by any Image it follows the Soul cannot imagine them which is a thing worthy to be remember'd Lastly By Sense the Soul perceives only Sensible gross and ruder Objects when being present they cause an Impression on the external Organs of her Body Thus it is the Soul sees things plain and rugged present to her Eyes thus she knows the Hardness of the Iron the point of a Sword and the like and this kind of Perceptions one may call Sentiments or Sensations The Soul then has no more than these three ways of Perceiving which will easily be granted if we consider that the things we perceive are either Spiritual or Material If they be Spiritual they are perceptable only by the Pure Vnderstanding If they be Material they are either Present or Absent If they be Absent the ordinary way of the Soul 's representing them is by the Imagination But if they be Present the Soul can perceive them by the Impressions they make upon her Senses And thus Our Souls are not capable of more than a three-fold Perception by Pure Intellect by Imagination and by Sense These three Faculties therefore may be lookt upon as so many certain Heads to which we may reduce the Errors of Men and the Causes of their Errors and so avoid the confusion into which the multitude of them would infallibly cast us should we talk of them without Order or Method But moreover our Inclinations and our Passions act very strongly upon us They dazzle our Mind with their false Lights and overcast and fill it with Clouds and Darkness Thus Our Inclinations and our Passions engage us in an infinite number of Errors when we suffer our selves to be guided by that false Light and abusive Glare which they produce within us We must then together with the three Faculties of the Mind consider them as the Sources of our Deviations and Delinquencies and add to the Errors of Sense Imagination and Pure Intellect those which may be charg'd upon the Passions and Natural Inclinations And so all the Errors of Men and the Causes of them may be reduc'd to five Heads and we shall treat of them according to that Order First We shall speak of the Errors of the Senses Secondly Of the Errors of Imagination Thirdly Of the Errors of the Pure Intellect Fourthly Of the Errors of our Inclinations and Fifthly Of the Errors of the Passions And thus having made an Essay to rid the Soul of the Errors which she's subject to we shall Lastly lay down a General Method to Conduct her in the Search of Truth We will begin with an Explication of the Errors of our Senses or rather of the Errors into which we fall for want of making the due use we should do of our Senses And here we shall not so much descend to our Particular Errors which are almost infinite as fix upon the general Causes of these Errors and such things as seem most necessary to inform us of the Nature of the Humane Mind CHAP. V. Of the SENSES I. Two ways of explaining how they were corrupted by Sin II. That 't is our Liberty and not our Senses which is the true Cause of our Errors III. A Rule for avoiding Error in the use of our Senses UPON an attentive Consideration of the Senses and Passions of Man we find them so well proportion'd to the End for which they were given us that we can by no means agree with those who say they are to all intents and purposes debauch'd and spoil'd by Original Sin But that it may appear it is not without Reason we are of a different Opinion it is necessary to Explain in what manner we may conceive the Order and Regularity which was to be seen in the Faculties and Passions of our First Parent in his State of Righteousness and the Changes and Disorders that were consequent to his Fall Now there are Two ways of Conceiving these things of which this is the First That it seems to be a common Notion That it is necessary to the right ordering of Affairs that the Soul should perceive lesser or greater Pleasures according to the proportion of the Littleness or Greatness of the Goods which she enjoys Pleasure is an Instinct of Nature or to speak clearer 't is an Impression of God himself who inclines us towards some Good which Impression should be so much stronger by how much that Good is greater According to which Principle it seems not to be contested that our first Parent before his Sin coming fresh out of the Hands of his Maker found greater Pleasures in the most solid Goods than in those that were not so Wherefore since he was created in order to Love God who created him and that God was his true Good it may be said God gave him a Taste and Relish of himself That he inclin'd him to the Love of the Divine Perfection by a Sense of Pleasure and that he possess'd him with those Internal Satisfactions in his Duty that counter-balanc'd the greatest Pleasures of the Senses whereof since the State of Sin Man is altogether insensible without a Supernatural Assistance and particular gift of Grace Notwithstanding since he had a Body which God design'd he should take care of and look upon as a Part of himself he gave him to Perceive by the Mediation of his Senses Pleasures like those we our selves are sensible of in the use of things which are proper for and adapted to the Preservation of our Life and Being We presume not here to determine whether the First Man before his Fall had a Power to hinder agreeable or disagreeable Sensations in the instant that the principal part of his Brain was agitated by the Actual Impression of Sensible Objects Possibly he had that Soveraignty over himself because of his Subjection to the Will of God though the contrary Opinion seems more probable For though Adam might stop the Commotions of the Blood and Spirits and the Vibrations of the Fibres of his Brain which Objects excited in it because being in a Regular State his Body must needs submit to his Mind yet it is not probable he was able to prevent the Sensations of Objects at the time he had not stopt the Motions they produc'd in that part of his Body to which his Soul was immediately united For the Union of the Soul and Body consisting principally in the mutual Relation there is betwixt Sensations and the Motions of the Organs this Union would rather seem Arbitrary than Natural if Adam had been capable of hindring Sensation when the Principal Part of his Body receiv'd an Impression from those round about it However I declare for neither of the two Opinions The First Man therefore felt Pleasure in that which was Perfective of his Body as he felt it in that which was Perfective of his Soul And because he was constituted in a Perfect State he found that of the Soul far greater than that of the Body Thus it was infinitely
as that Good ought to be lov'd and Evil avoided that Righteousness ought to be lov'd more than Riches that 't is better to obey GOD than to command Men and infinite other Natural Laws For the knowledge of all these Laws is not different from the knowledge of that impression which they constantly feel within themselves though they do not always follow it by the free choice of their Will and which they know to be common to all Minds though it be not equally strong and powerful in them all 'T is by this Dependance of our Mind and its Relation and Union to the WORD of GOD and of our Will to his Love that we are made after the Image and Similitude of GOD. And though this Image be very much blurr'd and defac'd by Sin yet it is necessary for it to subsist as long as we our selves But if we bear the Image of the WORD humbled upon Earth and obey the Motions of the Holy Spirit that Primitive Image of our first Creation that Union of our Mind to the WORD of the FATHER and to the Love of the FATHER and of the SON will be repair'd and be made indelible We shall become like GOD if we be like the Man-God Lastly GOD will be wholly in us and we shall be wholly in GOD in a far perfecter manner than that whereby it is necessary to our Subsistence that we should be in Him and He in us These then are some of the Reasons that induce us to believe that our Minds perceive all things through the intimate presence of Him who comprehends all things in the Simplicity of his Essence Let every one judge of them according to the internal conviction he shall receive after he has seriously consider'd them But for my own part I can see no probability in any other way of explaining it and I presume this last will appear more than probable Thus our Souls depend on GOD all manner of ways For as it is He who makes them feel Pleasure and Pain and all the other Sensations by the Natural Union He has instituted between them and their Bodies which is no other than His Decree and general Will So it is He who by means of the Natural Union He has plac'd between the Will of Man and the Representation of Idea's included in the immensity of the Divine Essence gives them to know all that they know Nor is this Natural Union any thing but his general Will. So that 't is He only who can enlighten us by representing all things to us as 't is He alone that can make us happy by giving us to taste all sorts of Pleasures Let us persist then in our perswasion that GOD is the intelligible World or the place of Spirits as the material World is the place of Bodies That 't is from His Power they receive all their Modifications that 't is in His Wisdom they discover all their Idea's and 't is by His Love they are influenc'd with all their regulated Motions And because His Power and His Love are nothing but Himself let us believe with St. Paul that He is not far from every one of us and that in Him we live and move and have our Being Non longè est ab unoquoque nostrûm in ipso enim vivimus movemur sumus CHAP. VII I. Four different manners of Perception II. How it is that we know GOD. III. How we know Bodies IV. How we know our own Souls V. How we know the Souls of other Men and Pure Spirits IN order to give an extract and illustration of the Notion I have just establish'd concerning the manner of our Minds perceiving all the different Objects of its knowledge it is necessary I should distinguish in it Four manners or ways of Knowing things The First is that whereby we know things by themselves The Second is that of knowing them by their Idea's that is as I understand it in this place by something that is different from themselves The Third is that of Conscience or by internal Sensation The Fourth is their knowing them by Conjecture We know things by themselves immediately and without Idea's when being of a most intelligible Nature they can penetrate the Mind or discover themselves to it We know things by their Idea's when they are not intelligible by themselves whether because they are Corporeal or that they cannot penetrate the Mind or discover themselves to it We know by Conscience whatever is not distinguish'd from our selves Lastly we know by Conjecture the things which are different from our selves and from those we know in themselves and by Idea's when we think that some things are like some others that we already know Of all the things that come under our Knowledge we know none but GOD by Himself For though there be other Spiritual Beings besides Him and such as seem intelligible by their own Nature yet in our present State there is none but He that penetrates the Mind and discovers Himself to it 'T is GOD alone that we see with an immediate and direct View and possibly He alone is able to enlighten the Mind by his own Substance Finally in this Life it is from nothing but the Union that we have with Him that we are capable of knowing what we know as has been explain'd in the foregoing Chapter For he only is our Master who presides over our Mind according to St. Austin without the Deputation or Interposition of any Creature It cannot be conceiv'd that any thing Created can represent infinite that Being without restriction the immense Being the universal Being can be perceiv'd by an Idea that is by a particular Being and a Being different from the universal and infinite Being But as to particular Beings there is no difficulty to conceive how they can be represented by the infinite Being that includes them and includes them in a most Spiritual and consequently most intelligible manner Thus it is necessary to say that GOD is intelligible by Himself though the knowledge we have of Him in this Life be very imperfect and confus'd and that Corporeal things are intelligible by their Idea's that is to say in GOD since GOD alone contains the intelligible World wherein are found the Idea's of all things But though things are possible to be seen in GOD it does not follow that we do see all things in Him We see only those things in Him whereof we have Idea's and there are things We see without Idea's All things in the World whereof we have any knowledge are either Bodies or Spirits properties of Bodies and properties of Spirits As to Bodies 't is not to be doubted but we see them together with their Properties by their Idea's forasmuch as being unintelligible of themselves there is no possibility of seeing them except in that Being which contains them in an intelligible manner Bodies then and their Properties are seen in GOD and by their Idea's and for this reason
Usefulness from those of the foregoing Discourse We instantly suppose a Man to have made some Reflections upon two Idea's which he finds in his Soul one that represents the Body and the other which represents the Mind and that he is able easily to distinguish them by the positive Attributes they contain In a word that he is very well satisfi'd that Extension is a different thing from Thought Or we will suppose he has read and meditated on some places of St. Austin as the 10th Chapter of the 10th Book Concerning the Trinity the 4th and 14th Chapters of his Book concerning The Quantity of the Soul at least Mr. Des-Cartes's Meditations especially that Part which treats of the Distinction of the Soul and Body or lastly Mr. Cordemoy's sixth Dissertation concerning the Difference of the Soul and Body We suppose farther that he is acquainted with the Anatomy of the Organs of the Senses and knows that they consist of little Threads or Fibres which derive their Origine from the middle of the Brain that they are dispers'd through all the Members wherein there is Sensation and being continued without any Interruption are terminated upon the External parts of the Body that whilst a Man is awake and in health one of the Extremities cannot be mov'd but the other will be mov'd in the same time because they are always somewhat Intense and upon the stretch the same thing which happens to a Cord that is intense one part whereof cannot be mov'd but the other must receive some Vibration 'T is farther necessary to know that these little Threads or Fibres may be mov'd by two several ways either by that end that is external to the Brain or by the end which terminates in the Brain If these Fibres are externally agitated by Objects acting on them and this Agitation be not communicated so far as the Brain as it happens in Sleep the Soul receives no fresh Sensation from them at that time But if these Fibres are moved in the Brain by the course of the Animal Spirits or by any other cause the Soul has a Perception of something though the Parts of these Fibres which are without the Brain and are dispers'd throughout all the Parts of the Body are quiet and undisturb'd as it happens when a Man 's asleep It will not be amiss to observe here by the way that Experience certifies us it is not impossible to feel Pain in those parts of our Body which have been intirely cut off Because the Fibres of the Brain which correspond to them being Vibrated in the same manner as if those Parts were actually wounded the Soul feels in those Imaginary Parts a most real Pain For all these things are a palpable Demonstration that the Soul immediately resides in that Part of the Brain in which all the Organs of the Senses terminate and centre I mean that in this Part she receives the Sensation of all the Changes that there occur in reference to the Objects that have caus'd them or have us'd to cause them and she has no Perception of any thing happening in any other Part but by the Intervention of the Fibres which terminate therein This being laid down and well understood it will be no hard thing to discover how Sensation is effected which is necessary to be explain'd by some particular Instance When a Man thrusts the Point of a Needle into his hand this Point moves and separates the Fibres of the Flesh. These Fibres are extended from that Place to the Brain and whilst he is awake they are so Intense that they can receive no Concussion or Vibration but it is Communicated to those in the Brain It follows then that the Extremities of the Fibres in the Brain must be in like manner mov'd If the motion of the Fibres of the Hand is Moderate that of the Fibres of the Brain will be so too and if this Motion is violent enough to break something in the Hand it will be more forcible and violent in the Brain Thus if a Man holds his Hand to the Fire the little parts of the Wood whereof it continually throws out innumerable quantities with great violence as Reason upon the defect of our Sight demonstrates beat against the Fibres and communicate a Part of their Agitation to them If that Agitation be but moderate that of the Extremities of the Fibres in the Brain which answer to the Hand will be moderate also And if this Motion be violent enough in the Hand to separate some Parts of it as it happens when it is Burnt the Motion of the Internal Fibres of the Brain will be proportionably stronger and more violent This then is what occurs in our Body when Objects strike upon us we must now see what happens to our Soul She is principally Resident if we may be permitted so to speak in that Part of the Brain where all the Fibres of our Nerves are centred She is seated there in order to cherish and preserve all the Parts of our Body and consequently it is necessary she should have notice of all the Changes that occur therein and that she be able to distinguish those which are adapted and agreeable to the Constitution of her Body from the contrary since it would be to no use or purpose for her to know them absolutely and without Relation to the Body Thus though all the Changes of our Fibres do in true speaking consist merely in the Motions of them which are generally no farther different than according to the Degrees of more or less yet it is necessary for the Soul to look upon these Changes as Essentially different For though they differ very little in themselves they ought however to be consider'd as Essentially different in reference to the Preservation of the Body The Motion for instance that produces Pain has rarely any considerable difference from that which causes Titillation There is no necessity there should be any Essential Difference betwixt these two Motions but it is necessary there should be an Essential Difference betwixt the Titillation and the Pain which these two Motions cause in the Soul For the Vibration of the Fibres which accompanies Titillation certifies the Soul of the good Constitution of her Body and assures her it has Strength enough to resist the Impression of the Object and that she need not be under any Apprehensions of its being injur'd by it But the Motion which accompanies Pain being somewhat more violent is capable of breaking some Fibre of the Body and the Soul ought to be advis'd of it by some Disagreeable Sensation so as to be aware of it for the future Thus though the Motions which are occasion'd in the Body are no farther different in themselves than according to the Degrees of more or less yet being consider'd with Relation to the Welfare and Preservation of our Life they may be said to differ Essentially 'T is upon this account our Soul has no Perception
Custom Why Men by use of Speaking obtain so great a Dexterity at it as to pronounce their Words with an incredible swiftness and even without considering them as is but too often customary with those who say the Prayers which they have been us'd to several Years together And yet many things go to the Pronunciation of one Word many Muscles must be mov'd at once in a certain time and a definite Order as those of the Tongue the Lips the Throat and Diaphragm But a Man may with a little Meditation give himself satisfaction upon these Questions as upon many others very curious and no less useful and it is not necessary to dwell any longer upon them It is manifest from what has been said that there is a great affinity between the Memory and Habits and that in one sense the Memory may pass for a Species of Habit. For as the Corporeal Habits consist in the Facility the Spirits have acquir'd of passing into certain places of our Body So the Memory consists in the Traces the same Spirits have imprinted in the Brain which are the cause of that Facility we have of Recollecting and Remembring things In so much that were there no Perceptions affix'd to the courses of the Animal Spirits and the Traces they leave behind them there would be no difference between the Memory and the other Habits Nor is there greater difficulty to conceive how Beasts though void of Soul and incapable of any Perception may remember after their way the things that have made an Impression in their Brain than to conceive how they are capable of acquiring different Habits and after what I have explain'd concerning the Habits I see no greater difficulty to represent to a Man's self how the Members of their Body procure different Habits by degrees than how an Engine newly made cannot so easily be play'd as after it has been some time made use of CHAP. VI. I. That the Fibres of the Brain are not subject to so sudden Changes as the Spirits II. Three different Changes incident to the three different Ages ALL the Parts of Animate Bodies are in a continual Motion whether they be Solid or Fluid the Flesh no less than the Blood There is only this difference between the Motion of one and the other that the Motion of the parts of the Blood is sensible and visible and that the Particles of the Fibres of our Flesh are altogether Imperceptible There is then this difference between the Animal Spirits and the Substance of the Brain That the Animal Spirits are very rapidly mov'd and very fluid but the Substance of the Brain has some Solidity and Consistence So that the Spirits divide themselves into little Parts and are dispers'd in a few Hours by transpiring through the Pores of the Vessels that contain them and others often succeed in their Place not altogether like the former But the Fibres of the Brain are not so easie to be dissipated there seldom happen any considerable Alterations in them and their whole Substance can't be chang'd but by the successive tract of many Years The most considerable Differences that are found in the Brain of one and the same Person during his whole Life are in his Infancy in his Maturity and in his Old Age. The Fibres in the Brain in a Man's Child-hood are soft flexible and delicate A Riper and more consummate Age dries hardens and corroborates them but in Old Age they grow altogether inflexible gross and intermix'd with superfluous Humours wich the faint and languishing Heat of that Age is no longer able to disperse For as we see that the Fibres which compose the Flesh harden by Time and that the Flesh of a young Partridge is without dispute more tender than that of an old one so the Fibres of the Brain of a Child or a young Person must be much more soft and delicate than those of Persons more advanc'd in Years We shall understand the Ground and the Reason of these Changes if we consider that the Fibres are continually agitated by the Animal Spirits which whirl about them in many different manners For as the Winds parch and dry the Earth by their blowing upon it so the Animal Spirits by their perpetual Agitation render by degrees the greatest part of the Fibres of Man's Brain more dry more close and solid so that Persons more stricken in Age must necessarily have them almost always more inflexible than those of a lesser standing And as for those who are of the same Age your Drunkards which for many Years together have drank to excess either Wine or such Intoxicating Liquors must needs have them more solid and more inflexible than those who have abstain'd from the use of such kind of Liquors all their Lives Now the different Constitutions of the Brain in Children in Adult Persons and in Old People are very considerable Causes of the Difference observable in the Imaginative Faculty of these Three Ages which we are going to speak of in the following Chapters CHAP. VII I. Of the Communication there is between the Brain of a Mother and that of her Infant II. Of the Communication that is between our Brain and the other Parts of our Body which inclines us to Imitation and to Compassion III. An Explication of the Generation of Monstrous Children and the Propagation of the Species IV. An Explication of some Irregularities of the Vnderstanding and of some Inclinations of the Will V. Concerning Concupiscence and Original Sin VI. Objections and Answers IT is I think sufficiently manifest that there is some kind of Tye and Connection between us and all the rest of the World and that we have some Natural Relations to or Correspondencies with all things that encompass us which Relations are very advantagious both as to the Preservation and welfare of our Lives But all these Relations are not equally binding There is a closer Connection betwixt us and our Native Country than China we have a nearer Relation to the Sun than to any of the Stars to our own Houses than that of our Neighbours There are invisible Ties that fasten us with a stricter Union unto Men than Beasts to our Relations and Friends than Strangers to those on whom we have our Dependence for the Preservation of our Being than to such as can neither be the Objects of our Hopes or Fears That which is more especially remarkable in this Natural Union betwixt us and other Men is That it is so much greater by how much we stand more in need of their Kindness or Assistance Relations and Friends are intimately united to one another We may say that their Pains and Miseries are common as well as their Pleasures and Happiness For all the Passions and Sentiments of our Friends are communicated to us by the Impression their Mein and Manner and the Air of their Countenance make upon us But because we may absolutely live without them the Natural Union betwixt them and us is
a Trance The Animal Spirits irregularly turning in their Brain excite such a multitude of Traces as not to open any one strongly enough to produce any particular Sensation or distinct Idea in the Mind so that these Persons perceive so many things at once that they have no distinct Perception of any and this makes them conclude they have perceiv'd nothing Not but that sometimes Men swoon away for want of Animal Spirits But at that time the Soul having only Thoughts of Pure Intellection which leave no Traces in the Brain we never remember them when we come to our selves and that makes us believe we have thought of Nothing This I have said by the way to shew it is a mistake to believe the Soul does not always think because Men fancy sometimes they think not of any thing Every one that reflects but a little upon his own Thoughts is experimentally convinc'd that the Mind cannot apply it self to the consideration of many things at once and à fortiori is unable to comprehend what 's infinite And yet out of an unaccountable Capricio such as are not ignorant of this apply themselves rather to the Contemplation of infinite Objects and of Questions that demand an infinite capacity of Mind than to such as are suited to the Reach and Abilities of their mind And a great many others who would fain know all things study so many Sciences at once as only confound the Understanding and incapacitate it for any true Science at all How many do we see desirous of comprehending the Divisibility of Matter ad infinitum and of knowing how 't is possible for a grain of Sand to contain so many parts in it as this Earth tho' proportionably lesser What a multitude of Questions are form'd never to be resolv'd upon that subject and many others which include any thing of Infinity in them the Resolution of which Men think to find in their own Mind When yet though they study them till they sweat all they gain at last is only to be opinionated with some Error or Extravagance or other 'T is certainly a very Pleasant thing to see Men deny the Divisibility of matter to infinitum meerly because they cannot comprehend it though they rightly comprehend the Demonstrations that prove it and this at the same time that they confess it impossible for the Mind of Man to comprehend Infinity For the Arguments which shew matter to be divisible to Infinity are demonstrative if there were ever any such and they acknowledge it when they consider them with Attention Notwithstanding which if they hear Objections propos'd which they cannot Answer their Mind recoils from the Evidence just perceiv'd and they begin to boggle at them They are earnestly taken up with the Objection which they cannot Answer they invent some frivolous Distinction to the Demonstrations of infinite Divisibility and conclude at last they were deceiv'd and that all the World is in an Error Hence they embrace the contrary Opinion and defend it by Turgid Points Puncta inflata and such kind of Extravagances their Imagination is sure to furnish them withal Now the reason of their Delusions is the want of being inwardly convinc'd that the Mind of Man is Finite and that there is no necessity of comprehending the Divisibility of Matter to infinity in order to be perswaded of it Because all the Objections that require the Comprehending it for their Resolution are such as 't is impossible should be resolv'd Would Men only stick to such Questions as these we should not have much reason to be concern'd at it For though there may be some that are prepossess'd with particular Errors yet they are Errors of little consequence And as for the rest they have not altogether lost their time in thinking on things they cannot comprehend For at least they are convinc'd of the Weakness of their Mind 'T is good says a very Judicious Author to tire and fatigue the Mind with such kind of Subtilties in order to tame its Presumption and to make it less daring ever to oppose its feeble Lights to the Truths propos'd to it by the Gospel under pretence it cannot comprehend them For since all the strength of the Mind of Men is oblig'd to fall under the weight of the least Atom of Matter and to acknowledge it clearly sees it is infinitely divisible without being able to comprehend how 't is possible Is this not visibly to sin against Reason to refuse to believe the wonderful Effects of the Almightiness of GOD which is of it self Incomprehensible for that very Reason that our Mind cannot comprehend them The most dangerous Effect then produc'd by the Ignorance of or rather Inadvertency to the Limitation and Weakness of an Humane Mind and consequently to its Incapacity of comprehending what any ways belongs to Infinity is Heresie There are to be seen if I mistake not in these days above any other a great many Men who form a peculiar Theology to themselves which has no other Foundation than their own Mind and the Natural Weakness of their Reason because even in Subjects not under the Jurisdiction of Reason they will not believe what they cannot comprehend The Socinians cannot comprehend the Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation And this suffices not only to their dis-believing it but also to their Affirming of those that Believe it in an Arrogant and a Libertine way that they are born to Slavery A Calvinist can't conceive how 't is possible for the Body of JESVS CHRIST to be really present in the Sacrament of the Altar at the same time he is in Heaven and hence he thinks he has sufficient Reason to conclude it impossible as if he perfectly comprehended how far the Power of GOD could go So a Man that 's convinc'd of his own Liberty if he falls to work and heats his Head in endeavouring to reconcile the Fore-knowledge of GOD and his Decrees with Liberty will possibly fall into the Error of those who do not believe that Man is a free Agent For being unable on one hand to conceive how the Providence and Fore-knowledge of GOD can be compatible with the Liberty of Man and on the other his respect for Religion forbidding him to deny a Providence he will think himself oblig'd to cashire Men of their Freedom or not making sufficient Reflection on the Weakness of his Mind will fancy he is able to fathom the Mysterious ways GOD has of reconciling his Decrees with our Liberty But Hereticks are not the only Men who want Attention to consider the Weakness of their Mind and that give it too much Scope and Liberty of Judging of things which it cannot attain to This being the fault of most Men especially of some Divines of the later Ages For we may perhaps reasonably say that some of them so frequently imploying Humane Reasoning to prove or explain the mysteries above Reason though it may be done with good Intention and for the Defence of
publick Fame for we ought not to trouble our selves with enquiring into the true Genealogy of Things for which we have no great Esteem CHAP. VI. General and necessary Directions to proceed orderly in the Search after Truth and in the Choice of Sciences LEST it should be said that we have only been destroying the Reasonings of others but establish nothing certain and undeniable of our own it will be convenient to propose in few words what Order we ought to observe in our Studies for the avoiding Errour and I design withal to shew some Truths and Sciences that are very necessary as bearing such a Character of Evidence as that we cannot withold our Consent without feeling the secret Upbraidings of our Reason I shall not explain at large those Truths and Sciences that 's already done and I intend not to reprint the Works of others but only to refer to them and to shew what Order we must keep in our Studies to preserve Evidence in all our perceptions The first Knowledge of all is that of the Existence of our Soul all our Thoughts are so many undeniable Demonstrations of it for nothing is more evident than that whatever actually thinks is actually something But though it be easie to know the Existence of our Soul yet her Essence and Nature are not so easily discovered If we desire to know what she is we must take care above all not to confound her with the things to which she is united If we doubt will argue we must only believe that the Soul is something that doubts wills argues and nothing more as long as we have not felt in her other Properties for we know our Soul only by the inward Sensation we have of her We must not mistake her for our Body for Blood for Animal Spirits for Fire and many other things for which Philosophers have mistaken her We must believe of the Soul no more than we are forced to believe of her by a full conviction of our inward Sense for otherwise we shall be deceiv'd Thus we shall know by a simple view or by internal Sensation whatever may be known of the Soul without being obliged to long reasonings that might lead us into Errour For when we reason Memory operates and whereever Memory operates there may be Errour supposing our Knowledge should depend on some wicked Spirits that should take delight in deceiving us Though I should suppose for instance a God who took delight in thus abusing me yet I am persuaded that I could not be deceived in a Knowledge of simple Perception as is that by which I know that I am that I think or that 2 and 2 are 4. For I am conscious to my self that in this extravagant Supposition such a deluding Spirit though never so potent could not make me doubt that I am or that 2 times 2 are 4 because I perceive those things with a simple view or Perception and without the use of Memory But when I reason as I see not evidently the Principles of my Reasonings but only remember that I have evidently seen them If that seducing God should join that Remembrance to false Principles as he might do if he pleas'd I should conclude nothing but what was false Just like those that make long Calculations fancying they remember that they have plainly seen that 9 times 9 are 72 or that 21 is a primitive Number or some other Errour of that Nature draw false Inferences from thence And therefore 't is necessary to know God and to be assured that he is no Deceiver if we desire to be fully convinced that the most certain Sciences as Arithmetick and Geometry are true Sciences for without that their Evidence is not full and we can still with-hold our Consent And 't is likewise necessary to know by a simple View and not by Reasoning that God is no Deceiver since reasoning may still be false in the supposition of a deluding God All the ordinary Proofs of the Existence and Perfections of God drawn from the Existence and Perfections of his Creatures are methinks liable to this Defect that they convince not the Mind with a simple Perception All those Arguments are Reasonings convincing in themselves but because they are Reasonings they are not demonstrative in supposing a wicked and deceitfull Genius They sufficiently shew that there is a Power superiour to us which is granted even by that foolish Supposition but they do not fully persuade us that there is a God or a Being infinitely perfect so that the Conclusion of those Arguments is more evident than the Principle T is more evident that there is a Power superiour to us than that there is a World since no Supposition can obviate our demonstrating that superiour Power whereas in supposing an evil and deceitfull Spirit 't is impossible to prove the Existence of the World because it may still be conceived that this wicked Genius gives us the Sense of things that are not in being as Sleep and some Distempers make us perceive things that never were and even feel an actual pain in imaginary Members such as we have lost or that we never had But the Arguments of the Existence and Perfections of God drawn from our Idea of infinite are Prooâ—s of simple sight We see there is a God as soon as we perceive infinite because necessary Existence is included in the Idea of infinite and that nothing but infinite can furnish to us the Idea of an infinite Being We likewise see that God is no Deceiver because knowing that he is infinitely perfect and that infinite cannot want any Perfection we plainly perceive that he will not seduce us and even that he cannot because he can but what he wills and what he is able to will And therefore there is a God a true God and a God that never deceives us though he does not always enlighten us and that we are obnoxious to Mistakes when we want his Light Attentive Minds perceive all those Truths by a simple intuitive Perception though we seem to make Arguments that we may demonstrate them to others so that they may be supposed as unquestionable Principles of our Reasonings for having known that God delights not in deceiving us nothing hinders but we may proceed to Reason 'T is also plain that the certainty of Faith depends on that Principle That there is a God uncapable of Deceipt For the Existence of God and the Infallibility of his Divine Authority are rather a natural Knowledge and common Notions as to Minds capable of serious Attention than Articles of Faith though to have a Mind susceptible of a sufficient Attention rightly to conceive those Truths and willingly to apply our selves to the understanding them be a particular Gift of God From that Principle That God is no Deceiver we might likewise infer that we have a real Body to which we are united in a particular manner and that we are surrounded with several others For we are inwardly convinced of their
Principle In a word Jesus Christ needing Minds of particular Dispositions for the causing particular Effects may in general apply to them and by that Application infuse into them sanctifying Grace As the Mind of a Projector thinks in general of square Stones when these Stones are actually necessary to his Building XVIII But the Soul of Jesus being not a general Cause we have reason to think it has often particular Desires in regard to particular Persons When we intend to speak of God we must not consult our selves and make him act like us but consider the Idea of a Being infinitely perfect and make God act according to that Idea But in speaking of the Action of the Soul of Jesus we may look into our selves and make him act like particular Causes For Example We have reason to believe that the Conversion of St. Paul was owing to the Efficacy of a particular Desire of Jesus Christ. And we are to look upon the Desires of the Soul of Jesus which have a general respect to Minds of a certain Character as particular Desires though they comprehend many Persons because these Desires change daily like those of particular Causes But the general Laws by which God acts are always the same because the Wills of God ought to be firm and constant by reason that his Wisdom is infinite XIX The diverse Desires of the Soul of Jesus distributing Grace we clearly conceive why it is not equally dispers'd to all Men and why bestow'd on some more abundantly at one time than another For his Soul not thinking on all Men at once cannot at the same time have all the Desires whereof it is capable So that he acts not on his Members in a particular manner except by successive Influences as the Soul moves not at once all the Muscles of our Body For the Animal Spirits are unequally and successively distributed into our Members according to the various Impressions of Objects the diverse Motions of our Passions and the several Desires we freely excite within us XX. True it is that all the Righteous constantly receive the Influence of their Head which gives them Life and that when they act by the Spirit of Jesus Christ they merit and receive new Graces though it be not necessary that the Soul of Jesus should have any particular Desires as the occasional Causes of them For Order which requires that every Desert should be rewarded is not an arbitrary but a necessary Law and independent from any occasional Cause But though he who performs a meritorious Action may be rewarded for it whilst the Soul of Jesus has no actual Desires relating to him yet 't is certain that he merited not this Grace but by the Dignity and Sanctity of the Spirit which Christ has communicated to him For Men are not well-pleasing to God nor able to do good but in as much as they are united to his Son by Charity XXI It must be farther acknowledg'd that those who observe the Counsels of Jesus Christ out of an Esteem they have for them and through the Fear of future Punishment sollicite as I may say by their Obedience the Charity of Christ to think on them though they act from a Principle of Self-love But their Actions are not the Occasional Causes either of Grace since it does not infallibly follow them or even of the Motions of the Soul of Jesus in their Favour since these Motions never fail to communicate it Thus only the Desires of Jesus Christ as Occasional Causes have infallibly their Effect because God having constituted him Head of the Church ought by him only to communicate his sanctifying Grace to his Elect. XXII Now we may consider in the Soul of Jesus Christ Desires of two sorts viz. Actual Transitory and Particular that have but a short-liv'd Efficacy and Stable and Permanent which consist in a setled and constant Disposition of the Soul of Jesus Christ with relation to certain Effects which tend to the Execution of his Design in general If our Soul by its various Motions communicated to our Body all that was necessary to its Formation and Growth we might distinguish in her two kinds of Desire For it would be by the actual and transitory Desires that she would drive into the Muscles of the Body the Spirits which gave it a certain Disposition with reference to present Objects or to the actual Thoughts of the Mind But it would be by stable and permanent Desires that she would give to the Heart and Lungs the natural Motions by which Respiration and the Circulation of the Blood were perform'd By these Desires she would digest the Aliments and distribute them to all the Parts that needed them in as much as that sort of Action is at all times necessary to the Preservation of the Body XXIII By the actual transitory and particular Desires of the Soul of Jesus Grace is deriv'd to unprepar'd Persons in a manner somewhat singular and extraordinary But 't is by his permanent Desires that it is given regularly to those who receive the Sacraments with the necessary Dispositions For the Grace we receive by the Sacraments is not given us precisely because of the Merit of our Action though we receive them in Grace but because of the Merits of Jesus Christ which are freely applied to us in consequence of his permanent Desires We receive in the Sacraments much more Grace than our Preparation deserves and it suffices to our receiving some Influence from them that we do not oppose and resist it But 't is abusing what is most Sacred in Religion to receive them unworthily XXIV Amongst the actual and transitory Desires of the Soul of Jesus there are certainly some more durable and frequent than others and the Knowledge of these Desires is of greatest Consequence in Point of Morality Doubtless he thinks oftner on those who observe his Counsels than on other Men. His Motions of Charity for Believers are more frequent and lasting than those for Libertines and Atheists And as all Believers are not equally prepar'd to enter into the Church of the Predestinate the Desires of the Soul of Jesus are not equally lively frequent and durable on the account of them all Man more earnestly desires the Fruits that are fittest for the Nourishment of his Body he 〈◊〉 oftner on Bread and Wine than on Meats of difficult Digestion So Jesus Christ designing the Formation of his Church ought to be more taken up with those who can most easily enter than on others which are extremely remote The Scripture likewise teaches us that the Humble the Poor the Penitent receive greater Graces than other Men because the Despisers of Honours Riches and Pleasures are the fittest for the Kingdom of Heaven Those for Example who have learn'd of Jesus Christ to be meek and humble in Heart shall find Rest to their Souls The Yoke of Christ which is insupportable to the Proud will become easie and light by the Assistances of Grace For God