here on Earth was accepted and received of God in Heaven This is the State of things in our Blessed Lord Jesus now let us consider them in our selves When we are first admitted into the Church which is the World of the Faithful especially of the Elect wherein Jesus Christ entred from the Moment of his Incarnation by a peculiar Privilege belonging to the only Son of God we are Offered and Sanctified This Sacrifice continues through the whole course of Life and ends at Death wherein the Soul truly quitting all the Vices and love of the World with the Contagion wherewith it is infected during the course of this Life it finishes its Offering and is received into Bliss Let us not then grieve for the Death of Believers as Pagans do that have no hope When the Faithful depart this Life they are not lost We lost them upon a matter even from the moment they entred into the Church by Baptism from that instant they were Devoted to God their Life was Consecrated to God their Actions regarded the World only for God at their Death they were wholly freed from Sin and 't is then they were received of God and that their Sacrifice received its accomplishment and reward They did what they had Vowed they accomplish'd the Work God gave them to do they did the Work they were Created for the Will of God is fulfilled in them and their Will is swallow'd up into the Will of God Let not our Will separate what God has join'd together and let us stifle or restrain by understanding the Truth the instinct of corrupt and deprav'd Nature which only has false Glosses and that by its Illusions interrupts the Holiness of those Notions which the Truth of the Gospel doth inspire in us Let us not any longer consider Death like Pagans but like Christians that is to say with hope as St. Paul teacheth seeing it is the special Privilege of Christians Let us not consider a Body as a filthy Carrion for deluded Nature does so represent it to us but as the Living Temple of the Holy Ghost as Faith doth teach us For we know the Holy Ghost dwells in the Bodies of Saints till the Resurrection and that they shall be raised by the Power of the Spirit that resides in them to this effect This is the Opinion of some of the Fathers It was upon this account that the Eucharist was heretofore put in the Mouth of the Dead for knowing they were the Temple of the Holy Ghost it was thought convenient they should be united to this Holy Sacrament but the Church has changed this Custom not but the Bodies of Saints are decently buried but because the Eucharist being a Figure of the Bread of Life and for the Living it is not fit it should be given to the Dead Let us not look upon Believers departed in the Fear of God as ceasing to Live though Nature would suggest so but as beginning to live as Truth doth assure us Let us not look upon their Souls as lost and reduc'd to nothing but as vivified and united to the Sovereign Being and by hearkening to these Truths let us restrain the great Mistakes we are so inclin'd unto and those motions of horror which are so Natural to Men. 3. * God has Created Man with two Desires one for God the other for himself but with this restriction that the love for God should be infinite that is to say without any other end but God only and that the love for himself should be finite and referring to God Man in this State would not only love himself without Sin yea he could not but love himself without Sin. Since the Fall Man has lost the first of these Loves and the love of himself being only left in this great Soul capable of an infinite love this Self-love has extended it self and filled the space the Love of God had left and so he loves only himself and all things for himself that is to say Infinitely This is the Original of Self-love it was Natural to Adam and just in his Innocency but it became criminal and immoderate after his Fall This is the Spring of this Love and the cause of its defectiveness and of its excesses It is the same of the immoderate desire of Power of Sloath and of other things The Application is easie to be made upon account of the horror we have of Death This Fear was natural and just in Adam whilst Innocent because his Life being very pleasing to God it was the same to Man and Death would have been horrible because it would have put an end to a Life that was conformable to the Will of God. Since Man Sinned his Life is become depraved his Soul and Body Enemies to each other and both to God. This change having infected so Holy a Life the love of Life remains nevertheless and the fear of Death resting also what was just in Adam is unjust in us This is the Original of the horror of Death and the cause of its defectivenss Let us then clear the horror of Nature by the light of Grace The fear of Death is Natural but 't is in the State of Innocence because it could not enter into Paradise but in finishing an Innocent Life It was just to hate it when it could not happen but in separating a Holy Soul from a Holy Body but 't is just to love it when it separates a Holy Soul from an Impure Body it was just to shun it when it would have broke the Peace betwixt the Body and Soul but not when it calms the highest Dissention To conclude when it would have afflicted an Innocent Body when it would have depriv'd the Body of the liberty of honouring God when it would have separated from the Soul a Body that submitted to its desires when it had destroyed all the Good Man was capable of it was just to abhor it but when it puts an end to a wicked Life when it takes from the Body the liberty of Sinning when it delivers the Soul from a powerful Enemy that resists all the Motions to its Salvation it is very unjust to have the same Sentiments Let us not then quit this Love Nature has given us for Life seeing we have received it from God but let it be for the same Life for which God has given it to us and not for a contrary end And in consenting to the Love Adam had for his Life in Innocency and that Jesus Christ himself had for his let us strive to hate a Life contrary to that which Jesus Christ loved and fear only the Death that Jesus Christ feared which befals a Body well pleasing to God but not fear a Death that punishing a guilty Body and cleansing a Vicious Body should give us quite contrary desires if we have ever so little Faith Hope and Charity It is one of the chief Principles of Christianity that all that befel Jesus Christ should also be fulfill'd in the Body
great Oracle that Governs Cities and Kingdoms 10. * The Will is one of the Principal Organs of Belief not that it forms the Belief but because things appear true or false according to the Face one sees them with The Will that pleaseth it self with one thing more than another diverts the Understanding from considering the Qualities of those things it loves not and so the Understanding complying with the Will is pleas'd in looking on that it loves and judging by what it sees it insensibly directs its Belief according to the inclination of the Will. 11. * We have another Principle of Error and that is Sicknesses they spoil our Reason and Judgment and if great Sicknesses do visibly alter us I make no doubt but lesser make like impressions in proportion Self-interest is also a wonderful instrument that pleasantly puts out our own Eyes Love or hatred do divert Justice When an Advocate is well paid before-hand it makes him find the Cause he Pleads much more Just But by another strange humor of the Mind of Man I have known those that not to be guilty of this Crime have been the most unjust that could be on the other extream The sure way to lose a Cause were it never so Just was to recommend it by a near Relation 12. * Imagination many times swells up the smallest objects by a fantastical esteem so far as even to fill our Soul and by a bold insolence it also lessens the greatest things even to our measure 13. * Justice and Truth are two such nice things that our Faculties are too dull to touch them exactly if they do they blunt the Edge and flutter round about it inclining to wrong rather then right 14. * Old impressions are not capable alone to abuse us the charms of Novelty have the same power from thence proceed all the disputes of Men that tax each other either in following the false impressions of their Infancy or rashly to take up new ones Who is it that holds the medium Let him appear and prove it There is no Principle how natural soever it be even from our very Infancy but is made to pass for a false impression whether it be of Instruction or of Sense because say some that from your Infancy you believ'd a Chest was empty when you see nothing in it you thought vacuity possible it is a strong Illusion of your Senses strengthned by Custom Art must rectifie it Others say on the contrary because you were taught at School that there is no vacuity they have spoil'd your common Sense which knew it so plainly before you receiv'd this Evil impression which you must rectifie by having recourse to your first Nature Who is then deceiv'd the Senses or Art 15. * All Mens care and study is to get Riches and the Title by which they hold them is in its Original nothing but the Fancy of those that have made the Laws neither have they any assurance of safely enjoying them a thousand Accidents deprive them of them It is the same of Learning Sickness deprives us of it 16. * Man then is only a Subject full of Errors which are not to be hid without Grace nothing discovers Truth to him every thing abuses him The two Principles of Truth Reason and the Senses besides that many times they want sincerity they reciprocally abuse each other The Senses abuse the Reason by false appearances and the same delusion they bring they receive of her again it revenges it self The Passions of the Soul trouble the Senses and gives them sad impressions they lye and strive to deceive each other 17. * What are our Natural Principles but our Principles of Custom In Children those they received from their Fathers as hunting is in Beasts A different Custom will give other Principles of Nature this is found by experience and if there are some that are not defaced by Custom there are also others of Custom that are not defaced by Nature This depends of the disposition Fathers do fear least the Natural Love of Children should be defaced What then is this Nature subject to be blotted out Custom is a second Nature that destroys the former Wherefore is not Custom natural I much fear that this Nature is it self no more than a first Custom as Custom is a second Nature §. XXVI Of the Misery of Man. 1. NOthing is more capable to make us enter into the knowledg of the Misery of Man than to consider the true cause of the continual agitation in which they spend their Life The Soul is sent into the Body to sojourn there for a little time it knows 't is but only a passage to an Eternal Journey and that it has only the short time of Life to prepare for it The necessities of Nature rob her of a great part of it there remains but a very little part to her dispose but this little part that 's left does so incommode and strangely perplex her that she only studies how to lose it It is an insupportable burden to her to live with her self and to think of her self so that all her care is to forget her self and to let slip this little time which is so short and precious without reflection and in doing those things that hinder her from thinking of it This is the Spring of all the bustling Occupations of Men and of all that which is called Divertisements or Pastimes in which it is in effect the chief scope to let time slide away without minding it or rather without so much as minding our own selves and to shun in losing this part of Life feeling the bitterness and inward grief that would necessarily attend that watchfulness we should have had over our selves during that time The Soul finds nothing in it self that it can like it sees nothing in it self but what makes it sad when it thinks of it This is it which makes her look abroad and to strive by the using of exteriour things to lose the remembrance of her true State her Joy consists in this forgetfulness and 't is enough to make her miserable to oblige her to look upon her self and to be with her self Men are warned even from their Infancy to be careful of their Honour of their Riches and even of the Riches and Honour of Parents and Friends They are baited at to learn Languages Exercises Arts and Sciences They have the charge of Business they are made to understand that they can't be happy if they do not so order matters that by their industry and care they do not so secure their Fortune and Honour also that of their Friends that if any of these things be wanting they will be miserable so that they give them Offices and Imployments that harras them from their Infancy You will say This is a strange way of making them happy What more can one do to render them miserable Do you ask what one may do Why do but only take away all these things for
and Soul of each particular Christian That as Jesus Christ suffered during his Mortal Life Rose again to a new Life Ascended into Heaven and sate down on the Right Hand of God his Father so also the Body and Soul must suffer die be raised and ascend up into Heaven All these things are fulfilled in the Soul during this Life but not in the Body The Soul suffers and dies unto Sin in Repentance and Baptism the Soul rises to a new Life in these Sacraments and at last the Soul leaves the Earth and ascends to Heaven in Living a Holy Life which makes St. Paul say Conversatio nostra in Coelis est None of these things happen to the Body during this Life but they do afterwards for at Death the Body dies to this Mortal Life at the Day of Judgment it shall rise to a new Life after Judgment it shall ascend up into Heaven and there abide to all Eternity So that the same things arrive to Body and Soul but at different times and the changes of the Body do not happen till those of the Soul are accomplish'd that is to say after Death so that Death is the consummation of the Souls Happiness and the beginning of that of the Body This is the admirable conduct of the Wisdom of God in the Salvation of Souls and St. Austin teaches us on this Subject That God has so order'd it fearing least the Body of Man should be Dead and raised again for ever in Baptism or that he only became Obedient to the Gospel for love of Life whereas the greatness of Faith shines much more when one hopes for Immortality even through the shadows of Death 4. * It is not just we should be without sense and feeling of grief in the Afflictions and sad Accidents that befal us as if we were Angels that have no sense of Nature neither is it just that we should be quite dejected like Heathens that have no sense of Grace but 't is just we should be Afflicted and Comforted like Christians and that the Comforts of Grace should surmount the Sense of Nature to the end Grace may not only be in us but that it may predominate in us that so Sanctifying the Name of our Father his Will may become ours that his Grace may bear sway over Nature and that our Afflictions may be as the Matter of a Sacrifice which his Grace offers for the Glory of God and that these particular Sacrifices may honour and fore-run the Universal Sacrifice wherein whole Nature is to be consumed by the power of Jesus Christ Thus we draw benefit from our own Imperfections seeing they shall serve for matter of this Sacrifice for 't is the aim of all true Christians to make a Benefit of their very Imperfections because all things work together for Good for the Elect. And if we seriously consider it we shall find great helps to our edification in considering the thing in the Truth of it for seeing it is true that the Death of the Body is only the Figure of that of the Soul and that we build on this Principle that we have cause to hope the Salvation of those whose Death we lament it is most certain if we cannot stop the course of our Grief and Sorrow we should at least make this advantage of it that seeing the Death of the Body is so terrible that it causes so much fear in us that of the Soul should cause much greater grief and amazement God has sent the former to those whom we grieve for we hope he has put away the latter let us then consider the greatness of our Happiness by the greatness of our Miseries and let the excess of our Sorrow be the measure of our Joy. One of the most Solid and best Services we can do for the Dead is to do those things they would desire of us if they were living in the World by this means we make them as it were live in us seeing it is their Counsels that live and act in us And as Hereticks are punish'd in the other World for the Sins wherein they have ingag'd their Followers in whom their Poison as yet remains so the Dead are recompensed for those that have follow'd them by their good Counsels and Example 5. * Man is certainly too unable to judge rightly of the state of future things Let us therefore hope in God and not weary our selves by our indiscreet and rash Curiosity Let us refer our selves to God to Govern our Lives and that Grief may not predominate in us Saint Austin teaches us That there is in every Man a Serpent an Eve and an Adam The Serpent is the Senses and Nature the Eve is the Lustful Appetite and the Adam is Reason Nature tempts us continually the Sensual Appetite is ever craving but Sin is not finish'd unless Reason consents Let us then suffer this Serpent and Eve to act if we cannot hinder them but let us pray God that his Grace would so stregthen our Adam that he may continue Victorious that Jesus Christ may be Conquerer and that he might Reign for ever in us §. XXXI Sundry Meditations 1. THe more knowledge we have so much the more we find that there are perfect Men. Common People see no difference betwixt Men. 2. * One may have good Sense and yet not perceive all things aright for there are some that may judge aright in some things that are deceived in others some draw true Consequences from few Principles others draw right Consequences from things where there be many Principles for example some do well comprehend the effects of Water wherein there is but few Principles but whose Consequences are so fine that 't is only a very diligent search can attain to it yet these may not it may be be any great Geometricians because Geometry comprehends a great many Principles and some kind of Wit may be such that it can penetrate a few Principles to the bottom and yet may not penetrate those things wherein there are many Principles There are then two sorts of Wits one that penetrates vigorously and profoundly the Consequence of Principles and that is the Polite Wit the other comprehends a great many Principles without mingling them and that 's the Wit of Geometry the one is strength and clearness of Wit the other is largeness of Wit. Now the one of these may be without the other Wit may be strong and narrow and also may be large and weak There 's a great difference betwixt the Wit of Geometry and a refin'd Wit In the one the Principles are clear but remote from common usage so that one has some difficulty to look that way for want of use but turn a little that way and the Principles will appear plainly and one must have the Understanding very corrupt to reason ill upon such Principles as must needs be seen But in the refin'd Wit the Principles are in the common use and visible to the sight of all
one thing to another unless it be to give it ease and that too at a convenient time and not otherwise for those that would give ease unseasonably do but cause trouble One is displeas'd and then regards nothing so hard it is to obtain any thing of Man but by Pleasure which is the Money for which we part with any thing 44. * Man is a lover of Malignity but 't is not against the Wicked but against the Happy proud and 't is to be deceiv'd to judge otherwise Martiall 's Epigram upon the Blind is naught for it don't Comfort them and only gives a Point to the Glory of the Author What is not for the Author is worth nothing Ambitiosa recidet ornamenta those that have human and tender Thoughts should be pleased and not those who are barbarous and inhumane §. XXXII PRAYER To desire of God the right use of Sickness I. LORD thy Spirit is so good and so sweet in all things and thou art so Merciful that not only the Prosperities but even the sufferings which befal the Elect are effects of thy Love give me Grace not to act as a Heathen in the State whereinto thy Justice has reduced me but that as a true Christian I may own thee for my Father and my God in what condition soever I am for the change of my Condition makes nothing to thee for thou art always the same though I am subject to change and thou art the same God when thou afflictest and punishest as when thou dost comfort and shew compassion II. Thou gavest me Health to serve thee and I have converted it to a prophane use now thou sendest me Sickness to correct me suffer me not to abuse it to provoke thee by my impatience I have not rightly improved my health and thou hast justly punish'd me suffer me not to slight thy Correction And seeing the Corruption of my Nature is such that it makes thy favours pernicious to me Grant O my God that thy powerful Grace may make thy Chastisements profitable to me If my Heart has been full of Love for the World whilst it had any vigour abate this vigour for my good and make me uncapable of enjoying the World whether it be through weakness of Body or through Zeal of Charity that I might enjoy thee only III. O God before whom I must give an exact account of all my Actions at the end of my Life and at the end of the World O God who sufferest the World and all things in the World to subsist only to exercise thine Elect or to punish Sinners O God who leavest impenitent Sinners in the delicious but Criminal use of the World O God who killest our Bodies and at the instant of Death separatest our Soul from all that it loved in the World O God who wilt take me away at the last moment of my Life from all those things I delighted in and whereon I set my Heart O God who at the last day wilt consume Heaven and Earth and all Creatures therein contained that all Men might see that 't is thou only that subsistest and that therefore thou only deservest to be loved because nothing is permanent but thou O God who wilt destroy all vain Idols and all these wicked Objects of our Passions I Praise thee my God and will Bless thee all the days of my Life inasmuch as thou hast been pleas'd to prevent this dreadful Day in my behalf by destroying as to me all things by the weakness wherein thou hast put me I Praise thee my God and will bless thy Name as long as I live in that thou hast been pleas'd to make me unable to enjoy the Pleasures of Health and the Pleasures of the World and in that thou hast in some sort destroyed for my good the deceitful Idols which thou wilt absolutely destroy for the confusion of Sinners in the great Day of thy Wrath. Grant Lord that I may judge my self after this destruction which thou hast made in my regard to the end thou maist not judge me thy self after the general destruction which thou wilt make of my Life and of all the World For Lord as at the instant of my Death I shall find my self separated from the World stript of all things standing in thy Presence to answer thy Justice for all the Motions of my Heart grant that I may look on my self in this Sickness as in a kind of Death separate from the World depriv'd of all the Objects wherein I placed my delight standing in thy Presence to implore of thy Mercy the true Conversion of my Heart that so I may have and feel extraordinary Comfort that thou art pleased now to send me a kind of Death to exercise thy Mercy before thou sendest me Death effectively to exercise thy Judgment Grant therefore O my God that as thou hast anticipated my Death I may prevent the rigor of thy Sentence and that I may examine my self before thy Judgment that I may find Mercy in thy Presence IV. Grant O my God that I adore in silence the order of thy wonderful Providence in the conduct of my Life that thy Chastisements may comfort me and that having lived in the bitterness of my Sins during the time of Peace I may taste the Heavenly sweetness of thy Grace during the healthy Afflictions wherewith thou dost visit me But I acknowledge my God that my Heart is so hardned and full of Ideas Cares Molestations and Thoughts of this World that neither Sickness nor Health neither Discourse nor Books thy Holy Scriptures nor the Gospel neither Fasting Mortifications nor Works of Charity and Mercy nor Miracles nor the use of thy Sacraments nor all my indeavours nor those of all the World put together can contribute any thing towards my Conversion unless thou art pleas'd to accompany all these things with an extraordinary assistance of thy Grace Therefore my God I come unto thee Omnipotent God to demand that of thee which all Creatures together cannot give me I should not have the confidence to lift up my Voice unto thee if any body else could help me But O my God as the Conversion of my Heart which I beg of thee is a Work that surpasseth the strength of Nature I cannot but address my self to the Almighty Author and Master of Nature and of my Heart to whom should I cry Lord to whom should I go but to thee nothing but God can fill and satisfie my expectation It is God only that I seek for and that I desire and 't is to thee only O my God that I address my self that I might enjoy thee Open my Heart Lord enter into this Rebellious place which has been defil'd with Sin it keeps it in subjection enter thereinto as into the strong Mans House but first bind the strong Man that Rules in it and then take all the Riches therein Lord take my Affections which the World had stollen wilt thou accept this Treasure rather reassume it seeing
Monsieur PASCALL'S THOUGHTS Meditations and Prayers Touching Matters MORAL and DIVINE As they were found in his Papers after his Death Together with a DISCOURSE upon Monsieur Pascall's THOUGHTS Wherein is shewn what was his Design As also another DISCOURSE On the PROOFS of the Truth of the Books of Moses And a TREATISE Wherein is made appear that there are DEMONSTRATIONS of a different Nature but as certain as those of Geometry and that such may be given of the Christian Religion Done into English by Jos Walker Licensed by R. M. LONDON Printed for Jacob Tonson at the Judge's Head in Chancery-lane near Fleet-street 1688. TO THE HONOURABLE Robt. Boyle ESQUIRE A Member of the Royal Society Honoured Sir IT being my Fortune to Live some Years in a Port where your Immortal Brother for so his Deeds has made him the Earl of Orrery came to take Shipping for Ireland his Lordship was pleas'd to shew me a small Treatise writ I think by the Baron De Isola intimating it was worth Translating into English I on my part yielded a ready compliance and his Lordship was pleas'd to say it was done to his satisfaction The Approbation of so great a Judge incouraged me to set on farther Attempts of that kind so that hearing by a Judicious Person that Monsieur Pascall's Works would be well accepted I got one of the Books and have used my Endeavours about it and observing a Parity there is in some things betwixt your Honour and our Author I thought I could not commit the so much Admir'd and Esteem'd Monsieur Pascall and his Precious Remains into safer and better Hands than the Famous Master Boyle's nor recommend him to Travel the Kings Dominions under a better or safer Conduct than that of your Honours Favourable Approbation and Acceptance If the Translation has not the Advantages of Art and Elegancy it requir'd and deserves I cannot help it the Will must pass for the Deed much Silver cannot be expected out of a Lead Mine I have kept to the Authors Sense as near as I could and have given way that any one else might have perform'd it better if they pleas'd Monsieur Pascall was Nobly Descended and a great lover of Vertue and Learning from his Infancy Every body knows Sir you Eminently enjoy these Advantages He was call'd a Christian Philosopher and Mathematician who knows not but your Honour deserves these Epithets by the many Learned and Profound Treatises you have Compos'd He made all his Works and Actions of his Life tend to the Temporal and Eternal good of Men You have Employ'd your whole Life and Estate in Laborious Studying the abstrusest Recesses of Nature for the Glory of God of Religion and the good of Manking as appears by your Excellent Treatise of the Stile of the Holy Scritures c. Monsieur Pascall was Eminently Charitable Pious and Exemplary in his Morals hating and reproving Vice in himself and others wherein he surpast most of the Clergy These things Sir cannot be deny'd you to such a Degree that for disapproving Vice you acquir'd the Title of Lay-Bishop for those truly deserve double Honour who throughly Reform themselves and do sincerely reprove Sin and Vice impartially in all sorts of Persons whatsoever The Prophets Christ the Apostles and all Good Men have done so Those who are indifferent in this regard and that manage themselves and Interests with a kind of human Policy thinking thereby to scape in a whole Skin let such tremble for a Monsieur Pascall and a Master Boyle will Rise up in Judgment and condemn them such doings will not turn to Account in the End as appears by our next Neighbours sad Experience I observe and could Instance other particular Strains in Monsieur Pascall's and your Honours Works and Life which the World would be Proud to know but I hold my Hand and referr so weighty a Work to be perform'd by your Panegyrists It is very seldom such Vertues as were in him are found in those of the Communion wherein he Liv'd But when I consider and compare his Writings and Life with a Lord Treasurer Manchester a Master Herbert and many other Worthies that have liv'd and shin'd in the English Climate I will not presume but shall leave it to the Learned World to judge the apparent differences may be discern'd It is true Monsieur Pascall is Dead but his great Purity of Life and Zeal according to what he could discern through the Mists of Superstition and part of his Remains in this Treatise and you Illustrious Sir in the Numerous Issue you have enrich'd the World with I say the Pious and Learned Master Boyle and Monsieur Pascall in their Excellent Works do yet and Will for ever Live and Shine and speak aloud in the Temple of Fame and will be rever'd in the Memory of Good Men and thereby have acquir'd a Name better than of Sons and Daughters I know it is a common Practice to Expose Pieces as the Real Product of a Couper a Carrachio a Vandike c. and to impose on Men Spurious Brats for Legitimate Children because they may have some Features of their Parents I dare not assure the World that the Account here given us of Monsieur Pascall's Life and Works are a Lively and Perfect Representation of him on the contrary having seriously consider'd the Solidity and Design of his Book in most parts of it I am rather apt to believe there are many Strokes and Alterations made by other Hands through that which some call pia fraus that were never intended by him had he liv'd to have seen his own Works finish'd It is Recorded of Epaminondas that he earnestly desir'd he might obtain one of the Prizes at the Olympick Games that his Mother might partake with him the Pleasure of his Happiness What an exceeding great Contentment must it needs be to your Illustrious Relations to see you for so many years successively enjoy in the sight of all Europe greater Honours than that so Passionately desir'd by that Famous Graecian You were not Content to search into the Secrets and Nature of all things in the Elements over and under us but you at length lanched out into the Boundless Ocean not precipitately as it is said the Prince of the Ancient Philosophers did but by your Rare and Indefatigable Studies You I may say Inverted the Order for the Prophet made the Waters Potable by casting Salt into them whereas you make Salt Waters Sweet and Wholsom by taking the Fire and Salt out of them What Cause has all Europe to thank Heaven for the Blessing they do or may if they be not wanting to themselves receive by your Contriving and perfecting those Engines and Materials for making Salt 〈◊〉 water Fresh A Secret no less Profitable than Pleasant Almighty God was pleas'd you should discover and in this last Age of the World communicate to Men to refresh and Cherish them in their Sea Voyages with what Quantity of Wholsom Water they
still continue a People §. XX. God is not known to advantage but by Jesus Christ 1. MOst of those that undertake to prove the Divinity to the prophane for the most part do begin by the Works of Nature and they very seldom succeed I do not call in question the solidity of these Proofs consecrated by the Holy Scriptures they are agreeable to Reason yet sometimes they are not conformable enough and sufficiently proportion'd to the Disposition of the Spirit of those for whom they are intended For it must be observ'd this Discourse is not directed to those that have a lively Faith and that presently see that all the World is nothing else but the Workmanship of that God whom they Adore It is to such the whole Fabrick of Nature speaks the praise of its Creator and that the Heavens shew forth his Handy-works But for those in whom this light is gone out and in whom one would willingly kindle it those Persons destitute of Faith and Charity that only see darkness and obscurity in all the Works of Nature it seems not to be the best way of instructing them to give them for Proofs only of this great and important Subject the course of the Moon and Planets or of common Notions against which they have ever had an aversion the obstinacy of their understanding has made them deaf to this Voice of Nature sounding continually in their Ears and experience shews that very far from gaining them by this means there 's nothing on the contrary more like to hinder them and to deprive them of all hope of knowing the Truth then to think to convince them only by this sort of Arguments and to tell them that they should plainly see the Truth in them It is not in this manner the Scripture speaks that knows the things of God better than we do It tells us indeed that the Beauty of the Creatures teaches him who made them but it doth not say that they work this same effect in all the World. It warns us on the contrary that when they do it it is not by themselves but by the light that God sheds forth at the same time in the Minds of those to whom he discovers himself by this means Quod notum est Dei manifestum est in illis Deus enim illis manifestavit It tells us in general that God is a God hid Vere tu es Deus absconditus and that since the Corruption of Nature he has left Mankind in a State of darkness from which they cannot be freed but by Jesus Christ without whom we are deny'd all Communion with God Nemo novit patrem nisi filius aut cui voluerit filius revelare It is also what the Scripture intimates to us when it saith in so many places that those which seek God shall find him one does not speak so of a light that is clear and evident one has no need to seek it it discovers and shews it self 2. * The Metaphysical Proofs of God are so far off from human Reasoning and so intangl'd that they seldom work upon any and if that should convince any one it would be but for the moment that they beheld this demonstration but an hour after they would be afraid of being cozen'd Quod curiositate cognoverint superbia amiserunt Moreover this kind of Proofs can only carry us to a speculative knowledg of God and to know him but in this manner is not to know him at all The Christians Divinity consists not barely in knowing a God that is Author of Geometrical Truths and of the order of the Elements this belongs to the Heathens It consists not barely neither in knowing a God that exercises his Providence over the Bodies and Goods of Men to bless with a long and happy Life those which adore him this is the Portion of Jews But the God of Abraham the God of Jaoob is a God of Consolation it is a God that fills the Heart and Soul that enjoys him it is a God that makes them inwardly feel their Misery and his infinite Mercy in their very Soul filling it with Humility Joy Confidence and Love which makes them uncapable of any other End but himself The God of Christians is a God that makes the Soul feel that he is its Soveraign good that its only Rest is in him and that it can have no true Joy but in loving him and that withal at the fame time makes it abhor those lets which defer and hinder it from loving him with all its might Self-love and Concupiscence which hinder it are very burdensom to it this God makes it feel that it is opprest with this burden of Self-love and that it is he only can cure it This is what 't is to know God as a Christian But to know him after this manner one must at the same time know ones own Misery Wretchedness and the need one has of a Mediator to bring one nearer to God and to unite one to him These Notions must not be separated because being separated they are not only unuseful but they are hurtful The knowledge of God without knowing our own Misery causeth Pride The knowledge of our Misery without the knowledg of Jesus Christ causeth Despair but to know Jesus Christ exempts us both from Despair and Pride because we therein know God our own Misery and the only means of Recovery We may know God and not our Miseries or our Miseries and not God or both God and our Miseries without knowing the means of being freed from the Miseries that oppress us But we cannot know Jesus Christ without knowing both God and our Miseries and the Remedy to cure them because Jesus Christ is not only God but he is a God that heals all our Miseries So that all such as seek God without Jesus Christ do not find any light that satisfies or can be any way profitable to them For either they attain not to know there is a God or if they do it is to no advantage to them because they imagin a means of having Communion without a Mediator with this God whom they have known without a Mediator So that they fall either into Atheism or into Deism which are two extreams Christian Religion abhors both alike We must then strive only to know Jesus Christ seeing it is by him only that we can hope to know God to any advantage It is he is the true God of all Men that is of the Miserable and Sinners he is the Object and Center of all and whosoever knows him not knows nothing in the order of the World nor in himself for we do not know God but by Jesus Christ neither do we know our own selves but by Jesus Christ Without Jesus Christ Man had remain'd in Sin and Misery having Jesus Christ Man is freed from Sin and Misery In him is all our Happiness our Virtue our Life our Light and our Hope And out of him is nothing but Sin Misery
and Obedience it on the contrary happens that those that continue in the Service of God are themselves infinitely beholden to him 35. * It is neither the austerities of Body nor the agitations of the Mind but the good motions of the Heart that support the Pains of Body and Mind for these two things are needful to sanctifie Pains and Pleasures Saint Paul said That those that will live Godly shall find many Tribulations this should comfort those that feel them seeing they are warn'd the way to Heaven that they seek is full of them they should rejoyce to find Marks that they are in the right way But those Pains are never without Pleasure and are never surmounted but with Pleasure for as those that forsake God to turn to the World do it only but because they find more sweetness in the Pleasures of the World then in those of Union with God and that this conquering charm leads them and making them repent of their first choice makes them the Devils Penitents as Tertullian speaks So in like manner one would never forsake the Pleasures of the World to imbrace the Cross of Jesus Christ if one did not find more pleasure in Disgrace Poverty Nakedness and the reproach of Men than in the pleasures of Sin. And so as Tertullian speaks elsewhere It must not be thought a Christians Life is a Life of Sadness One does not quit Pleasures but change them for others that are far greater Pray continually saith St. Paul Give Thanks always Rejoyce evermore It is the Joy of having found God is the ground of the sorrow of having offended him and of the whole change of our Life Him that found a Treasure in a Field is so glad according to Jesus Christ that he sells all he has to purchase it Worldlings have their sadness but they have not this joy which the World can neither give nor take away saith Christ himself The Blessed have this joy without any sorrow and Christians have this Joy mixed with sadness for having follow'd other Pleasures and the fear of losing it by the inticement of those other Pleasures that continually tempt us So that we ought continually to labour to preserve this fear which may moderate our joy and thereafter as one finds himself too much inclin'd towards the one to bend towards the other thereby to continue steddy Think of Good in the Days of Adversity and think of Affliction in the Days of Rejoycing saith the Scriptures until such time as the Promise of Jesus Christ be fulfill'd in accomplishing his Joy in us Let us not then be wholly dejected with sorrow and let us not think Piety consists only in bitterness without Consolation True Piety that is only to be found perfect in Heaven is so full of Comforts that it fills both the Entrance the Progress and the End. It is a Light so bright that it shines upon all that is near it if there be any sorrow mingled especially at first 't is from us it proceeds and not from Virtue for it is not the effect of Piety that begins to be in us but of the Impiety which remaineth in us Let us take away the Impiety and there will be Joy without any mixture Let us not then lay the blame on Devotion but on our selves and seek for Comfort only by correcting our selves 36. * The time past should not trouble us seeing it is only needful we should have true sorrow for our offences the time to come should less trouble us because that makes nothing at all to us and it may be we shall not live to see it the present is the only time that is ours and which we should employ in the fear of God it is therein our Thoughts should be chiefly imploy'd Nevertheless Men are so lazy that we scarce ever think of the time present but of that we shall live in hereafter So that we are ever about living in the time to come and never live in the present Our Saviour would not that our forecast should reach farther than the present Day it is the bounds that he has set us and appointed us to keep both for our Health and Rest 37. Sometimes Men rectisie themselves by seeing Evil more than by Good Example and 't is good to accustom ones self to profit by Evil seeing it is so common whereas that which is Good is rare 38. * In the 13th Chapter of St. Mark Jesus Christ made a great Discourse to his Disciples of his last coming and as all that befals the Church doth also happen to every particular Christian it is certain this Chapter â—oth as well foretel the State of every Christian in particular that in their Conversion dostroy the Old Man in themselves as the State of the whole Universe which shall be destroy'd to give place to a new Heaven and new Earth as the Scripture speaks the Prophesies therein contain'd of the destruction of the rejected Temple which represents the ruin of the Man of Sin which is in every one of us and of which it is said there shall not one Stone be left upon another shews there shall not be left any Passion of the Old Man. And those strange intestine Commotions do plainly foreshew the inward troubles those do feel that give themselves up to God than which there can be nothing more lively described c. 39. * The Holy Spirit invisibly rests in the Relicks of those who are Dead in the Grace of God even until he appears visibly again at the Resurrection and this is it that renders the Relicks of Saints so worthy of Veneration For God never abandons his Servants no not even in the Sepulchres where their Bodies though dead to the Eyes of Men are more alive in the sight of God because they are free from Sin whereas Sin abides in them still during this Life at least the root of it indeed the fruits of Sin are not always seen And this unhappy Root which always subsists during Life is the cause they deserve not so much Honour but rather on the contrary to be hated therefore it is that Death is necessary wholly to mortifie this wicked Root and it is what makes it desirable 40. * The Elect do not know their Virtues nor the Reprobates their Crimes Lord will the one and the other say when saw we thee an hunger'd c. 41. * Jesus Christ refus'd the Testimony of Devils and of those that were not called but not of God and of John Baptist 42. * In writing my Thought sometimes I forget but that makes me remember my weakness which I am apt to forget every Minute and this instructs me as much as the Thought I forgot for I only strive to know my own Nothingness 43. * Mountaign is guilty of great Failures his Works are full of unchast and filthy Words this ought not to be his Opinions of Murder and wilful Death are horrible he inspires a faint hope of Salvation without fear or
necessary therefore once knowing the Truth by Reason to strive to feel it and to bring our Faith into the knowledg of the Heart else it will be always uncertain and wavering 80. * It is of the Essence of God that his Justice should be Infinite as well as his Mercy Nevertheless his Justice and Severity towards the Damned is yet less astonishing than his Mercy towards the Elect. §. XXIX Moral Reflections 1. SCiences have two Extremities that touch each other the first is pure Natural Ignorance wherein all Men are involv'd when they come into the World the other Extream is whereunto great Souls do attain that having passed through all things 't is possible for Men to know they find at last they know nothing and find themselves in that very Ignorance from whence they first set out But this is a Learned Ignorance that knows it self those betwixt these two that have set out of this Natural Ignorance and could not attain the other have yet some tincture of this high Knowledg and would be thought great these trouble the World and judg worst of all of things The Common People and the Learned usually make up the World the others despise them and are despised themselves 2. * The common People honour those of great Birth the Conceited sort dispise them saying Great Birth is not an advantage of the Persons but of hazard The Wise do honour them not by the motive of the People but by a higher Consideration Some Self-conceited Persons that have no great knowledg despise them notwithstanding the Consideration as makes them be honour'd by the Wiser sort because they judg by a new Light that Piety infuses into them but true Christians Honour them by another higher Light. So Opinions succeed for or against according as one is illuminated 3. * God having made Heaven and Earth which are not sensible of the Happiness of their Being he would make Beings that should know it and that should make up a Body of thinking Members All Men are Members of this Body and to be Happy 't is requisite they should conform their particular Will to the Universal Will that Governs the whole Body Nevertheless it often happens that one thinks to be all and that seeing no Body whereof we depend one thinks to depend of himself alone and one would be both a Center and a Body But in this State one should find himself a Member separated from the Body that not having in it self a Principle of Life does only ramble and go astray in the uncertainty of his Being At length when one begins to know himself one as it were returns into himself one finds one is not a Body one finds one is but a Member of the Universal Body that to be a Member is not to have Life Being nor Motion but by the Spirit of the Body and for the Body that a Member separated from the Body to which it belongs has only a perishing and fading Being so that one should only love ones self for this Body or rather one should only love him because in loving him one loves himself seeing our Being is only in him and by him and for him 4. * To regulate the Love we should have for our selves we should imagin a Body composed of thinking Members for we are Members of all and see how each Member should love 5. * The Body loves the Hand and the Hand if it had a Will should love it self after the same manner the Body loves it All Love that passeth this is unjust 6. * If the Feet and Hands had a particular Will they would never be in their right State but in submitting to the Will of the Body out of this they would be in mischief and extravagance but in not desiring but the good of the Body they seek their own good 7. * The Members of our Body are not sensible of the Happiness of their Union of their admirable intelligence of the care Nature takes to influence them with Spirits to make them grow and subsist were they capable to understand it and that they would use this Knowledg to retain in themselves the nourishment they receive without letting it pass to the other Members they would be not only unjust but also Miserable and would rather hate than love themselves their blessedness as well as their Duty consisting in agreeing to conduct the Universal Soul to which they appertain that loves them better than they do themselves 8. * Qui adhaeret Domino unus spiritus est One loves himself because he is a Member of Jesus Christ One loves Jesus Christ because he is the chief of the Body whereof one is a Member All is one one is in the other 9. * Concupiscence and Strength are the Springs of all our Actions purely human Lust produceth voluntary Strength the involuntary Actions 10. * Whence is it that we are not moved at a lame Man and that we are troubled to hear an ignorant Person It is because a lame Man acknowledges we go straight and that a Man of an ignorant Brain saith that 't is we are ignorant otherwise we should have more of pity than anger Epictetus asks also wherefore we are not angry if it be said we have the Head-ach and that we are angry as soon as 't is said that we Reason ill or that we make a wrong choice The Reason of this is because we are sure we have not the Head-ach and that we are not lame but we are not so cetain that we shall make a right choice So that not being assured but because we see with our full veiw when another sees with his full veiw the quite contrary this puts us in suspence and does astonish us and the more when a thousand mock at our choice for we must prefer our light before that of so many others and that is difficult and hard to do there is never this contradiction in the Sense touching a Cripple 11. * The People have very sound Opinions for Example for choosing Divertisements and Hunting rather than Poetry the Half-witted scoff and boast thereupon to shew the folly of the World but by a Reason that they do not fully search into it were also reasonable to distinguish Men by the Exteriour as by Birth or Riches the World boasts also to shew how unreasonable this is but it is very reasonable 12. * Good Parentage and Birth is a great advantage it sets a Man at Eighteen or Twenty Years old in a degree of as much respect and esteem as another should have at Fifty Years old And here is Thirty Years gain'd at a clap 13. * There be some Persons that to shew one does them wrong in not esteeming them do often tell that they are esteemed by such and such Persons of Quality I would answer such Shew by what Merit you have gain'd the esteem of such Persons and we will also esteem you as much as they do 14. * A Man that sets himself in
a Window to see those that pass by can I say he set himself there to see me No for he does not think of me in particular But him that loves a Person for her Beauty Does he love her no For the Small-pox that can change the Beauty without killing the Person will make him not love any longer And if I am not lov'd but for my Judgment or Memory Is it I am loved no for I may lose those Qualities and subsist still Where then is I if it be not in the Body nor in the Soul And how shall one love Body or Soul if it be not for these Qualities which are not those that make this I seeing they are perishable For shall one love the substance of the Soul of a Person abstractively and some Qualities it may have This cannot be and it would be unjust One never loves a Person but the Qualities or if one loves the Person it must be said 't is the mixture of Qualities that make up the Person 15. * What we are most concern'd for is of no great moment for the most part as for instance to conceal our Poverty It is a nothing that our Imagination swells into a Mountain Another whimsy of the Brain makes us discover it at large 16. * There are some Vices that hang about us but by others and which in taking away the Body are renewed like Branches 17. * When Malice has Reason on its side it becomes fierce and sets forth Reason in all its splendor When Austerity or the Choice of a severe Life has not succeeded to the true Good and that it is forc'd to come to live according to Nature it becomes fierce by its return 18. * It is not to be happy to be made merry by Recreations for they come from elsewhere and from without and so they are dependant and by consequence subject to be interrupted by a thousand Accidents which unavoidably cause trouble 19. * Some Persons would not have an Author speak of things others have spoken of else he will be censur'd of not saying any thing that 's new When one plays at Tennis 't is the same Ball both play with but one directs it better I would be as well content one were accus'd of using old Words as if the same Thoughts did not form another body of Discourse by disposing them differently as well as the same Words form other Thoughts by the different Dispositions 20. * All good Maxims are in the World there wants nothing but to apply them for Instance It is not doubted but one should venture their Life for the publick good and many do it but for Religion very few do it 21. * Too much Wisdom is accounted Folly as well as too little nothing is esteemed Good but a mediocrity It is the plurality that has establish'd it so and snaps at every one that removes any part whatsoever I will not be too resolute I consent to be of the number and if I refuse being set at the lower end 't is not because it is low but because 't is the end for I should also be displeas'd to be set at the highest It is to go out of Humanity to depart out of the Medium The Greatness of the human Soul is to know how to keep that Station and so contrary 't is to his Greatness to go out of it that 't is his Grandeur still to keep in it 22. * One don't pass in the World to have any knowledg in Verse if one don 't set out the sign of Poet nor of being a good Mathematician unless one sets out that of Mathematician But the truly honest Persons will have no sign at all and don 't make any great difference betwixt the Trade of a Poet and that of an Imbroiderer They are called neither Poets nor Geometricians but they judge of them all they can scarce be known they will speak of things were discours'd of when they came into the Company there is no notice to be taken in them of one Quality more than another without a necessity of shewing it but then one may for 't is alike of this Character that it be not said of them They speak well when there is no dispute of the Language and that it be said of them They do when there is any Question It is then a false Praise when one says of a Man when he comes in that he is very skilful in Verse and 't is an ill sign when one applies to him only when there is need of judging of some Verses Man is full of Projects he only loves those that can satisfie his Humour Some will say he 's a good Mathematician but what care I for a Mathematician He is one understands the Wars well I don't intend to have difference with any Body There is need then of a good honest Man that will be useful to all our Affairs 23. * When one is in Health one don't know how one should do if they were sick and when one is one willingly takes Physick Sickness obliges one thereunto We don't think of desiring to walk and use Divertisements that we us'd in Health Sickness will not suffer nor endure them Nature does then give Desires and Passions conformable to the present Condition it is only the Fear we give our selves and not Nature that doth give us any trouble because they joyn to the State wherein we are the Passions of the State wherein we are not 24. * The discourse of Humility are matters of Pride unto the Proud and of Humility to the Humble So also those of Pyronism and Doubting are matters of Affirmation to the Affirmers very few speak of Humility humbly very few of Chastity chastly very few of Doubt doubtingly We are made up of Lying Deceit Contrariety We hide and disguise us from our selves 25. * Great Actions hid are most esteemed When I find some in History they please me much but they were not quite secret because they were known and that little that shewed them does lessen their worth for that 's their greatest value that they had been hid 26. * To be counted a Wit is a bad Character The Word Me used by the Author in the following Discourse signifies only Self-love it is a Term he was wont to use in his discourse with some certain Friends 27. * The Me is to be hated so those that do not take it away and that only content themselves to cover it are hateful Not at all you will say for in assigning civilly to every one their due there is no cause to be hated that 's true if one did not hate in the Me only the displeasure that comes of it But if I hate it because it is unjust and makes it self the Center of all things I shall always hate it In a word the Me hath two Qualities it is unjust in it self in that it makes it self the Center of all things it is troublesom to others in that it would keep them
not in it self and out of God but out of it self and in the very Will of God in the Justice of his Decree in the order of his Providence which is the true cause of it without which it had not arriv'd by whom alone it is come to pass and in the very manner that 't is hapned We should adore with an humble silence the impenetrable height of his Secrets We should adore the Holiness of his Decrees We should praise the Wisdom of his Providence and joining our Will unto Gods Will we should with him in him and for him desire the thing that he appointed in us and for us from all Eternity 2. * There is no Comfort to be found but in Truth only Doubtless Seneca and Socrates have nothing that can perswade or Comfort us on these occasions they were in the Ignorance that blinded all Men at first they thought Death was Natural to Man and all the Discourses they grounded upon this false Principle are so vain and empty that they only serve to shew in the general how weak Man is seeing the greatest Productions of the Wisest Men are so mean and childish It is not so of Jesus Christ it is not so of the Canonical Books of the Scriptures Truth is therein plainly discover'd and true Comfort is as Infallibly join'd thereunto as Error is infallibly separated from it Let us then consider Death in the Truth taught us by the Holy Ghost We have this admirable advantage to know that truly and effectively Death is a Punishment of Sin imposed upon Man to expiate his Crime necessary to Man to cleanse him from Sin it is that alone can deliver the Soul from the Lust of the Flesh which Saints are subject to while they live in this World. We know Life and the Life of Christians is a continual Sacrifice which cannot determine but in Death We know Jesus Christ coming into the World lookt on himself and offer'd himself to God as a true Sacrifice that his Birth his Life his Death Resurrection Ascension and his Session at the Right Hand of God are but one only Sacrifice we know what befel Jesus Christ must happen to all his Members Let us then consider Life as a Sacrifice and that the Evils of our Lives make no impression on the Minds of Christians but in measure as they hinder or accomplish this Sacrifice Let us call that only Evil which makes the Offering of God the Offering of the Devil but let us call that Good which makes the Offering of the Devil in Adam the Offering of God and by this Rule let us examine the Nature of Death To this purpose we must have recourse to the Person of Jesus Christ for as God regards not Man but by the Mediator Jesus Christ so also Men should neither regard themselves nor others but by Jesus Christ if we do not pass the middle we find in our selves only true Miseries or abominable Pleasures but if we consider all things in Jesus Christ we shall find all manner of Consolation Satisfaction and Edification Let us consider Death in Jesus Christ not out of Jesus Christ out of Christ it is horrible detestable and the horror of Nature In Jesus Christ it is quite another thing it is Amiable Holy and the Joy of the Faithful All is sweet in Jesus Christ even Death it self it is for this he suffered and dyed to Sanctifie Death by his Sufferings and as God and as Man he was Great in the highest Degree and mean in the lowest degree to the end to Sanctifie in himself all things Sin excepted and to be the Pattern of all Conditions To consider what Death is and to die in Christ Jesus one should see what place it has in the continual Sacrifice and to this effect observe that in the Sacrifices the chief thing was the Death of the Offering The Oblation and Sanctification that went before were the Dispositions but the Substance is the Death wherein by the loss of Life the Creature gives to God all Obedience it can in becoming nothing in the sight of his Majesty and in Adoring his Sovereign Being which subsists alone essentially It 's true there is yet something farther after the Death of the Offering without which his Death is of no value it is Gods accepting the Sacrifice it is what is mention'd in the Scriptures Et odoratus est Dominus odorem suavitatis It is this indeed that crowns the Oblation but it is rather an action of God towards the Creature than of the Creature towards God and it don't hinder but the last Action of the Creature is Death These things were accomplish'd in Jesus Christ coming into the World he Offerr'd himself Obtulit semetipsum per Spiritum Sanctum Ingrediens mundum dixit Hostiam oblationem noluisti tunc dixi Ecce venio In capite libri scriptum est de me ut faciam Deus voluntatem tuam He offer'd himself by the Holy Ghost entring into the World he said Lord Sacrifices and burnt Offering thou wouldst not a Body hast thou prepared me And I said Behold I come as it is written to do thy Will O God and thy Law is written within my Heart this is his Oblation his Sanctification followed immediately after his Oblation This Sacrifice continued all his Life and was finished by his Death It was necessary that by Sufferings he should enter into Glory and though he was the Son of God it was requisite he should learn Obedience In the Days of his Flesh having with strong cries and tears offer'd Prayers and Supplications to him that was able to deliver him from Death he was heard according to his Obedience to God his Father And God raised him from the Dead and sent him his Glory figur'd under the Law by the Fire of Heaven that came down upon the Sacrifices to burn and consume his Body and to make it live with the Life of Glory It is what Jesus Christ obtained and has accomplished by his Resurrection So that this Sacrifice being perfect by the Death of Jesus Christ and consummated by his Resurrection where the Figure of the Flesh of Sin was swallow'd up in Glory Jesus Christ fulfilled all things on his part and there only remained that the Sacrifice should be accepted of God and that as the Smoak ascended and carry'd the sweet savour to the Throne of God also Jesus Christ should in that perfect State of immolation be offer'd carry'd and received at the very Throne of God and this was accomplish'd in the Ascension wherein he rose up by his own Power and by the power of the Holy Ghost that compass'd him round about he was raised up as the Smoak of the Sacrifices which was the Figure of Jesus Christ was carry'd up by the Air that supported it which is the Figure of the Holy Ghost and in the Acts it is said expresly That he was received up into Heaven to assure us that this Holy Oblation accomplish'd
care of boasting of this advantage as great as it is and one ought to rest satisfi'd to be counted one of the little number of those that know the value of it 13. * The Mind believes naturally and the Will loves naturally So that for want of true Objects they will fix upon false ones 14. * Many true things are contradicted many false things pass without contradiction Contradiction is no mark of Fashood nor Allowance is no mark of Truth 15. * Caesar me thinks was too old to think of Conquering the World this Dream was fitter for Alexander he was a young Man hard to be rul'd but Caesar might have been more stay'd 16. * All the World sees one labours at incertainty by Sea by Land at the Wars c. but all the World don't see the Rule of the Persons that shew one ought to do it Montaigne saw that one is displeas'd at a dull head and that Custom is all but he saw not the Reason of this Effect those that see the Effects and not the Causes are in regard to those that see the Causes like those that have only Eyes in comparison of those that have Understanding for Effects are as it were sensible and Reasons are only visible to the Understanding and though 't is by the Understanding those Effects are seen this Understanding is in comparison of the Understanding that sees the Causes as the Corporal Senses are in regard of the Soul. 17. * The sense of the deceitfulness of present Pleasures and the Ignorance of absent Pleasures cause inconstancy 18. * If we dream'd every night the same thing happily it might affect us as much as the things we see every day And if a Tradesman was sure every Night to dream twelve Hours that he was a King I think he would be as happy as a King that should dream twelve Hours every Night that he was a Tradesman If we should dream every Night we were pursu'd by Enemies and disturb'd by these frightning Fancies and that we passed the days in sundry Occupations as when one is on a Journey one should suffer almost as much as if the thing was really true and we should be as much afraid of sleep as if we were to enter into such troubles effectively and indeed it would be almost as bad as if the things were really acted But because Dreams are all different and do vary what is there seen does much less affect than what one sees awake by reason of the continuance which yet is not so equal but it changeth also but not so suddenly or but seldom unless it be in travelling and then one says Me thinks I dream for Life is a Dream a little more inconstant 19. * Kings and Princes recreate themselves sometimes they be not always on their Thrones that would weary them Greatness must be laid aside the better to be rellish'd 20. * My humor does not depend much on the Weather I have my fair and foul Weather within my self the good or ill success of my Affairs don't move me much neither I sometimes set my self against ill Fortune and the Glory of overcoming it makes me master it with Pleasure whereas at other times I am indifferent and as 't were dissatisfi'd even in Prosperity 21. * It is pleasant to consider that there are certain People in the World that having renounced all the Laws of God and Nature yet have made themselves Laws that they exactly obey as for instance Robbers c. 22. * Those great Raptures of Mind the Soul sometimes reaches to are things that it does not keep up unto It flies up but suddenly falls back again 23. * Man is neither Angel nor Beast and the mischief is he that would be thought an Angel acts the Beast 24. * Provided one knows the chief Passion of any Body one may easily please him nevertheless every body has Fancies contrary to his own good even in the very Idea he has of good and this is a variety that puts those to a loss that would gain their Affection 25. * A Horse don't strive to be admir'd by his Companion there is indeed some emulation seen betwixt Horses in running a Race but it don't continue for put them up in a Stable the ugliest and dullest will not therefore part with his Oats to the other It is not so amongst Men their Virtue is not satisfi'd with it self and they are not satisfi'd unless they get some benefit by it over others 26. * As one impairs the Mind so one also spoils the Understanding Our Mind and Knowledge is fram'd according to our Discourse and Company good or bad Company does make or marr us It above all things therefore concerns us to know how to make a good choice to mend and not spoil it and one can't make this choice if one has not already formed and not spoil'd it So that here 's a Circle and happy are they that are got out of it 27. * One thinks naturally one is more capable of attaining the Center of things than to embrace their circumference The visible extent of the World doth surpass us visibly But as it is we that do surpass little things do think our selves the more capable of enjoying them Nevertheless there 's as much capacity requisite to attain to nothing as to arrive at all that that 's infinite is required both for one and the other and I suppose they who can comprehend the last Principles of things may also attain to understand that that 's infinite the one depends on the other the one leads to the other the extremities meet and by reason of their distance do rejoin and meet in God and in God alone Man for instance has relation to all he knows he has need of Place to contain him Time to dure Motion to live Elements to compose him of Heat and Food to nourish him of Air to breath he sees the light he feels the Body To conclude all things are appointed for him To know then what Man is 't is necessary to see wherefore he requires Air to subsist and to know what Air is it should be known wherein it relates to the Life of Man a Flame can't subsist without Air then to know the one one must also know the other All things being caused and causing helped and helping mediately and immediately and all things depending on one another by a natural and insensible Band that binds the most distant and different things I hold it as impossible to know the parts without knowing the whole as it is to know the whole without knowing distinctly the several parts And what it may be most contributes to our weakness of knowing things is that they are single in themselves and that we are compos'd of two opposite Natures of divers kinds of Body and Soul for 't is impossible that the part which reasons in us should be other than Spiritual And if it should be pretended that we were simply Corporeal this would
't is to thee it appertains as a Tribute I owe unto thee for thy Image is stamped upon it Thou didst there ingrave it Lord at the instant of my Baptism which is my second Birth but 't is quite blotted out the Idea of the World is so ingraven in it that thine cannot be seen Thou alone hadst power to make my Soul and thou only art able to renew it thou only wert able to stamp thine Image upon it thou only art able to restore it and to renew thy decayed Image that is to say Jesus Christ my Saviour who is thy Image and the Character of thy Glory V. O my God how happy is the Heart that can love so charming an Object that don't dishonour it but in whom 't is so safe to trust I find I cannot love the World without displeasing thee without hurting and dishonouring my self and nevertheless the World is the Object of my delight O my God how happy is that Soul of whom thou art the delight because it can willingly love thee not only without scruple but also with pleasure How firm and durable is her Happiness seeing her expectation shall not be frustrated because thou shalt never be destroy'd and that because neither Death nor Life shall ever separate her from the Object of her delight and that the same moment that shall plunge the wicked with their Idols into common Misery shall unite the Righteous with thee in a common Glory and as the one shall be destroyed with the perishable Objects which they delighted in so the others shall abide for ever in the Object that Eternally subsists of himself whereunto they were strictly united O how happy are those that with free Liberty and full bent of their Will do freely and perfectly love that which they are necessarily obliged unto VI. Accomplish O my God the good Desires thou art pleas'd to give me be thou the End as thou art the Beginning Crown thy own Gifts for I confess they are from thee Yes my God and very far from thinking there is any Merit in my Prayers that should oblige thee of necessity to grant them I most humbly confess that having given my Heart to the Creatures which thou madest only for thy self and not for the World nor for me I can expect no Grace but meerly from thy Mercy seeing there is nothing in me might invite thee to it and that all the natural Motions of my Heart being inclin'd to the Creatures or to my self cannot but displease thee I therefore give thee Thanks my God for the good Motions thou givest me and even for that which thou givest me that I give thee Thanks VII Touch my Heart with Repentance of my Sins seeing that without this inward Grief the outward Evils thou layest on my Body will be a farther occasion of making me transgress make me fully understand that bodily Pains are nothing else but the Punishment and Figure both together of the Evils of the Soul. But Lord grant that they may also prove the Remedy in making me consider in the Punishments I feel those which I did not feel in my Soul although I was sick and over-run with Ulcers For Lord the greatest of these Evils is this insensibleness and extream weakness that had deprived the Soul of all Sense and feeling of its own Miseries Make me to feel them sharply and that the residue of my Life may be a continual Repentance for the Offences which I have committed VIII Lord though my Life past has been exempt from heinous Crimes from which thou hast put from me all occasions yet it has been very odious in thy sight by my continual negligence in thy Service by the ill use of thy Holy Sacraments by dispising thy Holy Word and Motions of thy Spirit by the Sloath and unprofitableness of my Thoughts and Words by the loss of my time which thou gavest me only to adore and serve thee and seek in all my Businesses the means to please thee and to be sorrowful for the Sins are daily committed and which the best Men are subject unto so that their Life should be a continual course of Repentance without which they are in danger of falling from their Righteousness So O my God I have always been contrary to thee IX Yea Lord even to this Day I have been deaf unto thy Holy Inspirations I have despised thy Oracles I have judged contrary to what thou judgest I have opposed the Holy Maxims which thou didst bring into the World from the bosom of thine Everlasting Father and according to which thou wilt Judge the World. Thou sayest Blessed are those that weep and Woe be to those that laugh but I have said Wretched are they that are sorrowful and Happy are those that rejoice I have said Happy are those that enjoy a large Fortune and a glorious Reputation and full State of Health and wherefore have I esteemed them Happy but only because these advantages should give them the greater opportunity with ease to enjoy the things of this World that is to say to displease thee Yea Lord I confess I have accounted Health a Blessing not because 't is a Means the better of serving thee to spend the more Days and Nights in thy Service and to do good to Neighbours but because by means thereof I could with the greater Freedom and Liberty give my self up to the enjoyment of the abundance of the things of this Life and the better enjoy the dangerous Pleasures of Sin do me the favour Lord to rectifie my depraved Reason and to conform my Thoughts unto thine Let me count my self Happy in Affliction and that in my being unable to act outwardly thou mayest in such manner purifie my Thoughts that they may no longer oppose thy Will that so I may feel thee within me because I cannot seek thee outwardly by reason of my weakness For Lord thy Kingdom is within thy Children and I shall find it within me if I there find thy Spirit and thy Will. X. But Lord what shall I do to prevail with thee to shed forth thy Spirit on this miserable Clay all that I am is odious unto thee and I can find nothing in me that may be acceptable in thy sight I see nothing in me Lord but only my Sorrows that have any resemblance with thine consider therefore O Lord the Evils that I suffer and those that hang over my Head. Look with an Eye of pity on the Wounds that thy hand has made in me O my Saviour thou didst love thy suffering in Death O God who becamest Man only to suffer more than any Man for the Salvation of Men O God who wast not Incarnate till after the Sin of Man and that tookest not a Body but therein to suffer all the Evils that our Sins deserved O God who so lovest the Bodies that suffer that thou didst choose for thy self the Body the most loaden with suffering that ever was in the World accept my Body not for
its own sake nor for the sake of any thing it has for there is nothing in it but deserves thine Anger but for the Pains it endures which alone can be worthy of thy Favour Love my Sufferings Lord and let my Sorrows invite thee to visit me But to finish the preparation of thine abode Grant O my Saviour that if my body has that in common with thine that it suffers for mine Offences my Soul may also have that in common with thine too that it might be in sadness for the same Offences and that so I may suffer with thee and as thou didst in my Body and in my Soul for the Sins which I have committed XI Grant me the Grace Lord to join thy Consolations to my Sufferings that I may suffer as a Christian I don't desire to be free from Sufferings that 's the recompence of Saints but I desire not to be abandon'd to the Sorrows of Nature without the Comforts of thy Spirit for that 's the Malediction of Jews and Infidels I don't desire to have a fulness of Consolation without any Suffering for that 's the Life of Glory neither do I desire to be in a fullness of Evils without Comfort this is the State of Judaism But I desire Lord to feel altogether the sadness of Nature for my Sins and the Comforts of thy Spirit by thy Grace for that 's the true State of Christianity Let me not feel sadness without Consolation but let me feel sadness and Comfort both together that I may at length attain to feel only thy Consolations without any Grief For Lord thou didst let the World languish without consolation before the coming of thy only Son now thou comfortest and softenest the Sufferings of thy Children by the Grace of thy beloved Son and thou wilt fill with perfect Happiness thy Saints in the Glory of thine only Son These are the admirable steps by which thou conductest thy Works Thou hast drawn me out of the First make me to pass through the Second to arrive at the Third Lord it is what I heartily beg of thee XII Suffer not that I may be in that distance from thee that I may consider this Soul sorrowful unto Death and this Body pressed by Death for my Sins and not rejoice to suffer both in my Body and in my Soul For what is there more shameful and yet more common in Christians and even in my self than whilst thou didst sweat Blood to expiate our Offences we live in Pleasures That Christians who make Profession to belong to thee that those who by Baptism have renounced the World solemnly in the Face of the Church to Live and Die with thee that those that make Profession to believe the World Persecuted and Crucified thee that those that believe thou didst expose thy self to Gods anger and to the rage of Men to ransom them from their Sins that those I say that believe all these Truths that consider thy Body as the Sacrifice that was deliver'd for their Salvation that consider the Pleasures and Sins of the World as the only Subject of thy Sufferings and the World it self as thy Executioner yet should seek to Pamper their Body with these same Pleasures in this same World and that those that cannot without horror see a Man imbrace and cherish the Murderer of their Father that gave himself to Death to restore them to Life how they can live as I have done with full delight in the World which I very well know was the Murderer of him that I acknowledge to be my Father and my God and that gave himself to the Death for my Salvation and that bore in his Body the Punishment due to my Sins It is just Lord that thou shouldst put a stop to such Sinful Delights as those were wherein I rested under the Shadow of Death XIII Take therefore from me Lord the sorrow which Self-love might give me for my own Sufferings and by reason that Worldly things don't succeed according to the Inclinations of my Heart that tend not to thy Glory But be pleased to cast me into a sorrow conformable unto thine let my Sufferings in some measure pacifie thine Anger Make them be an occasion of my Conversion and Salvation Let me not henceforth desire Health nor Life but that I may employ and end them for thee and with thee and in thee I don't ask Health nor Sickness nor Life nor Death but that thou wouldest dispose of my Health and Sickness of my Life and Death for thy Glory and my Salvation and for the good of thy Church and Saints of which I hope by thy Grace to make a part Thou only knowest what is expedient for me thou art the absolute Disposer of all things do what seems good in thy sight Give unto me take away from me but conform my Will to thy Holy Will and that in an humble and perfect submission and Holy confidence I may prepare my self to receive the Decrees of thine Eternal Providence and that I may equally adore all things that proceed from thee XIV Grant O my God that in a constant Uniformity of Mind I may receive all sorts of Events because we don't know what to ask for and that I cannot desire one thing rather than another without Presumption and without making my self a Judge and liable to answer the consequences which in thy Wisdom thou hast justly hid from me Lord I know I know but one thing which is That 't is good to serve thee and that 't is ill to offend thee besides this I don't know which is worst or best in any thing I can't tell which is best for me Health or Sickness Riches or Poverty or any thing else in the World these things pass the Skill of Men and Angels to discern and are hid in the secrets of thy Providence which I humbly adore and will not presume to pry into XV. Grant therefore Lord that such as I am I may conform my self to thy Will and that being sick as I am I may glorifie thee in my Sufferings without them I cannot attain to Glory and thou thy self my Blessed Saviour wouldst not arrive thereunto by any other way It is by the marks of thy Sufferings that thou wert known to thy Disciples and it is by Sufferings that thou dost also know those that are thy Disciples acknowledge me therefore for thy Disciple in the Pains which I suffer both in my Body and Mind for the Offences which I have committed And because nothing is well pleasing to God but what is offerr'd up by thee conform my Will to thy Will and my Sufferrings to those which thou hast suffered grant that mine may become thine unite me unto thee fill me with thy self and thy Holy Spirit Enter into my Heart and Soul to bring thither my Sufferings and to continue to maintain in me what is yet behind to suffer of thy Passion which thou dost fulfil in thy Members until the full consummation of thy Body
with the more Joy the satisfaction of their Doubts that they should be taught at the same time the Remedy of this Gulf of Miseries wherein Man is incompassed and wherein it cannot be imagin'd how those who are without hope of Delivery can find any Rest It is against this surprizing Rest Monsieur Pascall most of all invey'd and one shall find him mov'd against it in all his Writings with so much Force and Eloquence that 't is hard to listen to what he says without being concern'd and those Persons who have set up their Resolution and that say they know what they have to do yet if they seriously consider'd it could scarce avoid being shaken and he did not think they could have the least spark of good Sense that did not yield to it And having suppos'd that a reasonable Man could not rest therein no more than in the Ignorance of his true State past and to come he caus'd to be sought out all things that could give him any Light and first examin'd what those had said who are called Philosophers But he had not much trouble to shew that 't was no hard matter to be satisfi'd that all they had done was nothing else but to contradict one another That they had found out so many sorts of true Happinesses that 't was impossible any one of them should have found the true one because in all likelihood it must be of that Nature that one could not be mistaken in it and false Happiness cannot be like it If it chanc'd that any amongst them attain'd to know Man was born Miserable none of them ever thought of giving the Reason of it nor so much as to enquire after it although there 's nothing in the World more worthy to be sought after Some of them Figur'd Man great notwithstanding what he finds in himself of low and mean. Others again represented him Vile notwithstanding the instinct which lifts him up Some of them taught Man was Disposer of his own Happiness others that he was Miserable without Recovery Some that he was capable of all things others that he was of nothing To conclude there was no Sect that spake so well of him but that every body found in himself the quite contrary Man not able to satisfie himself herein nor yet to give over so necessary an Inquiry and thinking 't was not Men like himself and Ignorant as he is from whom he could expect to find information Monsieur Pascall made him call to mind that it may be he and such as him had a Maker that was able to Communicate himself to them and give them some Marks of their Original and of his Design in giving them their Being And thereupon taking a view of the whole World and all Ages he discover'd a great many Religions but not one of them was able to affect him Being indued with Sense he comprehends something of that which may consist with a Sovereign Good if there be one and of what he has reveal'd to Man in case he reveal'd himself to them at all as he must needs have done if there be any such thing as true Religion But instead thereof what finds he in his Inquiry Religions that take rise with certain People and expire with them Religions wherein several Gods are ador'd and Gods more ridiculous than Men Religions that have nothing Divine nor Spiritual in them which tolerate Vice which sometimes are setled by force sometimes by falshood Religions without Authority without Proofs or any thing Supernatural having nothing but a gross Carnal Worship all consisting in outward Shew savouring of Man and wholly displeasing to Almighty God the which leaving Man in a like Ignorance of the Nature of God and of himself doth serve only more and more to shew whereunto the Folly of Man doth extend To conclude rather than to make any choice or to fix his Rest on any of those he see he would rather choose to be his own Executioner and at once to rid himself out of so Miserable a Condition when being just ready to fall into Dispair he discover'd a certain People which of a sudden drew his Attention by a great many singular and wonderful Circumstances It is the Jewish Nation of which Monsieur Pascall observes so many things throughout his Thoughts and whole Book That if one has the least measure of Curiosity one cannot chuse but inquire and search into it They are a People that issu'd all from one Man they had ever a great care of not making Alliance with other Nations so that by preserving their Genealogy they could give to the World a History worthy of Credit rather than any other Nation whatsoever it being in effect nothing else but the History of one sole Family and therefore cannot be subject to any great Confusion howsoever 't was a Family so numerous that had there been any deceit used 't was impossible the Nature of Man is such but that some one or other would have discover'd and made it known Moreover this History being the oldest of any it cannot have borrow'd any thing of others and for that very Reason it deserves a peculiar esteem and veneration For whatsoever is said of the History of China Japan c. with half an Eye one may perceive they are but ridiculous Fables and this is True. The more one examins those the more their Falshood is discover'd whereas the more this is search'd into it confirms it self and becomes undeniable And to conclude when there is occasion to hear mention made of Men fallen from the Sun or sprung up out of Mountains and of Men Created by an Omnipotent God one must have very little Judgment of things to be one Moment in suspence which is the most likely to be True. This Man overjoy'd of this Discovery resolv'd to relie on it as his chiefest Stay and presently found that this so great a People Govern'd themselves by one only Book which contains both its History its Laws and Religion and all this so compact and inseparable that he the more admir'd it and was fully perswaded that if any part of it be true all the rest must needs be so too But what 's remarkable is he no sooner opened this Book but with the History of this People he there also finds that of the Creation of the World that Heaven and Earth are the Works of Gods hands that Man was Created and that his Maker made himself known to him that he put all other Creatures under his Subjection that he made him after his own Image and by consequence endow'd him with Knowledge and Light and capable of Truth and Happiness free in his Knowledge and in his Actions and in a perfect Conformity of his Desires to Justice and right Reason For to conclude it is what signifies the resemblance to God which Man cannot approach to in the Body and is the Breath of Life wherewith God enliven'd him which is nothing else but a Beam of that most pure
other ground but his own Humour and presume to determine from the dark Dungeon where Nature has exil'd them Miserable Light of his weak Reason that there is no other Being in the whole Universe can Effect such great Wonders and that they are nothing else but a Parcel of Tales and empty Visions But the Reason some Persons are not convinc'd with Proofs that are so plain to others is because their Intrest and Passions so take them up that they see all things else only at halves This is the true cause of all those Doubts that are form'd against Religion because indeed there is nothing so contrary to our Passions as the Life it commands us to lead And so it is no hard matter to understand that it opposes a thing that directly attacks them and that cannot be setled but by their Ruin. This may very well happen in this regard seeing it is observ'd even in Natural things and if sometimes the meer Imagination of an Event one does not like though it be impossible it should come to pass makes one fansy as if one really doubted when indeed one has no Cause to fear how much rather when we are absolutely forc'd to quit what is most dear to us in the World will it be more capable to dazle and make one doubt of a thing to the belief whereof the Heart should be as much concern'd as the Mind One knows for Example a Person of great Sense and Wisdom but so struck with the horror of Death that one asking him if he would not lay his Life there is a City call'd Rome if there was any thing to be got by it the party freely answer'd No. This Doubt certainly had never befallen him and he could never have scrupl'd in the least at any thing else could have been said to him on this Matter But at the Instant the Idea of Death offer'd it self to his Mind it wholly took up his fansy All the Evidence that Rome subsisted vanish'd away and if there came not some real Doubt that all one said was false there past at least something in his Head or rather in his Heart that made him act as if he had effectively doubted I know no body will own that the Love of Pleasures and of this present Life will blind Men to this degree and that every one pretends their Doubts are very Sincere and that the unwillingness Men have in not believing Matters of Religion proceeds only from their Understanding But it is not necessary to press Persons upon this Point because one cannot well make them see that in their Heart which they cannot see there themselves for the Motions of the Heart are not like those of the Understanding these latter are done either by Progress or by a quick and clear Light which makes us take up Resolutions and that set us on Action and it is impossible we should feel them and not know them But as for what we do by the Inclination of the Heart it is quite different these are certain hidden Springs born with us which incline us to things without any Progress of Reason and almost without Knowledge and thence it is that without due consideration and timely care it is almost impossible not to be deceiv'd the Heart if it may be so said so mingling it self with Reason or rather becoming so much Master of it that it is the Principle of all Actions yet so that one scarce perceives that it is any way concern'd But let those that doubt at least own That they do not do their utmost to be enlightn'd which can proceed from nothing but the Will. They will easily own this if they are in the least Ingenious because they cannot deny but the whole Life ought to be imploy'd in seeking out so important a Truth whereas they have scarce ever minded it and that of all things it is probably what they have least thought of When one shall have obtain'd of them this sincere desire of seriously applying themselves to inquire after the Proofs of Religion it will be no hard matter to carry on the Evidence of it farther in taking the Course we have laid down For beside the Matter of Fact whereof we have given a Specimen in this Discourse there are an infinite Number which depend on the Judgment and which present themselves in heaps when one diligently Reads the Scriptures It is to those one ought chiefly to give heed because they have this advantage that in perswading the Truth they also make it to be belov'd without which all signifies nothing It 's true there are but very few so qualifi'd as they should be that is to have a kind of relish of Truth and a sincerity of Heart which very seldom meet together But we must at least endeavour to have it our selves and impart it to others and awaken in them the Thoughts they must have soon or late if they intend to believe so as may be to their advantage The End. Approbation of Doctors WE whose Names are here under-written Doctors in Divinity of the Faculty of Paris Confess we have Read a Small Treatise call'd A Discourse upon the Proofs of the Books of Moses All those who Read it will find much advantage and satisfaction thereby for although Faith be sufficient to Enlighten a Christians Mind and to perswade him of the Truths God has been pleas'd to shew him Nevertheless when Reasons to believe are join'd to this Faith and that one is inclin'd by clear Testimonies allowable by their own Authority to admit of these revealed Truths this Creates in the Soul a Light which fills it with Joy and Peace Deus autem solatii repleat vos omni gaudio pace in credendo This doubtless will arrive unto those that will Read this small Treatise with a desire of being instructed seeing therein is shewn the History of Moses his Government his Miracles his Books c all grounded with so much Evidence and bearing a Relation to Jesus Christ our Divine Mediator that these Proofs alone were sufficient to convince them if Divine Faith did not determine the Matter It is what is our Judgment of this little Treatise which contains nothing â—ontrary to the Catholick Faith nor to good Life Dated at Paris the 1st of May 1672. Le Vaillant Curate of St. Christophers Grenet Curate of St. Bennet Marlin Curate of St. Eustach Labbe Petit Pied T. Roullard ADVERTISEMENT THis little Discourse which follows though very imperfect was not Esteem'd unworthy to be added to Monsieur Pascall 's Thoughts as well because 't is agreeable to his Notions as also for the greatness of those it insinuates for whatever Truth it contains it is nought else to be plain but an Idea and wish the Execution whereof is difficult and a great distance off But it is not impossible and that in a matter of this Nature sufficeth to incline and it may be oblige some or other that think themselves capable to ingage farther in the