of them I do not say that we must Sacrifice it with all those Ornaments which disguise it On the contrary seeing we would not be deceiv'd seeing we would be solidly happy I say we must endeavour to know it for what it really is to discover the Ridiculousness of it which may make us despise it or the Deformity of it which may create in us an aversion for it This I say that we should and may by the Strength of our Hope and Faith bring our Mind to such a Temper that with the help of Grace it may perform this Sacrifice which appears so terrible with Pleasure or at least with Joy and Satisfaction After all there is a necessity for it We must either unavoidably perish together with our imaginary Riches or throw them over-board to arrive happily at the Port where we shall find solid and substantial Wealth not subject to Storms and Tempests VIII For this end we must study the Nature of Man we must know our Selves our Greatness our Weakness our Perfections and Inclinations we must be fully satisfied of the Immortality of our Being we must carefully examine the difference between the two Parts of which Man is compos'd and the admirable Laws of their Union from thence we must raise our Minds to the Author of these Laws and the true Cause of all that passes within our selves and in the Objects that are about us We must contemplate God in those Attributes which are contain'd in the vast and boundless Idea of an infinitely perfect Being and never judge of him with relation to our selves but support the View of our Mind if there be occasion in so abstracted and profound a Subject by the visible Effects of the universal Cause Above all we must examine the Relations which the Conduct of God hath to the Divine Attributes and find out how his Conduct ought necessarily to be the Rule of ours Finally we must penetrate into his eternal Designs and know at least that he is himself the end of his working and that the immutable Order is his Law Then we must go back again to our selves compare our selves with Order and discover that we are wholly corrupted we must be sensible and asham'd of our low and unworthy Inclinations and condemn our selves as guilty as Enemies of our God as not engaging in his Designs as not obeying his Law but the filthy Law of Flesh and Blood we must humble our selves and tremble before a God jealous of his Glory and a punisher of Crimes we must dread his just and terrible Vengeance Death and Hell seek for a Mediator with the greatest concern and find him at length in the Person of Jesus Christ the only Son of God who was once offer'd as a Sacrifice upon the Cross for the Sins of the World and is now seated at the right hand of the living God made Lord of all things and consecrated a High Priest of the true Goods once put to death as a Malefactor without Jerusalem and now within the Temple in the Holy of Holies before his Face of the Father always living to make intercession for Sinners and to shower down Blessings and Graces upon them but after all their inexorable Judge in the day of the Vengeance of the Lord that eternal Day which shall put an end to all Time and fix the measures of Good and Evil to all Eternity IX Can we think of these great Truths and be convinc'd of them by frequent Meditations and yet find our Passions still the same Can that sensible Pomp and those Charms which surround them can they I say bear that strong and penetrating Light which diffuses it self in the Mind when we think of Death and Hell and the World to come that heavenly Jerusalem enlightned with the Splendor of God himself and environ'd with the River of his Pleasures Certainly the thought of Death alone must change the whole Face of things in those who have any Sense left or retain any Strength and Liberty of Mind But that unavoidable Alternative of two Eternities so opposite to each other which succeed our latest Moments must needs break all the Designs and blot out all the Ideas which our Passions represent to us at least they cannot possibly justify their Extravagancies and Irregularities in these times of Reflection X. If to those Truths which Reason discovers when it is guided by Faith we add that which Reason by it self informs us of the difference between the Soul and the Body and of the Laws of the Union of these two Substances it will not be so difficult to discover the Malignity of the Passions and to despise their flattering Caresses which irresistibly seduce weak Minds For when we reflect seriously on the movement and working of our Machine we sometimes choose rather to govern the Springs of it our selves than to be carried along with its Motions and when we are fully convinc'd that all the Splendor and all the Charms of sensible Objects depend only on the manner in which the Fermentation of the Blood and other Humours represent them to us the desire which we have of being solidly happy carries our Thoughts another way and sometimes makes us loath and abhor those vain Objects vain and contemptible without doubt as well because the Splendor of them vanishes when the Fermentation abates or when the Circulation of the Blood supplies the Brain with Spirits of a different Quality as for a great many other Reasons which need not here be alledg'd they pass away and that is sufficient But they pass away in such a manner that they draw along with them those that fasten themselves to them and destroy them for ever XI Let every one then examine his predominant Passion by the Principles of the true Philosophy and those Truths which Faith teaches him of which he ought to satisfy himself by a good use of Grace and Liberty for nothing is more reasonable than Religion tho' we stand in need os some help to make us throughly comprehend it and submit our selves to it let every one I say examine by the Light of Reason and of Faith the Passion which holds him in Captivity and he will find in himself some desire at least to be deliver'd from its Tyranny The Enchantmens which bewitch'd him will vanish by degrees he will be asham'd of himself for being so easily seduc'd and if the Fermentation of the Blood and Humours ceases for a little while and the animal Spirits change their Course he will find himself so displeas'd with the Object of his Inclinations that he will not be able so much as to endure the Presence of it XII But notwithstanding this we must not cease to watch over our selves to distrust our own Strength and to meditate on those Subjects which render out Passions ridiculous and contemptible for we must not imagine our selves at liberty because we are not actually ill us'd by them Our Imagination remains a long time polluted by the impression of
and Glory Tho' it be never so much enlightned yet if it be not just it must of necessity be contrary to Order and it cannot be just without diminishing or destroying it self Nevertheless when Self-love is both enlightned and just whether it be destroy'd by or confounded with the Love of Order a Man hath then the greatest Perfection that he is capable of For certainly he that always places himself in the rank that belongs to him who desires to be Happy no farther than he deserves to be so and seeks his Happiness in the Justice which he expects from the righteous Judge who lives by Faith and rests contented stedfast and patient in the hope and foretast of the true Goods he I say is really a good Man tho' the love he bears to himself reform'd indeed and corrected by Grace be the natural Foundation of his Love of Order above all Things XIV We must not imagine that the love of Order is like those Vertues or rather particular Dispositions which may be lost or got For Order is not a particular Creature which we may begin or cease to love it is the Word it self the natural Object of all the Motions of Spiritual Beings We may begin or cease to love a Creature because we are not made for them but we cannot entirely renounce Reason nor cease to love Order because Man is made to live by Reason and according to Order So that the love of Order naturally Reigns where-ever Self-love is not contrary to it Nay it often Reigns tho' Self-love or Concupiscence oppose it I say it Reigns not only in good Men where it hath an absolute Dominion but also in the wicked where Self-love bears the Sovereign sway XV. It is certain that a Man sees only as he is enlightned by God he wills only as he is animated and moved by him Now God enlightnes him only by his Word he moves him only by the Love which he bears to himself For God cannot enlighten Man by a false Reason nor imprint on him a Love contrary to his own All Light therefore comes from the Word and all Motion from the Holy Ghost seeing it is God alone that acts and that only by the Wisdom which enlightens him and the Love which he bears to himself So that as long as a Man Thinks and Loves he cannot be totally separated from Reason nor altogether without the love of Order To fall into Error he must make an ill use of Reason but still he must make use of it for he that sees nothing and can judge of nothing cannot fall into Error In like manner to love Evil he must love Good for he cannot love Evil but because he looks upon it as Good Therefore Self-love doth not wholly destroy the Love of Order but only Vitiates and Corrupts it by referring that to its self which hath no relation to it For a Man whether he loves the Objects with a relation to himself or otherwise always loves those that are or seem to be the best because the love of Order or the love of good things proportionable to their Perfection or Goodness is a natural and invincible Love XVI This I say principally That the Wicked may at least know themselves to be such and the Righteous may distrust their Vertue For since Men tho' they are never so wretched and miserable find in themselves some rectitude or some natural love of Order they imagine that they are really Vertuous But to obtain the possession of Vertue it is not sufficient that we love Order with a natural Love but we must also love it with a free enlightned and reasonable Love It is not sufficient to love it when it agrees with our Self-love We must Sacrifice every thing to it our actual Happiness and if it should require it of us our very Being For Vertue consists in a ruling Love of the immutable Order Our Heart is never rightly disposed but when it is ready to conform it self to Order in all things and he that would have Order conformable in some things to his particular Inclinations hath a perverted Mind and a corrupt Heart There is no Man let him be never so Wicked who doth not sometimes find a beauty in Order that charms him In all probability the Devils themselves have some Love for Order They are ready to obey it when it requires nothing of them contrary to their Self-love And perhaps some of them would willingly offer some slight Sacrifice to it They are not all equally Wicked and therefore they do not all equally oppose Order Judas was a Wretch govern'd by Avarice yet it is reasonable to believe that to deliver his best Friend from Death he would have Sacrificed a little Mony He Sold our Saviour for thirty Pieces of Silver but perhaps he would not have betray'd him for a less Sum. So then to be Vertuous it is not sufficient to love Order but we must love it more than all other things We must have a firm Resolution to follow it every where whatever it cost us We must be ready to Sacrifice to it not a few inconsiderable Pleasures or slight Pains but our Happiness our Reputation and our very Being in hopes of receiving from God a recompence befitting him to give XVII But besides all this I must add that a simple Resolution tho' never so strong of following Order in all things doth not justify us in the fight of God For God who makes a true Judgment of the dispositions of our Minds doth not judge any soul according to its actual and transient Motions but by that which is fix'd and permanent in it Simple acts are transient And a Man that finds himself throughly affected with the Beauty of Order and thereupon takes a holy Resolution of Sacrificing all other things to it ought still to be in fear for himself For it scarce ever happens that one single act produces the strongest Habit and that the actual motion of the Soul destroys an inveterate Disposition of obeying the inclinations of Self-love On the contrary Habits are permanent and tho' a just Man fall seven times a Day let him comfort himself God knows the bottom of his Heart But let him take heed that he be not seduc'd and corrupted by Concupiscence and that his imagination receiving dangerous Impressions every Moment from sensible Objects do not some time or other openly rebel against those severe Laws which are so damping and disagreeable to it For we must observe that the Habit of Charity is much more tender and more difficult both to acquire and preserve than sinful Habits For one single deliberate Act one mortal Sin always destroys it A Man is just in the sight of God when his Heart is really more dispos'd to love good than evil with a free and rational Love whether this disposition be acquir'd by free and rational acts of Love or otherwise But because we know only that which actually passes in our Soul and Charity doth not
But it is needless to prove here that to procure our own Death is a Crime which will be so far from reuniting us to God that it will for ever separate us from him It is lawful to despise Life and even to wish for Death that we may be with Christ as St. Paul does Having a desire to be dissolv'd Phil. 1.23 and to be with Christ But we are oblig'd to preserve our Health and Life and it is the Grace of Christ that must deliver us from Concupiscence or that Body of Death which joyns us to the Creatures The same Apostle cries our O wretched Man that I am Rom. 7.24 who shall deliver me from this Body of Death The Grace of God through Jesus Christ II. It is certain Exod 33.20 that we must die before we can see God and be united to him for no Man can see him and live saith the Scripture But we truly die so far as we quit the Body as we separate our selves from the World and silence our Senses Imagination and Passions by which we are united to our Body and by that to all those that surround us We die to the Body and to the World when we retire into our selves when we consult the inward Truth when we unite our selves and are obedient to Order Job 28.21 The eternal Wisdom is hid from the Eyes of all Living But those who are Dead to the World and to Themselves who have crucified the Flesh with its disorder'd Lusts who are crucified with Christ and to whom the World is crucified Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God Mat. 5.8 1 Cor. 13.12 in a word those who have a clean Heart a pure Mind and an unspotted Imagination are capable of beholding Truth Now they see God but confusedly and imperfectly in Part through a Glass in a Riddle but they see him truly they are closely and immediately united to him and shall one day see him Face to Face for we must know and love God in this Life to enjoy him in the next III. But those who live not only the Life of the Body but also the Life of the World who live in the enjoyment of Pleasures and spread themselves as it were over all the Objects that are about them can never find out Truth Job 28.13 For as the Scripture saith Wisdom doth not dwell with those that live Voluptuously Non invenitur in terra suaviter viventium We must then procure our selves not that Death which kills the Body and puts an end to Life but that which brings the Body under and weakens Life I mean the Union of the Soul with the Body or its dependence on it We must begin and continue our Sacrifice and expect from God the Consummation and Reward of it For the Life of a Christian here on-Earth is a constant Sacrifice by which he continually offers up his Body his Concupiscence and Self-love to the Love of Order and his Death which is precious in the Sight of God is the day of his Victories and Triumphs in Jesus Christ raised from the dead the forerunner of our Glory and the model of our eternal Reformation IV. Rom. 6.6 St. Paul tells us That our old Man is already crucified with Christ for by the Sacrifice which Christ hath offer'd on the Cross he hath merited for us for us I say particularly who have been washed in his Blood by Baptism all the Graces necessary to balance and even to diminish by degrees the weight of Concupiscence so that Sin no longer reigns in us but by our own Fault Let us not therefore think to excuse our Slothfulness by imagining that we are not able to resist the Law of the Flesh which continually rebels against the Law of the Mind The Law of Sin would have an absolute Dominion over the Motions of our Heart if Christ had not destroy'd it by his Cross But we who are dead and buried to Sin by Baptism Rom. 6.4 v. 11. who are justified and rais'd to life again in Jesus Christ glorified who are animated by the influence of our Head by the Spirit of Christ and by a Power wholly Divine we I say ought not to believe that Heaven forsakes us in our Combats and that if we are overcome it is for want of Succours Christ never neglects those that call upon him 't is impious to believe it for all the Scriptures say Act. 2. â—1 Rom 10.13 Joel 2.34 That whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be sav'd V. It is certain that we could never be glorified and seated in Heaven with Jesus Christ we could not have eternal Life abiding in us we could not be Heirs of God and Joint-heirs with Christ Citizens of the holy City and adopted Children of God himself all which things the Apostles say of Christians if God were not faithful in his Promises if he suffer'd us to be tempted above our Strength 1 Cor. 10.13 which St. Paul also forbids us to believe But we may truly say That we are already glorified in Christ c. because in effect it depends only on our selves to preserve by Grace the Right which the same Grace gives us to future Blessings and it is a kind of brutish stupidity in a Man which one would think should astonish a rational and spiritual Being to lose infinite Happiness by his own Fault and incurr eternal Damnation through his own Negligence VI. This Truth being suppos'd as undeniable let us awaken our Faith and Hope let us search after the Means to secure our Salvation and let us Act in such sort that the Grace which God cannot infuse into us with any other design but to sanctify and save us may effectually sanctify us and make us worthy to enjoy the true Good Ye are dead saith St. Paul 〈…〉 and your life is hid with Christ in God Mortify therefore your Members which are upon the Earth We are dead to Sin because living in Christ our Head we should and by his influence may kill the old Man it lies in our own power to do it But to put this Design in execution according to the Advice which St. Paul here gives we must labour all our life in the Mortification of our Senses we must endeavour with the utmost Diligence to keep our Imagination pure and undefil'd we must regulate all the Motions of our Passions by Order in a word we must diminish the weight of Sin which by the actual Efforts of Concupiscence provok'd and stir'd up is able to balance the strongest Graces and to separate us from God Mortify therefore your Members which are upon the Earth If we do what depends on us Grace will work in our Heart with its full Efficacy we shall die in the sense of St. Paul and our life being hid with Christ in God shall appear with Glory when Christ himself shall appear cloth'd with Majesty and Honour Col. 3.4 When Christ
A TREATISE OF Morality In Two Parts Written in French by F. MALBRANCH AUTHOR of The Search after Truth And Translated into English By JAMES SHIPTON M. A. LONDON Printed for Iames Knapton at the Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1699. THE Author's LETTER TO MONSIEUR **** SIR I Have sent you the Treatise of Morality which you desire of me with so much importunity It is divided into two Parts In the First I have examin'd wherein Vertue doth precisely consist and laid down the means of acquiring and preserving it The Second contains the Duties of it I know not what Censure you will pass on this Book you Sir who are so nice a Judge for I confess to you that there are many things in it which I have not explain'd with that exactness which you require of Authors But I desire you to consider two Things The First is that having no clear Idea of the Soul you understand what I mean the greatest part of the Terms of Morality can express only its Sensations The Second is that Books ought to be proportion'd as far as it is possible to the Capacity of the generality of Mankind and that if I had been too nice and scrupulous in explaining the signification of the Terms which I make use of I should have extremely tir'd the Attentions of my Readers for People are soon weary of reading a Book that doth not raise agreable Sensations in their Mind Perhaps I may think it necessary hereafter to add some Illustrations which may clear those Difficulties which the common Phrase of Speech cannot remove The success that this Treatise meets with will determine my Resolution in that Point I am c. THE CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART CHAP. I. VNiversal Reason is the Wisdom of God himself All Men have some Communication with God True and False Just and Vnjust is the same in respect of all intelligent Beings and of God himself What Truth and Order is and what we must do to avoid Sin and Error God is essentially Just he loves the Creatures according as they are amiable or as they resemble him We must be Perfect to be Happy Vertue or the Perfection of Man consists in a Submission to the immutable Order and not in following the Order of Nature The Error of some of the Heathen Philosophers in this Matter grounded upon their Ignorance of the simplicity and immutability of the Divine Conduct Page 1. CHAP. II. There is no other Vertue but the Love of Order and Reason Without this Love all Vertues are false We must not confound Duties with Vertue We may discharge our Duties without Vertue 'T is for want of consulting Reason that Men approve and follow damnable Customs Faith serves or conducts to Reason For Reason is the supreme Law of all intelligent Beings p. 12. CHAP. III. The Love of Order doth not differ from Charity Two sorts of Love one of Vnion and the other of Benevolence The former is due only to Power or to God alone The latter ought to be proportion'd to persoâ—â—â— Merit as our Duties to relative Self-love enlightned is not contrary to the love of Vnion The love of Order is common to all Men. The Species of the love of Order natural and free actual and habitual Only that which is free habitual and ruling renders us just in the sight of God So that Vertue consists in nothing but a free habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order p. 21. CHAP. IV. Two fundamental Truths belonging to this Treatise I. Acts produce Habits and Habits Acts. II. The Soul doth not always produce the Acts of its ruling Habit. The Sinner may avoid committing any particular Sin and the just Man may lose his Charity because there is no Sinner without some love for Order and no just Man without Self-love We cannot be justified in the sight of God by the strength of Free-will The means in general of acquiring and preserving Charity The method us'd in the explication of these means p. 23. CHAP. V. Of the Strength of the Mind Our Desires are the occasional Causes of our Knowledge The Contemplation of abstract Ideas is difficult The Strength of the Mind consists in an acquir'd Habit of enduring the Labour of Attention The way to acquire it is to Silence our Senses Imagination and Passions to Regulate our Studies and to Meditate only on clear Ideas p. 40. CHAP. VI. Of the Liberty of the Mind We should suspend our Assent as much as we can which is the great Rule By the Liberty of the Mind we may avoid Error and Sin as by the Strength of the Mind we free our selves from Ignorance The Liberty of the Mind as well as the Strength of it is a Habit which is confirm'd by use Some instances of its Vsefulness in Physicks Morality and Civil Life p. 51. CHAP. VII Of Obedience to Order The means of acquiring a firm and ruling Disposition to obey it It cannot be done without Grace How far the right use of our Strength and Liberty contributes toward it by the Light it produces in us by the contemptible Opinion it gives us of our Passions and by the Purity which it preserves and establishes in our Imagination p. 61. CHAP. VIII The Means which Religion furnishes us with to gain and preserve the Love of Order Jesus Christ is the occasional Cause of Grace we must call upon him with confidence When we come to the Sacraments the actual Love of Order is chang'd into habitual in consequence of the permanent desires of Christ The Proof of this Truth being essential to the Conversion of Sinners The fear of Hell is as good a Motive as the desire of eternal Happiness We must not confound the Motive with the End The desire of being Happy or Self-love should make us conformable to Order or obedient to the Law of God p. 71. CHAP. IX The Church in its Prayers Addresses its self to the Father by the Son and why We should Pray to the Blessed Virgin Angels and Saints but not as occasional causes of inward Grace The Angels and even the Devils have power over Bodies as occasional causes By this means the Devils may tempt us and the Angels promote the efficacy of Grace p. 83. CHAP. X. Of the Occasional Causes of the Sensations and Motions of the Soul which resist the Efficacy of Grace either of Light or Sense The Vnion of the Soul with God is immediate not that of the Soul with the Body An Explication of some general Laws of the Vnion of the Soul and Body necessary for the right understanding the rest of this Treatise p. 91. CHAP. XI What kind of death we must die to see God to be united to Reason and to deliver our selves from Concupiscence It is the Grace of Faith that gives us this happy death Christians are dead to Sin by Baptism and alive in Christ by his Resurrection Of the Mortification of the Senses and the use we should make of it We should
said Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose Sins ye do remit they are remitted unto them c. From whence it is manifest first that the Apostles and consequently Priests have power to forgive Sins this I think cannot be denied Secondly that this Sacrament as also all those of the New Testament tho' for other Reasons than these which I here make use of do confer justifying Charity or an habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order For God doth not judge of a Man by that which he knows to be transient and actual in him but by fix'd and permanent Dispositions Therefore an actual love of Order doth not justify but only an habitual Love For God who inviolably loves Order cannot love a Heart that is irregular and more dispos'd toward evil than toward good Now the Priest hath power to forgive Sins Therefore he hath power to render a Sinner acceptable to God His Absolution then changes the Act into a Habit and a permanent Disposition For the Priest cannot judge of the state of the Penitent but only of his actual Resolution He cannot judge of the Penitent but only by the declaration which the Penitent himself makes to him and the Penitent himself cannot tell whether the love which he hath for Order be habitual or not For a Man cannot judge of himself but by the inward sense he hath of himself and this sense represents to him only the acts which he actually perceives and not the Habits if they be not form'd in him XI From hence it is evident that it is a pernicious Error to believe that the Absolution of the Priest delivers the Penitent only from the eternal Punishment due to Sin For the Priest having no way to be morally assur'd that a Penitent is justified in the sight of God could never give Absolution but at a venture if the Sacrament did not change the Act or the actual resolution of which we have an inward sense into an habitual Disposition which is not perceiv'd And besides how could this be a power of forgiving Sins to leave the Sinner in the Death of Sin and to do good only to the Righteous It is certain then that there is in Jesus Christ a permanent and efficacious desire in consequence of the power which God hath given him by making him the occasional cause of Grace that the state of the Penitent is chang'd by the absolution of the Priest and that he is deliver'd from the guilt of Sin as well as from the eternal Punishment which is due to it XII Certainly if we compare God's two Covenants with Men together to discover their several relations the Blessings promis'd by the Law with those which Christ hath merited for us and of which he is the dispenser we shall see plainly that as the Author of the Law gave a Right by his promises to temporal Goods so Jesus Christ the Mediator of the new Covenant must also give a Right to real and eternal Goods And therefore our Sacraments must operate in those who receive them Grace or justifying Charity which alone gives a Right to these true Goods For it is certain that God who loves Order cannot give Heaven to those who are more dispos'd to Evil than to Good and are actually in Disorder After all the Council of Trent hath determin'd the same thing which I here assert Sess 7. Can. 8 Sess 14. Chap 4. Cap. 5. It is an Article of our Faith that the Sacraments of the New Testament operate Grace or justifying Charity and that the Sinner who comes to the Sacrament of Penance by the motion which the Holy Ghost inspires in him a motion which doth not justify for the Holy Ghost doth not yet dwell in him as the Council declares and for those reasons which I have set down that the Sinner I say truly receives the habitual Charity of Justification by the efficacy of the Sacrament which the Saviour of Sinners hath instituted to deliver them from the captivity of Sin XIII So then it is evident that the Sinner who is made contrite by any motive whatsoever for it matters not what it is when he feels himself touch'd with Repentance and hath obtain'd by his Prayers or otherwise sufficient strength to form the generous resolution of sinning no more or of renouncing his predominant Passion ought speedily to have recourse to Penance that so he may receive by this Sacrament that which in all probability he could never obtain by the ordinary way of Prayer XIV I know very well that many People condemn the fear of Hell as a motive of Self-love which can never produce any Good Notwithstanding I have made use of it as being the most lively and the most common Motive to excite us to do those things which may contribute to our Justification I know that they reject this motive as useless and on the contrary approve only of the hope of an eternal Reward as a holy and reasonable Motive by which most good Men are animated to Vertue according to those Words of David who was always so full of Fervour and Charity I have enclin'd my Heart to perform thy Statutes alway †Psal 119.112 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. propter retribuionem Vulg. Lat. because of the Reward Notwithstanding to desire to be Happy or to desire not to be Miserable is the same thing there is nothing more easy to be conceiv'd than this The fear of Pain and the desire of Pleasure are both of them but motions of Self-love Now Self-love in it self is not Evil. God continually produces it in us He irresistibly enclines us to Good and by the same Motion irresistibly diverts us from Evil. We cannot hinder our selves from desiring to be Happy and consequently from desiring not to be Miserable So then the fear of Hell and the hope of Heaven are two Motives equally Good Only that of Fear hath this advantage over the other that it is more lively strong and efficacious because generally supposing all other things equal we fear Pain more than we desire Pleasure Of this every Man may consult himself Nor let any one say that the eternal Reward comprehends in it the vision of God and therefore the hope of Reward is a good Motive For the same Reason will serve for Fear Hell excludes the Vision of God and the fear of not enjoying God is the same thing with the desire or hope of enjoying him So that if we compare Pleasure with Pain the loss of God with the enjoyment of him fear is as good a Motive as desire or hope But besides it hath this advantage that it is proper to awaken the most drowsy and stupid and for this reason it is that the Scripture and the Fathers make use of this * By Motive I understand that which excites in the Soul any actual motion of that kind of Love which I call'd befor love of Union Motive upon all occasions For after all it is not properly the
it Thus there is a mutual Correspondence between certain Thoughts of the Soul and certain Modifications of the Body in consequence of those natural Laws which God hath establish'd and which he condantly observes Herein consists the Union of the Soul and Body The Imagination may raise other Ideas of all this But this Correspondence is undeniable and is sufficient for my purpose So that I neither do nor ought to build on uncertain Foundations XIV Secondly I suppose it to be known that the Soul is not join'd immediately to all the parts of the Body but only to one part which answers to all the rest and which I call without knowing what it is the Principal Part so that notwithstanding the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body a Man may have his Arm cut off and yet have no thought arise in his Soul Correspondent to it but it is not possible that the least change should happen in the Principal Part of the Brain without causing also some alteration in the Soul This is verified by Experience for sometimes parts of the Body are cut off without being felt because then the Motion of the Amputation doth not communicate it self to the Principal Part. As on the contrary those that have lost an Arm often feel a real pain in that very Arm which they have not because there is the same Motion in the Principal Part of the Brain as if the Arm was hurt XV. The first Man before his Sin had an absolute power over his Body at least he could when he pleas'd hinder the Motion or Action of Objects from communicating it self to the principal part of the Brain from the Organs of the Senses which might be touch'd by those Objects and this he did probably by a kind of revulsion somewhat like that which we make in our selves when we would fix our Attention on those Thoughts which disappear in the presence of sensible Objects XVI But I suppose in the Third place that we have not now that power and therefore to obtain some Liberty of Mind to think on what we will and love what we ought it is necessary that the principal part should be calm and without agitation or at least that we should still be able to stop and turn it which way we please Our Attention depends on our Will but it depends much more on our Senses and Passions It is a very difficult thing not to look upon that which touches not to love that which pleases that which touches I say and pleases the Heart The Soul is never sooner tir'd than when it fights against Pleasure and makes it self actually Miserable XVII Fourthly I suppose it to be known that the principal part is never touch'd or shaken in an agreeable or disagreeable manner but it excites in the animal Spirits some Motion proper to carry the Body toward the Object which acts upon it or to separate it from it by flight so that those Motions of the Fibres of the Brain which relate to Good or Evil are always follow'd by such a course of the Spirits as disposes the Body rightly with relation to the present Object and at the same time those sensations of the Soul which are correspondent to those agitations of the Brain are follow'd by such motions of the Soul as answer to this course of the Spirits For the impressions or motions of the Brain are in respect of the course of the Spirits what the sensations of the Soul are in respect of the Passions and these Impressions are to the Sensations what the motion of the Spirits is to the motion of the Passions XVIII Fifthly I suppose that Objects never strike the Brain without leaving some marks of their Action nor the animal Spirits without leaving some Tracks of their Course that these Tracks or Wounds are not easily clos'd up or effac'd when the Brain hath been often or forcibly struck and when the Course of the Spirits hath been violent or hath often begun again in the same manner That Memory and corporeal Habits consist in nothing else but those Tracks or Impressions which cause in the Brain and other parts of the Body a particular facility of obeying the Course of the Spirits and that by this means the Brain is hurt and the Imagination polluted when we have had the enjoyment of Pleasures without apprehending the danger of Familiarity with sensible Objects XIX Lastly I suppose that we conceive distinctly that when many of these Tracks have been made at the same time we cannot open any one of them without opening all the rest in some Measure whence it comes to pass that there are always many accessory Ideas which present themselves confusedly to the Mind having a Relation to the principal Ideas to which the Mind particularly applies it self There are also many confus'd Sensations and indirect Motions that accompany the principal Passion which moves the Soul and carries it toward some particular Object There is nothing more certain than this connection of Impressions with one another and with the Senses and Passions Any one that hath but the least Knowledge of the Nature of Man and will make but the least reflection on the inward Sense he hath of what passes within himself may discover more of these Truths in an Hour than I can tell him in a Month provided he doth not confound the Soul with the Body in making the Union betwixt them and carefully distinguishes the Properties of which the thinking Substance is capable from those which belong to the extended Substance And I think it necessary to Advertise the Reader That this kind of Truths is of very great importance not only for the distinct Conception of what I have hitherto said and shall hereafter say but generally for all the Sciences that have any Relation to Man Having handled this Subject at large in the Search of Truth particularly in the Second Book I thought not to have said any thing of it here and if these Suppositions seem obscure to the Reader and do not give him light enough to comprehend clearly what I shall say in the remaining part of this Treatise I must refer him to that Book for I cannot persuade my self to give a long Explication of the same thing over and over CHAP. XI What kind of death we must die to see God to be united to Reason and to deliver our selves from Concupiscence It is the Grace of Faith that gives us this happy death Christians are dead to Sin by Baptism and alive in Christ by his Resurrection Of the Mortification of the Senses and the use we should make of it We should unite our selves to corporeal Objects or separate our selves from them without loving or fearing them But the surest way is to break off all Correspondence with them as far as is possible I. DEath is a compendious way to be deliver'd from Concupiscence and to break off at once that unhappy Union which hinders us from being reunited to our Head