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
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
with the Traces of their Brain that when they find a way to explain the Analogies of Spiritual Things by the Relations of Material Things they are easily apprehended and imprinted after such a manner in the Mind that we are not only strongly convinced of them but they are also much more easily retain'd The General Idea which we have given of the Mind in the first Chapter of this Work is perhaps a sufficient Proof of this On the contrary when the Relation between Material things are express'd in such a manner that there is no Connexion requir'd between the Idea's of the Things and the Traces of their Expressions 't is a difficult matter to apprehend them and they are easily forgot For Example They who begin the Study of Algebra or the Analytic Art cannot but with great difficulty apprehend the Algebraic Demonstrations and when they have once understood them they never remember them long because the Squares for Example the Parallelograms Cubes Solids c. being express'd by aa a3 abc c. whose Traces have no Natural Connexion with their Idea's the Mind is not able to six the Idea's of them and examme their Relations But they who begin plain Geometry do presently and clearly conceive the Demonstrations that are explain'd to them provided they distinctly understand the Terms that are made use of because the Idea's of a Square a Circle c. are Naturally ty'd to Traces of the Figures which they see before their Eyes It also frequently happens that the Exposition of the Figure alone which serves for the Demonstration causes them sooner to apprehend it than the Discourses that explain it because the Words not being united to the Idea's but by an Arbitrary Institution they do not excite those Idea's with sufficient quickness and clearness to afford a ready apprehension of their Relations for this is the principal Reason why it is so hard a matter to understand the Sciences It may be observ'd by the By and from what has been already said that those Writers who Coyn a great many new Words and new Figures to explain their Sentiments many times spend their time to little or no benefit they think to render themselves Intelligible when indeed they make themselves Incomprehensible We define all our Terms and Characters say they and others ought to agree to them 'T is true others agree to them in their Will but their Nature is repugnant thereto Their Idea's are not joyn'd to those new Terms because there is requir'd both Use and great Practice for that The Authors perhaps have been accustom'd to that Practice but the Readers have not When a Man goes about to Instruct the Mind 't is requisite to understand it because he ought to follow Nature and not to provoke or hurt it Nevertheless we ought not to condemn the Care that Mathematicians take in defining their Terms for 't is evident they ought to define them to prevent the trouble of Equivocal Words But as much as may be they ought to make use of Terms that are received or whose signification is not very remote from that which they go about to introduce and this is that which Mathematicians do not always observe Nor do we pretend by what we have said to condemn Algebra more especially that which M. Descartes has re-establish'd For tho' the Novelty of a few Expressions in that Science gives the Mind some little trouble at first yet there is so little variety and confusion in the Expressions and the Assistance which the Mind receives by them so far surpasses the difficulty it meets with that we can hardly think it possible to find a better way of expressing his Reasoning or which better suits with the Nature of the Mind so as to carry it farther into the Discovery of unknown Truths The terms of that Science have no share at all in the Capacity of the Mind they do not burthen the Memory they wonderfully abridge all our Idea's and Reasonings and render them in some measure sensible by Practice In short their Benefit is much greater than that of Expressions tho' Natural or of Figures design'd by Triangles Squares and the like which cannot be serviceable to the searching after and unfolding Truths which are but a little Mysterious But let this suffice for the connexion of Idea's with the Traces of the Brain 'T is necessary now to say something of the connexion of the Traces one with another and by consequence of that agreement which is between the Idea's that answer to the Traces This connexion consists in this II. Of the mutual connexion of the Tracâ— that the Traces of the Brain are so well united together that they can no longer be excited but all those that were imprinted at the same time will be also excited For Example when a Man happens to be at some publick Ceremony if he observes all the circumstances of it and all the principal Persons that were present the Time the Place the Day and all other particulars 't will be enough that he remembers the Day or some other circumstance of the Ceremony less remarkable to represent to himself all the rest For this reason it is that when we cannot call to mind the principal Name of a Thing we sufficiently design it by making use of the Name that signifies some circumstance of that Thing As when we cannot call to mind the proper Name of a Church we may make use of another Name which signifies a Thing that has some Relation to it We may say 't is that Church where there was such a Croud where Mr. Preaches or whither we went last Sunday And not being able to remember the proper Name of a Person or it being more convenient to design it after another manner we may denote it by saying such a one that has a Face pitted with the Small-Pox such a tall Man well Proportioned or a little Crook-back'd Man according to the Inclinations we have for the Man tho' he is to blame that makes use of Scornful Expressions Now the Mutual Connexion of the Traces and consequently of the Idea's one with another is not only the foundation of all the Figures of Rhetorick but of an infinite number of other things of greater Impertance as in Morality Politicks and generally in all Sciences which have any Relation to Man and by consequence of many things which we shall treat of in the sequel of this Discourse The cause of this Connexion of several Traces is the Identity of Time when they were imprinted in the Brain for 't is sufficient that several Traces were produc'd at the same time to renew them altogether For the Animal Spirits finding the way of all the Traces open that are made at the same time they continue their way because they pass more easily through it than other parts of the Brain This is the cause of Memory and of the Corporeal Habits which are common to us with Beasts These Connexions of the Traces are not always
that External Objects emit the Species or Images which represent them And 't is only upon this Foundation that they multiply their Faculties and defend their active intellect So that this Foundation having no Solidity as shall soon be shewn it will be unnecessary to spend any time to overturn the Superstructure We are assur'd then that it is improbable that Objects should emit their Images or Species which represent them for these reasons 1. From the impenetrability of Objects All Objects as the Sun Stars and all such as are near the Eyes cannot emit Species which are different from their respective Natures Wherefore Philosophers commonly say that these Species are Gross and Material in which they differ from express'd Species which are Spiritualised These impress'd Species of Objects then are little Bodies they cannot therefore be penetrated nor all the Spaces which are betwixt the Earth and the Heaven which must be full of them Whence it 's easie to conclude they must be bruis'd and broken in moving every way and thus they cannot render Objects visible Moreover one may see from the same place or point a great number of Objects in the Heavens and on the Earth therefore the Species of these Objects can be reduc'd into a Point But they are impenetrable since they are extended Therefore c. But one may not only see a multitude of very great and vast Objects There is no Point in all the great Spaces of the World from whence we cannot discover an almost infinite number of Objects and even Objects as large as the Sun Moon and the Heavens there is therefore no Point in all the World where the Species of all these things ought not to meet which is against all appearance of Truth The Second Reason is taken from the Change which happens in the Species Such as would know how all impressions of Visible Objects however epposite may be communicatedwithout being weaken'd may read Monsicur Descartes his Dioptricks it 's evident that the nearer any Object is the greater its Species ought to be since we see the Object 's greater But what is yet more difficult to conceive according to their Opinion is That if we look upon this Object with a Telescope or a Microscope the Species immediately becomes Six Hundred times as great as it was before for 't is yet more difficultly conceiv'd from what Parts it can grow so great in an instant The Third Reason is when we look upon a perfect Cube all the Species of its Sides are unequal nevertheless we see all the Sides equally Square So when we consider Ellipses and Parallelograms in a Picture which cannot but emit like Species yet we see Circles and Squares This manifestly shews that it is not necessary that the Object beheld should emit Species like it self that it may be seen In fine it cannot be conceiv'd how it can be that a Body which does not sensibly diminish should always emit Species on every Side which should continually fill all the great Spaces about it and that with an inconceivable swiftness For an Object that was hidden in that Instant that it discovers it self may be seen many Millions of Leagues on all Sides and what appears yet more strange is that Bodies in great Motion as Air and some others have not that power of pushing outwards these Images which resemble them as the more gross and quiescent Bodies such as the Earth Stones and generally all hard Bodies have But I shall not stay any longer to enumerate all the contrary Reasons to their Opinion there would be no end a very ordinary Judgment would raise innumerable Objections Those that we have brought are sufficient though they were not so necessary after what has been said upon the Subject of the First Book where the Errors of the Senses were explain'd But there are so great a number of Philosophers wedded to this Opinion that we believe it will be necessary to say something to encline them to reflect upon their own Thoughts CHAP. III. That the Soul has no power of producing Idea's The Cause of Mens Error in reference to this Subject THe Second Opinion is that of those who believe our Souls have any power of producing the Idea's of such things as they will think upon and they are excited to produce them by the Impressions which Objects make upon Bodies although these Impressions are not Images like the Objects which cause them they believe that 't is in this that Man is made after the Image of God and participates of his Power That even as God Created all things out of nothing and can reduce them to nothing again and then Create them anew so Man can Create and Annihilate the Idea's of all things as he pleases But there is great Reasons to distrust all these Opinions which extol a Man these are the Common Thoughts which arise from a vain and proud Original and which the Father of Light hath not inspir'd This participation of the power of God which Men boast of having to represent Objects and of doing many other particular actions is a participation which seems to relate to something of independance as independance is commonly explain'd it is also a Chimerical Participation which Mens Ignorance and Vanity make them to imagine They depend much more than they think upon the Goodness and Mercy of God But this is not a place to explain these things It 's enough if we endeavour to shew that Men have not the Power of forming the Idea's of things which they perceive No one can doubt that Idea's are real Beings since they have real Properties since they differ from one another and represent all different things Nor can we reasonably doubt that they are Spiritual and very different from the Bodies which they represent But it seems reasonable to doubt whether Idea's by whose means we see Bodies are not more Noble than the Bodies themselves for indeed the Intelligible World must be more perfect than the Material and Earthly as we shall see hereafter Thus when we affirm that we have the Power of Forming such Idea's as we please we shall be in danger of perswading our selves to make more Noble and Perfect Beings than the World which God hath Created However some do not reflect upon it because they imagin that an Idea is Nothing since it is not to be felt or else if they look upon it as a Being 't is a very mean contemptible one because they imagin it to be annihilated as soon as it is no longer present to the Mind But supposing it true that Idea's were only little contemptible Beings yet they are Beings and Spiritual Ones and Men not having the power of Believing it follows that they cannot produce them for the production of Idea's after the manner before explain'd is a true Creation and although Men endeavour to palliate and mollifie the hardness of this Opinion by saying that the production of Idea's presupposes something else but Creation
Noli putare teipsam esse lucem Aus in Psal Reason we expresly advise them not to rely upon what we think of them for we judge it no small Crime for a Man to compare himself to God by thus usurping Authority over the Mind The chief reason that we have for desiring those who shall read this Work to apply themselves seriously to it is That we are willing to be made sensible of the Faults we may have committed in it for we do not pretend to Infallibility The Mind has so strict a relation to the Body and has so great a Dependance on it that we may reasonably fear we have not always clearly distinguish'd the confused Noise of the Imagination from the pure Voice of Truth which speaks to the Mind Did God only speak and did we only judge according to what we hear we might perhaps use these words of Jesus Christ * Sicut audio sic judico jucicium meum justum est quia non quaero voluntatem meam Joan. Ch. 5.30 I Judge according to what I hear and my Judgment is Just and True But we have a Body which speaks lowder than God himself and that Body never speaks Truth We have Self-love which corrupts the Words of him who always speaks Truth And we have Pride which inspires us with Boldness to judge without hearkning to the Words of Truth according to which only we ought to judge For the principal Cause of our Errors is That our Judgments extend themselves further than the clear prospect of our Mind Therefore I desire those to whom God shall discover my Mistakes to make me sensible of them that this Work which I only give as an Essay whose subject is very worthy of Mens Appâ—ication may be perfected by degrees I had only undertaken it at first with a design to instruct my self but some Persons having thought that it might be useful for the Publick I willingly consented to publish it the rather because one of the chief reasons they gave me for it did suit with the desire I had to be useful to my self The real way said they to be instructed in any Matter is to propose our Sentiments about it to some Learned Men. It excites our Attention and theirs Sometimes they have Truths which are unknown to us and sometimes they go through certain Discoveries which we have neglected out of Inadvertency or have abandon'd for want of Courage and Power It was vpon this Prospect of my particular Benefit and that of some others I venture to be an Author but that my hopes may not prove vain I give this Advice that Men should not be disgusted at first if they find things that contradict the common Opinions that are generally approv'd of by all Men and in all Ages The Errors I endeavour to destroy are those that are most general If Men were very much enlighten'd Vniversal Approbation would be a reason but 't is quite contrary Therefore let it be well remembred that Reason only ought to preside in the Judgment of all Humane Opinions which have no relation to Faith which God only instructs us in after a very different manner from that by which he discovers natural things to us Let Men look within themselves and draw near unto the Light which shines there continually that their Reason may be the more illuminated Let them carefully avoid the Sensations which are too lively and all the Emotions of the Soul which take up the Capacity of the Mind For the least Noise the least Appearance of Light often dissipates the sight of the Mind It is good to avoid all those things though it is not absolutely necessary And if in using our utmost * Qui hoc videre non potest oret agat ut possemereatur nec ad hominem disputatorem pulset ut quod non legit legat sed ad Deum Salvatorem ut quod non valet veleat Ep. 112. c. 12. Suplexque illi qui lumen mentis accendit attendat ut intelligat Cont. Ep. Fund c. 33. Endeavours we cannot resist the continual Impressions which our Bodies and the Prejudices of our Infancy make upon our Imagination we must have recourse to Prayer to receive that from God which we cannot have by our own Power but still without ceasing to resist our Senses for that ought to be the continual Employment of those who in Imitation of St. Austin have a great Love for Truth The CONTENTS BOOK I. Of the Errors of the Senses Chap. 1. I. OF the Nature and Properties of the Vnderstanding II. Of the Nature and Properties of the Will and wherein its Liberty consists Page 1 Chap. 2. I. Of Judgments and Reasonings II. That they depend upon the Will III. What use must be made of its Liberty in respect of them IV. Two General Rules to avoid Error and Sin V. Necessary Reflections upon these Rules p. 9 Chap. 3. I. Answers to some Objections II. Remarks upon what hath been said about the necessity of Evidence p. 16 Chap. 4. I. Of the Occasional Causes of Error and that of these there are Five Principal ones II. The General Design of the whole Work and the particular Design of the first Book p. 22 Chap. 5. 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 p. 25 Chap. 6. I. Of the Errors of the Sight in respect of Extension consider'd in it self II. An Enumeration of these Errors as to invisible Objects III. Of the Errors of the Sight concerning relative Extension p. 33 Chap. 7. I. Of the Errors of Sight in respect of Figures II. We have no Knowledge of the least things III. The Knowledge we have of the greatest things is not exact IV. An Explication of certain Natural Judgments which keep us from being deceiv'd V. That these very Judgments deceive us in particular Occurrences p. 44 Chap. 8. 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 p. 49 Chap. 9. A Continuation of the same Subject I. A General Proof of the Errors of our Sight about Motion II. That it's necessary to know the distance of Objects to judge of the swiftness of their Motion III. An Examination of Means to know their distances p. 54 Chap. 10. Of Errors about Sensible Qualities I. A distinction of Soul and Body II. An Explication of the Organs of the Senses III. To what part of the Body the Soul is immediately united IV. How Objects act upon Bodies V. How upon the Soul with Reasons why the Soul does not perceive the Motions of the Fibres of the Body VI. Four things which are Confounded in every
in almost all parts of the World and that on the Contrary we may boldly say of the other that he hath penetrated into that which appeared most obscure in the Eyes of Men and hath shew'd 'em a sure way to dâ—â—cover all Truths that a limited Understanding can comprehend But without relying on the Opinion that we may have of these two Philosophers and of all others let us still look upon 'em as Men and let not the Aristotelians be displeased if after having walk'd so many Ages in Darkness without being able to make any further Advancement we are willing to see with our own Eyes and if after having been led like blind Men we now remember that we have Eyes and essay to Conduct our selves Let us then be fully convinc'd of this Rule Never to give an entire assent but to things that are evident This is the most necessary of all Rules in a Search after Truth and let us not admit any thing into our Minds as Truth but what appears with the Evidence that this Rule demands We must be persuaded thereof to lay by our Prejudices and it 's absolutely necessary that we be deliver'd from our Prepossessions to enter into the Knowledge of Truth because the Mind must be Purified before it can be Enlighten'd Sapientia prima est Stulitia caruisse But before we finish this Chapter II. Remarks upon what has been said about the necessity of Evidence we must Remark Three Things The first is that I speak not here of Matters of Faith which admit not the same Evidence as Natural Sciences do because we cannot perceive things but by the Idea's which we have of them for God hath only given us those Idea's which are necessary to conduct us in the Natural Order of Things according to which we are created so that the Mysteries of Faith being of a Supernatural Order we must not be surpriz'd if we have not the same Idea's of them for our Souls are created by Virtue of a General Decree by which we have all the Notions that are necessary for us See the Explanations But the Mysteries of Faith have been establish'd only by the Order of Grace which according to our Ordinary way of Conception is a Decree consequent to that Order of Nature We ought then to distinguish the Mysteries of Faith from Natural Things We must equally submit to Faith and Evidence but in Matters of Faith we must not look for such Evidence as is in Natural Things we must not rely upon the Faith that is upon the Authority of Philosophers In a word to be Faithful we must believe things not comprehended by Reason but to be Philosophers we must take nothing upon Trust 'T is universally agreed upon that there are other Truths besides those of Faith in which it would be unjust to demand incontestible Demonstrations such for Instance as relate to History and other things depending upon Mans Will For there are two sorts of Truth Necessary and Contingent I call them Necessary Truths that are Immutable in their Nature and have been Decreed by the unchangeable Will of God all others are Contingent Truths Mathematicks Physicks Metaphysicks and even a great part of Morality contain Necessary Truths History Grammar particular Laws or Customs and many other things which depend upon the uncertain Will of Man include only Contingent Truths 'T is requir'd then that the Rule which I have before establish'd be exactly observed in a Search after Necessary Truths whose Knowledge may be call'd Science and we must content our selves with the greatest probability of Truth in History which contains the Knowledge of Contingent Things for one may generally call by the name of History the Knowledge of Languages Customs and even that of the Different Opinions of Philosophers when they are only learn'd by Memory without having had any Evidence or Certainty of them The second Thing to be Remark'd is that in Morals Politicks Medicine and in all Practical Sciences we are oblig'd to content our selves with Probabilities not always but for a time not because it satisfies the Mind but because there is a necessity for it and because if we should defer acting till we were fully assur'd of success we should often loose the opportunity But though there 's a necessity of our Acting yet we should doubtfully rely upon the event of these things we execute and endeavour to make such a progress in these Sciences as that we may in our Affairs act with more certainty for this ought to be the ordinary end of the Study and Employ of all Thinking Men. In fine the third Observation is that we must not absolutely despise Probabilities because it ordinarily happens that many of 'em being join'd together can as strongly convince us as the most evident Demonstrations Of this there are infinite Examples in Physick and Morality So that oftentimes 't is of use to collect a sufficient number of them for Matters which can't be otherwise demonstrated I must confess here that the Rule which I have impos'd is very rigorous that many would rather desire not to Reason at all than to Reason upon these Conditions that they will not move very fast under such Incommodious Circumspections yet they must agree with me that they should proceed surely in following this Rule and that hitherto for having made too much haste they have been oblig'd to turn back again and even a great many Men will agree with me that since Monsteur Descartes hath discover'd more Truths in thirty years than all other Philosophers because he submitted to this Law therefore if many Men would Philosophize as he did they might in time know the greatest part of those things which are necessary for as happy a Life as can be had upon an Earth which God hath Cursed CHAP. IV. I. Of the Occasional Causes of Error and that of these there are Five Principal ones II. The General Design of the Whole Work and the Particular Design of the First Book WE have seen that Men are only deceiv'd because they make not that use of their Liberty which they ought to do and because they do not moderate the haste and eagerness of the Will for bare appearances of Truth that Error consists only in a Consent of the Will which is more capacious than the Perception of the Understanding since Men would not be deceiv'd if they only judg'd of what they understand But though properly speaking 't is only an ill Use of Liberty which is the Cause of Error yet it may be said that we have many Faculties which are also the Causes thereof not true Causes but such as may be call'd Occasional ones I. Of the Occasional Causes of these there are Five principal ones All our Modes of Perceiving are so many Occasions of Deceiving us for since our false Judgments include two things the Consent of the Will and the Perception of the Understanding it is very evident that all our Modes of Perception may
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
Reason though our Sight fails us in it shake these Fibres and communicate a part of their Motion If this Motion I say is moderate that of the extremity of the Fibres of the Brain which answer to the Hand will be moderate but if this Motion is violent enough in the Hand to separate some parts as it happens when a Man burns the Motion of the Internal Fibres of the Brain will be proportionably more violent This is what happens to our Body when Objects Act upon it We must now consider what happens to the Soul It resides principally V. The effect thâ—â— Objects have upon the Soulâ— and Reasans why the Soul dâ—â— nâ—t perceive the Motions of the Fibre of the Bod. if I may be permitted to say so in this part of the Brain where all the Strings of our Nerves meet together 't is placed there to cherish and conserve all the parts of our Body and consequently it 's necessary that it be advertis'd of all the Changes which happen thereto and that it can distinguish those which are Conformable to the Constitution of its Body from the others because it would be very useless to know 'em absolutely and without any relation to its Body Since therefore all these Changes of our Fibres which have no other real Existence but in the Motions which commonly differ only as to the more or less it 's necessary that the Soul look upon 'em as Changes essentially different for although in themselves they differ but little This â—â—â—fu◠〈…〉 〈◊〉 is only a Compos'd Sensation yet we must always consider 'em as essentially different in respect of the preservation of the Body Motion for Example which causes Pain very often differs but a little from that which causes Titillation it is not necessary that there be an Essential difference between these two Motions but it 's necessary that there be an Essential difference between Titillation and Pain which these two Motions cause in the Soul for the shaking of the Fibres which accompanies Titillation 〈…〉 I 〈…〉 of Natural Judgments in â— 1. Lib. 1. informs the Soul of the good Constitution of it's Body that there is power enough to resist the impression of the Object and that it must not apprehend it self hurt but the Motion which accompanies Pain being a little more violent is capable of breaking fome Fibre of the Body and the Soul must be advertis'd by fome disagreeable Sensation to take care thereof Thus although the Motions which pass in the Body differ only as to more or less between themselves yet if they are consider'd in respect to the preservation of our Life it may be said that they differ essentially Hence our Soul is sensible only of the Action of Objects upon the Fibres of our Flesh it would be of no use at all to it to know them nor could it receive from them sufficient light to judge whether the things about us were capable of destroying or cherishing the Oeconony of our Body but it perceives it self touch'd by these Sensations which differ essentially and precisely observing the Qualities of Objects as they stand related to the Body they make it to perceive very distinctly whether or no these Objects are capable of hurting it Besides this we must consider that if the Soul only perceives that which passes in its Hand when burnt if it only sees the Motion and Separation of fome Fibres it would not be at all concern'd and it might even sometimes out of Fancy and Caprice take a satisfaction in it like those Madmen that divert themselves by breaking every thing to pieces in their Fury Or else even as a Prisoner would not be uneasie to see one demolish the Walls that confin'd him but would even rejoyce in hopes of being deliver'd very soon so if we only perceive the separation of the parts of our Body when we are burnt or receive any hurt we should soon be persuaded that our Happiness is not confin'd in the Body which rather obstructs it and therefore we should be very glad to see it destroy'd Hence it is observable that the Author of the Union of our Soul and Body hath with great Wisdom ordain'd that we should be sensible of pain when there happens a change to the Body which is capable of hurting it as when a Needle pierces the Flesh or Fire separates fome parts thereof and that we should be sensible of Titillation or an agreeable Heat when these Motions are moderated without perceiving either the truth of what passes in our Body or the Motions of these Fibres of which we have already spoke First Because in perceiving Pain and Pleasure which differ otherwise than in the more and less we more easily distinguish Objects which are the occasion of them Secondly because this way of informing us whether we ought to unite or separate from Bodies which are about us is more short and does less imploy the Capacity of the Mind which was made for God Lastly Because Pain and Pleasure being Modifications of the Soul which it perceives by means of its Body and which affect more than the knowledge of Motion or fome Fibres which belong thereto this obliges the Mind to be much concern'd and strengthens the Union betwixt the Soul and Body of Man From all this it is evident that our Senses were not given us to teach us truth but for the preservation of our Body What we have said of Titillation and of Pain must be generally understood of all other Sensations as will be better seen hereafter We began with these two Sensations rather than with others because they are more lively and help us to conceive more sensibly what was to be said It is now very easily shewn how we fall into an Infinity of Errors about Light and Colours and generally about all sensible Qualities Cold. Heat Odours Sapors Sound Pain Titillation c. And if I would stay to particularize every one belonging to every Object of the Senses whole years would not suffice to enumerate them because they are almost infinite I shall therefore content my self to speak of 'em in General In almost all Sensations there are four different things which are confounded VI. Four things which are confounded in every Sensation because they are done all together and as it were in an Instant and this is the Principle of all the other Errors of our Senses The first is the Action of the Object that is in Heat for Example the Impulsion or Agitation of the Particles of Wood against the Fibres of the Hand The second is the Passion of the Organ of Sense that is the Agitation of the Fibres of the Hand caus'd by that of the Particles of Fire which Agitation is communicated to the Brain because otherwise the Soul would perceive nothing The third is the Passion Sensation or Perception of the Soul that is what every one feels who is near the Fire The fourth is the Judgment that the Soul makes
determine if it Judges by the Senses For Instance if one looks upon a Candle at a little distance the Soul judges that the Light is only in the Object but if the Candle is brought nearer it judges it to be not only in the Candle but also in the Eyes But if we draw back about a foot from it the Soul continues sometime without judging whether or no the Light is only in the Object never thinking as it ought to do that this Light is or can be only a Propriety or Modification of Matter and that it is only within it self because it does not think it necessary to make use of its Reason to discover the Truth of what appears therein but only of the Senses which never discovers it and are only given us for the preservation of our Bodies Now why the Soul makes no use of her Reason that is of her Understanding when she considers an Object which may be perceived by the Senses is because she is not affected by things that she perceives by the pure Understanding and that on the contrary she is most lively touch'd by Sensible things for the Soul applies it self much to what affects it much and neglects applying it self to things that do not touch it Thus she almost always conforms her free Judgments to the Natural Judgments of her Senses To be able to Judge rightly of Light and Colours as well as all other Sensible Qualities we must carefully distinguish the Sensation of Colour from the Motion of the Optic Nerve and by Reason discover that Motions and Impulsions are Proprieties of Bodies and that thus they may meet in Objects and in the Organs of our Senses but that Light and Colours which we see are Modifications of the Soul very different from others and of which also we have as different Idea's It is certain for instance that a Country Man sees Colours very plainly and distinguishes them from every thing that has no Colour It is also as certain that he perceives no Motion either in Coloured Objects or in the bottom of his Eyes and that therefore he concludes Colour is not Motion Likewise a Country man is as sensible of Heat and hath a sufficient Knowledge to distinguish it from all things which are not Heat and yet he does not think that 't is only because the Fibres of his Hands are moved he thinks the Heat therefore that he feels is not Motion since his Idea's of Heat and Motion are very different and he can have the one without the other For there is no reason to be given that a Square is not round but only because our Idea of a Square is different from that we have of a Circle and that we can think of the one without thinking of the other There 's only a little attention requisite to be able to know that 't is not necessary that the Cause which makes us feel such or such a thing contains it in it self Thus it is not needful that I have Light in my Hand that I might see it when I strike my Eyes nor is it necessary that there shou'd be Heat in the Fire to make me feel it when I hold my Hand to it or that any other Sensible Quality that I perceive shou'd be in the Object it is sufficient that they cause some Motion in the Fibres of my Flesh so that my Soul which is united thereto be Modified by some Sensation There is no Relation between Motions and Sensations it is true but there is none also between the Body and Mind and since Nature or the Will of our Creator has joined these two Substances together how opposite soever they are in their Nature it must not seem surprizing if their Modifications are Reciprocal it is necessary that they shou'd be so that they may together make an entire Being We must observe that our Senses being given us for the Preservation of our Bodies it is very proper that they shou'd incline us to make such Judgments as we do of Sensible Qualities It is much more advantageous to us to feel Pain and Heat as being in our Bodies than if we Judg'd them only to be in the Objects that cause them because that Pain and Heat being capable of prejudicing our Members it is fit we shou'd be advertiz'd when they are affected therewith so as to prevent their being hurt by them But it is not so with Colours they cannot easily hurt the bottom of the Eye where they meet together and it is of no use for us to know they are Painted there These Colours are only necessary to discover Objects more distinctly and that is the reason our Senses induce us to attribute them only to the Objects So the Judgments to which the impression of our Senses carry us are more Just if we consider them with relation to the Preservation of our Bodies but nevertheless they are various and very far from the Truth as has already been shown in part and will more evidently appear hereafter CHAP. XIII I. Of the Nature of Sensations II. That we know them better than we lelieve we do III. An Objection and Answer IV. Why we imagine we know nothing of our Sensations V. That we deceive our selves in believing that all Men have the same Sensations of the same Objects VI. Objection and Answer THE third thing that is in each of our Sensations I. A Definition of Sensations or in what we feel for Example when we are near the Fire is a Modification of our Soul in relation to what passes in the Body to which it is united This Modification is agreeable when what passes in the Body is proper to assist the Circulation of the Blood and the other Functions of Life which is called by the Equivocal Term of Heat and this Modification is painful and perfectly different from the other when what passes in the Body is capable of incommoding and burning it that is when the Motions that are in the Body are capable of breaking any of its Fibres and this is generally called Pain or Burning and so of other Sensations but these are the common thoughts Men have upon this subject The first Error is that we unreasonably imagine we have no knowledge of our Sensations II. That we know our own Sensations better than we believe we do We see a great many Men every day who much concern themselves to know what Pleasure Pain and the other Sensations are they grant that they are only in the Soul and that they are but the Modifications of it 'T is true these sort of Men are very much to be admired at for being willing to learn what they cannot but know already for it is not possible that a Man shou'd be entirely ignorant what Pain is when he feels it A Person for Instance that burns his Hand distinguishes very well the Pain he feels from Light Colour Sound Taste Smell Pleasure and from all other Pain than what he feels He very well
as Judges because that by their Meditation they have acquir'd to themselves such a Right of judging of the Merit or Demerit of the Cause that it cannot but in Justice be submitted to them CHAP. XX. The Conclusion of this first Book I. That our Senses are only given us for our Bodys II. That we must doubt of their Testimony III. That it is not an inconsiderable thing to doubt as we ought to do WE have in my Opinion I. That our Senses are only given us for the preservation of our Body sufficiently discover'd the General Errors into which our Senses betray us both in respect of their proper Objects as also of those things which are not perceiv'd but by the Understanding I believe there is no Error we are subject to upon their occasion whose Cause may not be discover'd in some of those things which have been already mention'd if they be well examin'd We have also seen that our Senses are very faithful and exact to Instruct in the Relations which all Bodies that are about us have to one another but that they are incapable of informing us what Bodies are in themselves that a right use of them tends only to the Preservation of our Health and Life that we cannot sufficiently despise them when they arrogate Dominion over the Mind This is the thief thing which I wish may be well remembred in all this first Book viz. That we conceive well that our Senses are only given us for the preservation of our Body that we six this Thought in our Mind and that to be deliver'd from the Ignorance we are now involv'd in we seek for other assistances besides those which our Senses afford â—s But if there are some Persons as certainly there will be too many who are not perswaded of there last Propositions from what I have here advanc'd II. We must distrust the Testimony of our Senses I would at least desire this of them That they would only learn a little to distrust their Senses and if they will not wholly reject their Testimony as false and deceitful that they will not refuse to doubt of it And indeed it appears to me that enough has been said to create at least some scruple in the Mind of reasonable Persons and consequently to excite them to make use of their Liberty otherwise than they have yet done For if they begin to doubt whether the Testimony of their Senses are true they will more easily refrain their assent and so keep themselves out of those Errors unto which they have hitherto been subject Especially if they well remember that Rule in the beginning of this Treatise Never to give an entire assent but to things intirely evident and to which they cannot refrain consenting without knowing certainâ— that they should make an ill use of their Liberty if they did not consent Besides III. Thâ—â— it is not an inconsiderable thing to doubt as one ought to do let no one imagine that he has made but a small advancement if he has only learn'd to doubt To doubt with Judgment and Reason is not so small a thing as People imagine for here it may be said that there 's a great difference betwixt doubting and doubting we doubt through Passion and Brutality through Blindness and Malice and lastly through Fancy and only because we would doubt But we doubt also with Prudence and Caution with Wisdom and Penetration of Mind Academics and Atheists doubt upon the first grounds true Philosophers on the second The first doubt is a doubt of darkness which does not conduct us into light but always removes us from it The second doubt is begot of Light and assists us in some manner to produce it in its proper place Those who doubt only after the first manner do not apprehend what it is to doubt with Judgment they laugh at what Defeartes teaches us about doubting in the first of his Metaphysical Meditations because it appears to them that he would only have them doubt out of fancy that he would only have them say in general that our Nature is infirm our Mind is full of blindness that we must take great care to deface these prejudices and other like things It is not sufficient to say the Mind is weak we must be sensible of its weaknesses It is not enough to say it is subject to Error we must discover in what our Errors consist This is what I believe has been begun in this first Book by explaining the Nature and Errors of our Senses I shall in the second prosecute the same design by explaining the Nature and Errors of our Imagination The End of the first Book A SEARCH AFTER TRUTH BOOK II. Of the Imagination The First Part. CHAP. I. I. A general Idea of the Imagination II. That it includes two faculties the one Active and the other Passive III. The general Cause of the changes which happen to the Imagination of Man and the design of this second Book IN the preceeding Book we have treated of the Senses and have endeavoured to explain their Nature precisely observing what use ought to be made of them We have discovered the chief and most general Errors which they make us subject to and have attempted so to limit their power that we may expect much and fear nothing from them if they are always kept within these limits we have prescribed In this second Book we shall treat of the Imagination Natural Order obliging us to it for there being so great a Relation between the Senses and the Imagination we ought not to separate them It will afterwards appear that these two Powers differ amongst themselves only as to more or lest This is the order we shall observe in this following Treatise It is divided into three Parts In the first we shall explain the Physical Causes of the disorder and Errors of the Imagination In the second we shall make some application of these Causes to the most general Errors of the Imagination and shall also speak of what may be call'd the Moral Causes of these Errors In the third we shall speak of the contagious Communication of strong Imaginations If the generality of those things that are contain'd in this Treatise are not so New as what has been already said in explaining the Errors of the Senses they will not however be of less use Thinking Persons are sensible enough both of the Errors and even of the Causes of the Errors whereof I treat but very few make a sufficient reflexion thereon I pretend not to instruct all the World 't is the Ignorant I wou'd teach and only inform others or rather I endeavour here both to instruct and inform my self We have said in the first Book I. A general Idea of the Imagination that the Organs of our Senses were composed of little Fibres which on one side terminate in the outward parts of the body and skin and on the other at the middle of the Brain Now these
use of our own Wit and so accustom it of it self to discover truth then to suffer it to be spoiled with idleness by only applying it to such things as are already well known and discover'd Besides there are some things to be observed in the difference of Peoples Genii that are so fine and so delicate that althô we may be able to discover and perceive them well our selves yet we cannot represent them to nor make others sensible of them But to explain as much as possible all these differences that are to be observed in Dispositions and that very one may the more easily observe in himself the Cause of all the changes that he feels at different times it seems very proper in general to examine the Cause of these Changes which happen in the Animal Spirits and in the Fibres of the Brain because thereby we shall discover all that are found in the Imagination Man never continues very long in the same Mind every one hath sufficient inward proofs of his own inconstancy he judges of the same Subject sometimes after one manner and sometimes after another In a word the Life of Man consists only in a Circulation of Blood and in another Circulation of Thoughts and Desires and it seems the best way of imploying his time would be in seeking after the Cause of these Changes which happen to us so that way to know our selves CHAP. II. I. Of the Animal Spirits and the Changes to which they are subject in general II. That the Chyle goes to the Heart and thereby produces some change in the Spirits III. That Wine has the same effect 'T IS agreed by every on I. Of the Animal Spirits that the Animal Spirits are only the most subtile and active parts of the Blood which subtilises and agitates it self chiefly by the Fermentation that it receives in the Heart and by the violent Motion of the Muscles whereof this part is composed that the Spirits are conducted with the most of the blood through the Arteries into the Brain and that there they are separated by some parts that are destined to this use which are not yet agreed upon From hence may be concluded that where the Blood is very subtile there are much Animal Spirits but where it is gross there are but a sew that if the Blood is composed of such parts as are easily received into the Heart or very proper for Motion the Spirits which are in the Brain will be extreamly heated or agitated and if on the contrary the Blood ferments not sufficiently in the Heart the Animal Spirits will be languishing without action and without strength so that according to the solidity which shall be found in the parts of the Blood the Animal Spirits shall be more or less solid and consequently have more or less strength in their Motion But these things must be explained more at length by Examples and incontestible Experiments to make the truth evident The Authority of the Antients has not only blinded the Minds of some Men II. That the Chyle goes to the heart and causes some change in the Spirits but we may say it has shut their Eyes also For many Persons have still such a respect for their opinion or it may be so opinionative that they will not see some things which they could no longer contradict if they would only please to open their Eyes We may see every day Persons that are much esteemed for their Learning who write Books and publish Conferences against the visible and sensible Experiences of the Circulation of the Blood against that of Weight the Exastick power of the Air and others of the like Nature The discovery that Mr. Pecquet has made in our time which we make use of here is in the Number of those that are unfortunate only because he discover'd it before he had grey Hairs and a venerable Beard But we shall nevertheless make use of it not fearing but there will be some Judicious Persons who will not find fault with it According to this discovery the Chyle goes not immediately from the Bowels into the Liver by the Mesaraick Veins as the Antients believed but passes from the Bowels into the Lacteal Veins and afterwards into certain receptacles where they meet and from thence it goes by the Thoraick Duct or Canal along the Vertebres of the Back and so mingles it self with the Blood in the Axillary Vein which enters into the upper part of the Vena Cava and thus being mingled with the Blood it meets in the Heart From this Experiment may be concluded that the Blood thas is mingled with the Chyle being very different from the other Blood which has already Circulated many times through the Heart the Animal Spirits which are only the most subtile parts thereof will be also very different in Persons that are Fasting and others who have just Eat Moreover because that amongst Meats and Drinks which are generally used there is great variety and even those Persons that use them have bodies diversly disposed two Persons that have just Dined and at the same Table will feel in their faculties of Imagination so great a variety of changes that it would be impossible to describe It is true that those who are in perfect health digest so quick that the entring of the Chyle into the Heart scarcely augments or diminishes any of its heat and hinders not the Blood from fermenting there almost the same manner as if it entered only by it self so that their Animal Spirits and by consequence their faculty of imagining receives very little if any change But for Old and infirm People they observe in themselves very sensible changes after they have Eat they grow very dull and sleepy or at least their imagination becomes very Languishing and they have neither Vivacity or quickness left they no longer conceive any thing distinctly nor can they apply themselves to any thing whatsoever in a word they are perfectly altered from what they were before But that the most healthful and strongest may also have sensible proofs of what we have already said III. That Wine produces the same effect they need only reflect upon what happens to them when they have drunk more Wine then they are accustomed to or else by observing what would be the effects if they drink Wine one Meal and Water another For 't is certain that if they are not entirely stupid or if their bodies are not composed after a very extraordinary manner they shall soon perceive a gayety of temper some little drowsiness or some other like accident Wine is so Spiritous that it comes near the nature of our Animal Spirits but are these a little too luxurious to submit to the command of the Will because of their Solidity and excessive Agitation Thus even in the strongest and most vigorous Men it produces greater changes in the Imagination and in all the parts of the body Vinum Luctator delosus est then Meat or
by some violent passion for then as we have already explain'd this communication charges the conformation of the body of the Child and the Mother is so much the more apt to miscarry of the the Foetus as it has more resemblance to the desired Fruits and as the Spirits find less resistance in the Fibres of the Infants body Now it cannot be deny'd but that God without this Communication was able to have disposed all things in so exact and regular a manner as would have been necesary for the Propagation of the Species for insinite Ages that Mothers should never have Miscarried and even that they should always have had Children of the same bigness of the same Colour and that would have resembled in all things For we must not measure the power of God by our weak Imagination and we know not the Reasons he had in the construction of his work We see every day that without the help of this Communication Plants and Trees produce their kinds regularly enough and that Fowls and many other Animals have no need of it to cherish and bring forth other Animals when they sit upon Eggs of different kinds as when a Hen sits on a Partridges Eggs. For although we may reasonably conclude that the Seeds and Eggs contain in themselves the Plants and Birds which proceeds from 'em and that they may produce the little bodies of these Birds having received their Conformation by the Communication we have spoke of and the Plants theirs by another Equivocal Communication yet we cannot be certain of it But although we cannot discover the reasons why God has made every thing as it is we must not conclude from thence that he could make 'em no otherwise If we consider further that Plants who receive their growth by the action of the Female Plant resemble her much more than those which come from the seed as Tuleps for instance which come from the Root are of the same Colour as the Tulep it self and yet those that proceed from the Seed thereof are almost very different we cannot doubt that if the Communication of the Female Plant with the Fruit is not absolutely necessary to form the same kind yet it is always requisite to make the Fruit intirely like her So that although God foresaw that this Communication of the Mothers Brain with that of the Infants would sometimes destroy the Foetus and produce Monsters because of the Irregularity of the Mothers imagination yet this Communication is so admirable and so necessary for the Reasons before-mentioned and for many others that I could yet add that this knowledge that God had of these inconvencies ought not to have hindred him from executing his design We may say in one sense that God never had a design to make Monsters for it appears evident to me that if God should create one Animal only it would not be Monstrous But designing to produce an admirable work by the most simple ways and unite all these Creatures one to another he foresaw certain effects that would necessarily follow from the Order and Nature of things and this hath not diverted him from his design For although a Monster simply considered be an imperfect work yet when it is joyn'd with the rest of the creatures it does not render the World imperfect We have sufficiently explain'd what power the Imagination of a Mother has over the body of her Child let us now examine the power it hath over its Mind and that way discover the first Irregularities of the Mind and Will of Men in his Original For this is our chief design It is evident that the traces of the Brain are accompanied with Sentiments and Ideas of the Soul IV. An Explanation of some irregularities of the Mind and of the inclinations of the Will and that the emotion of the Animal Spirits have no effect in the Body but what the Motions in the Soul answer to and in a word it is certain that all the Sensations and Passions of the Body are accompany'd with true Sentiments and Passions in the Soul Now according to our first supposition Mothers first communicate the traces of their Brain to their Children and afterwards the Motions of their Animal Spirits and so produce the same passion in the mind of their Children with which they themselves are affected and by consequence they cortupt both their affections and reason in several respects If so many Children are observed to bear upon their Faces the Marks and Traces of the Idea that affected their Mother although the Fibres of the skin make much more resistance against the course of the Spirits than the soft parts of the Brain and thô the Spirits are much more agitated in the Brain than towards the Skin we cannot reasonably doubt but that the Animal Spirits of the Mother produce in the Brain of the Infant many traces by their irregular emotions Now the great traces of the Brain and the emotion of the Spirits which answer to them continuing a long time and sometimes all the life it is certain that as there are few Women who have not some weaknesses and who have not been moved with some Passion during their being with Child it cannot be expected but that there will be very few Children who are not ill inclined to something and who have not some predominant passion We have only too much experience of these things and all the World is sensible that there are whole Families who are afflicted with great weakness of Imagination which they have drawn from their Parents but it is not necessary here to give any particular Examples thereof On the contrary 't is more proper for the consolation of some Persons to assure 'em that those weaknesses of the Parents not being Natural or proper to the Nature of Man the traces and impressions of the Brain which are the cause of them may be effaced by time We may yet add here the Example of King James I. of England of whom Sir Kenelm Digby speaks in his Book which he writ of the Sympathetic Powder He tells us that Mary Stuart being with Child of King James some Scotch Lords entred her Chamber and in her presence killed her Secretary who was an Italian altho' she cast her self before him to hinder them that this Princess received some slight hurts by them and the frights she had made so great an impression in her Imagination that she communicated it to the Child in her Womb So that King James cou'd never endure to see a Naked Sword He says that he himself was a witness of it for when he was Knighted this Prince coming to lay the Sword upon his Shoulder run it strait at his Face and had wounded him if some body had not directed it aright where it ought to be There are so many instances of the like Nature that 't would be needless to search Authors for them I believe there is no body that will dispute these things for we see a
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
Fruitful and Inexhaustible Sources of our Errors and Illusions but the Mind acting of it self is not so subject to Error We were troubled to finish the two preceding Treatises and we are uneasie to begin this it is not because the Nature or Properties of the Mind is a barren Subject but because we enquire not so much here into its Properties as Weaknesses Let no one be Surprised if this Treatise is not so large nor discovers so many Errors as the preceding Books nor let any one complain if the Subject is a little dry abâ—â—râ—cted and difficult The Senses and Imagination â—â—â—â—ot always be moved nor is it necessary they should When a Subject is abstracted he that would renâ—â—â— it Sensible will obscure it it 's enough to make it Intelligible There is nothing so Unjust as the common Complaints of those who would know every thing but would apply their Mind to nothing they are angry if we desire them to become Attentive they would always have us Affect and Flatter their Senses and Passions But why We know we cannot satisfie them Those who make Romances and Comedies are oblig'd to please and captivate the Attention 't is enough for us to instruct those who endeavour to become Attentive The Errors of the Senses and Imagination depend upon the Nature and Constitution of the Body and are discover'd by considering the Power they have over the Soul but the Errors of the Pure Understanding cannot be discover'd but by considering the Nature of the Mind it self and of the Idea's which are necessary to it in order to know Objects So that to penetrate into the Causes of the Errors of the Pure Understanding it will be necessary for us to insist in this Book upon the Consideration of the Nature of the Mind and of Intellectual Idea's We shall first speak of the Mind as it is in it self and without any relation to the Body to which it is united So that what we shall say of it might be said of Pure Intelligences â—nd with greater Reason because we here call it the Pure Understanding By the word Pure Vnderstanding we pretend not to design that Faculty which the Mind has of knowing Objects without us without framing Corporeal Images of them in the Brain to represent them We shall afterwards treat of Intellectual Idea's by whose means the Pure Understanding perceives Objects without us I do not believe that after having thought Seriously I. Thought only is Essential to the Mind To Think and Imagine are only its Modifications we can doubt that the Essence of the Mind consists only in Thought even as the Essence of Matter consists in Extension And that according to the different Modifications of Thinking the Mind can now Will then Imagine and lastly Participate of many other particular Forms so that according to the different Modifications of Extension Matter is now Water then Fire and is capable of infinite other particular Forms By the word Thought By the Essence of a thing I understand that which is first conceived in a thing upon which all the Modifications observed in that thing depend I do not here understand particular Modifications of the Soul that is Such or such a Thought but a Thought that is capable of all kinds of Modifications or Thoughts even as by Extension I do not understand such or such a sort of Extension as Round Square c. but an Extension capable of all sorts of Modifications or Figures And there was no need of this Comparison but because we have not so clear an Idea of Thought as of Extension for Thought is only known by an interior Sentiment or by Conscience as shall hereafter be explained I do not believe it possible * Second Part of the Pure Mind Chap. 7. to conceive a Mind which cannot Think although it 's easie to conceive one which neither Thinks Imagines nor Wills even as it 's impossible to conceive Matter that is not extended though one may easily conceive it to be neither Earth Metal Square Round and even without Motion Hence we may conclude That as there may be Matter which is neither Earth Metal Square Round or without Motion so there may also be a Mind which is neither Sensible of Heat or Cold which neither Rejoyces is Sad Imagines or Wills any thing So that all these Modifications are not Essential to it Thought only is of the Essence of the Mind as Extension only is of the Essence of Matter But even as if Matter or Extension were without Motion it would be wholly useless and incapable of this Variety of Forms for which it was design'd And as it would be impossible to conceive an Intelligent Being to Will such a Creation that is Matter without Motion or incapable of Form so if the Mind or Thought were without Will it 's evident that it would be wholly useless since it would be sometimes carried towards the Objects of its Perceptions and would not love the Good for which it was made so that it is impossible to conceive that an Intelligent Being would create it in this Estate Nevertheless as Motion is not Essential to Matter as Extension is so to Will is not Essential to the Mind since Willing supposes Perception Therefore Thought only is properly Constitutive of the Essence of the Mind and the different Manners of Thinking as Perceiving and Imagining are only the Modifications of which it is capable and with which it is not always modified But to Will is a Property which always accompanies it whether it be united to or separated from the Body which nevertheless is not Essential to it since it supposes Thought and we may conceive a Mind without Will even as a Body without Motion The Power of Willing is always Inseparable from the Mind although it is not Essential to it for even as it is impossible to conceive Matter that cannot be moved so it is impossible to conceive a Mind which cannot Will or which is incapable of any Natural Inclination but as we conceive Matter can exist without Motion so we can conceive a Mind to exist without any Impression from the Author of Nature towards Good and consequently without Will for the Will is nothing else but an Impression of the Author of Nature II. We do not know all the Modifications of which our Soul is capable which carries us towards Good in general as we have more largely explain'd in the first Chapter of the Treatise upon the Senses What we said before in the Treatise upon the Senses and what we have just now said of the Nature of the Mind does not suppose that we know all the Modifications whereof it is capable we do not suppose such things but rather believe that there is in the Mind of Man a Capacity of receiving Successively an infinite Number of different Modifications which the Mind it self is Ignorant of The least Portion of Matter can receive a Figure of three six ten or Ten
Familiar Letters to express and abridge their Idea's Thus the mind not being embarrassed nor imploy'd upon any Representation which it would be oblig'd to make upon many Figures and Lines it may perceive at one view all that it is capable of seeing otherwise And thus the Mind can penetrate deeper and extend it self much farther when its Capacity is well manag'd The Art of rendring the Mind more penetrating and Extensive consists as we have elsewhere explain'd in a good Management of its Powers and Capacity not in imploying it to no purpose upon things which are not necessary to discover the Truth it seeks after which ought to be well observ'd Book VI. The Second Part of Method For this only shows that common Logicks are fitter to lessen the Capacity of the Mind than to inlarge it because it is evident That if in a Search after any Truth we use the Rules they prescribe us the Capacity of the Mind is divided so that it will be unfit to be attentive and to apprehend all the Extension of the Subject it examines It is therefore sufficiently evident from what I have said That the greatest part of Men make but little Reflection upon the Nature of the Mind whilst they apply themselves to a Search after Truth for indeed they have never been well convinc'd of its little Extension and the necessity there is of well managing and enlarging it And this is one of the most considerable Causes of their Errors and from hence it is that they have so unhappily perfected their Studies But we do not pretend that there were ever any Men which were not conscious of their own Limitation and their little Capacity and Extension of Mind all the World confesses it but the Generality of them only know it confusedly and confess it only with their Mouths The Method they take in their Study gives the Lye to their Confession since they act as if they truly thought their Mind bad no Limits and they would penetrate into things that depend upon a great many Causes whereof generally they do not know one There is also another Defect which is very common in these Studious Men V. Another Defect in Studious Men. which is the applying themselves to too many Sciences at once and if they Study but six Hours in a day they will sometimes study six different things 'T is plain this Defect proceeds from the same Cause as the rest that I have before mention'd For 't is very probable that if those that study after this manner know certainly that it was not agreeable to the Capacity of their Minds and that it was more likely to fill them with Errors and Confusion than with true Science they would not suffer themselves to be hurried away by the irregular Motions of their Passions and Vanity for indeed that is not the way to satisfie the Mind since 't is not the proper Means to know any thing CHAP. IV. 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 THE Mind of Man is not only subject to Error because it is Finite or more limited than the Objects they consider as has been explained in the two precedent Chapters but also because it is Inconstant and has no Firmness in whatsoever it does and cannot keep it self fix'd long enough upon any Subject to examine it entirely To conceive the Cause of this Inconstancy and Levity of our Minds it is necessary to know that its Action is directed by the Will which applies it to such Objects as it loves and is of it self continually Inconstant and unsettled of which this is the Cause We cannot doubt but God is the Author of all things that he hath made them for himself and has inclined the Heart of Man towards him by a Natural and Invincible Impression that he continually imprints upon him God cannot Will the Existence of any Mind which cannot love him or which should love him less than any other Good if any other besides himself could be found because he cannot Will that any Mind should not love that which is most Amiable or love it more than that which is less Amiable Thus it is requisite that a Natural Love should carry us to God since it comes from him and that there is nothing that can stop the Motions of it only God himself who imprinted them Every bodies Will therefore necessarily follows the Motions of this Love The Righteous and Wicked the Happy and the Damned Love God with this Love for the Natural Love which we have for God being the same thing as the Natural Inclination that carries us to Good in General to the Infinite and Soveraign Good it is evident that all Minds Love God with this Love since he only is the Universal Infinite and Soveraign Good For indeed all Spirits and even the Devils have an Ardent Desire to be Happy and to possess the Chief Good And they desire it without Choice without Deliberation without Liberty and by a Necessity of their Nature Being therefore made for God for an Infinite Good for a Good which comprehends all others in it our Hearts can never be satisfied but by the Possession of this Good Thus our Will always labouring under an eager Thirst always agitated with Desires Anxieties II. The Inconstancy of the Will Causes the Defect of our Application and consequently causes our Error and full of Inquietudes for the Good that it does not possess cannot without much Pain suffer the Mind for any time to stop at abstracted Truths which affect it not and which it judges uncapable of making it Happy Thus she Incessantly pushes it forward to search after other Objects and when in this Agitation which the Will communicates to it it meets with any Object that has the Appearance of a Good I mean such as makes the Soul Sensible of any Pleasure or inward Satisfaction at its approach then this Thirst is excited anew these Desires these wishes and these Ardours take new Life and the Mind being oblig'd to obey them engages it self only to that Object which causes or seems to cause them to draw it nearer to the Soul which tasts it and feeds on it for some time But the Emptiness of Creatures cannot fill the Infinite Capacity of Man's Mind these little Pleasures irritate its Thirst rather than allay it and give the Soul a vain sort of a Hope of being satisfied in the Multiplicity of the Pleasures of this Life which also produces an Inconstancy and an inconceivable Levity in the Mind which was to discover to it all these Goods It 's true that when the Mind accidentally meets with any Object which is
Disposition of their Heart Those who begin their Conversion have commonly need of a prepossessed and an indeliberate Pleasure to free them from their Sensible Goods to which they are united by other preventing and indeliberate Pleasures Sadness and Remorse of Conscience is not enough and they do not yet taste any Joy But the Just can live by Faith and in Want and it 's even in this Condition that they deserve more because Men being reasonable God will be lov'd by them with a Love of Choice rather than with a Love of Instinct and an indeliberate Love like that by which they love Sensible things without knowing them to be Good otherwise than by the Pleasure which they receive from them However the greatest part of Men have little Faith and being continually led to taste Pleasure they cannot long preserve their elective Love for God against a Natural Love for Sensible Goods if their Delight in Grace does not uphold them against the Efforts of Pleasure for a Delight in Grace begets preserves and increases Charity as Sensible Pleasures do Desire It is evident from what has been said V. Of Mens Ignorance That Men being never without some Passion or agreeable or disagreeable Sensations much of the Capacity and Extension of their Mind is taken up with them And when they are willing to employ the rest of their Capacity to examine some Truth they are often diverted by some new Sensations or by a Disgust which they find in this Exercise and by an Inconstancy of the Will which agitates and runs the Mind from one Object to another so that unless they have accustom'd themselves to overcome these Oppositions from their Youth as has been explain'd in the Second Part they will at last be incapable of penetrating into any thing that is a little Difficult or which requires a little Application We must then conclude That all Sciences especially those that include Questions very difficult to be resolv'd are full of an infinite Number of Errors and that we ought to suspect all those great Volumes which are every day composed upon Physicks Natural Philosophy and Morality and especially upon the particular Propositions of these Sciences which are much more compounded than general ones We ought even to judge that these Books are so much the more to be Contemned as they are better received by the generality of Men I mean those who are but little capable of Application and who know not how to make a good use of their Judgment because the Applause of the Vulgar in any difficult Matter is a certain Argument of the Falsity of that Opinion and that it is only maintained upon the delusive Notions of the Senses or some false Lights of the Imagination Yet it is not impossible but that a Man may of himself discover a greater Number of Truths which have been conceal'd from former Ages provided he does not want a good Judgment but lives in some retired place where nothing can divert him if he Seriously apply himself to an enquiry into Truth Wherefore those are very unreasonable who despise the Philosophy of Descartes without knowing it only for this reason because it appears impossible that one Man of himself should be able to discover the Truth in so Mysterious a Subject as that of Nature But if they knew the Manner how this Philosopher lived the Method he took in his Studies to prevent the Capacity of his Mind from being diverted by any other Objects besides those whose Truth he would discover the Clearness of the Idea's upon which he establish'd his Philosophy and generally all the Advantages he had over the Ancients by new Discoveries I say If they consider these things they would doubtless receive a more reasonable Prejudice in favour of Descartes than of Antiquity which Authorizes Aristotle Plato and many others Yet I advise them not to stop at this Prejudice nor to believe that Descartes is a great Man and that his Philosophy is good because he may be advantageously spoke of Descartes was a Man subject to Error and mistakes like others There are none of his Works even not excepting his Geometry wherein there are not some Footsteps of the Weakness of the Humane Mind He must not therefore be believ'd upon his Word but be read with Precaution as he himself advises us to do examining if he was not deceiv'd and believing nothing of what he says but what Evidence and the Secret Reproaches of our Reason oblige us to believe for indeed the Mind knows nothing truly but what it sees evidently We have shown in the preceding Chapters that our Mind is not infinite but on the contrary that it had a very mean Capacity which is commonly filled with the Sensations of the Soul And lastly That the Mind receiving its Direction from the Will cannot firmly consider any Object without being soon diverted from it through its Inconstancy and Levity These things are certainly the most general Causes of our Errors and we might longer insist upon them here but what I have said is sufficient to discover the Weakness of the Humane Mind to Persons that are capable of any Attention In the Fourth and Fifth Book we shall treat more largely of the Errors which our Inclinations and Passions lead us into and of which we have already said something in this Chapter THE SECOND PART OF THE Pure Understanding Of the Nature of IDEA'S CHAP. I. 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 I Think every one will confess that we do not perceive External Objects by themselves We see the Sun the Stars and many Objects without us and it is not probable that the Soul should go out of the Body and walk as it were through the Heavens to Contemplate all those Objects there She does not then see them by themselves and as the immediate Object of Mind when it sees the Sun for instance it is not the Sun but something which is nearly united to our Soul and it is that which I call Idea So that here by this word Idea I mean only what is the immediate Object or the nearest the Mind when it perceives any thing It must be observed that to make the Mind perceive any Object it is absolutely necessary that the Idea of this Object should be actually present of which we can have no doubt but it is not requisite that there should be some external Object which resembles this Idea for it often happens that we perceive things which are not and which never had a being So that we often have in our Minds real Idea's of things which never were For instance when a Man imagins a Mountain of Gold it is absolutely necessary that the Idea of this Mountain should be really present to his Mind When a Mad Man a Man in a high Fever or a Man that is
times in a day almost all conclude that the Will which accompanies the production or rather the presence of Idea's is truly the Cause of them Because they see nothing in the same time that they can attribute it to and they imagin the Idea's no longer Exist when the Mind sees them no longer and that they revive again anew when they are again represented to the Mind 'T is for these Reasons some Judge that External Objects emit Images which resemble them as we have mention'd in the precedent Chapter For it being impossible to see Objects by themselves but only by their Idea's they judge the Object produces the Idea because as soon as it is present they see it and as soon as absent they see it no longer and because the presence of the Object almost always accompanies the Idea which represents it to us Yet if Men were not prejudiced in their Judgments from this that the Idea's of things are present to their Mind as soon as they Will them they should only conclude that according to the Order of Nature their Will is commonly necessary for them to have those Idea's Not that the Will is the true and principal Cause which presents them to the Mind and much less that the Will produces them from nothing or after the manner they explain it Nor ought they to conclude that Objects emit Species resembling them because the Soul commonly perceives them only when they are present but only that the Object is for the most part necessary in order to the Idea's being present to the Mind And lastly that a Bowl put into Motion is the principal and true Cause of the shaking of another Bowl that it meets in the way since the first had not the power of Motion in its self They can only determin that the meeting of two Bowls is an occasion to the Author of the Motion of Matter to execute the Decree of his Will which is the Universal Cause of all things See Ch. 3. Of the Second Part of Method in communicating to the other Bowl a part of the Motion of the first that is to speak more clearly in willing that the last should acquire so much more Motion as the first lost for the moving force of Bodies can proceed only from the Will of him who preserves them as we shall shew elsewhere CHAP. IV. That we do not see Objects by the Means of Idea's which were created with us And that God does not produce them in us so often as we have occasion for them THE Third Opinion is That of those who say all Idea's are created with us To discover the Improbability of this Opinion it will be necessary to consider that there is many different things in the World of which we have Idea's But to speak only of simple Figures it is certain that the Number of them is Infinite Nay even if we consider but one only as the Ellipsis we cannot doubt but the Mind conceives an infinite Number of different Kinds of them when it considers that one of the Diameters may be lengthened out to Infinity and the other always continue the same So the heighth of a Triangle may be augmented or diminished infinitely the base being always the same we may conceive there is an infinite Number of different Kinds of them And also which I desire may be consider'd here The Mind in some manner perceives this infinite Number although we can imagine but very few of them and that we can at the same time have particular and distinct Idea's of many Triangles of different Kinds But what must chiefly be observed is That this general Idea that the Mind has of this Number of Triangles of different Kinds is sufficient to prove That if we do not conceive each of these different Triangles by particular Idea's And in short If we comprehend not their Infinity 't is not the Defect of the Idea's or that Infinity is not represented to us but only the Defect of the Capacity and Extension of the Mind If a Man should apply himself to consider the Properties of all the diverse Kinds of Triangles although he should eternally continue this sort of Study he would never want new and particular Idea's but his Mind would be unprofitably fatigued What I have said of Triangles may be applied to five six a hundred a thousand or ten thousand sided Figures and so on ad infinitum Now if the sides of a Triangle which have infinite relations one with the other make Triangles of infinite Kinds it is plain that four five or a thousand sided Figures are capable of admitting much greater Differences since they are capable of a greater Number of Relations and Combinations of their sides than simple Triangles are The Mind then sees all these things it hath Idea's of them and these Idea's would never fail it although it should employ infinite Ages in the Consideration of one Figure only And if it perceived not these infinite Figures all of a sudden or comprehended not their Infinity 't is only because its Extension is very much limited It hath then an infinite Number of Idea's Do I say an infinite Number It hath as many infinite Numbers of Idea's as there are different Figures to be consider'd So that since there is an infinite Number of different Figures it 's necessary that to know the Figures the Mind have an infinitely infinite Number of Idea's Now I ask If it 's probable that God should Create so many things with the Mind of Man For my part it does not appear so to me chiefly since that might be made in a more simple and easie manner as we shall soon see For as God always acts by the most simple ways it does not seem reasonable to explain how we know Objects by admitting the Creation of an infinite Number of Beings since we can resolve this Difficulty in a more Easie and Natural way But although the Mind should have a Magazine of all the Idea's which are necessary for it to see things it would be yet more difficult to explain how the Soul should make choice of them to represent them For instance how it can represent the Sun to it self whilst it is present to the Eyes of its Body For whereas the Image which the Sun imprints in the Brain resembles not the Idea we have thereof as has been elsewhere proved and since the Soul perceives not the Motion that the Sun produces in the bottom of the Eyes and in the Brain it 's inconceivable how it should exactly guess amongst these infinite Number of Idea's that it has which it must represent to it self to imagine or to see the Sun We cannot therefore say That the Idea's of things were created with us it is sufficient that we see the Objects that are about us Nor can we say that God produces as many of them every Moment as we perceive different things this has been sufficiently refuted from what has been said in this
of my Imagination and the Illusion of my Senses The Inward Man which is in me will deride the Animal and Earthly one which I carry about me Lastly The New Man shall increase and the Old Man shall be destroy'd provided I always obey the Voice of him who speaks so clearly to me in the most Secret Recesses of my Reason and who having made himself Sensible to condescend to my Weakness and Infirmity and to give me Life by those very means by which he gave me Death speaks yet to me through my Senses after a very strong lively and familiar manner I mean by the preaching of his Gospel And if I interrogate him in all the Metaphysical Natural and pure Philosophical Questions as well as those which regard the Regulation of Manners I shall always have a Faithful Master which will never deceive me I shall not only be a Christian but a Philosopher I shall make a good Judgment of things and in a word I shall follow both by Grace and Nature the way which will guide me to all the Perfection I am capable of It must then be concluded from what I have said That to make the best use that we can of the Faculties of our Soul our Senses Imagination and Mind we must only apply them to those things for which they have been given us We ought carefully to distinguish our Sensations and Imaginations from our pure Idea's and judge according to our Sensations and Imaginations of the relation that External Bodies have to ours without making use of them to discover Truths which they always confound And we must make use of the pure Idea's of the Mind to discover Truths without ever attempting to judge by them of the relation that External Bodies have to ours because these Idea's never have Extension enough to represent them perfectly to us It is impossible that Men should have a sufficient Knowledge of all the Figures and Motions of the little Particles of their Body and Blood and of those of a certain Fruit in a certain time of their Sickness to be able to discover the relation of Agreement betwixt this Fruit and their Body and that if they should eat of it it would recover them Thus our Senses alone are more useful to the Preservation of our Health than the Rules of Experimental Physick and Experimental Physick than the Theoretick But Experimental Physick which allows much to Experience and still more to the Senses is the best because all these things ought to be joyn'd together We may then use our Reason in all things and 't is the Privilege which it has above the Senses and Imagination which are limited to Sensible Things but we ought to use it with Circumspection for though it is the chief part of our selves it often happens that we are deceiv'd when we permit it to go too far because it cannot act sufficiently without wearying it self I mean it cannot know sufficiently how to make a good Judgment and yet it will not forbear Judging A SEARCH AFTER TRUTH BOOK IV. Of the Inclinations and Natural Motions of the Mind CHAP. I. I. It 's necessary the Mind have Inclinations as well as the Body Motions II. God acts the Humane Mind only for himself III. Mens Minds are only inclin'd to Particular Good through the Motion they have to Good in General IV. The Origine of the Chief Natural Inclinations which will make up the Division of this Fourth Book IT would not be necessary to Treat of Natural Inclinations as we are going to do in this Fourth Book nor of the Passions as we shall do in the following in order to discover the Causes of the Errors of Mankind if the Understanding did not depend on the Will in the Perception of Objects But whereas it is the Will that directs it which makes it resolve and applies it to some Objects rather than others it is absolutely necessary to apprehend its Inclinations well to penetrate into the Causes of the Errors to which we are liable If God I. It 's necessary the Mind have Inclinations as well as the Body Notions when he Created this World had produced Matter infinitely extended without giving it any Motion there would have been no difference in Bodies All this visible World would still have been a meer Mass of Matter or of Extension which indeed might serve to discover the Grandeur and Power of its Author but there would not be that Succession of Forms and that Variety of Bodies which compose all the Beauty of the Universe and which incline Mens Minds to admire the Infinite Wisdom of the Governour thereof Therefore I am of Opinion That the Inclinations of the Mind are in the Spiritual World what Motion is in the Material World and that if the Mind were without Inclinations or if it never had any Desire we should not meet with that Variety in the Order of Spiritual Things which not only makes the World admire the Profoundness of the Wisdom of God approve the Variety of Material Objects but also his Mercy his Justice his Goodness and generally all his other Attributes Thus then the Difference of Inclinations produces in the Mind an Effect much like unto that which the Difference of Motions produces in the Body and the Inclinations of Mens Minds and the Motions of Bodies together constitute all the Beauty of Created Beings Thus all Spirits must have some Inclinations as well as Bodies have different Motions But let us endeavour to discover what Inclinations they ought to have Were not our Nature Corrupted it would not be necessary to seek out by Reason as we are going to do what the Natural Inclinations of Created Spirits ought to be It would be sufficient in order thereunto to consult our selves and we should discover by the Inward Sentiments we have of what passes within us all the Inclinations we ought Naturally to have But whereas we know by Faith that Sin has destroy'd the Order of Nature and that Reason informs us that our Inclinations are Irregular as it will appear in the Sequel we are obliged to go another way to work Since we cannot trust to what we feel we are obliged to explain things in a more Sublime Manner but which without doubt will seem to have but little Solidity in it to those who only esteem what relates to the Senses It is an undeniable Truth II. The Principal End of the Actions of God is himself and he only acts Mens Minds for himself that God can have no other Principal End for his Operations but himself and that he may have several Ends less Principal which tend all towards the Preservation of the Beings which he has created He can have no Principal End but himself because he cannot Err nor place his Final End in Beings which are not Perfect But he may propose as a less Principal End the Preservation of Created Beings because as they all participate of his Goodness they are necessarily Good and even
of Well-being Now the Love of Well-being is so Powerful that it sometimes proves Stronger than the Love of Being and Self-Love makes us sometimes desire not to be because we have not a Well-being This is the Case of all the Damned who according to the Word of Jesus Christ had better not to be than to be so Unhappy as they are because these Wretches being declar'd Enemies to him in whom all Goodness Centers and who is the Sole Cause of Pleasure and of Pain which we are capable of it is impossible they should enjoy any Satisfaction they are and will be Eternally Unhappy because their Will will ever remain in the same Disposition and in the same Irregularity So that Self-Love includes two Loves the Love of Greatness of Power of Independence and generality of all things which seem to be proper for the Preservation of our Being and the Love of Pleasure and of all things that are necessary for our Well-being that is To be Happy and Satisfied Those two Loves may be divided several ways Whether because we are composed of two different parts of Soul and Body according to which they may be divided or because they may be distinguish'd or specified by the different Objects that are useful for our Preservation However we will not inlarge upon that because as we do not design to make a Treatise of Morality it is not necessary to make an Inquiry into and an exact Division of all the things we look upon as our Felicities It was only necessary to make this Division to relate the cause of our Errors in some order Therefore we shall first speak of those Errors which are caused by our Inclination for Greatness and for all those things that makes our Being Independant of others And afterwards we shall treat of those which proceed from the Inclination we have for Pleasure and for all those things which render our Being the best it can be for us or that contents us most CHAP. VI. 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 WHatever raises us above others by making us more Perfect as Science and Virtue I. Of the Inclination we have for all that raises us above other Persons or that gives us an Authority over them by making us more Powerful as Dignities and Riches seem in some measure to make us Independent All those that are beneath us have a Respect for us and fear us they are always ready to do what pleases us for our Preservation and they dare neither Prejudice us nor oppose our Desires Therefore Men constantly endeavour to possess those Advantages which raise them above others For they never consider that both their Being and Well-being in Truth only depend on God above and not on Men and that the true Greatness which will make them Eternally Happy does not consist in that Rank which they hold in the Imagination of other Men as Weak and as Miserable as themselves but in an humble Submission to the Will of God who being Just will not fail to reward those who remain within the Order he hath prescribed But Men do not only desire Effectively to possess Learning and Vertue Dignities and Riches they also use their utmost Efforts in order to persuade others that they do really possess them And if it may be said that they endeavour less to appear Rich than to be really so it may also be said that they often take less care to be Virtuous than to appear so For as the Author of the Book Entituled Reflectiones Morales fays agreeably Virtue would not go far unless it were accompanied with Vanity The Reputation of being Rich Learned and Virtuous produces in the Imagination of those that are about us or that are more nearly related to us very convenient Dispositions for us It makes them fall at our Feet it makes them act in our Favour it Inspires them with all the Motions that tend to the Preservation of our Being and to the Increase of our Grandeur Thus Men preserve their Reputation as a Good which is necessary for them to Live with Ease in the World All Men then have an Inclination for Virtue Learning Dignities and Riches and for the Reputation of possessing those Advantages We will now endeavour to show by some Examples how those Inclinations may engage them into Error Let us begin by the Inclination that Men have for Virtue or for the Appearance of Virtue Those who apply themselves Seriously to become Virtuous commonly imploy their Mind and Time to understand Religion and to exercise themselves in good Works They only desire with St. Paul to be acquainted with Jesus Christ Crucified to find out a Remedy for the Distemper and Corruption of their Nature They desire no other Knowledge than that which is necessary for them to live Christianly and to know their Duty after which they apply themselves to fulfil them with Zeal and Exactness And therefore they seldom trouble themselves about Sciences which appear Vain and Barren in respect to their Salvation No Fault can be found with that Conduct it is Infinitely to be valued II. Of the false Judgments of some Pious Persons Men would Esteem themselves Happy to observe it exactly and they often repent their not having followed it more But this is unapprovable that since it is certain that there are Sciences absolutely Humane very Certain and Useful which disingage the Mind from Sensible Things and use it by degrees to relish the Truths of the Gospel some Pious Persons without having examin'd them condemn them too freely either as being Useless or Uncertain It is true that most Sciences are very uncertain and very useless Men are partly in the right to believe that they only contain Truths which are of little use No body is oblig'd to study them and it is better to despise them than to suffer ones self to be deceiv'd or blinded by them Nevertheless we may affirm That it is very necessary to know some Metaphysical Truths The Universal Knowledge or the Existence of a God is absolutely necessary since even the Certainty of Faith depends on the Knowledge which Reason gives of the Existence of a God It is necessary to know that it is his Will which makes and which regulates Nature That the Force or Power of Natural Causes is only his Will In a word That all things whatever depend on God It is also necessary to know what Truth is the means to distinguish it from Error the Distinction between the Mind and Body the Consequences that may be drawn from it as the Immortality of the Soul and several other things of that kind which may be known with certainty The Knowledge of Man or of ones self is a Science that cannot be reasonably despis'd it contains a World of
great use and since we ought to delight in the Knowledge of things that 〈◊〉 necessary We may and ought to apply our selve to whatever may contribute any thing towards our Happiness or rather to Ease our Infirmities â—nd Miseries But to pass whole Nights in peeping through a Telescope to discover some Spot or some new Planet in the Heavens to the prejudice of our Health to the impairing our Estate to the neglecting the Care of our Affairs only to Visit the Stars Regularly and to measure their Size and Situation is in my Opinion absolutely to forget what we are at present and what we shall be hereafter Let no Body urge that it is in order to discover the Greatness of him that has form'd all these great Objects The least Fly discovers more the Power and Wisdom of God to those that consider it with Attention and without being prejudic'd by its smallness than all what the Astronomers know of the Heavens Nevertheless Men are not made to consider Flies neither do I approve the Pains some People have taken to instruct us how Lice and all kinds of Animals are Form'd and how the Transformations of different Worms into Flies and Butterflies are effected It is lawful for Men to amuse themselves about these things when they have nothing else to do to divert themselves But Men ought not to employ all their time about it unless they are insensible of their Miseries They ought continually to apply themselves to the knowledge of God and of themselves to labour Seriously to overcome their Errors and Prejudices their Passions and Inclinations for Sin earnestly to search after the Truths that are most necessary for them to know For those are the most Judicious that take most Care to discover the most solid Truths The main Cause which engages Men in false Studies is that they have fix'd the Idea of Learning to a Vain Useless Knowledge instead of fixing it to solid and necessary Sciences For when a Man resolves upon Learning and when the Spirit of Polymathy begins to move him he seldom examins what Sciences are most necessary for him either to behave himself like an Honest Man or to improve his Reason He only looks upon those that pass for Learned Men in the World and examins what renders them considerable All the most solid and necessary Sciences being pretty Common the Persons that possess them are neither admired nor respected for them for Common things are look'd upon without Attention or Emotion though never so excellent and admirable in themselves So that those who aim at Learning seldom fix on those Sciences that are necessary for the Conduct of this Life and for the Perfection of the Mind Those Sciences do not Excite in them that Idea of Sciences which they have Form'd to themselves for those are not the Sciences they have admir'd in others and which they desire others should admire in them The Gospel and Morality are Sciences that are too Common and too Ordinary they desire to learn the Criticisms of some Terms that are met with in Ancient Philosophers or in Grecian Poets Languages and particularly those that are not in use in their Country as Arabick and that of the Rabbies or the like appear to them most worthy of their Application and of their Study If they read the Bible it is not to learn Religion or Piety Points of Chronology of Geography and the difficulties of Grammar take up all their Minds They desire the knowledge of those things with more Zeal than the wholsome Truths of the Gospel They are desirous to possess that Science themselves which they have foolishly admir'd in others and which Fools will not fail to admire in them The same appears in things that relate to the Knowledge of Nature they seldom Study that which is most useful in it but that which is least Common Anatomy is too mean for them but Astronomy is a more exalted Study Common Experiments are not worthy their Application but those extraordinary and surprising Experiments which can never Improve us are what they most carefully observe The most Obscure and Ancient Histories are those they are Proud to be acquainted with They are Ignorant of the Genealogy of the Princes that Reign at this time and they make it their business to study the Descent of those that have been Dead Four Thousand Years ago They neglect the most Noted Histories of their time and apply themselves carefully to the Study of the Fables and Fictions of the Poets They hardly hnow their own Relations but if you please they will quote you many Authorities to prove that a Roman Citizen was Related to an Emperor and other like things They hardly know the Names of the Dresses that are worn in their days and yet lose their time in studying those of the Greeks and Romans The Animals of their own Country are little known by them and yet they will lavishly employ whole Years in the Composure of large Volumes about the Animals mention'd in the Bible to seem to have guess'd better than others what unknown Terms signisie Such a Book is the delight of its Author and of the Learned that Read it for being full of Greek Hebrew and Arabick Passages c. of Quotations of Rabbi's and other obscure and extraordinary Authors it satissies the Vanity of the Author and the Foolish Curiosity of the Readers who will think themselves more Learned than others when they can proudly affirm that there are Six different Words in Scripture which signifie a Lion or the like They are often Ignorant of the Map of their own Country or of the City where they are Born while they study the Map of Ancient Greece of Italy of the Gauls in Julius Caesar's Time or the Streets and publick Places of Ancient Rome Labor Stultorum says the Wise Man affliget eos qui nesciunt in urbem pergere They do not know the Way to their own Town and they Fatigue themselves Foolishly in useless Discoveries They neither know the Laws nor Customs of the Places where they Live but they carefully Study Ancient Rights the Laws of the Twelve Tables the Customs of the Lacedemonians or of the Chinese or the Ordinances of the Great Mogol Finally they are desirous to know all Extraordinary distant things which others do not know because they have Foolishly fix'd the Idea of Learning on those things and that it is sufficient to be thought Learned only to know what others are Ignorant of though at the same time they are Ignorant of the most necessary and most excellent Truths The Truth is that the Knowledge of all those things and the like is call'd Science Learning and Doctrin Use will have it so But there is a Science which is only Folly and Vanity according to Scripture Doctrina Stultorum fatuitas I have not hitherto observ'd that the Holy Ghost which gives so many Elogies to Science in holy Writ says any thing to the advantage of that false
we Love him because we know that he is Amiable And that Love is worthy of us because that being Reasonable we ought to Love that which Reason informs us to be worthy of our Love But we Love Sensible Things by a Love that is unworthy of us and which they are also unworthy of For being Reasonable we Love them without any Reason to Love them since we do not clearly know that they are Lovely and on the contrary we know they are not so But Pleasures Seduce us and make us Love them the Blind and Irregular Love of Pleasure being the real Cause of those False Judgments of Men in Subjects of Morality CHAP. XI Of the Love of Pleasure in relation to Speculative Sciences I. How it hinders us from discovering Truth II. Some Examples THE Inclination we have for Sensible Pleasures being disorder'd is not only the Source of the Dangerous Errors we fall into in cases of Morality and the general Causes of the Depravation of our Manners it is also one of the Principal Causes of the Disorder of our Reason and it engages us Insensibly into very gross Errors but less dangerous upon Subjects that are meerly Speculative because the said Inclination hinders us from having a sufficient Attention for things that do not affect us to apprehend them and to judge well of them We have already spoken in several places of the Difficulty Men find in applying themselves to Subjects that are a little uncommon because the Matter we treated of then requir'd it We spoke of it towards the end of the first Book in showing that the Sensible Idea's affecting the Soul more than the Pure Idea's of the Mind it often applied it self more to the Manner than the Thing it self We spoke of it in the Second because in treating of the Delicacy of the Fibers of the Brain we show'd whence the Softness of certain Effeminate Minds did proceed Finally We spoke of it in the Third in mentioning of the Attention of the Mind when we were about proving that our Soul had but little Attention to Things that were meerly Speculative but a great deal more to such as affect it and make it Sensible of Pleasure or Grief Our Errors have commonly several Causes which contribute all to their Rise So that we must not imagine that it is for want of Order that we sometimes repeat almost the same things and that we impute several Causes to the same Errors it is because there are really many I speak still of occasional Causes for we have often declar'd that there are no other Real and True but the ill use of our Liberty which we do not always make use of so much as we might as we have explain'd at the beginning of this Work No body ought to blame us if in order to make Men plainly conceive how for Example the Sensible Manner in which things are cover'd does Surprise and makes us liable to fall into Error we have been oblig'd to say before-hand in the other Books that we had an Inclination for Pleasures which seems necessary to be repeated in this which treats of Natural Inclinations and the same of some other things in other places All the Harm it will occasion is that there will be no necessity to say many things here which we should have been oblig'd to explain if it had not been done elsewhere All things that are in Man are so dependant on one another that we find our selves often overwhelm'd under the number of things we are to treat of at one and the same time to explain perfectly what we conceive We are sometimes necessitated not to divide things that are joyn'd by Nature one to another and to proceed contrary to the order we had prescrib'd when that order occasions nothing but Confusion as it happens of necessity on some occasions Yet for all this it is impossible to give others an Idea of all we think of All that we can commonly pretend to is to put others in a way to discover with Pleasure and Ease what we have discover'd with great Labour and Pains And whereas it is Impossible to discover any thing without Attention we must particularly study the Means to make others Attentive 'T is what we have endeavour'd to do though we acknowledge we have perform'd it weakly and we own our Faults the more willingly to the end that the said Confession may excite those who shall read this to render themselves Attentive of their own accord in order to remedy the same and to penetrate to the bottom of these Subjects which without doubt deserve to be well consider'd The Errors into which the Inclination we have for Pleasure and generally for all things that affect us engage us are Infinite because the said Inclination dissipates the Sight of the Mind and it applies it continually on the confus'd Idea's of the Senses and the Imagination and it inclines us to judge of all things rashly by the bare relation they have to us I. How it hinders us from discovering Truth We never see Truth until we see things as they are and we never see them as they are unless we see them in him that contains them after an Intelligible manner When we see things our selves we only see them very Imperfectly or rather we only see our own Sentiments and not the Things we are desirous to see and which we falsely imagine we do see It requires a great deal of Application to see things as they are in themselves because it is now impossible for Man to unite himself to God without Pain and Labour To see things in our selves requires no Application on our part since we feel what touches us even against our Will Naturally we find no anticipating Pleasure in the Union we have with God the pure Idea's of things do not move us Therefore the Inclination we have for Pleasure does neither apply nor unite us to God on the contrary it weans and removes us from him For that Inclination induces us continually to consider things by their Sensible Idea's because those False and Impure Idea's affect us The Love of Pleasure and the actual Injoyment of Pleasure which revives and increases our Love for it removes us continually from Truth to cast us into Error Therefore those that are desirous to draw near to Truth to be guided by its Light must begin by laying aside Pleasure They must carefully avoid whatever affects and agreeably divides the Mind for the Senses and Passions must be silenc'd in order to hear the Word of Truth it being necessary to withdraw our Affections from the World and to condemn all Sensible Things as well for the Perfection of the Mind as for the Conversion of the Heart When our Pleasures are great when our Sentiments are lively we are not capable of the plainest Truths and we do not so much as grant common Notions unless they contain something that is Sensible When our Pleasures or other Sensations are moderate we