well apprehended and to teach us what we ought to think of Treatises which are written upon this Subject After all these precautions I believe I may say that all the Passions may be referr'd to the three Primitive ones Desire Joy and Sorrow and that 't is chiefly through the different Judgments the Soul makes of Good and Evil that those which relate to one and the same Primitive Passion differ amongst themselves I may say that Hope Fear and Irresolution which keep the Mean between these two are kinds of desire that Boldness Courage Emulation c. relate more to Hope than to the other two and that Fearfulness Cowardise and Jealousie c. are kinds of Fear I may further say that Cheerfulness and Glory Favour and Acknowledgment are kinds of Joy caused by the sight of the good we discover in our selves or in those to whom we are united as Laughing and Rallery is a sort of Joy which is commonly excited in us at the sight of the Evil which happens to our Enemies Lastly disgust tediousness regret pity and indignation are kinds of sorrow caused at the sight of something which displeases us But besides these Passions and many others which I mention not and which particularly relate to some one of the Primitive Passions The number of the Passions is greater than the number of terms we express 'em by there are also many others whose emotion is almost equally compound either of Desire and Joy as Impudence Anger Revenge or of Desire and Sorrow as Shame Regret and Despight or of all three when we meet with Motives of Joy and Sorrow joined together But altho' these last Passions have not as I know of any particular Name they are nevertheless the most common because in this Life we hardly ever enjoy any Good without the mixture of some Evil and that we scarcely ever suffer any Evil without some hopes of being delivered from it and of possessing some Good And altho' Joy be quite contrary to Sorrow it nevertheless admits it and even with his Passion shares the Souls capacity of Willing as he prospect of Good and Evil divides the Souls capacity of perceiving All the Passions therefore are kinds of Desire Joy and Sorrow and the chief difference to be observed between the Passions of the same kind proceeds from the different Perceptions or different Judgments which cause or accompany them so that it is necessary to enquire into the different Judgments that we make of Good and Evil. But as our chief design here is to search after the cause of our Error we ought not so much to stop at the examining the Judgments which follow them and which the Soul makes of Objects when it is agitated by any Passion for 't is these last Judgments which are the most liable to Error Those Judgments which precede and cause the Passions are commonly false in something for they are generally upheld upon the perceptions of the Soul in as much as it considers things in relation to it self and not according as they are in themselves But those Judgments which follow the Passions are false in every respect for the Judgments which form the Passions are upheld only upon the perceptions the Soul has of Objects in relation to it self or rather in relation to its emotion In those Judgments which precede the Passions both the true and the false are joined together but when the Soul is agitated and Judges of every thing according to the inspiration of the Passion the true is dissipated and the false preserved from whence are drawn so many more false conclusions as the Passion is greater Every Passion justifies it self they continually represent to the Soul that Object which affects it after such a manner as is most proper to preserve and encrease its agitation The Judgment or Perception which causes it is fortified in proportion as the Passion encreases and the Passion encreases ini proportion as the Judgment which produces it is in its turn fortified False Judgments and Passions continually contribute to their mutual preservation So that if the Heart ceased not sometimes to supply such Spirits as are proper to maintain the traces of the Brain and the distributions of the same Spirits which are necessary to preserve the sensation and emotion of the Soul which accompanies the Passions they wou'd continually encrease and we shou'd never discover our Errors But as all our Passions depend upon the fermentation and circulation of the Blood and as the Heart cannot always furnish such Spirits as are requisite for their preservation they must necessarily cease when the Spirits diminish and the Blood cools If it is so very easie to discover the common Judgments of the Passions we ought not to neglect it There are few Subjectys more worthy the application of those who enquire into the Truth and endeavor to deliver themselves from the dominion of their Bodies and who wou'd judge of all things according to the true Idea's of them We may instruct our selves upon this Subject two different ways either by reason only or by the internal sensation that we have of our selves when we are agitated with any Passion For instance we know by our own Experience that we are inclined to judge disadvantageously of those we love not and to discover all the malignity of our hatred by that means to the Object of our Passion We may also by pure Reason discover that hating only what is Evil it is necessary for the preservation of hatred that the Mind shou'd represent its Object on the worst side for indeed it is sufficient to suppose all the Passions justify themselves and that they divert the Imagination and afterwards the Mind in such a manner as is fit to preserve their own emotion that we conclude what those Judgments are which all the Passions cause us to make Those who have a strong and lively Imagination are extreamly sensible and very subject to the Motions of the Passions may perfectly instruct themselves in these things by the sensation they have of what passes within them and even speak of them after a more agreeable manner and sometimes more instructive than those who have more Reason than Imagination For we must not think that such as best discover the Springs of Self-love that penetrate farthest and after a more sensible manner unfold the secrets of Man's heart are always the most Learned 'T is indeed often a mark that they are more lively more imaginative and sometimes more malicious than others But those who without consulting their internal Sensation only make use of their Reason to discover the Nature of their Passions and what they are capable of producing if they are not always as penetrating as others they are always more reasonable and less subject to Error for they judge of things as they are in themselves They see very near what the Passions can perform according as they suppose them more or less moved and they do not judge rashly of
MALEBRANCH's Search after Truth OR A TREATISE OF THE NATURE OF THE Humane Mind AND Of its Management for avoiding Error in the SCIENCES To which is Added The Authors Defence against the Accusations of Monsieur de la Ville ALSO The LIFE of Father Malebranch of the Oratory at Paris With an Account of his Works and several particulars of his controversie with Monsieur Arnaud Dr. of Sorbonne and Monsieur Regis Professor in Philosophy at Paris Written by Monsieur Le Vasseur lately come over from Paris VOL. II. Done out of French from the Last Edition LONDON Printed for S. Manship at the Ship in Cornhil 1695. TO THE Marquess of Normanby My Lord THis Translation of the Second Volume of Father Malebranch's Recherche de la Verite Humbly begs the same Favourable Acceptance and Protection as Your Lordship was pleased to grant the First Nor could I have any Temptation to seek another Patron for it either in respect of the Author or my Self Every one that has had the Honour to know Your Lordship is very Sensible that You have Successfully Studied Mankind in General and are therefore a very good Judge of this Subject As for my Self Your Lordships preventing Goodness and extream readiness to serve me has already outdone the utmost Ambition of My Lord Your Lordships most Faithful and most Obedient Servant Richard Sault The Life of Father Malebranch of the Oratory at Paris With an Account of his Works and several Particulars of his Controversie with Monsieur Arnaud Dr. of Sorbonne and Monsieur Regis Professor in Philosophy at Paris Written by Monsieur Le Vasseur lately come over from Paris Done into English by R. S. FAther Nicholas Malebranch was Born at Paris of a considerable Family in the Year 1638. His Eldest Brother is now one of the Counsellors in the first Chamber of the Parliament at Paris where he is disinguisht by his Integrity and other Qualifications that are proper to make a good Magistrate When Father Malebranch became of Age to choose an Imployment suitable to his Birth and Inclination his Parents proposed to him to make him a Member of that August Body but he generously refused so handsome an Establishment and thought rather of retiring from the World and devoting himself to the Church To this End he chose the Congregation of the Priests of the Oratory which continually supplies France with Learned Divines Excellent Preachers and Men capable of filing the most Eminent Dignities of the Church Father Malebranch spent the first Years of his retreat in studying Divinity and Languages necessary for the understanding of Holy Scripture and other Ecclesiastic Authors But as he felt a greater Pleasure and Inclination for those Sciences that are acquired by Reasoning and Meditation than for those which depended only on Memory and were founded upon Historical Facts or the Writings of Antient Authors he resolved to content himself with reading the Holy Scripture attentively and imploying the rest of his Time in the Study of Metaphysics and the knowledge of himself The Book intituled A Search after Truth was the first Fruit of his Meditations Never was there any Book received with so great an Applause in France nor in other Countries where they are curious in matters of Reason and good Sense All the World was surprized to see a Young Philosopher who knew Man better than the Celebrated Monsieur Des Cartes his Master did at the end of his dayes and who had found the secret of writing upon abstracted things after so noble and polite a manner The Able Men of France Italy Germany England and Holland earnestly sought his Acquaintance and gave him particular Marks of the Esteem which they had conceived for him Madam the Princess Elizabeth Palatine that Illustrious Scholar of Monsieur Des Cartes was so charmed with his Search after Truth that she resolved to make it her Manual and to have it alwayes with her Notwithstanding the Esteem her most Serene Highness had for the Memory of Monsieur Des Cartes she easily confessed that Father Malebranch had out-done that great Philosopher as to what regarded the knowledge of the Humane Mind and the Consequences of the Vnion of the Soul and Body She wrote to her Sister Madam the Princess Louise Abbess of Maubuisson in France that she was surprized that having near her Abbey a Man of such merit so rare and so distinguisht that she had not sought his Acquaintance What was most great and extraordinary in Malebranch was that he alwayes preserved a Humility and Modesty that was truly Christian in the midst of all the Praises and Applauses that he had received in his own Country and elsewhere He was alwayes watchful over himself and would not so much as hearken to so refin'd a Temptation as the greatest Philosophers of Antiquity have not been able to withstand It was with extream Displeasure that Father Malebranch observed afterwards that certain Persons otherwise perswaded of the solidity of the Principles of the Cartesian Philosophy which he had so happily explained were not yet sufficiently convinced of the Truth of the Christian Religion and of the Morals of Jesus Christ Being troubled at the fatal blindness of these Philosophers he resolved to make use of the Principles in which they agreed with him to prove to them the Corruption of Mans Heart and the necessity of such a Mediator as Jesus Christ To this end he Publish'd a little Book of Christian Conversations and from that time he only applyed himself to make use of the Truths which he had discovered to prove the beauty and solidity of that Divine Philosophy which Jesus Christ teaches us in the Gospel What Glory what Honour is it for a Christian Philosopher to have set in so full and so clear a light the Reasons which we can now so advantageously use against Atheists and the Enemies of the Gospel With the Principles of Father Malebranch we may boldly defie the Atheists to explain to us how the Blood circulates in their Veins how they feel Pleasure and Pain by means of certain Motions which are excited in their Body without supposing the Existence and Action of an Infinite Perfect Being who is only capable of punishing and rewarding us And if this pretended strength of Mind of which our Atheists so much boast is baffled when they consider but a Bowl that is in motion an agreeable titillation or Pain which they feed before the Fire what if we should desire them to explain the formation and increase of an almost infinite number of Organized Bodies to tell us bow this vast Machine of the Vniverse could be formed and move of it self after so just and regulated a manner in every thing that is necessary for its Conservation What Comfort is it for us to learn that even the irregularities which appear in the World and concerning which the Enemies of our Religion reproach us with an insulting Air are certain marks of the infinite Perfection of the Author of Nature
only true amongst Christians and was absolutely false in the Mouth of Seneca and Epicurus and in short of all the Philosophers who appeared the most reasonable because the Yoke of JESVS CHRIST is only sweet to those that belong to him and his Burthen only seems light to us when his Grace supports us under it CHAP. IV. That the Pleasures and Motions of the Passions engage us in Errors at the sight of Good and therefore we ought continually to resist them With the manner how to oppose Libertinism WHatsoever we have already in general explained about the qualities and effect of the Passions shews them not to be free they take up their residence in our Breasts without our leave and there is nothing but the consent of our Will which absolutely depends upon us The prospect of Good is naturally followed with a Motion and Sensation of Love a Shaking of the Brain and Motion of the Spirits a new Emotion of the Soul which increases the first Motion of Love and a new Sensation of the Soul which augments the first Sensation of Love and in fine a Sensation of Complacency which recompences the Soul for the Bodies being in a state convenient for it All these things pass in the Soul and Body Naturally and Mechanically that is without their having any part in it since our consent only truly depends upon us This Consent must also be regulated preserved and kept free notwithstanding all the endeavours of our Passions to the contrary 'T is to God alone that it must submit its liberty yielding only to the Voice of the Author of Nature Internal Evidence and to the secret reproaches of Reason We should never consent but when we clearly see we should make an ill use of our liberty if we refused it And this is the chief Rule that must be observed to avoid Error 'T is God only who evidently shews us that we must submit to what ever he requires to him alone therefore we must wholly devote our selves There is no Evidence in the Alurements and Caresses the Frights and Menaces we receive from our Passions They are only confused and obscure Sensations to which we must never give ear We must stay till these false lights of the Passions are dissipated and wait for a purer light to guide us till God himself speaks to us We must enter into our selves and there enquire for him that never leaves us but continually instructs us He speaks low but his Voice is distinct he illuminates but little yet his light is pure Rather his Voice is as strong as 't is distinct and his Light as bright and active as 't is pure But our Passions keep us always out of our selves and by their noise and darkness hinder us from being instructed by his Voice and illuminated by his Light He even speaks to those who ask nothing of him and those whose Passions have put them at the greatest distance from him do nevertheless now and then hear some of his Words But they are such Words as are strong threatning and terrible and pierce more than a two edged Sword which penetrates the most secret Recesses of the Soul and discerns the thoughts and motions of the Heart Heb. 4.12 13. For all things are open before his Eyes and he cannot behold the irregularity of Sinners without making them inwardly to feel his severe Reproaches We ought therefore to enter into our selves to approach near him to desire him to inform us of what we would know to hearken to and obey him For if we always give ear to him we should never be deceiv'd and by continually Obeying him we should free our selves from the miseries and inconstancies of our Passions to which Sin has subjected us We must not think with some pretended Wits whom the pride of their Passions have reduced to the condition of Beasts and who having so long contemned the Law of God seem at last to know no other than that of their infamous Passions We ought not I say like those Men that are guided merely by Flesh and Blood to imagine that in following the motions of our Passions and secret desires of our own Hearts we shou'd follow God and obey the voice of the Author of Nature for this would be the utmost blindness and according to St. Paul Rom. 1. the temporal punishment for Impiety and Idolatry that is the punishment of the greatest Crimes Indeed this punishment is so much the greater as that instead of appeasing the wrath of God as all other temporal ones do it continually exasperates and encreases it until the terrible day wherein his just anger shall triumph over all Sinners Their Arguments however want not probability and seeming very agreeable to common Sense they are favoured by the Passions and could never be destroy'd by all the Philosophy of Zeno. We must love good say they and pleasure is the character that Nature has united to it and by this character we can never be deceived since it proceeds from God who has affixed it thereto that we might distinguish it from evil We must also fly evil continue they and pain is the character that Nature has united to that nor can we be deceiv'd by it since God has instituted it that thereby we might discern it from good We taste Pleasure when we abandon our selves to our Passions and feel Pain and Bitterness in resisting them Therefore the Author of Nature would have us give up our selves to our Passions and never resist them since the Pleasure and Pain he makes us feel in these occurrences are certain proofs of his Will in respect to them To follow God therefore is to persue the desires of our own Hearts and to obey him is to conform our selves to the instinct of Nature which enclines us to satisfie our Senses and Passions After this manner they confirm themselves in their impious Opinions and by this means endeavour to stifle the secret reproaches of their Reason and for the punishment of their Crimes God permits them to be dazled with these false lights which blind instead of enlightning them but with such a blindness as they are insensible of and wish not to be delivered from God gives them over to a reprobate Sense abandons them to the desires of their Hearts to shameful Passions and Actions unworthy of Man as the Scripture tells us that after being as it were fatned by their Debauches they may to all Eternity become the victims of his Wrath. But we will solve the difficulty they propose which the Sect of Zeno not being able to do have denied that Pleasure was good or Pain an evil But this was too rash an attempt and unbecoming Philosophers and I dont believe it ever made those change their Opinion who experimentally found that a great Pain was a great Misery Since therefore Zeno and all the Heathen Philosophy could not resolve this difficulty offered by the Epicureans therefore we must have recourse to a more solid and
the greatness and perfection of my Being and therefore I have reason to admire it Others also ought to admire me if they would do me justice since I am something great through the relation I have to great things I in some measure possess them by the admiration I have for them and I feel the good by a foretaste that a kind of hope makes me enjoy Other Men would be happy as well as I if knowing my greatness they like me applied themselves to the Cause which produced it but they are blind and have no knowledge of either great or fine things and know not how either to raise or make themselves become consider able We may say the Mind naturally reasons after this manner without making any reflexion when it permits it self to be guided by the deceitful lights of its Passions These Arguments have some probability bus 'tis plain they have no solidity in them And this appearance or rather confused Sensation of it which attends these Natural Reasonings made without reflexion have so much power that if we don't take great care they will never fail of seducing us For instance when Poetry History Chimistry or any other Humane Science has struck the Imagination of a young Man with any Motions of Admiration if he don't carefully watch the efforts these Motions make upon his Mind If he does not throughly examine what the advantages of these Sciences are and compare the troubles he shall have in the learning with the profit he shall afterwards receive from them and in short if he is not as curious as is requisite to judge well there is a great deal of danger that his Admiration will not only shew him these Sciences with the fairest side outwards but seduce him also It is likewise very much to be feared that it will corrupt his Heart after such a manner that he shall not be able to destroy the illusion tho' he afterwards come to know it to be such because 't is impossible to efface such deep Traces out of his Brain as a continual Admiration shall have wrought there For that reason he must continually stir up the purity of his Imagination he must hinder these dangerous Traces from being formed which will corrupt the Mind and Heart I shall here prescribe a very useful way to prevent not only the excess of Admiration but also of all other Passions in general When the Motion of the Animal Spirits is violent enough to make such deep Traces in the Brain as corrupt the Imagination it is always attended with some emotion of the Soul Thus the Soul cannot be moved without being sensible of it it is sufficiently advertised to take care or it self and to examine whether it is advantageous that these Traces should be strengthned and made compleat But in the time of the emotion the Mind not being free enough to judge of the usefulness of these Traces because this emotion deceives and inclines it to favour them it must make its utmost endeavour to stop this emotion or else divert the motion of the Spirits which cause it and in the mean time it is absolutely necessary for it to suspend its Judgment Now it must not be imagined that the Soul can always barely by its own Will stop this course of Spirits which hinder it from making use of its Reason It s common powers are not sufficient to make such Motions cease which it has not excited So that it must make use of artifices to endeavour to deceive an Enemy that attacks it only by surprize As the motion of the Spirits stir up certain thoughts in the Soul so these Thoughts also excite certain motions in our Brain Thus when we would stop any motion of the Spirits which is stirred up in us it is not sufficient to will that it should cease for that is not always capable of stoping it We must make use of some Artifices and represent things contrary to those which excite and maintain this motion and this would cause a Revulsion But if we would only determine a motion of Spirits already excited to some other place we must not think of contrary things but only on such things as differ from those which produce it and this will undoubtedly divert them But because a Diversion and Revulsion will be great or little in proportion as our new thoughts shall be attended with a great or less motion of Spirits we must be very careful in observing well what those Thoughts are which agitate as most that in pressing occasions we may be able to represent them to our Imagination which seduces us and we must endeavour to form so strong an habit of resistance by this method that the motion which surprizes us may be no more excited in our Souls If we take care to make an intent application of the Idea of Eternity or any other serious Thoughts to these extraordinary motions which are excited in us those violent and great motions will never happen again without stirring up in us at the same time this Idea and which will consequently furnish us with the means to resist them Those things are proved both by Experience and the Reasons brought in the Chapter Of the Connection of Idea's So that we ought not to think it absolutely impossible by any Artifice to conquer the efforts of our Passions when our Wills are firmly determined to do it However we must not pretend that we can become Impeccable or shun all error by this manner of Resistance For first 't is difficult to acquire and preserve such an habit as that our extraordinary Motions shall stir up in us such Ideas as are proper to oppose them Secondly supposing we have acquired it these motions of the Spirits would directly excite those Ideas which we must oppose and but indirectly those which we must oppose to them So that the ill Idea's being the principal they will always have more power than those which are only accessary and it will be always necessary for the Will to assist the latter In the third place these motions of the Spirits may be so violent that they may fill the whole capacity of the Soul so that there remains no more room if we may be permitted so to speak to receive the accessary Idea that is fit to make a Revulsion in the Spirits or to receive it after such a manner as we may consider it with any attention In fine there are so many particulas circumstances which may make this remedy useless that we must not too much confide in it although on the other side we ought not to neglect it We must continually have recourse to Prayer that we may receive from Heaven those assistances as are necessary in the time of Temptations and also endeavour to present to the Mind some Truth that is so solid and strong that by this means we may conquer the most violent Passions For I must needs advertize by the way that several pious Persons often fall again
Imagination by sensible and lively Expressions whilst they leave the Mind empty of Ideas without knowledge and understanding Those who imploy a great part of their time in the study of their own Tongue have some appearance of Reason to justifie them since they make use of it all their lives and this is enough to excuse the Passion of some Persons But I confess it difficult with any shadow of Reason to excuse the Passion of such as indifferently apply themselves to all sorts of Languages Something may be said in favour of their Inclination who make a compleat Library of all sorts of Dictionaries as well as for the Curiosity of such who collect the Coins of all Nations and Ages since it may be useful in some Occurrences and if it is no great advantage to them at least 't is no injury for they have a Storehouse of Curiosities which does not perplex them since they carry about them neither their Books nor their Medals But I don't see how we can justifie the Passion of those who make their Head a Library of Dictionaries They even forget their Affairs and most essential Duties for Words of no use They speak their own Tongue with hesitation and at every turn mix unknown and barbarons terms in their Discourses and never speak to their Country-men in their own Language And indeed their Reason is no better managed than their Tongue for every corner and recess of their Memory is full of Etymologies that their Minds are as it were choaked with an innumerable company of Words which continually fly about it Nevertheless it must be granted that Philologists and Linguists will not fail to justifie their trifling Studies But how only hear the Judgments that those falsly Learned Persons make of the Tongues and you shall know it Or else do but suppose certain Axioms which pass amongst them for indisputable and from thence draw their usual Consequences for instance that those who understand several Languages are as many different Men as they can speak Tongues since 't is by speech they are distinguished from Beasts That being unaquainted with the Tongues is the reason we are ignorant of an infinite number of things since the Ancient Philosophers and Strangers are much more learned than we are Thus if we suppose the like Principles and Conclusions we shall soon form such Judgments as are fit to produce a Passion for Languages and which Judgments will consequently be like those that the same Passion creates in Philologists for the justification of their Studies The meanest and most contemptible Sciences will in some part or other appear glorious to the Imagination and will easily dazle the Mind through the false lustre that Passion diffuses through it It is true this splendor vanishes when the Spirits and Blood are cooled and the light of truth begins to appear but this light is likewise dissipated when the Imagination becomes warm and obscurely presents to us those solid Reasons which seemed to condemn our Passion But when the Passion which animated us feels it self decaying it does not repent of its conduct on the contrary we may say that it disposes of all things in such a manner that it may dye with honour or else revive again soon after That is it always inclines the Mind to form such Judgments as justifie it In this condition it also contracts a kind of Covenant with all the rest of the Passions which can assist it in its weakness supply it with Spirits and Blood at its necessity rekindle its ashes and give it new life for the Passions are not indifferent in respect to each other and those which can live together faithfully contribute to one anothers preservation Thus the Judgments which justifie the inclination we have for Languages or what else pleases us are continually solicited and fully confirmed by all the Passions which are not opposite to it A pretender to Learning sometimes fancies himself surrounded with such Persons as hear him with respect sometimes as victorious over those whom he has astonished by his incomprehensible Words and generally thinks himself far above the common sort of Men. He flatters himself with the praises they give him the preferments proposed to him and with the courships made to his Person He is of all times and Countreys and not limited like common Wits to the present time or within the Walls of his own Town but continually communicates himself and this communication creates his pleasure Thus many Passions combine with that he has for false Learning which all endeavour to justifie it and warmly solicite the Judgments in its favour It every Passion acted only for it self without being concerned for the rest they would immediately dissipate after they were produced not being able to make false Judgments enough for their own subsistence nor to maintain long the representations of the Imagination against the light of Reason But every thing is regulated in our Passions after the most exact manner that is possible for their mutual preservation They fortifie one another the most remote giving some assistance and 't is enough for 'em if they are not declared enemies to observe amongst themselves all the rules of a well ordered Society Should the Passion of Desire be alone every Judgment that proceeded from it could only tend to represent the good as possible for the desire of love considered as such is produced only by the Judgment that we make of the possession of some good that is attainable so that this desire could only form Judgments upon the possibility of enjoying it since those Judgments which follow and preserve the Passions are wholly like those which precede and produce them But desire is animated by love fortified by hope encreased by joy renewed by fear attended with courage emulation anger irresolution and many other Passions which in their turns form an infinite variety of Judgments that succeed one another and so maintain the desire which produced them It is no wonder therefore if the desire of a pure trifle or of something that is manifestly useless or injurious continually justifies it self in opposition to Reason for many years or during the whole Life of a Man who is agitated by it since there are so many Passions which plead in its behalf And that I may explain things by distinct Ideas I shall briefly shew how the Passions justifie themselves All Passion agitates the Blood and Spirits and these agitated Spirits are carried to the Brain either by the sensible sight of the Object or power of the Imagination after such a manner as is proper to form deep Traces to represent this Object By their impetuous course they bend and even sometimes break the Fibres of the Brain and the Imagination is thereby sully'd and corrupted For these Traces submit not to Reason they are not effaced when that wishes it but on the contrary do violence to it and even continually oblige it to consider Objects after such a manner as agitates and
in the same Men at different Times They change according to the different Motions of the Spirits so that there is nothing more uncertain As for what respects Astronomy there is no perfect Regularity in the Course of the Planets Moving in these great Spaces they are disorderly hurried by the fluid Matter which encompasses them So that the Errors we are subject to in Astronomy Mechanicks Musick and in all the Sciences to which we apply Geometry Proceeds not from Geometry which is an indisputable Science but from the false Application we make of it We suppose for instance that the Planets by their Motions describe Circles and Elipses perfectly regular which though it is not true yet 't is necessary to reason from it for the Error misses but very little of truth but we ought always to remember that the Principle upon which we reason is but a Supposition So in Mechanicks we suppose that Wheels and Levers are perfectly hard and like Mathematical Lines and Circles without Gravity and Attrition or rather we do not sufficiently consider their Gravity Attrition Matter or the Relation that these things have amongst themselves that Hardness or Magnitude increases Gravity that Gravity increases Attrition and Attrition diminishes the Machine Thus what is often accomplished in a small Portion of Matter is seldom ever affected in a greater It is no Wonder then if we deceive our selves when we wou'd reason upon Principles that are not exactly known Nor can we conclude Geometry to be unuseful because it delivers us not from all our Errors Suppositions established make us argue consequently rendring our selves attentive to what we consider make us know it evidently We even by that means discover when our Suppositions are false for being always certain that our Reasonings are true and Experience agreeing not with them we discover that our Principles are false But without Geometry and Arithmetick we can discover nothing exactly if there is never so little Difficulty in it although we have certain and indisputable Principles Therefore we ought to look upon Geometry as a kind of universal Science which inlarges the Mind makes it attentive and gives it the Art of regulating the Imagination and from whence may be drawn all the Helps that it can receive For by the Assistance of Geometry the Mind regulates the Motion of the Imagination and the Imagination thus regulated maintains the Presence and Application of the Mind But that we may make a good use of Geometry we must observe that all things which fall under the Imagination cannot be imagined with an equal Facility for all Images do not equally fill the Capacity of the Mind It is more difficult to imagine a solid than a plane and a plane than a simple Line for there is more Thought in the clear View of a solid than in that of a Plane or Line It is so likewise with different Lines more Thought is requisite that is a greater Capacity of Mind to represent a Parabolick Eliptical or some other Line more compounded than to represent the Circumference of a Circle and more for the Circumference of a Circle than for a right Line because 't is more difficult to imagine Lines which are described by very compounded Motions and which have many Relations than those which are described by the most simple Motions or which have fewer Relations For Relations cannot be clearly perceived without the Attention of the Mind to many things and so much the more Thought is required to perceive them as they are in greater Number There are some Figures so compounded that the Mind has not Extension enought to imagine them distinctly but there is also some others that the Mind very easily imagins Of the three kinds of right lined Angles the acute the right and obtuse it is only the right that raises a very distinct and fixed Idea in the Mind There is an infinite Number of acute Angles which differ amonst themselves it is the same also with the obtuse So that when we imagine an acute or an obtuse Angle we imagine nothing exact or distinct but when we imagine a right Angle we cannot deceive our selves the Idea is very distinct and even the Image that we form of it in the Brain is commonly exact enough It is true we may also determine the general Idea of an acute Angle by a particular Idea of an Angle of thirty Degrees and the Idea of an Angle of thirty Degrees is as exact as that of an Angle of Ninety or of a right Angle But the Image that we form of it in the Brain would not be near so Just as that of a right Angle We are not accustomed to represent this Image to our selves and we can trace it only by thinking upon a Circle or such a determined Portion of a Circle divided into equal parts But to imagine a right Angle it is not necessary to think on this Division of the Circle the Idea only of a Perpendicular is sufficient for the Imagination to trace the Image of this Angle and we find no difficulty to represent Perpendiculars because we are accustomed to see all things stand upright It is therefore very easie to judge that to have a simple distinct and well-determined Object proper to be easily conceived and consequently to make the Mind attentive and preserve evidence in the Truths it enquires after we must compare all Magnitudes as we consider them to simple Surfaces determined by Lines and right Angles as perfect Squares and other right-lined Figures or else to simple right Lines for these are the Figures whose Nature we know We do not pretend that all Subjects whose Knowledge we may enquire into can be expressed by Lines and Geometrical Figures There are many that cannot nay that ought not to be subjected to this Rule For instance The Knowledge we have of a God infinitely Powerful infinitely Just upon whom all things depend in all respects who wills that all his Creatures should execute his orders to make themselves capable of Happiness This Knowledge I say is the Principle of all Morality and from hence may be drawn an infinite number of certain and indisputable Consequences and yet neither this Principle nor its Consequences can be expressed by Geometrical Figures neither is it possible to determine or represent by Lines an infinite number of Physical Notions which may nevertheless evidently discover several Truths to us Yet is it certain that there are a great many things which may be examined and learned by this Geometrical Method and that it is always advantageous to use it because it accustoms the Mind to Attention by causing it to make a regular use of the Imagination and that things which are learned by this way appear more clearly demonstrated and are more easily remembred than others I might have attributed to the Senses the Assistance which is drawn from Geometry but I thought that Geometry did rather belong to the Imagination than to the Senses although Lines are something
sensible It would be unnecessary here to give he Reasons that I had for it Since they would only serve to justifie the order that I have kept in what I have said which is not essential I have neither spoke of Arithmetick nor Algebra since the Numeral Figures and Letters of the Alphabet which are used in these Sciences are not so useful to increase the Attention as the Capacity of the Mind as shall be explained in the following Chapter These are the General Helps which may make the Mind more attentive I know no other except it be the will of being so which I do not treat of because it is supposed that all those who Study are willing to give Attention to what they Study Nevertheless there are many others which are peculiar to certain persons as some sort of Drinks certain Meats certain Places and certain Dispositions of Body with some other helps of which every one ought to be instructnd by his own Experience The Condition of our Imagination ought to be observed after Eating and we must consider what things they are that maintain or dissipate the Attention of the Mind What more general might be said is That the moderate use of such Food as creates many Animal Spirits is very fit to increase the Attention of th Mind and Strength of the Imagination in those who have them Weak and Languishing CHAP. V. Of the Means to increase the Extension and Capacity of the Mind That Arithmetick and Algebra are absolutely necessary to this end IT ought not immediately to be imagined that we can truly increase the Extension and Capacity of the Mind The Soul of Man is if we may so say a determined Quantity or Portion of Thought which hath limits that cannot be exceeded The Soul cannot become more Extensive or Capacious than it is It is not swelled nor enlarged after the same manner as we see Liquors and Metals are In fine It never Perceives more in one time than in another It is true this seems contrary to Experience for often we think upon many Objects and as oft but upon one only and we often say likewise that we think upon nothing at all Yet if we consider that Thought is to the Soul what Extension is to the Body we shall plainly discover that as a Body cannot be truly more extended at one time than another so if we conceive aright neither can the Soul think more at one time than another Whether it perceives many Objects or but one or even in the time that we say we think on nothing at all But the reason why we imagine we think more at one time than another is because we do not sufficiently distinguish between confused and distinct Perceptions without doubt there is more Thought required or the Capacity of Thinking is more fitted to perceive many things distinctly at once than to perceive but one only But there is not more Thought requisite to perceive many things confusedly than to perceive one distinctly So there is no more Thought in the Soul when it thinks of many things than when it thinks of but one since when it thinks of but one only it always perceives it much more clearly than when it applies it self to many For it must be observed that a pure simple Perception sometimes includes as much Thought or fills as much the Capacity that the Mind hath of Thinking as a Judgment nay even a compounded reasoning Since Experience teaches us That a lively clear and evident Perception but of one thing only imploys and takes up the Mind as much as a compounded Reasoning or an obscure and confused Perception of several Relations between many things For even as there is as much or more Sensation in the sensible view of an Object that I hold near my Eyes and carefully examine as in the prospect of a whole Field that I look upon negligently and without Attention so that the clearness o the Sensation that I have of the Object which is near my Eyes recompences the Extension of the confused Sensation I have of many things that I see without Attention in a Field Thus the Prospect the Mind has of one Object only is sometimes so lively and distinct that it includes as much or even more Thought than a Prospect of the Relations which are between many things It is true at certain times it seems to us that we think of but one thing and nevertheless we have some difficulty to comprehend it well and at other times we comprehend both this thing and many others with great Facility From thence we imagine that the Soul hath more Extension or a greater Capability of Thinking at one time than another but it is plain we deceive our selves The Reason why at certain times we have some Difficulty to conceive the most easie things is not because the Thought of the Soul or its Capacity of Thinking is diminished but because this Capacity is filled either by some lively Sensation of Pain or Pleasure or by a great number of weak and obscure Sensations which cause a kind of Vapor and which for the most part proceeds from a confused Sensation of a great number of Things A piece of Wax is capable of a very distinct Figure yet it cannot receive two but then one will confound the other for it cannot be entirely round and square at the same time indeed if it received a Million none of them would be distinct Now if this piece of Wax was capable of knowing its Figures it could not know by what Figure it must be determined if the number of them were too great It is the same with our Soul when a great number of Modifications fill its Capacity it cannot perceive them distinctly because it sees them not separately this makes it think it perceives nothing at all It cannot say that it is sensible Pain Pleasure Light Sound Taste it is none of all these and yet it is all these that it perceives But although we should suppose the Soul not to be subjected to the confused and irregular Motions of the Animal Spirits or so disingaged from the Body that its Thoughts should not depend upon whatsoever passed in it it might then happen that we should more easily comprehend certain things in one time than in another and yet the Capacity of the Soul be neither diminished nor increased The general Idea of Infinity is inseparable from the Mind and it wholly takes up its Capacity when it thinks not of some particular thing For when we say we think of nothing it does not follow that we do not think of this general Idea but simply that we do not think of any thing in particular Certainly if our Mind was not filled with this Idea we could not think of all sorts of things as we do for indeed we cannot think of those things that we have no knowledge of And if this Idea was no more present to the Mind when it seems to us that we think
But when we come to consider attentively the Idea we have of Cause or Power of acting we cannot doubt but that it represents something Divine For the Idea of a Sovereign Power is the Idea of Sovereign Divinity and the Idea of a Subordinate Power is the Idea of an inferiour but a true Divinity at least according to the Opinion of the Heathens if it be the Idea of a Power or true Cause We admit therefore something Divine in all Bodies which encompass us when we admit Forms Faculties Qualities Vertues and real Beings capable of producing certain Effects by the Power of their own Nature And thus they insensibly enter into the Opinions of the Heathens by the Respect they have for their Philosophy Faith indeed works it but it may perhaps be said that if we are Christians in our Hearts we are Heathens in our Minds Moreover it is difficult to perswade our selves that we ought neither to love or fear true Powers and Beings who can act upon us punish us with Pain or recompense us with Pleasure And as Love and Fear are a true Adoration 't is also difficult to perswade our selves that we ought not to adore them For whatever can act upon us as a real and true Cause is necessarily above us according to St. Austin and right Reason The same Father and the same Reason tells us 't is an immutable Law that Inferiour things should submit to superiour And from hence Ego enim ab animâ hoc corpus animari non puto nifi intentione facientis Nec ab isto quicquam illam pati Arbitror sed facere de illo in illo tanquam subjecto divinitus dominationi suae l. 6. mus c. 5. * this great Father concludes that the Body cannot act upon the Soul and that nothing can be above the Soul but God In the Holy Scriptures when God proves to the Israelites that they ought to adore him that is that they ought to fear and love him the chief Reasons he brings are taken from his Power to recompence and punish them He represents to them the Benefits they have received from him the Evils wherewith he hath chastised them and that he has still the same Power He forbids them to adore the Gods of the Heathens because they have no Power over them and can do them neither Good nor Hurt He requires them to honour him only because he only is the true Cause of Good and Evil and that there happens none in their City according to the Prophet which he has not done for Natural Causes are not the true Causes of the Evil that appears to be done to us 'T is God alone that acts in them and 't is he only that we must fear and love Soli Deo Honor Gloria In short this Opinion that we ought to fear and love whatsoever is the true Cause of Good and Evil appears so natural and just that it is impossible to destroy it so that if we suppose this false Opinion of the Philosophers which we endeavour here to confute that Bodies which encompass us are the true Causes of the Pleasures and Evils which we feel Reason seems to justifie a Religion like to that of the Heathens and approves of the universal Irregularity of Manners It is true that Reason does not tell us that we must adore Onyons and Leeks as the Sovereign Divinity because they cannot make us intirely happy when we have of them or intirely unhappy when we want them Nor have the Heathens ever done to them so much Honour as to the great Jupiter upon whom all their Divinities depend or as to the Sun which our Senses represent to us as the universal Cause which gives Life and Motion to all things and which we cannot hinder our selves from regarding as a Sovereign Divinity if with the Heathen Philosophers we suppose it includes in its being the true Causes of whatever it seems to produce not only in our Bodies and Minds but likewise in all Beings which encompass us But if we must not pay a Sovereign Honour to Leeks and Onyons yet we may always render them some particular Adoration I mean we may think of and love them in some manner if it is true that in some sort they can make us happy we must honour them in Proportion to the Good they can do us And certainly Men who give Ear to the Reports of their Senses think that Pulse is capable of doing them good for else the Israelites for instance would not have regretted their Absence in the Defect nor considered it as a Misfortune to be deprived of them if they did not in some manner look upon themselves happy in the Enjoyment of them These are the Irregularities which our Reason engages us in when it is joyned to the Principles of the Heathen Philosophy and follows the Impressons of the Senses That we may longer doubt of the Falseness of this Miserable Philosphy and the Certainty of our Principles and Clearness of the Idea's we make use of It is necessary clearly to establish those Truths which are opposite to the Errors of the ancient Philosophy and to prove in short that there is only one true Cause because there is only one true God That Nature or the Power of every thing proceeds only from the Will of God That all Natural things are not true Causes but only occasional ones and some other Truths which will be the Consequences of these It is evident that all Bodies both great and small have no power of removing themselves A Mountain an House a Stone a grain of Sand and in short the least or biggest Bodies we can conceive have no power of removing themselves We have only two sorts of Idea's that of Bodies and that of Spirits whereas we ought to speak only of those things which we conceive we should reason according to these two Idea's Since therefore the Idea we have of all Bodies shows us that they cannot move themselves it must be concluded that they are moved by Spirits only But when we examine the Idea we have of all finite Minds we do not see the necessary Connexion between their Wills and the Motion of any Body whatsoever it be On the contrary we see that there is none nor can be any whence we ought to conclude if we will argue according to our Knowledge that as no body can be able to move it self so there is no created Spirit can be the true or principal cause of the Motion of any body whatever But when we think of the Idea of God viz. of a Being infinitely Perfect and consequently Almighty we know that there is such a Connexion between his Will and the Motion of all Bodies that 't is impossible to conceive he should Will the Motion of a Body that should not be moved We must then say that his Will only can move Bodies if we will speak things as we conceive them and not as we feel them The moving
nearer to the Center of the Vortex that is they are so much the more weighty as they are the more solid But where gross Bodies are far distant from the Center of the Vortix the Circular Motion of the subtle Matter is then very great because it imploys almost all its Motion in turning about the Center of the Vortix as Bodies have so much the more Motion as they have more Solidity since they go with the same Swiftness as the subtle Matter they swim in and have more Power to continue their Motion in a right Line so that gross Bodies in a Distance from the Center of the Vortex are so much the lighter as they are more solid This agreed we may consider that the Earth is more Metallick towards the Center that it is not very Solid hear its Circumference That Water and Air must continue in the same Situation we see them in But that all these Bodies are heavy * That is they are impelled towards the Center of the Earth the Air is heavy as well as Gold and Quick-silver because they are more Solid and more Gross than the first and second Element This granted the Moon being a little too distant from the Center of the Vortex of the Earth is not heavy although it be solid That Mercury Venus the Earth Mars Jupiter and Saturn cannot fall into the Sun and that they are not solid enough to go out of this Vortex like Comets that they are in Equilibrio with the Matter they swim in and that if we could shoot a Musket or Cannon-bullet high enough these two Bodies would become little Planets or like little Comets which could no longer continue in Vortices having a compleat Solidity I do not pretend to have sufficiently explain'd whatever I have said or to have deduced from the Simple Principles of Extension Figure and Motion all that might be inferred I would only show the manner Descartes has taken to discover Natural things that we may compare his Idea's and Method with that of other Philosophers I had here no other design But I am not afraid to affirm that if we would cease to admire the Virtue of the Loadstone the regulated Motions of the Flux and Reflux of the Sea the Noise of Thunder and Generation of Meteors In short If we would instruct our selves in the Foundation of Physicks there is no better way to do it than by Reading and Meditating on his Works so we can make nothing of it if we follow not his Method I mean if we do not like him argue from clear Idea's beginning always with the most Simple 'T is not that this Author is Infallible nay I believe my self able to demonstrate that he is mistaken in many places of his Works But 't is more Advantagious to those that read him to believe that he is sometimes deceived than if they were perswaded whatever he says was true If we believed him Infallible we should read him without examining we should believe what he said without knowing it we should learn his Sentiments as we do Histories and should not inform our Minds by it He himself tells us that when we read his Works we ought to enquire if he is not deceived and must believe nothing he says except Evidence compels us to it For he is not like to those falsly Learned Men who usurp an unjust Dominion over the Minds of others requiring to be believed upon their word and who instead of making Men Disciples of Internal Truth by proposing only clear Idea's to them endeavour to submit them to the Authority of the Heathens and by Arguments they understand not make them receive Opinions they cannot comprehend The chief thing we have to say against Descartes's manner of producing the Sun Stars and the Earth and all Bodies which are about us is because it appears contrary to what the Holy Scripture tells us of the Creation of the World And if we believe this Author it seems that the Universe was form'd from it self such as we see it at this day To which many Answers may be given First Those who say Descartes is contrary to Moses it may be have not so much examined both the Holy Bible and Descartes as those who have shown by their publick Writings that the Creation of the World perfectly agrees with the Opinions of this Philosopher But the best Answer is Descartes never pretended things were made just as he described them for in the first Article of the fourth Part of his Principles which is That to find the true Causes of whatever is upon Earth we must keep the Hypothesis already received notwithstanding it should be false He positivesy says the contrary in these Terms Although I require not a Belief that Bodies which compose this visible World were ever produced in the same manner I have described them as I before intimated I am nevertheless obligēd to keep here the same Hypothesis to explain whatever is upon the Earth for if I evidently shew as I hope to do by this means the most intelligible and certain reasons for whatever we observe in it and that it cannot he done by any other Method I may thence reasonably conclude That although the World was not made after this manner in the Beginning but immediately created by God all things that it contains cease not to be now of the same Nature as if they had been so produced Descartes knew that to apprehend things well they must be considered in their Original That we must always begin with the most Simple things That we must not perplex our selves whether God had formed his Works by degrees or after the most simple ways or if he had produced them all at once But however God had made them to know them well we must first consider them in their Principles and only take care of the Consequence and then see how our Thought might agree with what God hath done He knew that the Laws of Nature by which God preserved all his Works in the Order and Situation they now are are the same Laws as those by which he formed and disposed them For 't is plain to all that consider things attentively that if God had made his whole Work all at once in the same Disposition he has placed it in time the whole Order of Nature would have been overturned since the Laws of Preservation would have been contrary to those of Creation If all the Universe continues in the order we see it 't is because the Laws of Motion which preserve it in this order were capable of producing it And if God had placed it in a different order from that it was put in by the Laws of Motion all things would be overturned and by the Force of those Laws be placed in the same order we see them now If a Man would discover the Nature of a Chicken he ought every day to open some of the Eggs that the Hen sits on and examine what grows and moves first
those which surround us which is of a Nature so much the more perfect as it is more distant from us Here is Aristotle's Reasons but I desie the most Intelligent of his Interpreters to joyn distinct Idea's to the Terms which he makes use of and to prove that this Philosopher began with the most Simple things before he spoke of the more compounded which is absolutely necessary to reason well as I have before proved If I was not afraid of being tiresome I would yet translate some Chapters of Aristotle But besides our taking little Pleasure to read them in our own Tongue when we clearly understand what he means I have sufficiently shewn by the little I have related that his Manner of Philosophizing is wholly useless for the Discovery of Truth For since he says himself in the Fifth Chapter of this Book that those that deceive themselves in any thing at first deceive themselves a Thousand times more if they advance far It is plain that if he knew not what he said in the two first Chapters of his Book we may reasonably believe that it is not safe to take things upon his Authority without examining his Reasons But to be better perswaded of it I will make it appear that there is not one Chapter in this Book wherein there is not some Absurdity In the third Chapter he says the Heavens are incorruptible and not subject to Alteration he brings many very foolish Arguments to prove this because for Example there is the Habitation of the Immortal Gods and because there was never any Change observed in them This last Reason might be admitted if Aristotle could have proved that any one had come from thence or had lived near enough to these celestial Bodies to make accurate Observations of them But however I don't know who would believe such an Authority since Telescopes do shew us the contrary He pretends in the Fourth Chapter to prove that there are no contrary Circular Motions Yet it is manifest that the Motion from East to West is contrary to that from West to East In the Fifth Chapter he improperly proves that Bodies are not infinite drawing his Proofs from the Motion of simple Bodies For What hinders but that there may be above his Primum Mobile some immoveable Extension In the Sixth he uselesly amuses himself to prove that the Elements are not infinite For who can doubt of it when we suppose with him that they are included in the Heavens which surrounds them But he makes himself ridiculous when he endeavours to prove it by their Weight and Lightness If the Elements were infinite says he they would have an infinite Weight and an infinite Lightness which cannot be Therefore c. those that would see his Arguments at large may read them in his Books I think it Loss of Time to relate them In the Seventh he continues to prove that Bodies are not infinite and his first Proof supposes it necessary for all Bodies to be in Motion which he does not prove nor indeed can it be proved He maintains in the Eighth that there are not many Worlds of the same Kind by this pleasant Argument If there was another Earth like this we inhabit the Earth being heavy by Nature it would fall upon ours because ours is the Center to which all heavy Bodies ought to tend From whence has he learned this but from his Senses In the Ninth he proves that 't is even impossible there should be a Plurality of Worlds because if there was any Body above the Heavens it would be simple or compound in a Natural or Violent State which cannot be from the Reasons he has drawn from his three Kinds of Motion which I have already spoken of He affirms in the Tenth that the World is Eternal because he cannot prove that it had a Beginning and that it will always endure since we see whatsoever is created corrupts in Time This he has likewise learnt from his Senses But who has taught him that the World shall always endure He imploys the Eleventh Chapter in explaining what we mean by incorruptible as if the Equivocation was much to be feared and that a great Use ought to be made of its Explanation Yet this Term Incorruptible is so clear of it self that Aristotle does not give himself the Trouble to explain neither in what Sense it ought to be taken nor how he understood it himself It would have been more to the Purpose if he had defined an infinite Number of Terms he makes use of which stir up only sensible Idea's For we might then it may be have learned something by reading his Works And in the last Chapter of the first Book of the Heavens he essays to prove that the World is incorruptible and will eternally endure because he cannot prove it had a Beginning All things says he subsist for a finite or infinite Time But what is infinite only in one Sense is neither finite nor infinite Therefore nothing can subsist after this manner This is the way of reasoning us'd by the Prince of Philosophers that Genius of Nature who in stead of discovering die true Cause of Natural Effects by clear and distinct Idea's has established a Heathen Philosophy upon the false and confused Idea's of the Senses or upon such as are too general to be of any Use in an Enquiry after Truth I do not here find Fault with Aristotle because he did not know that God created the World in Time to make known his Power and the Dependance of his Creatures and that he will never destroy it that we may know also that he is immutable and never repents of his Designs But I believe my self able to confute his weak Proofs of the Worlds Eternity Though he sometimes is excusable in the Opinions he maintains yet he is hardly ever so in the Reasons he brings when he treats on Subjects which include any Difficulty We are it may be already perswaded of it by what I have said although I have not related all the Errors I have met with in the Book I have extracted and I have endeavoured to make him speak more clearly than he was accustomed to do But that we may be fully convinced that the Genius of Nature hath never discovered either the Secrets or Springs of it It will be proper for me to shew that the Principles this Philosopher makes use of to explain Natural Effects have no Reason in them It is plain that we can discover nothing in Physicks if we begin not with the most simple Bodies the Elements For the Elements are the Bodies into which all others resolve because they are contained in them either actually or * I speak according to the Sentiments of the Peripateticks c. 3. l. 3. de Coelo Potentially so Aristotle defines them But we cannot find in the Works of Aristotle that he has by a distinct Idea explained these simple Bodies into which he pretends the others resolve And consequently his
of But that we may the more easily discover them it is requisite to read Descartes's Principles carefully without receiving any thing he says except when the Force and Evidence of his Reasons permit us not to doubt of it As Morality is the most necessary of all Sciences we must also study it very carefully for 't is chiefly in that Science that 't is dangerous to follow the Opinions of Men But that we may not deceive our selves in it but preserve Evidence in our Perceptions we must only meditate upon undoubted Principles such as are confessed by all those whose Minds are not blinded with Pride for there is no undoubted Principle of Morality for Spirits of Flesh and Blood and such as aspire to the Quality of great Wits These sort of Men comprehend not the most simple Truths or if they comprehend them at least they always dispute them through a Spirit of Contradiction and to preserve such a Reputation Some of these most general Principles of Morality are That God having made all things for himself he has created our Minds to know and our Hearts to love him That being also as Just and Powerful as he is we cannot be Happy if we do not follow his Orders nor Unhappy if we do That our Nature is Corrupt that our Minds depend upon our Bodies our Reason upon our Senses and our Wills upon our Passions That we are uncapable to do what we see clearly to be our Duties and that we have need of a Saviour There are also many other Principles of Morality as That a retreat from the eager Pursuit of the World and Repentance are necessary to disunite us from Sensible Objects and to increase that which we have with intelligible and true Goods I mean those of the Mind That we cannot enjoy violent Pleasure without becoming Slaves to it That we must never undertake any thing through the Incitement of Passion Nor seek an Establishment in this Life c. But because these last Principles depend upon the precedent and on the Knowledge of Man they ought not immediately to pass for undoubted If we consider these Principles orderly and with as much Care and Application as the weight of the Subject requires and receive for true only the Conclusions consequently deduced from these Principles we shall have a certain Morality which perfectly agrees with that of the Gospel although it is not compleat and large It is true in Moral Reasonings it is not so easie to preserve Evidence and Exactness as in some other Sciences and the Knowledge of Man is absolutely necessary to those that would make any great Progress And this is the reason that the generality of Men do not succeed in it They will not consult themselves to know the Weakness of their own Nature They omit to enquire of the Master who inwardly teaches them his own Will which is the Immutable and Eternal Law and the true Principles of Morality They do not hear him with Pleasure who speaks not to their Senses who answers not according to their Desires nor Flatters their Secret Pride They have no respect for such words as do not dazle the Imagination which are pronounced without a Noise and are never clearly heard but in the Silence of the Creatures Yet with Pleasure and Deference they consult Aristotle Seneca and some new Philosophers who seduce them either by the Obscurity of their Words the Turn of their Expressions or Probability of their Reasons Since the Sin of Adam we esteem only what relates to the Preservation of the Body and Conveniency of Life And because we discover these sort of Goods only by the Means of our Senses we make use of them in all Occurrences The Eternal Wisdom who is our true Life and the only Light which can illuminate us often shines before the Blind and speaks only to the Deaf when it speaks in the Recesses of the Soul for we are almost always out of our selves As we continually interrogate all Creatures to learn some new Good which we enquire after it is requisite as I have already said that this Wisdom presents it self before us without our going out of our selves to teach us by sensible Words and convincing Examples the way to arrive at true Felicity God continually imprints a Natural Love in us for him that we may always Love him and by this same Motion of Love we continually Estrange our selves from him by running with all the Power he has given us after Sensible Goods which he has forbid us to do So that willing to be loved by us he renders himself Sensible and presents himself before us by the Delights of his Grace to fix all our Vain Agitatitions and to begin our Cure by Sensations or Delectations like to those which had been the Original of our Disease Therefore I do not pretend that Men may by the Power of their Minds so easily discover all the Rules of Morality which are necessary to Salvation and much less that they are able to act according to what they know for their Heart is yet more Corrupted than their Minds I only say that if they admit none but evident Principles and consequently reason upon these Principles they will discover even the very Truths that we learn in the Bible because 't is the same Wisdom which immediately speaks from it self to those who discover Truths from the Evidence of Reasoning and who speaks by the Holy Scriptures to those who learn it from their Senses We must then study Morality in the Gospel to spare our selves the Trouble of Meditation and Certainly to learn those Laws according to which we ought to regulate our Manners For those who are not contented with Certainty because it only convinces the Mind without enlightning it must carefully Meditate upon these Laws and deduce them from their Natural Principles that they may evidently discover by their Reason what they already know by Faith with an entire Certainty This way they will be convinced that the Gospel is the most Solid of all Books That JESVS CHRIST perfectly knew the Disorder and Distemper of Nature That he has procured a Remedy the most Useful for us and the most Worthy of himself But that the Light of Philosophers is only thick Darkness and their brightest Vertues only an insupportable Pride and in a word that Aristotle Seneca c. are only at best but Men to say no worse of them CHAP. VII Of the Vse of the first Rule which respects Particular Questions WE have sufficiently explained the General Rule for Method which chiefly regards the Subject of our Studies and to prove that Descartes has exactly followed it in his System of the World but that Aristotle and his Followers have not observed it It is now proper to descend to particular Rules which are necessary to resolve all sorts of Questions The Questions that may be formed upon all manner of Subjects are of diverse kinds of which it will not be easie to give a
Mutual Concurrence but rather suppose that there is none and attentively consider what Body can meet and move this Loadstone We discover at first sight that 't is not the Loadstone we hold in our Hands since it does not touch that which is moved But because it is only moved at the approach of that which we hold in our Hands and is not moved of it self we ought to conclude That although it is not the Loadstone in our Hands which moves it it must be some little Bodies which proceed from it and which are past by it towards the other Loadstone To discover these little Bodies we must not open our Eyes and look near the Loadstone for the Senses would impose upon Reason and it may be we should judge that nothing proceeds from the Loadstone because we cannot see any thing go out from thence 'T is very probable we should forget that we do not see the most impetuous Winds nor many other Bodies which produce as extraordinary Effects We must keep firm to this clear and most intelligible Mean and carefully examine all the Effects of the Loadstone that we may discover how it can continually emit these little Bodies without being diminished For the Experiments that have been made shew that these little Bodies that go out on one side immediately enter in again at the other and they will serve to explain all Difficulties that can be brought against the manner of resolving this Question But it must be well observed That we ought not to abandon this Mean although even we could not answer some Difficulties proceeding from our Ignorance in several things If we have not a Mind to examine from whence it is that Loadstones are repelled when we oppose the same Poles to each other but rather the Reason why they approach and joyn to each other when we present the North Pole of the one to the South Pole of the other the Question would be more difficult and one way alone would not be sufficient to resolve it It is not enough to know exactly the Relations that are between the Poles of these two Loadstones nor to have recourse to the Means we have taken for the precedent Question for on the contrary this Method seems to hinder the Effect whose Cause we would seek Neither must we have recourse to any thing that we do not clearly know to be the natural and common Causes of Corporeal Motions nor deliver our selves from the Difficulty of the Question by a rambling and undeterminate Idea of an Occult Quality in Loadstones by which they attract each other for the Mind can conceive but one Body as having a sufficient Power to attract another The Impenetrability of Bodies makes us clearly conceive that Motion may be communicated by Impulsion and Experience proves plainly that it is communicated by this means But there is neither Reason nor Experience which clearly demonstrates the Motion of Attraction for in the Experiments which seem most proper to prove this kind of Motion we visibly perceive when we find the true and certain Cause that what appears to be done by Attraction is only perform'd by Impulsion So that we must not keep to any other Communication of Motion but that which is made by Impulsion Since this way is certain and undoubted and there is at least some Obscurity in the others which we cannot imagine But although we could demonstrate that in things purely Corporeal there are other Principles of Motion than the meeting of Bodies we could not reasonably reject this we ought even to keep to it before all others since it is the most clear and evident and appears so undoubted that we are not afraid to affirm it has been received by all People in all Ages Experience shews us that a Loadstone that swims freely upon the Water draws near to one which we hold in our Hands when we present different Poles we must then conclude that it is pushed towards it But as it is not the Loadstone we hold that pushes that which swims since that which swims draws nigh to that which we hold and nevertheless that which swims would not be moved if we did not present that to it which we hold in our Hands It is evident that at least we must recur to both Methods to explain this Questoin if we will resolve it by the received Principle of the Communication of Motion The Loadstone c draws near to the Loadstone C Therefore the Air which encompasses it pushes it since there is no other Body which can push it and that is the first way The Loadstone c approaches only at the presence of the Loadstone C therefore 't is necessary that the Loadstone C should determine the Air to push the Loadstone c and that is the second way It is evident that both these ways are absolutely necessary so that the Difficulty is now reduced to joyn them together which may be done two ways either in beginning with something known in the Air which encompasses the Loadstone c or by beginning with something known in the Loadstone C. If we would know that the parts of Air like those of all fluid bodies are in continual Agitation we cannot doubt but they still strike against the Loadstone c which they surround but because they strike it equally on all sides they do not push it more on one side that another whilst there is an equal quantity of Air on both sides Things being thus it is easie to judge that the Loadstone C prevents there being so much of this Air as we speak of towards a as towards b but that can be done only by dispersing some other bodies in the space which is between C and c. There must then some little bodies go out from the Loadstones to fill this space So these little bodies chasing away the Air near a the Loadstone c is less pushed on that side than the other and consequently must approach to the Loadstone C since all bodies move to the side where they are least pushed But if the Loadstone c had not many Pores about the Pole a fit to receive the little bodies which go out from the Pole B of the other Loadstone and too small to receive those of Air It is plain that these little bodies being more agitated than Air since they are to chase it from between the Loadstones they would push the Loadstone c and remove it from C. Thus since the Loadstone c approaches to or deviates from C when we present its different Poles it is necessary to conclude that the Poles a and b of the Loadstone c are filled with different Pores Otherwise the little bodies which are emitted from the Loadstone C would not freely pass without pushing the Loadstone c by the side a and would not be repulsed by the side b What I say of one of the Loadstones must also be understood of the other It is evident that we always learn something by this way of reasoning upon clear Idea's
and undoubted Principles For we have discovered that the Air which encompasses the Loadstone c was driven from between the Loadstones by Bodies which are continually emitted from their Poles ' which find free passage on one side and are stopt on the other And if we would discover near what the Magnitude and Figure of the Pores of this Loadstone are through which these little bodies pass we must yet make other Experiments but they would lead us to subjects which we intend not to treat of Upon these Questions we may consult the Principles of M. Descartes I shall only answer an Objection which immediately offers it self from whence is it that these little bodies cannot re-enter by the same Pores they came out that besides a certain Figure representing the Spiral Chanels of a Screw which we may suppose to be in the Pores producing this Effect the Inflexion of the little Branches which compose these Pores may in one Sense obey the little Bodies which pass a-cross them and in another Sense make them rough and stop their passage So that we need not be too much surprised at the difference of the Poles of the Loadstone for this difference may be accounted for many ways and all the difficulty is amongst several Causes to discover the true one If we had endeavoured to resolve the Question we have just now examined in beginning with the Corpuscles which we suppose to be emitted from the Loadstone C we should have found the same thing And we should likewise have discovered that the Air is composed of an infinite Number of Particles which are in continual Agitation for without it 't would be impossible that the Loadstone c should approach to the Loadstone C. I shall not stay to explain this because 't is not difficult I will give you here a Question more compound than the foregoing in which many Rules must be made use of 't is demanded what can be the Natural and Mechanical Cause of the Motion of our Members The Idea of Natural Cause is clear and distinct if we understand it as I have explained it in the precedent Question but the Term of the Motion of our Members is equivocal and confused for there are many sorts of these Motions some of the Will Natural and Convulsive ones There are likewise different Members in Mans Body So that according to the first Rule I must ask of which of these Motions it is that they would know the Cause But if the Question is left indeterminate so that I may make use of any I shall chuse I would examine the Question after this manner And first consider the Properties of these Motions and because I immediately discover that Voluntary Motions are commonly more readily performed than the Convulsive ones I conclude from thence that their Cause is different Therefore I can and ought to examine the Question by Parts for it would appear to be of too long a Discussion I would oblige my self therefore first to consider Voluntary Motion and because we have many Parts which concur to this Motion I would first consider the Arm as composed of many Muscles which have generally some Action when we lift a Weight up or when we differently move Bodies but I keep only to one supposing the rest to be formed very near after the same manner I instruct my self of its Composition by the Help of some Book of Anatomy or rather by a Sensible Sight of its Fibres and Tendons which I get some able Anatomist to dissect for me to whom I make all the Demands which shall afterwards produce in my Mind some Method for me to find what I seek Considering therefore all things attentively I cannot doubt but the Principle of the Motion of my Arm depends upon the Contraction of the Muscles which compose it And if I have not a mind to perplex my self with too many things I may suppose according to the common Opinion that this Contraction is produced by the Animal Spirits which fill these Muscles and by this means shorten them the whole Question then which respects Voluntary Motion will be reduced to know how the few Animal Spirits which are contained in an Arm can suddenly swell the Muscles according to the Orders of the Will with a sufficient Force to lift a Burden of an Hundred Weight or more When we consider this with any Application the first means that presents it self to the Imagination is commonly that of some violent and quick Fermentation like to that of Gunpowder or certain Liquors filled with Volatile Salt when they are mixed with those that are Acid or full of fixt Salt A little Gunpowder when lighted is capable of raising not only an Hundred Pound Weight but a Tower and even a Mountain Earthquakes which overthrow Towns and shake whole Provinces are also produced by Spirits which are kindled under Ground much like Gunpowder Thus supposing in the Arm such a Cause of the Fermentation and Dilatation of Spirits we may say that it is the Principle of the Power that Men have to perform such quick and violent Motions However as we ought to distrust this means which enters into the Mind only by the Senses and whereof we have no clear and evident Knowledge we must not too easily admit of it For indeed it is not sufficient to give a Reason of the Force and Quickness of our Motions by a Comparison since this Reason is confused and imperfect For we must here explain a Voluntary Motion and Fermentation is not Voluntary The Blood excessively ferments in Feavers and we cannot prevent it The Spirits are inflamed and agitated in the Brain and their Agitation diminishes not according to our Desires When a Man moves his Arm after diverse Ways according to this Explanation he must make a Million of great and small quick and slow Fermentations that begin and which is still more difficult to explain according to this Supposition that end in the same Moment he wills it These Fermentations must not dissipate all their Matter and this Matter must be always ready to take Fire When a Man walks Ten Miles how many Thousand Times must the Muscles which he uses in walking be filled and emptied And what a vast Quantity of Spirits would be required if Fermentation should dissipate and destroy them at every Step. This Reason is therefore imperfect to explain the Motions of our Bodies which entirely depend upon our Will It is evident that the present Question consists in this Mechanical Problem By Pneumatick Machines to find the means of overcoming such or such Force suppose a Hundred Weight by another as small as we will suppose the Weight of an Ounce and that the Application of this little Force shall produce its desired Effect and depend upon the Will Now this Problem is easily resolved and the Demonstration of it is clear We may resolve it by a Vessel which has two Orifices one of which is a little more than 1600. Times greater than the other
upon their External and Convex Surface by the Air which environs them whilst there was no Counterpressure in their Internal and Concave Surface So that the Action of the Horses that drew the two Hemispheres on both sides could not overcome the Efforts of an infinite Number of little Particles of the Air that resisted them by pressing these two Hemispheres together But the least Force is capable of separating them when the Air being entred again within the Sphere pushes the Concave and Internal Surfaces as much as the Air without presses the External and Convex ones But if on the contrary we take a Carps Bladder and put it in a Vessel from whence all the Air has been exhausted this Bladder being full of Air will crack and break because then there is no Air without the Bladder to resist that which is within 'T is likewise the same Reason that I have given for the first Experiment that two Planes of Glass or Marble having been used to be joyned one upon another so that in one Sense we find some resistance in the separating of them because these two parts of Marble are pressed and constring'd by the External Air which encompasses them and are not so strongly pushed by it within I might bring an infinite Number of other Experiments to prove that the gross Air which environs Bodies strongly unites their Parts but what I have said may suffice clearly to explain my Thoughts upon the present Question I say then that which so strongly unites the Parts of hard Bodies and these little Links I have before spoke on is other little external Bodies infinitely more agitated than the Air we breath in and these push and compress them and that which gives us some Trouble to separate them is not their Rest but the Agitation of these little Bodies which surround them So that what resists Motion is not Rest which is only a Privation and has no Power of it self but some contrary Motion This bare Exposition of my Opinion perhaps seems reasonable yet I well foresaw that many Persons would have some Difficulty to receive it Hard Bodies make so great an Impression upon our Senses when they strike us or when we make any Effort to break them that we are inclined to believe their Parts are united much more strictly than indeed they are And on the contrary the little Bodies which I have said encompasses them and to which I have given the Power of causing this Union makes no Impression upon our Senses seeming to be too weak to produce so Sensible an Effect But to destroy this Prejudice which is founded only upon the Impressions of our Senses and the Difficulty we have to imagine Bodies smaller and more agitated than those we see every Day we must consider that the Hardness of Bodies must not be judged of in Relation to our Hands or to the Efforts we are capable of making which vary at different Times For indeed if the greatest Force of Man is almost nothing in Comparison of that of the Subtle Matter we should be very much in the wrong to believe that Diamonds and the hardest Stones might not have for the Cause of their Hardness the Compression of little rapid Bodies which encompass them Now we may plainly discover that the Force of Man is very small if we consider that the Power he has of moving his Body into many different Ways proceeds only from a little Fermentation of his Blood which by agitating some few little Parts so produces the Animal Spirits For 't is the Agitation of these Spirits which gives Force to our Bodies and gives it a Power to make these Efforts that we unreasonably look upon as something very great and powerful But it must be well observed that this Fermentation of our Blood is only a very little Communication of the Motion of this subtle Matter we speak of for all the Fermentations of Visible Bodies are only Communications of the Motion of Invisible Bodies since every Body receives its Agitation from some other We must not therefore wonder if our Power is not so great as that of this Subtle Matter which we receive it from But if our Blood fermented as much in our Hearts as Gunpowder does when we put Fire to it that is if our Blood received as great a Communication of the Motion of this Subtle Matter as that of Gunpowder receives We might do extraordinary things very easily as break Iron throw down a House c. provided we suppose there was an agreeable Proportion between our Members and the Blood thus agitated We ought then to destroy our Prejudices and not to imagine according to the Impression of our Senses that the Parts of hard Bodies are so strongly united together because we have so much Trouble to break them But if we should consider the Effects of Fire in Mines in heavy Bodies and in many other Effects of Nature which have no other Cause than the Agitation of these Invisible Bodies as Descartes has proved in many Places we should manifestly discover that 't is not above their Power to unite and compress togeâ—her the Parts of hard Bodies as strongly as we see they are united For in fine I am not afraid to affirm that a Cannon-Bullet whose Motion appears so extraordinary does not even receive the Thousandth Part of the Motin of the Subtle Matter that is about it We should not doubt of what I advance if we first considered that Gunpowder is not all enkindled in the same Instant Secondly that although it should all take Fire at the same Instant it swims but a very little while in the Subtle Matter and Bodies which swim but a little while in others cannot receive much Motion from them as we may see in Boats that we abandon to the Course of the Water which receive their Motion but by little and little In the third Place and chiefly because each Particle of Powder can receive only the Motion which the Subtle Matter impresses for the Water communicates to the Vessel only the direct Motion which is common to all the Parts thereof which is generally very small in Relation to other Motions I could further show the Greatness of the Motion of the Subtle Matter to those that receive Descartes's Principles by the Motion of the Earth and Gravity of Bodie and could even from thence bring Proofs that are certain and exact enough but it is not necessary to my Subiect It 's enough without having read the Works of Descartes or having a sufficient Proof of the Agitation of this Subtle Matter which I ascribe as the Cause of the Inflexibility of Bodies to read with some Application what I have said of it in the 2d Chap. of the 4th Book Being then now delivered from the Prejudices which incline us to believe that our Efforts were very powerful and that that of the Subtle Matter which environs and compresses hard Bodies is very weak and being otherwise perswaded of the violent
distinction between Acting and Thinking they commonly are displeas'd that any body should oppose Prejudices They fancy that it is not sufficient to observe the Rules of Civil Society to conform outwardly to the Opinions and Customs of the Country they live in They think it a prece of Temerity to examine Common Opinions and that to consult Truth is a breach of Charity because it is not so much Truth which unites Civil Societies as Opinion and Custom Aristotle is receiv'd in Universities as the Rule of Truth he is Quoted as Infallible It is a Philosophical Heresie to deny what he advances In a word he is respected as the Genius of Natures and those who are best vers'd in his Physicks can give no reason for any thing and perhaps are convinc'd of nothing and Scholars that have read their course of Philosophy dare hardly say before Men of Sense what they have learnt of their Masters That perhaps may make those who reflect upon it sensible of what we are to think of those sorts of Studies for a Science which we must forget to become reasonable does not seem very solid Nevertheless those would be look'd upon as inconsiderate and rash who should attempt to discover the falsity of the Reasons which Authorise so extraordinary a Conduct and they should not fail of being troubled by those who receive advantage by them if they were so happy as to undeceive the Public Is is not evident that the way to learn what we do not know is to use what we do know And that it would be a Jest to give a Frenchman a German Grammar in Verse to teach High Dutch Yet it is customary to give Children the Latin Verses of Despauterius to teach them Latin obscure Verses in all respects to Children who have much ado to apprehend the easiest things Reason and Experience are visible against that Custom for Children are a long while a learning Latin ill Nevertheless 't is Impudence to find fault with it should a Chinese hear this Custom he could not forbear laughing at it whilst on this part of the World we Inhabit the Wisest and the most Learned cannot forbear approving it If such false and such absurd Prejudices and Customs that are so unreasonable and of such great consequence have a World of Protectors how is it to be expected that People should submit to Reasons which engage Prejudices that are purely Speculative A little attention is sufficient to discover that the Method which is used to teach Children is none of the best and yet it is not minded Opinion and Custom prevail over Reason and Experience How then could any body expect that Works which overthrow a great number of Prejudices should not be condemn'd in many things even by those who pass for the most Learned and for the Wisest It is observable that those who pass in the World fox the best Judges and the best Scholars are those who have study'd most Books both good and bad they are those who have the Memories and whose Imagination is more lively and more extended than others Now those Men commonly Judge of things rashly and without deliberation They consult their Memory in which they find immediately the Law or the Prejudice according to which they decide without much Reflection As they think themselves Wiser than others they give but little heed to what they read Therefore it happens often that Women and Children discover the falsity of certain Prejudices which have been controverted because they dare not pass their Judgments upon them without Examination but use all the attention they are capable of in what they read whereas on the contrary the Learned persist in their Opinions because they will not give themselves the trouble to examine those of others when they are directly opposite to what they think already As for those that live with great Men they depend on so many things that they cannot easily retire into themselves nor afford a sufficient attention to distinguish what is true from what is likely Nevertheless they are not much wedded to certain Prejudices for the best way to hold strongly with the World is neither to be wedded to Truth nor Probability As apparent humility or good breeding and external moderation are qualifications that please every body and which are absolutely necessary to maintain Society among those who have a great deal of Pride and Ambition the Men of the World affect not to affirm any thing or to believe any thing as undeniable It ever was and ever will be the fashion to look upon all things as Problematical and to speak at random even of the most holy Truths lest they shou'd seem wedded to any thing For as those I am speaking of apply themselves to nothing and mind nothing but their Fortune no disposition can seem so convenient and so reasonable to them as that which custom justifies Therefore those who attack Prejudices flattering on the one hand the Pride and Laziness of the Men of the World they are well receiv'd by them but when they pretend to affirm any thing as undeniable and to discover the Truth of Religion and of Christian Morality they look upon them as conceited Men and as Persons who to avoid one precipice leap into another What I have said in my Opinion is sufficient to show what I could answer to the different Judgments divers persons have given against the Book Intituled A Search after Truth and I will forbear making an application which every one may make usefully and easily I am sensible that every body will not do it but it would look perhaps as if I would do my self Justice in defending my self as much as I could therefore I abandon my Right to the Judicious Readers who are the Natural Judges of Books And I conjure them to remember my Request in the Preface to the Search after Truth and elsewhere Only to Judge of my Sentiments according to the clear and distinct Answers they shall receive from the only Master of all Mankind after having made their application to him by a serious attention For if they consult their Prejudices as the decisive Laws of what they are to believe of the Book Intituled A Search after Truth I own that it is a very ill Book since it is written oh purpose to discover the Falsity and Injustice of those Laws Advertisement BEcause the following Explanations were writ to satisfy some particular Persons who desired a more special Explication of some Material Truths I think fit to premise that what I shall say may be clearly understood it will be necessary for every one to have some knowledge of the Principles I 've explain'd in the Search after Truth Therefore 't will be best not to meddle with these Observations till we 've first carefully read the whole Work for which they were written and at the second reading only examine them as they are referr'd to in the Margent Yet is not this Caution absolutely necessary to
Pulpits They have Reasons for it which I do not pretend to Examine What I have said of that Author to me seems evident Let every Man make his Inferences according to his own knowledge without imputing Thoughts to me which I never had Those who pretend to dive into the Designs of others often form Phantasms which are only like themselves For it is usual for us to diffuse as it were the Malignity of our Passions upon others We judge of all Things by our selves And those who do condemn me perhaps judge themselves though they reflect not upon it But if the World would have me to declare my Opinion about Tertullian's Quotations I own that Men are in the right to make use of them for several Reasons and also that they are sometimes very useful to make some Practical Truths the more sensible which are barren and unfruitful so long as they are in the secret Recesses of our Reason and excite in us no Motions contrary to those which the goods of the Body do However I do not think there is any thing unreasonable in their Opinion who maintain That we ought never to quote Authors by Name but when they are infallible and that unless it be in such things in which Reason has no share or in which Authority must take place we should never quote any Body This was formerly the Custom of the Fathers St. Cyprian never quoted Tertullian though he has taken many things from him And if we may credit what St. Jerome relates of that Holy Bishop by report that speaking of Tertullian he called him his Master certainly the Name of Tertullian had no great Authority nor his Expressions the power they have at present over Mens Minds or else St. Cyprian followed the Custom of his Time with a very surprizing Rigor For it is very strange that such a Disciple should never have mentioned his Master in any of his Works This Story of St. Jerome is commonly made use of to defend Tertullian And I have been told sometimes that I was to blame to speak as I did of no Man whom St. Cyprian called his Master But I do know not whether St. Jerome was not too credulous in believing a thing which made for the honour of Tertullian He seems to have had a little too much inclination for him since he has in some measure excused his Fall by imputing his Heresie to the Envy of the Romish Clergy and to the ill Treatments he had received from them But if this Story be true which is only grounded upon what St. Jerome has heard one Person say Invidiâ postea contumeliis Clericorum Romanae Ecclesiae ad Montani dogma delapsus in multis libris novae prophetiae meminit Hieron in Catalogo de Script Eccl. I own that I cannot apprehend the meaning of St. Cyprian's Silence in his Writings in relation to Tertullian This Silence of the Disciple seems to conceal some Mystery which is not to the advantage of the Master And if History as well as Tertullian's own Works did not sufficiently discover that he is not altogether worthy of the great Esteem many Men have for him I question whether St. Cyprian's Behaviour his Silence his Stile and his Expressions would not be sufficient to lessen it and perswade us that this said Authors Reputation was not very great even in Africk it self which ought to have been more favourable to him than so Temperate a Country as ours is France and Africk produce very different Minds The Genius of the French being Natural Reasonable and an Enemy to all forc'd Expressions I wonder how there are Persons among them who are passionately affected with an Author that neither studied nor follows Nature and who instead of consulting Reason suffers himself often to be so much sway'd by his Passion as to use Expressions that are altogether Obscure Monstrous and Extravagant But perhaps it is because Imagination has so much Force that it weakens Reason and even changes Nature Indeed a Passionate Man disturbs us and for the most part changes the natural Order of our Imagination to conform it to his And then all Motions seem natural all manner of Expressions are agreeable all sort of Bombast convinces for Men examine nothing seriously And whereas the Passions justifie themselves and depraved Imaginations delight only in their irregularities we can never judge soundly of things as long as the Brain preserves the violent Impression it has received All Passionate Men are continually sollicited to justifie the Passion which Animates them There is no Distracted Man but is pleased with his Distraction For if those who fancy themselves to be Cocks Wolves Oxen c. are extreamly delighted with the Actions of those Animals though they are absolutely contrary to the Nature of Men it may very well be concluded that we are far from condemning the behaviour of those who by the contagion of their Imagination have in some measure made us like themselves for in condemning them we feel that we condemn our selves There is a very particular Reason which makes some Learned Men proud of appearing Tertullians Proselytes and obliges them to express a particular respect for that Author It is the obscurity which he affects as one of the principal Rules of Rhetorick Now adays all Expressions that are sensless and all obscure and perplex'd wayes of speaking go under the name of non-sense but there have been Men who looked upon obscurity as one of the greatest secrets of Eloquence among them the Art of Perswading did in some measure consist in making themselves unintelligible Had those who speak in publick alwayes clear and distinct Ideas of the Truths they pretend to perswade and did they only speak to Persons capable of a sufficient attention to apprehend them the Precept of affecting obscurity in Discourse would be extravagant in all respects But though this Precept is absolutely contrary to Reason we may say it is pretty well proportioned to the Genius of most Men not only because it cloaks the Ignorance of those who speak but also because misterious obscurity excites in many such Sentiments as dispose them to submit and to suffer themselves to be convinced Experience sufficiently shows that most Men esteem what they do not apprehend that they revere as Mysteries whatever surpasses them and that they admire an Orator who dazzles them with lofty Expressions and with a Language of Imagination in which Reason has no share The Inclination Men have for Greatness is stronger than that they have for Truth Therefore Pompous Nonsense which perswades by Imagination is better received than pure Reasonings which can only perswade by Evidence Evidence prevails only by Reflections which alwayes costs some Trouble but sensible Conviction pours it self into the Soul and penetrates it after a pleasing manner The good which alone is capable to satisfie us is at once infinite and inaccessible and great and obscure Expressions bear the character of it So that obscurity exciting our
greater when it is near the Horizon than when it is at a great distance from it Therefore it is not that intelligible Sun we see it is the same with other Creatures Therefore we see not the Works of God in God ANSWER To Answer all this it 's enough to consider only That God includes in himself an infinity intelligible Extension for God knows Extension since he has made it and he can only know it in himself Therefore as the Mind can perceive part of that intelligible Extension which God includes 't is certain it may perceive all Figures in God for all finite intelligible Extension is necessarily an intelligible Figure since Figure is only the Expression of Extension Moreover this Figure of intelligible and general Extension becomes sensible and particular by Colour or some other sensible Quality which the Soul fixes to it for the Soul commonly bestows its Sensation upon the Idea which strikes it lively Therefore it is not necessary there should be sensible Bodies in God or Figures in intelligible Extensions to see them in God or to make God see them though he only beholds himself If we conceive also that a Figure of intelligible Extension made sensible by Colour is taken successively from the different parts of this infinite Extension Or if we conceive that a Figure of intelligible Extension may turn upon its Center or successively approach to another we perceive the Motion of a sensible or intelligible Figure without any Motion in intelligible Extension For God sees not the Motion of Bodies in his Substance or in the Idea he has of it himself but only by the knowledge he has of his Will in relation to them Moreover He only sees their Existence that way because it is his Will only which gives a Being to all things The Will of God changes nothing in his Substance It moves it not Intelligible Extension is immoveable in all respects even intelligibly But though we only see this intelligible Extension it seems moveable to us by reason of the sensation of Colour or of the confused image which remains after the sensation which we affix successively to diverse parts of intelligible Extension which gives us an Idea when we see or imagine the Motion of some Bodies One may easily apprehend by what I have now said why we may see the Sun sometimes larger and sometimes smaller though it be always the same in relation to God For to do this we need only see sometimes a greater part of intelligible Extension and sometimes a lesser and have a more lively sensation of Light to affix to that part of Extension Now as the parts of intelligible Extension are all of the same nature they may all represent any Body whatever You must not imagine that the intelligible World has such an Affinity with the material and sensible one as that for instance there should be an intelligible Sun a Horse a Tree destin'd to represent to us a Sun a Horse a Tree And that all those who see the Sun do of necessity see this pretended intelligible Sun As all intelligible Extensions may be conceived circular or have the intelligible Figure of a Horse or a Tree any intelligible Extension may serve to represent a Sun a Horse a Tree and consequently be a Sun a Horse a Tree of the intelligible World and even become a visible and sensible Sun Horse or Tree if the Soul have any sensation occasioned by Bodies to affix to these Ideas Therefore when I said That we see different Bodies by the knowledge we have of the Perfections of God which represent them I did not mean directly that there are certain particular Ideas in God which represent every Body in particular and that we see such an Idea when we see such a Body For it is certain we could not see that Body sometimes large and sometimes small sometimes round and sometimes square if we saw it by a particular Idea which would be always the same But I say that we see all things in God by the application that God makes of intelligible Extent to our Mind after a thousand different ways and thus intelligible Extension contains in it self all Perfections or rather all the Differences of Bodies by means of the different Sensations which the Soul bestows on the Ideas it has upon the account of those very Bodies I have spoken after another manner But the World may conclude that it was only to make some of my Proofs the stronger and more sensible and we must not judge by what I have said now that those Proofs are no longer valid I would here give the Reasons of the different wayes I have used to explain my self if I thought it necessary I dare not ingage my self to inlarge further upon this Subject for fear of saying things that are too abstruse or extraordinary Or rather because I would not venture to say things which I do not know and which I am not capable of discovering there are only some Passages of Scripture which seem to be contrary to what I have established here which I shall endeavour to explain OBJECTION St. John in his Gospel and in the first of his Epistles sayes That no Body has ever seen God Ch. 1.18 Ch. 4.12 DEVM nemo vidit unquam unigenitus qui est in sinu patris ipse enarravit ANSWER I Answer We do not properly see God in seeing Creatures in him We do not see his Essence in seeing the Essences of Creatures in his substance As we see not Glass in barely seeing in it the Objects it represents Not but that we may say with St. Paul St. Augustine To the Corinth chap. 13. St. Gregory and several other Fathers of the Church that we see God even in this Life though after a very imperfect manner These are St. Gregories Words in his Morals upon Job B. 31. chap. 20. A luce incorruptibili caligo nos nostrae Corruptionis obscurat cumque videri aliquatenus potest tamen videri Lux ipsa sicuti est non potest quam longe sit indicat Quam si mens non cerneret * Nec quia longe esset videret Si autem perfectè jam cerneret profecto hanc quasiper caliginem non videret Igitur quia nec omnino cernitur nec rursum omnino non cernitur rectè dictum est quia à longe Deus videtur Though St. Gregory to explain this Passage of Job Oculi ejus a longe prospiciunt sayes That in this Life we only see God at a distance it is not because God is not present But it is because the Clouds of our Concupiscence hide him from us Caligo nos nostrae corruptionis obscurat for in other Places he with St. Augustine compares the Light of God which is God himself to the Light of the Sun which surrounds us and which we see not when we are blind or shut our Eyes because its Brightness dazzles us In sole Oculos clausos tenemus St.
and each number with any other so we may compare a Square with a Triangle a Circle with an Ellipsis a Square and a Triangle with any other Square and Triangle and by this means clearly discover the relations which these Figures and Numbers have to one another But we cannot compare our Mind with other Beings to discover clearly any relation of them nor can we so much as compare its modifications together We can never clearly discover the relations between Pleasure and Pain Heat and Colour or to speak only of the modifications of the same kind we cannot exactly determine the relations between Green and Red Yellow and Purple nor even between Purple and Purple We see plainly that one is darker or brighter than the other yet do we not evidently know either how much or what it is to be darker or brighter We have therefore no clear Idea of the Soul or its modifications and although I see or feel Colours Tasts Odours I may say as I have before that I know them not by a clear Idea since I cannot clearly discover their relations 'T is true I can discover the exact relation between Sounds as for instance that the Octave is double a fifth as 3 to 2 a fourth as 4 to 3. but I cannot know these proportions by the sensations I have of ' em If I know the Octave is double 't is because I have learnt by experience that the same string sounds an Octave when having struck it whole we strike it again after having divided it into two equal parts or that I know the number of vibrations is double in equal times or something of the like nature and this because the tremblings of the air the vibration of the string and even the string it self are such things as we may compare by clear Ideas and that we distinctly know the relations between the string and its parts as also between the swiftness of different vibrations But we cannot compare Sounds amongst themselves or as they are sensible Qualities and Modifications of the Soul nor this way are their proportions or relations to be discovered And although Musicians very well distinguish the different concords 't is not because they distinguish the proportions of them by clear Ideas They judge of different Sounds only by the Ear Reason has nothing to do in it But we cannot say that the Ear judges by a clear Idea or otherwise than by sensation Musicians therefore have no clear Idea of Sounds as they are Sensations and Modifications of the Soul and consequently we conceive neither the Soul nor its Modifications by a clear Idea but only by Conscience or inward Sensation Nay what is more we do not so much as know wherein consist those Dispositions of the Soul which make it more ready to act and represent Objects to it self we cannot so much as discover in what these Dispositions can consist Nor can we by Reason possitively affirm whether the Soul alone separated from the Body or considered without relation to the Body is capable of Habits and Memory But how could we be ignorant of these things if the Nature of the Soul were better known to us than that of the Body Without any difficulty we perceive wherein consists the facility that the Animal Spirits have to flow into the Nerves they have been many times in or at least we easily discover that whilst the Conduits of the Nerves are enlarged and their Fibres recumbent after a certain manner the Spirits can easily insinuate themselves But what can we conceive to be capable of encreasing the facility the Soul has to act or think For my part I confess I am wholly ignorant of it nor can I instruct my self in it although I have a very lively sensation of the facility whereby it excites certain thoughts in me And if I had no particular Reasons which inclined me to believe that I really have such Dispositions although I know them not in me I should conclude that there was neither Habit nor Spiritual Memory in my Soul But in fine since we have any doubt about it it is a certain mark we are not so well acquainted with it as is pretended for Doubts can never attend Evidence and clear Ideas It is certain that the most understanding Man does not evidently know Eccl. 9.1 whether he deserves Love or Hatred as the Wise-man speaks Sed neque meipsum judico Nihil enim mihi conscius sum sed non in hoc justificatus sum qui autem judicat me Dominus est 1 Cor. 4.4 John 13.37 The inward sensation we have of our selves can give us no assurance of it St. Paul says indeed his Conscience reproached him with nothing yet for all that he does not say he is justified On the contrary he affirms that justifies him not and that he durst not judge himself because he who judges is the Lord. But as we have a clear Idea of Order if we had as clear a one of the Soul by the inward sensation we have of our selves we should evidently know if it were conformable to order we should discover whether we were righteous or not and even exactly discern all its inward dispositions to good or evil whenever we had any sensation of them And if we could know our selves as we are we should not be so subject to presumption 'T is also very probable that then St. Peter would not have said to his Master whom he so soon after denied Why can I not follow thee now I will lay down my life for thy sake Animam meam pro te ponam For having an inward sensation of his Power and Good Will he would have been able evidently to have seen whether he had had a sufficient Strength and Courage in himself to have overcome death or rather the insults of a silly Maid and two or three other Servants If the Nature of the Soul is more known than that of any thing else and the Idea we have of it as clear as that we have of the Body I only demand what is the reason that so many Men confound them together Is it possible to confound two clear Ideas which are entirely different Let us do Justice to all the World Those who are not of our Opinion are as rational as we they have the same Idea of things and partake of the same Reason Why therefore do they confound what we distinguish Do they ever on other occasions confound such Things as they have clear Ideas of Have they ever confounded two different Numbers Or ever taken a Square for a Circle And yet the Soul differs more from the Body than a Square does from a Circle for they are two Substances which agree in nothings and still they confound them The reason must be then because there is some difficulty in discovering their difference and which cannot be done by a simple view but some Arguments must be used to prove that the one is not the other Wherefore the
to prepare other sorts of Diet than Nature supplies indeed I confess it necessary that Men should make use of the same Reason to moderate their Eating And if Cooks have found out the art of making us eat old Shooes in a Ragoo we ought to use our Reason and distrust these adulterated Meats which are not such as God made them for he gave us our Senses only in relation to the Order of Natural Things We must also observe that our Imagination and Senses are mistrustful when we take unusual Food For if a Man had never eaten nor seen any one eat of a certain Fruit which he had met with he would at first have some aversion and sense of fear in tasting it his Imagination and Senses would naturally be very attentive to the relish he tasted Though never so hungry he would eat but little the first time and if this Fruit had any dangerous quality it would not fail to excite some surprize in him Thus his Machine is disposed after such a manner that he would decline it another time and the aversion which he had for it sensibly discovering it self in his looks would deter others from eating it All this would or might be performed in him without the assistance of his Reason for I speak not here of those supplies which Reason and Instruction may afford But seeing our Friends take bad Nourishments we do the same for we live by Opinion and Example emboldens us We examine not the effect these Nourishments produce in us and we are not afraid to eat to excess Thus our Senses do not so much share in the Intemperance as is believed It is true there are possibly such Fruits whose relish may impose upon us though we are never so attentive to the admonition of our Senses but this is certainly very rare and we must not conclude from particular Instances that our Senses are corrupt and commonly deceive us in reference to the good of the Body perhaps they deceive because we have altered our Organ by Unnatural Nourishment 'T is certain that high-seasoned Dishes which we feed on do by their too penetrating Particles hurt the Fibres of our Tongue and vitiate its delicateness and discernment The Example of such as relish only Ragoos is a proof of this for if we find no savour in Corn and Raw Flesh it is because our Tongue is become insensible of their parts their motions being moderate But though we suppose there are Fruits whose taste is capable of beguiling the most delicate Senses and which are yet in their Natural Perfection we must not believe that this is the effect of Sin but because 't is impossible that the Sensation of Taste which is formed and perfected according to the most simple Laws of Nature should have sufficient discernment for all sorts of Meats Besides the defect of this Sense would not be remediless because when Mothers have an aversion for dangerous Fruits they communicate it to their Children not only in the Womb but much more when born into the World for Children only eat what is given them by their Mothers who Machinally and by the Air of their Countenance impress upon them that horrour which they themselves have for Fruits that are dangerous to be eaten So that God has sufficiently provided by our Senses for the preservation of Life and nothing can be better ordered For as Order requires that the Laws of the Union of our Soul and Body should be very simple they must be very general and God ought not to establish particular Laws for cases that happen very seldom Reason on such occasions must assist the Senses for Reason is useful in all things But the Senses are determined by some Natural Judgments which are more useful than can be conceived as I have proved in the First Book yet even these Judgments are sometimes Erroneous for 't is impossible it should be otherwise without multiplying the most simple Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body If we consider Man as he is now in a State of Infirmity we must grant that his Senses often deceive him even in things that relate to the Preservation of Life for the Oeconomy of his Machine being troubled it is impossible but in proportion to that trouble there should be many irregular Motions excited in his Brain however his Senses are not so corrupted as is ordinarily believed and God has so wisely provided for the Preservation of Life by the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body which although they are very simple are often sufficient to restore our Health that it is a much surer way to follow them than to use our Reason or such Physicians who do not carefully study the Disposition of their Patients for even as a Wound closes up and heals of it self when constantly cleansed and licked as is seen in wounded Animals so common Distempers are soon dispersed when we let them alone and precisely observe such a state of Life as these Diseases by a kind of Instinct and Sensation dictate to us A Man for Example who has a Feaver finds that Wine is bitter and offensive to him in that condition yet this same person finds it agreeable and good when in Health It even often happens that Wine is very good for the Sick when they relish it provided this relish is not an effect of some previous Habit of Drinking but that their desire of it proceed from the present Disposition of their Body So that we cannot doubt but that we ought to consult our Senses in Sickness what way we should take for the recovery of our Health And this is what I believe we ought to do The Distempered should be extreamly attentive to certain secret Desires which the actual Disposition of their Body does sometimes excite in them but above all to take heed lest these Desires should proceed from some preceding Habit they must let loose their Imagination and think on nothing that may determine it observe their present Inclination and examine whether it is the effect of their Disposition This done they ought to follow it but with much Caution for 't is extreamly difficult to be assured whether these secret Inclinations proceed from the Disposition of their Body and it is sometimes useful to consult some Experienced Person upon it But if the Sick letting loose his Imagination as I have said find nothing presented to his Mind he must rest and keep to a sick Diet for this will probably excite in him some Desire or dissipate the Humours that cause the Sickness For if the Distemper is increased notwithstanding such a strict Diet and Rest that it 's necessary to have recourse to Experience and Physicians he must then exactly tell every thing to some skilful Physician who if possible knows his Constitution he must explain clearly to him the beginning and progress of the Distemper and the condition he was in before he fell sick thereby to consult the Experience and Reason of
are in themselves or the Body which speaks only out of interest and in relation either to the preservation or conveniency of Life For in fine What Prejudices will not be justified if we take the Senses for Judges to whom almost all Prejudices owe their birth As I have already shewn in the Search after Truth When I see one Bowle hit another my Eyes tell me or seem to tell me that it is truly the Cause of the Motion it impresses For the true Cause which moves Bodies does not appear to my Eyes Bur when I ask my Reason I see evidently that Bodies cannot move themselves and their Moving power depending only upon the Will of God which successively preserves them in different places they cannot communicate a power which they have not nor could communicate if they had it For 't is plain there is a Wisdom requisite and one that is infinite too to regulate the Communication of Motions with the exactness proportion and uniformity that we see A Body moved cannot know the infinite number of Bodies it meets at every moment It is farther clear That although we should even suppose knowledge in it it could not have enough to regulate in the instant of the Shock the distribution of the Moving power it self is carried with If I open but my Eyes it appears plain to me that the Sun is very gloriously bright and seems not only to be visible it self but makes all the World so too 'T is that which covers the Earth with Flowers and Fruits which gives Life to Animals and which by its Heat penetrates into the very Bowels of the Earth and produces Stones Marbles and Metals there But when I consult Reason I see nothing of all this and if I consult it faithfully I clearly discover that my Senses seduce me and that it is God who performs all in all Things For knowing that whatever changes happen in the Body they have no other principle but the different communication of Motion which occur in visible or invisible Bodies I see that it is God who does all Things since it is his Will which Causes and his Wisdom which Regulates all these Communications I suppose that Local Motion is the principle of Generations Corruptions Alterations and generally of all the Changes which happen in the Body which is an Opinion that is now sufficiently received amongst the Learned But whatever Opinion they have about it signifies little for it seems much more easie to conceive that a Body drives another when it meets it than to apprehend how Fire produces Heat and Light and draw from the power of Matter a Substance which was not there before And if it be necessary to acknowledge That God is the True Cause of the different Communications of Motions by a much stronger Reason we ought to conclude That none but he can Create and Annihilate Real Qualities and Substantial Forms I say Create and Annihilate because at least it seems as difficult to me to draw from Matter a Substance which was not in it or to cause it to re-enter again as to Create or Annihilate it But I shall not stand upon Terms I only make use of them because there is no other which I know of that clearly and without Equivocation express the Changes which the Philosophers suppose every Moment to happen through the power of Second Causes I had some difficulty here to relate the other Proofs which they commonly give for the Power and Efficacy of Natural Causes for they appear so weak to those who are able to resist Prejudices and prefer their Reason to their Senses that it does not seem likely that reasonable Men should be perswaded by them Yet I will produce and Answer them since there are many Philosophers who make use of them The first Proof If Second Causes do effect nothing we could not says Suarez In his Metaph. Disp 18. Sect. 1. Assert 1. In Metaph. Arist qu. 7. Sect. 2. Fonseca and some others distinguish Animate from Inanimate Things for neither of them would have an inward principle of their Actions ANSWER I Answer That Men would have the same Sensible Proofs that have convinced them of the distinction they put between Animate and Inanimate Things They would alwayes see Animals perform Certain Actions as Eating Growing Crying Running Leaping c. Nor would they observe any thing like this in Stones And it is this only which makes the common Philosophers believe that Beasts live and Stones do not for it must not be imagined that they know by a clear and distinct View of the Mind what the Life of a Dog is It is their Senses which regulate their Decisions upon this Question If it were necessary I could here prove That the Principal of a Dog's Life differs very little if at all from that of the Motion of a Watch. For the Life of Bodies whatever they be can only consist in the motion of their parts and it is not difficult to judge that the same Subtil Matter which in a Dog causes the Fermentation of the Blood and Animal Spirits and is the principle of his Life is not more perfect than that which gives Motion to the Springs of a Watch or causes Gravitation in the Weights of a Clock which is the principle of their Life or to speak as others do of their Motion The Peripatetics ought to give to those whom they stile Cartesians a clear Idea of what they call The Life of Beasts Corporeal Soul Body which perceives desires sees feels wills and afterwards we will clearly resolve their difficulties if they continue to propose them The Second Proof We could not discover the Differences nor Powers of the Elements So that Fire might cool as Water does and the Nature of nothing would be settled and fixed ANSWER I Answer That Nature continuing as it is that is whilst the Laws of the communication of Motions remain constantly the same it is a contradiction that Fire should not burn or not separate the parts of certain Bodies Fire cannot cool like Water except it becomes Water For Fire being only fewel whose parts have been agitated with a violent Motion by an invisible Matter which incompasses them as is easie to be demonstrated it is impossible these parts should not communicate some of their Motion to the Bodies which they meet Now as these Laws are constant the Nature of Fire its vertues and qualities cannot change But this Nature and these Vertues are only consequences of the general and efficacious Will of God who does all in all things as we learn from the Scripture So that the study of Nature is false and vain in every respect when we seek for any other true Causes than the Will of the ALMIGHTY I own we must not have recourse to God or the Universal Cause when we inquire into the reason of particular Effects For we should make our selves ridiculous if for instance we said that 't was God who dryes the wayes or
freezes the Water in Rivers We must say that the Air dryes the Earth because it agitates and sucks up the Water which is tempered with it And that the Air or subtle Matter freezes Rivers in Winter because it does not then communicate motion enough to the parts of which the Water is composed In a word we must if we can give the Natural and Particular Cause of the Effects produced But as the action of these Causes consist only in the Moving Power which acts them and that this Moving Power is nothing else but the Will of God who creates them or successively preserves them in different places we must not say that they have in themselves a Strength or Power to produce any Effects And when in Reasoning we are at last come to a general Effect whose Cause we seek 't would be a very ill way of Philosophizing to imagine any other besides the general one And to feign a Certain Nature a First Moveable an Vniversal Soul or some such like Chimera of which we have no clear and distinct Idea would be to argue like the Heathen Philosophers For instance When we are ask't whence it comes that some Bodies are in Motion or how the Air when agitated communicates its Motion to the Water or rather from whence it proceeds that Bodies impell one another As Motion and its communication is a general Effect whereupon all others depend it is necessary I dont say to be a good Christian but to be a Philosopher to recur to God who is the Universal Cause since 't is his Will which is the Moving Power of Bodies and which also regulates the communication of their Motions If he had Will'd there should be no new production in the World he would not have put the parts of it in Motion And if he should hereafter Will the incorruptibility of any of the Beings he has Created he would cease to Will certain communications of Motions in respect to these Beings The Third Proof All Labour would be useless 't would be un necessary to water and to give certain preparatory dispositions to Bodies to fit them for what we desire of them For God has no need of preparing the subjects upon which he acts ANSWER Suarez in the same place To which I Reply That God can absolutely do what he pleases without finding any dispositions in the subjects he works upon But he cannot do it without a Miracle or by Natural wayes that is according to the general Laws of the communication of the Motions he has established and according to which he generally acts God never multiplies his Wills without Reason but alwayes acts by the most simple wayes and therefore he makes use of the meeting of Bodies in giving them Motion not as their shock is absolutely necessary to move them as our Senses tell us but because that being the occasion of the communication of Motion there needs only a few Natural Laws to produce all the admirable Effects that we see For by this means we can reduce all the Laws of the communication of Motion to one only which is That Bodies which shock each other being look'd upon but as one in the moment of their contact or shock the Moving Power is at their separation divided between them according to the proportion of their magnitude But as concuring Bodies are incompassed with an infinite number of other Bodies which act upon them by vertue and efficacy of this Law how constant and uniform soever it may be it produces an infinite number of different communications because it acts upon infinite Bodies which all relate to one another See the last Chap. of the Search after Truth It is necessary to water a Plant to make it grow because according to the Laws of the communication of Motions there is scarce any other but watery Particles which by their Motion and Figure can insinuate themselves and enter the Fibres of the Plants and by various uniting themselves together take the Figure necessary for their Nourishment The subtle matter which the Sun continually diffuses may by agitating the Water draw it up into the Plants but it has not Motion enough to raise gross Particles of Earth However the Earth and even the Air are necessary to the growth of Plants The Earth to preserve the Water at their Root and the Air to excite a moderate fermentation in the same Water But the action of the Sun Air and Water consist only in the Motion of their parts and to speak properly none but God can act For as I have just said there is only he who by the efficacy of his Will and infinite extent of his Knowledge can produce and regulate the infinite communications or Motions which are made every moment and according to an infinite exact and regular proportion The Fourth Proof Can God oppose or resist himself Bodies meet shock and resist one another therefore God acts not in them except by his concurrence For if he only produced and preserved Motion in Bodies he would divert them before their meeting since he knows very well that they are impenetrable Why should Bodies be impelled to be thrown back again or made to advance that they may recoil Or wherefore are useless Motions produced and preserved Is it not extravagant to say that God fights against himself and destroys his own works when a Bull opposes a Lion or a Wolf devours a Sheep and a Sheep eats the Grass which he gave growth to Therefore there are Second Causes ANSWER Then Second Causes do every thing and God does nothing at all For God cannot act against himself and to concur is to act Concurring to contrary actions is giving contrary concourses and consequently a performing contrary actions To concur with the action of the Creatures which resist one another is to act against himself and to concur to useless Motions is to act unusefully Now God does nothing in vain he performs no actions contrary to one another Therefore he concurs not in the action of the Creatures who often destroy one another and make useless actions and motions Hither 't is that this Proof of Second Causes conducts us but let us examine what Reason teaches us about it God does all in every thing and nothing resists him He performs all things since 't is by his Wills that all Motions are produced and regulated and nothing resists him because whatever he wills is effected And thus it ought to be conceived He having resolved to produce by the most simple wayes as the most conformable to order this infinite variety of Creatures that we admire he determined Bodies to move in a right line because this line is the most simple But Bodies being impenetrable and their Motions inclining to opposite lines or such as intersect they must necessarily meet one another and consequently cease to move in the same manner God foresaw this and nevertheless positively willed the meeting or opposition of Bodies not because he was pleased
of Being or Manner of Being For Instance When we say Bodies tend to their Center they descend by their Gravity and ascend by their Levity that they move naturally and successively change their Forms that they act by their Vertues Qualities Faculties c. Such Terms signifie nothing and all these Propositions are absolutely false in the sense that most Philosophers take them There is no Center in the Sense commonly meant Gravity Form Nature c. stir up no Idea either of Being or Manner of Being they are loose impertinent Terms which wise Men should avoid The Knowledge of Fools is impertinent Talk says the Scripture These Terms are only proper to cover the Ignorance of the falsely Learned and to make the Stupid and Libertine believe that God only is not the True Cause of all Things This methinks is certain and easily conceived yet most Men speak freely without being at the trouble to examine whether the Terms they use have a clear and exact signification And there are many Voluminous Authours in whom it is very difficult to find a Passage where they understood what they wrote Those therefore who read much and respectively hearken to the Loose and General Discourses of the falsely Learned are grosly ignorant nor do I see any way for them to grow wiser but by making and constantly renewing their Resolution of believing no Man upon his Word and before they have joined very distinct Ideas to the most common Terms which others use For these Terms are not clear as is generally thought but only seem so through Custome for Men fancy they understand well what they say and hear when they say and hear the same Thing a hundred times over without ever examining it AN EXPLANATION OF THE Conclusion of the Three First BOOKS That Physicians and Spiritual Guides are absolutely necessary for us but that it 's dangerous to consult and follow them on many Occasions CErtainly Man before his Fall had all things that were necessary to keep his Mind and Body in a perfect State he needed neither Physician nor Guide but consulted inward Truth as the infallible Rule of his Duty and his Senses were so faithful that they never deceived him in the use he was to make of external Bodies for the preservation of his own But since the Fall all things are extreamly changed we consult our own Passions much more than the Eternal Law or Truth and our Senses are so disordered that by following them we sometimes lose our Health and Life Divines and Physicians are absolutely necessary and those who pretend to know best how to govern themselves upon all occasions commonly fall into the grossest Errors which too late teaches them that they follow a Master that is not over-wise However I think I may say it has not so disordered all the Faculties of the Soul but that we may consult our selves on many occasions and it often happens through the defect of it that we lose the Life of our Soul and Body Of the former by consulting Casuists that are ignorant in Religion and Morality and who do not so throughly examine the Consciences as to discover the ingagements and dispositions of those that consult them Of the latter by applying our selves to ignorant Physicians and such as are unacquainted with the Constitution of our Bodies What I have said as a Conclusion to the three first Books of the Search after Truth has occasioned some Persons to imagine that I pretended that for the preservation of Life and Health we ought to follow our Senses and Passions in all things and that to be instructed in our Duty it was needless to consult any one since Eternal Wisdom is our Master who speaks clearly to us in the most secret parts of our Reason And though I never said nor thought that Physicians and Guides were useless yet some Persons that are hasty at judging and concluding believe it was my Opinion because perhaps 't was theirs and because they don't so much consider Man as he is now as what he was before the Fall But to explain my self further upon this Question Man may be considered two wayes in Health and Sickness If in the first I think his Senses are much more useful to preserve it than the Reason and Experience of the ablest Physicians There 's no need of consulting the Physician to know how much a Man must weigh whether Wood and Stones are proper Food whether he may throw himself down a Precipice His Senses teach him after a most short and indisputable way what he ought to do upon the like occasions And this methinks is sufficient to justifie what I have said for a Conclusion to the three first Books But 't is not enough to justifie what I think and even what I have said elsewhere viz. Book 2. p. 20. That our Senses admirably well discharge their Duty and conduct us after so just and faithful a manner to the ends they were designed for that they seem to be injuriously charged with Corruption and Irregularity For I alwayes believed that such a justness exactness and admirable Order as is in our Sensations with reference to the preservation of Life was no effect of Sin but the first institution of Nature 'T is Objected that this Order is now much subverted and that if we follow our Senses we should not only eat Poyson but frequently eat more than we could digest But I think our Senses would never tempt us to eat Poyson and that if by chance our Eyes should induce us to taste it we should not find in it that relish as would prevail with us to swallow it supposing the Poyson was not disguised For there 's much difference between Poyson as Naturally produced and poyson'd Food between crude Pepper and pepper'd Meats I confess our Senses incline us to eat poyson'd Meat but they don't tempt us to eat Poyson perhaps not to taste it provided this Poyson be in that condition that God produced it for our Senses reach only to the Natural Order of things as at first established by God I grant also that at present our Senses tempt us to eat certain Meats to excess but 't is because they are not in their Natural State We should perhaps never overcharge our selves with Corn if we ground it with Teeth given us for this end but 't is grounded sifted kneaded and baked and even sometimes with Milk Butter and Sugar it is also eaten with Conserves and Ragoos of several sorts which provoke the Appetite so that we must not be surprized if our Senses tempt us to excess when Reason and Experience joyn to surprize them 'T is the same in respect of Flesh which the Senses abhor when Raw and full of Blood as is seen in an Animal that dyes of it self but Men have thought upon killing Beasts letting out their Blood boiling the Flesh seasoning and disguising it and after this accuse their Senses of Corruption and Disorder because they have used their Reason