distributes to his Members those Graces which by his sacrifice he hath merited for his Church For my part I cannot comprehend how any one can doubt of these Reasons nor upon what foundation a Truth so very edifying and as ancient as the Religion of J. C. can be treated as a dangerous Novelty I grant my Expressions may be new but this is because they appear'd to me very proper distinctly to explain a truth which I could only have confusedly demonstrated by too general terms The words Occasional Causes and General Laws appear to me necessary to make those Philosophers for whom I wrote the Treatise of Nature and Grace distinctly comprehend that which the generality of Men are content to know only confusedly Since new Expressions are not dangerous but when they cover something which is equivocal or may occasion some thought contrary to Religion to arise in the mind I do not think that any candid persons and who are skill'd in St. Paul's Divinity will be offended because I explain my self after a particular manner since it tends only to make us adore the Wisdom of God and to unite us strictly unto J. C. Objection I. XIII It is objected against what I have said That neither Angels nor Saints of the Old Testament received Grace in consequence of the desires of the Soul of Jesus since this Holy Soul was not as yet and thus tho J. C. be the meritorious cause of all Graces he is not the occasional which distributes them to Men. Answer In respect of Angels I answer That there is some probability that Grace was given to them once only So that if we consider things in this respect I confess that nothing oblig'd the Wisdom of God to establish an occasional cause for the sanctification of Angels But if these blessed Spirits be considered as Members of the Body whereof J. C. is Head or if it be supposed that they were unequally assisted I believe there is reason to think that the diversity of their Graces came from him who-is Head of Angels as well as Men and that in this capacity he by his sacrifice not only merited all Graces which God gave to his Creatures but also diversly applied these same Graces to them by his different desires Since it cannot be denied that J. C. along time before he was born or could merit was the meritorious cause of Graces which were given to the Angels and Saints of the Old Testament it must in my opinion be granted that by his Prayers he might have been the occasional cause of the same Graces a long time before they were ask'd For there is no necessary relation between occasional causes and the time of their producing their effects and tho ordinarily these sorts of causes do produce their effects at the very time of their action nevertheless since their action is not efficacious in its self seeing its efficacy depends upon the will of the universal cause it is not necessary that it should actually exist that they may produce their effects Suppose for example That J. C. to day asks of his Father that such an one may receive such an assistance at certain times of his life the Prayer of J. C. will infallibly determine the efficacy of the general Will of God which is to save all Men in his Son This person shall receive these assistances tho the Soul of J. C. actually thinks of quite another thing and tho it should never more think of that which it desired for him Now the Prayer of J. C. which is already pass'd is not more present to his Father than the future for whatsoever happens in all times is equally present to God Thus since God loves his Son and knows that his Son will have such desires in respect of his Ancestors and the People of his own Nation and also in respect of Angels who were to enter into the Spiritual Edifice of his Church and compose the Body of which he is the Head he seems to have been obliged to accomplish the desires of his Son before they were made to the end that the Elect who were before his birth and whom he purchased by the merit of his sacrifice should as particularly belong to him as others and he should be their Head as truly as he is ours I confess it is convenient that meritorious and occasional causes should go before their effects rather than follow them and even order its self requires that these causes and their effects do exist at the same time For 't is clear that all merit should be presently rewarded and that every occasional cause should actually produce its effect provided that nothing hinder but that this may and ought to be so But since Grace was absolutely necessary to the Angels and to the Patriarchs it could not be differ'd As for the Glory and Reward of the Saints of the Old Testament seeing it might be delay'd it was expedient that God should suspend its accomplishment till J. C. was ascended into Heaven and made an High-Priest over the House of God and began to use the soveraign power of an occasional cause of all Graces which he had merited by his Labours upon Earth Thus we believe that the Patriarchs did not enter into Heaven till J. C. himself their Head their Mediator and their Fore-runner was therein entred Nevertheless tho it should be granted that God should not have appointed an occasional cause for all Graces given to the Angels and the Patriarchs I do not see how it can be concluded that at present J. C. does not dispense to the Body of the Church that Spirit which gives it increase and nourishment that he prays not for it or that his Desires or Prayers do not infallibly obtain their effect or in a word that he is not the occasional cause which applies those Graces to to Men which he has merited for them Before J. C. God gave Grace by particular Wills This I grant if it be desired the necessity of Order requires it the occasional Cause could not regularly be so soon establish'd the Elect were but very few But at present when the rain of Grace is generally sent upon all the World when it falls not as heretofore upon a very few Men of one chosen Nation when J. C. may or ought to be establish'd the occasional cause of the goods which he has merited for his Church what reason is there to believe that God should still work Miracles as often as he gives good Sentiments For certainly all that God does by particular Wills is a Miracle since it happens not by the general Laws which he has established and whose efficacy is determin'd by occasional causes But how can we think that to save Men he should work all those Miracles which are useless to their salvation I mean that he should give all those Graces which they resist because they are not proportioned to the actual strength of their concupiscence St. John teaches us that Christians receive
conscious that his will is efficacious he perfectly knows without making any tryal of his strength whatsoever he is able to do Thus Scripture and Reason teach us that it is by Jesus Christ that the world subsists and that it is by the dignity of this divine person that it receives a beauty which renders it agreeable in the sight of God XXVIII It follows in my opinion from this principle that Jesus Christ is the Model or Pattern by which we are made that we are form'd according to his Image and likeness and that we have nothing beautiful but so far as we are his representations and figures that he is the end of the Law and the finishing of the Jewish Ceremonies and Sacrifices that till this succession of generations which preceded his birth had an end it was necessary they shou'd have had certain relations to him by which they were made more agreeable to God than any others That since Jesus Christ was to be the Head and Spouse of the Church to represent him all men were to proceed from one and their propagation to begin after that manner which Moses relates and St. Paul explains In a word it follows from this principle that the present world ought to be the figure of the future and that as far as the simplicity of the general Laws will permit it all they who have or shall dwell therein have been or shall be figures and resemblances of Gods only Son from Abel in whom he was sacrificed to the last Member that shall be of his Church XXIX We may judge of the perfection of a Work by the conformity there is betwixt this work and the Idea which the eternal wisdom gives us of it For there is nothing Beautiful nothing Amiable but by relation to the essential necessary and independent beauty Now this intelligible beauty being made sensible became also in this estate the rule of beauty and perfection Thus all Corporeal Creatures must still receive from him their Beauty and Splendor All minds must have the same thoughts and the same inclinations with the soul of Jesus if they would be agreeable to those who see nothing Beautiful nothing Amiable but that which is conformable to Wisdom and Truth Since then we are obliged to believe that the work of God has a perfect conformity with the eternal Wisdom we have all reason to believe that the same work has infinite relations to him who is the Head the principle the model and the end thereof But who can explain all these relations XXX That which makes the Beauty of a Temple is the order and variety of the Ornaments which are there to be seen Thus to render the living Temple of the Majesty of God worthy of him who is to inhabit it proportion'd to the infinite wisdom love of its Author all Beauties ought to be found therein But it is not with the Glory and Magnificence of this Spiritual Temple as it is with the gross and sensible Ornaments of Material Temples That which makes the Beauty of the Spiritual Edifice of the Church is the infinite diversity of the Graces which he who is the Head thereof communnicates to all the parts that compose it it is the order and the admirable relations they have by him to one another it is the divers degrees of Glory which shine on all sides XXXI It follows from this principle that to establish this variety of rewards which compose the beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem it is necessary that men upon Earth shou'd be subject not only to afflictions which purisie them but also to the motions of Concupiscence which gives them opportunity of gaining so many Victories by engaging them in so great a number of different Combats XXXII The Blessed in Heaven will doubtless have an Holiness and variety of gifts which will perfectly answer the diversity of their good works These continual sacrifices by which the Old Man is destroyed and annihelated will Adorn and Beautifie the Spiritual substance of the New Man Luke XXIV 26. And if it became Jesus Christ himself to suffer all sorts of afflictions before he entred into his glory the sin of the first Man which brought the evils into the World which accompany Life and Death which follows it was necessary that men having been tryed upon Earth might justly be rewarded with that Glory the variety and order of which will make the beauty of the future World Additions The sin of the first Man was not necessary in it self God might without this sin have found a Thousand means to make the future Church as Beautiful as it shall be but since God acts always as wisely as is possible and according to the character of the divine attributes since he invincibly loves his Wisdom There cou'd be no such means for Men to Merit the Glory which one day they shall possess as that which suffers them to be ingulf'd in sin that mercy might be shewn to them all in Jesus Christ For the Glory which the Elect shall obtain by the Grace of Jesus Christ in resisting their Concupiscence will be greater and also more worthy of God than any other See the 34 and 35. Articles St. Aug. de cor grat C. 10. XXXIII If I had a clear Idea of the Blessed Spirits which have no body perhaps I might clearly answer a difficulty which arises in respect of them For it may be objected either that there is little variety in the merits and recompences of Angels or else that it was adviseable that God should unite Spirits to bodys on which they do at present so much depend I confess that I do not see any great diversity of rewards which ought to answer the merits of substances purely intelligible especially if they have merited their reward by one single act of Love They not being united to a body which might occasion God to give them according to certain most simple and general Laws a succession of different sentiments or thoughts I can see no diversity in their combats nor in their victories But perhaps there may be an order established which to me is unknown And upon this account I ought not to speak of it It is enough for me to have setled a principle whence we may conclude that it became God to create Bodys and to unite Spirits unto them that by the most simple Laws of the Union of these two substances he might in a general constant and uniform way give us that great variety of sentiments and motions which is the principle of our different Merits and Rewards XXXIV To conclude God ought to have all the Glory of the Beauty and Perfection of the future World This Work which infinitely surpasses all others must be a work of pure mercy The Creatures ought not to boast of having any other part therein but that which the grace of Jesus Christ hath given them In a word Rom. XI 32. Gal. III. 22. it was adviseable that God shou'd
his fall not only because this pleasure fills all the faculties of the Soul without troubling Reason or engaging it in the love of false goods but also nothing opposes the enjoyment of this pleasure neither the desire of perfection nor that of happiness For whilst we love God we are perfect whilst we love him we are happy and when we love him with pleasure we are perfect and happy both together Thus the most perfect liberty is that of minds to which no motion towards particular goods is ever invincible it is that of Man before sin before concupiscence had disturbed his understanding and corrupted his heart And the most imperfect liberty is that of a mind to which every motion after any particular good how little so ever it appears is always and in all circumstances invincible X. Now betwixt these two sorts of liberty there are infinite degrees more or less perfect which is not commonly observed Men ordinarily imagine that liberty is equal in all Men and that it is a faculty essential to their minds the nature of which continues always the same tho its action varies according to the different objects Men who don't reflect suppose a perfect equality in all things where they do not sensibly observe an inequality They comfort and excuse themselves from all application by giving to all things an abstracted form whose essence consists in a kind of indivisibility But they deceive themselves liberty is not such a faculty as they imagine There are no two persons equally free in respect of the same objects Children are less than Men who have the full use of their reason and there are no two Men who have their reason equally firm and assured in respect of the same objects They who have violent passions and are not accustomed to resist them are less free than they who have generously opposed them and are naturally moderate There are no two Men equally moderate equally sensible as to the same objects and who have equally contended for the preservation of their liberty There are also persons so enslav'd to sin that they do less resist and less think of resisting whilst they are awake than good Men do whilst they sleep for according to the Word of Truth He that commits sin is the servant of sin XI It is true according to the institution of nature all Men are equally free for God does not invincibly engage minds to love any particular good But concupiscence corrupts the heart and reason and Man having lost the power of obliterating the traces of sensible pleasures and stopping the motions of his concupiscence this liberty equal in all Men if they had not sinned is become unequal according to the different degrees of their knowledge and their concupiscence which differently acts in them For even concupiscence its self which is equal in all Men as they have lost the power which they had over their bodies is unequal a thousand ways by reason of the diversity which is to be found in the conformation of their bodies in the multitude and motion of the animal spirits and in the almost infinite relations and connexions which are made by their concerns in the World XII Still further to discern more distinctly the inequality which is to be found in different persons it must be observed that any Man who is perfectly reasonable and free and who would be truly happy may and ought when any pleasant object presents its self suspend his love and carefully examine whether this object be the true good or whether the motion which carries him after it do exactly agree with that which carries after the true good Otherwise he would love by instinct and not by reason and if he could not suspend the judgment of his love before he had examined it he would not be perfectly free But if he should clearly see that this pleasant object should be truly good for him and if this evidence joyn'd to the sentiment be such that he could not suspend his judgment then tho perfectly free yet he is not so in respect of this good he invincibly loves it because pleasure and knowledge do agree in recommending it But since there is none but God who can act in us or be our good since the motion which thrusts us forward towards the creatures does not agree with that which carries us towards God any Man who is perfectly reasonable and free may hinder himself from judging that sensible objects are goods he may and ought to suspend the judgment which governs or ought to govern his love for he can never evidently see that sensible goods are true goods because he can never evidently see that which is not XIII This power of suspending the judgment which actually governs the love this power which is the principle of our liberty and by which it is that pleasures are not invincible is much lessened since sin tho not altogether annihilated And that we may have this power when any object tempts us it is necessary besides some love of order to have presence of mind or be sensible of remorse of conscience for a Child or a Man asleep has not actually this power But all Men are not equally inlightned the minds of sinners are full of darkness Consciences are not equally tender the heart of sinners is hardened The love of order and actual graces are unequal in all Men. Therefore all Men are not equally free they have not an equal power of suspending their judgment pleasure determines and carries them towards some objects rather than others Such an one can suspend his judgment or stop his consent tho the present object may make him feel a very lively and sensible pleasure And another has so little a mind and a heart so corrupted that to him the least pleasure is invincible the least affliction insupportable Not being accustomed to withstand sensible invitations his disposition is such that he 'll not so much as think of resisting them So that at this time he has no power of suspending his consent seeing he has not so much as the power of reflecting thereon In respect of this object he 's like a Man that is asleep or one who has lost his mind XIV The weaker reason is the more sensible the Soul becomes and judges more rashly and falsly of sensible goods or evils When a Man is in a slumber if a straw or feather doth but tickle him he instantly awakes as much affrighted as if a serpent had bitten him He looks upon this little uneasiness and judges of it as one of the greatest afflictions to him it seems insupportable His reason being weakened by his slumber he cannot suspend his judgment the least goods or evils are almost always invincible to him The senses act in him and they always judge rashly This must be so for many reasons When reason is not so weak little pleasures are not invincible nor little evils insupportable we do not always pursue after that wherein we find
impossible viz. That God gives to the parts of Matter such a motion as is fit to form the World without acting by particular wills for 't is evident at the first such like wills are necessary to determine the first motions which presently ought to be very different some towards the right others to the left these moving upwards those downwards to divide matter into an infinite number of parts It is upon this oversight his difficulty is grounded Let us suppose that the World as yet is no more than a rude heap of matter it is plain that Heaven Earth the Stars c. may be formed by a little and little as this Libertine pretends God must needs at first put all the parts of matter into motion or into a tendency to move in a right line some on one side and some on another Thus before bodies could strike upon one another that is before there could be any occasional cause of the communication of motions it was necessary that God should move the parts of matter after infinitely different manners by particular wills Now if it be clearly conceiv'd that it is the diversity of motions which make the different forms of Bodies it will easily be apprehended that God might form the World all at once by moving the parts of matter towards different sides without imploying therein more particular wills than he would have imployed therein had he moved it after another manner which might have been more proper to have made it by little and little Thus it became God to form at once the parts which compose the World not to expect till it should have made it self gradually by little and little as this Libertine argues Moreover it became him to give it the same form which it would have had in time by the necessary consequence of the Laws of the communication of motions because it is certain that the World would presently have been destroyed if God had made it after such a manner as had been contrary to the Laws which might have produced it successively Distinctly to explain all these things to those who have not considered the principles upon which the objection is founded wou'd require a whole Book but I don't think I ought to stay any longer upon it because they who clearly conceive the objection will also easily see that what I have said is sufficient for the solution of it For it is enough to know 1. That God cannot act by the most simple ways or which is all one by general Laws before there are any occasional causes and that therefore the first motions of the parts of matter on all sides ought to be made and determined by particular wills For Bodies cannot hit upon one another before they are moved 't is this hitting or striking upon one another which is the occasional cause of motions 2. That God might have formed the World such as it is only by at first determining the motion of the parts of matter which surround and penetrate Bodies on all sides and that also it was necessary that God should move all the parts of matter on all sides that the World might be formed by little and little in consequence of the natural Laws and that therefore it comes to the same thing only there would have been very little signs of wisdom and a great deal of useless action and lost time if God had formed the World by degrees in consequence of the natural Laws after he had moved the parts of matter indifferently and as it were at all adventures 3. That absolutely speaking God might have made the Heavens the Earth and all things else successively by observing the same natural Laws which he still observes at this day for that which Moses says in Genesis might perhaps be as well reconciled with the Cartesian Principles as with the Opinions of other Philosophers Several Persons have already composed Books upon this Subject and tho they may not perhaps have succeeded therein I know not but that some others may perform it better To conclude Above all things it ought to be observed that God doth not establish general Laws but that his way of acting may be the same and not to govern the beginning of hiâ— action for as I have said it is even a contradiction that God should begin to move matter by the general Law of the communication of motions since before he removes Bodies it is impossible they should strike upon one another Thus God was obliged at first to move the parts of matter and consequently to give to the World all at once by particular wills that form which it was convenient it should have with respect to his designs It became him to form it so as by the natural Laws of motion it would necessarily have been formed that it might be preserved by the same Laws when he had established them that is so as it would have been formed gradually by little and little by removing the parts of matter in a right Line and afterwards observing the natural Laws of the communication of motions Object VII According to the Author God has formed Organized Bodies by particular wills Now the Salvation of one Man is more worth than all the Insects in the World Therefore if God does not save all Men 't is not because he ought not to act by particular wills If it was true that it becomes not God to act but by general Laws he would have made a World without Animals and Plants seeing such a World might have been produced by general Laws whereas particular wills must be imployed to produce Plants and Animals Answer It is certain that God wills that all men should be saved and that he doth not give them his Grace but to save them But it is yet more certain that if God gave them his Grace with a particular intent to save them all they all would be saved Therefore God doth not dispense his Grace by particular wills I have elsewhere explained and proved all the propositions of this argument there must therefore needs be an error in the objection and tho I could not discover it I ought not therefore to quit a Truth proved by every thing which we know of Gods Conduct because of an objection grounded upon that which we do not know Nevertheless it is easie to resolve the difficulty For the Reason why I maintain that God ought not to act by particular wills is that his Conduct may be uniform and thereby carry in it the Character of his Wisdom and Immutability Now tho God when he created the World did form the Bodies of Animals by particular wills it is evident that this doth not disturb the simplicity of his ways it cannot be said that herein he changed his Conduct Therefore God might by particular wills form Plants and Animals and in their Seeds Iodge that which might propagate their Species in consequence of the general Laws without doing any thing unworthy of his Attributes If