them which by the Efficacy of the same Law giving the Elasticity to visible Bodies oblige them to rebound and hinder them from observing it But this I ought not to explain more at length XVII Now these two Laws are so Simple so Natural and at the same time so Fruitful that though we had no other Reason to conclude they are observ'd in Nature we should be induc'd to believe them establish'd by Him who works always by the simplest Ways in whose Action there is nothing but what 's so justly uniform and wisely proportion'd to his Work that He does infinite Wonders by a very small Number of Wills XVIII It fares not so with the General Cause as with the Particular with infinite Wisdom as with limited Understandings GOD foreseeing before the Establishment of Natural Laws all that could follow from them ought not to have constituted them if He was to disannul them The Laws of Nature are constant and immutable and general for all Times and Places Two Bodies of such degrees of Magnitude and Swiftness meeting rebound so now as they did heretofore If the Rain falls upon some Grounds and the Sun scorches others if a seasonable Time for Harvest is follow'd by a destructive Hail if an Infant comes into the World with a monstrous and useless Head growing from his Breast that makes him wretched this proceeds not from the particular Wills of GOD but from the Settlement of the Laws of Communication of Motions whereof these Effects are necessary Consequences Laws at once so simple and so fruitful that they serve to produce all we see Noble in the World and even to repair in a little time the most general Barrenness and Mortality XIX He that having built an House throws one Wing of it down that he may rebuild it betrays his Ignorance and he who having planted a Vine plucks it up as soon as it has taken root manifests his Levity because he that wills and unwills wants either Knowledge or Resolution of Mind But it cannot be said that GOD acts either by this Freakishness or Ignorance when a Child comes into the World with superfluous Members that make him leave it again or that an Hail-stone breaks off a Fruit half ripe If he causes this 't is not because he wills and unwills for GOD acts not like particular Causes by particular Wills nor has he establish'd the Laws of the Communications of Motions with design to produce Monsters or to make Fruit fall before Maturity it not being their Sterility but Fecundity for which He will'd these Laws Therefore what He once will'd He still wills and the World in general for which these Laws were constituted will eternally subsist XX. 'T is here to be observ'd That the Essential Rule of the Will of GOD is Order and that if Man for example had not sinn'd a Supposition which had quite chang'd the Designs then Order not suffering him to be punish'd the Natural Laws of the Communications of Motions would never have been capable to incommodate his Felicity For the Law of Order which requires that a righteous Person should suffer nothing against his Will being Essential to GOD the Arbitrary Law of the Communication of Motions must have been necessarily subservient to it XXI There are still some uncommon Instances where these General Laws of Motions ought to cease to produce their Effect not that GOD changes or corrects His Laws but that some Miracles must happen on particular Occasions by the Order of Grace which ought to supersede the Order of Nature Besides 't is fit Men should know that GOD is so Master of Nature that if He submits it to His Laws establish'd 't is rather because He wills it so than by an absolute Necessity XXII If then it be true that the General Cause ought not to produce His Work by particular Wills and that GOD ought to settle certain constant and invariable Laws of the Communication of Motions by the Efficacy whereof He foresaw the World might subsist in the State we find it in one Sense it may be most truly said that GOD desires all his Creatures should be perfect that He wills not the Abortion of Children nor loves monstrous Productions nor has made the Laws of Nature with design of causing them and that if it were possible by ways so simple to make and preserve a perfecter World He would never have establish'd those Laws whereof so great a Number of Monsters are the necessary Results But that it would have been unworthy His Wisdom to multiply His Wills to prevent some particular Disorders which by their Diversity make a kind of Beauty in the Universe XXIII GOD has given to every Seed a Cicatricle which contains in Miniature the Plant and Fruit another Cicatricle adjoining to the former which contains the Root of the Plant which Root contains another Root still whose imperceptible Branches expand themselves into the two Lobes or Meal of the Seed Does not this manifest that in one most real Sense He designs all Seeds should produce their like For why should He have given to those Grains of Corn He design'd should be barren all the Parts requisite to render them Fecund Nevertheless Rain being necessary to make them thrive and this falling on the Earth by General Laws which distribute it not precisely on well manur'd Grounds and in the fittest Seasons all these Grains come not to good or if they do the Hail or some other mischievous Accident which is a Necessary Consequence of these same Natural Laws prevents their earing Now GOD having constituted these Laws might be said to will the Fecundity of some Seeds rather than others if we did not otherwise know that it not becoming a General Cause to work by Particular Wills nor an infinitely wise Being by Complicated Ways GOD ought not to take other Measures than He has done for the Regulating the Rains according to Time and Place or by the Desire of the Husbandman Thus much is suffiâ—ient for the Order of Nature Let us explain that of Grace a little more at large and especially remember that 't is the same Wisdom and the same Will in a word the same GOD who has establish'd them both PART II. Of the Necessity of the General Laws of GRACE XXIV GOD loving Himself by the Necessity of His Being and willing to procure an Infinite Glory and Honour on all Hands worthy of himself consults His Wisdom for the accomplishing His Desires This Divine Wisdom fill'd with Love for Him from whom He receives His Being by an Eternal and Ineffable Generation seeing nothing in all possible Creatures worthy of the Majesty of His Father offers Himself to establish to His Honour an Eternal Worship and to present Him as High Priest a Sacrifice which through the Dignity of His Person should be capable of contenting Him He represents to Him infinite Models for the Temple to be rais'd to His Glory and at the same time all possible Ways to execute His Designs
since it rather respects Morals and Politicks than our Subject And whereas this Inclination is always accompany'd with the Passions it might perhaps be more appositly treated of in the next Book But 't is not of so great concern to be so nicely methodical in this Case That we may rightly comprehend the Cause and Effects of this Natural Inclination it is requisite to know that GOD loves all his Works and that he strictly unites them to one another for their mutual Preservation For Loving incessantly the Works he produces it being his Love that produces them he also continually impresses on our Heart a Love for his Works that is he produces constantly in our Heart a Love like his own And to the intent the Natural Love we have for our selves might not swallow up or too much infringe upon that which we have for exteriour things but on the contrary that these two Loves which GOD puts in us might cherish and strengthen each other he has so artfully united us with all things about us and especially with those Beings of the same Species as our selves that their Evils naturally afflict us their Joy rejoyces us their Rise their Fall or Diminution seem to augment or diminish respectively our own Being The new Honours of our Relations or Friends the fresh Atchievements of those who have the nearest Engagements to us The Conquests and Victories of our Prince and even the late Discoveries of the New World give as it were an additional growth to our Substance Belonging to all these things we rejoyce at their Grandure and Extent We gladly would that even the World was without Bounds and that Notion of some Philosophers that the Works of GOD are infinite not only seems worthy of GOD but most agreeable to Man who can conceive nothing nobler than the being a part of Infinity whilst as inconsiderable as he is in himself he fancies he feels himself infinitely enlarg'd by an expansion of Thought into the infinite Beings that surround him 'T is true the Union we have with all those Bodies that rowl in the vast spaces is not very binding and consequently insensible to the greatest part of Men and there are some who interess themselves so little in the Discoveries made in the Heavens that one would think they had no natural Union to them did we not know that it was for want of Knowledge or for their too applicative Adherencies to other things The Soul though united to the Body which she animates is not always sensible of the Motions that occur in it or if she be yet she does not always actually consider them The Passion whereby she 's acted being often greater than the Sensation wherewith she 's affected makes her seem to have a stricter Adherence to the Object of her Passion than to her own Body For 't is chiefly by the Passions that the Soul expands her self abroad and finds she is actually related to all surrounding Beings as it is especially by Sensation that she expands through her own Body and finds she is united to all the Parts that compose it But as we are not to conclude that the Soul of a Man in a Passion is not united to his Body because he exposes himself to Death and is unconcern'd for his own Preservation so it ought not to be imagin'd we are not naturally engag'd to all things because there are some we are not at all concern'd for Would you know for instance whether Men have any Adhesions to their Prince or their Country Enquire out such as are acquainted with the Interests of them and have no particular Engagements of their own to take them up and you will then see how earnest they are for News how impatient to hear of Battels how joyful for a Victory and how melancholy upon a Defeat And this will convince you how strictly Men are united to their Prince and their Country In like manner would you know whether Men are united to China Japan the Planets or Fix'd Stars Enquire out or only imagine to your self some whose Country or Family enjoy a settl'd Peace who have no particular Passions and that are not actually sensible of the Union that binds them to nearer Objects than the Heavens and you will find if they have any Knowledge of the Magnitude and Nature of these Stars they will rejoyce at the Discovery of any of them will consider them with Pleasure and if they have Art enough will willingly be at the pains of observing and calculating their Motions Such as are in the hurry of Business have little Curiosity for the Appearance of a Comet or the Incidence of an Eclipse but Men that have no such Dependencies to nearer things find themselves considerable Employment about such Events because indeed there is nothing but what we are united to though we have not always the Sense of this Union as a Man does not always feel the Soul united I don't say to his Arm or Hand but to his Heart and Brain The strongest Natural Union which GOD has establish'd between us and his Works is that which cements and binds us to our Fellow-Brethren Men. GOD has commanded us to love them as our Second-selves and to the end that Elective Love with which we prosecute them might be resolute and constant he supports and strengthens it continually with a Natural Love which he impresses on us and for that purpose has given us some invisible Bonds which bind and oblige us necessarily to love them to be watchful for their as our own Preservation to regard them as parts necessary to the whole which we constitute together with them and without which we could not subsist There is nothing more admirably contriv'd than those Natural Correspondencies observable between the Inclinations of Men's Minds between the Motions of their Bodies and again between these Inclinations and these Motions All this secret Chain-work is a Miracle which can never be sufficiently admir'd nor can ever be understood Upon the Sense of some sudden surprizing Evil or which a Man finds as it were too strong for him to overcome by his own Strength he raises suppose a loud Cry This Cry forc'd out frequently without thinking on it by the disposition of the Machine strikes infallibly into the Ears of those who are near enough to afford the Assistance that is wanted It pierces them and makes them understand it let them be of what Nation or Quality soever for 't is a Cry of all Nations and all Conditions as indeed it ought to be It makes a Commotion in the Brain and instantly changes the whole Disposition of Body in those that are struck with it and makes them run to give succour without so much as knowing it But it is not long before it acts upon their Mind and obliges their Will to desire and their Understanding to contrive means of assisting him who made that Natural Petition provided always that urgent Petition or rather Command be just and according
Concupiscence is what we call Original Sin in Infants and Actual Sin in Men that have liberty of Acting It only seems as if one might conclude from the Principles I have establish'd a thing repugnant to Experience to wit that the Mother must always communicate to her Infant Habits and Inclinations like those she has her self and the facility of Imagining and learning the same things she understands For all these things depend only as have been said on the Traces and Impresses of the Brain And it is certain that the Traces and Impresses of the Mother's Brain are communicated to her Children This has been Experimentally prov'd by the Instances that have been related concerning Men and has been farther confirm'd from the Example of Animals whose young ones have their Brain fill'd with the same Impresses as those they proceeded from Which is the Reason that all those of the same Species have the same Voice the same way of moving their Limbs in short the same Stratagems for seizing their Prey and of defending themselves against their Enemies From hence it must follow that since all the Traces of the Mother are engraven and imprinted on the Brain of the Child the Child must be born with the same Habits and the other Qualities of the Mother And also must preserve them generally through the course of his Life since the Habits which have been contracted in our more tender Age are more lasting than the other which notwithstanding contradicts Experience In Answer to this Objection we must understand that there are two kinds of Traces in the Brain The one Natural or peculiar to the Nature of Man the other Acquired The Natural are Extraordinary deep and 't is impossible they should be quite effaced The Acquired on the contrary may be easily lost because ordinarily they are not so deep Now though the Natural and Acquired differ only in Degree of more or less and often the former are less forcible than the latter since we daily accustom Animals to the doing those things which are quite contrary to those their Natural Traces lead them to A Dog for instance has been train'd up not to touch the Bread before him and not to pursue a Partridge which he is in scent and sight of Yet there is this Difference between these Traces that the Natural are as one may say connected with imperceptible Ties to the other parts of our Body For all the Wheels and Contrivances of our Machine are assistant to each other to their continuing in their Natural state All the parts of our Body mutually contribute to all things necessary to the Preservation or Restauration of these Natural Traces thus they can never be wholly abolish'd and they begin to revive again when we thought them quite destroy'd On the contrary the Acquired Traces though greater and deeper and stronger than the Natural are lost and vanish by degrees unless care be taken to preserve them by a perpetual application of the Causes which produce them because the other parts of the Body lend no assistance to their Preservation but contrariwise continually labour to expunge and blot them out We may compare these Traces to the ordinary wounds of a Body they are hurts which our Brain has receiv'd which close up of themselves as other wounds do by the Admirable Construction of the Machine As then there is nothing in the whole Body but what is friendly and conformable to these Natural Traces they are delivered down to the Children in all their force and strength Thus Parrots breed their young with the same cries and the same Natural Notes with themselves But because the Acquired Traces are only in the Brain and make no Radiations into the rest of the Body or very little as suppose when they are imprest on it by the Motions which accompany violent Passions they ought not to be transmitted to their Infants Thus a Parrot who bids his Master Good Morrow and Good Night produces not a Young one so expert as himself nor do Men of Sense and Learning beget Children answerable to their Fathers So that though it be true that all that happens in the Mother's Brain happens likewise at the same time in the Brain of her Infant and that the Mother can neither see nor feel nor imagine but the Infant must see and feel and imagine the same thing And lastly that all the illegitimate Traces of the Mother Corrupt the Imagination of the Child yet these Traces being not Natural in the Sense we have just explain'd it 't is no wonder if they usually close up as soon as the Child proceeds from the Mother 's Womb. For then the Cause which delineated these Traces and fed and nourish'd them subsists no longer the Natural Constitution of the whole Body lends an hand to their Destruction and Sensible Objects produce a new Set extraordinary deep and numerous which efface the greatest part of those the Child had in its Mother 's Womb. For it daily happening that a great Pain makes us forgetful of those that have preceded it 't is not imaginable but such lively Sensations as are those of Infants when first the delicate Organs of their Senses receive the Impressions of External objects must destroy the greatest part of those Traces which they only receiv'd before from the same Objects by a kind of rebound from their Mother when they lay as it were sheltred from them by the inclosing of the Womb. Notwithstanding when these Traces are form'd upon a strong Passion and are accompany'd with a most violent Agitation of the Blood and Spirits in the Mother they act so forcibly on the Brain of the Child and the rest of its Body as to imprint therein Characters as deep and durable as the Natural Traces As in the instance of Sir Kenelm Digby in that of the Child who was born an Ideot and a Cripple in whose Brain and all his Members such ravage was made by the Imagination of the Mother and lastly in the instance of the general Corruption of the Nature of Mankind And we need not wonder that the King of England's Children were not subject to the same Infirmity as their Father First Because this sort of Traces diffuse not their Impression so far into the Body as the Natural Secondly Because the Mother having not the same Infirmity as the Father by her good Constitution prevented its descending to her Children And lastly Because the Mother acts infinitely more on the Brain of the Child than the Father as is evident from what has been already said But it must be observ'd That all these Reasons which shew that King James's Children might escape the Infirmity of their Father make nothing against the Explication of Original Sin or of that predominant Inclination towards things sensible nor of that great Alienation from GOD which we derive from our Parents because the Traces which sensible Objects have imprinted on the Brain of the first Founders of Mankind were stamp'd extreamly deep were
Oriental Tongues gives them a wonderful Lift and Exaltation above others that know nothing of them and what can bear up their Courage under so ungrateful unpleasant painful and useless a Study but the hope of Eminency and the prospect of some vain Greatness And indeed they are look'd upon as extraordinary Men they are complemented upon their profound Learning they are more awfully listned to than others and though we may for the most part pronounce them the most injudicious of all if it were only for wasting their Life on so insignificant a Business which can neither make them wiser nor happier yet they are suppos'd to have greater Sense and Judgment than others Because they are more knowing in the Derivation of Words we think them more learn'd in the Nature of Things 'T is for the same Reason that Astronomers employ their Time and Fortune to get an accurate Knowledge of what 's not only useless but impossible to be known They would find in the Courses of the Planets such an exact Regularity as does not belong to them and erect Astronomical Schemes to foretel Effects the Causes whereof they do not know They have fram'd a Selenography or Geography of the Moon as if Men design'd to travel thither and have already shar'd that World amongst the most famous Astronomers few of them but are awarded some Province in this Country as a Recompence for their Labours And I question whether they think it not a piece of Honour to have been in the good Graces of him who so magnificently distributed these Kingdoms What makes Rational Men so hot in the Study of this Science whilst at the same time they are grosly ignorant as to most useful Truths but that there seems to be something great in the Knowledge of Heavenly Transactions The Knowledge of the least thing happening in the Upper World seems more Noble Sublime and befitting the Greatness of their Mind than the Knowledge of things vile abject and corruptible as they think Sublunary Bodies The Excellency of a Science derives from the Excellency of its Object This is a notable Principle The Knowledge of the Motion of Inchangeable and Incorruptible Bodies is therefore most noble and elevated of all other and as such seems worthy of the Greatness and Excellency of their Mind Thus it is Men suffer themselves to be dazled with a false Idea of Greatness which flatters and excites them The Imagination struck falls down before the Phantom which it reverences to the blinding Reason that should judge of it and turning it upside down Men seem to be in a Dream when they judge of the Objects of their Passions to have their Eyes seal'd up and to be destitute of common Sense For what is there of so great Importance in the Knowledge of the Motions of the Planets Don't we know enough already to regulate our Months and Years Why so much ado to know whether Saturn is incircled with a Ring or a great multitude of Little Moons and why must we make Parties hereupon What Reason is there for a Man to boast himself upon the Prediction of the Greatness of an Eclipse when possibly the Success was owing only to a luckier Guess There are Men appointed and encourag'd by the Royal Order to observe the Stars let us sit down content with their Observations This Employment they follow with Reason because they engage in it by Duty It is their proper Business and therefore their Labours are successful as grounded upon Art and carried on with all imaginable Accuracy and Application and they want nothing to promote their Endeavours Thus we ought to be fully satisfy'd as to a Maâ—ter that concerns us so little whilst they communicate to us their Discoveries 'T is requisite that many Persons study Anatomy since its Knowledge is exceeding useful that Knowledge being most to be desir'd which has most Use and Advantage Whatever contributes any thing to our Happiness or rather to the easing our Infirmities and mitigating our Miseries may and must be studied But to be prying whole Nights at the end of a Telescope to discover in the Heavens some Spot or new Planet or other to ruin a Man's Health and Happiness to neglect all his Business that he may pay constant Visits to the Stars and measure their Magnitudes and Situations is in my mind entirely to forget both what a Man is at present and what he shall be hereafter But you 'll say perhaps that this manifests the Greatness of him who made these mighty Objects To which I say That the least Fly shews forth the Power and Wisdom of GOD to those who attentively consider it without prejudice to its Littleness more than all that the Astronomers know concerning the Heavens Yet Men are not made to consider Flies and we think their pains but ill employ'd who have studied to inform us how the several Lice of every respective Animal are made and how different Worms are transform'd into Flies and Butter-flies They may if they please for their diversion when they have nothing else to do busie themselves about these things but they ought not to spend their whole time upon them unless they are become insensible to their miseries But it lies upon them to be incessantly endeavouring to know GOD and themselves to labour seriously to get rid of their Errours and Prejudices of their Passions and Inclinations to Sin to be importunate in the search of Truths most needful for them for at last those shall be found to be most judicious who are most careful in the Enquiry after the solidest Truths The principal Cause which engages Men in these false Studies is their having conjoin'd the Idea of Learned to these vain and unfruitful Sciences instead of annexing it to the solid and necessary When once a Man has the Thoughts of growing Learned in his Head and the Spirit of Polimathy begins to work he is little concern'd to know what Sciences are most necessary either to guide him by the Rules of Vertue or to perfect his Reason he only fixes his Eye on such as go for the Learned in the World and observes what they have in them that makes them so considerable All the most solid and necessary Sciences being of common and easie access can neither make their Possessors admir'd nor respected for common things however fine and admirable in themselves are carelesly and supinely regarded which makes the Pretenders to Learning dwell but little on Sciences necessary to the Conduct of Life and the Perfection of the Mind For these raise not in them that Idea of the Sciences which they had form'd as not being those they admir'd in others and which they would have others to admire in them The Gospel and Morality are Sciences too common and ordinary for them they love to be skill'd in the Criticisms of some words to be met with in the Ancient Philosophers or Greek Poets The Tongues as Arabick and Rabbinage and all except their genuine native
have it so and consequently HE whose essential and necessary Will is always conformable to ORDER Which Will remaining immutably the same the Establish'd Order was subverted by the first Man's Disobedience because for the demerits of his Sin it was consonant to Order that he should be Lord of nothing It is not reasonable that the Sinner should suspend the Communication of Motions that the Will of God should conform to his or that any exceptions should be made to the Law of Nature on his Behalf In so much that Man is subject to Concupiscence his Mind depends on his Body he feels in himself indeliberate Pleasures and involuntary and rebellious Motions pursuant to that most just and exact Law which unites the two Parts of which he is compos'd Thus the formal Reason of Concupiscence no less than that of Sin is nothing real and positive being no more in Man than the loss of the Power he had to wave and suspend to the Communication of Motions on some occasions Nor are we to admit any positive Will in God to produce it For this loss which Man has sustain'd was not a consequence of Order or of the immutable Will of God which never swerves from it and is constantly the same but only a consequence of Sin which has rendred Man unworthy of an Advantage due only to his Innocence and Uprightness Wherefore we may say that not God but Sin only has been the Cause of Concupiscence Nevertheless God Works all that is Real and Positive in the Sensations and Motions of Concupiscence for God does every thing but all that has nothing of Evil. 'T is by the general Law of Nature that is by the Will of God that sensible Objects produce in Man's Body certain Motions and that these Motions raise in the Soul certain Sensations useful to the preservation of the Body or the Porpagation of the Species Who then dare presume to say these things are not good in themselves I know it is said that Sin is the Cause of certain Pleasures But do they that say it conceive it Can it be thought that Sin which is nothing should actually produce something Can nothing be suppos'd to be a real Cause However 't is so said but possibly for want of taking due pains of seriously considering what they say or because they are unwilling to enter on an Explication that is contrary to the Discourses they have heard from Men who it may be talk with more Gravity and Assurance than Reflexion and Knowledge Sin is the Cause of Concupiscence but not of Pleasure as Free Will is the Cause of Sin though not of the natural Motion of the Soul The Pleasure of the Soul is good as well as its Motion or Love and there is nothing good but what God does The Rebellion of the Body and the guilt of Pleasure proceed from Sin As the Adherency of the Soul to a particular Good or its Rest proceeds from the Sinner But these are only Privations and Nothings whereof the Creature is capable Every Pleasure is Good and likewise in some measure makes happy the Possessour at least for the time of the Enjoyment But it may be said to be evil because instead of elevating the Mind to Him that is the true Cause of it through the Errour of our Intellectual and corruption of our Moral Part it prostrates it before sensible Objects that only seem to produce it Again it is evil in as much as it is Injustice in us who are Sinners and consequently meriting rather to be punish'd than rewarded to oblige God pursuant to his Primitive Will to recompense us with pleasant Sensations In a word not to repeat here what I have said in other places it is evil because God at present forbids it by Reason of its alienating the Mind from himself for whom he hath made and preserves it For that which was ordain'd by God to preserve Righteous Man in his Innocence now fixes sinful Man in his Sin and the Sensations of Pleasure which he wisely establish'd as the easiest and most obvious Expedients to teach Man without calling off his Reason from his true Good whether he ought to unite himself with the invironing Bodies at present fill the Capacity of his Mind and fasten him on Objects incapable of acting in him and infinitely below him because he looks upon these Objects to be the true Causes of the Happiness he enjoys occasionally from them THE SECOND ILLUSTRATION UPON THE First CHAPTER of the First BOOK Where I say That the Will cannot diversly determine its Propensity to Good but by commanding the Vnderstanding to represent to it some particular Object IT must not be imagin'd that the Will commands the Understanding any other Way than by its Desires and Motions there being no other Action of the Will nor must it be believ'd that the Understanding obeys the Will by producing in it self the Ideas of Things which the Soul desires for the Understanding acts not at all but only receives Light or the Ideas of Things through its necessary Union with Him who comprehends all Beings in an intelligible manner as is explain'd in the Third Book Here then is all the Mystery Man participates of the Sovereign Reason and Truth displays it self to him proportionably to his Application and his praying to it Now the Desire of the Soul is a Natural Prayer that is always heard it being a natural Law that Ideas should be so much readier and more present to the Mind as the Will is more earnest in desiring them Thus provided our Thinking Capacity or Understanding be not clogg'd and fill'd up by the confus'd Sensations we receive occasionally from the Motions occurring in our Body we should no sooner desire to think on any Object but its Idea would be always present to our Mind which Idea Experience witnessing is so much more present and clear as our Desire is more importunate and our confus'd Sensations furnish'd to us by the Body less forcible and applicative as I have said in the foregoing Illustration Therefore in saying that the Will commands the Understanding to represent to it some particular Object I meant no more than that the Soul willing to consider that Object with Attention draws near it by her Desire because this Desire consequently to the efficacious Wills of God which are the inviolable Laws of Nature is the Cause of the Presence and Clearness of the Idea that represents the Object I could not at that time speak otherwise than I did nor explain my self as I do at present as having not yet prov'd God the sole Author of our Ideas and our particular Volitions only the occasional Causes of them I spoke according to the common Opinion as I have been frequently oblig'd to do because all cannot be said at once The Reader ought to be equitable and give Credit for some time if he would have Satisfaction for none but Geometricians pay always down in hand THE ILLUSTRATION UPON THE
brought of their Existence MEN are commonly perfectly ignorant of what they presume best to understand and have a good Knowledge of other things whilst they imagine they have not so much as their Ideas When their Senses have to do in their Judgments they submit to what they do not comprehend at least to what they know but imperfectly and confusedly And when their Ideas are purely intellectual give me leave to use such Expressions they will hardly admit undeniable Demonstrations What Notion for Instance have the generality of Men when we prove to them most of Metaphysical Truths when we demonstrate the Existence of a God the Efficacy of his Will the Immutability of his Decrees That there is but one God or true Cause that works all in all things but one Supreme Reason which all Intelligent Beings participate but one necessary Love which is the Principle of all created Wills They think we pronounce Words without Sense that we have no Ideas of the things advanc'd and that we had better say nothing Metaphysical Truths and Arguments are not of a sensible Nature they have nothing moving and affecting and consequently leave not Conviction behind them Nevertheless abstract Ideas are certainly the most distinct and Metaphysical Truths the most clear and evident of all other Men sometimes say they have no Idea of God nor any Knowledge of his Will and commonly believe too what they say but 't is for want of knowing what they know it may be best For where 's the Man that hesitates in answering to the Question Whether God is Wise Just or Powerful Whether he is Divisible Triangular Movable or subject to any kind of Change whatever Whereas we cannot answer without scruple and fear of being mistaken whether certain Qualities do or do not belong to a Subject which we have no Idea of So again Who is it dares say that God acts not by the most simple Means That he is irregular in his Designs That he makes Monsters by a positive direct and particular Will and not by a kind of Necessity In a word That his Will is or may be contrary to ORDER whereof every Man knows something more or less But if a Man had no Idea of the Will of GOD he might at least doubt whether he acted according to certain Laws which he clearly conceives he is obliged to follow on Supposition HE will act Men therefore have the Ideas of things purely Intelligible which Ideas are much clearer than those of sensible Objects They are better assured of the Existence of a God than of that of Bodies and when they retire into themselves they more clearly discover certain Wills of God by which he produces and preserves all Beings than those of their best Friends or whom they have studied all their Lives For the Union of their Mind with God and that of their Will with his that is with the Law Eternal or Immutable Order is immediate direct and necessary whereas their Union with sensible Objects being founded only for the Preservation of their Life and Health gives them no Knowledge of these Objects but as they relate to that Design 'T is this immediate and direct Union which is not known says St. Austin but by those whose Mind is purified that enlightens our most secret Reason and exhorts and moves us in the inmost Recesses of our Heart By this we learn both the Thoughts and the Wills of God that is Eternal Truths and Laws For no one can doubt but we know some of them with Evidence But our Union with our choicest Friends teaches us not evidently either what they think or what they will We think we know right well but we are most commonly mistaken because we receive our Information only from their Lips Nor can our Union which we have through our Senses with circumambient Bodies instruct us For the Testimony of the Senses is never exactly true but commonly every way false as I have made appear in this Treatise and 't is for that Reason I say 't is an harder thing than is believ'd to prove positively the Existence of Bodies though our Senses tell us they exist because Reason does not so readily inform us as we imagine and it must be most attentively consulted to give us a clear Resolve But as Men are more Sensible than Reasonable so they more willingly listen to the Verdict of the Senses than the Testimony of internal Truth and because they have always consulted their Eyes to be assur'd of the Existence of Matter without troubling their Heads to advise with their Reason they are surpriz'd to hear it said it is hard to demonstrate it They think they need but open their Eyes to see that there are Bodies but if this does not take away all suspition of Illusion they believe it abundantly sufficient to come near and handle them after which they can hardly conceive we can have any possible Reasons to make us doubt of their Existence But if we believe our Eyes they 'll tell us that Colours are laid upon the surface of Bodies and Light diffus'd in the Air and Sun our Ears make us hear Sounds as undulated in the Air and ecchoing from the ringing Bodies and if we credit the Report of the other Senses Heat will be in the Fire Sweetness in the Sugar Odour in Musk and all sensible Qualities in the Bodies which seem to exhale or disperse them And yet it is certain from the Reasons I have given in the First Book concerning the Search after Truth that these Qualities are not out of the Soul that feels them at least it is not evident they are in the Bodies that are about us What Reason therefore is there from the Reports of our always-treacherous and delusive Senses to conclude there are actually Bodies without us and that they are like those we see I mean those which are the immediate Object of our Soul when we behold them with bodily Eyes Certainly this does not want Difficulty whatever may be said of it Farther If the Existence of any Body may be certainly prov'd upon the Testimony of our Senses none could have better Pretence than That to which the Soul is immediately united The liveliest Sensation and that which seems to have the most necessary relation to an actually-existing Body is Pain And yet it often happens that those who have lost an Arm feel most violent Pains in it long after it has been cut off They know well enough they want it when they consult their Memory or only look upon their Body but the Sense of Pain deceives them And if as it often happens they be suppos'd to have quite forgotten what formerly they were and to have no other Senses left them than that whereby they feel Pain in their imaginary Arm certainly they could not be convinc'd but that they had an Arm in which they felt so violent torment There have been those who have believ'd they had Horns on their Heads others who have
by these Sensations what he ought to do for the preservation of his Life But he was never willing to be perturbated by them in spight of his VVill. For that 's a Contradiction Moreover when he desir'd to apply himself to the contemplation of Truth without any distraction of Thought his Senses and his Passions kept an intire Silence Order would it should be so for that 's a necessary sequel of that absolute power he had over his Body I answer secondly that it is not true that the Pleasure of the Soul is the same thing with its Motion and its Love Pleasure and Love are modes of the Souls Existence But Pleasure has no necessary relation to the object that seems to cause it and Love is necessarily related unto Good Pleasure is to the Soul what Figure is to Body and Motion is to Body what Love is to the Soul But the Motion of a Body is very different from its Figure I grant that the Soul which has a constant Propeâ—sity to Good advances as I may say more readily towards it when instigated by a sense of Pleasure that when discourag'd by her suffering Pain as a Body when driven runs easier along if it have a Spherical than if it have a Cubical Figure But the figure of a Body differs from its Motion and it may be Spherical and yet remain at rest 'T is true in this case it goes not with Spirits as with Bodies those cannot feel a Pleasure but they must be in motion because God who only makes and preserves them for himself drives them perpetually on towards good But that does not prove that the pleasure of the Soul is the same thing as its Motion For two things though differing from each other may yet be always found inseparably together I answer lastly that although pleasure were not different from the Love or Motion of the Soul yet that which the first Man felt in the use of the goods of the Body did not incline him to the Loving Bodies 'T is true Pleasure carries the Soul towards the object that causes it in her But it is not the Fruit that we eat with Pleasure which causes the Pleasure in us Not Bodies but God only can act upon the Soul and in any manner make it happy And we are in an Error to think that Bodies have in them what we feel occasionally from their presence Adam before his Sin being not so stupid as to imagine that Bodies were the causes of his Pleasures was not carry'd to the love of them by the motions that accompany'd his Pleasures If pleasure contributed to the fall of the first Man it was not by working in him what at present it does in us But only by filling up or dividing his capacity of Thought it effac'd or diminish'd in his Mind the presence of his true good and of his Duty OBJECTION against the sixth Article What likelyhood is there that the immutable Will of God had a dependance on the will of Man and that on Adam's behalf there were exceptions made to the general Law of the Communication of Motions ANSWER At least it is not evident but such exception might be made now it is evident that immutable order requires the subjection of the Body to the Mind and 't is a contradiction for God not to love and will order for God necessarily loves his Son Therefore it was necessary before the Sin of the first Man that exceptions should be made in his favour to the general Law of the Communication of Motions This seems it may be of a too abstracted nature Here then is somewhat of a more sensible kind Man though a Sinner has the power of moving and stopping his Arm when he pleases Therefore according to the different Volitions of Man the Animal Spirits are determin'd to the raising or stopping some Motions in his Body which certainly cannot be perform'd by the general Law of the Communication of Motions If then the will of God be still submitted to our own why might it not be submitted to the will of Adam If for the good of the Body and of civil Society God stops the communication of motions in Sinners why would he not do the like in favour of a Righteous Man for the good of his Soul and for the preservation of the Union and Society with his God for whom only he was made As God will have no Society with Sinners so after the Sin he depriv'd them of the power they had to sequester themselves as it were from the Body to unite themselves with him But he has left them the Power of stopping or changing the communication of Motions with reference to the preservation of Life and of Civil Society Because he was not willing to destroy his Work having before the construction of it decreed according to St. Paul to re-establish and renew it in Jesus Christ. OBJECTION against the Seventh Article Man in his present state conveys his Body all manner of ways he moves at pleasure all the parts of it which are necessary to be mov'd for the prosecution and shunning of sensible good and evil and consequently he stops or changes every moment the natural communication of motions not only for trifles and things of little importance but also for things useless to Life and civil Society and even for Crimes which violate Society shorten Life and dishonour God all manner of ways God wills order it is true But will order have the laws of motions violated for the sake of Evil and kept inviolable on the account of Good Why must Man lose the power of stopping the motions which sensible objects produce in his Body since these Motions keep him from doing good from repairing to God and returning to his duty and yet retain the power of doing so much evil by his Tongue and his Arm and other parts of his Body whose motions depend upon his will ANSWER To the answering this Objection it must be consider'd that Man having sin'd ought to have return'd to his Original nothing For being no longer in Order nor able to retrieve it he ought to cease to Exist God loves only order the Sinner is not in order and therefore not in the Love of God The Sinner therefore cannot subsist since the subsistence of Creatures depends on the will of the Creator but he wills not that they should exist if he does not love them The Sinner cannot by himself regain lost order because he cannot justifie himself and all that he can suffer cannot atone for his offence He must then be reduc'd to nothing But as it is unreasonable to think that God makes a Work to annihilate it or to let it fall into a state worse than annihilation 't is evident that God would not have made Man nor permitted his Sin which he foresaw unless he had had in view the Incarnation of his Son in whom all things subsist and by whom the Universe receives a Beauty a Perfection
but acts always by the simplest Ways and for that Reason he makes use of the Collision of Bodies in giving them Motion Not that this Collision is absolutely necessary to it as our Senses tell us but that being the Occasion of the Communication of Motions there need be but very few Natural Laws to produce all the admirable Effects we see For by this means we may reduce all the Laws of the Communication of Motions to one Viz. That percutient Bodies being considered as but one at the Moment of their Contact or Collision the moving Force is divided between them at their Separation according to the Proportion of their Magnitude But whereas concurrent Bodies are surrounded with infinite others which act upon them by Virtue and Efficacy of this Law however constant and uniform this Law be it produces a World of quite different Communications because it acts upon infinite Bodies which are all related to one another It is necessary to Water a Plant to make it grow because by the Laws of the Communication of Motions hardly any other than Watry Particles can by their Motion and by reason of their Figure insinuate and Wind up themselves into the Fibres of Plants and by variously fastning and combining together take the Figure that 's necessary to their Nourishment The subtil Matter which is constantly flowing from the Sun may by its agitating the Water lift it into the Plants but it has not a competent Motion to raise gross Earthy Particles Yet Earth and Air too are necessary to the Growth of Plants Earth to preserve the Water at their Root and Air to give this Water a Moderate Fermentation But the Action of the Sun the Air and Water consisting but in the Motion of their Parts in proper speaking GOD is the only Agent For as I have said there is none but He that can by the efficacy of his Will and by the Infinite Extent of his Knowledge cause and regulate those infinitely infinite Communications of Motions which are made every moment and in a Proportion infinitely exact and regular ARGUMENT IV. Can God resist and Fight against Himself Bodies justle strike and resist one another therefore Gods Acts not in them unless it be by his concourse For if it were he only that produc'd and preserv'd Motion in Bodies he would take care to divert them before the Collision as knowing well that they are impenetrable To what purpose are Bodies driven to be beaten back again why must they proceed to recoil Or what signifies it to produce and Preserve useless Motions Is it not an Absurdity to say that God impugns himself and that He destroys his Works when a Bull fights with a Lyon when a Wolf devours a Sheep and a Sheep eats the Grass which God makes to grow Therefore there are Second Causes ANSWER Therefore Second Causes do all and God does nothing at all For God cannot act against himself but Concourse is Action The concurring to contrary Actions is giving contrary Concourse and consequently doing contrary Actions To concur with the Action of Creatures that resist each other is to Act against himself To concur to useless Motions is to Act in vain But God does nothing needless or in vain he does no contrary Actions and therefore concurs not to the Action of Creatures that often destroy one another and makes useless Actions and Motions See where this proof of Second Causes leads us But let us see what Reason says to it God Works all in every thing and nothing resists him He Works all in all things in as much as his Will both makes and regulates all Motions And nothing resists him because he does what ever he Wills But let us see how this is to be conceiv'd Having resolv'd to produce by the simplest ways as most conformable to Order that infinite Variety of Creatures which we admire he will'd that Bodies should move in a right line because that is the most simple But Bodies being impenetrable and their Motions tending in Lines that oppose or intersect one another they must necessarily fall foul together and consequently cease moving in the same manner God foresaw this yet notwithstanding positively will'd the Collision or shock of Bodies not that he 's delighted in impugning himself but because he design'd to make use of this Collision as an Occasion for his establishing the General Law of the Communication of Motions by which he foresaw he must produce an infinite Variety of admirable Effects For I am perswaded that these two Natural Laws which are the simplest of all others Namely that All Motion tends to make it self in a right line and that in the Collision Motions are Communicated proportionably to the magnitude of the Colliding Bodies are sufficient to produce such a World as we see That is the Heaven and Stars and Planets and Comets Earth Water Air and Fire In a Word the Elements and all Unorganiz'd and inanimate Bodies For Organiz'd Bodies depend on many other Natural Laws which are perfectly unknown It may be living Bodies are not form'd like others by a determinate number of Natural Laws For there is great probability they were all form'd at the Creation of the World and that Time only gives them a necessary Growth to make them Visible to our Eyes Nevertheless it is certain they receive that Growth by the General Laws of Nature whereby all other Bodies are form'd which is the Reason that their Increase is not always Regular I say then that God by the first of Natural Laws positively Wills and consequently Causes the Collision of Bodies and afterwards imploys this Collision as an Occasion of establishing the Second Natural Law which regulates the Communication of Motions and that thus the actual Collision is the Natural or Occasional Cause of the Actual Communication of Motions If this be well consider'd it will be evidently acknowledg'd that nothing can be better Order'd But supposing that God had not so Ordain'd it and that he had diverted Bodies when ready to encounter as if there were a Vacuum to receive them First they would not be subject to that perpetual Vicissitude which makes the Beauty of the Universe For the Generation of some Bodies is perform'd by the Corruption of Others and 't is the contrariety of their Motion which produces their Variety Secondly God would not act in the most simple manner For if Bodies ready to meet should continue on their Motion without touching they must needs describe Lines curv'd in a thousand different Fashions and consequently different Wills must be admitted in God to determine their Motions Lastly if there were no Uniformity in the Action of Natural Bodies and that their Motion were not made in a right Line we should have no certain Principle for our Reasonings in natural Philosophy nor for our conduct in many Actions of our Life 'T is not a disorder that Lyons eat Wolves and that Wolves eat Sheep and Sheep grass of which God has had so
Fruit an Hundred-fold and that the Earth bringeth forth Fruits of her self first the blade then the Ear after that the full Corn in the Ear. Lastly it is written in the Book of Wisdom that the Fire had as it were forgotten it's strength to Burn in favour of the People of God It is therefore certain from the Old and New Testament that Second Causes have an Active Force ANSWER I answer that in Holy-Writ there are many Passages which ascribe to God the pretended Efficacy of Second Causes some of which are these I am the Lord that maketh ALL THINGS that stretcheth forth the Heavens ALONE that spreadeth abroad the Earth by MY SELF Thine hands have made me and fashion'd me together round about I cannot tell how you came into my Womb. It was not I that form'd the Members of every one of you But doubtless the Creator of the World who formâ—d the Generation of Man c. Seeing he giveth to Life and breath and all things He causeth Grass to grow for the Cattle and Herb for the service of Men that he may bring forth food out of the Earth There are infinite such like Passages but let these suffice When an Author seems to Contradict himself And Natural Equity or a stronger Reason obliges us to reconcile him to himself methinks we have an infallible Rule to discover his true Opinion For we need but observe when he speaks according to his own Light and when after Common Opinion When a Man Accommodates himself to the vulgar way of speaking that is no sure sign he is of their Opinion But when he says positively the contrary to what Custom Authorises though he say it but once we have Reason to conclude it his judgement provided we know he speaks seriously and with Mature deliberattion For instance when an Author speaking of the properties of Animals shall say an hundred times over that Beasts have sense that Dogs know their Master that they Love and Fear him and but in two or three places shall affirm that Beasts are insensible that Dogs are incapable of Knowledge and that they neither Love nor Fear any thing how shall we reconcile this Author to himself Must we make a Collection of all his passages for and against it and judge of his Opinion by the greater number If so I conceive there is no Man to whom for example may be attributed this Opinion That Animals have no Soul For even the Cartesians most frequently say that a Dogs feels when he is beaten and rarely it is that they affirm he does not feel And although I my self encounter a vast multitude of prejudices in this Treatise yet many passages may be gather'd from it by which unless this present Rule be admitted it may be prov'd that I confirm them all and even that I hold the Opinion of the Efficacy of Second Causes which I am now refuting or it may be it might be concluded that the Search after Truth abounds with gross and palpable contradictions as do some Persons who I fear have not Equity and penetration enough to set up for judges of the Works of others Holy Scripture and Fathers and most Religious Men speak oftner of sensible Goods Riches and Honours in the vulgar Opinion than by the true Ideas they have of them Our LORD brings in Abraham saying to the Wicked Rich Man Son thou hast receiv'd thy GOOD things in thy Life time that is to say Riches and Honour What we by prejudice call Good our Good that is Gold and Silver is stil'd in Scripture in an hundred places our Sustenance and Substance and even our honesty or that which Honours us Paupertas Honestas à Deo sunt Must these ways of speaking us'd by the Holy Scripture and the most Religious Persons make us believe that they contradict themselves or that Riches and Honours are truly our goods and worthy our Love and our Researches No doubtless Because the Modes of Speech suiting with prejudices signify nothing And that we see elsewhere that Our SAVIOUR has compar'd Riches to Thorns has told us we must renounce them that they are deceitful and that all that 's great and glorious in the World is an abomination in the sight of God Therefore we must not heap together the Passages of Scripture or the Fathers to judge of their Opinions by the greater number unless we will attribute to them every Moment the most irrational prejudices in the World This being suppos'd 't is plain that Holy Scripture says positively 't is God that makes all even to the Grass of the Field that arrays the Lillies with such Ornaments as CHRIST prefers before those of Solomon in all his Glory 'T is not only two or three but innumerable Passages that Attribute to God the pretended Efficacy of Second Causes and overthrow the Nature of the Peripateticks Besides we are inclin'd as it were by a kind of Natural prejudice not to think on God in Ordinary Effects And to attribute force and Efficacy to Second Causes for the generality none but Miraculous Effects can make us think on God as the Author and the sensible impression engages us in the Opinion of Second Causes The Philosophers hold this Opinion because say they the Senses evince it Which is their mightiest Argument Lastly this Opinion is receiv'd by all that follow the judgment of their Senses The Language is accommodated to this prejudice and 't is as commonly said That Fire has a Power to Burn as that Silver and Gold are a Man's Goods Wherefore those Passages which the Scripture or Fathers afford us for the Efficacy of Second Causes prove no more than those That an Ambitious or Covetous Person would choose for the vindication of his Behaviour But we are not to say so of those Expressions that may be brought for the proof of God's Working all in all For since this Opinion is repugnant to prejudice the Passages that assert it are to be interpreted in their utmost Rigour For the same Reason that we are to conclude it the Sentiment of a Cartesian that Beasts are Insensible though he should say it but now and then and should constantly in common Discourse say the contrary as that they Feel See and Hear In the first Chapter of Genesis God Commands the Earth to produce Plants and Animals and Orders the Waters to bring forth Fish and Consequently say the Peripateticks the Water and Earth were indu'd with a competent Virtue to produce these Effects I cannot see the certainty of this conclusion nor any necessity of admitting this consequence though we were oblig'd to explain this Chapter by it self without recourse to other passages of Scripture This method of expounding the Creation is adapted to our way of conceiving things and so there is no necessity of our taking it Literally nor ought we to lay it as a Foundation to our prejudices Since we see Animals and Plants on the Earth Fowls inhabiting the Air and Fishes
were true that God acted by particular Wills since Miracles are such only from their not happening by General Laws Therefore Miracles suppose these Laws and prove the Opinion I have establish'd But as to ordinary Effects they clearly and directly demonstrate General Laws or Wills If for Instance a Stone be dropp'd upon the Head of Passengers it will continually fall with equal speed not distinguishing the Piety or Quality or Good or Ill Disposition of those that pass If we examine any other Effect we shall see the same Constancy in the Action of the Cause of it But no Effect proves that God acts by particular Wills though Men commonly fancy God is constantly working Miracles in their Favour That way they would have God to act in being consonant to their own and indulgent to Self-love which centers all things on themselves and very proportionate to their Ignorance of the Complication of Occasional Causes which produce extraordinary Effects naturally falls into Mens Thoughts when but greenly studied in Nature and consult not with sufficient Attention the abstract Idea of an Infinite Wisdom of an Universal Cause of a Being Infinitely Perfect CONCERNING Nature and Grace DISCOURSE II. Of the Laws of GRACE in particular and of the Occasional Causes which regulate and determine their Efficacy PART I. Of the Grace of JESVS CHRIST I. SINCE none but GOD can act immediately and by himself on Minds and produce in them all the various Motions they are capable of 'T is he alone who sheds his Light within us and inspires us with certain Sensations which determine our diverse Volitions And therefore none but he can as a True Cause produce Grace in our Souls For Grace or that which is the Principle or Motive of all the Regular Motions of our Love is necessarily either a Light which instructs us or a confus'd Sensation that convinces us that God is our Good since we never begin to love an Object unless we see clearly by the Light of Reason or feel confusedly by the tast of Pleasure that this Object is good I mean capable of making us happier than we are II. But since all Men are involv'd in Original Sin and even by their Nature infinitely beneath the Majesty of God 'T is Jesus Christ alone that can by the Dignity of his Person and the Holiness of his Sacrifice have access to his Father reconcile him to us and merit his Favours for us and consequently be the meritorious Cause of Grace These Truths are certain But we are not seeking the Cause which produces Grace by its own Efficacy nor that which merits it by its Sacrifice and Good Works We enquire for that which regulates and determines the Efficacy of the General Cause and which we may term the Second Particular and Occasional III. For to the end the General Cause may act by General Laws or Wills and that his Action may be regular constant and uniform 't is absolutely necessary there should be some Occasional Cause to determine the Efficacy of these Laws and to help to fix them If the Collision of Bodies or something of like Nature did not determine the Efficacy of the General Laws of the Communication of Motions it would be necessary for God to move Bodies by particular Wills The Laws of Union of the Soul and Body become efficacious only from the Changes befalling one or other of these two Substances For if God made the Soul feel the Pain of pricking tho' the Body were not prick'd or though the same thing did not happen in the Brain as if it were he would not act by the General Laws of Union of the Soul and Body but by a particular Will If Rain fell on the Earth otherwise than by a necessary Consequence of the General Laws of Communication of Motions the Rain and the Fall of every Drop that composes it would be the Effect of a particular Will So that unless Order requir'd it should rain that Will would be absolutely unworthy of God 'T is necessary therefore that in the Order of Grace there should be some Occasional Cause which serves to fix these Laws and to determine their Efficacy And this is the Cause we must endeavour to discover IV. Provided we consult the Idea of intelligible Order or consider the sensible Order which appears in the Works of God we shall easily discover that Occasional Causes which determine the Efficacy of General Laws and are of use in fixing them must necessarily be related to the Design for which God has establish'd them For Example Experience evidences that God has not made and Reason certifies that he ought not to make the Courses of the Planets the Occasional Causes of the Union of our Soul and Body He ought not to will that our Arm should be mov'd in such or such a manner or that our Soul should feel the Tooth-ake when the Moon shall be in conjunction with the Sun if so be this Conjunction acts not on the Body God's Design being to unite our Soul to our Body he cannot in prosecuting that Design give the Soul Sensations of Pain save when there happen some Changes in the Body repugnant to it Wherefore we are not to seek out of our Soul or Body the Occasional Causes of their Union V. Hence it follows that God designing to form his Church by Jesus Christ could not according to that Design seek the Occasional Causes which serve to settle the General Laws of Grace by which the Spirit of Jesus diffus'd through his Members communicates Life and Holiness to them except in Jesus Christ and in the Creatures united to him by Reason Thus the Rain of Grace is not deriv'd to our Hearts by the diverse situations of the Stars nor by the Collision of certain Bodies nor even according to the different Courses of the animal Spirits which give us Motion and Life All that Bodies can do is to excite in us Motions and Sensations purely Natural For whatever arrives to the Soul through the Body is only for the Body VI. Yet as Grace is not given to all that desire it nor as soon as they desire it and is granted to those who do not ask it it thence follows that even our Desires are not the Occasional Causes of Grace For this sort of Causes have constantly and most readily their Effect and without them the Effect is not produc'd For Instance the Collision of Bodies being the Occasional Cause of the Change which happens in their Motion if two Bodies did not meet their Motions would not alter and if they alter'd we may be assur'd they met The general Laws which shed Grace upon our Hearts find nothing therefore in our Wills to determine their Efficacy as the general Laws which regulate the Rains are not founded on the Dispositions of the Places rain'd upon For it indifferently rains upon all Places on hollow and manur'd Grounds even on the Sands and the Sea it self VII We are therefore reduc'd to confess that
the Helps reach'd to them by Jesus Christ but also by natural Forces or ordinary Graces For in brief Nature may be made subservient to Grace in a thousand Instances PART II. Of GRACE XVIII THE Inequality which is found in the Liberty of different Persons being clearly known it will be no hard Matter methinks to discover how Grace works in us if we but affix to the Word Grace distinct and particular Ideas and remember the Difference between the Grace of the Creator and Renovator I said in the preceding Discourse that there is this difference between Light and Pleasure That the former leaves us entirely to our selves whilst the latter incroaches upon our Liberty For Light is something extraneous to us it does not affect and modifie our Soul it does not drive us to the Objects it discovers but only disposes us to move our selves and to consent freely and by Reason to the Impression God gives us towards Good The Knowledge of our Duty the clear Idea of Order separate from all Sensation the Contemplation of naked abstract wholly pure and intelligible Good that is Good without Tast or Fore-tast leaves the Soul to her entire Liberty But Pleasure is an Inmate to the Soul it touches and modifies her And so it diminishes our Liberty makes us love Good rather by a Love of Instinct and Passion than of Choice and Reason And it transports us as I may say to sensible Objects Not that Pleasure is the same thing as Love or the Motion of the Soul towards Good but that it causes this Love or determines this Motion towards the Object that makes us happy But because no Truths are demonstrable save those whereof we have clear Ideas which we have not of our own inward Motions 't is not possible for me to demonstrate what I advance as we demonstrate the Conclusions depending on common Notions Every one therefore must consult his own inward feeling of what passes in his Soul if he would be convinc'd of the difference between Light and Pleasure and must carefully observe that commonly Light is attended with Pleasure which yet he must separate to judge soundly of it But of this I have said enough XIX If then it be true that Pleasure naturally produces Love and is like a Weight which gives the Soul a Propensity to the Good that causes or seems to cause it 't is visible that the Grace of Jesus Christ or the Grace of Sensation is of it self efficacious For though preventing Delectation when but weak works not an entire Conversion in the Heart of those whose Passions are too lively yet it never fails of its Effect in as much as it always inclines them towards God It is in some measure always efficacious but it has not always all possible Effect because of the Resistance of Concupiscence XX. Put for Example in one Scale of a Balance ten pound weight and in the other only six this latter weight shall truly gravitate for adding but so much more weight to this or taking it from the opposite Scale or lastly hanging the Balance nearer the over-weighted and the six pounds shall carry it But though this weight gravitates 't is visible its effect depends still on the resisting weight and the manner of its resisting Thus the Grace of Sensation is always of it self efficacious it constantly weakens the Effort of Concupiscence since Pleasure naturally creates Love for the Cause which produces or seems to produce it But though this Grace be always Self-efficacious yet it depends or rather its Effect depends on the actual Dispositions of the Receiver The weight of Concupiscence resists it and sensible Pleasures which draw us to the Creatures that seem to produce it in us hinder the Pleasures of Grace from uniting us strictly to him who alone can act in us and make us happy XXI But the case is otherwise with the Grace of Light or the Grace of the Creator It is not of it self efficacious It does not move or convey the Soul but leaves her perfectly to her self But though it be not efficacious of it self it nevertheless is persued by many Effects when 't is great and animated by some delectable Grace which gives it Force and Vigour or when it meets with no contrary Pleasure that greatly resists it Such is the difference between the Grace of the Creator and that of the Restorer between Light and Pleasure between the Grace which supposes not Concupiscence and the Grace which is given us to counterpoize the Pleasures of it The one is sufficient to a Man perfectly Free and Fortified with Charity the other is efficacious to a Man Infirm to whom Pleasure is necessary to draw him to the Love of the True Good XXII But the Force and Efficacy of Grace ought always to be compar'd with the Action of Concupiscence with the Light of Reason and especially with the degree of Liberty the Person is endued with And we must not imagine that God bestows it by particular Wills with design to produce certain Effects by it and nothing more For when 't is said that Grace always works in the Heart the Effect for which 't is given we err if we suppose God acts like Men with particular Considerations God diffuses his Grace with a General Design of sanctifying all that receive it or according as the Occasional Cause determines him to refuse it Mean while he knows very well that it will not have so much Effect in some as in others not only because of the Inequality of Force on the part of Grace but also of the Inequality of Resistance on the part of Concupiscence XXIII Since Concupiscence has not utterly destroy'd the Liberty of Man the Grace of Jesus Christ as efficacious as it is is not absolutely irresistible A sensible Pleasure is superable when weak and a Man may suspend the Judgment of his Love when he is not hurried by a too violent Passion And when he stoops to the Lure of an adulterate Pleasure he is culpable through the Abuse of his Liberty So likewise the Delectation of Grace is not ordinarily invincible A Man may decline following the good Motions it inspires which remove us from the false Objects of our Love This Grace fills not the Soul in such a manner as to hurry her to the True Good without Choâ—ce Judgment and Free Consent Thus when we resign up our selves to its Motion and advance farther as I may say than it irresistibly carries us when we sacrifice the Pleasures of Concupiscence which weaken its Efficacy or lastly when we act by Reason or love the true Good as we ought we merit through the good use we make of our Liberty XXIV 'T is true that Delectable Grace consider'd in it self and separate from the Pleasures of Concupiscence which are contrary to it is always invincible Because this holy Pleasure being conformable to the Light of Reason nothing can withstand its Effect in a Man perfectly free When the Mind sees clearly by
unequally supplied there 's all Reason to believe the Diversity of their Graces must proceed from him who is the Chief of Angels as well as Men and who under that Character has merited by his Sacrifice all the Graces which God has given his Creatures but has variously applied them by his different Desires It being undeniable that Jesus Christ long before his Birth or Meriting might be the Meritorious Cause of the Graces given to the Angels and Saints of the Old Testament it ought methinks be granted that by his Prayers he might be the Occasional Cause of the same Graces long before they were demanded For indeed there is no necessary Relation between Occasional Causes and the Time of Production of their Effects and though commonly these sort of Causes are follow'd by their Effects at the Time of their Action yet their Action being not of it self efficacious since its Efficacy depends on the Will of the universal Cause there 's no necessity of their actual Existence for the producing their Effect For Instance Suppose Jesus Christ at this present time should desire of his Father that such a Person might receive such a Supply of Grace at certain Moments of his Life that Prayer of Jesus Christ would infallibly determine the Efficacy of the General Will God has of saving all Men in his Son This Person will receive these Assistances though the Prayer of Jesus Christ be pass'd and his Soul actually think on another thing and never think again on that which he requir'd for him But the past Prayer of Jesus Christ is no more present to his Father than a future For all that must happen in all Times is equally present to God Thus God loving his Son and knowing he shall have such Desires with respect to his Ancestors and those of his own Nation and likewise to the Angels which must enter into the Spiritual Edifice of his Church and constitute the Body whereof he is the Head ought to accomplish the Desires of his Son before they were made that the Elect which preceded his Nativity and which he purchas'd by the Merit of his Sacrifice might as peculiarly belong to him as others and that he might be their Head as really as he is ours I acknowledge it is fit that Meritorious and Occasional Causes should rather precede their Effects than follow them and that Order would have Causes and their Effects exist together For 't is plain that all Merit ought to be instantly recompenc'd and every Occasional Cause actually to produce its Effect provided nothing hinders bâ—t it may or ought be done But Grace being absolutely necessary to Angels and Patriarchs could not be deferr'd But as for the Glory and Reward of the Saints of the Old Testament since that might be deferr'd 't was fit that God should suspend its Accomplishment till Jesus Christ should ascend into Heaven be constituted High Priest over the House of God and begin to exercise the Sovereign Power of Occasional Cause of all Graces merited by his Labours upon Earth Therefore we are to believe that the Patriarchs entred not Heaven till after Jesus Christ their Head Mediator and Fore-runner But though it should be granted that God had not appointed an Occasional Cause for all the Graces afforded the Angels and Patriarchs I see not how it can be thence concluded that Jesus Christ does not at present endue the Church with the Spirit which gives it Increase and Life that he does not pray for it or that his Prayers or Desires are not effectually heard in a word that he is not the Occasional Cause which applies to Men the Graces he has merited I grant if you 'll have it so that God before Jesus Christ gave Grace by particular Wills the Necessity of Order requiring it Whilst by Order the Occasional Cause could not be so soon establish'd and the Elect were very few in Number But now when the Rain of Grace falls not as heretofore on a small Number of Men but is shower'd on all the Earth and Jesus Christ may or ought be constituted the Occasional Cause of the Goods which he has merited for his Church what reason is there to believe God works so many Miracles as he gives us good Thoughts For in short all that is done by particular Wills is certainly a Miracle as not being a Result of the General Laws he has ordain'd whose Efficacy are determin'd by Occasional Causes But how can we imagine that in order to save Men he works so many Miracles useless to their Salvation I would say affords them all these Graces which they resist because not proportion'd to the actual Force of their Concupiscence St. John teaches us That Christians receive from the Fulness of Jesus Christ Graces in abundance For says he the Law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ. For indeed the Graces which preceded him were not comparable to those he distributed after his Triumph If they were Miraculous we are to suppose they were extremely rare Even the Grace of the Apostles before the Holy Spirit was given them could not come in comparison with those they receiv'd when the High Priest of future Goods having entred by his Blood into the Holy of Holies had obtain'd by the Force of his Prayers and sent through the Dignity of his Person the Holy Spirit to animate and sanctifie his Church The unaccountable Blindness of the Jews their gross and carnal Notions their frequent Relapses into Idolatry after so many Miracles sufficiently manifest their disregard for true Goods and the dispiritedness of the Apostles before they had received the Holy Ghost is a sensible Proof of their Weakness So that Grace in those Days was extremely rare because our Nature in Jesus Christ was not yet establish'd the Occasional Cause of Graces Jesus Christ was not yet fully consecrated Priest after the Order of Melchisedech nor had his Father given him that Immortal and Glorious Life which is the particular Character of his Priesthood For 't was necessary that Jesus Christ should enter the Heavens and receive the Glory and Power of Occasional Cause of true Goods before he sent the Holy Spirit according to the Words of St. John The Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified And according to others of Jesus Christ himself It is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I go I will send him unto you Now it cannot be imagin'd that Jesus Christ consider'd as God is the Head of the Church as Man he has obtain'd that Quality The Head and Members of a Body must be of the same nature Jesus Christ as Man intercedes for Men as Man he receiv'd from God a Sovereign Power over his Church For as he is God he intercedes not as God he has not receiv'd a Name which is above every Name but he is equal to the Father