible of and this Pleasure is sufficient to stay them in that Estate and to confirm the
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
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
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