the Happiness of which God alone is the Cause and which we have justly been depriv'd of for those unjust and unreasonable Pleasures which we have unworthily and disingenuously requir'd of a just God These are very trite and very common but very necessary Truths XII Motions or Duties 1. We should love nothing but God with a love of Union and whenever we find any love for the Creatures any joy in the Creatures arising in us we should stifle those Sensations and consider that Power belongs to God alone and that he inspires us with his Love to unite us only to himself 2. We should be afraid of Pleasures for they seduce and corrupt us Pleasure is the distinguishing Mark of Good God alone can give us the enjoyment of it But because his Operation is not visible we look upon the Objects which are only the occasions of our Sensations as if they were the Causes of them and when we enjoy those Objects we love them as our Good or at least we love nothing but our selves and our own Hapness Now every Pleasure which inclines us to the love of Bodies Substances inferiour to our own Being perverts and disorders us and since the Soul is not the Cause of its own Happiness it is blind ingrateful and unjust if it loves its Pleasure without rendring to the true Cause of it the Love and Respect which are due to him But besides how is it possible to love God in the midst of Pleasure How can we actually encrease our Charity when we so many ways provoke and fortify our Concupiscence 3. The love of Grandeur Elevation and Independance is abominable He that desires to be esteem'd and lov'd ought to be detested and abhor'd What I shall those Minds which were made to contemplate the universal Reason and to love the Power of the true Good shall they I say employ their Thoughts and their Love on us Weak and Impotent as we are shall we suffer our selves to be ador'd Corrupt and Ignorant as we are shall we seek Admirers Imitators and Followers Certainly he that doth not see the Injustice of Pride hath no Communication with Reason and he that knows it and yet is not afraid of committing it renounces Reason entirely 4. We should love Order it is the Law of God he inviolably observes it he invincibly loves it And can we think that we may safely dispense with our Obedience to it If we deviate from it the inexorable Justice of the living God will follow us But if our Love be conformable to that Law we shall be happy and perfect both we shall have fellowship with God and a share in his Happiness and Glory 5. We cannot be Rational but by the universal Reason we cannot be Wise but by the eternal Wisdom we cannot be Just and Holy but by a conformity to the immutable Order Let us therefore incessantly contemplate Reason let us ardently love Wisdom let us inviolably obey the Divine Law Let us fashion our selves anew after our Model he hath made himself like us that he might make us like him He is now level'd to our Capacity he is proportion'd to our Weakness He is before us let us open our Eyes to see him He is within us let us retire into our selves and consult him He sollicites us continually let us hear his Voice and not hearden our Hearts Heb. 5. But he is also in the Holy of Holies ordain'd a High Priest after the Order of Melchisedech always living to make intercession for us and to give us those Succours which we extremely need Let us therefore approach the true Mercy-Seat of Jesus Christ the Saviour of Sinners the Head of the Church the Builder of the eternal Temple in a word the occasional Cause of Grace without which such is our deprav'd and miserable Condition that we cannot endeavour our Amendment we cannot esteem and relish the true Goods nor so much as desire to be deliver'd from our Miseries CHAP. V. The three Divine Persons imprint each their proper Character on our Souls and our Duties give equal Honour to them all three Tho' our Duties consist only in inward Judgments and Motions yet we must shew them by outward Signs in regard of our Society with other Men. I. THe three Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity imprint each their proper Character on the Spirits which they created after their own Image The Father whose peculiar Attribute is Power imparts his Power to them by making them occasional Causes of all the Effects which are produc'd by them The Son communicates his Wisdom and discovers to them all Truth by closely uniting them to that intellectual Substance which he hath as he is the universal Reason The Holy Ghost inspires and sanctifies them by the invincible Impression which they have for Good and by Charity or the love of Order which he sheds abroad in their Hearts As the Father begets his Word so the Mind of Man by his desires is the occasional Cause of his Knowledge And as the Father with the Son is the Fountain and Original of the Substantial and Divine Law so our Knowledge occasion'd by our desires which are the only Things that are truly in our Power is with us the Principal and Original of all the Regular Motions of our Love II. It is true the Father begets his Word of his own Substance because God alone is essentially and substantially his own Wisdom and his own Light The mutual Love of the Father and the Son proceeds from themselvees because God alone is his own Good and his own Law But we are not our own Reason and therefore Light and Understanding cannot be a natural Emanation of our own Substance We are not our own Good nor our own Law and therefore all the Motion we have must proceed from and carry us to something without us it must unite us to our Good and make us conformable to our Pattern III. God made all Things by his Wisdom and in the Motion of his Spirit or his Love So also we never act but with Knowledge and by the Motion of Love The three Divine Persons have an equal share in the Production of all Things So also that which we do without Knowledge and without a full and entire Will is not properly our own Work The Father hath as I may say a Right of Mission over the Son So it is in our power to think on what we will The Son sends the Holy Ghost who proceeds from the Father and the Son in the unity of the same Nature so also our Love is grounded on Light it proceeds from and is produc'd by it Lastly The Love which proceeds from a clear Perception or Knowledge loves it self the Object of that Knowledge and the Knowledge it self as the substantial Love infinitely loves the Divine Substance in the Father begetting in the Son begotten and in the Holy Ghost himself proceeding from the Father and the Son IV. All these Relations of the Mind of
the search of Truth what the Liberty of the Mind is to the Possession of the same Truth or at least to Infallibility or exemption from Error For by the use we make of the Strength of our Mind we discover Truth and by using the Liberty of our Mind we avoid Error The Strength and Capacity of the Mind being deficient Liberty was necessary for it that by suspending its Assent it might avoid Error and that the Author of its Being might not also be the Author of its Disorders For the Liberty of the Mind makes amends for its Weakness and Limitation and he that hath so much Liberty as to be always able to suspend his Assent tho' he cannot deliver himself from Ignorance a necessary Imperfection of all finite Spirits may yet avoid Error and Sin which render a Man contemptible and make him liable to Punishment IV. It is certain that if we always made use of our Liberty as far as we are able we should never assent but to Evidence which alone doth never deceive as I have prov'd elsewhere and which also obliges the Will to give its Assent For when the Mind sees clearly it cannot doubt that it sees when it hath examin'd every thing that there is to examine in order to the discovery of those Relations or Truths which it searches after it is necessary that it should rest there and give over its Enquiries In the same manner as to Sin he that loves nothing but what he evidently knows to be the true Good nothing but what he cannot help loving is not irregular in his Love He loves nothing but God for there is nothing else which we cannot without Remorse hinder our selves from loving There is nothing but God which we clearly and evidently know to be really Good to be the true Cause of Happiness a Being infinitely Perfect an Object capable of contenting the Soul which being made for the enjoyment of all Good may suspend its Assent of loving that which doth not contain every thing that is Good V. Strength and Liberty of Mind then are two Vertues which we may call General or to use the common Term Cardinal Vertues For since we ought never to Love any thing not do any Action without good Consideration we must make use of the Strength and Liberty of our Mind every moment These Vertues according to my Notion of them are not natural Faculties common to all Men There is nothing more rare nor is there any Man who possesses them perfectly I know well enough that Man is naturally capable of some Labour of Mind but that doth not make him have a strong Mind He can also suspend his Assent but his Mind is not therefore naturally free in such a manner as I mean The Strength and Liberty of Mind of which I speak are Vertues which are gotten by use But because these Vertues add Perfection to the Soul and restore it in some measure to its original State for before Sin the Mind was every way strong and free Men do not generally look upon them as Vertues For they imagine that Vertue instead of correcting and repairing Nature ought to change or destroy it Nay there are some People who think that Strength and Liberty of Mind are Faculties of the Soul subsisting in a kind of individual and judging of others by themselves they imagine that it is impossible to be attentive to those Subjects which frighten and discourage them and that it is Obstinacy not to Assent to Probabilities by which they are deceiv'd VI. But the Strength and Liberty of the Mind are unequal in all Men. There are no two Persons equally fit to retire into themselves nor equally capable of suspending their Assent Nay the same Person doth not long preserve the Strength and Liberty of his Mind in the same Condition If they do not encrease by Use and Exercise they must necessarily decrease for there are no Vertues more oppos'd by and more contrary to the continual Motions of Concupiscence Most Vertues agree well enough with Self-love for we may often perform a great many Duties with Pleasure and by a motive of Self-love But we cannot meditate long without Pain and much less suspend our Assent or the Judgment which determines the Motions of the Soul and Body When any Good discovers it self to the Soul and attracts it by its Charms it is not at ease if it remains unmov'd for there is no harder Labour than to keep our selves firm and steady in a Current when-ever we cease to act we are carried away with the Stream VII Thus we see there is scarce any Man that applies himself to Meditation and that those who undertake the search of Truth often want Strength and Courage to bring them to the place of its Habitation tir'd and dishearten'd they strive to content themselves with what they already possess or perhaps comfort themselves with a ridiculous contempt of what they cannot attain to or a cowardly and mean spirited Despair If they are deceiv'd they turn Deceivers if they are tir'd themselves they infect others with Sloth and Idleness and but to see them is enough to make one like themselves discourag'd with Labour and out of relish with Truth For such is the Nature of Men that they had much rather deceive one another than consult their common Master they are so credulous in respect of their Friends and so unbelieving or so little attentive to the Answers of the Truth within them that Opinion and Party are the general Rule of their Thoughts and Actions VIII In order to gain some Liberty of Mind and to accustom our selves to suspend our Assent we must continually reflect on the prejudices or pre-occupations of our Minds and the cause of them We fancy we comprehend things very well when we cease to admire them and their familiarity ridding us of all apprehension our Mind readily gives its assent because it hath no interest to with-hold it It signifies nothing to suspend our Assent if we have no design to examine for what matter is it if we do fall into Error But it is great and agreeable to judge of every Thing Now we cannot examine without Pain at least we must spend some time in Examination which the Soul created to be happy thinks lost when it is not kept in motion by Pleasure Vanity or Interest Hence it is that the ordinary Language is nothing but perpetual Jargon For every Man thinks he understands very well what he says himself or hears another say when he hath said it or heard it said a great many times over They are only new Terms which cause uneasiness and awaken the Attention and these new Terms tho' never so clear and free from equivocal Significations are always suspected because every one is capable of Suspicion and Apprehension but there are few People capable of Attention sufficient to discover Truth and free themselves from Apprehension I could fill whole Volumes with Examples of expressions which are
naturally Habits are got and maintain'd by Acts But we cannot frame a resolution of Sacrificing our predominant Passion without a lively Faith and a firm Hope especially when this Passion appears with all its Charms and Allurements And therefore since it is Light and Understanding which illuminates Faith strengthens Hope and discovers to the Mind the ridiculousness and deformity of the Passions we should continually meditate on the true Goods and seek and carefully lay up in our Memory the Motives which may induce us to love them and to despise transient Enjoyments and that with so much the greater diligence because the Light is subject to our Wills and if we live in Darkness it is most commonly our own fault I think I have sufficiently prov'd these Truths II. But when our Faith is not lively nor our Hope strong enough to make us resolve to Sacrifice a Passion which hath got such a Dominion over our Heart that it corrupts our Mind every Moment and draws it to its Party the only thing we ought to do and perhaps the only thing we can do in this Case is to seek for that in the fear of Hell and the just Indignation of an avenging God which we cannot find in the hope of an eternal Happiness and in the Motion which that Fear excites in us to pray to the Saviour of Sinners that he would encrease our Faith and Confidence in him not ceasing in the mean time to meditate on the Truths of Religion and Morality and on the Vanity of transitory Enjoyments for without this we cannot be sensible of our Miseries nor call upon our Deliverer Now when we find in our selves stâ—â—ngth enough to form an actual resolution of Sacrificing our Passions to the Love of Order then tho' according to the Principles which I have laid down in the foregoing Chapters we may through the assistance of Grace by repeating the like Acts absolutely acquire Charity or the habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order yet it is better without delay to come to the Sacraments and in that actual Motion which the Holy Ghost inspires in us to wash away our Sins by Penance This is undoubtedly the most compendious and certain way to change the Act into a Habit the Act I say which is transient and doth not work Conversion into a Habit which remains and which justifies For God doth not Judge us according to that which is actual and transitory but according to habitual and permanent Dispositions and by the Sacraments of the New Testament we receive justifying Charity which gives us a Right to the true Goods and the assistances necessary for the obtaining of them These Truths I shall here explain either by certain Principles or by Evidence or by Faith III. I think I have shewn in several places and by several ways That God always executes his Designs by general Laws the Efficacy of which is determin'd by the action of occasional Causes I have prov'd this Truth by the Effects of those second Causes which are known to us and I think I have demonstrated it from the Idea of God himself because his Action ought to bear the Character of his Attributes And therefore I refer the Reader for this Matter to my other Writings But if Reason could not lead us to this Truth yet the Holy Scripture would not suffer us to doubt of it in relation to the Subject which I now treat of For the Scripture teaches us that Jesus Christ as Man is not only the meritorious but also the distributive or occasional Cause of all Graces that by his Sacrifice of himself he hath gain'd a Right over all the Nations of the World to make use of them as Materials in building the Spiritual Temple of the Church of which the stately Temple of Solomon was but a Shadow and a Figure and that now and ever since the day of his Ascension he makes use of that Right and raises that eternal Temple to the glory of his Father by the Power which he receiv'd from him in the day of his Victories when he was made High Priest of the true Goods after the irrevocable Order of Melchisedech Eph. 4.15 16. Christ is the Head of the Church he continually infuses into the Members of which it is compos'd 1 Joh. 2.1 1 Tâ—m 2.5 Eph. 5.23 Heb. 7.25 Joh. 11.42 Mat. 28.18 Joh. 13.5 the Spirit which gives it Life and Holiness He is the Advocate the Mediator the Saviour of Sinners He is in the Holy of Holies always Living to make intercession for us and all his Prayers and Desires are heard In a word he himself tells us That all Power was given to him in Heaven and in Earth Now he did not receive this Power as God equal to the Father but as Man like unto us and God communicates his Power to the Creatures no farther than as he executes their Wills and by them his own Designs for God alone is the true Cause of every thing that is done both in Nature and Grace Thus it is certain from the Scripture that Jesus Christ as Man is the occasional cavse which determines the efficacy of that general Law whereby God would Save all Men in and by his Son IV. It is necessary that we should be well convinc'd of this Truth which is essential to Religion by reading the New Testament and particularly the Epistle to the Hebrews And having as I think sufficiently prov'd it in my Treatise of Nature and Grace and in my Christian Meditations I shall not insist any longer upon it I write for Philosophers but they are Christian Philosophers such as receive the Scripture and the infallible Tradition of the Universal Church and I endeavour to explain the Truths of Faith by clear and unequivocal Terms This makes me say that Jesus Christ as Man and High Priest of the true Goods is the occasional cause of Grace I might have call'd him the natural instrumental second distributive Cause or have made use of some other more common Term But the commonest Terms are not always the clearest Tho' People fancy they understand them perfectly yet commonly they scarce know what they say when they use them and if they would take the pains to examine these which I have mention'd they would find that the Term of natural Cause raises a false Idea that that of instrumental is obscure that of second so general that it gives no distinct Idea to the Mind and that of distributive at least equivocal and confus'd Whereas this which I have made use of the occasional cause of Grace hath I think none of these defects at least as to those Persons for whom alone I writ the Treatise of Nature and Grace tho' many others have taken upon them to judge of it who scarce understand the Principles which I have there laid down For this Term denotes precisely that God who doth every thing as the true cause which I think I have prov'd in several places imparts his
addresses them to the Son she considers him as equal to the Father and consequently calls upon him not simply as he is Man but as he is God and Man This appears from the ordinary conclusions of our Prayers Through Christ our Lord or through Jesus Christ our Lord or who livest and reignest one God c. For since God alone is the true cause who by his own power can do all that we desire it is necessary that the greatest part of our Prayers and all our Worship should be refer'd to him But as he never acts but when the occasional causes which he hath appointed determine the efficacy of his Laws it is fit that the manner of our calling upon him should be conformable to this Notion of him III. If Jesus Christ as Man did not intercede for Sinners it would be in vain for them to call upon him For since Grace is not given to Merit the immutable Order of Justice doth not oblige God to grant it to Sinners who Pray for it It must therefore be the occasional cause which obliges him to do it in consequence of the Power given to this cause by the establishment of the general Laws of the Order of Grace Because as I said before God never acts but when the immutable Order requires it or when the occasional or particular Causes oblige him to it But tho' Christ alone as Man be the particular cause of the good Things which we receive yet if the Prayers of the Church were always Address'd directly to him this might give Men some occasion of Error and induce them it may be to Love him as he is Man with that kind of Love which is due only to the true Power and to Worship him even without regard to the divine Person in which his humane Nature subsists Now Adoration and Love of Union which are Honours belonging to Power are due to the Almighty alone For Christ himself challenges our Adoration and this kind of Love only as he is at the same time both God and Man IV. Therefore the Church hath very great reason to Address her Prayers to God the only true Cause but through Christ who is the occasional and distributive Cause of the good Things which we Pray for For tho' Sinners never receive Grace but when Christ Prays for them by his Desires either Actual or Habitual Transient or Permanent yet we must always remember that it is God alone who gives it as the true Cause that so our Love and Devotion may be ultimately refer'd to him alone Nevertheless when we apply our selves to the true and general Cause it is the same thing as if we did it to the particular and distributive Cause Because Christ as Man being the Saviour of Sinners Order requires that he should be acquainted with their Prayers and he is so far from being Jealous of the Honour which we give to God that he himself as Man always acknowledges his Impotence and Subordination and will never hear those who like the Eutychians look upon his humane Nature as transform'd into the Divine and so take from him the qualities of Advocate Mediator Head of the Church and High Priest of the true Goods Thus we see on one side that to make our Prayers effectual it is not absolutely necessary that we should know the Truths which I have here explain'd so precisely and distinctly and on the other that the Churches proceeding agrees perfectly with the fundamental Vertue of Religion and Morality namely that God alone is the final Cause of all Things and that we cannot have access to him but by Jesus Christ our Lord. This I think will easily be granted V. But the case of the Blessed Virgin Angels and Saints hath somewhat more difficulty in it Nevertheless the sense of the Church is that they know our Necessities when we call upon them and that being in favour with God and united to Christ their Head they may by their Prayers and Desires sollicite him to deliver us from our Miseries Nay it seems to be beyond Dispute from the example of S. Paul and all the Saints who constantly recommended themselves to one another's Prayers For if the Saints on Earth as yet full of Imperfection can by their Prayers be beneficial to their Friends I see no sufficient reason to deny the Saints in Heaven this Power Only we must observe That they are not occasional causes of inward Grace For this Power was given to Christ alone as the Architect of the eternal Temple the Head of the Church the necessary Mediator in a Word as the particular or distributive cause of the true Goods VI. So then we may Pray to the Blessed Virgin to Angels and Saints that they would move the love of Christ on our behalf And probably there are some certain times of Favour for each particular Saint such as are the Days on which the Church celebrates their Festivals It is possible also that as natural or occasional Causes they may have a Power of producing those effects which we call Miraculous because we do not know the Causes of them such as the curing of Diseases plentiful Harvests and other extraordinary changes in the position of Bodies which are Substances inferiour to Spirits and over which it should seem that Order requires or at least permits them to have some Power as a reward of their Vertue or rather as an inducement to other Men to admire and imitate it But tho' this be not altogether certain as to Saints yet I think it cannot be doubted as to Angels This Truth is of so great Importance on several Accounts that I think it necessary to give a brief explication of it from the manner of God's proceeding in the execution of his Designs VII God could not act but for his own Glory and not finding any Glory worthy of himself but in Jesus Christ he certainly made all Things with respect to his Son This is so evident a Truth that we cannot possibly doubt of it if we do but reflect a little on it For what â—elation is there between the Action of God and the product of that Action if we separate it from Christ by whom it is Sanctified What proportion is there between an unhallow'd World which hath nothing of Divinity in it and the Action of God which is wholly Divine in a Word between Finite and Infinite Is it possible to conceive that God who cannot act but by his own Will or the Love which he bears to himself should act so as to produce nothing worthy of himself to create a World which bears no proportion to him or which is not worth the Action whereby it is produc'd VIII It is probable then that the Angels immediately after their Creation being astonish'd to find themselves without a Head without Christ and not being able to justify God's design in Creating them the Wicked ones imagin'd some Worth in themselves with relation to God and so Pride ruin'd them Or supposing
a Man ridiculous and contemptible who puts it on unseasonably and preposterously and begets in us a secret Indignation and Aversion for the Vain-glorious Fop that assumes it But for the haughty and disdainful Air it is provoking beyond all expression for it shews in a very significant and sensible manner that a Man hath no esteem nor kindness for others This Air in a Prince makes him look terrible and dreadful but in a private Man it makes him appear a frightful and ridiculous Monster and must naturally beget in others an extreme contempt and an irreconcilable hatred VII All other different Airs are compos'd of these four They are all natural and involuntary Effects of the esteem we have of our selves with relation to others and according as our Imagination is struck with the appearance of the Quality and Merit of those that are about us so we do insensibly and in consequence of the Laws ordain'd for the good of Society put on such an Air as is most proper to preserve the place which we think we deserve in the Mind of others that place I mean which we actually and at that instant imagine we deserve for it is not Reason but Imagination which acts in these Encounters It is not an abstracted Knowledge of our own Qualifications with relation to those of others but a sensible View of their Grandeur or Meanness and the inward Sense we have of our selves which sets the Wheels of the Machine a going in order to put the Body in such a posture and give such an Air to the Face as discovers to Men the actual dispositions of our Mind toward them It is evident therefore that to put on that natural and unaffected Air of Modesty and Respect which makes us amiable to those especially who have a great deal of Pride it is not sufficient to believe that other Men are of greater Quality and Worth than our selves but our Imagination must be actually mov'd by that belief and must put the animal Spirits in motion which are the immediate Cause of all the alterations which happen in and upon the Body VIII But the Imagination is so unaccountable a thing and consequently the Mind of those that suffer themselves to be govern'd by the actual Disposition and Motion of their Machine that many times the same Air causes quite contrary effects in two different Persons or in the same Person at different times This depends on the Fabrick and Position of the Imagination and the quality of the animal Spirits A pitiful and dejected Air moves Compassion in some and Hatred in others or it may be Contempt or Laughter Therefore we should open our Eyes and read in Peoples Faces the effect which our Behaviour causes in them and shape or correct our Air by theirs this is the surest way And indeed it is what every one doth naturally and without thinking especially when he stands in need of the Assistance of others and passionately desires to gain their Favour and Affection I shall say no more of the means whereby we may accustom our selves to such an Air and Behaviour as will make us amiable The World is so corrupted and so much given to flattery that I much fear People would make an ill use of it They are already but too knowing in this matter and the World is never the better for it For till Men learn to consult Reason and to make no account of the outward Behaviour they will still be govern'd and misled by the Imagination of such as have a sprightly Temper and a dextrous Wit for it is the Imagination which gives the Face and the rest of the Body these different Airs which please and tickle the wisest Men and never fail to deceive the simple IX When a Man grows rich and powerful he is never the more belov'd if he doth not grow better too in respect of others by his Liberality and the Protection he affords them for nothing is good nor belov'd as such but that which doth good that which makes Men happy Nay I know not whether they really love rich Men tho' they be Liberal or powerful Men tho' they protect them For generally speaking they do not make their court to rich Men but to their Riches they do not esteem great Men but their Greatness or rather every Man seeks his own Glory his own Support his own Ease and Pleasure Drunkards do not love Wine but the pleasure of drinking for if the Wine be naught or do not please their Palat they will not drink it A lewd Man as soon as his Passion is satisfied abhors the Object that excited it and if he still loves it 't is because his Passion is still alive Now all this is because sading and perishing Enjoyments can never be a Bond strong enough to join Mens Hearts in a strict Union A durable Friendship can never be built on transitory Goods nor form'd by Passions which depend on a thing so inconstant as the circulation of the Blood and Humours This can only be done by a mutual Possession of Reason the common Good The Enjoyment of this universal and inexhaustible Good is the only thing that can make constant secure and easie Friendships This is the only Good that we can possess without Envy and communicate without injuring our selves We should therefore excite one another to labour for the acquisition of this Good and join all together for the mutual procurement of it We should liberally impart to others that which we have already gotten and not scruple to demand of them that which they have conquer'd by their Pains and Application in the Country of Truth Thus we should enrich our selves with the Treasures of Wisdom and Reason for we gain a better Possession of Truth the more we communicate it The Friends we get this way will be true constant generous sincere and immortal Friends for Reason never dies Reason never changes it gives to all those who possess it immortality in their Life and immutability in their Conduct X. But who is it that shall lead us to Reason who shall subject us to its Laws and make us its true Disciples It is Reason it self but Reason incarnate humbled made visible and sensible and proportion'd to our Weakness It is Jesus Christ the Wisdom of the Father the natural and universal Light of intelligent Beings who because he could be no longer the Light of our Minds immers'd in Flesh and Blood by Sin was made Sin himself and by the foolishness of the Cross makes a lively impression on our Senses and fixes our Eyes and Thoughts on him It is Christ and Christ alone that can lead us to Reason and reunite us in his Divine Person by the mediation of his glorified Humanity Our Nature subsists in Reason thro' him and by him Reason will reign in our Minds and Hearts For in fine we are created for Reason by that we are intelligent Beings we were first form'd by it and by it we must be