it were only that these Beings having no Relation to us the Knowledge of them would be of little use to us as he has not given us Eyes acute enough to reckon the Teeth of an Hand-worm since 't would be useless to the Preservation of our Body to have so penetrating an Eye-sight But though we do not think it fit to judge hastily and rashly that all Being is divided into Spirit and Body yet we think it inconsistent with Reason for Philosophers in explaining Natural Effects to use other Idea's than those that depend on Thought and Extension these in Effect being the only distinct or particular that we have There is nothing more Unphilosophical and Irrational than to imagine vast numbers of Beings from simple Logical Idea's to bestow on them infinite properties and so to go about explaining things which no body understands by things which not only no body conceives but which indeed are impossible to be conceived This is to take the same course that Blind Men would do when intending to discourse of Colours and maintain the Theses that concern them they should make use of the Definitions they receive from the Philosophers and thence make their Inferences and Conclusions For as these blind Men's Arguings and Disputes about Colours must needs be pleasant and ridiculous enough since they could have no distinct Idea's of the Subjects in Question and would only argue from general and Logical Idea's So the Philosophers can never reason justly and solidly upon the Effects of Nature when they only employ general and Logical Idea's as of Act Power Being Cause Principle Form Quality and others of like Nature It is absolutely necessary for them to ground their Disputes and Reasonings only upon the distinct and particular Idea's of Thought and Extension and those which are contain'd in them as Figure Motion c. For we can never expect to arrive to the Knowledge of Nature but by the Consideration of the distinct Idea's we have of it and 't is better not to meditate at all than to throw our Meditation away upon Whimsies and Chimera's We ought not however to assert that there is nothing but Spirit and Body Thinking and Extended Beings in Nature since 't is impossible for us to be mistaken For though these are sufficient for the Explication of Nature and consequently we may conclude without danger of erring That all Natural things as far as our Knowledge goes depend upon Extension and Thought yet absolutely speaking it s not impossible but there may be others whereof we have no Idea nor see any Effect Men are therefore too rash and precipitate in judging as an indisputable Principle that all Substance is distinguish'd into Body and Spirit But they thence infer a rash and unadvis'd conclusion when they determine by the sole light of Reason that GOD is a Spirit 't is true that since we are created after His Image and Similitude and we are taught from several places of the Holy Scripture that GOD is a Spirit we ought to believe and call Him so But Reason all alone can never teach us so much It only tells us that GOD is a Being infinitely perfect and that he ought rather to be a Spirit than a Body since our Soul is more perfect than our Body but it cannot assure us there are not still other Beings more perfect than those Spirits within us and rang'd in an higher order above them than our Minds are above our Bodies But supposing there were such Beings as these as Reason makes it unquestionable that GOD was able to create them 't is evident they would have a nearer resemblance to their Maker than our selves And so the same Reason informs us that GOD would rather have their Perfections than ours which would be reckon'd but imperfections in comparison with them We ought not therefore precipitately to imagine that the word Spirit which we indifferently use to signifie what GOD is and what we are our selves is an univocal Term expressing the same things or very like GOD is farther exalted above Created Spirits than these Spirits are elevated above Bodies and we ought not to term GOD a Spirit so much for a positive Declaration of what He is as to signifie He is not material He is an infinitely perfect Being no Man can doubt of it But as we are not to imagine with the Anthropomorphites that he ought to have an Humane shape because that Figure seems the most perfect though we should suppose Him Corporeal so we ought not to think that the Spirit of GOD has Humane Thoughts and that his mind is like our own because we know nothing perfecter than our own Mind 'T is rather to be believ'd that as he includes in Himself the Perfections of Matter without being material for 't is certain that Matter has a Relation to some Perfection that is in God so He comprehends the Perfections of created Spirits without being a Spirit after our manner of conceiving Spirits that his true Name is HE THAT IS that is being without restriction all Being being Infinite and Universal CHAP. X. Some Instances of Errors in Physicks wherein Men are engag'd by supposing that the things which differ in their Nature their Qualities Extension Duration and Proportion are alike in these things IT has been shewn in the Fore-going Chapter That Men make a rash Judgment in concluding all Beings under two Heads either of Body or Spirit we will make it appear in the succeeding Chapters that they not only make rash Judgments but false too and which are the fruitful Principles of innumerable Errors when they judge that Beings are not different in their Relations and Modes because they have no Idea of these Differences 'T is certain that the Mind of Man searches only after the Relations of things First those which the Objects it considers have to it self and then those which they have with one another For Man's Mind is inquisitive only after its Good and Truth For the finding out its Good it considers carefully by Reason and by Taste or Sensation whether the Objects have any Relation of Agreement with it self For the discovering Truth it considers whether the Objects have any Relation of Equality or Similitude to each other or what precisely is the Quantity that is equal to their Inequality For as Good is not the Good of the Mind any farther than it is agreeable to it so Truth is not Truth but by the Relation of Equality or Resemblance which is found betwixt two things or more whether this Relation be between two or more Objects as between an Ell and a Piece of Cloth For 't is true that this is an Ell of Cloth because of the Equality between the Ell and the Cloth whether it be between two or more Idea's as between the two Idea's of Three and Three and that of Six for 't is true that Three and Three are Six because of the Equality between the two Idea's of Three and Three and the
if God caus'd it to rain on this Meadow by a particular Benevolence to the Owner this Rain would not fall on the River where 't is insignificant since it could not fall there without a Cause or Will in God which has necessarily some End VII But we have still more Reason to think an Effect is produc'd by a general Will when this Effect is contrary or even useless to the Design which we are taught by Faith or Reason the Cause propos'd For Instance The End which God proposes in the various Sensations he affords the Soul in our tasting different Fruits is that we may eat those which are fit for Nourishment and reject the rest I suppose thus Therefore when God gives a grateful Sensation at the Instant of our eating Poisons or empoison'd Fruits he acts not in us by particular Wills So we ought to conclude since that agreeable Sensation is the Cause of our Death whilst the End of God's giving us diverse Sensations is to preserve our Life by a convenient Nourishment for I once more suppose thus For I speak only with reference to the Grace which God gives us doubtless to convert us so that 't is visible God showers it not on Men by particular Wills since it frequently renders them more Culpable and Criminal For God cannot have so Fatal a Design God gives us not therefore agreeable Sensations by particular Wills when we eat poisonous Fruits But because a poisonous Fruit excites in our Brain Motions like those produc'd by wholsome Fruits God gives us the same Sensations by reason of the general Laws which unite the Soul to the Body that she might be wakeful for its Preservation So likewise God gives not those who have lost an Arm Sensations of Pain relating to it but by a general Will For 't is useless to the Body of this Man that his Soul should suffer Pain relating to an Arm that 's lost 'T is the same case with Motions produc'd in the Body of a Man in the Commission of a Crime Finally supposing we are obliged to think that God scatters his Rain upon the Earth witâ— Intent to make it fruitful we cannot believe he distributes it by particular Wills since it falls upon the Sands and in the Sea as well as on plow'd Lands and is often so excessive on seeded Ground as to extirpate the Corn and frustrate the Labours of the Husbandman Thus it is certain that Rains which are useless or noxious to the Fruits of the Earth are necessary Consequences of the general Laws of the Communications of Motions which God has establish'd for the producing better Effects in the World supposing which I again repeat that God cannot will by a particular Volition that Rain should cause the Barrenness of the Earth VIII Lastly When an Effect happens which has something extraordinary 't is reasonable to believe it is not produc'd by a general Will. Nevertheless 't is impossible to be sure of it If for Example in the Procession of the Holy Sacrament it rains on the Assistants save on the Priests and those which carry it we have reason to think this proceeds from a particular Will of the universal Cause yet we cannot be certain because an occasional intelligent Cause may have this particular Design and so determine the Efficacy of the general Law to execute it IX When the preceding Marks are not sufficient for us to judge whether a certain Effect is or is not produc'd by a general Will we are to believe it is if it be certain there is an Occasional Cause establish'd for the like Effects For Example We see it rain to some Purpose in a Field we do not examine whether this Rain falls or not in the great Roads we know not whether it be noxious to the bordering Grounds nay we suppose it only does good and that all the attending Circumstances are perfectly accommodated to the Design for which we are oblig'd to believe that God would have it rain Nevertheless I say that we ought to judge this Rain is produc'd by a general Will if we know that God has setled an Occasional Cause for the like Effects For we must not have recourse to Miracles without Necessity We ought to suppose that God acts herein by the simplest ways and though the Lord of the Field ought to return Thanks to God for the Bounty yet he ought not to imagine it was caus'd in a miraculous manner by a particular Will The Owner of the Field ought to thank God for the Good he receives since God saw and will'd the good Effect of the Rain when he establish'd the general Laws whereof it is a necessary Consequence and that it was for the like Effects they were establish'd On the contrary if the Rains are sometimes hurtful to the Earth as it was not to render them unfruitful that God establish'd the Laws which make it rain since Drought suffices to make them barren 't is plain we ought to thank God and to adore the Wisdom of his Providence even when we do not â—eel the Effects of the Laws establish'd in our Favour X. But to conclude when we cannot be certified by the Circumstances which accompany certain Effects that there is an Occasional Cause establish'd to produce them 't is sufficient to know they are very common and relate to the principal Design of the general Cause in order to judge they are produc'd by a general Will. For Example The Springs which water the Surface of the Earth are subservient to the principal Design of God which is that Mâ—n should not want things necessary to Life I suppose so Besides these Fountains are very common therefore we ought to conclude they are foâ—m'd by some General Laws For as there is much more Wisdom in executing his Designs by Simple and General Means than by Complicated and Particular as I think I have sufficiently prov'd elsewhere We owe that Honour to God as to believe his way of acting is general uniform constant and proportion'd to the Idea we have of an infinite Wisdom These are the Marks by which we are to judge whether an Effect be produc'd by a general Will. I now come to prove that God bestows his Grace on Men by general Laws and that Jesus Christ has been establishâ—d the Occasional Cause to determine their Efficacy I begin by the Proofs of Holy Scripture XI St. Paul teaches us That Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church That he constantly influences it with Spirit and Life That he forms the Members and animates them as the Soul animates the Body or to speak still more clearly the Holy Scripture teaches us two things The first that Jesus Christ prays continually for his Members The second that his Prayers or Desires are always heard Whence I conclude that he was constituted by God the Occasional Cause of Grace and likewise that Grace is never given to Sinners but through his Means The Occasional Causes have constantly and readily
Father MALEBRANCHE HIS TREATISE Concerning the SEARCH after TRUTH The Whole WORK Complete To which is Added The AUTHOR's TREATISE OF Nature and Grace BEING A Consequence of the PRINCIPLES contained in the SEARCH Together with His ANSWER to the ANIMADVERSIONS upon the First Volume His DEFENCE against the ACCUSATIONS of Monsieur De la Ville c. Relating to the same Subject All TRANSLATED by T. TAYLOR M. A. Late of Magdalen College in OXFORD The SECOND EDITION Corrected with great Exactness With the ADDITION of A Short Discourse upon LIGHT and COLOURS By the same AUTHOR Communicated in Manuscript to a Person of Quality in ENGLAND And never before Printed in any Language LONDON Printed by W. Bowyer for Thomas Bennet at the Half-Moon and T. Leigh and W. Midwinter at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1700. THE PREFACE THE Mind of Man is as it were by its Nature situated between its Creator and Corporeal Creatures nothing according to St. Austin being above it but GOD nor beneath it but Body But as the great Elevation it obtains above all Material Beings is no hindrance to its uniting with them and even to its Depending after a sort upon a Piece of Matter so notwithstanding the infinite distance between the Sovereign Being and the Humane Mind the latter is immediately and most intimately united with the former This last Union exalts the Mind above all things 't is this which gives it Life and Light and all its Happiness And of this Union it is St. Austin speaks in very many Places of his Works as of that which is most Natural and Essential to it On the contrary the Union it has with the Body extremely debases it and is at this Day the Principal Cause of all its Errours and its Miseries I do not wonder that the vulgar part of Men or that the Heathen Philosophers should only consider in the Soul its Relation and Union with the Body without acknowledging any Union or Relation that it has to GOD But I admire that the Christian Philosophers who ought to prefer the Spirit of GOD to the Mind of Man Moses to Aristotle St. Austin to any wretched Commentatour upon an Heathen Philosopher should regard the Soul rather as the Form of the Body than as made in and for the Image of GOD that is according to St. Austin for Truth to which alone She is immediately united 'T is true the Soul is united to the Body and is naturally the Form of it but 't is likewise true that she is united to GOD in a much stricter and more essential manner The Relation she has to her Body might have not been But her Relation to GOD is so essential that 't is impossible to conceive GOD should create a Spirit without it It is evident that GOD can have no other End of acting than Himself that He cannot create Spirits but to know and love Him that he can neither give them any Knowledge nor impress upon them any Love but what is for and tends to Himself but He might have refus'd to unite to Bodies those Spirits which He has united Therefore the Relation of our Minds to GOD is Natural Necessary and absolutely Indispensible But their Relation to our Bodies though Natural is not of absolute Necessity nor of indispensible Obligation This is not a proper place to alledge all the Authorities and Arguments which might induce us to believe That it 's more essential to the Mind to be united to GOD than to a Body That would carry us out too far To expose this Truth in its just Light it would be necessary to overthrow the principal Foundations of Pagan Philosophy to explain the Corruptions of Sin to encounter what is falsly named Experience and to argue against the Prejudices and Delusions of the Senses So that to give the common sort of Men a perfect Knowledge of it is not so easie a Task as may be undertaken in a Preface However 't is not difficult to make it out to Attentive Persons and such as are skill'd in True Philosophy For they need only be put in Mind That since the Will of GOD Regulates the Nature of all things it is more congenial to the Nature of the Soul to be united to GOD by the Knowledge of Truth and by the Love of Good than to be united to the Body since 't is certain as is abovesaid that GOD created Spirits more for the Knowledge and Love of Him than for the Informing Bodies This Argument is instantly able to startle Minds any whit enlightned to render them attentive and afterwards to convince them But 't is morally impossible for Minds immers'd in Flesh and Blood whose Knowledge goes no farther than their Senses to be ever convinc'd with such kind of Reasonings No Proofs will serve these People but such as may be even felt and handled since every thing seems Chimerical that makes not some Impression on their Senses The First Man's Sin has so weakned the Union of our Mind with GOD that none but those whose Heart is purify'd and Mind enlightned can perceive it For 't is an imaginary Union in their Opinions who blindly follow the Judgments of the Senses and Motions of the Passions On the contrary it has so strengthned the Soul's Union with the Body as to make us think these two parts of our selves but one single Substance or rather has so enslav'd us to our Senses and Passions as to persuade us our Body is the Principal of the Two Parts whereof we are compos'd If we consider the different Occupations of Men we shall have all the Reason in the World to believe they have this so mean and gross a Notion of themselves For whereas they all love Felicity and the Perfection of their Being and are constantly labouring to grow happier or more perfect could it be suppos'd they set not a greater value on the Body and the Goods of it than on the Mind and the Goods of that when we find them almost always employ'd about things relating to the former and seldom or never thinking on those that are absolutely necessary to the perfection of the latter The greatest part of Mankind lay themselves out with so much Industry and Pains merely for the Support of a wretched Life and to leave their Children some necessary Sustenance for the Preservation of their Bodies Such as by their good Fortune or Chance of Birth are freed from that Necessity do no better manifest by their Business and Employments that they look upon the Soul as the Nobler pâ—ri of their Being Hunting Dancing Gaming Feasting are their ordinary Occupations Their Soul grown the Slave of their Body esteems and cherishes all these Divertisements though wholly unworthy of Her But because their Body is related to all things sensible the Soul is not only the Slave of their Body but through its means and for its sake of all things sensible likewise For 't is by the Body that
much and Fearing nothing from them whilst they keep them within those Boundaries I have prescrib'd them In this Second Book I shall Discourse concerning the Imagination as the Natural Order of things obliges me For there is so near a Relation and Affinity betwixt the Imagination and the Senses that they in no wise ought to be separated We shall see too in the Sequel of the Discourse that these two Powers are no farther Different than according to Degree of more or less This then is the Method which I have Observ'd in this Treatise It is divided into three Parts In the First I Explain the Natural Causes of the Disorder and Errors of the Imagination In the Second I make some Application of these Causes to the more General Errors of the Imagination and I Discourse of such as may be term'd the Moral Causes of these Errors In the Third I treat of the Contagious Communication of Strong Imaginations Though the greatest part of the things contain'd in this Tract may not be so new as those I have already deliver'd in Explaining the Errors of the Senses yet their Use and Advantage will be no less considerable Men of bright and clarify'd Understandings can easily discover the Errors and the Causes of the Errors I am treating of But there are few such Men as can make sufficient Reflection thereupon I pretend not to give Instructions to all the World my design is only to Inform the Ignorant and to Caution and Remind the rest or rather I try to be my own Instructour and Remembrancer It has been said in the First Book that the Organs of our Senses were compos'd of little Fibres which terminate on one hand upon the External parts of the Body and on the Skin and on the â—ther center in the middle of the Brain But these Fibres may be moved in a two-fold manner either by commencing their Motion at those Extremities which terminate in the Brain or at those which terminate on the Surface of the Body Being the Agitation of these Fibres cannot be communicated to the Brain but the Soul must have some Perception or other if the Agitation be begun by the Impression of Objects made upon the External Surface of the Fibres of the Nerves and be communicated to the Brain the Soul thereupon receives a Sensation and judges what she has the Sensation of to be without that is to say She perceives an Object as Present but if it be only the Internal Fibres that are agitated by the Course of the Animal Spirits or in some other manner the Soul Imagines and judges what she imagines to be not without but within the Brain that is she perceives an Object as Absent And this is the difference there is between Sensation and Imagination But it ought to be observ'd That the Fibres of the Brain are more violently agitated by the Impression of External Objects than by the Course of the Animal Spirits and that for this reason the Soul is more nearly touch'd by External Objects which she judges as present and as it were capable of making her instantly sensible of Pleasure or Pain than by the Course of the Animal Spirits And yet it happens sometimes in Persons whose Animal Spirits are put in extream Commotion by Fastings Watchings a scorching Fever or a violent Passion that these Spirits move the Internal Fibres of the Brain with as great a force as External Objects so that these Persons have the Sensation of what they should only have the Imagination and think they See Objects before their Eyes which they only Imagine in the Brain Which evidently shews that in regard of what occurs in the Body the Senses and Imagination differ but in Degree of more or less as I have before declar'd But in Order to give a more distinct and particular Idea of the Imagination we must know that as often as any Change happens in that part of the Brain where the Nerves unite there happens a Change also in the Soul That is as has been already explain'd if there happens any Motion in this part which alters the Order of its Fibres there happens at the same time a new Perception in the Soul and she either Feels or Imagines something afresh And that the Soul is incapable of receiving any fresh Sensation or Imagination without some Alteration in the Fibres of that part of the Brain So that the Faculty of Imagining or the Imagination consists only in the Power the Soul has of framing the Images of Objects by effecting a Change in the Fibres of that part of the Brain which may be call'd the Principal Part as being that which corresponds to all the Parts of our Body and is the Place where the Soul keeps her immediate Residence if I may be so allow'd to speak This manifestly shews that this Power which the Soul has of Forming these Images includes two things one that has its Dependence on the Soul and the other on the Body The first is the Action and the Command of the Will The second is the ready Obedience paid to it by the Animal Spirits which delineate those Images and by the Fibres of the Brain wherein they must be imprinted In this Tract both one and the other of these two things go indifferently by the Name of Imagination nor are they distinguish'd by the Terms Active and Passive which might be given them because the Sense of the thing spoken of easily determines which of the Two is understood whether the Active Imagination of the Soul or the Passive Imagination of the Body I shall not here particularly determine which is that Principal Part of the Brain before-mention'd First Because it would be but an useless thing to do it Secondly Because it is not perfectly and infallibly known And lastly Since I could not convince others it being a Matter incapable of Probation in this place though I should be infallibly assur'd which was this Principal Part I should think it more adviseable to say nothing of it Whether then it be according to the Opinion of Dr. Willis in the two little Bodies call'd by him Corpora Striata that the common Sense resides and the Cells of the Brain preserve the Species of the Memory and the Corpus Callosum be the Seat of Imagination Whether it be according to Fernelius's Opinion in the Pia Mater which involves the Substance of the Brain Whether it be in the Pineal Gland according to the Notion of Des-Cartes or lastly in some other part hitherto undiscover'd that our Soul exercises her Principal Functions is of no great concern to know 'T is enough to be assur'd that there is a Principal Part and this is moreover absolutely necessary and that the Basis of Mr. Des-Cartes's System stands its ground For 't is to be well observ'd that though he should be mistaken in assuring us it is the Pineal Gland to which the Soul is immediately united this could no ways injure the
and likewise those that use them have Bodies diversly dispos'd Two Persons after Dinner though rising from the same Table must sensibly perceive in their Faculty of Imagining so great a Variety of Alterations as is impossible to be describ'd I confess those who are in a perfect state of Health perform Digestion so easily that the Chyle flowing into the Heart neither augments nor diminishes the Heat of it and is scarce any Obstruction to the Blood 's fermenting in the very same manner as if it enter'd all alone So that their Animal Spirits and consequently their Imaginative Faculty admit hardly any Change thereby But as for Old and Infirm People they find in themselves very sensible Alterations after a Repast They generally grow dull and sleepy at least their Imagination flags and languishes and has no longer any Briskness or Alacrity They can conceive nothing distinctly and are unable to apply themselves to any thing In a word they are quite different and other sort of People from what they were before But that those of a more sound and robust Complection may likewise have sensible proofs of what I have said they need only make reflection on what happens to them in Drinking Wine somewhat more freely than ordinary or on what would fall out upon their drinking Wine at one Meal and Water at another For it is certain that unless they be extreamly stupid or that their Body be of a make very extraordinary they will suddainly feel in themselves some Briskness or little Drousiness or some such other accidental thing Wine is so spirituous that it is Animal Spirits almost ready made But Spirits a little too libertine and unruly that not easily submit to the orders of the Will by reason of their Solidity and excessive Agitation Thus it produces even in Men that are of a most strong and vigorous Constitution greater Changes in the Imagination and in all the parts of the Body than Meats and other Liquors It gives a Man a Foil in Plautus's Expression and produces many Effects in the Mind less advantagious than those describ'd by Horace in these Lines Quid non Ebrietas designat operta recludit Spes jubet esse ratas in praelia trudit inermem Sollicitis animis onus eximit addocet artes Foecundi calices quem non fecere disertum Contractâ quem non in paupertate solutum It would be no hard matter to give a Reason for all the Principal Effects produc'd in the Animal Spirits and thereupon in the Brain and in the Soul it self by this Commixture of the Chyle and Blood as to explain how Wine exhilarates and gives a Man a certain Sprightliness of Mind when taken with Moderation why it Brutifies a Man in process of time by being drunk to excess why a Man is drousie after a good Meal and a great many others of like Nature for which very ridiculous Accounts are usually given But besides that I am not writing a Tract of Physicks I must have been necessitated to have given some Idea of the Anatomy of the Brain or have made some Supposition as Monsieur Des-Cartes has done before me in his Treatise concerning Man without which it were impossible to explain ones self But finally if a Man shall read with Attention that Discourse of Monsieur Des-Cartes he will possibly be satisfy'd as to all these particular Inquiries because that Author explains all these things at least he furnishes us with sufficient Knowledge of them to be able of our selves to discover them by Meditation provided we are any whit acquainted with his Principles CHAP. III. That the Air imploy'd in Respiration causes some Change in the Animal Spirits THE second general Cause of the Changes which happen in the Animal Spirits is the Air we breath For though it does not forthwith make such sensible Impressions as the Chyle yet it causes at long run what the Juices of Meats do in a much shorter time This Air passes out of the Branches of the Trachea into those of the Arteria Venosa Hence it mingles and ferments with the rest of the Blood in the Heart and according to its own particular Disposition and that of the Blood it produces very great Changes in the Animal Spirits and consequently in the Imaginative Faculty I know there are some Persons who will not be persuaded that the Air mixes with the Blood in the Lungs and Heart because they cannot discover with their Eyes the Passages in the Branches of the Trachea and in those of the Arteria Venosa through which the Air is communicated But the Action of the Intellect ought not to stop when that of the Senses can go no farther It can penetrate that which to them is impenetrable and lay hold on things which have no handle for the Senses 'T is not to be question'd but some parts of the Blood continually pass through the Branches of the Vena Arteriosa into those of the Trachea The Smell and Moisture of the Breath sufficiently prove it and yet the Passages of that Communication are imperceptible Why then may not the subtil parts of Air be allow'd to pass through the Branches of the Trachea into the Arteria Venosa though the Passages of this Communication be undiscernible In fine a much greater quantity of Humours transpire through the imperceptible Pores of the Arteries and the Skin than escape through the other Avenues of the Body and even the Pores of the most solid Metals are not so close but there are found Bodies in Nature little enough to find a free passage through them since otherwise these Pores would quickly be entirely stopt It is true that the course and ragged parts of the Air cannot penetrate through the ordinary Pores of Bodies and that Water it self though extreamly gross can glide through those crannies which will not give admittance to them But we speak not here of the course or branch'd and ragged Parts of Air they seem to be of little use to Fermentation We only speak of the little stiff and pungent Parts and such as have none or very few Branches to impede their passage because these are the fittest for the Fermentation of the Blood I might notwithstanding affirm upon the Testimony of Silvius that even the coursest Air passes from the Trachea to the Heart who testifies he has seen it pass thither by the Art and Ingenuity of Mr. de Swammerdam For 't is more reasonable to believe a Man who says he has seen it than a thousand others who talk at random It is certain then that the most refin'd and subtil Parts of Air which we breath enter into the Heart and there together with the Blood and Chyle keep up the Fire which gives Life and Motion to our Body and that according to their different Qualities they introduce great Changes in the Fermentation of the Blood and in the Animal Spirits We daily discover the Truth of this by the various Humours and the different Characters of
soon as we have given some Idea of the Memory and Habits that is to say of that facility we have of thinking upon things which we have already thought upon and doing the same things we have already done The Methodical Order of our Discourse will have it so In order to give an Explication of the Memory it should be call'd to Mind what has been several times already inculcated that all our different Preceptions are affix'd to the Changes which happen to the Fibres of the Principal part of the Brain wherein the Soul more particularly resides This one Supposition being laid down the Nature of the Memory is Explain'd for as the Branches of a Tree which have continued for some time bent after a particular manner preserve a readiness and facility of being bent afresh in the same manner so the Fibres of the Brain having once receiv'd certain Impressions from the current of the Animal Spirits and from the Action of Objects upon them retain for a considerable time some Facility of receiving the same Dispositions Now the Memory consists only in that Promptness or Facility since a Man thinks upon the same things whenever the Brain receives the same Impressions And whereas the Animal Spirits act sometimes more and sometimes less strongly upon the Substance of the Brain and External Objects make far greater Impressions than the Imagination singly it is from hence easie to discover why a Man does not equally remember all the things he has formerly perceiv'd how for instance it comes to pass that what a Man has often perceived is generally represented livelier to the Soul than what a Man has had but now and then a Preception of why he more distinctly remembers the things he has seen than those he has only imagin'd and so why for example a Man shall know better the distribution of the Veins in the Liver by once seeing the Dissection of that part than by often reading it in a Book of Anatomy and so of other things of like nature But if a Man would make reflection upon what has been formerly said concerning the Imagination and upon the little which has just now been spoken concerning the Memory and if he be rid of that prejudice that our Brain is too little for the hoarding up and preserving such abundance of Traces and Impressions he will take pleasure in discovering the cause of all those wonderful Effects of the Memory St. Austin with so much admiration speaks of in the Tenth Book of his Confessions But I shall not explain these things more at large as believing it more expedient for every Man to explain them to himself by some Essay of Thought for as much as the things that way discover'd are always more grateful and agreeable and make greater Impression on us than those we learn from other Men. It is necessary to the Explication of the Habits to know the manner whereby we have reason to think the Soul moves the parts of the Body to which she is united and that is this According to all appearances in the World there are always in some places of the Brain whatever they be a very great Quantity of Animal Spirits very rapidly mov'd by the Heat of the Heart from whence they proceeded and most readily dispos'd to glide into those places where they find an easie and an open passage All the Nerves terminate in the Receptacle of those Spirits and the Soul has the Power of determining their Motion and conducting them through the Nerves into all the Muscles of the Body These Spirits entering therein swell them up and consequently contract them And thus they move the parts to which the Muscles are affix'd We shall readily be perswaded that the Soul moves the Body in the manner thus explain'd if it be observ'd that when a Man has been a long time fasting let him try how he will to give certain motions to his Body he will be unable to effect them and even will be at some pains to stand upon his Legs But if so be he find a way of conveying into his Heart something very Spirituous as Wine or any like nutriment he forthwith perceives that his Body obeys his Desires with far greater facility and that he is able to move it how he pleases For this single Experiment makes it one would think sufficiently manifest that the Soul is incapable of giving Motion to her Body for want of Animal Spirits and that by their means she re-assumes her Sovereignity and Dominion over it Now these Inflations of the Muscles are so plain and palpable in the Motions of our Arms and other parts of our Body and 't is so reasonable to believe these Muscles cannot receive any Inflation without the admission of some body into them as a Bladder cannot be blown and extended without the entrance of the Air or something else that it seems not to be doubted but the Animal Spirits are driven from the Brain through the Nerves into the Muscles to dilate them and to produce in them all the Motions we desire For a Muscles being full is necessarily shorter than when it is empty and so attracts and moves the part to which it is conjoin'd as may be seen explain'd more at large in Mr. Des Cartes Treatise of the Passions and in that Concerning Man I do not however deliver that Explication as perfectly demonstrated in all its parts To render it entirely evident there are many things farther requisite to be demanded without which it is next to impossible to explain ones self But the Knowledge of them is not so useful for our Subject for let the Explication be true or false it will not fail to be of equal use to acquaint us with the Nature of the Habits Since if the Soul moves not the Body in that manner it necessarily moves it in some other that comes up near enough to it to deduce those consequences from it which we shall infer But to the intent we may pursue our Explication it is necessary to observe that the Spirits find not the paths through which they ought to pass always so free and open as they should be which is the occasion for example of the Difficulty we meet with in moving the Fingers with that Nimbleness as is necessary to play on Musical Instruments or the Muscles imploy'd in Pronunciation to pronounce the Words of a strange Language but that the Animal Spirits by little and little so open and plain the Ways by their continued succession as to take away in time all manner of Resistance Now the Habits consist in that Facility the Animal Spirits have of passing into the Members of our Body 'T is the easiest thing imaginable according to this Explication to resolve a multitude of Questions relating to the Habits As why for instance Children are more capable of acquiring new Habits than Persons of a more consummate Age. Why it is a thing of such Difficulty to lay aside an inveterate
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
not the greatest that is possible Children in their Mother's Womb whose Bodies are not yet compleatly form'd and who are of themselves in a state of the greatest Weakness Impotency and Want that can possibly be conceiv'd ought to be united likewise to their Mothers in the strictest manner imaginable And though their Soul be separate from that of their Mothers yet since their Body is not loos'd and disengaged from her's it ought to be concluded they have the same Sentiments and the same Passions in a word all the same Thoughts as are excited in the Soul on occasion of the Motions which are produc'd in the Body Thus Infants see what their Mothers see they hear the same Cries they receive the same Impressions of Objects and are agitated with the same Passions For since the Air of the Face of a Man in a Passion pierces those which look upon him and Naturally impresses in them a Passion resembling that with which he is possess'd though the Union of that Man with those that consider him be not very great and binding one would think there were good Reason to believe the Mothers capable of imprinting on their Infants all the same Sentiments they are touch'd with and all the same Passions themselves are acted withal For in short the Body of an Infant in the Womb is all of a piece with the Body of the Mother the Blood and the Spirits are common to them both the Sensations and Passions are the Natural Result and Consequents of the Motions of the Blood and Spirits and these Motions are necessarily communicated from the Mother to the Child Therefore the Passions and Sensations and generally all the Thoughts occasion'd by the Body are common to the Mother and the Child These things seem to me beyond exception true for several Reasons which yet I advance not here but as a Supposition which I think will be sufficiently demonstrated by what follows For every Supposition that can stand the shock of all the Difficulties possible to be rais'd against it and repel them ought to pass for an indisputable Principle The invisible Bonds and Cements wherewith the Author of Nature has united all his Works are worthy of the Wisdom of GOD and the Admiration of Men there is nothing in the World at once more surprizing and instructing than this but we are too inconsiderate to regard it We leave our selves to be conducted without considering who conducts us or how he does it Nature is conceal'd from our Eyes as well as its Author and we feel the Motions that are produc'd in us without considering from what Springs they are And yet there are few things more necessary to be known by us since upon the Knowledge of them it is that the Explication of all things relating to Man depends There are certainly in our Brain some secret Springs and Movements which naturally incline us to Imitation for this is necessary to Civil Society It is not only necessary for Children to believe their Fathers for Disciples to believe their Masters and Inferiours their Superiours It is moreover necessary that all Men should be inclinable to take up the like Exteriour Manners and to do the same Actions as those with whom they mean to live For to the intent that Men should have a Connexion and Dependance on each other 't is necessary they come near to one another in the Characters hoth of Body and Mind This is the Fundamental Principle of Abundance of things we shall treat of in the following Discourse But as to what we have to say in this Chapter it is farther necessary to know that there are in the Brain some Natural Dispositions which incline us to Compassion as well as to Imitation It ought to be known then That the Animal Spirits do not only Naturally convey themselves into the Parts of our Body for the performing the same Actions and the same Motions which we see others do but farther for the Receiving after a manner their Hurts and Injuries and participating of their Miseries For Experience teaches us that when we very attentively consider a Man violently struck or dangerously wounded the Spirits impetuously hasten to the Parts of our Body correspondent to those we see wounded in another provided we turn not the current of them another way by a voluntary and forcible Titillation of a different Part from that which we see hurt or wounded Or that the Natural Course of the Spirits towards the Heart and Viscerous parts which is usual in sudden Commotions changes not the Determination of the Flux of the Spirits we are speaking of and hurries them along with them Or lastly unless some extraordinary Connection of the Traces of the Brain with the motions of the Spirits effects the same thing This Translation of the Spirits into the Parts of our Body which are Analogous to those we see injuriously treated in others makes a very sensible Impression on Persons of a fine and delicate Constitution who have a lively Imagination and very soft and tender Flesh. For they feel for instance a kind of shivering or trembling in their Legs by an attentive beholding any one that has a Sore there or actually receives a blow in them For a confirmation of this take what a Friend of mine wrote to me to the same purpose An Old Gentleman that liv'd with one of my Sisters being sick a Young Maid held the Candle whil'st he was Blooded in the Foot But as she saw the Surgeon strike in the Lancet she was seiz'd with such an Apprehension as to feel three or four days afterwards such a piercing Pain in the same part of her Foot as forc'd her to keep her Bed all that time The Reason whereof is this That the Spirits impetuously diffuse themselves into these parts of our Body that by keeping them more intense they may render them more Sensible to the Soul and may put her upon her guard and make her solicitous to avoid those Evils which we behold in others This Compassion in Bodies produces another Compassion in Minds It induces us to Condole and Comfort others in their Troubles because in so doing we Comfort and Solace our selves In fine it gives a check to our Malice and Cruelty For the horrour of Blood and the fear of Death in a word the sensible impression of Compassion often prevents those Persons from Butchering beasts who are the most convincingly perswaded they are meer Machines Because a great many Men are unable to Kill them without Wounding themselves by a Repercussive stroke of Compassion But that which here is most especially remarkable is That the Sensible View of a Wound receiv'd by another produces in those which behold it a so much greater Wound as their Constitution is more weak and delicate Because that sensible View impetuously throwing the Animal Spirits into the Parts of the Body which are correspondent to those they see hurt or wounded they must needs make a greater Impression in the Fibres
that might still be brought that the fore-knowledge of these inconveniences ought not to have prevented GOD from executing his Design It may be affirm'd in one Sense that GOD had never a Design of making Monsters for it seems evident to me that supposing he should make but one Animal he would never make it Monstrous But his Design being to produce an admirably contriv'd Work by the most simple means and to unite all his Creatures to one another he fore-saw certain Effects that would necessarily follow from that Order and Nature of Things and that was not sufficient to make him change his Purpose and Design For though in conclusion a Monster consider'd disjunctively be an imperfect Work yet when conjoyn'd with the rest of the Creation it renders not the World imperfect We have sufficiently explain'd what the Imagination of a Mother is capable of working upon the Body of her Child Let us now examine the influence she has upon his Mind and let us try to discover the first and topmost irregularities of the Vnderstanding and Will of Men in their Original For this is our main and principal Design 'T is certain that the Traces of the Brain are accompany'd with Sensations and Idea's of the Soul and that the Motions of the Animal Spirits are never excited in the Body but there are Motions in the Soul correspondent to them In a word it is certain that all the Corporeal Passions and Sensations are attended with real Sensations and Passions of the Soul Now according to our first Supposition Mothers communicate to their Children the Traces of their Brain and consequently the Motions of their Animal Spirits Therefore they breed in the Mind of their Infants the same Sensations and Passions themselves are affected with and consequently corrupt their Moral and Intellectual Capacity several ways If it be so common for Children to bear imprinted in their Faces the Marks or Traces of the Idea that made an impression on their Mother though the Cutaneous Fibres make a stronger resistance to the current of the Spirits than the soft and tender parts of the Brain and the Spirits are in a greater Agitation in the Brain than towards the Surface of the Body it can't be reasonably doubted but the Animal Spirits of the Mother produce in the Brain of their Children many Tracks and Footsteps of their disorderly Motions Now the great Traces of the Brain and the Emotions of the Spirits answering to them being a long time preserv'd and sometimes for the whole course of a Man's Life it is plain that as there are few Women but have their Weaknesses and Failings and are disturb'd with some Passion or other during the Season of their Breeding there must needs be but few Children but what bring into the World with them a Mind some way or other preposterously fram'd and are born Slaves to some domineering Passion We have but too frequent Experience of these things and all Men know well enough that there are whole Families subject to great Weaknesses of Imagination which have been hereditarily transmitted from their Ancestors But it would be unnecessary here to give particular instances On the contrary it is more expedient for the Consolation of some Persons to affirm that these Infirmities of their Fore-fathers being not Natural or essential to the Nature of Man the Traces and Impresses of the Brain which were the cause of them may by degrees wear out and in time be quite effac'd Yet it will not be amiss to relate here an Instance of James I. King of England which is mention'd by Sir Kenelm Digby in his Book that he publish'd concerning Sympathetick Powder He asserts in that Book that Mary Stuart being big with King James some Scotch Lords rush'd into her Chamber and kill'd her Secretary who was an Italian before her Face though she interpos'd her self between them to prevent the Assassination that this Princess receiv'd some slight hurts and that the Fright she was put into made such deep impressions in her Imagination as were communicated to the Infant she bore in her Womb insomuch that King James her Son was unable all his Life to behold a naked Sword He says he experimentally knew it at the time he was Knighted For the King when he should have laid the Sword upon his Shoulder run it directly against his Face and had wounded him with it if some one had not guided it to the proper place There are so many Examples of this kind that it would be needless to turn over Authors for them And I believe there is no body will dispute the truth of these things For in short we see very many Persons that can't endure the sight of a Rat a Mouse a Cat or a Frog and especially creeping Creatures as Snakes and Serpents and who know no other Reason of these their extraordinary Aversions than the Fears their Mothers were put in by these several Creatures at the time of their going with Child But that which I would above all have observ'd upon this subject is That there are all appearances imaginable of Men's preserving to this day in their Brain the Traces and Impressions of their first Parents For as Animals produce others that are like them and with the like impresses in their Brain which are the Cause that Animals of the same Species have the same Sympathies and Antipathies and perform the same Actions at the same junctures and the like occasions So our First Parents after their Sin receiv'd such great Prints and deep Traces in their Brain through the impression of sensible Objects as might easily have been communicated to their Children Insomuch that the great Adheâ—ion which is found in us from our Mother's Womb to sensible Objects and the great distance betwixt us and GOD in this our imperfect state may in some measure be accounted for by what we have been saying For since there is a necessity from the establish'd Order of Nature that the Thoughts of the Soul should be conformable to the Traces of the Brain we may affirm that from the time of our Formation in our Mother's Belly we are under Sin and stain'd with the Corruption of our Parents since we Date from thence our vehement Application to sensible Pleasures Having in our Brain the like Characters and Impresses with those Persons who gave us Being we must necessarily have the same Thoughts and the same Inclinations with respect to Sensible Objects And thus we must come into the World with Concupiscence about us and infected with Original Sin We must be born with Concupiscence if Concupiscence be nothing but a Natural Effort made by the Traces of the Brain upon the Mind to unite it to things sensible And we must be born with Original Sin if Original Sin be nothing but the Reign of Concupiscence and that Effort grown as it were victorious and Master of the Infant 's Heart and Mind Now there is great probability that this Reign or Victory of
expected that all the Accidents which befal those that have been sick of the Scurvy must befal him too The same Medicines therefore are prescrib'd him and 't is matter of amazement to find they have not the same Effect as they have been known to have had in others An Author applies himself to one kind of Study The Traces of the Subject he 's imploy'd about are so deeply imprinted and make such lively Radiations through the Brain as to confound and efface sometimes the Traces of things of a quite different kind There has been a Man for instance that has wrote many bulky Volumes on the Cross this made him discover a Cross in every thing he look'd upon and 't is with Reason that Father Morinus handsomly rallies him for thinking a Medal represented a Cross though it represented quite another thing 'T was by such another unlucky turn of Imagination Gilbertus and many others after having studied the Load-stone and admir'd its properties must needs reduce to these Magnetick Qualities abundance of Natural Effects that had no Relation to them in the World The Instances I have here alledg'd suffice to prove that the great facility of the Imagination's representing Objects that are familiar to it and the difficulty it finds in Imagining those that are Novel is the Reason of Mens forming almost ever such Idea's as may be styl'd mix'd and impure and of the Mind 's judging of things only with Relation to it self and its former Thoughts And thus the different Passions of Men their Inclinations Conditions Imployments Qualities Studies finally all their different Ways and Scopes of Life putting very considerable Differences in their Idea's occasion them to fall into innumerable Errors which we shall explain in the following Discourse Which was the reason of My Lord Bacon's speaking this most judicious Sentence Omnes perceptiones tam sensûs quam mentis sunt ex analogiâ hominis non ex analogiâ universi Estque Intellectus humanus instar speculi inaequalis ad radios rerum qui suam Naturam naturae rerum immiscet eamque distorquet inficit CHAP. III. Of the Mutual Connection between the Idea's and the Traces of the Brain and of the Mutual Connection there is between Traces and Traces Idea's and Idea's AMONG the whole Mass of Material Beings there is nothing more worthy of the Contemplation of Men than the Contexture of their own Body and the Correspondence found between the Parts that compose it And among all things Spiritual there is nothing the Knowledge whereof is more necessary than that of their Soul and of all the Relations she is indispensably under to GOD and Naturally to the Body 'T is not enough to have a confus'd Knowledge or Sensation that the Traces of the Brain are mutually connected to each other and that they are pursued by the Motion of the Animal Spirits that the Traces when excited in the Brain excite the Idea's in the Understanding and that the Motions that arise in the Animal Spirits raise the Passions in the Will We ought as far as is possible to have a distinct Knowledge of the Cause of all these different Connections but especially of the Effects they are capable of producing We ought to know the Cause thereof in as much as it is necessary to know our Guide and Conductor who alone is capable of acting in us and of rendring us happy or miserable and we ought to know the Effect of them it being necessary to know our selves as much as possible and other Men with whom we are oblig'd to live So should we know the means both of conducting our selves to and preserving our selves in the most happy and perfect state we are capable of attaining by the order of Nature and the Precepts of the Gospel and so should we be able to frame our Lives sociably with Men by exactly knowing the means of making use of them in our Exigencies and assisting them in their Miseries I pretend not to Explain in this Chapter a Subject so vast and Comprehensive nor have I that Opinion of my self as to think I should throughly do it in this whole Work There are many things I am still ignorant of and despair of ever knowing well and there are others which I presume I know but am unable to explicate For there is no mind so little and so narrow but may by Meditation discover more Truths than can be deduc'd at length by the most Eloquent Man in the World We are not to imagine with a great part of the Philosophers that the Mind becomes Body when united to the Body and that the Body becomes Mind when united to the Mind The Soul is not expanded through all the parts of the Body in order to give Life and Motion to it as the Imagination represents nor does the Body become capable of Sensation by its Union with the Mind as our treacherous and abusive Senses would seem to perswade us Either Substance preserves its own particular Being and as the Soul is incapable of Extension and Motions so the Body is incapable of Thought and Inclinations All the Affinity that we know between the Body and Mind consists in the Natural and Mutual correspondence of the Thoughts of the Soul with the Traces of the Brain and of the Emotions of the Soul with the Motions of the Animal Spirits When the Soul receives some new Idea's some new Traces are imprinted on the Brain and when Objects produce new Traces the Soul receives new Idea's Which is not said as if the Soul consider'd these Traces since she has no knowledge of them or as if these Traces included these Idea's since there is no Analogy betwixt them or lastly as if she receiv'd her Idea's from these Traces for 't is inconceivable as shall be explain'd hereafter how the Mind should receive any thing from the Body and become more enlightned than she is by turning towards it as the Philosophers pretend who would have the Souls Perception of all things to be caus'd Per conversionem ad phantasmata by the Conversion to the Phantasms or Traces of the Brain Thus when the Soul wills the moving of her Arm the Arm is mov'd though she not so much as knows what ought to be done to the moving it and when the Animal Spirits are agitated the Soul finds a Commotion in her self though she is ignorant whether there be any such thing as Animal Spirits in her Body When I come to treat of the Passions I shall speak of the Connection there is between the Traces of the Brain and the Motions of the Spirits and of that which is between the Idea's and the Emotions of the Soul for all the Passions have their Dependance thereon I am to Discourse at present only of the Connection between Traces and Idea's and the Connection Traces have with one another There are three very considerable Causes of the Connection of Idea's with the Traces of the Brain The first and most general
Well-being depend in truth on GOD alone and not on Men and that real Greatness which shall make them everlastingly happy consists not in the Rank they bear in the imagination of others as impotent and miserable as themselves but in an humble Submission to the Will of GOD who being just will not fail to reward such as persevere in the Order he has prescrib'd them But Men not only desire actually to possess Science and Vertue Dignities and Riches but lay out their whole Endeavours that they may at least be thought really to possess them And if it may be said of them That they are more sollicitous to be Truly Rich than to be thought so we may say too they are less careful to be Truly Vertuous than to appear so for as was handsomly said by the Author of the Moral Reflexions Vertue would not go far unless Vanity bore her Company The Reputation of being Rich Learned Vertuous produces in the Imagination of those about us or that are of nearest Concernment to us very advantageous Dispositions on our behalf it lays them prostrate at our feet actuates them on our account and inspires them with all the Motions that tend to the preservation of our Being and the augmentation of our Greatness which makes Men careful to preserve their Reputation as a Good they have need of to live conveniently in the World All Men then have an Inclination for Vertue Science Honours and Riches and for the Reputation of possessing these Advantages We will now make it appear by some Instances how these Inclinations may engage us in Errour and will begin with the Inclination for Vertue or for the Appearance of it Those who seriously labour to become Vertuous employ most of their Thoughts and Time in the learning Religion and the exercise of Good Works They desire with St. Paul to know only CHRIST Crucify'd the Remedy of the Disease and Corruption of their Nature They wish for no more Light than is requisite to their living as becomes Christians and to discover their Duties And next they study only to grow fervent and punctual in Devotion and so trouble not themselves with those Sciences which seem barren and insignificant to their Salvation Which Conduct is not to be blam'd but highly esteem'd Happy should we think our selves exactly to have serv'd it as we repent the not having sufficiently persu'd it But what is reprovable is That there being undoubtedly Sciences purely Humane of greatest Certainty as well as Use which take off the Mind from sensible things and accustom or prepare it insensibly to relish the Truths of the Gospel Some pious Persons too liberally condemn them without Examination as either unprofitable or uncertain True it is that most of the Sciences are very uncertain and useless 'T is no Mistake to think they contain only very insignificant Truths No body 's oblig'd to study them and 't is better to despise them altogether than to be charm'd and dazl'd with them However we may affirm That the Knowledge of some Metaphysical Truths is most necessary The Knowledge of an Universal Cause or of the Existence of a GOD is of indispensible necessity since even the Certainty of Faith depends on the Knowledge which Reason affords of the Existence of a GOD We ought to know that 't is His Will that constitutes and governs Nature that the Strength and Power of Natural Causes is merely his Will in a word that all things depend on GOD all manner of ways Again 't is necessary to know what is Truth the means to distinguish it from Errour The Distinction betwixt Bodies and Spirits and the Consequences that may be drawn from it as the Immortality of the Soul and many others of like nature which may be infallibly known The Knowledge of Man or of one's Self is a Science that cannot reasonably be despis'd It is stor'd with infinite things absolutely necessary to be known in order to an Accuracy and Penetration of Mind And if it may be said that a gross and stupid Man is infinitely superiour to Matter because he knows that he exists which Matter does not know Those who are acquainted with the Nature of Man are certainly much above the Ignorant and Stupid because they know what they are which the others don't But the Science of Man does not only merit our Esteem because it exalts us above others but much more for abasing us and humbling us before GOD. This Science throughly acquaints us with the Dependence we have on him in all things even in our most customary Actions It manifestly discovers the Corruption of our Nature disposes us to have recourse to him who alone can cure us to fasten upon him to distrust our selves and quit our Self-adherencies and Engagements and furnishes us with several other very requisite Dispositions of Mind to fit us for the Grace of the Gospel Nor can a superficial Tincture and a general Knowledge at least of Mathematicks and Nature be dispens'd with Those Sciences should be learn'd when we are young as disengaging the Mind from things sensible and preventing its growing soft and effeminate they are very useful to the Conduct of Life and even bring us to GOD the Knowledge of Nature doing it directly of it self and that of Mathematicks collaterally by the Disgust it infuses for the false Impressions of the Senses The Vertuous and Religious would do well not to dis-esteem these Sciences nor look on them as uncertain or useless till they are certain they have study'd them so throughly that they can pass a sound Judgment on them There are others enough which they are at liberty to despise as peremptorily as they please They may sentence to the Flames the Heathen Poets and Philosophers the Rabbins with some Historians and a multitude of Authors on whose Stock many set up for Fame and Learning and we shall easily forgive them But let them not condemn the Knowledge of Nature as contrary to Religion since Nature being rul'd by the Will of GOD the True Knowledge of it gives us to understand and admire the Divine Power Greatness and Wisdom For last of all it is probable that GOD has form'd the Universe that Spirits might be employ'd in studying it and by that study be brought to know and reverence its Author So that those who condemn the study of Nature seem to be Opposers of the Will of GOD but that they would have it thought that since the Fall the Humane Mind is incapacitated for that study Nor let it be said that the Knowledge concerning Man puffs up the Mind and renders it vain and arrogant because those who are suppos'd to understand Humane Nature best though frequently they understand it very little are intolerably proud and presumptuous For 't is plain that no Man can be well acquainted with himself but he must be sensible of his Weakness and his Misery So then it is not true and solid Piety that so commonly condemns what it does not
the Will of man as a Will it essentially depends on the Love that God bears to himself on the Eternal Law and in short on the Will of God It is only because God loves himself that we love any thing for if God did not love himself or did not continually influence the Soul of man with a Love like his own that is with the Motion of Love which a Man feels in himself for Good in general we should love nothing we should will nothing and consequently should be destitute of Will since Will is nothing else but that Impression of Nature that carries us towards Good in general as hath been said several times But the Will considered as the Will of Man essentially depends upon the Body since it is by reason of the Motion of the Blood and Animal Spirits that it feels its self affected with all its sensible Commotions And therefore I have called Natural Inclinations all the Motions which the Soul has common with pure Intelligences together with some in which the Body hath a great Share but of which it is only the indirect Cause and End and I have explained them in the foregoing Book Here I understand by Passions All the Motions which naturally affect the Soul on occasion of the extraordinary Motion of the Blood and Animal Spirits And so shall these sensible Commotions be the Subject of this Book Though the Passions be inseparable from the Inclinations and Men be only susceptible of a sensible Love and Hatred because they are capable of a Spiritual Love and Hatred however it was though fit to treat of them separately in order to prevent Confusion For if it be considered That the Passions are far stronger and livelyer than the Natural Inclinations that they have for the most part other Objects and are always produced by different Causes it will be granted That we do not distinguish without Reason things that are inseparable in their own Nature Men are capable of Sensations and Imaginations only because they are capable of pure Intellections the Senses and Imagination being inseparable from the Mind and yet none finds fault with those that distinctly treat of those Faculties of the Soul which are naturally inseparable Last of all the Senses and Imagination differ not more from the pure Understanding than the Passions from the Inclinations And therefore as the three first Faculties use to be distinguished so ought also the two last that we may the better distinguish what the Soul receives from its Author with Relation to its Body from that which it also has from him but without that Relation The only Inconveniency that may grow out of the distinction of two things so naturally united is the necessity of repeating some things that had been said before as is usual in the like occasions Man is one though he be Compounded of several parts and the union of those parts is so intimate that one of them cannot be affected without a Commotion of the whole All his Faculties are linked together and so subordinated that it is impossible to explain some of them without touching upon the others So that when we labour to find out a Method to prevent Confusion we necessarily fall into Repetitions but 't is better to repeat than not to be Methodical because we ought above all to be plain and intelligible and therefore whatever we can doe in this occasion is to repeat if possible without wearying the Reader The Passions of the Soul are Impressions of the Author of Nature which incline us to love our Body and whatever is useful for its preservation As the natural Inclinations are Impressions of the same Author that principally move us to love him as the Sovereign Good The natural or occasional Cause of these Impressions is the Motion of the Animal Spirits which disperse through the Body to produce and maintain in it a disposition suitable to the Object perceiv'd that the Mind and Body may in that conjuncture mutually help each other For 't is the Institution of God that our Willings be attended with such Motions of our Body as are fit to put them in execution and that the Motions of our Body which Machinally rise in us at the perception of some Object be follow'd with a Passion of the Soul that inclines us to will what seems at that time profitable to the Body It is the continual Impression of the Will of God upon us that keeps us so strictly united to a portion of matter for if that Impression of his Will should cease but a moment we should instantly be rid of the Dependency upon our Body and all the Changes it undergoes For I cannot understand what some people imagine that there is a necessary Connection betwixt the Motion of the Blood and Animal Spirits and the Commotions of the Soul Some small Particles of Choler violently move in the Brain must therefore the Soul be agitated with some Passion and must that Passion be Anger rather than Love What Relation can there be conceived betwixt the Idea of an Enemy's Imperfections the Passion of Contempt or Hatred and the Corporeal Motion of some Particles of the Blood that beat against some parts of the Brain How they can imagine that the one depend upon the other and that the Union or Connection of two things so distant and so incompatible as the Mind and Matter can be caused and preserved any otherwise than by the continual and Almighty Will of the Author of Nature is to me unconceivable Those that suppose that Bodies necessarily and by themselves communicate their Motion to each other in the instant of their concourse make but a probable supposition neither is their prejudice altogether groundless since Bodies seem to have an Essential Relation to Bodies But the Mind and Body are two sorts of Beings so opposite that those who think that the Commotions of the Soul necessarily follow upon the Motion of the Blood and Animal Spirits do it without the least probability For nothing but our own Consciousness of the Union of those two Beings and the Ignorance of the continual Operations of God upon his Creatures can make us imagine another Cause of the Union of our Soul and Body than the Will of God It is hard to determine whether that Union or Connection of the thoughts of the Mind of Man with the Motions of his Body is a punishment of Sin or a Gift of Nature And some persons believe it a rash and imprudent Attempt to chuse one of these Opinions rather than the other It is well known that Man before his Sin was not a Slave but absolute Master of his Passions and that he could merely by his Will stop at his pleasure the Agitation of the Blood that caused them But we can hardly persuade our selves that the Body did not importune the Soul of the first Man to find out such things as were fit for the preservation of his Life We can scarce believe but Adam before his
the Christians is quite different from that they deny not but Pain is an Evil and that it is hard to be separated from those things to which Nature has united us or to rid our selves from the Slavery Sin has reduc'd us to They agree that it is a Disorder that the Soul shall depend upon her Body but they own withall that she depends upon it and even so much that she cannot free her self from that Subjection but by the Grace of our Lord. I see saith St. Paul another Law in my Members warring against the Law of my Mind and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin which is in my Members O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death the Grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord shall do it The Son of God his Apostles and all his true Disciples command us above all to be Patient because they know that Misâ—ry must be the Expectâ—tion and Portion of the Righteous In short true Christians or true Philosophers say nothing but what is agreeable to sound Reason and Experience whereas all Nature continually impugns the proud Opinion and presumption of the Stoicks The Christians know that to free themselves in some manner from the Subjection they are under they must endeavour to deprive themselves of all those things that they cannot enjoy without Pleasure nor want without Pain it being the only means to preserve that Peace and Liberty of Mind which they owe to their Deliverer's Beneficence On the contrary the Stoicks following the false Notions of their Chimerical Philophy imagine that they are wise and happy and that they need but think upon Vertue and Independency to become Vertuous and Independent Sound Reason and Experience assure us that the best way not to feel the smart of stinging is to shun the Nettle but the Stoicks say Sting me never so much I shall by the strength of my Mind and the help of my Philosophy raise my self so high above my Body that all your pricking shall not reach me I can demonstrate that my Happiness depends not upon it and that Pain is not an Evil and you shall see by the Colour of my Face and by the whole deportment of my Body that my Philosophy has made me invulnerable Their Pride bears up their Courage however it hinders not but that they should suffer Pain with Vexation and be really miserable so that their Union with their Body is not destroyed nor their Pain vanished but all this proceeds from their Union with other Men strengthened by the desire of their Esteem which in some manner withstands the Union of their Soul with their Body The sensible view of the Spectators to whom they are united stops the Course of the Animal Spirits that should follow upon the pain and blots out the Impression they would make upon their Face for was there no body to look on them that Phantasm of Constancy and Liberty of Mind would presently vanish So that the Stoicks do only in some degree withstand the Union of their Soul to their Body by making themselves greater Slaves to other Men to whom they are united by a drift of Glory And 't is therefore an undoubted truth that all Men are united to all sensible things both by Nature and their Concupiscence which may sufficiently be known by Experience and of which all the Actions of Mankind are sensible demonstrations though Reason seems to oppose it Though this Union be common to all Men 't is not however of an equal Extent and Strength in all for as it proceeds from the Knowledge of the Mind so it may be said that we are not actually united to unknown Objects A Clown in his Cottage does not concern himself with the Glory of his Prince and Country but only with the honour of his own and the Neighbouring Villages because his Knowledge does not extend farther The Union with such Objects as we have seen is stronger than the Union to those we have only imagin'd or heard relation of because by Sensation we are more strictly united to sensible things as leaving deeper Impressions in our Brain and moving the animal Spirits in a more violent manner than when they are only imagin'd Neither is that Union so strong in those that continually oppose it that they may adhere to the Goods of the Mind as it is in those who suffer themselves to be carried away and inslav'd by their Passions since Concupiscence increases and strengthens that Union Last of all the several Employments and States of this Life together with the various dispositions of divers Persons cause a considerable difference in that sensible Union which Men have with Earthly Goods Great Lords have greater Dependencies than other Men and their Chains as I may call them are longer The General of an Army depends on all his Souldiers because all his Souldiers reverence him This Slavery is often the Cause of his Valour and the desire of being esteem'd by those that are Witnesses of his Actions often drives him to Sacrifice to it more sensible and rational desires The same may be said of all Superiours and those that make a great Figure in the World Vanity being many times the Spur of their Vertue because the love of Glory is ordinarily stronger than the love of Truth I speak here of the love of Glory not as a simple Inclination but a Passion since that love may become sensible and is often attended with very lively and violent Commotions of the Animal Spirits Again the different Ages and Sexes are primary Causes of the difference of Passions Children love not the same things as adult and old Men or at least love them not with that Force and Constancy Women depend only on their Family and Neighbourhood but the dependencies of Men extend to their whole Country because 't is their part to defend it and that they are mightily taken up with those great Offices Honours and Commands that the State may bestow upon them There is such a variety in the Employments and Engagements of Men that it is impossible to explain them all The disposition of Mind in a Married Man is altogether different from that of a single Person for the former is in a manner wholly taken up with the care of his Family A Fryar has a Soul of another make and depends upon fewer things than the Men of the World and even than Secular Ecclesiasticks but he is stronger fastned to those few things One may argue in the same manner concerning the different States of Men in general but the little sensible engagements cannot be explain'd because they differ almost in every private Person it often hapning that men have particular Engagements altogether opposite to those that they ought to have in reference to their condition But though the different Genius and Inclinations of Men Women Old Men Young Men Rich Poor Learned and Ignorant in short of all the different Sexes Ages and
us The second is a New Determination of the Motion of the Will towards that Object provided it be or seem to be a Good Before that View the Natural Motion of the Soul was either undetermin'd that is to say she was carried towards Good in general or it otherwise determined by the knowledge of some particular Object But in the very instant of the mind 's perceiving that Relation of the new Object to it self that general Motion of the Will is forthwith determin'd conformably to the perception of the Mind The Soul advances near that Object by her Love that she may relish it and discover her good in it through a sensible delectation which the Author of Nature affords her as a Natural Reward of her Inclination to Good She judged that that Object was a Good by an abstracted and unpathetick Reason but she persists in the persuasion of it through the Efficacy of Sensation and the livelyer that Sensation is the stronger is her adhesion to the Good that seems to be the Cause of it But if that particular Object be considered as Evil or able to deprive us of some Good there happens no New Determination in the Motion of the Will but only the Motion towards the Good oppos'd to that seemingly evil Object is augmented which augmentation is greater or lesâ—er as the Evil seems to be more or less formidable to us For indeed we hate only because we love and the Evil that is without us is judg'd no farther Evil than with reference to the Good of which it deprives us So that Evil being consider'd as a privation of Good to fly from Evil is to fly the privation of Good which is the same thing as to tend towards Good and therefore there happens no new determination of the Natural Motion of the Will at the presence of an unwelcome Object but only a Sensation painful distasteful or imbitter'd which the Author of Nature inflicts on the Soul as a pain naturally consequent to her being depriv'd of Good Reason alone had not been sufficient to carry her to it wherefore this painful and vexing Sensation is superadded to quicken her Thence I conclude that in any Passion whatsoever all the Motions of the Soul towards Good are the Motions of Love But as we are affected with divers Sensations according to the various Circumstances that attend the View of Good and the Motion of the Soul towards it so we come to confound our Sensations with the Commotions of the Soul and to imagine as many different Motions in the Passions as there are different Sensations Upon this head it must be observed that Pain is a true and real Evil and no more the Privation of Pleasure than Pleasure the Privation of Pain for there is a great difference betwixt not feeling or being depriv'd of such a Sensation of Pleasure and the actual enduring of Pain So that every Evil is not precisely so because it deprives us of Good but only that Evil as I have explain'd that is without us or is not a Modification of our Soul Nevertheless as by Goods and Evils we commonly understand things good or evil and not the Sensations of Pleasure and Pain which are rather the natural Tokens by which the Soul distinguishes Good from Evil it may be said methinks without Equivocation that Evil is nothing but the privation of Good and that the natural motion of the Soul that removes us from Evil is the same with that which carries us to good for in brief all natural Motion being an Impression of the Author of Nature whose acting centers in himself and who can incline us only towards himself The true Motion of the Soul is always essentially the Love of Good and but accidentally an Aversion from Evil. I grant that Pain may be consider'd as an Evil and in that sense the Motion of the Passions which is stir'd up by it is not real since we never will Pain and though we positively will the absence of Pain yet 't is only because we positively will the Preservation or Perfection of our Being The third thing to be observ'd in every Passion is the Sensation that attends them the Sensation of Love Hatred Desire Joy Sorrow which are all different in the different Passions The fourth thing is a new Determination of the course of the Animal Spirits and Blood to the outward and inward parts of the Body Before the View of the Object of the Passion the vital Spirits were dispers'd throughout the whole Body for the preservation of all its parts in general but at the appearance of that new Object all this Order and Oeconomy is disturb'd and most part of the Spirits are thrown into the Muscles of the Arms Legs Face and other exteriour parts of the Body to put them in a disposition suitable to the ruling Passion and to give it such a gesture and motion as are necessary for the obtaining or avoiding the imminent Good or Evil But if its own Forces are insufficient for its occasions these same Spirits are distributed in such a manner as make it machinally utter certain words and cries and which diffuse over the Face and the rest of the Body such an air and comportment as is capable of actuating others with the same Passion it self is possess'd with For Men and Beasts having a mutual cohesion by the Eyes and Ears when any one of them is in a violent Commotion it necessarily affects the Spectators and Hearers and naturally makes upon their Imagination such an Impression as troubles them and moves them to preserve it As to the rest of the Animal Spirits they violently descend into the Heart Lungs Liver Spleen and other Viscera thence to draw contributions and to hasten those parts to send forth a sufficient and timely supply of Spirits necessary to preserve the Body in that extraordinary Contention The fifth thing is a sensible Commotion of the Soul who feels her self agitated by an unexpected overflow of Spirits This sensible Commotion of the Soul always attends that Motion of the Spirits that the Soul may participate of all that affects the Body even as the Motion of Spirits is raised in the Body when the Soul is carried toward any Object For the Body and Soul being mutually united their Motions are reciprocal The sixth thing are several Sensations of Love Hatred Joy Desire Sorrow that are produced not by the Intellectual view of Good or Evil as those that have been already mention'd but by the various concussions that are caused in the Brain by the Animal Spirits The seventh thing is a certain Sensation of Joy or rather internal Satisfaction which detains the Soul in her Passion and assures her that she is in the fittest State she can be in reference to the Object she considers This internal satisfaction attends all the Passions whatsoever whether they proceed from the sight of an Evil or from the sight of a Good Sorrow as well as Joy This satisfaction makes
all the Passions pleasant and induces us to yield our consent and give up our selves to them and 't is that satisfaction which must be overcome by the Delights of Grace and the Comforts of Faith and Reason For as the Joy of the Mind is the result of a certain or evident Knowledge that we are in the best state that can be in relation to the Objects perceiv'd by the Understanding so the pleasantness of the Passions is a natural consequence of that confused Sensation we have of being in the best state we can be in reference to those things we perceive by our Senses Now 't is by the Joy of the Mind and the Comforts of Grace that the false delight of the Passions which makes us Slaves to sensible Goods must be vanquished All the forementioned things are to be found in all the Passions unless they be raised by confused Sensations and that the Mind perceive not the Good or Evil from whence they proceed for then 't is plain that they have not the three first qualifications It likewise appears that all these things are not free since they are in us without our Consent and even against it since the Sin but that the Consent of our Will is the only thing which is really in our power However it will be fit to explain all these things more at large and to make them more sensible by some Instances Let us suppose a Man to whom an Affront has been actually offer'd or one whose Imagination is either naturally strong and lively or over-heated by some Accident as a Disease or a Surfeit of Sorrow and Melancholy This Man in his Closet fancies that such a one who perhaps does not think upon him is willing and ready to wrong him The sensible View or the Imagination of the Opposition betwixt the Actions of his Enemy and his own designs will be the first Cause of his Passion That the Motion of this Man's Will may acquire some new determination it is not absolutely necessary that he should receive or imagine he receives any Affront for 't is sufficient that his Mind only should think on it without his Body's being concern'd in it However as this new determination would not be the determination of a Passion but only a most weak and languishing Inclination 'T is better to suppose that some great opposition is actually made to this Man's Designs or that he strongly fancies that it will be so than to make another Supposition wherein the Senses and Imagination are little or not at all concern'd The second thing to be consider'd in this Man's Passion is an increase of the Motion of his Will towards that Good of which his real or pretended Enemy endeavours to deprive him the stronger the opposition is or appears the more considerable will be the increase He at first hates his Adversary only because he loves that Good and his Hatred against him grows in proportion to his Love for it because the Motion of the Will in the Passion of Hatred is at bottom nothing else but a Motion of Love that Motion of the Soul towards Good not differing from that by which she avoids its Privation as has been already observ'd The third thing is a Sensation suitable to that Passion in our Instance 't is a Sensation of Hatred But though the Motion of Hatred be the same with that of Love yet the Sensation of Hatred is altogether different from that of Love as any one may experience in himself Motions are Actions of the Will but Sensations are Modifications of the Mind The Motions of the Will are natural Causes of the Sensations of the Mind and these Sensations of the Mind reciprocally encourage and keep up the Motions of the Will in their Determination The Sensation of Hatred is in the Man before us the natural result of the Motion of his Will excited upon the view of Evil and this Motion is afterwards maintained by the Sensation it hath produced What we have just now said of this Man might happen to him though he had not a Body But because he 's made up of two Substances naturally united the Motions of his Soul are communicated to his Body and those of his Body to his Soul so that the new Determination or the increase of the Motion of his Will naturally causes a new Determination in the Motion of the Animal Spirits which is always different in all the Passions though the Motion of the Soul be still almost the same The Spirits therefore are violently driven into the Arms Legs and Face to dispose the Body in a manner adapted to the Passion and to shed over the Face the Look of an injured Person with reference to all the Circumstances of the Injury receiv'd and to the Quality and Capacity both of the Agent and Patient That Expansion of the Spirits is so much the more strong abundant and quick as the Good is greater the Opposition more vehement and the Brain livelyer affected And therefore if the Person whereof we speak only imagine himself injur'd or if he receive a real but slight injury that makes no considerable concussion in the Brain the Expansion of the Animal Spirits will prove weak and languishing and perhaps insufficient to alter the natural and ordinary Disposition of the Body But if the Outrage be exceeding great or the Imagination enflam'd the Brain will be extraordinarily shaken and the Spirits so violently dispers'd that in a moment they will imprint on the Face and Body the Symptoms of the ruling Passion If he be strong enough to obtain the Victory his Countenance will be fierce and threatning If weak and unable to withstand the overwhelming Evil he will appear humble and submissive His Moans and Tears naturally exciting in the Spectators and even in his Enemy Motions of Pity he will draw from thence those succours which he could not expect from his own strength True it is that if the Spirits and Fibres of the Brain in the Spectators and Adversary of that unhappy Wretch be already agitated with a violent Motion contrary to that which breeds Compassion in the Soul the bemoanings of the Distress'd will but increase their Fury and so would his undoing be inevitable should he always keep the same Countenance and Aspect But Nature has provided for it for at the sight of the imminent loss of a great good there are naturally produced on the Face such strange and surprizing Characters of Rage and Despair as to disarm the most Barbarous Enemies and to make them as it were unmovable That frightfull and unexpected sight of the Lineaments of Death drawn by the Hand of Nature upon the Face of an unfortunate Person stops in the very Enemy stricken therewith the Motions of the Spirits and Blood that carried him to Revenge and in that favourable moment of Audience Nature printing again an humble submissive air upon the Face of the poor Wretch that begins to entertain some hopes because of the unmovableness and
alteration of the Countenance of his Enemy the Animal Spirits of that Enemy receive a new determination of which they were not capable a moment before and this Machinal Motion of Compassion which he yields to inclines the Soul to yield to the Pleas of Charity and Mercy Because a Man taken up with a Passion cannot without a great plenty of Spirits produce or preserve in his Brain an Image of his Misery lively enough nor a Concussion sufficiently strong to give his Body an extraordinary and constrain'd Disposition the corresponding Nerves within the Body receive upon his sight of the Evil the Concussions and Agitations that are necessary to infuse into all the Vessels that communicate with the Heart fit Humours to the producing such Spirits as the Passion requires For the Animal Spirits spreading through the Nerves that go to the Liver Spleen Pancreas and all the other Viscera agitate and shake them and by their Agitation force out such Humours as those parts keep in reserve for the Wants and Exigencies of the Machine But if those Humours always flowed in the same manner into the Heart if they received an equal Fermentation in different times and the Spirits that are made of them regularly ascended into the Brain we should not see such hasty Changes in the Motions of the Passions For instance the sight of a Magistrate would not stop of a sudden the extravagant Transports of an enraged Person persuing his Revenge and his Face all fiery with Blood and Spirits would not in an instant turn pale and wan for fear of Punishment So to hinder those Humours that are mixed with the Blood from entering the Heart constantly in the same manner there are Nerves that surround all the Avenues thereof which being compressed or dilated by the Impression that the sight of the Object and the strength of the Imagination produce in the Spirits shut up or open the way to those Humours And lest the said Humours should undergo the same Agitation and Fermentation in the Heart in divers times there are other Nerves that cause the Beatings of it which being not equally agitated in the different Motions of the Spirits drive not the Blood with the same force into the Arteries Other Nerves spread through the Lungs distribute the Air to the Heart by constringing or relaxing several Branches of the Trachea used in Respiration and order the Fermentation of the Blood proportionably to the Circumstances of the predominant Passion Last of all to regulate with the greatest Accuracy and Readiness the Course of the Spirits there are Nerves surrounding the Arteries as well those that end in the Brain as those that carry the Blood into the other parts of the Body so that the Concussion of the Brain which accompanies the unexpected Sight of some Circumstance for which 't is convenient that the Motions of the Passion should be alter'd suddenly determines the Course of the Spirits to the Nerves thus surrounding the Arteries that by their Contraction they may shut up the Passage to the Blood that ascends into the Brain and by their Dilatation lay it open to that which runs into all the other Parts of the Body When those Arteries that carry the Blood to the Brain are free and open and on the contrary those that disperse it through the rest of the Body are strongly bound up by these Nerves the Head must all be full of Blood and the Face appear all fiery but some Circumstance altering the Commotion of the Brain that caused that Disposition in the Nerves the Arteries that were strait bound are loosened and on the contrary the Arteries of the Brain strongly contracted Then is the Head emptied of Bloud the Face covered with Paleness and the small quantity of Blood which issues from the Heart and which the Nerves before mentioned admit into it as the Fewel to keep in Life descends most or all into the lower parts of the Body the Brain wants Animal Spirits and all the rest of the Body is seized with Weakness and Trembling To explain and prove the Particulars of what we have mentioned it would be necessary to give a general Knowledge of Physicks and a particular of the Humane Body but those two Sciences are still too imperfect to be treated of with as much Accuracy as I could Wish besides that should I proceed farther in this Matter it would carry me too far from my Subject and therefore I only design here to give a gross and general Idea of the Passions and am satisfied provided that this Idea be not false Those Concussions of the Brain and Motions of the Blood and Spirits are the fourth thing to be found in every Passion and produce the fifth namely the sensible Commotions of the Soul At the very Instant that the Animal Sprits are driven from the Brain into the rest of the Body to produce such Motions as are fit to keep up the Passion the Soul is carried towards the good perceived and this more or less strongly according as the Spirits come down from the Brain with more or less vehemence for 't is that Concussion of the Brain which agitates the Soul and the Animal Spirits The Motion of the Soul towards Good is so much stronger as the View of Good is more sensible and apparent and the Motion of the Spirits that proceed from the Brain and flow into the other parts of the Body is the more violent as the Vibration of the Fibres of the Brain caused by the Impression of the Object or of the Imagination is more forcible because that Concussion of the Brain occasioning a more sensible and lively View of Good necessarily makes the Commotion of the Soul in the Passions to increase proportionably to the Motion of the Spirits Those Commotions of the Soul are not different from those that immediately follow the Intellectual View of Good which we have mentioned before only they are stronger and livelyer because of the Union of the Soul and Body and the sensibleness of the View that produces them The sixth thing to be met with is the Sensation of the Passion the Sensation of Love Hatred Desire Joy or Sorrow This Sensation is not at all different from that which has been spoken of only 't is livelyer because the Body has a greater share in it but 't is always attended with confused Sensation of Satisfaction that makes all the Passions grateful which is the last thing to be found in each of them as has been already hinted The Cause of this last Sensation is such At the sight of the Object of a Passion or of any new Circumstance part of the Animal Spirits are driven from the Head to the outward Parts of the Body to put it in the Disposition that the Passion requires together with which some other Spirits make a violent descent into the Heart Lungs and other Viscera to draw from thence the necessary Supplies as has been already sufficiently explained Now the Body is never in
a convenient Staâ—e but the Soul relishes it with great Satisfaction whereas it is never in a State conâ—rary to its Good and Preservation but that she endures it with pain And therefore when we follow the Motions of our Passions and stop not the Course of the Spirits which the View of the Object of the Passion produces in the Body to put in it the most convenient State with relation to that Object the Soul by Nature's Law is affected with a Sensation of Satisfaction and Delight because her Body is in the Disposition it requires whereas when according to the Laws of Reason the Soul stops the Current of the Spirits and withstands those Passions she suffers a Pain proportionable to the Evil that may from thence arise to the Body For as the Reflection that the Soul makes upon her self is necessarily accompanied with the Joy or Sorrow of the Mind and afterwards with the Joy or Sorrow of the Senses when doing her Duty and submitting to the Orders of God she is conscious that she is in a due and convenient state or when having given her self up to her Passions she is afterwards affected with Remorse which teaches her that she is in a corrupt Disposition So the Course of the Spirits raised for the good of the Body is first attended with sensible and afterwards with Spiritual Joy or Sorrow according as the Course of the Animal Spirits is retarded or promoted by the Will There is however this notable difference betwixt the Intellectual Joy that attends the clear Knowledge of the good Estate of the Soul and the sensible Pleasure that accompanies the confused Sensation of the good disposition of the Body that the intellectual Joy is solid and substantial without Remorse and as immutable as its Original Cause the Truth whereas sensible Joy is almost ever followed with the Sorrow of the Mind or the Remorse of the Conscience and is as restless and fickle as the Passion or Agitation of the Blood from whence it proceeds To conclude the first is for the most part attended with an exceeding Joy of the Senses when it is derived from the Knowledge of the great good that the Soul possesses whereas the other is very rarely accompanied with any great Joy of the Mind though it proceeds from a Good considerable for the Body but contrary to the Good or Perfection of the Soul 'T is nevertheless true That without the Grace of our Lord the satisfaction the Soul relishes when she gives her self up to her Passions is more grateful than that which she enjoys when she follows the Rules of Reason which satisfaction is the Source of all the Disorders that have attended the Original Sin and would have made us all Slaves to our Passions had not the Son of God rid us from their Tyranny by the Delectation of his Grace For what I have said on behalf of the Joy of the Mind in opposition to the Joy of the Senses is only true amongst the Christians and was altogether false in the Mouths of Seneca Epicurus and all the most rational of the Heathen Philosophers because the Yoke of Christ is only sweet to those that belong to him and his Burthen only light when his Grace helps us to support the Weight of it CHAP. IV. That the Pleasure and Motion of the Passions engage us in Errours and false Judgments about Good That we ought continually to resist them How to impugn Libertinism ALL those general Qualities and Effects of the Passions that we have hitherto treated of are not free they are in us without our Leave and nothing but the Consent of our Will is wholly in our Power The View or Apprehension of Good is naturally followed with a Motion of Love a Sensation of Love a Concussion of the Brain a Motion of the Spirits a new Commotion of the Soul that encreases the first Motion of Love a new Sensation of the Soul that likewise augments the first Sensation of Love and lastly a Sensation of Satisfaction which recompenses the Soul for the Bodies being in a convenient State All this happens to the Soul and Body naturally and mechanally that is without her having any part in it nothing but her Consent being her own real Work This Consent we must regulate preserve and keep free in spite of all the Struggle and Attempts of the Passions We ought to submit our Liberty to none but God and to yield to nothing but to the Voice of the Author of Nature to inward Evidence and Conviction and to the secret Reproaches of our Reason We ought never to consent but when we plainly see we should make an ill Use of our Liberty in with-holding our Consent This is the principal Rule to be observ'd for the avoiding of Errour God only makes us evidently perceive That we ought to yield to what he requires of us to him alone therefore we ought to devote our Services There is no Evidence in the Allurements and Caresses in the Threats and Frightnings caused in us of the Passions they are only confused and obscure Sensations to which we must never yield up our selves We must wait till all those false Glimpses of the Passions vanish till a purer Light illuminates us till God speaks inwardly to us We must enter within our selves and there seek him that never leaves us that always enlightens us He speaks low but his Voice is distinct his Light is weak but pure But no his Voice is as strong as 't is distinct and his Light is as bright and active as 't is pure But our Passions continually keep us from home and by their Noise and Darkness hinder us from being instructed by his Voice and illuminated by his Light He speaks even to those that ask him no Questions and those whom Passions have carried farthest from him fail not yet many times to hear some of his Words but loud threatning astonishing Words sharper than a two-edged Sword piercing into the inmost Recesses of the Soul and discerning the Thoughts and Designs of the Heart For all things are open to his Eyes and he cannot see the unruly Actions of Sinners without lashing them inwardly with smarting Reproofs We must then re-enter into our selves and approach near him we must interrogate him listen to him and obey him for by always listning to him we shall never be deceived and always obeying him we shall never be subjected to the Inconstancy of the Passions and the Miserie 's due to Sin We must not like some pretenders to Wit whom the Violence of Passion has reduced to the Condition of Beasts who having a long time despised the Law of God seem at last to have retained no Knowledge of any other than that of their infamous Passions We must not I say imagine as do those Men of Flesh and Blood that it is following God and obeying the Voice of the Author of Nature to give up our selves to the Motions of Passions and to comply with the secret Desires
no Pain in discharging his Duty But God is withdrawn from us since the Fall of Adam he is no more our Good by Nature but only by Grace we feel now no Delight and Satisfaction in the Love of him and he rather thrusts us from than draws us to him If we follow him he gives us a Rebuff if we run after him he strikes us and if we be obstinate in our Persuit he continues to handle us more severely by inflicting very lively and sensible Pains upon us And when being weary of walking through the rough and stony Ways of Vertue without being supported by the Repast of Good or strengthned by any Nourishment we come to feed upon sensible Things he fastens us to them by the relish of Pleasure as though he would reward us for turning back from him to run after counterfeit Goods In short since Men have sinn'd it seems God is not pleas'd that they should love him think upon him or esteem him their only and sovereign Good It is only by the delectable Grace of Christ our Mediator that we sensibly perceive that God is our proper Good For Pleasure being the sensible Mark of Good we then perceive God to be our Good when the Grace of our Redeemer makes us love him with Pleasure Thus the Soul not knowing her own Good either by a clear View or by Sensation without the Grace of Jesus Christ she takes the Good of the Body for her own she loves it and closes to it with a stricter Adhesion by her Will than ever she did by the first Institution of Nature For Corporeal Good being now the only one left that is sensible must needs operate upon Man with more Violence strike his Bâ—ain livelier and consequently be felt and imagined by the Soul in a more sensible manner And the Animal Spirits receiving a more vehement Agitation the Will by consequence must love it with a greater Ardency and Pleasure The Soul might before Sin blot out of her Brain the too lively Image of Corporeal Good and dissipate the sensible Pleasure this Image was attended with The Body being subject to the Mind the Soul might on a sudden stop the quavering Concussion of the Fibres of the Brain and the Commotion of the Spirits by the meer Consideration of her Duty But she lost that Power by Sin Those Traces of the Imagination and those Motions of the Spirits depend no more upon her whence it necessarily follows that the Pleasure which by the Institution of Nature is conjoin'd to those Motions and Traces must usurp the whole Possession of the Heart Man cannot long resist that Pleasure by his own Strength 't is Grace that must obtain a perfect Victory Reason alone can never doe it None but God as the Author of Grace can overcome himself as the Author of Nature or rather exorate himself as the Revenger of Adam's Rebellion The Stoicks who had but a confused Knowledge of the Disorders of Original Sin could not answer the Epicures Their Felicity was but Ideal since there is no Happiness without Pleasure and no Pleasure to be sensibly perceiv'd by them in Vertuous Actions They might feel indeed some Joy in following the Rules of their phantastick Vertue because Joy is a natural Consequence of the Consciousness our Soul has of being in the most convenient State That Spiritual Joy might bear up their Spirits for a while but was not strong enough to withstand Pain and overcome Pleasure Secret Pride and not Joy made them keep their Countenance for when no body was present all their Wisdom and Strength vanished just as Kings of the Stage lose all their Grandeur in a Moment It is not so with those Christians that exactly follow the Rules of the Gospel Their Joy is solid because they certainly know that they are in the most convenient State Their Joy is great because the Good they possess through Faith and Hope is Infinite for the Hope of a great Good is always attended with a great Joy and that Joy is so much livelier as the Hope is stronger because a strong Hope representing the Good as present necessarily produces Joy as also that sensible Pleasure which ever attends the Presence of Good Their Joy is not restless and uneasie because grounded on the Promises of God confirm'd by the Blood of his Son and cherished by that inward Peace and unutterable Sweetness of Charity which the Holy Ghost sheds into their Hearts Nothing can separate them from their true Good which they relish and take Complacency in by the Delectation of Grace The Pleasures of Corporeal Good are not so great as those they feel in the Love of God They love Contempt and Pain They feed upon Disgraces and the Pleasure they find in their Sufferings or rather the Pleasure they find in God for whom they despise all the rest to unite themselves to him is so ravishing and transporting as to make them speak a new Language and even boast as the Apostles did of their Miseries and Abuses when they departed from the presence of the Council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name of JESUS Such is the Disposition of Mind in true Christians when they are most basely affronted for the Defence of Truth CHRIST being come to restore the Order which Sin had overthrown and that Order requiring that the greatest Goods be accompanied with the most solid Pleasures it is plain that things ought to be in the manner we have said But we may farther confirm and strengthen Reason by Experience for 't is known that as soon as any Person has formed but the bare Resolution to despise all for God he is commonly affected with a Pleasure or internal Joy that makes him as sensibly and lively perceive that God is his Good as he knew it evidently before The true Christians assure us every Day that the Joy they feel in an unmixt loving and serving God is inexpressible and 't is but reasonable to believe the Relation they make of what happens within them On the contrary the Impious are perpetually vexed with horrible Disquietudes and those that are shar'd betwixt God and the World partake of the Joys of the Just and of the Vexations of the Impious They complain of their Miseries and 't is reasonable to believe that their Complaints are not groundless God strikes Men to the Quick and through the very Heart when they love any thing besides him and 't is this Stroke that causes a real Misery He pours an exceeding Joy into their Minds when all their Adherencies are to him only and that Joy is the Spring of true Felicity The Abundance of Riches and Elevation to Honours being without us cannot cure us of the Wound God makes and Poverty and Contempt that are likewise without us cannot hurt us under the Almighty's Protection By what we have said 't is plain That the Objects of the Passions are not our Good that we must not follow their
be touched they are violently moved On the contrary the mentioning of general Passions and Inclinations never fail to affect us but so weakly and faintly that we are scarce sensible of it I mention this lest any should judge of what I say by his own Commotions that he either has or shall receive from my Discourse but rather that he should judge of it by considering the Nature of the Passions I speak of Should we purpose to handle all the particular Passions and distinguish them by the Objects that raise them it is plain the Task would be endless and we should only repeat the same thing The former because the Objects of the Passions are infinite the latter because we should be constantly engag'd in the same Subject The particular Passions for Poetry History Mathematicks Hunting Dancing are but one general Passion For for example the Passions of Desire or Joy for whatever pleases are not different Passions though delightful Objects in particular differ much And therefore the Number of Passions must not be multiplied by the Number of Objects which are infinite but only by the principal Relations they may have to us And so it will appear as we shall explain it hereafter that Love and Hatred are the Mother-Passions which produce no other general Passions besides Desire Joy and Sorrow that the particular Passions are made up only of those Three primitive and more or less compounded according to the number of accessary Ideas that attend the principal Idea of the Good or Evil which has rais'd them or as the Good and Evil are more or less circumstantiated with reference to us If we remember what has been said of the Connection of Ideas and that in all great Passions the Animal Spirits being extreamly agitated stir up in the Brain all the Traces any ways related to the moving Object we shall own that there is an infinite Variety of different Passions which have no particular Names and cannot be explain'd but by saying they are inexplicable If the primitive Passions of the Complication of which others are made up were not susceptible of more or less it would not be difficult to determine the Number of all the Passions but that number of complicated Passions must needs be infinite because one and the same Passion having infinite Degrees may by its Conjunction with others be infinitely complicated so that there were perhaps never two Men affected with the same Passion if by that Name be understood an even Mixture and Likeness of all the Motions and Sensations that are occasionally rais'd in us upon the presence of some Object But as more or less do not alter the Species so it may be said that the Number of Passions is not infinite because the Circumstances that attend Good or Evil which excite the Passions are not innumerable But let us explain our Passions in particular When we see any thing the first time or when having seen it several times accompanied with some Circumstances we see it again attended with others we are surprized and admire it Thus a new Idea or a new Connection of old Ideas raises in us an Imperfect Passion which is the first of all and nam'd Admiration I call it imperfect because 't is not excited either by the Idea or Sense of Good The Brain being then struck in some unusual Places or in a new manner the Soul is sensibly moved and therefore must needs strongly apply her self to what is new in that Object for the same Reason that a bare Tickling the Soale of the Feet raises a very lively and moving Sensation in the Soul rather by the Novelty than by the Strength of the Impression There are other Reasons of the Application of the Soul to new Things but I have explain'd them where I speak of the Natural Inclinations Here we consider the Soul only as related to the Body in which respect the Commotion of the Spirits is the natural Cause of her Application to new Things In Admiration strictly taken we consider things only as they are in themselves or as they appear and look not on them as related to us or as good or bad Hence it comes that the Spirits disperse not through the Muscles to give the Body the Disposition that is required for persuing Good or shunning Evil and shake not the Nerves that go to the Heart and other Viscera to hasten or retard the Fermentation or Motion of the Blood as it happens in other Passions All the Spirits go the Brain to print a lively and distinct Image of the surprizing Object that the Soul may consider and know it again whilst the rest of the Body remains in the same posture and as unmovable For as there is no Commotion in the Soul so there is no Motion in the Body When the admired Things appear great Admiration is always follow'd with Esteem and sometimes with Veneration whereas it is always accompanied with Contempt and sometimes with Disdain when they appear little The Idea of Grandeur causes a great Motion of the Spirits in the Brain and the Tracks that represent it are kept very long And likewise a great Motion of the Spirits raises in the Soul an Idea of Greatness and powerfully fixes the Mind on the Consideration of that Idea On the contrary the Idea of Littleness produces but an inconsiderable Motion of Spirits in the Brain and the Traces representing it are soon blotted out And likewise a small Motion of Spirits raises in the Soul an Idea of Meanness and stays the Mind but little on the Consideration of that Idea Those things deserve to be taken notice of When we consider our selves or something united to us our Admiration is always accompanied with some moving Passion which however only agitates the Soul and the Spirits that go to the Heart because there being no Good to seek nor Evil to avoid the Spirits disperse not themselves through the Muscles to dispose the Body to some Action The Contemplation of the Perfection of our Being or of something belonging to it naturally produces Pride or Self-esteem Contempt of others Joy and some other Passions The Contemplation of our own Grandeur causes Haughtiness that of our Strength Valour or Boldness and that of any other Advantage naturally raises some other Passion which is still a kind of Pride On the contrary the Conâ—ideration of some Imperfection of our Being or of something belonging to it naturally produces Humility Contempt of our selves Reverence for others Sorrow and some other Passions The â—ight of our Littleness causes Pusilanimity that of our Weakness Timidity and that of any Disadvantage whatsoever naturally raises some other Passion which is still a kind of Humility But neither that Humility nor that Pride are properly Vertues or Vices being only Passions or involuntary Commotions which yet are very useful to Civil Society and even in some Cases absolutely necessary for the preservation of the Life or Goods of those that are actuated by them 'T is necessary
for instance to be humble and timorous and even outwardly to testifie that Disposition of the Mind by a modest Look and respectful or timorous Deportment when we are in the Presence of a Person of Quality or one that is proud and powerful It being almost ever profitable for the Good of the Body that the Imagination should stoop before sensible Grandeur and give it outward Marks of its inward Submission and Veneration But this is done naturally and machinally without the Consent of the Will and sometimes notwithstanding its Opposition Even such Beasts as Dogs which stand in need of prevailing upon those with whom they live have ordinarily their Bodies so disposed that it machinally takes the Posture that is most suitable in reference to those that are about them For that is absolutely necessary to their Preservation And if Birds and some other Creatures want such a Disposition 't is because they need not asswage the Fury of those whom they can escape by Flight or whose Help is not necessary for the Preservation of their Life It can never be too much observ'd that all the Passions which are raised in us at the sight of something external machinally spread on the Face those Looks that are fit and suited to our present State that is those that are apt by their Impression machinally to dispose the Spectators to such Passions and Motions as are useful for the Good of Civil Society Admiration it self when produced in us by the Perception of something external which others can consider as well as we puts the Face in such a Shape as is fit to strike others with a machinal Impression of Admiration and which acts so regularly on the Brain that the Spirits contain'd in it are driven to the Muscles of the Face to fashion it into a Look altogether like our own This Communication of the Passions of the Soul and the Animal Spirits to unite Men together in reference to Good and Evil and to make them altogether like not only by the Disposition of their Mind but also by the Posture of their Body is so much the greater and more observable as the Passions are more violent by reason that the Animal Spirits are then agitated with more strength And this must needs be so because the Good and Evil being then greater or more present requires a greater Application and a stricter Association of Men to seek or avoid them But when the Passions are moderate as Admiration usually is their Communication is insensible and they do not alter the Countenance by which the Communication uses to be wrought For there being no urgent Occasion it would be needless to put a Force on the Imagination of others or to take them off from their Business to which their Application is perhaps more requisite than to the looking on the Causes of those Passions There is nothing more wonderful than that Oeconomy of the Passions and Dispositions of the Body in reference to the surrounding Objects All our machinal Actions are most becoming the Wisdom of our Maker God has made us susceptible of all those Passions chiefly to unite us with all sensible Things for the Preservation of Society and of our corporeal Being and his Design is so exactly perform'd by the Construction of his Work that we cannot but admire his Wisdom in the Contrivance of the Springs and Texture of it However our Passions and all those imperceptible Bands which tie us to the surrounding Objects often prove by our own Fault fruitful Causes of Errours and Disorders For we make not of our Passions the Use we ought to do we allow them every thing and know not so much as the Bounds we ought to prescribe to their Power so that the weakest and least moving Passions as Admiration for instance have strength enough to draw us into Errour Some Examples whereof are these When Men and especially those that are endu'd with a lively Imagination contemplate the best side of themselves they find for the most part a great deal of Self-complacency and Satisfaction and their internal Satisfaction is increased by the Comparison they make betwixt themselves and others that are not so airy and spirituous Besides that they have many Admirers and that few of their Opposers gain Success and Applause for Reason is seldom or never applauded in opposition to a strong and lively Imagination In short the Face of their Hearers takes on such submissive and dutiful Looks and expresses at every new Word they say such lively Strokes of Admiration that they admire themselves too and that their Imagination pufft up with their pretended Advantages fills them with an extraordinary Satisfaction of themselves And since we cannot see Men in the heighth of a Passion without receiving some impression from it and adopting as I may say their Sentiments how should it be possible that those who are surrounded with a Throng of Admirers should give no access to a Passion that is so flattering and so grateful to Self-love Now that high Esteem which Persons of a strong and lively Imagination have of themselves and their good Qualities puffs them up with Pride and gives them a Magisterial and Decisive Comportment they listen to others but with Contempt they answer but with Jeering they think but with reference to themselves and as they look on the Attention of the Mind that is so requisite for the discovery of Truth as a Slavery so they are altogether indocible Pride Ignorance and Blindness go hand in hand The bold or rather vain-glorious Wits will not be the Disciples of Truth and never retire into themselves unless it be to contemplate and admire their supposed Perfections so that he who resists the Proud shines in the middle of their Darkness without dissipating it There is on the contrary a certain Disposition of the Blood and Animal Spirits that occasions too mean Thoughts of our selves The Scarcity the Dulness and Fineness of the Animal Spirits join'd to the Coursness of the Fibres of the Brain cause the Imagination to be weak and languishing And the Contemplation or rather the confused Sense of that Faintness of Imagination is what breeds in us a vicious Humility which we may call Meanness of Spirit All Men are susceptible of the Truth but all apply not themselves to him who alone is able to teach it The Proud make their Address and listen but to themselves and the Dis-spirited make their Application to the Proud and submit themselves to their Determinations Both the one and the other give ear to bare Men. Proud Minds follow the Fermentation of their own Blood that is their own Imagination and the Low-spirited are over-sway'd by the over-ruling Countenance of the Proud and so are both subjected to Vanity and Lies The Proud is like a rich and powerful Man who has a great Retinue who measures his own Greatness by the number of his Attendants and his Strength by that of the Horses of his Coach whereas the Low-spirited is like
Admiration may be very useful to Sciences since it applies and enlightens the Mind whereas other Passions apply the Mind but enlighten it not They apply it because they raise the Animal Spirits but enlighten it not or enlighten it with false and deceiving Glimpses because they drive those Spirits in such a manner as that they represent Objects only as they are related to us and not as they are in themselves There is nothing harder than to apply our selves a considerable time to any thing which we admire not because the Vital Spirits are not then easily carried to places fitted to represent them In vain we are exhorted to be attentive we can have no Attention or none sufficiently long though we may have an abstracted but not moving Persuasion That the thing deserves our Application We must needs deceive our Imagination to quicken our Spirits and represent to our selves in a new Manner the Subject on which we will meditate that we may raise in us some Motion of Admiration We meet every day with Men that relish not Study and find nothing so painful as the Application of Mind They are convinced that they ought to study certain Matters and to doe their utmost endeavours for it but their endeavours are for the most part vain their progress is inconsiderable and quickly follow'd by weariness True it is that the Animal Spirits obey the order of the Will and make us attentive when we desire it but when the Commanding Will is the Will of mere Reason that is not kept up by some Passion it is so weak and languishing that our Ideas are like wandering Phantasms that afford us but a transient glimpse and vanish in a moment Our Animal Spirits receive so many private Orders from the Passions and are become by nature and habit so prone to perform them that they are easily turn'd from those new and rough ways through which the Will endeavours to lead them So that it is especially in such Cases that we need a particular Grace to know the Truth since we cannot any considerable time bear up the Mind against the incumbent weight of the Body or if we can yet we never doe all we are able But when some Motion of Admiration quickens us the animal Spirits naturally run to the Tracks of the Object which have raised it represent it clearly to the Mind and produce in the Brain whatever is requir'd to Perspicuity and Evidence without putting the will to the trouble of managing the rebellious Spirits Hence it comes that those that are prone to Admiration are fitter to study than others are quick and ingenious and others slow and dull In the mean while when Admiration grows to such an Excess as to produce Amazement and Stupefaction or when it does not excite to rational Curiosity it may prove of very ill Consequence because the animal Spirits are then taken up with representing the admired Object by one of its Faces without so much as thinking on the others which ought no less to be Considered Those Spirits likewise supersede their spreading through all the parts of the Body for the performance of their ordinary Functions whilst they imprint such deep Traces of the Object and break so great a number of the Fibres of the Brain that that Idea raised by them can never be blotted out of the Mind It is not enough that Admiration should make us attentive unless it makes us curious neither is it suficient for the full knowledge of an Object to consider one of its Faces unless we be so far inquisitive as to examine them all that we may judge of it upon sure grounds And therefore when Admiration moves us not to examine things with the utmost Accuracy but instead of that stops our Enquiry it is very unprofitable to the Knowledge of Truth because it fills up the Mind with likelihoods and probabilities and incites us to judge rashly and precipitately of all things Admiration must not center in its self but its business is to facilitate Examination The Animal Spirits that are naturally excited in Admiration offer themselves to the Soul that she may use them to represent the Object more distinctly to her self and to know it better This is Nature's Institution for Admiration ought to move us to Curiosity and Curiosity to conduct us to the Knowledge of Truth But the Soul knows not how to make an Advantage of her own Strength she prefers a certain satisfactory Sensation that she receives from the plenty of the Spirits that affect her before the Knowledge of the Object that has raised them and she chuses rather to be conscious of her own Riches than to dissipate them by use not much unlike those Misers who chuse rather to hoard up their Treasures than to supply their wants with them Men are generally pleased with whatever raises any kind of Passion They not only spend Money to be moved to Sorrow by the Representation of a Tragedy but they also throw it away upon Legerdemains that may stir up their Admiration since it cannot be said that they give it to be deceived Therefore that inward and satisfactory Sensation which we are conscious of in Admiration is the principal cause why we dwell upon it without putting it to the use which Nature and Reason prescribe to us For that delectable Sensation so powerfully holds the Admirers Bent to the admired Object that they will fall into a Passion if any shew them its Vanity A mourning Person relishes so well the sweetness of Sorrow that he 's angry with those that go about to make him merry The case is the same with Admirers who seem to be wounded by the Endeavours that are made to demonstrate the unreasonableness of their Admiration because they feel that the secret Pleasure they receive from that Passion diminishes proportionably as the Idea that caused it vanishes from the Mind The Passions perpetually labour to justifie themselves and insensibly persuade us we doe well to be led by them The Satisfaction and Pleasure with which they affect the Mind that is to be their Judge draws it over by degrees to their side inspiring it with such and the like Reasons We are to judge of things but according to our Ideas but of all Ideas the most sensible are the most real since they act upon us with the greatest force and therefore 't is by those Ideas that I must judge of them Now the Subject I admire contains a sensible Idea of Greatness I must then judge of it by that Idea for I ought to esteem and love Greatness and therefore I am in the right when I insist upon and am taken up with that Object And indeed the Pleasure which the Contemplation of its Idea affords me is a natural proof that it is for my good to think upon it since I seem to add to my growth by such thoughts and fancy that my Mind is more enlarged by embracing so great an Idea whereas the Mind ceases to exist
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
Garland of Flowers be not able to rest though he sees nothing that is capable of moving him We must enquire whether the word Man is Metaphorical whether the word Rest is equivocal whether it relates to local Motions or to Passions as the last words though he sees nothing that is capable of moving him seem to hint Lastly We must enquire whether the Conditions besprinkled with some Liquors and crowned with a Garland of Flowers are essential Lastly The state of that ridiculous and undeterminate Question being thus plainly known 't will be easie to resolve it by saying that we need but put a Man in a Ship with the Conditions expressed in the Question The Skill of those that propose such Questions is to join some Conditions to them that seem necessary though they be not so that the Mind of the Resolver may be diverted to things that are unserviceable as to the Solution of it As in this Question which Servant-Maids often put to Children I have seen say they Hunters or rather Fishers which carried with them what they could not catch and threw into the Water what they catch'd the Mind being prepossessed with the Ideas of Fishers that take Fish cannot understand the state of that Foolish Question the whole Difficulty of which comes from hence that we think not that Hunters and Fishers as well as other Men often seek in their Cloaths some little Animals which they throw away if they catch and carry with them if they find them not Sometimes all the Conditions that are necessary to resolve a Question are not mention'd which makes them as hard as the expressing of unserviceable Characters as in the following to make a Man unmovable without binding or wounding him or rather by putting his little Finger into his Ear so that he shall not be able to stir until he takes his little Finger out of his Ear that at first appears impossible and 't is really so for any one may walk having his little Finger in his Ear but there wants a Condition which if it were express'd would remove the whole Difficulty for you need but make a Man embrace a Bed-post or something like and put his little Finger into his Ear so that the Post be included between his Arm and Ear it being plain he cannot stir without taking out his Finger It is not mentioned that there is yet something to be done on purpose that the Mind should not seek for nor discover it But those that undertake the resolving of such Questions must make all the Queries that are requisite to understand the point wherein lies the Stress of the Difficulty Those arbitrary Questions appear to be foolish and are indeed so in one Sense as far as nothing is learn'd by their Solution However they are not so different from natural Questions as may be imagin'd for both are resolved by a Method that is very near the same And as the Skill or Maliciousness of Men makes arbitrary Questions intricate and difficult so natural Effects are of themselves surrounded with Obscurity and Darkness that must be dissipated by the Attention of the Mind and by Experiments which are a sort of Queries put to the Author of Nature even as Equivocations and useless Circumstances are taken off from arbitrary Questions by the skilful Queries that are made to the Proposers Let us explain these things methodically and in a more serious and instructing Manner There are many Questions which appear very difficult because they are not understood which should rather be taken for Axioms that need some Explication than for true Questions for some Propositions which are undeniable when the Terms that compose them are rightly understood must not methinks be ranked in the Number of Questions For Instance It is proposed as a very difficult Question Whether the Soul be immortal because they who propose or pretend to resolve it do not distinctly apprehend the Sense of the Terms For as the Words Soul and immortal signifie different things and that they know not how to understand them so they cannot tell whether the Soul is immortal having no distinct Idea either of what they ask or enquire after By the Word Soul may be understood a Substance that thinks wills feels c. or it may be taken for the Motion or Circulation of the Blood and the Configuration of the parts of the Body and lastly for the Blood it self and the Animal Spirits Likewise by the Word immortal we understand what cannot perish by the ordinary Force of Nature or what cannot be changed or lastly what cannot be corrupted or dissipated as a Vapour or Smoke The Words Soul and immortal being suppos'd thus distinguished into their several Significations a very mean Attention of the Mind will be able to judge whether she is immortal or not First 't is plain that the Soul taken in the first Sense or for a thinking Substance is immortal if you explain immortal in the first Sense what cannot perish by the ordinary Force of Nature since 't is not conceivable that any Substance should be annihilated but that to conceive the Possibility of it we must have Recourse to the Omnipotence of God Secondly The Soul is immortal taking immortal in the third Sense for what cannot be corrupted nor resolved into Vapour or Smoke since 't is evident that what cannot be divided into several Parts cannot be corrupted nor resolved into Vapours Thirdly The Soul is not immortal taking it in the second Sense for what is unchangeable for we have convincing Proofs enow of the Alterations of our Soul which feels one while Pain and another Pleasure which often desires some things which she afterwards ceases to desire which is united to a Body from which she may be separated c. If the Word Soul be taken in some other Sense it will be as easie to perceive whether she is immortal fixing a determin'd Sense to that Epithet And therefore what makes such Questions difficult is that they are not distinctly understood or that the Words in which they are express'd are equivocal so that they rather need Explication than Proof There are some People so dull and others so fanciful as that they always take the Soul for some Configuration of the Parts of the Brain and for the Motion of the Spirits 'T is indeed impossible to prove that the Soul is immortal and unperishable in that Sense the contrary being evident so that this is not a Question difficult to be resolved but a Proposition which 't is not easie to make some people apprehend because they have not the same Ideas as we and that they labour all they can not to have them and to blind themselves When we are asked whether the Soul is immortal or any other Question whatsoever we must first take off the Equivocation of Words and know in what Sense they are understood that we may distinctly conceive the State of the Question If those that propose it are ignorant of the Signification
we must put Queries to them in order to illuminate and determine them If by these Queries we discover that their Ideas are not agreeable with ours 't is in vain to answer them for to answer one who imagines that a Desire for instance is nothing but the Motion of some small Particles call'd Spirits that a Thought is but a Trace or an Image which the Objects or those Spirits have left in the Brain and that all the Reasonings of Men consist but in the various Situation of some little Corpuscles which dispose themselves differently in the Head to answer him I say that the Soul taken in his Sense is immortal is to deceive him or to appear ridiculous to him but to tell him that she is mortal is in some Sense to confirm him in a very dangerous Errour we must then reply nothing at all but only endeavour to make him retire into himself that he may receive the same Ideas that we have from him who is only able to enlighten him 'T is likewise a Question which seems pretty difficult To know whether Beasts have a Soul however the Equivocation being taken off it is so far from being hard that those who suppose they have one and those that think they have none are ignorantly at bottom of the same Opinion The Soul may be taken for something Corporeal dispersed through all the Body which gives it Life and Motion or else for something Spiritual Those that pretend Beasts have no Soul understand it in the second Sense for never any Man denied that there is in Animals something Corporeal which is the Principle of their Life or Motion since it cannot be denied even of Watches On the contrary Those who assert that Beasts have Souls understand it in the first Sense for few believe them endued with a Spiritual and Indivisible Soul so that both Peripateticks and Cartesians believe that Beasts have a Soul or a Corporeal Principle of their Motion and both think they have none or that there 's nothing in them Spiritual and Indivisible And therefore the Difference betwixt the Paripateticks and Cartesians consists not in that the former believe Beasts have a Soul and the latter deny it but only in that the Aristotelians think that Beasts are capable of Pain and Pleasure of perceiving Colours hearing Sounds and of all the other Sensations and Passions of Men whereas the Cartesians are of a contrary Opinion The latter distinguish the Word Sensation to take off the Equivocation For instance They say that when one is too near the Fire the Parts of Wood strike against his Hand vibrate the Fibres which Vibration is communicated to the Brain and determines the Animal Spirits contained in it to disperse through the outward Parts of the Body in such a manner as is fit to make them shrink in or withdraw They agree that all those things or the like may possibly be found in Animals and that they actually are as being Properties of Bodies And the Peripateticks dissent not from it The Cartesians add that the Percussion or Vibration of the Fibres of the Brain in Men is attended with a Sensation of Heat and that the course of the Animal Spirits to the Heart and other Viscera is accompanied with a Passion of Hatred or Aversion which Sense and Passion of the Soul they deny to be in Beasts whereas the Peripateticks assert that Brute Animals feel that Heat as well as we do that they have as we an Aversion to what is uneasie to them and generally that they are capable of all our Sensations and Passions The Cartesians do not think that Beasts are sensible of Pleasure or Pain nor that they love or hate any thing because they admit nothing in them but what is material and believe not that Sensations and Passions may be Properties of any Matter whatsoever On the contrary some Peripateticks esteem Matter capable of Sensation and Passion when 't is extremely subtle and refined that Beasts may feel by means of the Animal Spirits that is to say of a very subtle and fine Matter and that our Soul is susceptible of Sensation and Passion only because she is united to such a Matter And therefore to resolve that Question Whether Beasts have a Soul we must retire within our selves and consider with all possible Attention our Idea of Matter if we can conceive that Matter so and so figur'd as square round oval c. is some Pain Pleasure Heat Colour Odour Sound c. then we may assert that the Soul of Beasts though never so material is however capable of Sense but if we cannot conceive it we must not assert it for we must assure no farther than we can conceive And likewise if we conceive that Matter toss'd and extremely agitated upwards downwards in a Circular Spiral Parabolical Elliptick Line c. is any thing of Love Hatred Joy Sorrow c. We may say that Beasts have the same Passions as we but if we apprehend it not we must not say it unless we will speak without understanding our selves But I am sure no Motion of Matter will ever be mistaken for Love or Joy by him that shall earnestly think upon it So that to resolve that Question Whether Beasts have Sense we need only take off Equivocation as those that are called Cartesians use to do for then that Question will be made so simple and easie as to be resolved with a little Attention 'T is true that St. Austin supposing according to the common prejudice of Mankind that Beasts have a Soul which he never doubted of as far as I can perceive because he never seriously examin'd it in his Works this great Man I say perceiving that it is contradictory to say that a Soul or a Substance which thinks feels desires c. is material believed that the Soul of Beasts was really spiritual and indivisible He proves by very evident Reasons that a Soul or whatever has Sense Imagination Fear Desire c. must needs be Spiritual but I never observed that he produc'd any Reason to maintain that Beasts have Souls He even cares not to prove it because 't is likely that scarce any body doubted of it in his time There being now Men who endeavour wholly to free themselves of their Prejudices and call in Question all Opinions that are not grounded upon clear demonstrative Reasonings it has been call'd into doubt whether Animals have a Soul susceptible of the same Sensations and Passions as ours however there are still several Defenders of the ancient Prejudices who pretend to prove that Beasts feel will think and argue even as we do though in a more imperfect manner Dogs say they know their Masters love them and patiently bear the Blows they receive from them as judging it their best interest not to forsake them but as to Strangers they hate them so much as not to away with their Flatterings All Animals love their Young Birds which build their Nests in the
extremities of the Branches sufficiently shew that they are afraid lest some Creature should devour them They judge those Branches too weak to bear their Enemies though strong enough to support both their Young and their Nests Even Spiders and the vilest Insects give some Intimations of an Intelligence that animates them For one cannot but wonder at the conduct of a little Beast which though it be blind yet finds means to trapan in its Nets others that have Eyes and Wings and are so bold as to attack the biggest Animals we see I grant that all the actions that Beasts perform are certain indications of an Intelligence for whatever is regular demonstrates it A Watch shews the same for 't is impossible Chance should have composed its Wheels but an understanding Agent must have ordered its Motions We plant a Seed inverted the Roots that were upward sink down into the Ground of themselves and the Seminal Nib that was turn'd downwards endeavours to alter its Position to break out That intimates an Intelligence That Plant produces Knots at certain Distances to strenghen it self it covers its Seed with a Skin that preserves it and surrounds it with Prickles to defend it This still denotes an Intelligence In short whatever we see done either by Plants or by Animals undoubtedly denotes an understanding Agent All the true Cartesians agree to it but they make Distinctions to take away as much as possible the Equivocation of Words The Motions of Beasts and Plants intimate an Intelligence but that Intelligence is not Matter and is much distinguished from Beasts as that which disposes the Wheels of a Watch is distinguished from the Watch it self For that Intelligent Being seems infinitely Wise Powerful and infinitely the same who has framed us in our Mother's Womb and affords us a growth to which all the attempts of our Mind and Will cannot add so much as a Span. And therefore there is in Beasts neither Understanding nor Soul in the sense those Words are commonly taken They eat without pleasure they cry without Pain they grow without being conscious of it they neither desire nor fear nor know any thing and if they act in such a manner as intimates an Intelligence it is because God having made them for a certain time he has framed their Body in such a manner as that they machinally and without Fear shun whatever is able to destroy them Otherwise it must be said that there is more Understanding in the smallest Insect or even in a little Seed than in the most Ingenious Man it being certain that there are in them more different Parts and regular Motions than we are able to know But as Men are used to confound all things and imagine that their Soul produces in their Bodies most or all the Motions and Changes which befal it they fix to the Word Soul the wrong Idea of Former and Preserver of the Body So that thinking that their Soul produces in them whatever is absolutely requisite to the Preservation of their Life though she knows not so much as the Contexture of the Body which she animates they judge that there must needs be a Soul in Beasts to produce all the Motions and Changes which befall them because they are so like those which occur in us For Beasts are begot fed strengthened as our Body they eat drink sleep as we do because we are altogether like them as to our Body the only Difference betwixt us and them consisting in this that we have a Soul and they have none But our Soul frames not our Body digests not our Aliments and gives no Motion and Heat to our Blood She feels wills argues and animates the Body as to the Sensations and Passions that relate to it but not by dispersing her self through our Members to communicate Sense and Life to them for our Body can receive nothing of what belongs to the Mind Thence 't is plain that the Reason why we cannot resolve several Questions proceeds from our not distinguishing and even from our not thinking to distinguish the different significations of a Word 'T is true that we distinguish sometimes but we do it so ill that instead of taking off the Equivocation of Words by our Distinctions we make them more perplexed and dark For instance when we are asked whether the Body lives how it lives and in what manner the Rational Soul animates it Whether the Animal Spirits the Blood and other Humours live whether the Teeth the Hair and the Nails are animated c. we distinguish the Words live and be animated in living or being animated with a Rational with a Sensitive or with a Vegetative Soul But that Distinction is only fit to perplex the Question for those Words want an Explanation themselves and perhaps the two last Vegetative and Sensitive are inexplicable and inconceivable in the Sense they are commonly understood If we desire to fix a clear and distinct Idea to the Word Life we may say That the Life of the Soul is the Knowledge of Truth and the love of Good or rather that her Thoughts are her Life and that the Life of the Body consists in the Circulation of the Blood and the just Proportion and Mixture of Humours or rather that the Life of the Body is such a Motion of its parts as is fit for its Preservation The Ideas fix'd to the Word Life being thus made plain it will evidently appear First That the Soul cannot communicate her Life to the Body since she cannot make it think Secondly That she cannot give it the Life by which it is fed grows c. since she knows not so much as what is requisite to digest our Aliments Thirdly That she cannot make it feel since Matter is incapable of Sensation c. Thus all other Questions concerning that Subject may be resolved without Trouble provided the Words in which they are express'd excite clear Ideas for if they raise confused and dark it is impossible to solve them In the mean while 't is not always absolutely necessary to have Ideas that perfectly represent those things the Relations of which we desire to examine It is often sufficient to have but an initial or imperfect Knowledge of them because we seek not always exactly to know their Relations I shall explain this more at large There are Truths or Relations of two Sorts some are exactly known and others but imperfectly We exactly know the Relation betwixt such a Square and such a Triangle but have only an imperfect Knowledge of the Relation betwixt London and York We know that such a Square is equal to such a Triangle double or treble of it c. but we only know that London is bigger than York without knowing precisely how much Moreover there are infinite Degrees of Imperfection in Knowledge and no Knowledge is imperfect but in reference to a more perfect For Instance We know that London is bigger than Lincoln's Inn â—ields and that Knowledge is only imperfect in Relation
the Relation of the stronger Force to the larger Mouth But to solve this Problem by an Engine which sets better before the Eyes the Effect of the Muscles than the Former We must blow a little in a Foot-ball and hinder the Air from going out with a Sucker then put upon that Foot-ball half full of Wind a Stone of 5 or 600 weight or having set it on a Table lay on it a Board and on that Board a huge Stone or cause a heavy Man to sit upon the Board allowing him to hold by something that he may sit the faster upon the rising Foot-ball for if you blow again into it only with the Mouth it will raise the Stone that compresses it or the Man that sits upon it The Reason of this is that the Mouth of the Foot-ball is so small or at least must be suppos'd so in comparison to the Capaciousness of the Foot-ball that withstands the Weight of the Stone that by such means a very small is able to overcome a very great Force If we also consider that Breath alone is capable of violently driving a Leaden Ball through a long and strait Trunk because the Strength of the Breath is not dissipated but continually renew'd it will visibly appear that the necessary Proportion betwixt the Mouth and the largeness of the Foot-ball being suppos'd Breath alone may overcome a very considerable Force If we therefore conceive that the whole Muscles or each of the Fibres of which they are made have as this Foot-ball a competent Capacity to admit Animal Spirits that the Pores through which those Spirits flow are yet proportionably straiter than the Neck of a Bladder or the Aperture of the Foot-ball that the Spirits are detain'd in or driven through the Nerves almost as the Breath through a Trunk that the Spirits are more agitated than the Air of the Lungs and driven with a greater Violence to the Muscles than it is in a Bladder we shall perceive that the Motion of the Spirits which are dispers'd through the Muscles can conquer the Force of the heaviest Weight we carry and that if we cannot move other more ponderous this Want of Strength proceeds not so much from the Spirits as from the Fibres and Membranes of which the Muscles are compos'd which would burst should we make too great an Effort Besides If we observe that by the Laws of the Union betwixt Soul and Body the Motion of those Spirits as to their Determination depends on the Will of Man we shall see that the Motion of the Arm must needs be voluntary 'T is true that we move our Arm so readily that it seems at first sight incredible that the Course of the Spirits into the Muscles should be so swift as to effect that Motion But we ought to consider that those Spirits are extremely agitated always ready to pass from one Muscle into another and that a small quantity of that Spirituous Liquor may sufficiently swell them up so as to move them or to lift up from the Ground something very light For we cannot raise great Weights very readily because that Effort requires a great stretching and swelling of the Muscles which cannot be perform'd by the Spirits that are in the neighbouring or Antagonist Muscles and therefore some Time is requir'd to call in more Spirits to their help and in such a Quantity as that they may be able to withstand the Heaviness of the Weight Thus we see that those that are loaden cannot run and that a ponderous thing is not lifted up from the Ground so readily as a Straw If we consider that those that are of a fiery Temper or heated with Wine are quicker than others that amongst living Creatures those whose Spirits are more agitated as Birds move swifter than those in which Blood is colder as it is in Frogs and that in some of them as the Chamelion the Tortoise and some Insects the Spirits are so little agitated that their Muscles are not sooner fill'd than a Foot-ball would be by the Breath of a Man All these things being well observ'd may probably make our Explication acceptable But though that part of the Question propos'd which concerns Voluntary Motions be sufficiently resolv'd yet we must not assert that it is fully and perfectly or that nothing else in our Body contributes to those Motions besides what has been mention'd for most probably there are a Thousand Springs that facilitate them which will for ever be unknown even to those who give a better Guess upon the Works of God The second Part of the Question to be examin'd concerns the Natural Motions or those that have nothing extraordinary in them as Convulsions have but are absolutely necessary to the Preservation of our Machine and consequently altogether independent on our Will I first consider with all the possible Attention what Motions have those Conditions and whether they are perfectly alike And as I quickly perceive that they are for the most part different from each other lest I should perplex my self with too many things I shall only insist upon the Motion of the Heart which of all the inward Parts is the best known and its Motions the most sensible Whilst I examine its Construction I observe two Things amongst many others First That it is compos'd of Fibres as the other Muscles And Secondly That there are two remarkable Cavities in it And therefore I judge that its Motion may be perform'd by means of the Animal Spirits since it is a Muscle and that the Blood ferments and dilates in it since it has Cavities The first of these Judgments is founded upon what I have said before The second upon the Heart 's being much hotter than any other Parts of the Body and that it diffuses Heat together with Blood into all our Members and that those two Ventricles could neither be form'd nor preserv'd but by the Dilatation of the Blood So that they are subservient to the Cause that has produc'd them I can then give a sufficient Reason of the Motion of the Heart by the Spirits that agitate and the Blood that dilates it during the Fermentation For though the Cause I alledge of its Motion should not be true yet I plainly see that it is sufficient to produce it It may be that the Principle of Fermentation or Dilatation of Liquors is not so well known to all Readers as that I may pretend to have explain'd an Effect by generally shewing that it proceeds from Fermentation But all particular Questions are not to be resolv'd by ascending to the first Cause though that may be done too and a true System on which all particular Effects depend discover'd provided we only insist upon clear Ideas But that Way of Philosophizing is neither the exactest nor yet the shortest To comprehend this it must be observ'd that there are Questions of two sorts in the first it is requir'd to discover the Nature and Properties of some Thing in the others we only
by these Sensations what he ought to do for the preservation of his Life But he was never willing to be perturbated by them in spight of his VVill. For that 's a Contradiction Moreover when he desir'd to apply himself to the contemplation of Truth without any distraction of Thought his Senses and his Passions kept an intire Silence Order would it should be so for that 's a necessary sequel of that absolute power he had over his Body I answer secondly that it is not true that the Pleasure of the Soul is the same thing with its Motion and its Love Pleasure and Love are modes of the Souls Existence But Pleasure has no necessary relation to the object that seems to cause it and Love is necessarily related unto Good Pleasure is to the Soul what Figure is to Body and Motion is to Body what Love is to the Soul But the Motion of a Body is very different from its Figure I grant that the Soul which has a constant Propeâ—sity to Good advances as I may say more readily towards it when instigated by a sense of Pleasure that when discourag'd by her suffering Pain as a Body when driven runs easier along if it have a Spherical than if it have a Cubical Figure But the figure of a Body differs from its Motion and it may be Spherical and yet remain at rest 'T is true in this case it goes not with Spirits as with Bodies those cannot feel a Pleasure but they must be in motion because God who only makes and preserves them for himself drives them perpetually on towards good But that does not prove that the pleasure of the Soul is the same thing as its Motion For two things though differing from each other may yet be always found inseparably together I answer lastly that although pleasure were not different from the Love or Motion of the Soul yet that which the first Man felt in the use of the goods of the Body did not incline him to the Loving Bodies 'T is true Pleasure carries the Soul towards the object that causes it in her But it is not the Fruit that we eat with Pleasure which causes the Pleasure in us Not Bodies but God only can act upon the Soul and in any manner make it happy And we are in an Error to think that Bodies have in them what we feel occasionally from their presence Adam before his Sin being not so stupid as to imagine that Bodies were the causes of his Pleasures was not carry'd to the love of them by the motions that accompany'd his Pleasures If pleasure contributed to the fall of the first Man it was not by working in him what at present it does in us But only by filling up or dividing his capacity of Thought it effac'd or diminish'd in his Mind the presence of his true good and of his Duty OBJECTION against the sixth Article What likelyhood is there that the immutable Will of God had a dependance on the will of Man and that on Adam's behalf there were exceptions made to the general Law of the Communication of Motions ANSWER At least it is not evident but such exception might be made now it is evident that immutable order requires the subjection of the Body to the Mind and 't is a contradiction for God not to love and will order for God necessarily loves his Son Therefore it was necessary before the Sin of the first Man that exceptions should be made in his favour to the general Law of the Communication of Motions This seems it may be of a too abstracted nature Here then is somewhat of a more sensible kind Man though a Sinner has the power of moving and stopping his Arm when he pleases Therefore according to the different Volitions of Man the Animal Spirits are determin'd to the raising or stopping some Motions in his Body which certainly cannot be perform'd by the general Law of the Communication of Motions If then the will of God be still submitted to our own why might it not be submitted to the will of Adam If for the good of the Body and of civil Society God stops the communication of motions in Sinners why would he not do the like in favour of a Righteous Man for the good of his Soul and for the preservation of the Union and Society with his God for whom only he was made As God will have no Society with Sinners so after the Sin he depriv'd them of the power they had to sequester themselves as it were from the Body to unite themselves with him But he has left them the Power of stopping or changing the communication of Motions with reference to the preservation of Life and of Civil Society Because he was not willing to destroy his Work having before the construction of it decreed according to St. Paul to re-establish and renew it in Jesus Christ. OBJECTION against the Seventh Article Man in his present state conveys his Body all manner of ways he moves at pleasure all the parts of it which are necessary to be mov'd for the prosecution and shunning of sensible good and evil and consequently he stops or changes every moment the natural communication of motions not only for trifles and things of little importance but also for things useless to Life and civil Society and even for Crimes which violate Society shorten Life and dishonour God all manner of ways God wills order it is true But will order have the laws of motions violated for the sake of Evil and kept inviolable on the account of Good Why must Man lose the power of stopping the motions which sensible objects produce in his Body since these Motions keep him from doing good from repairing to God and returning to his duty and yet retain the power of doing so much evil by his Tongue and his Arm and other parts of his Body whose motions depend upon his will ANSWER To the answering this Objection it must be consider'd that Man having sin'd ought to have return'd to his Original nothing For being no longer in Order nor able to retrieve it he ought to cease to Exist God loves only order the Sinner is not in order and therefore not in the Love of God The Sinner therefore cannot subsist since the subsistence of Creatures depends on the will of the Creator but he wills not that they should exist if he does not love them The Sinner cannot by himself regain lost order because he cannot justifie himself and all that he can suffer cannot atone for his offence He must then be reduc'd to nothing But as it is unreasonable to think that God makes a Work to annihilate it or to let it fall into a state worse than annihilation 't is evident that God would not have made Man nor permitted his Sin which he foresaw unless he had had in view the Incarnation of his Son in whom all things subsist and by whom the Universe receives a Beauty a Perfection
and greatness worthy of the Wisdom and the Power of its Author Man then may be consider'd after his Sin without a Restorer but under the Expectation of one In considering him without a Restorer we plainly see he ought to have no Society with God that that he is unable of himself to make the least approaches to him that God must needs repel him and severely use him when he offers to leave the Body to unite himself to him that is to say that Man after the Sin must lose the power of getting clear of sensible impressions and motions of concupiscence He ought likewise to be annihilated for the foremention'd Reasons But he expects a Restorer and if we consider him under that Expectation we see clearly that he must subsist He and his Posterity whence his Restorer is to arise and thus it is necessary that Man after his Sin preserve still the power of diversely moving all those parts of the Body whose motion may be serviceable to his Preservation 'T is true that Men abuse daily the power they have of producing certain motions and that their power of moving their tongue for Example several ways is the cause of innumerable Evils But if it be minded that power will appear absolutely necessary to keep up Society to comfort one another in the Exigences of thiâ— present Life and to instruct them in Religion which affords hope of a Redeemer for whom the World subsists If we carefully examine what are the motions we produce in us and in what parts of our Body we can affect them we shall clearly see that God has left us the power of our Body no farther than is necessary to the preservation of Life and the cherishing and upholding civil Society For example the Beating of the Heart the Dilatation of the Midriff the peristaltick motion of the Guts the Circulation of the Spirits and Blood and the diverse motions of the Nerves in the Passions are produc'd in us without staying for the order of the Soul As they ought to be much what the same on all occasions nothing obliges God to submit them now to the will of Man But the motions of the Muscles imploy'd in stirring the Tongue the Arms and Legs being to change every minute according to the almost infinite diversity of good or evil Objects all about us it was necessary these motions should depend on the will of Men. But we are to remember That God acts always by the simplest ways and that the Laws of Nature ought to be general and that so God having given us the power of moving our Arm and Tongue he ought not to take away that of striking a Man unjustly or of slandering or reproaching him For if our natural Faculties depended on our Designs there would be no Uniformity nor certain Rule in the Laws of Nature which however must be most simple and general to be answerable to the Wisdom of God and suitable to Order So that God in pursuance of his Decrees chuses rather to cause the Materiality of Sin as say the Divines or to make use of the Injustice of Men as says one of the Prophets than by changing his Will to put a stop to the Disorders of Sinners But he defers his revenging the injurious Treatment which they give him till the time when it shall be permitted him to do it without swerving from his immutable Decrees that is to say when Death having corrupted the Body of the voluptuous God shall be freed from the necessity he has impos'd on himself of giving them Sensations and Thoughts relating to it OBJECTION against the Eleventh and Twelfth Articles Original Sin not only enslaves Man to his Body and subjects him to the Motions of Concupiscence but likewise fills him with Vices wholly Spiritual not only the Body of the Infant before Baptism being corrupted but also his Soul and all his Faculties stain'd and infected with Sin Though the Rebellion of the Body be the principle of some grosser Vices such as Intemperance and Vncleanness yet it is not the Cause of Vices purely Spiritual as are Pride and Envy And therefore Original Sin is something very different from Concupiscence which is born with us and is more likely the Privation of Grace or of Original Righteousness ANSWER I acknowledge That Children are void of Original Righteousness and I prove it in shewing That they are not born upright and that God hates them For methinks one cannot give a clearer Idea of Righteousness and Vprightness than to say a Will is upright when it loves God and that it is crooked and perverse when it draws towards Bodies But if by Righteousness or Original Grace we understand some unknown Qualities like those which God is said to have infus'd into the Heart of the first Man to adorn him and render him pleasing in his sight it is still evident that the Privation of this is not Original Sin for to speak properly that Privation is not hereditarily transmitted If Children have not these Qualities 't is because God does not give 'em them and if God does not bestow them 't is because they are unworthy to receive them and 't is that Vworthiness which is transmitted and which is the Cause of the Privation of Original Righteousness And so that Vnworthiness is properly Original Sin Now this Unworthiness which consists as I have shewn in this That the Inclinations of Children are actually corrupt and their Heart bent upon the Love of Bodies this I say is really in them 'T is not the Imputation of the Sin of their Father they are actually themselves in a disorder'd State In like manner as those who are justify'd by JESUS CHRIST of whom Adam was the Type are not justify'd by Imputation But are really restor'd to Order by an inward Righteousness different from that of our LORD though it be he that has merited it for them The Soul has but two natural or essential Relations the one to God and the other to her Body Now 't is evident That the Relation or Union which she has with God cannot vitiate or corrupt her and therefore she is neither vicious nor corrupt at the first instant of her Creation but by the relation she has to her Body Thus one of the two must needs be said either that Pride and other which we call Spiritual Vices can be communicated by the Body or that Children are not subject to them at the moment of their Birth I say at the moment of their Birth for I do not deny but these ill Habits are easily acquir'd Though pure Intelligences had no other relation than to God and at the instant of their Creation were subject to no Vice yet they fell into Disorder But the Cause of it was their making a wrong use of their Liberty whereof Infants have made no use at all For Original Sin is not of a free Nature But to come to the Point I am of Opinion That they err who think that the Rebellion
of the Body is the Cause but of gross Vices such as Intemperance and Vncleanness and not of those which are call'd Spiritual as Pride and Envy and I am persuaded there is that Correspondence between the Disposition of our Brain and those of our Soul as that there is not perhaps any corrupt Habit in the Soul but what has its Principle in the Body St. Paul in several places terms by the Name of the Law the Wisdom the Desires and the Works of the Flesh whatever is contrary to the Law of the Spirit He speaks not of Spiritual Vices He reckons amongst the Works of the Flesh Idolatry Heresies Dissentions and many other Vices which go by the Name of Spiritual To give way to Vain-glory Wrath and Envy is in his Doctrine to follow the Motions of the Flesh. In short It appears from the Expressions of that Apostle That all Sin proceeds from the Flesh not that the Flesh commits it or that the Spirit of Man without the Grace or Spirit of CHRIST can do good but because the Flesh acts upon the Spirit in such a manner that the latter works no evil without being sollicited to it by the former Hear what St. Paul says in the Epistle to the Romans I delight in the law of the Lord after the inward Man But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members And a little lower So then with my mind I my self serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin He speaks after the same manner in several places of his Epistles So that Concupiscence or the Rebellion of the Body not only disposes us to Carnal of shameful Vices but likewise to those which are thought to be Spiritual I here shall endeavour to prove it by a sensible manner When a Man 's in Conversation it is certain as I think that some Tracks are machinally produc'd in his Brain and Motions excited in his Animal Spirits that beget in his Soul corrupt Thoughts and Inclinations Our Thoughts on these Occasions are not naturally conformable to Truth nor our Inclinations to Order They rise in us for the Good of the Body and of the present Life because 't is the Body that exites them So they obliterate the Presence of God and the Thoughts of our Duty out of our Mind and tend only to recommend us to other Men and make them consider us as worth their Affection and Esteem Therefore this secret Pride which kindles in us on such Occasions is a Spiritual Vice whose Principle is the Rebellion of the Body For Example If the Persons in whose Presence we are are rais'd to Honorary Posts and Titles the Lustre of their Grandeur both dazzles and dejects us And as the Traces which their Presence imprints on our Brain are very deep and the Motions of the Spirits rapid they radiate as I may say through all the Body they spread themselves on the Face and give a sensible Testimony of our Reverence and Fear and our most latent Sentiments Next These Traces by the sensible Expressions of our inward Motions work upon the Person that observe us whom they dispose to Sentiments of Candour and Civility by the Traces which our respectful and timorous Deportment machinally produce in his Brain which Traces rallying on his Face and disarm him of that Majesty which appear'd in 't and give the rest of his Body such an Air and Posture as at length rid us of our Concern and re-embolden us Thus by a mutual and frequent Repercussion of these sensible Expressions our Air and Behaviour at last settles in that fashion which the governing Person wishes But as all the Motions of the Animal Spirits are attended with Motions of the Soul and the Traces of the Brain are pursu'd by Thoughts of the Mind 't is plain that since we are depriv'd of the Power of expunging these Traces and stopping these Motions we find our selves sollicited by the over-ruling Presence of the Person to embrace his Opinions and submit to his Desires and to be wholly devoted to his Pleasure as he indeed is dispos'd to study ours but in a very different manner And for this Reason worldly Conversation quickens and invigorates the Concupiscence of Pride as dishonest Commerce feasting and enjoying sensible Pleasures strengthen Carnal Concupiscence which is a Remark very necessary for Morality 'T is of great Use and Advantage that there are Traces in the Brain which incessantly represent Man to himself to make him careful of his Person and that there are others which serve to make and preserve Society since Men are not made to live alone But Man having lost the Power of erasing them when he pleas'd and when convenient they perpetually provoke him to Evil. As he cannot hinder their representing him to himself he is continually sollicited to Motions of Pride and Vanity to despise others and center all things in himself And as he is not Master of those Traces which importune him to keep up Society with others he is agitated by Motions of Complaisance Flattery Jealousie and the like Inclinations as it were in spight of him Thus all those which go by the Name of Spiritual Vices derive from the Flesh as well as Vnchastness and Intemperance There are not only in our Brain Dispositions which excite in us Sensations and Motions with reference to the Propagation of the Species and the Preservation of Life but it may be a greater Number that stir up in us Thoughts and Passions with respect to Society to our own private Advancements and to those of our Friends We are by Nature united to all surrounding Bodies and by them to all the things that any way relate to us But we cannot be united to them save by some Dispositions in our Brain Having not therefore the Power of withstanding the Action of these natural Dispositions our Union turns into Dependence and we grow subject through our Body to all kind of Vices We are not pure Intelligences all the Dispositions of our Soul produce respective Dispositions in our Body and those in our Body mutually excite others like them in our Soul Not that the Soul is absolutely incapable of receiving any thing except by the Body but because as long as She is united to It she cannot admit any Change in her Modifications without making some Alteration in the Body 'T is true she may be enlightned or receive new Ideas and the Body need not have any hand in it but that 's because pure Ideas are not Modifications of the Soul as I have prov'd in another place I speak not here of sensible Ideas because these include a Sensation and every Sensation is a mode of the Souls existing The Second OBJECTION against the Eleventh and Twelfth Articles If Original Sin descends by reason of the Communication which is found between the Brain of the Mother and that of
Will being not equal even among the Damn'd it is plain they are not all equally opposite to Order and that they do not hate it in all cases unless in consequence of their Hatred to God For as no one can hate Good consider'd barely as such so no one can hate Order but when it seems to thwart his Inclinations But though it seem contrary to our Inclinations it nevertheless retains the force of a Law which Condemns and also punishes us by a Worm that never dies Now then we see what Order is and how it has the strength of a Law by that necessary Love which God has for himself We conceive how this Law comes to be general for all Minds God not excepted and why it is necessary and absolutely indispensible Lastly we conceive or we may easily conceive in general that it is the Principle of all Divine and Humane Laws and that 't is according to this Law that all Intelligences are judg'd and all Creatures dispos'd in the respective rank that belongs to them I acknowledge it is not easie to explain all this in particular and I venture not to undertake it For should I go to show the Connexion particular Laws have with the general and account for the agreement which certain manners of acting have to Order I should be forc'd to engage in Difficulties that it may be I could not resolve and which would lead me out of sight of my subject Nevertheless if it be consider'd that God neither has nor can have any other Law than his own Wisdom and the necessary Love he has for it we shall easily judge that all Divine Laws must depend on it And if it be observ'd that he has made the World with reference only to that Wisdom and Love since he acts only for Himself we shall not doubt but all natural Laws must tend to the Preservation and Perfection of this World according to indispensable Order and by their dependance on necessary Love For the Wisdom and Will of God regulates all things There is no need I should explain at present this Principle more at large what I have already said being sufficient to infer this Consequence That in the first institution of Nature it was Impossible for Minds to be subjected to Bodies For since God cannot act without Knowledge and against his Will he has made the World by his Wisdom and by the motion of his Love He has made all things by his Son and in his Holy Spirit as we are taught in Scripture Now in the Wisdom of God Minds are perfecter than Bodies and by the necessary Love God has for himself he prefers what is more perfect to what is less so Therefore it is not possible that Minds should be subject to Bodies in the first institution of Nature Otherwise it must be said that God in creating the World has not follow'd the Rules of his Eternal Wisdom nor the Motions of his natural and necessary Love which not only is inconceivable but involves a manifest contradiction True it is that at present the created Mind is debas'd below a material and sensible Body but that 's because Order considered as a necessary Law will have it so 'T is because God loving himself by a necessary Love which is always his Inviolable Law cannot love Spirits that are repugnant to him nor consequently prefer them to Bodies in which there is nothing evil nor in the hatred of God For God loves not Sinners in themselves Nor would they subsist in the Universe but through JESUS CHRIST God neither preserves them nor loves them but that they may cease to be Sinners through the Grace of CHRIST JESUS or that if they remain eternally Sinners they may be eternally condemned by immutable and necessary Order and by the Judgment of our LORD by vertue of whom they subsist for the Glory of the Divine Justice for without Him they would be annihilated This I say by the way to clear some difficulties that might remain touching what I said elsewhere about Original Sin or the general Corruption of Nature 'T is if I mistake not a very useful reflection to consider that the Mind has but two ways of knowing Objects By Light and by Sensation It sees them by Light when it has a clear Idea of them and when by consulting that Idea it can discover all the properties whereof they are capable It sees things by Sensation when it finds not in it self their clear Idea to consult it and so cannot clearly discover their properties but only know them by a confus'd Sensation without Light and Evidence 'T is by Light and a clear Idea the mind sees the Essences of things Numbers and Extension 'T is by a confus'd Idea or Sensation that it judges of the Existence of Creatures and knows its own What the Mind perceives by Light or by a clear Idea it perceives in a most perfect manner moreover it sees clearly that all the Obscurity or Imperfection of its Knowledge proceeds from its own Weakness and Limitation or from want of Application and not from the Imperfection of the Idea it perceives But what the mind perceives by Sensation is never clearly known not for want of any Application on part of the Mind for we always are very applicative to what we feel but by the defectiveness of the Idea which is extreamly obscure and confus'd Hence we may conclude that it is in God or in an immutable nature that we see all that we know by Light or a clear Idea not only because we discover by Light only numbers Extension and the Essences of Beings which depend not on a free Act of God as I have already said but also because we know these things in a very perfect manner and we should even know them in an infinitely perfect manner if our thinking Capacity were infinite since nothing is wanting to the Idea that represents them We ought likewise to conclude that we see in our selves whatever we know by Sensation However this is not as if we could produce in our selves any new modification or that the sensations or modifications of our Soul could represent the Objects on occasion whereof God excites them in us But only that our Sensations which are not distinguished from our selves and consequently cannot represent any thing distinct from us may nevertheless represent the existence of Beings or cause us to judge that they exist For God raising Sensations in us upon the presence of Objects by an action that has nothing sensible we fancy we receive from the Object not only the Idea which represents its essence but also the Sensation which makes us judge of its existence For there is always a pure Idea and a confused Sensation in the Knowledge we have of things as actually existing if we except that of God and of our own Soul I except the Existence of God For this we know by a pure Idea and without Sensation since it depends not on any cause and
in her that which represents them Why may not the Idea of extension be one of her Modifications 't is true there is none but God who acts in her and modifies her But why must she see Bodies in God if she can see them in her own Substance she is not material it 's confess'd But God though a pure Spirit sees Bodies in himself why then may not the Soul though Spiritual see Bodies by considering herself ANSWER Do not we see that there is this difference between God and the Humane Soul that God is Being without restriction Universal Infinite Being and the Soul is a sort of particular Being 'T is a property of infinite to be at the same time one and yet all things compos'd as we may say of infinite perfections and yet so simple that every perfection he possesses includes all the other without any real distinction for as every Divine perfection is infinite it constitutes the whole Divine Essence But the Soul since a limited Being cannot have extension in her without becoming material God includes in himself Bodies in an intelligible manner He sees their Essences or Ideas in his Wisdom and their Existence in his Love or in his Wills This must necessarily be said since God has made Bodies and he knew what he made before any thing was created But the Soul cannot see in her self what she does not contain Nor can she see clearly what she does contain but only has a confus'd Sensation of it I explain my self The Soul does not include Intelligible extension as one of her modes of Being Because this extension is not any mode of Being but a true Being We can conceive that Extension separately from any thing else but we cannot conceive any modes of Being without perceiving the Subject or Being whereof they are the modes We perceive this extension without thinking on our mind and we cannot conceive it to be any modification of our mind This extension when circumscrib'd makes some figure but the Limits of the mind cannot be figured This extension having parts may be divided at least in one sence but we see nothing in the Soul that is divisible This extension therefore that we see is no mode of the minds Existence and therefore the mind cannot see it within it self How can we see it in one species of Being all sorts of Beings In one particular and finite Being a Triangle in general and infinite Triangles For in fine the Soul perceives a Triangle or a Circle in general though it be a Contradiction for the Soul to have a modification in general The Sensations of Colour which the Soul ascribes to figures make them particular because no modification of a particular Being can be general Surely we may affirm what we clearly conceive But we clearly conceive that the Extension which we see is something distinct from our selves therefore we may affirm that this extension is not a modification of our Being and that 't is something actually distinct from us For we must observe that the Sun for instance that we see is not that we look upon The Sun and all we see in the material World is not visible of it self as I have formerly prov'd The Soul can only see the Sun to which she is immediately united But we have a clear Perception and a distinct Sensation that the Sun is something different from us Therefore we speak against our Light and against our Conscience when we say the Soul sees all surrounding Bodies in her own modifications Pleasure Pain Savour Heat Colour all our Sensations and Passions are the modifications of our Soul But though they be so do we clearly know them Can we compare Heat with Savour Odor with Colour Can we discover what Relation there is between Red and Green Or even between Green and Green 'T is not so with figures we compare them with one another we find out exactly their Proportions We know precisely that the diagonal of a Square multiplied into it self makes a Square that 's double to the former what Analogy is there between these intelligible Figures which are most clear Ideas with the modifications of our Soul which are only confus'd Sensations And why must it be pretended that intelligible Figures cannot be perceived by the Soul unless they be her modifications since the Soul knows not any of her modifications by a clear Idea but only by Conscience or internal Sense As I have elsewhere prov'd and shall prove again in the next Illustration If we could not see the figures of Bodies except in our selves they would be on the contrary unintelligible to us For we do not know our selves but are darkness to our selves and we must cast our Eye outward if we would behold our selves And we shall never know what we are till we shall contemplate our selves in him who is our Light and in whom all things become Light For no where but in God material Beings are perfectly intelligible but out of him the most Spiritual Substances are utterly invisible The Idea of Extension which we see in God is most clear But though we see not in God the Idea of our Soul we are very conscious that we exist and are sensible of what we actually have But 't is impossible to discover what we are or any of the modifications we are capable of OBJECTION III. In God there is nothing moveable In him there is nothing Figured If there be a Sun in the Intelligible World that Sun is always equal to it self whereas the visible Sun appears bigger when near the Horizon than when remote from it therefore it is not the Intelligible Sun we see The case is the same in respect of other Creatures Therefore we see not in God the Works of God ANSWER To give an Answer to all this we need only consider that God includes within himself an infinite intelligible Extension For God knows Extension in as much as he has made it and he can know it no otherwise than in himself Therefore as the mind may perceive part of that intelligible Extension which God includes it is certain it may perceive in God all Figures for all finite Intelligible Extension is necessarily an intelligible Figure since Figure is nothing but the termination of Extension Moreover that Figure of intelligible and general Extension becomes sensible and particular by Colour or some other sensible Quality which the Soul ascribes to it for the Soul almost always bestows her own Sensation upon a lively and affecting Idea Thus there is no necessity that there should be in God sensible Bodies or Figures in Intelligible Extension in order to our seeing them in God or that God may see them himself though he considers nothing but himself So likewise if it be conceived that a Figure of intelligible Extension made sensible by Colour should be taken successively from the different Parts of that same infinite Extension or if it be conceiv'd that a Figure of Intelligible Extension may turn
these Terms ought to be explain'd If you 'll say that the Union of my Mind and Body consists in God's willing That upon my Desire to move my Arm the Animal Spirits should betake themselves to the Muscles it is compos'd of to move it in the manner desir'd I clearly understand this Explication and receive it But this is exactly my own Assertion For if my Will determine that of God 't is evident that my Arm is mov'd not by my Will which is impotent of it self but by the Will of God which never fails of its Effect But if it be said The Union of my Mind and Body consists in God's giving me a Force to move my Arm as he has given my Body likewise a Force of making me feel Pleasure and Pain to the end I may be sollicitous for this Body and be concern'd for its Preservation certainly this is to suppose the thing in dispute and to make a Circle No Man has a clear Idea of that Force which the Soul has over the Body or the Body over the Soul nor knows very well what he says when he positively asserts it That Opinion has been embrac'd through Prejudice has been learn'd in Infancy and in the Age of Sense But Understanding Reason and Reflexion have no part in it which is manifest enough from what I have said in the foregoing Treatise But you 'll say I know by my inward Conscience of my Action that I really have this Force and therefore am not mistaken in believing it I answer That when I move my Arm I am conscious to my self of the Actual Volition by which I move it and I err not in believing I have that Volition I have moreover an inward Sense of a certain Effort or Endeavour which accompanies this Volition and it is to believ'd that I make this Endeavour Last of all I grant that I have an inward feeling of the Motion of my Arm at the instant of this Effort which suppos'd I agree to what is said That the Motion of the Arm is perform'd at the instant a Man feels this Effort or has a practical Volition of moving his Arm. But I deny that this Effort which is no more than a Modification or Sensation of the Soul which is given us to make us understand our Weakness and to afford us a confus'd and obscure Sensation of our Strength can be capable of moving and determining the Spirits I deny there is any Analogy or Proportion between our Thoughts and the Motions of Matter I deny that the Soul has the least Knowledge of the Animal Spirits which she imploys to move the Body Animated by her Last of all Though the Soul exactly knew the Animal Spirits and were capable of moving them or determining their Motions yet I deny that with all this she could make choice of these Ductus of the Nerves of which she has no Knowledge so as to drive the Spirits into them and thereby move the Body with that Readiness Exactness and Force as is observable even in those who are the least acquainted with the Structure of their Body For supposing that our Volitions are truly the moving Force of Bodies howbeit that seems inconceivable how can we conceive the Soul moves her Body The Arm for Example is mov'd by means of an inflation or contraction caus'd by the Spirits in some of the Muscles that compose it But to the end the Motion imprinted by the Soul on the Spirits in the Brain may be Communicated to those in the Nerves and from thence to others in the Muscles of the Arm the Volitions of the Soul must needs multiply or change in proportion to those almost infinite shocks or Collisions that are made by the little Bodies that constitute the Spirits But this is inconceivable without admitting in the Soul an infinite number of Volitions upon the least Motion of the Body since the moving it would necessarily demand an innumerable multitude of Communications of Motions For in short the Soul being but a particular Cause and not able to know exactly the degrees of agitation and the dimensions of infinite little Corpuscles which encounter upon the dispersion of the Spirits into the Muscles she could not settle a General Law for the Communication of these Spirits Motion nor follow it exactly if she had establish't it Thus it is evident the Soul could not move her Arm although she had the Power of determining the Motion of the Animal Spirits These things are too clear to be longer insisted on The case is the same with our Thinking Faculty We are inwardly conscious that we Will the Thinking on something that we make an effort to that purpose and that in the Moment of our desire and effort the Idea of the thing presents it self to our Mind but our inward Sensation does not tell us that our Will or Effort produces our Idea Reason does not assure us that it 's possible and only prejudice makes us believe that our desires are the causes of our Ideas whilst we experiment an hundred times a Day that the latter accompany or pursue the former As God and his Operations have nothing sensible in them and as we are not conscious of any thing but our desires that precede the presence of our Ideas so we do not think our Ideas can have any other cause than these desires But view the thing closely and we shall see no force in us to produce them neither Reason nor Conscience giving us any information thereupon I don't think my self oblig'd to transcribe all the other proofs employ'd by the patrons for the Efficacy of Second Causes Because they seem so trifling that I might be thoughts to design to render them Ridiculous And I should make my self so if I gave them a Serious Answer An Author for Example very gravely asserts in behalf of his Opinion Created Beings are true Material Formal Final Causes why must not they likewise be Efficient or Efficacious I fancy I should give the World little satisfaction if to answer this Gentlemans Question I should stand to explain so gross an Ambiguity and show the difference between an Efficacious cause and that which the Philosophers are pleas'd to call material Therefore I leave such arguments as these to come to those which are drawn from Holy-Writ ARGUMENT VII The Defenders of the Efficacay of Second Causes commonly alledge the following Passages to support their Opinion Let the Earth bring forth Grass Let the Waters bring forth the moving Creature that hath Life and Fowl that may fly c. Therefore the Earth and Water by the Word of God receiv'd the Power of producing Plants and Animals Afterwards God Commanded the Fowls and Fishes to multiply Be fruitful and multiply and fill the Waters in the Seas and let Fowl multiply in the Earth Therefore he gave them a Power of begetting their like Our Saviour in the fourth Chapter of St. Mark says the Seed which falls on good Ground brings forth
were true that God acted by particular Wills since Miracles are such only from their not happening by General Laws Therefore Miracles suppose these Laws and prove the Opinion I have establish'd But as to ordinary Effects they clearly and directly demonstrate General Laws or Wills If for Instance a Stone be dropp'd upon the Head of Passengers it will continually fall with equal speed not distinguishing the Piety or Quality or Good or Ill Disposition of those that pass If we examine any other Effect we shall see the same Constancy in the Action of the Cause of it But no Effect proves that God acts by particular Wills though Men commonly fancy God is constantly working Miracles in their Favour That way they would have God to act in being consonant to their own and indulgent to Self-love which centers all things on themselves and very proportionate to their Ignorance of the Complication of Occasional Causes which produce extraordinary Effects naturally falls into Mens Thoughts when but greenly studied in Nature and consult not with sufficient Attention the abstract Idea of an Infinite Wisdom of an Universal Cause of a Being Infinitely Perfect CONCERNING Nature and Grace DISCOURSE II. Of the Laws of GRACE in particular and of the Occasional Causes which regulate and determine their Efficacy PART I. Of the Grace of JESVS CHRIST I. SINCE none but GOD can act immediately and by himself on Minds and produce in them all the various Motions they are capable of 'T is he alone who sheds his Light within us and inspires us with certain Sensations which determine our diverse Volitions And therefore none but he can as a True Cause produce Grace in our Souls For Grace or that which is the Principle or Motive of all the Regular Motions of our Love is necessarily either a Light which instructs us or a confus'd Sensation that convinces us that God is our Good since we never begin to love an Object unless we see clearly by the Light of Reason or feel confusedly by the tast of Pleasure that this Object is good I mean capable of making us happier than we are II. But since all Men are involv'd in Original Sin and even by their Nature infinitely beneath the Majesty of God 'T is Jesus Christ alone that can by the Dignity of his Person and the Holiness of his Sacrifice have access to his Father reconcile him to us and merit his Favours for us and consequently be the meritorious Cause of Grace These Truths are certain But we are not seeking the Cause which produces Grace by its own Efficacy nor that which merits it by its Sacrifice and Good Works We enquire for that which regulates and determines the Efficacy of the General Cause and which we may term the Second Particular and Occasional III. For to the end the General Cause may act by General Laws or Wills and that his Action may be regular constant and uniform 't is absolutely necessary there should be some Occasional Cause to determine the Efficacy of these Laws and to help to fix them If the Collision of Bodies or something of like Nature did not determine the Efficacy of the General Laws of the Communication of Motions it would be necessary for God to move Bodies by particular Wills The Laws of Union of the Soul and Body become efficacious only from the Changes befalling one or other of these two Substances For if God made the Soul feel the Pain of pricking tho' the Body were not prick'd or though the same thing did not happen in the Brain as if it were he would not act by the General Laws of Union of the Soul and Body but by a particular Will If Rain fell on the Earth otherwise than by a necessary Consequence of the General Laws of Communication of Motions the Rain and the Fall of every Drop that composes it would be the Effect of a particular Will So that unless Order requir'd it should rain that Will would be absolutely unworthy of God 'T is necessary therefore that in the Order of Grace there should be some Occasional Cause which serves to fix these Laws and to determine their Efficacy And this is the Cause we must endeavour to discover IV. Provided we consult the Idea of intelligible Order or consider the sensible Order which appears in the Works of God we shall easily discover that Occasional Causes which determine the Efficacy of General Laws and are of use in fixing them must necessarily be related to the Design for which God has establish'd them For Example Experience evidences that God has not made and Reason certifies that he ought not to make the Courses of the Planets the Occasional Causes of the Union of our Soul and Body He ought not to will that our Arm should be mov'd in such or such a manner or that our Soul should feel the Tooth-ake when the Moon shall be in conjunction with the Sun if so be this Conjunction acts not on the Body God's Design being to unite our Soul to our Body he cannot in prosecuting that Design give the Soul Sensations of Pain save when there happen some Changes in the Body repugnant to it Wherefore we are not to seek out of our Soul or Body the Occasional Causes of their Union V. Hence it follows that God designing to form his Church by Jesus Christ could not according to that Design seek the Occasional Causes which serve to settle the General Laws of Grace by which the Spirit of Jesus diffus'd through his Members communicates Life and Holiness to them except in Jesus Christ and in the Creatures united to him by Reason Thus the Rain of Grace is not deriv'd to our Hearts by the diverse situations of the Stars nor by the Collision of certain Bodies nor even according to the different Courses of the animal Spirits which give us Motion and Life All that Bodies can do is to excite in us Motions and Sensations purely Natural For whatever arrives to the Soul through the Body is only for the Body VI. Yet as Grace is not given to all that desire it nor as soon as they desire it and is granted to those who do not ask it it thence follows that even our Desires are not the Occasional Causes of Grace For this sort of Causes have constantly and most readily their Effect and without them the Effect is not produc'd For Instance the Collision of Bodies being the Occasional Cause of the Change which happens in their Motion if two Bodies did not meet their Motions would not alter and if they alter'd we may be assur'd they met The general Laws which shed Grace upon our Hearts find nothing therefore in our Wills to determine their Efficacy as the general Laws which regulate the Rains are not founded on the Dispositions of the Places rain'd upon For it indifferently rains upon all Places on hollow and manur'd Grounds even on the Sands and the Sea it self VII We are therefore reduc'd to confess that
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
includes two Faculties an Active and a Passive 3. A general Cause of the Changes which happen in the Imagination of Men and the Foundation of the Second Book 45 CHAP. II. 1 Of the Animal Spirits and the Changes they are sâ—â—ject to in general 2. That the Chyle entring the Heart occasions a Change in the Spirits 3. That Wine does the same thing 47 CHAP. III. That the Air imploy'd in Respiration causes some change in the Animal Spirits 48 CHAP. IV. 1. Of the Change of the Spirits caus'd by the Nerves which go to the Heart and Lungs 2. Of that which is caus'd by the Nerves which go to the Liver to the Spleen and Viscera 3. That all that is perform'd without the Concurrence of our Will but yet it cannot be done without a Providence 49 CHAP. V. 1. Of Memory 2. Of Habits 51 CHAP. VI. 1. That the Fibres of the Brain are not subject to so sudden Changes as the Spirits 2. Three different Changes incident to the three different Ages 53 CHAP. VII 1. Of the Communication there is between the Brain of a Mother and that of her Infant 2. Of the Communication that is between our Brain and the other Parts of our Body which inclines us to Imitation and to Compassion 3. An Explication of the Generation of Monstrous Children and the Propagation of the Species 4. An Explication of some Irregularities of the Understanding and of some Inclinations of the Will 5. Concerning Concupiscence and Original Sin 6. Objections and Answers 54 CHAP. VIII 1. The Changes which happen in the Imagination of an Infant after his Birth by his accompanying with his Mother his Nurse and other Persons 2. Some Instructions for their good Education 61 The Second Part. CHAP. I. 1. Of the Imagination of Women 2. Of the Imagination of Men. 3. Of the Imagination of old Men 64 CHAP. II. That the Animal Spirits generally run in the Tracks of Ideas that are most familiar to us which is the Reason of our preposterous Judgments 66 CHAP. III. Of the mutual Connexion between the Ideas and the Traces of the Brain and of the mutual Connexion there is between Traces and Traces Ideas and Ideas 68 CHAP. IV. 1. That Men of Learning are the most subject to Error 2. The Causes why Men had rather be guided by Authority than make use of their own Reason 71 CHAP. V. Two pernicious Effects Reading has upon the Imagination 72 CHAP. VI. That Men of Learning generally are so opinionated with an Author that their principal Drift is the knowing what he held without caring to know what ought to be held 74 CHAP. VII Of the Prepossession of Commentators 76 CHAP. VIII 1. Of the Inventors of new Systems 2. The last Error of Men of Learning 79 CHAP. IX 1. Of Effeminate Minds 2. Of Superficial Minds 3. Of Men of Authority 4. Of the Experimental Philosophers 81 The Third Part. CHAP I. Of the Disposition we have to imitate others in all things which is the Original of the Communication of those Errors that depend on the Power of Imagination 2. Two things that more especially increase this Disposition 3. What that strong Imagination is 4. That there are several kinds of it Of Fools and of those that have a strong Imagination in the Sense 't is here taken 5. Two considerable Imperfections of Men of a strong Imagination 6. Of the Power they have to persuade and impose on others 84 CHAP. II. General Instances of the Strength of Imagination 87 CHAP. III. 1. Of the Force of some Authors Imagination 2. Of Tertullian 90 CHAP. IV. Of the Imagination of Seneca 91 CHAP. V. Of Montagne's Book 95 CHAP. VI. 1. Of Witches in Imagination and of Wolf-men 2. The Conclusion of the two First Books 99 Book the Third CHAP. I. 1. Thought is only essential to the Mind Sensation and Imagination are only the Modifications of it 2. We know not all the Modifications our Soul is capable of 3. They are different from our Knowledge and our Love nor are they always Consequences of them 101 CHAP. II. 1. The Mind being limited cannot comprehend any thing of an Infinite Nature 2. It s Limitation is the Origine of a great many Errors 3. And especially of Heresies 4. The Mind must be submitted unto Faith 105 CHAP. III. 1. The Philosophers dissipate or dissolve the Force of the Mind by applying it to the Subjects including too many Relations and depending on too many things and by observing no Method in their Studies 2. An Instance taken from Aristotle 3. That Geometricians on the contrary take a good Method in the Search of Truth Especially those who make use of Algebra and Analyticks 4. That their Method increases the Strength of the Mind and that Aristotle's Logick lessens it 5. Another Fault of Learned Men 107 CHAP. IV. 1. The Mind cannot dwell long upon Objects that have no relation to it or that include not something of Infinity in them 2. The Inconstancy of the Will is the Cause of that want of Application and consequently of Error 3. Our Sensations take us up more than the pure Ideas of the Mind 4. Which is the Source of the Corruption of our Morals 5. And of the Ignorance of the Vulgar sort of Men 109 Second Part concerning pure Understanding CHAP. I. 1. What is meant by Ideas That they really exist and are necessary to our perceiving all material Objects 2. A Particularization of all the ways possible for us to perceive external Objects 112 CHAP. II. That material Objects emit not Species which resemble them 114 CHAP. III. That the Soul has no power to produce Ideas The cause of the Error Men are guilty of upon this Subject 115 CHAP. IV. That we perceive not Objects by means of Ideas created with us That God does not produce them in us every moment we have need of them 117 CHAP. V. That the Mind perceives neither the Essence nor the Existence of Objects by considering its own Perfections That none but God sees them in that manner 118 CHAP. VI. That we see all things in God 119 CHAP. VII 1. Four different manners of Perception 2. How it is that we know God 3. How we know Bodies 4. How we know our own Souls 5. How we know the Souls of other Men and pure Spirits 122 CHAP. VIII 1. The intimate Presence of the indefinite Idea of Being in general is the cause of all the disorderly abstractions of the Mind and the most part of the Chimeras of the vulgar Philosophy which hinder many Philosophers from acknowledging the solidity of true Principles of Physicks 2. An Instance concerning the Essence of Matter 124 CHAP. IX 1. The last general Cause of our Errors 2. That the Ideas of things are not always present to the Mind when we would have them 3. That every finite Mind is subject to Error and why 4. That we ought not to judge that there is nothing but Body and Spirit nor that God is a
Spirit according to our conception of Spirits 128 CHAP. X. Some Instances of Errors in Physicks wherein Men are engaged by supposing that the things which differ in their Nature their Qualities Extension Duration and Proportion are alike in all these things 130 CHAP. XI Instances of some Errors of Morality which depend on the same Principle 133 The Conclusion of the Three first Books 134 Book the Fourth CHAP. I. 1. Inclinations are as necessary to Spirits as Motions to Bodies 2. God gives no Motion to Spirits but what tends towards himself 3. The tendency Spirits have to particular Goods proceeds but from their Motion towards Good in general 4. The Original of our chiefest natural Inclinations which will make up the division of this Fourth Book 137 CHAP II. 1. The Inclination for Good in general is the Principle of the Restlesness of the Will 2. And consequently of our Inadvertency and Ignorance 3. The First Instance shewing that Morals are but little known by the generality of Men. 4. The Second Instance shewing that the Immortality of the Soul is controverted by some People 5. That we are in extreme Ignorance in point of abstract things and which have but little reference to us 139 CHAP. III. 1. Curiosity is natural and necessary 2. Three Rules to moderate it 3. An Explication of the first of these Rules 143 CHAP. IV. A Continuation of the same Subject 1. An Explication of the second Rule concerning Curiosity 2. An Explication of the Third 146 CHAP. V. 1. Of the second natural Inclination or of Self-love 2. The Division of it into love of Being and of Well-being or of Greatness and Pleasure 147 CHAP. VI. 1. Of the Inclination we have for whatever elevates us above others 2. Of the false Judgments of some Religious Persons 3. Of the false Judgments of the Superstitious and Hypocrites 4. Of Voetius Mr. Des Cartes's Enemy 148 CHAP. VII Of the Desire of Science and of the Judgments of the falsly Learned 151 CHAP. VIII 1. Of the Desire of seeming Learned 2. Of the conversation of the falsly Learn'd 3. Of their Works 153 CHAP. IX How the Inclination for Honours and Riches conduces to Error 155 CHAP. X. Of the Love of Pleasure with regard to Morality 1. That Pleasure is to be shunn'd though it make us happy 2. It ought not to carry us to the loving sensible Goods 156 CHAP. XI Of the love of Pleasure with reference to Speculative Sciences 1. How it disables us from discovering Truth 2. Some Instances 159 CHAP. XII Of the Effects which the Thoughts of Future Happiness and Misery are capable of producing in the Mind 163 CHAP. XIII 1. Of the third Natural Inclination viz. The Friendship we have for other Men. 2. It makes us approve the Thoughts of our Friends and deceive them by undue Praises 165 Tome II. Book V. CHAP. I. OF the Nature and Original of Passions in general Page 1 CHAP II. Of the Union of the Mind with sensible Things or of the Force and Extent of the Passions in general 3 CHAP. III. A particular Explanation of all the Changes happening either to the Body or Soul in every Passion 6 CHAP. IV. That the Pleasure and Motion of the Passions engage us in Errors and false Judgments about Good that we ought continually to resist them How to impugn Libertinism 10 CHAP. V. That the Perfection of the Mind consists in its Union with God by the knowledge of Truth and the love of Vertue and contrariwise That its Imperfection proceeds only from its dependency on the Body caused by the Disorder of the Senses and Passions 13 CHAP. VI. Of the more general Errors of the Passions with some particular Instances 16 CHAP. VII Of Passions in particular and first of Admiration and its ill Effects 18 CHAP. VIII A Continuation of the same Subject What good use can be made of Admiration and other Passions 24 CHAP. IX Of Love and Aversion and their principal Species 26 CHAP. X. Of Passions in particular and in general of the way to explain them and to know the Errors they cause 29 CHAP. XI That all the Passions justifie themselves What Judgments they cause us to make in their Vindication 31 CHAP. XII That such Passions as have Evil for their Object are the most dangerous and unjust and that those that have the least mixture of Knowledge are the most lively and sensible 34 Book the Sixth CHAP. I. The Design of this Book Two general ways to keep to Evidence in the Search of Truth which shall be the Subject of this Tract 36 CHAP. II. That attention is necessary to preserve Evidence in our Knowledge that the modifications of the Soul make her attentive but share and take up too much her Capacity of perceiving 37 CHAP. III. Of the use that can be made of the Passions and Senses to preserve the attention of the Mind 39 CHAP. IV. Of the use of Imagination to make the Mind attentive and especially of the usefulness of Geometry 41 CHAP. V. Of the means to improve the extent and capacity of the Mind That Arithmetick and Algebra are of absolute necessity to it 46 Book the Sixth Part II. CHAP. I. Of the Rules that are to be observed in the Search after Truth 50 CHAP. II. Of the general Rule that concerns the subject of our Studies That School Philosophers observe it not which is the cause of several Errors in their Physicks 51 CHAP. III. Of the most dangerous Error in the Philosophy of the Ancients 54 CHAP. IV. An Explication of the second part of the general Rule That the Philosophers observe it not but that Des Cartes has exactly followed it 57 CHAP. V. An Explication of the Principles of the Peripatetick Philosophy in which is shewn that Aristotle never observed the second part of the general Rule and his four Elements with the Elementary Qualities are examined 64 CHAP. VI. General and necessary Advices to proceed orderly in the Search after Truth and in the choice of the Sciences 70 CHAP. VII Of the use of the first Rule concerning particular Questions 74 CHAP. VIII An Application of the other Rules to particular Questions 79 CHAP. IX The last instance to shew the usefulness of this Treatise wherein the cause of the Union of parts in Bodies and withal the Rules of the Communication of Motion are examined 85 The Conclusion of the Three last Books 96 Illustrations upon the foregoing Books 98 F. Malbranche's Defence against the Accusation of Monsieur De la Ville 183 Of Light and Colours 193 The End of the Contents F. MALEBRANCHE'S TREATISE CONCERNING The Search after Truth BOOK the FIRST Concerning The ERRORS of the SENSES CHAP. I. I. Of the Nature and Properties of the UNDERSTANDING II. Of the Nature and Properties of the WILL and wherein the Liberty of the SOUL consists ERROR is the Vniversal Cause of the Misery of Mankind 't is the corrupt Principle that has Produc'd Evil in the World 'T is
judging of things with an unwarrantable rashness For we often judge that the Objects whereof we have Idea's exist and likewise that they altogether resemble their Idea's when yet it often falls out that the Objects are neither like their Idea's nor do they exist at all The Existence of a thing does no ways follow from our having an Idea of it much less does it follow that the thing is perfectly like the Idea which we have thereof It cannot be concluded from GOD's giving us such a sensible Idea of Magnitude upon the presentation of a six Foot-rule to our Eyes that this Rule has the same Extension as it is represented to us by that Idea For first All Men have not the same sensible Idea of this same measure since all Men have not their Eyes disposed in the same manner Again The same Person has not the same sensible Idea of a six Foot-rule when he beholds it with his left Eye as when he views it with his right as has been already said Finally It often happens that the self-same Person entertains quite different Idea's of the same Objects at different times according as they are suppos'd nearer or farther off as shall be explain'd in its proper place It is then nothing but prejudice grounded upon no good reason to think we see Bodies according to their real Magnitude for our Eyes being not given us for any other purpose than the security of our Body they discharge their Duty admirable well in giving us such Idea's of Objects as are proportion'd to its magnitude But the better to conceive what ought to be our judgments concerning the Extension of Bodies from the Report of our Eyes let us imagine GOD to have created in Epitomie out of a portion of matter of the bigness of a small Globe an Heaven and Earth and Men upon this Earth with all other things the same proportion being observ'd as in this Grand World These little Men would see each other and the parts of their Bodies as likewise the little Animals which were capable of incommoding them Otherwise their Eyes would be useless to their preservation It is manifest then from this Supposition these little Men would have Idea's of the magnitude of Bodies quite different from ours since they would look upon their little World which would be but a Ball in our account as stretch'd out into infinite spaces just as we do in respect of the World in which we are Or if this is not so easie to be conceiv'd let us suppose GOD had created an Earth infinitely vaster than this which we inhabit so that this new Earth should be to ours what ours would be to that we have spoken of in the fore-going Supposition Let us moreover conceive GOD Almighty to have observ'd in all the parts which went to the Composition of this New World the very same proportion he has done in those which make up Ours It is plain that the Inhabitants of this latter World would be Taller than the space betwixt our Earth and the most distant Stars we can discover And this being so it is manifest that if they had the same Idea's of Extension of Bodies as our selves they would be able to discern some of the parts of their own Bodies and and would see others of a prodigious unweildiness so that 't is ridiculous to think they would see things in the same Bigness as they are seen by us It is apparent in these two Suppositions we have made that the Men whether of the Great or Little World would have Idea's of the Magnitude of Bodies very different from ours supposing their Eyes to furnish them with Idea's of the Objects round about them proportion'd to the Magnitude of their own Bodies Now if these Men should confidently affirm upon the Testimony of their Eyes that Bodies were of the very same bigness whereof they saw them it is not to be doubted but they would be deceiv'd and I suppose no Man will make a question of it And yet it is certain that these Men would have as Good Reason to justifie their Opinion as we have to defend our Own Let us acknowledge then from their Example That we are very uncertain of the Magnitude of Bodies which we see and that all which can be known by us concerning them from the Testimony of Sight is only the mutual Relation there is between Them and Us. In a word that our Eyes were never given us whereby to judge of the Truth of things but only to give us notice of such as might either molest or profit us in something or other But 't is not thought sufficient for Men to credit their Eyes only in order to judge of Visible Objects They think they are to be trusted farther even to judge of those which are Invisible Because there are some things which they cannot see they conclude they do not exist attributing to their Sight a Penetration in a manner Infinite This is an Impediment which prevents their discovering the real Causes of abundance of Natural Effects For that they ascribe them to Imaginary Faculties and Qualities is often meerly for want of discerning the True which consist in the different Configurations of these Bodies They see not for Instance the little parts of Air or Flame much less those of Light or of a matter still more fine and subtil And upon this score they are ready to believe they are not in being at least conclude them void of force and action They betake themselves to Occult Qualities or Imaginary Faculties to explain all the Effects whereof those Imperceptible parts are The True and Natural Cause They had rather have recourse to the horror of a Vacuum to Explain the Elevation of water in the Pump than impute it to the Gravitation of the Air. They chuse to ascribe the Flux and Reflux of the Sea to the Qualities of the Moon rather than to the pressure of the Atmosphere that is to the Air which surrounds the Earth and the Elevation of Vapours to the Attractive Faculties of the Sun than to the simple Motion of Impulse caused by the parts of the Subtil Matter which it continually diffuses abroad They look upon those as Men of trifling and impertinent Thought who have recourse only to the Flesh and Blood in accounting for all the Motions of Animals Likewise for the habits and the Corporeal Memory of Men And this partly proceeds from the Conception they have of the littleness of the Brain and its incapacity thereupon to preserve the Traces of an almost infinite number of things lodg'd in it They had rather admit though they can't conceive how a Soul in Beasts which is neither Body nor Spirit Qualities and Intentional Species for the Habits and Memory of Men or such like things notwithstanding they have no particular Notion of them in their Mind I should be too tedious should I stand to reckon up all the Errors we fall into through this Prejudice There are
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
either very grateful or disagreeable to it Such as are Pain or Titillation great Cold or vehement Heat and in general all such as are not only attended with Traces in the Brain but moreover with some Motion of the Animal Spirits towards the Internal Parts of the Body such a Motion as is proper to excite the Passions as shall be explain'd in another place The faint and languishing Sensations are such as affect the Soul very little and are neither very Pleasant nor very Disagreeable to her as moderate Light all Colours weak and ordidinary Sounds c. Lastly The Middle kind betwixt the Vigorous and Faint I call such sorts of Sensations as moderately affect the Soul as a great and glaring Light a loud and mighty Sound c. But it is observable that a Weak and Languid Sensation may become a Middle one and proceed to be a Vigorous and Lively one The Sensation for instance a Man has of Light is faint when the Light of a Flambeau is but glimmering or remote but this Sensation may become a Middle one upon the approaching of the Flambeau nearer us It may lastly grow most strong and lively by holding the Flambeau so close to the Eyes as to dazle them or suppose a Man beholds the Sun Thus the Sensation of Light may be Vigorous or Faint or neither but Moderate according to its different Degrees Let us see then the Judgments the Soul passes upon these three sorts of Sensations wherein we may observe that she almost ever blindly and implicitly follows the sensible Impressions or the Natural Judgments of the Senses and that she is delighted if I may so term it to diffuse her self upon the Objects she considers by dismantling her own Being to cloath and adorn External Objects The first of these Sensations are so Vigorous and Powerful that the Soul must whether she will or not acknowledge they do in some measure belong to her So that she not only judges them to be in the Objects but believes them also to be in the Members of her Body which she considers as a Part of her Self Thus she judges that Heat and Cold are not only in the Fire and Ice but in her own Hands also As to the Languid Sensations they so little concern the Soul that she concludes they do not belong to her that they are neither in her self nor in her Body but in Objects only And for this Reason it is we devest our own Soul and our own Eyes of Light and Colours to cloath and beautifie the Objects that are without us though Reason teaches us that the Idea we have of Matter does not include them in it And Experience visibly manifests that we ought equally to judge them in our Eyes as on the Objects since we see them no less upon the one than the other as I have experimentally prov'd by the Eye of an Ox plac'd in the hole of a Window Now the Reason why Men do not so readily perceive Colours Smells Tasts and all other Sensations to be the Modifications of their Soul is because we have not any distinct Idea of the Soul For when we know a thing by the Idea that represents it we know clearly the Modifications it is capable of All Men whatever agree that Rotundity for instance is a Modification of Extension because all Men know what Extension is by a clear Idea that represents it Thus because we know not the Soul by its Idea as I shall explain hereafter but only by an Internal Sensation that we have of it we can't understand by a simple View but by the force of Reasoning only whether Whiteness Light Colours Sounds and other faint and languishing Sensations are the Modifications of our Soul or not But as to the lively Sensations as Pain and Pleasure we easily judge that they are within us because we feel them sensibly affect us and there is no need of our knowing them by their Ideas to understand that they belong to us As for the Middle Sensations the Soul seems dubious and at a Fault about them For on one hand she is willing to follow the Natural Judgments of the Senses and thereupon she removes as far from her as possible this kind of Sensations to bestow them upon the Objects But on the other hand 't is Impossible but she must feel within her self and be conscious that they belong to her especially when these Sensations come up near to those which I have named the Strong and Lively whereupon let us see how she behaves her self in respect of the Judgments she makes concerning them If she is smartly touch'd with the Sensation she judges it to be in her own Body as well as in the Object If the Sensation affects her but a very little she judges it only in the Object If the Sensation be of a Middle sort betwixt those we call the Strong and the Weak the Soul then knows not what to think of it whilst she judges only by the Senses For instance If a Man sees a Candle at a good competent distance the Soul judges the Light to be only in the Object if he puts it very near his Eyes the Soul judges the Light to be not only in the Candle but likewise in the Eyes but if he withdraws about a foot from it the Soul is at a pause without determining whether or not the Light be in the Object only But she is never so wise as to think as she ought to do that Light neither is nor can be any Property or Modification of Matter and that it is only within her self because she never thinks of imploying her Reason in discovering the Truth of the Matter but only her Senses which never can discover it nor indeed were given us for any other use than the Preservation of the Body Now the cause why the Soul makes no more use of her Reason that is of her pure Intellection in considering an Object which may be perceiv'd by the Senses is this that the Soul is not at all mov'd or concern'd on the account of those things she perceives by pure Intellection but on the contrary is most nearly touch'd by things Sensible For the Soul applies her self intensely to that which affects her most but is too careless to apply her self to things that work in her no Concernment Thus she almost universally suites her Free Judgments to the Natural Judgment of her Senses To judge aright then of Light and Colours as of all other sensible Qualities we must carefully distinguish between the Sensation of Colour and the Motion of the Optick Nerve and we must find out by our Reason that Motions and Impulsions are Properties of Bodies and therefore may possibly be found both in Objects and in the Organs of our Senses but that Light and Colours which we see are Modifications of our Soul very different from the other and of which we have quite different Idea's For it is evident that a Peasant for instance sees
Colours very well and can distinguish them from all things else that are not Colour It is evident too that he perceives nothing of Motion either in the colour'd Objects or in the Fund of his Eyes therefore Colour is not Motion In like manner a Peasant is very sensible of Heat and he has knowledge clear enough to distinguish it from all thing else which are not Heat Yet he never so much as thinks of the Fibres of his Hand 's being mov'd Heat then which he feels is not Motion since the Idea's of Heat and Motion are different and one may be had without the other For we have no other Reason to affirm a Square is not a Circle but because the Idea of a Square is different from that of a Circle and we can think of one without thinking of the other There needs but a little Attention to discover that it is not necessary the cause which occasions a Sensation of such or such a Thing in us should contain that thing in it self For as there is no necessity there should be Light in my Hand when I see a flash upon giving my Eye a blow so there is no need that Heat should be in the Fire to make me sensible of it upon the approach of my Hand towards it nor indeed that any other sensible Qualities should be in the Objects that produce them 'T is enough that they cause a Vibration in the Fibres of my Flesh to the end my Soul which is united to it may be modify'd by some Sensation There is no Analogy I confess between Motions and Sensations Nor is there any betwixt Body and Spirit But since Nature or the Will of the Creator associates these two Substances though essentially different we need not wonder if their Modifications are Reciprocal It is necessary it should be so that both of them might constitute but one entire Being It should be well observ'd that our Senses being given us only for the Preservation of our Body it is most conveniently order'd that they should induce us to judge of sensible Qualities just as we do It is abundantly more for our advantage to receive the Sensation of Pain and Heat as being in our own Body than to judge they were only in the Objects that occasion'd them Because Pain and Heat being capable of injuring the Members of the Body it is most requisite we should be warn'd of them whenever they attacqu'd us to prevent our Body's being endammag'd by them But in point of Colours 't is another case for the generality they are unable to hurt the Fund of the Eye where they are collected and it is an useless thing to us to know they are painted on it These Colours are only necessary to us as far as they are conducible to a more distinct Discovery of Objects and upon that account our Senses induce us to attribute them to Objects only Thus the Judgments which the Impression of our Senses incline us to make are most exact if consider'd only in Relation to the Preservation of our Body But yet they are altogether Phantastical and very remote from the Truth as we have already seen in part and shall be more abundantly manifest in that which follows CHAP. XIII I. Of the Nature of Sensations II. That a Man knows them better than he thinks he does III. An Objection and Answer IV. Why a Man imagines he has no knowledge of his own Sensations V. That 't is an Error to think all Men have the same Sensations of the same Objects VI. An Objection and Answer THE third thing which is found in each of our Sensations or that which we Feel for instance when we are near the Fire is a Modification of our Soul in Relation or Correspondence to that which occurs in the Body to which she is united This Modification is grateful or agreeable when that which occurs in the Body is proper to promote the Circulation of the Blood and other Vital Functions And this is nam'd in an Equivocal Term Heat But this Modification is painful and quite different from the other when that which occurs in the Body is capable of incommoding or burning it that is to say when the Motions which are in the Body are capable of breaking some of it Fibres and this generally goes by the Name of Pain or Combustion and so 't is with the other Sensations But now let us see what are the Thoughts Men usually have upon this Subject The first Error is this that a Man unreasonably imagines he has no Knowledge of his Sensations We daily find a great number of such Men as are much concern'd and very sollicitous to know what Pain and Pleasure and the other Sensations are Neither will they grant that they are only in the Soul and the Modifications of it I confess these are a strange sort of Men who would needs be taught what they cannot be ignorant of For 't is impossible a Man should be absolutely ignorant what Pain is when he is under the sense of it A Man for example that burns his Hand does very well distinguish the Pain he feels from Light Colour Sounds Tasts Smells Pleasure and from every other Pain besides that he feels He distinguishes it very well from Admiration Desire and Love He distinguishes it from a Square a Circle and a Motion in a word he finds 't is very different from every thing which is not the Pain he feels Now if he has no Knowledge of Pain I would fain be satisfy'd how he can tell with any certainty of evidence that what he feels is none of all these things We know then in some measure what we are immediately sensible of as when we see Colours or have any other Sensation And if it were not for this Knowledge it is certain we could know nothing of any sensible Object For 't is manifest for example that we would be unable to distinguish Wine from Water did we not know that the Sensations we have of the one were different from those we have of the other and so 't is with all other things which we know by our Senses 'T is true should a Man be importunate in desiring me to explain what is Pain Pleasure Colour or the like I should not be able to define it in words as it ought to be But it does not follow from thence that if I see a Colour or burn my self I have no manner of Knowledge of that whereof I have an Actual Sensation Now the reason why our Sensations cannot be explain'd by words as well as all other things is because it depends on the Arbitrary Will of Men to joyn the Idea's of things to what Names they please They may call the Heavens Ouranos Shamájim as the Greeks and Hebrews But the same Men have not an equal Liberty of affixing their Sensations to words nor indeed to any thing else They see no Colours unless they open their Eyes discourse to them what you
the Sensations we have of Colours And indeed it cannot be doubted but there is much diversity in the Organs of Sight of different Persons as well as in those of Hearing and Tasting For what reason is there to suppose an exact conformity and resemblance in the disposition of the Optick Nerve of all Men since there is such an infinite variety in all the things of Nature but especially in those that are Material There is then great probability that all Men do not see the same Colours in the same Objects Nevertheless I am of Opinion that it never happens at least very rarely that any Persons see Black and White of a different Colour from what our selves see them though they do not see them equally Black or White But as to middle Colours such as Red Yellow Blue and especially those that are compounded of these three I am persuaded there are very few Men that have exactly the same Sensations For there are Men sometimes to be met with who see some sort of Bodies of a yellow Colour for instance when they view them with one Eye and of a Green or Blue when they behold them with the other And yet supposing these Men to be born with one Eye only or with two Eyes so dispos'd as to see that of a Red or Yellow Colour which others call Green or Blue they would believe they saw Objects of the same Colours as others do because they would always have heard the Name Green given to that which they see Yellow and Blue to that which to them seems Red. It might as a farther proof be alledg'd that all Men see not the same Objects of the same Colour because according to the Observations of some Men the same Colours are not equally pleasing to all sorts of People since on supposition these Sensations were the same they would be equally agreeable to all Mankind But because very strong Objections might be urg'd against this Argument founded on the Answer I gave to the former Objection I thought it not solid enough to be propos'd Indeed is is very rarely found that a Man is much more pleas'd with one Colour than another as he takes greater pleasure in one Taste than another The reason of it is That the Sensations of Colours are not given us to judge whether the Bodies about us are fit to nourish us or not This is the part of Pleasure and Pain to shew which are the Natural Characters of Good and Evil. Objects in point of Colours are neither good nor bad to eat If Objects on account of their Colour should either seem agreeable or disagreeable the Sight of them would constantly be succeeded with the course of the Animal Spirits which excite and accompany the Passions since the Soul cannot be affected without some Commotion We should often hate good Things and be fond of the bad so that our Life could not be long preserv'd In short the Sensations of Colour are given us meerly to distinguish Bodies from one another and this is effected well enough whether a Man sees Grass green or red provided the Person who sees it green or red sees it always in the same manner But so much for our Sensations Let us now say something of our Natural Judgments and our Voluntary Judgments that attend them The fourth thing to be consider'd which we confound with the three others whereof we have been speaking CHAP. XIV I. Of the False Judgments that accompany our Sensations and which we confound with them II. The Reasons of these False Judgements III. That Error is not in our Sensations but only in these Judgments WE instantly fore-see that there are very few Persons who will not be offended at this general Proposition we lay down namely That we have not any Sensation of External things but contains one or more Judgments We know well enough too that the generality of Men are of opinion that there is not any Judgment True or False in our Sensations Insomuch that these Persons surpriz'd with the Novelty of this Proposition will undoubtedly say with themselves How is this possible I do not judge the Wall to be white I see well enough it is so I do not judge that Pain is in my Hand I feel it most infalliby there And who can doubt of things so certain unless he has a different Sensation of Objects from what I have my self In fine their Inclinations for the Prejudices of Childhood will carry them much farther And if they proceed not to Contumely and to the Contempt of those whom they believe of a contrary Sentiment to themselves they will doubtless deserve to be reckon'd amongst the moderate sort of People But 't is not our business to stand prophesying any longer what ill Reception and Success our Thoughts shall meet with 't is much more expedient to draw them out with such convincing Arguments and to set them in so clear a Light as to leave it impossible for a Man to engage them with his Eyes open or to consider them attentively without submitting to them We are to prove that we have no Sensation of External things which does not include some false Judgment or other And the Proof is as follows To me it seems past Controversie that our Souls take not up such vast spaces as are those we see betwixt us and the fix'd Stars though it should be allow'd that they are extended Thus it is unreasonable to believe our Souls are in the Heavens when they see the Stars there Nor is it more credible that they depart out of their Bodies a mile suppose when they see the Houses at that distance The Soul then must necessarily see Stars and Houses where they are not since she goes not out of the Body wherein she is and nevertheless sees them out of it Now whereas the Stars which are immediately united to the Soul and which are the only Stars the Soul can see are not in the Heavens it follows that all Men who see the Stars in the Heavens and thereupon voluntarily judge that they are there make two false Judgments the one Natural and the other Free and Voluntary The one is a Judgment of the Senses or a Compound Sensation which ought not to be a measure for us to judge by The other is a Free Judgment of the Will which a Man may avoid making and consequently must not make if he would avoid falling into Error But let us see upon what grounds a Man believes those same Stars he immediately sees to be out of the Soul and in the Heavens The reason is this That it is not in the power of the Soul to see them when she pleases For she can perceive them only at such times as those Motions are excited in her Brain to which the Idea's of these Objects are affix'd by Nature Now because the Soul has no Perception of the Motions of her Organs but only of her own Sensations and is confident these same
Foundation of his System from which may ever be deduc'd all the profit that could be expected from the true to make all necessary advances in the knowledge of Man Since then the Imagination consists only in the Power the Soul has of Forming the Images of Objects by imprinting them as I may so say in the Fibres of the Brain the greater and more distinct the Impresses of the Animal Spirits are which are the strokes of these Images the more strongly and distinctly the Soul will imagine Objects Now as the Largeness and Depth and Cleaverness of the strokes of any Sculpture depend upon the Forcible Acting of the Graving Instrument and the plyable yielding of the Plate so the Depth and the Distinctness of the Impresses of the Imagination depend on the Force of the Animal Spirits and the Constitution of the Fibres of the Brain And 't is the Variety that is found in these two things which is almost the universal Cause of that great Diversity we observe in the Minds of different Men. For 't is no hard thing to account for all the different Characters to be met with in the Minds of Men On the one hand by the Abundance and Scarcity by the Rapidness and Slowness by the Grossness and the Littleness of the Animal Spirits and on the other hand by the Fineness and Courseness by the Moisture and Driness by the Facility and Difficulty of the yielding of the Fibres of the Brain and lastly by the Relation the Animal Spirits may possibly have with these Fibres And it would be very expedient for every one forthwith to try to Imagine to himself all the different Combinations of these things and to apply himself seriously to the Consideration of all the Differences we have observ'd between the Minds of Men. Because it is ever more Useful and also more Pleasant for a Man to employ his own Mind and to accustom it to the finding out Truth by its own Industry than to suffer it to gather Rust by a careless Laziness in applying it only to things wholly digested and explain'd to his hands Besides that there are some things so delicately nice and fine in the different Character of Minds that a Man may easily sometimes discover them and be sensible of them himself but is unable to represent them or make them sensible to others But that we may explain as far as possibly we can all the Differences that are found in different Minds and that every Man may more easily observe in his own the Cause of all the Changes he sensibly perceives in it at different times it seems convenient to make a general Enquiry into the Causes of the Changes which happen in the Animal Spirits and in the Fibres of the Brain Since this will make way for the Discovery of all those which happen in the Imagination Man never continues long like himself all Mankind have sufficient Internal Convictions of their own Inconstancy A Man judges one while in one manner and another while in another concerning the same Subject In a word the Life of a Man consists only in the Circulation of the Blood and in another Circulation of Thoughts and Desires And I am of Opinion a Man can't employ his Time much better than in Searching for the Causes of these Changes we are subject to and entring into the Knowledge of our Selves CHAP. II. I. Of the Animal Spirits and the Changes they are subject to in general II. That the Chyle entering the Heart occasions a Change in the Spirits III. That Wine does the same thing 'T IS confess'd by all the World that the Animal Spirits are nothing but the more subtil and agitated parts of the Blood which Subtilty and Agitation is principally owing to the Fermentation it receives in the Heart and the violent Motion of the Muscles which constitute that part That these Spirits together with the rest of the Blood are conducted through the Arteries to the Brain And that there they are separated from it by some parts appropriated to that purpose but which they are it has not been yet agreed upon From whence we ought to conclude that in case the Blood be very subtil it will have abundance of Animal Spirits but if it be gross the Animal Spirits will be few That if the Blood be compos'd of parts easie to be inflam'd in the Heart or very fit for Motion the Spirits in the Brain will be extreamly heated and agitated And on the contrary if the Blood admits little Fermentation in the Heart the Animal Spirits will be languid unactive and without force And lastly according to the Solidity which is found in the parts of the Blood the Animal Spirits will have more or less solidity and consequently greater or lesser force in their Motion But these things ought to be explain'd more at large and the Truth of them made more sensibly apparent by Examples and uncontroverted Experiments that prove them The Authority of the Ancients has not only blinded some Mens Understandings but we may say has seal'd up their Eyes For there are still a sort of Men that pay so submissive a deference to Ancient Opinions or possibly are so stiff and obstinate that they will not see those things which they could not contradict would they but please to open once their Eyes We daily see Men in good Reputation and Esteem for their Study Write and Dispute publickly against the Visible and Sensible Experiments of the Circulation of the Blood against that of the Gravitation and Elastick force of the Air and others of the like Nature The Discovery Mr. Pacquet has made in our Time and which we have here occasion for is of the number of those that are mis-fortunate meerly for want of being Born Old and as a Man may say with a Venerable Beard I shall not however omit to make use of it and am under no Apprehension of being blam'd by Judicious Men for doing so According to that Discovery it is manifest that the Chyle does not immediately pass from the Viscera to the Liver through the Mesaraick Veins as was believ'd by the Ancients but that it passes out of the Bowels into the Lacteal Veins and from thence into several Receptacles where these Veins coterminate That from thence it ascends through the Ductus Thoracicus along the Vertebrae of the Back and proceeds to mix with the Blood in the Axillary Vein which enters into the Superiour Trunck of Vena Cava and thus being mingled with the Blood it discharges it self into the Heart It ought to be concluded from this Experiment that the Blood thus mingled with the Chyle being very different from that which has already circulated several times through the Heart the Animal Spirits that are only the more fine and subtil parts of it ought to be very different in Persons that are fasting and others after they have eaten Again because in the Meats and Drinks that are us'd there is an infinite Variety
the Minds of Men of different Countries The Gascons for instance have a more brisk and lively Imagination than the Normans Those of Rhoan and Dieppe and Picardie differ all from one another And yet farther from the Low-Normans though at no great distance from each other But if we consider Men that live in Countries more remote we shall find much stranger Differences between them For instance an Italian a Flemming and a Dutch-Man To conclude there are places celebrated in all Ages for the Wisdom of their Inhabitants as Theman and Athens and others as notorious for their Stupidity as Thebes and Abdera and some others Athenis tenue coelum ex quo acutiores etiam putantur Attici crassum Thebis Cic. de Fato Abderitanae pectora plebis habes Mart. Boeotum in crasso jurares aëre natum Hor. CHAP. IV. I. Of the Change of the Spirits caus'd by the Nerves which go to the Heart and Lungs II. Of that which is caus'd by the Nerves which go to the Liver to the Spleen and Viscera III. That all that is perform'd without the concurrence of our Will but yet it cannot be done without a Providence THE third cause of the Changes which happen to the Animal Spirits is the most ordinary and most active of them all because it is this which produces maintains and corroborates all the Passions For our better understanding this we must know that the Nerves of the fifth sixth and eighth Conjugation shoot out the greatest part of their Branches into the Breast and Belly where they are most advantagiously imploy'd for the Preservation of the Body but most dangerously in regard to the Soul Because these Nerves in their Action depend not on the Will of Men as do these us'd in moving the Legs and Arms and other External Parts of the Body And they have a greater influence upon the Soul than the Soul has upon them We must know then that many of the Branches of the Nerves of the eighth Conjugation fall in among the Fibres of the Principal of all the Muscles the Heart that they encircle its Orifices its Auricles and its Arteries That they expatiate also into the Substance of the Lungs and thus by their different Motions produce very considerable Changes in the Blood For the Nerves which are dispers'd among the Fibres of the Heart causing it to Dilate and Contract it self in too hasty and violent a manner throw with an unusual force abundance of Blood towards the Head and all other External Parts of the Body Though sometimes these same Nerves have a quite contrary Effect As for the Nerves which surround the Orifices of the Heart it s Auricles and Arteries their use is much the same with that of the Registers wherewith the Chymists moderate the Heat of their Furnaces or of Cocks which are instrumental in Fountains to regulate the Course of their Waters For the use of these Nerves is to contract and dilate diversly the Orifices of the Heart and by that manner to hasten and retard the Entrance and the Exit of the Blood and so to augment and diminish the Heat of it Lastly The Nerves which are dispers'd over the Lungs have the same employment For the Lungs being made up only of the Branches of the Trachea of the Vena Arteriosa and the Arteria Venosa interwoven one among another it is plain that the Nerves which are dispers'd through their Substance by their Contraction must obstruct the Air from passing so freely out of the Branches of the Trachea and the Blood out of those of the Vena Arteriosa into the Arteria Venosa to discharge it self into the Heart Thus these Nerves according to their different agitation augment and diminish still the Heat and Motion of the Blood All the Passions furnish us with very sensible Experiments of these different Degrees of Heat of our Heart we manifestly feel its Diminution and Augmentation sometimes on a sudden And as we falsly judge our Sensations to be in the Parts of our Body and by occasion of them to be Excited in our Soul as has been explain'd in the foregoing Book So the generality of Philosophers imagine the Heart to be the Principal Seat of the Passions of the Soul and 't is even at this day the most common and receiv'd Opinion Now because the Imaginative Faculty receives considerable Changes by the Changes which happen in the Animal Spirits and because the Animal Spirits are very different according to the different Fermentation of the Blood perform'd in the Heart it is easie to discover the Reason of Passionate People's imagining things quite otherwise than those who consider'd the same sedately and in cold Blood The other Cause which exceedingly contributes to the Diminution and Augmentation of these Extraordinary Fermentations of the Blood in the Heart consists in the Action of many other Branches of the Nerves whereof we have been speaking These Branches are dispers'd throughout the Liver which contains the more subtil part of the Blood or that which is commonly call'd the Bile through the Spleen which contains the grosser part or the Melancholy through the Pancreas which contains an acid Juice most proper for Fermentation through the Stomach the Guts and the other parts which contain the Chyle Finally They are dispers'd and spread about all the parts that can any ways contribute to the varying the Fermentation of the Blood in the Heart There is moreover nothing even to the Arteries and Veins which has not a Connection with these Nerves as Dr. Willis has discover'd of the Inferiour Trunck of the Great Artery which is connected to them near the Heart of the Axillary Artery on the right side of the Emulgent Vein and several others Thus the use of the Nerves being to agitate the parts to which they are fastened diverse ways it is easie to conceive how for instance the Nerve which surrounds the Liver may by constringing it drive a great quantity of Bile into the Veins and the Canalis Cysticus which mingling with the Blood in the Veins and with the Chyle through the Canalis Cysticus enters the Heart and produces a Heat therein much more fervent than ordinary Thus when a Man is mov'd with some kind of Passions the Blood boyls in the Arteries and in the Veins and the Heat is diffus'd throughout the Body the Fire flies up into the Head which is presently fill'd with such a prodigious quantity of over-brisk and rapid Animal Spirits as by their impetuous Current hinder the Imagination from representing other things than those whose Images they form in the Brain that is from thinking on other Objects than those of the Predominant Passion 'T is so again with the little Nerves which run into the Spleen or into other parts which contain a Matter more gross and course and less capable of Heat and Motion they render the Imagination wholly Languid Drousy and Unactive by pouring into the Chanels of the Blood a Matter that is
gross and difficult to be put in Motion As for those Nerves which environ the Arteries and Veins their Use is to put a stop to the current of the Blood and by their Pressure and Constriction of the Veins and Arteries oblige it to flow into those places where it meets with a passage more free and open Thus that part of the great Artery which furnishes all the parts of the Body below the Heart with Blood being bound and straitned by these Nerves the Blood must necessarily enter the Head in greater quantities and so produce a Change in the Animal Spirits and consequently in the Imagination But it ought to be well observ'd that all this is perform'd by mere Mechanism I mean that all the different Movements of these Nerves in all the different Passions are not affected by the Command of the Will but on the contrary are perform'd without its orders and even in contradiction to them Insomuch that a Body without a Soul dispos'd like that of a â—ound Man would be capable of all the Movements which accompany our Passions And thus Beasts themselves might have such as nearly resembled them though they were only pure Machines This is the thing for which we ought to admire the Incomprehensible Wisdom of Him who has so regularly rang'd and contriv'd all these Natural Wheels and Movements as to make it sufficient for an Object to move the Optick Nerve in such and such a manner to produce so many diverse Motions in the Heart in the other inward parts of the Body and on the Face it self For it has lately been discover'd that the same Nerve which shoots some of its Branches into the Heart and into other Internal parts communicates also some of its Branches into the Eye the Mouth and other parts of the Face so that no Passion can rise or mutiny within but it must betray presently it self without because there can be no Motion in the Branches extended to the Heart but there must another happen in those which are spread o'er the Face The Correspondence and Sympathy which is found between the Nerves of the Face and some others answering to other places of the Body not to be nam'd is still much more Remarkable and that which occasions this great Sympathy is as in the other Passions because these little Nerves which climb into the Face are only Branches of that which descends lower When a Man is overtaken with some violent Passion if he is careful to make a Reflection upon what he feels in his Entrails and in other parts of his Body where the Nerves insinuate themselves as also upon the Changes of Countenance which accompany it and if he considers that all these divers Agitations of the Nerves are altogether involuntary and that they happen in spite of all the Resistance that our Will can make to them he will find it no hard matter to suffer himself to embrace this simple Exposition that hath been given of all these Relations and Correspondencies betwixt the Nerves But if a Man examines the Reasons and the End of all these things so much Order and Wisdom will be found in them that a little Soberness of Thought and Attention will be able to convince the most devoted Admirers of Epicurus and Lucretius that there is a Providence that governs the World When I see a Watch I have reason to conclude that there is some Intelligent Being since it is Impossible for Chance and Hap-hazard to produce to range and posture all its Wheels How then could it be possible that Chance and a confus'd Jumble of Atoms should be capable of ranging in all Men and Animals such abundance of different secret Springs and Engines with that Exactness and Proportion I have just Explain'd and that Men and Animals should thereby procreate others exactly like themselves So ridiculous it is to think or to say with Lucretius That all the parts which go to the Composition of Man were pack't together by Chance that his Eyes were not made with any design of Seeing but that he afterwards thought of Seeing because he found he had Eyes And thus with the other parts of the Body These are his Words Lumina ne facias oculorum clara creata Prospicere ut possimus ut proferre vidi Proceros passus ideo fastigia posse Surarum ac foeminum pedibus fundata plicari Brachia tum poro validis ex apta lacertis Esse manúsque datas utraque à parte ministras Vt facere ad vitam possimus quae foret usus Caetera de genere hoc inter quaecunque pretantur Omnia perversa praepostera sunt ratione Nil adeo quoniam natum ' st in corpore ut uti Possemus sed quod natum ' st id procreat usum Must not he needs have a strange Aversion to a Providence who would thus voluntarily put out his Eyes for fear of seeing it and endeavour to render himself insensible to Arguments so strong and convincing as those Nature furnishes us withal I confess when once Men affect to be thought bold or rather Atheistical Wits as did the Epicureans they presently find themselves benighted in darkness and see only false glimmerings for the future they peremptorily deny the most clear and Self-evident Truths and as haughtily and Magisterially affirm the falsest and obscurest Things in the World The Poet I have just cited may serve as a Proof of that Blindness of these venturous Wits he confidently pronounces and against all appearance of Truth about the most difficult and obscurest Questions when at the same time it may well be thought he has no Preception of Idea's that are most clear and evident If I should stand to transcribe passages of that Author to justifie what I say I should make too long and tedious a Digression for though it may be permitted me to make some Reflections which stay and fasten the Mind for a Moment upon essential Truths yet I should never attone for making Digressions which throw off the Mind a considerable time from its Attention to its principal Subject to apply it to things of little or no Importance CHAP. V. I. Of the Memory II. Of the Habits WE have been explaining the general Causes as well External as Internal which effect a Change in the Animal Spirits and consequently in the Imaginative Faculty We have shewn that the External are the Meats we feed upon and the Air we take in for Respiration And that the Internal consist in the Involuntary Agitation of certain Nerves We know no other general Causes and we are confident there are none In so much that the Faculty of Imagining as to the Body depends only on two things namely the Animal Spirits and the Disposition of the Brain whereon they act There nothing more remains at present to to give us a perfect Knowledge of the Imagination than the manifestation of the different Changes that may happen in the Substance of the Brain They shall be examined by us as
of a tender and delicate Body than in those of a more strong and robust Complection Thus Men who abound with Strength and Vigour are not at all hurt with the sight of a Massacre nor so much inclin'd to Compassion because the sight of it is an offence to their Body as because it shocks their Reason These Persons have no Pity for a Condemned Criminal as being both Inflexible and Inexorable Whereas Women and Children suffer much Pain by the Hurt and Wounds they see receiv'd by others They are machinally dispos'd to be very Pitiful and Compassionate to the Miserable And they are unable to see a Beast beaten or hear it cry without some disturbance of mind As for Infants which are still in their Mother's Womb the delicacy of the Fibres of their Flesh infinitely exceeding that of Women and Children the Course of their Spirits must necessarily produce more considerable Changes in them as will be seen in the Sequel of the Discourse We will still suffer what we have said to go for a simple Supposition if Men will have it so But they ought to endeavour well to comprehend it if they would distinctly conceive the things I presume to explain in this Chapter For these two Suppositions I have just made are the Principles of an infinite number of things which are generally believ'd very difficult and abstruse And which indeed seem impossible to be explain'd and clear'd up without them I will here give some instances of what I have said It was about seven or eight Years ago that there was seen in the Incurable a young Man who was born anâ—Idiot and whose Body was broken in the same places that Malefactors are broken on the Wheel He lived near twenty Years in the same condition many Persons went to see him and the late Queen-mother going to visit the Hospital had the Curiosity to see him and also to touch his Legs and Arms in the places were they were broken According to the Principles I have been establishing the cause of this Calamitous Accident was That his Mother hearing a Criminal was to be broken went to see the Execution All the blows which were given to the Condemned struck violently the Imagination of the Mother and by a kind of Repercussive blow the tender and delicate Brain of her Infant The Fibres of this Mother's Brain receiv'd a prodigious Concussion and were possibly broke in some places by the violent course of the Spirits produc'd at the Sight of so frightful a Spectacle But they had Consistency enough to prevent their total Dissolution The Fibres on the contrary of the Infant 's Brain not being able to resist the furious torrent of these Spirits were broke and shattered all to pieces And the havock was violent enough to make him lose his Intellect for ever This is the Reason why he come into the World deprived of Sense Now for the other why he was broken in the same parts of his Body as the Criminal whom his Mother had seen put to Death At the Sight of this Execution so capable of dismaying a timorous Woman the violent course of the Animal Spirits of the Mother made a forcible descent from her Brain towards all the Members of her Body which were Analogous to those of the Criminal and the same thing happened to the Infant But because the Bones of the Mother were capable of withstanding the violent Impression of these Spirits they receiv'd no dammage by them it may be too she felt not the least Pain nor the least Trembling in her Arms or Legs upon the Breaking of the Criminal But the rapid course of the Spirits was capable of bursting the soft and tender parts of the Infant 's Bones For the Bones are the last parts of the Body that are form'd and they have very little Consistence whilst Children are yet in their Mother 's Womb. And it ought to be observ'd that if this Mother had determin'd the Motion of these Spirits towards some other part of her Body by some powerful Titillation her Infant would have escaped the Fracture of his Bones But the part which was correspondent to that towards which the Mother had determined these Spirits would have been severely injured according to what I have already said The Reasons of this Accident are general enough to explain how it comes to pass that Women who whilst big with Child see Persons particularly mark'd in certain places of their Face imprint on their Infants the very same Marks and in the self-same places of the Body And 't is not without good Reason that they are caution'd to rub some latent part of the Body when they perceive any thing which surprises them or are agitated with some violent Passion For by this means the Marks will be delineated rather upon the hidden parts than the Faces of their Infants We should have frequent Instances of like Nature with this I have here related if Infants could live after they had receiv'd so great Wounds or Disruptions but generally they prove Abortions For it may be said that rarely any Child dies in the Womb if the Mother be not distemper'd that has any other cause of its ill fortune than some fright or impotent Desire or other violent Passion of the Mother This following is another Instance very unusual and particular It is no longer than a Year ago that a Woman having with too great an Application of Thought contemplated the Picture of St. Pius at the Celebration of his Feast of Canonization was deliver'd of a Child perfectly featur'd like the Representation of the Saint He had the Countenance of an Old Man as near as was possible for an Infant that was beardless His Arms were folded across upon his Breast His Eyes bent up towards Heaven and had very little Forehead because the Picture of the Saint being postur'd as looking up to Heaven and elevated towards the Roof of the Church had scarce any Fore-head to be seen He had a kind of Mitre reclining backwards on his Shoulders with many round prints in the places where the Mitres are imboss'd with Precious Stones In short this Infant was the very Picture of the Picture upon which the Mother had form'd it by the force of her Imagination This is a thing that all Paris might have seen as well as I since it was a considerable time preserv'd in Spirit of Wine This instance has This remarkable in it That it was not the Sight of a Man alive and acted with some violent Passion that mov'd the Spirits and Blood of the Mother to the Production of so strange an Effect but only the sight of a Picture which yet made a very sensible Impression and was accompanied with a mighty Commotion of Spirits whether by the Fervency and Application of the Mother or whether by the Agitation the noise of the Feast caus'd in her This Mother then beholding the Picture with great Application of Mind and Commotion of Spirits the Infant
according to the first Supposition saw it with the like Application and Commotion The Mother being sensibly smitten imitated the Picture at least in outward posture according to the second Supposition For her Body being compleatly form'd and the Fibres of her Flesh hard enough to withstand the torrent of the Spirits she could not possibly imitate it or become perfectly like it in all things But the Fibres of the Infant 's Flesh being extreamly soft and consequently capable of being moulded into any Figure the rapid course of the Spirits produc'd in his Flesh all that was necessary to render him entirely like the Image which he saw And the Imitation to which Children are the most dispos'd was almost as perfect as it possibly could be But this Imitation having given the Body of the Child a shape too extraordinary was the occasion of its Death There are many other Instances to be met with in Authors of the Power of the Mother's Imagination and there is nothing so odd or extravagant but they sometimes miscarry of For they not only bring forth Deform'd and Mis-shapen Children but the Fruits they have long'd to Eat as Apples Pears Grapes and the like The Mother strongly imagining and impatiently longing to Eat Pears for instance the Infant receives the same impatient Longings and strong Imaginations and the current of the Spirits actuated with the Image of the desir'd Fruit diffusing it self through the little Body which by reason of it flexibility and softness is readily dispos'd for a change of its Figure the poor Infant is fashion'd in the shape of the thing it too ardently desires But the Mother suffers not in her Body by it because it is not soft and plyable enough to receive the Figure of the thing imagined and so she cannot imitate or make her self entirely like it Now it ought to be suppos'd that this Correspondence I have been explaining and which is sometimes the cause of such great Disorders is an unuseful thing and an inconvenient Ordinance in Nature On the contrary it seems to be very advantagious to the Propagation of an Humane Body and the Formation of the Foetus and it is absolutely necessary to the Transmitting several Dispositions of the Brain which ought to be different at different Seasons and in different Countries For it is necessary for instance that Lambs in particular Countries should have their Brain altogether dispos'd for the avoiding and flying Wolves by reason of their abounding in those places and being very formidable Creatures to them It is true this Communication between the Mother's and the Infant 's Brain is sometimes attended with unlucky Consequences when the Mothers suffer themselves to be transported with some outragious Passion Notwithstanding it seems to me that without this Communication Women and other Creatures could not easily Propagate their Young Ones in the same Species For though some Reason may be given for the Formation of the Foetus in general as Monsieur Des-Cartes has happily enough attempted yet it is most difficult without this Communication of the Mother's Brain with that of the Infant to explain why a Mare does not produce a Calf and a Hen an Egg which contains a little Partridge or some other Bird of a new Species And I am of opinion that those who have thought much upon the Formation of the Foetus will agree in the same Notion 'T is true that the most reasonable Opinion and that which is most agreeable to Experience touching that very difficult Question about the Formation of the Foetus is this That Infants are already wholly form'd even before the Action whereby they are conceiv'd and that their Mothers only bestow upon them the ordinary Growth in the time of their being big with them Nevertheless this Communication of Animal Spirits and of the Brain of the Mother with the Spirits and Brain of the Infant seems however to be serviceable in regulating this Growth and determining the parts imploy'd in its Nourishment to the posturing themselves almost in the same manner as in the Body of the Mother That is in rendring the Infant like to or of the same Species This is manifest enough by the Accidents which occur when the Imagination of the Mother is disordered and some tempestuous Passion changes the Natural Disposition of her Brain For then as we have just explain'd this Communication alters the Natural Formation of the Infant 's Body and the Mother proves Abortive sometimes of her Foetus so much more resembling the Fruits she longed for as the Spirits find less Resistance in the Fibres of the Infant 's Body We deny not however but GOD Almighty without that Communication we have been mentioning might have dispos'd all things necessary to the Propagation of the Species for infinite Ages in so exact and regular a manner that Mothers should never have miscarried but have always born Children of the same Bigness and Complection and perfectly alike in all things For we ought not to measure the Power of GOD by our weak Imagination and we are ignorant of the Reasons which might have determined Him in the Construction of his Work We daily see that without the help and assistance of this Communication Plants and Trees produce regularly enough their like and that Birds and many other Animals stand in no need of it for the Breeding and Hatching of their Young ones when they brood upon Eggs of a different Species as when a Hen sits on the Eggs of a Partridge For though we have reason to suppose that the Seeds and Eggs have originally contain'd in them the Plants and Birds which proceed from them and that the little Bodies of these Birds may have receiv'd their Conformation by the Communication before-mentioned and the Plants have receiv'd their's by another Communication which is equivalent yet this perhaps would be but a Conjecture But though it should be more than Conjecture yet we ought in no wise to judge by the things which GOD has made what those are which it is possible for Him to make Yet if it be consider'd that Plants which receive their Growth from the Action of their Mother-plant resemble it much more than those which proceed from the Seeds that the Tulips for instance which arise from the Root are of the same colour with their Mother-Tulip and that those which are deriv'd from the Seed are generally very different It cannot be doubted but that if the Communication of the generating Plant with the generated is not absolutely necessary to make it of the same Species it is always necessary to make it of the same Likeness So that though it were fore-seen by GOD that this Communication of the Mother's Brain with the Brain of her Child would sometimes be the occasion of the Death of the Foetus and the Generation of Monsters by reason of the disorderly Imagination of the Mother Yet this Communication is so admirable and so necessary for the Reasons I have alledg'd and for several others
It daily happens that an unexpected Event that has any thing terrible in its circumstances deprives of their Senses Men of a Mature Age whose Brain is not so susceptible of new Impressions who are experienc'd in the World who can make a Defence or at least are capable of taking up some Resolution Children at their first Arrival in the World suffer something from every Object that strikes upon their Senses wherewith they are not yet acquainted All the Animals they see are Creatures of a new Species on their Regard since nothing of what they see at present was ever seen by them before They are destitute of Strength and void of Experience the Fibres of their Brain are of a most fine and flexible temper How then is it possible their Imagination should continue whole when expos'd to the Impressions of so many different Objects 'T is true the Mothers have somewhat pre-accustomed their Children to the Impressions of Objects by having already imprinted them in the Fibres of their Brain before they left the Womb and this is the reason they receive much less damage when they behold with their own Eyes what they in some manner have perceived already with their Mother's 'T is farther true that these adulterate Traces and wounds their Imagination receives upon the sight of so many Objects to them frightful and terrible close up and heal again in time for as much as being unnatural the whole Body is against them and all the parts conspire to their Destruction as has been seen in the preceding Chapter And this is the cause that all Men in general are not Fools from their Cradles But this hinders not but that there may be ever some Traces so strong and deep impress'd as can never be effac'd but will remain as long as Life it self If Men would make serious Reflections upon what happens in their own Breast and contemplate their own Thoughts they would not want an Experimental Proof of what I have said They would generally discover in themselves some secret Inclinations and Aversions which are not in others whereof there seems no other Reason to be given than these Traces of our Infancy For since the causes of these Inclinations and Aversions are peculiar to us they have no foundation in the Nature of Men and since they are unknown to us they must needs have acted on us at a time when our Memory was not yet capable of registring the circumstances of things which might have assisted us in calling them again to Mind and that time could be only that of our tenderest Age. Monsieur Des-Cartes has acquainted us in one of his Epistles that he had always a particular fancy for all Squint-ey'd People and having diligently search'd into the Cause of it at length understood this Defect was incident to a young Maid he lov'd when he was a Child the Affection he retained for her diffusing it self to all others that any way resembled her But 't is not these little irregularities of our Inclinations which subject us most to Error 'T is our having universally or almost universally our Mind adulterate in something or other and our being generally subject to some kind of Folly though perhaps we are not aware of it Let a Man but examine carefully the Temper of those People he converses with and he will easily be perswaded into this Opinion and though himself be an Original for others to Copy after and be look'd upon as such yet he will find all others to be Originals too and all the difference to consist in the Degree of more or less Now one of the Causes of the different Characters of Mens Minds is doubtless the difference of Impressions received by them in their Mother's Womb as has been manifested touching peculiar and unusual Inclinations because these being Species of Folly that are settled and permanent for the most part they cannot have their Dependence on the Constitution of the Animal Spirits which is of a flux and alterable Nature And consequently they must needs proceed from the Base and Spurious Impressions made in the Fibres of the Brain at such time as our Memory was incapable of preserving the Remembrance of them that is in the beginning of our Lives Here then is one of the commonest Causes of the Errors of Mankind I mean that Subversion of their Brain caused by the Impression of External Objects in making their Entrance into the World and this Cause does not so suddenly cease as may be possibly imagined The ordinary Commerce Children are oblig'd to have with their Nurses or even with their Mothers that frequently have had no Education puts the last hand and gives the finishing stroke to the corruption of their Mind These silly Women entertain them with nothing but Fooleries with ridiculous Tales and frightful Stories Their whole Discourse to them is about things sensible and they deliver it in a way most proper to confirm them in the false Judgments of their Senses In a word they sow in their Minds the Seeds of all the Follies and Weaknesses themselves are subject to as of their extravagant Fears and Apprehensions their ridiculous Superstitions and other the like Feeblesses of Mind Which is the Reason that not being accustomed to search for Truth nor to taste and relish it they at last become incapable of discerning it and of making any use of their Reason Hence they become timerous and low-spirited which Temper for a long time sticks by them For there are many to be seen who when fifteen or twenty Years old retain the Character and Spirit of their Nurse 'T is true Children seem not to be greatly qualified for the Contemplation of Truth and for abstract and sublime Sciences because the Fibres of their Brain being extreamly fine are most easily agitated by Objects even the most weak and least sensible that can be and their Soul necessarily admitting Sensations proportioned to the Agitation of these Fibres leaves Metaphysical Nations and pure Intellection to apply her self wholly to her Sensations And thus Children seem improper for and incapable of an attentive Application to the pure Idea's of Truth being so frequently and so easily drawn off by the confus'd Idea's of their Senses Yet in Answer to this it may be said First that 't is easier for a Child of seven Years old to be freed from the Errors his Senses lead him to than for a Man at sixty who all his Life long has been mis-guided by the prejudices of Childhood Secondly that a Child though incapable of the clear and distinct Idea's of Truth is at least capable of being admonish'd that his Senses deceive him upon all occasions and if he cannot be taught the Truth he should not however be encouraged and fortified in his Errors Lastly the youngest Children though never so taken up with Pleasant and Painful Sensations yet learn in little time what Persons more advanc'd in Years cannot in much longer as the Knowledge of the Order and Relations
to their Passions which proceed from the Commotion of the Animal Spirits I shall not explain these things more at large because it is easie to judge of this Age by the others before treated of and to conclude that Old Men have more difficulty than others at conceiving what is said to them that they are more zealously devoted to their Prejudices and Ancient Opinions and consequently are more confirmed and strengthened in their Errors in their corrupt Habits and other things of like Nature 'T is only to be advertis'd That the state of Old Age is not precisely determined to Sixty or Seventy Years that all Old Men are not Dotards and that those who have pass'd the Sixtieth Year are not always delivered from the Passions of Youth and that we ought not to draw too general Consequences from the Principles establish'd CHAP. II. That the Animal Spirits generally run in the Tracks of Idea's that are most familiar to us which is the Reason of our preposterous Judgments I Have I think explain'd in the fore-going Chapters the various Changes happening in the Animal Spirits and in the Constitution of the Fibres of the Brain according to different Ages Wherefore supposing a Man to have meditated a little upon what has been said upon that Subject he must necessarily have a distinct Knowledge enough of the Imagination and of the most common Natural Causes of the differences observable between the Minds of Men since all the Changes happening in the Imagination and the Mind are only the Consequences of those which are to be found in the Animal Spirits and the Fibres that compose the Brain But there are many particular and such as we may call Moral Causes of the Changes which happen in the Imagination of Men namely Their different Conditions their various Employments and in a word their several ways of Living which deserve to be attentively consider'd because these sorts of Changes are the Causes of a numberless multitude of Errors every Man judging of things with reference to his own Condition We think it not so much our Business to stand to explain the Effects of some less customary Causes such as great Diseases surprizing Misfortunes and other unexpected Accidents which make very violent Impressions in the Brain and which sometimes totally subvert it because these things are of very rare occurrence and besides the Error such sort of Persons fall into are too gross to be contagious since they are palpable and discernible to all Mankind But that we may perfectly comprehend all the Changes the different conditions and states of Life produce in the Imagination 't is absolutely necessary to be call'd to mind that our Imagining Objects is only the framing Images thereof to our Selves and that these Images are nothing but the Traces delineated by the Animal Spirits in the Brain that we Imagine things so much stronglier as these Traces are more deep and better cut and as the Animal Spirits more frequently and violently pass through them that these Spirits by their frequent course so plain and open the Passage as to enter the same Tracks with greater readiness than any other neighbouring parts through which they either have not pass'd or not so frequently This is the most ordinary Cause of the Confusion and Falsity of our Idea's For the Animal Spirits which were directed by the Action of External Objects or even by the orders of the Soul to the production of certain Traces frequently produce others which indeed have some resemblance with them but are not altogether the Traces of these same Objects nor those the Soul desir'd to represent because the Animal Spirits finding some Resistance in the parts of the Brain through which they ought to pass are easily diverted to throng into the deep Traces of Idea's which are most familiar to us Here are some very gross and sensible Instances of these things When those who are not extraordinary short-sighted behold the Moon they see in her two Eyes a Nose and a Mouth in a word it looks to them as if they saw a Face tho there be nothing in her of what they fancy they perceive Many Persons see in her quite another thing And those who believe the Moon to be such as she appears would quickly be undeceived did they but behold her with Telescopes though of a moderate size or did they only consult the Descriptions Hevelius Riccioli and others have made Publick Now the Reason why a Man usually sees a Face in the Moon and not those irregular Blotches that are in her is because the Traces of a Face which are imprinted in the Brain are very deep for that we frequently look on Faces and with great Attention So that the Animal Spirits meeting with opposition in the other parts of the Brain easily swerve from the Direction the Light of the Moon impresses on them when a Man beholds her to accomodate themselves to the Traces whereunto Nature has affix'd the Idea's of a Face Besides that the apparent Magnitude of the Moon differing not much from a common head at a certain Distance She by her Impression forms such Traces as have Connection with those which represent a Nose a Mouth and Eyes and so she determines the Spirits to take their course in the Traces of a Face There are some who discern in the Moon a Man on Horse-back or something else than a Face because their Imagination having been briskly smitten with some particular Objects the Traces of these Objects open at any thing that bears the least Analogy to them 'T is upon the same grounds we Imagine we see Chariots Men Lions and other Animals in the Clouds when there is any little resemblance between their Figures and these Animals and all Men especially those who are used to Designing see sometimes Heads of Men on Walls whereon there are many irregular stains 'T is for the same Reason still that the Spirits of Wine entering without any Direction of the Will into the most familiar Traces make Men betray their Secrets of the greatest concernment and that when a Man sleeps he usually dreams of Objects he has seen in the Day-time which have form'd very great Traces in the Brain because the Soul is ever representing those things whereof she has the greatest and deepest Traces But see other Examples of a more complex kind A Distemper is new and it makes such havock and destruction as amazes all Men. This imprints Traces so deep in the Brain that this Disease is never absent from the Mind If this Disease be call'd for instance the Scurvy all Diseases must presently be call'd Scurvy the Scurvy is new therefore all new Distempers is the Scurvy The Scurvy is accompany'd with a dozen Symptoms whereof many are common to other Distempers that matters not If a sick Person fortunes to have any one of the Symptoms he must needs be sick of the Scurvy and other Distempers are never suspected or thought of that have the same Symptoms 'T is
great Precipice which a Man sees under him and from which there is danger of falling or the Traces of some bulky Body imminent over his Head and ready to fall and crush him is naturally Connected with that which represents Death and with a Commotion of the Spirits which disposes him to flight or the desire of flying it This Connection admits no alteration because 't is necessary it should always be the same and it consists in a disposition of the Fibres of the Brain which we bring with us into the World All the Connections which are not Natural may and ought to break because the different Circumstances of times and places ought to change to the end they may be useful to the Preservation of Life 'T is convenient the Partridge for instance should fly the Sports-man with his Gun at the season and the places of his pursuing the Game But there 's no necessity it should fly him in other places or at other times Thus 't is necessary all Animals for their Preservation should have certain Connections of Traces easily made and easily broken and that they should have others very difficult to be sever'd and lastly others incapable of Dissolution 'T is of very great use to make diligent enquiry into the different Effects these different Connections are able to produce For there are Effects which as they are very numerous so they are no less important to the Knowledge of Man and all things relating to him We shall see hereafter that these things are the principal Causes of our Errors But 't is time to return to the Subject we have promis'd to Discourse on and to explain the different Changes which happen to the Imagination of Men by reason of their different ways and purposes of Life CHAP. IV. I. That Men of Learning are the most subject to Error II. The Causes why Men had rather be guided by Authority than make use of their own Reason THE Differences observable in Men as to their Ways and Purposes of Life are almost infinite Their different Conditions different Employments different Posts and Offices and different Communities are innumerable These Differences are the Reason of Men's acting upon quite different Designs and Reasoning upon different Principles Even in the same Community wherein there should be but one Character of Mind and all the same Designs you shall rarely meet with several Persons whose Aims and Views are not different Their various Employments and their many Adhesions necessarily diversifie the Method and Manner they would take to accomplish those various things wherein they agree Whereby 't is manifest that it would be an impossible Undertaking to go about to explain in particular the Moral Causes of Error nor would it turn to any great Account should we do it in this place I design therefore only to speak of those Ways of Living that lead us into great multitudes of Errors and Errors of most dangerous Importance When these shall be explain'd we shall have open'd the way for the Mind to proceed farther and every one may discover at a single View and with the greatest ease imaginable the most hidden Causes of many particular Errors the Explication whereof would cost a world of Pains and Trouble When once the Mind sees clearly it delights to run to Truth and it runs to it with an inexpressible swiftness The Imployment that seems most necessary to be treated of at present by Reason of its producing most considerable Changes in the Imagination of Men and its conducting them into Errors most is that of Men of Books and Learning who make greater use of their Memory than Thought For Experience has ever manifested that those who have applied themselves the most fervently to the Reading of Books and to the Search of Truth are the Men that have led us into a very great part of our Errors 'T is much the same with those that Study as with those that Travel When a Traveller has unfortunately mistaken his way the farther he goes at the greater distance he is from his Journey 's end and he stâ—ll deviates so much more as he is industrious and in haste to arrive at the place design'd So the vehement pursuits Men make after Truth cause them to betake themselves to the Reading of Books wherein they think to find it or put them upon framing some Phantastical System of the things they desire to know wherewith when their Heads are full and heated they try by some fruitless Sallies and Attempts of Thought to recommend them to the taste of others with hopes to receive the Honours that are usually pay'd to the first Founders of Systems These two Imperfections are now to be consider'd 'T is not easie to be understood how it comes to pass that Men of Wit and Parts choose rather to trust to the Conduct of other Men's Understanding in the Search of Truth than to their own which GOD has given them There is doubtless infinitely more Pleasure as well as Honour to be conducted by a Man 's own Eyes than those of others And a Man who has good Eyes in his Head will never think of shutting them or plucking them out under the hopes of having a Guide And yet the use of the Understanding is to the use of the Eyes as the Understanding is to the Eyes and as the Understanding is infinitely superiour to the Eyes so the use of the Understanding is accompany'd with more solid Satisfactions and gives another sort of Content than Light and Colours give the Sight Notwithstanding Men employ their Eyes in Guiding and Conducting themselves but rarely make use of their Reason in Discovery of Truth But there are many Causes which contribute to this overthrow of Reason First Men's Natural Carelessness and Oscitation that will not let them be at the Pains of Thinking Secondly Their Incapacity to Meditate which they have contracted for want of applying themselves to it from their Youth as has been explain'd in the Ninth Chapter Thirdly The inconcernedness and little Love they have for Abstract Truths which are the Foundation of all that can be known in this World The Fourth Reason is the Satisfaction which accrues from the knowledge of Probabilities which are very agreeable and extreamly moving as being founded upon sensible Notions The Fifth Cause is that ridiculous Vanity which makes us affect the seeming Learned For those go by the Name of Learned who have read most Books The Knowledge of Opinions is of greater use in Conversation and serves better to catch the Admiration of the Vulgar than the Knowledge of True Philosophy which is learned by Meditation In the sixth place we may reckon that unreasonable Fancy which supposes the Ancients were more enlightned than we can be and that there is nothing left for us but what they have succeeded in The Seventh is a Disingenuous Respect mix'd with an absurd Curiosity which makes Men admire things that are most Remote and Ancient such as are far fetch'd or
is That we may describe from any Point a Circle at what interval we please we not only grant that a Line may be drawn from a Point equal to another Line which Euclid effects in that Proposition after a very round-about manner But we allow that from any Point may be drawn an infinite number of Lines of what length we please But the Design of most Commentators is not to Illuminate their Authors and to find out Truth 't is to make Ostentation of their Learning and implicitly to defend the Authors which they Comment on even to their Vices 'T is not so much to make themselves or their Authors understood they talk as to make him admir'd and themselves together with him If the Gentleman before-mention'd had not stuff'd his Book with Sentences of Greek with a great many Names of unheard of Authors and such other useless Observations for the understanding Common Notions Verbal Definitions and Geometrical Postulates who would have read his Book who would have admir'd him or who would have conferr'd on its Author the Honorary Title of Learned or of a Man of Sense I presume it can't be doubted after what I have said but the Indiscrete Reading of Books often prepossesses the Mind But as soon as Prepossession enters in that which we call Common Sense is banish'd out of it 'T is incapable of Judging soberly of any thing any way relative to the Subject of its Prepossession It stains and tinctures with it every Thought nay it cannot apply it self to Subjects quite remote from those it is prejudic'd for Thus a Man opinionated with Aristotle can relish nothing but Aristotle He must judge of every thing with relation to Aristotle What does not accord with that Philosopher seems false he has constantly some Saying of Aristotle in his Mouth he is citing him upon all occasions and all sorts of Subjects both to prove things so obscure as no Man can comprehend and to prove things so self-evident as Children cannot doubt of because Aristotle is to him what Reason and Evidence are to others So if a Man be possess'd with the conceit of Euclid and Geometry he will be for reducing every thing you shall say to him to the Lines and Propositions of his darling Author and shall talk nothing but with reference to his Science The whole would not be bigger than its part but because Eulid has said it nor will he be asham'd to quote him for the Proof of it as I have sometimes observ'd But this is still more customary with those who are devoted to other Authors than those of Geometry in whose Books nothing is more frequent than Greek Hebrew Arabick Citations to prove things as evident as the Sun at Mid-day All this is occasion'd by Reason that the Traces imprinted on the Fibres of the Brain by the Objects of their Prepossession are so deep as always to remain gaping and half open And the Animal Spirits continually passing through them preserve them so without permitting them to close again So that the Soul having always of necessity the Thoughts that are connected with these Traces becomes as it were enslav'd to them and she is ever troubled and disquieted even when knowing she is wrong she is willing to be Righted Thus she is in constant danger of falling into a great number of Errors unless she stands always upon her guard with an inviolable Resolution of observing the Rule given in the beginning of this Work that is of Denying an entire Consent except to things entirely evident I pass over the evil Choice that is generally made of the kind of Study Men apply themselves to as properly belonging to Moral Philosophy to treat of though it may likewise be reduc'd here to what has been said of Prepossession For when a Man is fallen beyond retrival into the Reading of the Rabbins and Books of all sorts of most unknown and consequently most useless Languages and spends his whole Life therein he does it doubtless out of Prepossession and the Imaginary hopes of becoming Learned though it is impossible by that Method to acquire any true Sience But because this Application to unprofitable Studies does not so much subject us to Error as waste our Time to possess us with a foolish Vanity I shall not speak here of those who fondly think of becoming Learned in all these sorts of sordid and unprofitable Sciences the number whereof is very great and the Study usually too passionate and earnest CHAP. VIII I. Of the Inventors of new Systems II. The last Error of Men of Learning WE have been manifesting the state of the Imagination of Men of Books and Study who resign up all to the Authority of some certain particular Authors There are others still very opposite to these who have no respect at all for Authors let their Esteem be what it will among the Learned If they esteem'd them formerly they are now of a contrary Mind and set themselves up for Authors They love to be thought Inventors of some new Opinions thereby to procure Reputation in the World and are well satisfy'd that by saying something that was never said before they shall not fail to have their Admirers This sort of People are generally of a strong Imagination the Fibres of their Brain are in such a disposition as to preserve for a long time the Traces of what has been imprinted on them Thus when once they have imagin'd a System that has in it any thing of probability 't is impossible to beat them out of it Whatever any way makes for its confirmation is most heartily embrac'd and retain'd And on the contrary all the Objections that are made to it are over-look'd at least are eluded by some frivolous Distinction They are inwardly pleas'd with the sight of their own Workmanship and of the Esteem they hope will redound to them from it They only apply themselves to consider the Image of Truth deduc'd from their probable Opinions They fix this Image stedfastly before their Eyes but never behold with a steddy View the other sides of their Sentiments which would betray their Falshood There must go great Qualifications to capacitate a Man to be the Inventor of any true System For 't is not enough to have a quickness of Parts there must besides be a certain Capaciousness of Thoughts and Reach of Mind which can at one View take in a clear prospect of a great many things Little and narrow Minds with all their Vivacity and Delicacy are too short-sighted to survey all that is necessary to be seen for the establishing a System They are check'd and even stop'd with some little Difficulties that discourage them or with some glimmering Lights which dazzle and carry them away their Sight is too narrow to survey at once the whole body of a capacious Subject But however Capacious and Penetrating the Mind is unless it be withal exempt from Passion and Prejudice there is no Good to be hoped from it Prejudices
Imagination which are the Ingredients of the Fine Wit 'T is the glittering and not the solid Mind that pleases the generality because they love what touches the Senses above that which instructs their Reason And thus taking the Fineness of Imagination for the Fineness of the Mind we may say that Montagne had a Mind Fine and indeed extraordinary His Idea's are false but handsom His Expressions irregular and bold but taking His discourses ill-season'd but well imagin'd There appears throughout his Book the Character of an Original that is infinitely pleasing As great a Copyer as he is the Copyer is not discern'd his strong and bold Imagination giving always the turn of an Original even to what was the most stol'n To conclude he has every thing necessary either for pleasing us or imposing on us And I think I have sufficiently shewn that 't is not by convincing their Reason he gets into the Favour and Admiration of Men but by turning their Mind by an ever-victorious Vivacity of his imperious Imagination CHAP. VI. I. Of Witches in Imagination and of Wolf-men II. The Conclusion of the two first Books THE strangest effect of the force of Imagination is the immoderate Fear of the Apparition of Spirits Witchcraft Spells and Charms Lycanthropes or Wolf-men and generally of whatever is suppos'd to depend on the Power of the Devil There is nothing more terrible or that frightens the Mind more and makes deeper impressions in the Brain than the Idea of an invisible Power intent upon doing us mischief and to which we can make no resistance Whatever Discourses raise that Idea are attended to with dread and curiosity Now Men affecting all that 's extraordinary take a whimsical delight in relating surprizing and prodigious Stories of the Power and Malice of Witches both to the scaring others and themselves And so we need not wonder that Sorcerers and Witches are so common in some Countries where the belief of the Witches-Sabbath is deeply rooted in the Mind Where all the most extravagant Relations of Witchcrafts are listen'd to as Authentic Histories and where Mad-men and Visionists whose Imagination has been distemper'd through the recital of these Stories and the corruption of their Hearts are burnt for real Sorcerers and Witches I know well enough I shall incur the blame of a great many for attributing the most part of Witchcrafts to the power of Imagination as knowing Men love to be scar'd and frightned that they are angry with such as would disabuse them and are like those imaginary sick People who respectfully harken to and punctually execute the orders of Physicians who prognosticate direful accidents to them For Superstitions are not easily either destroy'd or oppos'd without finding a great number of Patrons and Defenders And that Inclination to a blind-fold Belief of all the Dreams and Illusions of Demonographers is produc'd and upheld by the same Cause which makes the Superstitious stiff and untractable as it were easie to demonstrate However this ought not to discourage me from shewing in a few words how I believe such Opinions as these take footing A Shepherd in his Cottage after Supper gives his Wife and Children a Narrative of the adventures of the Witches-Sabbath And having his Imagination moderately warm'd by the Vapours of strong Liquors and fancying he has been often an Assistant at that imaginary Rendezvous fails not to deliver himself in a manner strong and lively His natural Eloquence together with the Disposition his whole Family is in to hearken to a Subject so new and terrible must doubtless produce prodigious Impressions in weak Imaginations nor is it naturally possible but his Wife and Children must be dismay'd must be affected and convinc'd with what they hear him say 'T is an Husband 't is a Father that speaks of what himself has been an Eye-witness and Agent He is belov'd and respected and why should he not be believ'd The Shepherd repeats the same thing one day after another his Wifâ—'s and Children's Imagination receive deeper and deeper Impressions of it by degrees till at last it grows familiar their Fears vanish but Conviction stays behind and at length Curiosity invites them to go to it themselves They anoint themselves and lay them down to sleep This Disposition of Heart gives an additional heat to their Imagination and the Traces the Shepherd had imprinted on their Brain open so as to make them fancy in their sleep all the Motions of the Ceremony he had describ'd to them present and real They wake and ask each other and give a mutual Relation of what they say And thus they strengthen the Traces of their Vision and he who has the strongest Imagination having the best knack at perswading the rest fails not in a few Nights time to Methodize the Imaginary History of the Sabbath Here now are your finish'd Witches of the Shepherd's making and these in their turn will make many others if having a strong and lively Imagination they be not deterr'd by Fear from telling the like Stories There have been known such hearty down-right Witches as made no scruple to confess to every body their going to the Sabbath and who were so throughly convinc'd of it that though several Persons watch'd them and assur'd them they never stirr'd out of their Bed yet have withstood their Testimony and persisted in their own perswasion We all know that when Children hear Tales of Spirits what frights they are put into and that they have not courage to stay without Light and Company Because at that time their Brain receiving not the Impressions of any present Object opens in those Traces that are form'd in it by the Story and that with so much force as frequently to set before their Eyes the Objects represented to them And yet these Stories are not told them as if they were true nor spoken in a manner denoting the Belief of them in the Speaker and sometimes coldly and without the least concern Which may make it less to be admir'd that a Man who believes he has been present at the Witches-Sabbath and consequently affirms it in a serious tone and with a look of assurance should easily convince his respectful Auditory of all the circumstances he describes to them and thereby transmit into their Imagination Impressions like those he was himself abus'd with Men in speaking engrave in our Brain such Impressions as they have themselves When they are deep they speak in a way that makes a deep Impression upon others For they never speak but they make them like themselves in some thing or other Children in their Mother's Womb have only the Perceptions of their Mothers and when brought into the World imagine little more than what their Parents are the cause of even the wisest Men take their Measures rather from the Imagination of others that is from Opinion and Custom than from the Rules of Reason Thus in the places where Witches are burnt we find great numbers of them it being taken for
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
no need of Idea's to perceive all these things because they are within the Soul or rather because they are the very Soul it self in such or such a manner just as the real Rotundity of any Body and its Motion are nothing but the Body figured and translated after such or such a sort But as to the things without the Soul we can have no perception of them but by the means of Idea's upon supposition that these things cannot be intimately united to it and they are of two sorts Spiritual and Material As to the Spiritual there is some probability they may be discover'd to the Soul without Idea's immediately by themselves For though Experience certifies us that we cannot by an immediate Communication declare our Thoughts to one another but only by words and other sensible Signs whereunto we have annex'd our Idea's yet we may say that GOD has ordain'd this kind of Oeconomy only for the time of this Life to prevent the Disorders that might at present happen if Men should understand one another as they pleas'd But when Justice and Order shall reign and we shall be delivered from the Captivity of our Body we shall possibly communicate our Thoughts by the intimate union of our selves as 't is probable the Angels may do in Heaven So that there seems to be no absolute necessity of Idea's for the representing things of a Spiritual Nature since 't is possible for them to be seen by themselves though in a very dark and imperfect manner I enquire not here how two Spirits can be united to one another or whether by that means they can open inwards and make a mutual Discovery of their Thoughts I believe however there is no Substance purely Intelligible except that of GOD and that nothing can be evidently discovered but in his Light and that the Vnion of Spirits cannot make them visible For though we be most intimately united with our selves we both are and shall be unintelligible to our selves until we see our selves in GOD and he shall present to us in our selves the perfectly intelligible Idea which he has of our Being included in his own And thus though I seem to grant that Angels may manifest to each other both what they are and what they think I must advertise that I do it only because I have no mind to dispute it provided it shall be granted me what can't be controverted namely That we cannot discern material things by themselves and without Idea's I will explain in the Seventh Chapter what my Notion is of the way whereby we know Spirits and I will make it appear that we cannot at present entirely know them by themselves though they may possibly be united to us But I discourse in this place chiefly of material Things which certainly are incapable of such a manner of Union with our Soul as is necessary to make them perceiv'd for that they being extended and the Soul not there is no proportion betwixt them And besides our Souls never depart from our Bodies to measure the Greatness of the Heavens and consequently cannot see the Bodies that are without otherwise than by the Idea's that represent them And this is what all the World must agree to We affirm then that it is absolutely necessary that the Idea's we have of Bodies and of all other Objects we perceive not immediately by themselves proceed from these same Bodies or these Objects or else that our Soul has the power of producing these Idea's or that GOD produc'd them together with her in the Creation or that he produces them as often as we think of any Object or that the Soul has in her self all the Perfections which she discovers in these Bodies or lastly is united with an All-perfect Being who comprehends universally in himself all the Perfections of Created Beings There is no perceiving of Objects but by one of these ways Let us examine without Prepossession which seems the probable'st of all and not be disheartned at the difficulty of the Question It may be we shall give a Resolution clear enough though we pretend not to give incontested Demonstrations for all sorts of Persons but only most convincing Proofs to such as with thoughtful Attention shall consider them For it probably would look like Rashness and Presumption to talk in a more positive manner CHAP. II. That Material Objects emit not Species which resemble them THE most common Opinion is that of the Peripatetics who pretend That External Objects send forth Species which are like them and that these Species are convey'd by the External Senses as far as the Commune Sensorium They call these the Species Impressae because imprinted by Objects on the outward Senses These Impress'd Species being Material and Sensible are made Intelligible by the Intellectus Agens and are fit to be receiv'd in the Intellectus Patiens These Species thus Spiritualiz'd are term'd Expressae as being express'd from the impress'd And by these it is that the Patient Intellect knows all Material things I shall not stand to finish the Explication of these Notable things and of the diverse ways Philosophers have of conceiving them For though they be not agreed about the number of the Faculties which they attribute to the Internal Sense and Understanding and there are also many that are very dubious whether they have any need of the Agent Intellect for the knowing Sensible Objects yet they almost universally agree in the Emission of the Species or Images resembling the Objects they proceed from And 't is only on this Foundation they multiply their Faculties and defend their Active Intellect So that this Foundation having no solidity as will be seen by and by there is no necessity of standing to overthrow all the Superstructures they have built upon it I maintain then it is not probable that Objects should send out Species or Images in their own likeness and these are my Reasons for it The first is taken from the Impenetrability of Bodies All Objects as the Sun the Stars as well as those that are near our Eyes cannot emit Species of a different Nature from themselves and for this Reason 't is usually said by the Philosophers that these Species are gross and material to distinguish them from the express'd Species which are spiritualiz'd These Impress'd Species of Objects are therefore little Bodies They cannot then penetrate each other nor all the spaces betwixt Heaven and Earth which must needs be fill'd with them From whence 't is easie to conclude that they must needs bruise and batter one another some coming one way and thwarting others coming another and so 't is impossible they should render Objects visible Again it is possible for one standing on one Point to see a great number of Objects which are in the Heaven and on the Earth There is then a necessity that the Species of all these Bodies be reduc'd into a Point But they are Impenetrable since they are extended Ergo c. But
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
the knowledge we have of them is most perfect I mean that the Idea that we have of Extension is sufficient for the displaying to us all the Properties Extension is capable of and we cannot desire a more distinct and fertil Idea of Extension of Figures and Motions than that which GOD furnishes us withal As the Idea's of things which are in GOD include all their Properties in seeing their Idea's we can see successively all the Properties of them for in seeing things as they are in GOD we constantly see them in the most perfect manner and the knowledge of them would be infinitely Perfect if the Mind that perceives them in him were infinite What is wanting to our knowledge of Extension its Figures and Motions is not the defectiveness of the Idea that represents it but of our Mind that considers it But 't is not so in point of the Soul we know her not by her Idea we see her not in GOD we know her only by Conscience and for that reason the knowledge we have of her is imperfect We know nothing of our Soul but what we feel pass within us If we never had had the sensation of Pain Pleasure Light c. it were impossible for us to know whether the Soul was capable of them because we know her not by her Idea But if we saw in GOD the Idea that answers to our Soul we should at the same time know or at least might know all the Properties she is capable of as we know all the Properties Extension is capable of because we know Extension by its Idea It is true we know well enough by our Conscience or by the internal sentiment we have of our selves that our Soul is something great and excellent But 't is possible that what we know of her is the least part of what she is in her self If all we knew of Matter were only Twenty or Thirty Figures wherewith it had been modify'd certainly our knowledge of it had been very inconsiderable in comparison of what we know by the Idea that represents it To understand then the Soul perfectly it is not sufficient to know that only which we receive by internal Sentiment since our Self-Consciousness discovers to us it may be but the least part of our Being It may be concluded from what has been said that though we know the existence of our Soul better than the existence of our Body or than of the things about us yet we have not so perfect knowledge of the Nature of our Soul as of the Nature of our Body which may serve to reconcile the different Sentiments of those who say there is nothing better known than the Soul and of others that affirm we understand nothing less This too may be of Use to prove that the Idea's which represent something to us that 's External are not Modifications of our Soul For if the Soul saw all things by considering her own Modifications she ought to have a more clear and perspicuous knowledge of her own Essence or Nature than of that of Bodies and of the Sensations or Modifications she is capable of than of all the Figures or Modifications incident to Bodies Mean while she knows not that she is capable of this or that Sensation by any View she takes of her self but by Experience whereas she knows Extension to be capable of an infinite number of Figures by the Idea which represents Extension There are morover certain Sensations as Colours and sounds which the generality of Men cannot discover to be Modifications of the Soul but there are no Figures which every one does not know by the Idea he has of Extension to be the Modifications of Bodies What I have been saying shews likewise the reason why we cannot give a Definition explanatory of the Modifications of the Soul For since we know neither the Soul nor its Modifications by Idea's but only by Sensations and such Sensations of Pleasure for instance Pain Heat or the like have no Connexion with Words It is plain that had a Man never seen Colour nor felt Heat he could not be made to understand these Sensations by all the Definitions in the World Now Men having their Sensations occasionally from the Body and all Men's Bodies being not dispos'd alike it often happens that these words are Equivocal and that those which are employ'd to express the Modifications of our Soul signify quite contrary to what they design so that thay often for instance make a Man think of Bitter when 't is suppos'd they make him think of Sweet But though we have not an entire knowledge of our Soul we are sufficiently instructed by Conscience for demonstrating her Immortality Spirituality Liberty and some other Attributes which it is necessary for us to know and for that reason GOD manifests her not to us by her Idea in the way that he gives us to know Bodies True the knowledge we have of our Soul by Conscience is imperfect but it is not false the knowledge on the contrary we have of Bodies by Sensation or Conscience if we may term Conscience that Sensation we have of what occurrs in our Bodies is not only imperfect but also false Wherefore the Idea of Bodies was necessary to correct the Sensations we had of them But we have no need of the Idea of the Soul since the Consciousness we have of her engages us not in Error and there is no fear of mistaking in the Knowledge of her if we be carefull not to confound her with the Body which may be done by Reason Lastly if we had had a clear Idea of the Soul as we have of the Body that Idea had made us consider her as too separate from it and so it had weakned the union of our Soul with our Body by hindring us from regarding our Soul as expanded through all our Members which I explain not more at large There remains now no other Objects of our Knowledge to be spoke to than the Souls of other Men and pure Intelligences and 't is manifest we know them only by Conjecture We know them not at present either in themselves or by their Idea's and whereas they are different from us it is not possible to know them by Conscience We conjecture that the Souls of other men are of the same Species with our own What we feel in our selves we presume that they feel too and when these Sentiments have no Relation to our Body we are sure we are not deceiv'd because we see certain Idea's and immutable Laws in GOD according to which we are certainly assur'd that GOD acts equally on all Spirits I know that twice two are four that it is better to be Righteous than Rich and I am not deceiv'd in believing others know these Truths as well as I. I love Good and Pleasure I hate Evil and Pain I am willing to be happy and I am not deceiv'd in thinking all Men and Angels and even Devils have
the same Inclinations I know likewise that GOD will never make Spirits undesirous of Happiness or that can be desirous of being Miserable But I know it with evidence and certainty since 't is GOD that teaches me for who could inform me of the Designs and Wills of GOD but GOD Himself But when the Body is a partner in that which occurrs within me I am almost ever deceiv'd if I measure others by my self I feel Heat I see a thing of such a Size or such a Colour I have such or such a Tast upon the application of certain Bodies to my Palate and I am deceiv'd if I judge of others by my self I am subject to particular Passions I have a kindness or aversion to this or that thing and I judge that others have the like but my Conjecture is often false Thus the Knowledge we have of other Men is very obnoxious to Error if we judge of them only from the Sensations we have of our selves Whether there are any Beings different from GOD our selves Bodies and Pure Spirits is unknown to us We can hardly perswade our selves there are and after we have examin'd the Reasons of some Philosophers who pretend the contrary we have found them false Which has confirm'd us in the Notion we had taken up that all Men being of the same Nature we have all the same Idea's as having all need of the Knowledge of the same things CHAP. VIII I. The intimate Presence of the indefinite Idea of Being in general is the cause of all the disorderly Abstractions of the Mind and the most part of the Chimera's of the Vulgar Philosophy which hinder many Philosophers from acknowledging the solidity of true Principles of Physicks II. An Instance concerning the Essence of Matter THAT clear intimate and necessary Presence of GOD I mean that presence of Being without any particular Limitation of Being infinite and in general to the Mind acts stronglier upon it than the preâ—ence of all finite Objects It is impossible to divest it self absolutely of this general Idea of Being since 't is impossible to subsist out of GOD. Perhaps it may be said that the Mind can separate it self from him because it can think on particular Beings But this is a mistake For the Mind in considering any Being in particular does not so much separate and recede from GOD as approach nearer some of His Perfections if I may be permitted so to speak by removing farther off from others However it doth not distance it self in that manner as quite to lose sight of them but is ever in a Capacity of seeking them out and approaching near them They are ever present to the Mind yet the Mind perceives them not but in an unexplicable confusion by reason of its Littleness and the Greatness of the Idea of Being A Man may indeed be some time without thinking on himself but he cannot as I think subsist a moment without thinking on Being and even at the time a Man believes he thinks of nothing he is necessarily full of the indeterminate and general Idea of Being But because the things which are customary to us and which don 't affect us alarum not the Mind with any vehemence nor oblige it to make reflection on them this Idea of being so great so vast so real and positive as it is is so familiar to us and makes so little impression that we fancy that we hardly see it that we make no reflection on it and consequently judge there is little reality in it and that 't is only form'd from a confus'd collection of all particular Idea's though on the contrary it is in this and by this only we perceive all Beings in particular Though that Idea which we receive through our immediate union with the WORD of GOD never deceives us of it self as do those we derive from the union we have with our Body which represents things to us otherwise than they are yet I scruple not to say That we make so bad use of the best things that the indelible presence of this Idea is one of the principal Causes of all the disorderly Abstractions of the Mind and consequently of all that Abstract and Chimerical Philosophy which explains all Natural Effects by the general terms of Act Power Cause Effect Substantial Forms Faculties Occult Qualities Sympathy Antipathy c. For 't is certain these Terms and a great many others excite no other Idea's in the Mind than indeterminate and general Idea's that is Idea's which readily offer themselves to the Mind without any trouble and application on our own part Let a Man read with all Attention possible all the Definitions and Explications given of Substantial â—orms let him do his best to search wherein consists the Essence of all these Entities which the fruitful Imagination of Philosophers produces in such multitudes at pleasure that they are forc'd to divide them and subdivide them over and over again and I dare engage that he shall never excite in his Mind any other Idea of all these things than that of Being and of Cause in general For let us take a view of the customary proceedings of Philosophers They observe some new Effect and presently imagine some new Entity must produce it The Fire heats there is then in the Fire some Entity to produce this Effect which differs from the Matter the Fire is compos'd of And because Fire is capable of many different Effects as of separating Bodies Pulverizing Vitrifying Drying Hardning Softning Dilating Purifying and Enlightning them c. therefore they liberally bestow on Fire so many Faculties or real Qualities as it is capable of producing different Effects But if we reflect on all the Definitions they give of these Faculties we shall find they are nothing else but Logical Definitions which raise no other Idea's than that of Being and Cause in general which the Mind refers to the Effect that is produc'd So that a Man is nothing the wiser when he has studied them never so long For all that is got by this sort of Study is the imagining we know better than others what indeed we know much worse not only because we admit many Entities that never were but also in being prepossess'd we make our selves incapable of conceiving how 't is possible for Matter all alone as that of Fire in being mov'd against Bodies differently dispos'd to produce all the different Effects we see Fire produce It is manifest to all those who have read any thing That almost all the Books of Science and especially those which treat of Physicks Medicine and Chymistry and of all particular things of Nature are full of nothing but Argumentations founded on the Elementary and Secondary Qualities as Attractive Retentive Concoctive Expulsive and such like upon others which they term Occult upon specifick Vertues and many other Entities which Men frame and make up out of the general Idea of Being and out of the Cause of the Effect which they see
obligation to believe to serve for a Rule and Principle for the guiding our Reasonings in Philosophy where nothing but Evidence ought to perswade us We are not to change the clear and distinct Idea's of Extension Figure and Local Motion for the general and confus'd Idea's of Principle or of subject of Extension of Form of Quiddities and Real Qualities and of all those Motions of Generation Corruption and Alteration and others which differ from Local Motion Real Idea's will produce real Science but from general and Logical Idea's can proceed nothing but a random superficial and a barren Science Wherefore we ought with serious Reflection to attend to the distinct and particular Idea's of things for the discovering the Properties they contain and thereby study Nature instead of losing our selves in these Chimera's which are only the litter or off-spring of some Philosopher's Brains CHAP. IX I. The last general Cause of our Errors II. That the Idea's of things are not always present to the Mind when we would have them III. That every finite Mind is subject to Error and why IV. That we ought not to judge that there is nothing but Body and Spirit Nor that GOD is a Spirit according to our conception of Spirits WE have hitherto treated of such Errors as may have some occasional Cause assigned in the Nature of the pure Intellect or of the Mind consider'd as acting by it self and in the nature of Idea's that is to say in the manner of the Mind 's perceiving external Objects There remains only one Cause now to be explain'd which may be term'd the universal and general Cause of our Errors because we can conceive no Error that has not some sort of dependance on it The Cause is this That Nothing having no Idea to represent it the Mind is carried to believe that the things whereof it has no Idea have no Existence 'T is certain that the general Source of our Errors as we have often said is our Judgment 's having greater extent and latitude than our Perceptions For when we consider any Object we commonly take the prospect but on one side of it but we are not content to judge only of that side we have consider'd but we pronounce of it all entire And so it often fortunes that we are deceiv'd for though the thing be true on the part we have Examin'd it is commonly false on the other we have not and what we believe true is no more than probable Now 't is manifest that we should not judge thus absolutely on things as we do did we not think we had consider'd all the parts of them or suppose them all like that which we have examin'd So the general Cause of our Errors lies in this that having no Idea of the other Faces of the Object or of their difference with that which is present to our Thoughts we believe those other Faces don't exist or at least we suppose they have no particular difference This manner of acting we think reasonable enough For since Nothing cannot form any Idea in the Mind we have some pretence to believe that the things that form no Idea in the Mind at the time of our Examining them resemble Nothing And that which confirms us in this Opinion is our being perswaded by a sort of Instinct that the Idea's of things are due to our Nature and are in such wise subjected to the Mind that they are oblig'd to pay their attendance when the Mind commands them However if we would make a little Reflection upon the present state of our Nature we should hardly be so strongly bent upon believing all the Idea's of things so much at our beck and command Man as I may say is only Flesh and Blood since Adam's Transgression The least impression of his Senses and his Passions interrupts the strongest Application of his Mind and the current of the Spirits and Blood hurry it along with them and drive it continually upon sensible Objects In vain it strives to withstand the Torrent it is carried by and rarely it is that it thinks of resisting it so pleasant it finds it to follow and so troublesome to struggle against the stream The Mind therefore is discourag'd and dejected as soon as it has made an attempt to hold and fix it self upon a Truth and 't is absolutely false in the state we are in that the Idea's of things are present to the Mind as often as we would consider them And therefore we ought not to judge that things are not in being upon the only score of our having no Idea's of them But though we should suppose Man absolute Master of his Mind and its Idea's yet he would still be subject to Error by the necessity of his Nature For the Mind of Man is limited and every limited Mind is by Nature liable to Error The reason whereof is this that the least things have Infinite Relations betwixt them and require an Infinite Mind to comprehend them And therefore a limited Mind being unable to embrace and comprehend all these Relations after all that ever it can do a Man 's inclin'd to believe that those which he does not perceive don't exist especially when he does not consider the Weakness and Limitation of his Mind as 't is customary for him not to do And thus the Finiteness of the Mind alone brings along with it the Capacity of falling into Error Notwithstanding if Men even in this their state of Infirmity and Corruption made always good use of their Liberty they would never be deceiv'd And for this reason every one that falls into Error is justly blameable and deservedly obnoxious to punishment For no more is requisite for the avoiding Error than to judge only of what a Man sees and not to form compleat judgments on things before he is assur'd he has examin'd them in all their parts and this is possible for Men to do But they had rather subjugate themselves to Error than conform to the Rule of Truth and love to arbitrate without the trouble of Enquiry And so we need not wonder if they are guilty of infinite Errors and frequently stand chargeable with uncertain and unwarrantable Judgments All the Idea's for instance that Men have of Substance are those of Spirit and of Body that is of a thinking and extended Substance and thereupon they take upon them to determine that whatever exists is either of Body or Spirit This is not said as if I presum'd to affirm there were any Substance neither Body nor Spirit it being too hazardous to maintain those things exist whereof we have no Idea since 't is suppos'd that GOD who conceals not his Works from us would have given us some Idea of them Yet I think we ought to determine nothing concerning the number of the kinds of Beings which GOD has created from the Idea's we have of them Since absolutely speaking there may be Reasons why GOD should conceal them from us if
beneath the Grandeur and prostrate it self before the Lustre of Riches But if I consider that the Body is infinitely inferiour to the Mind that it is not its Master nor can instruct it in Truth nor any ways illuminate it and if upon this Scene and Prospect I re-enter into or enquire of my self or rather since I am neither my own Master nor my own Light if I approach unto GOD and in the calm and silence of my Senses and Passions make this Demand Whether Riches or Vertue is preferable I shall hear a clear and distinct Answer concerning what is to be done an Eternal Answer that has been always given and which is and always will be an Answer that 's not necessary to be explain'd since every body know it such as read this and such as do not read it which is neither Greek nor Latin nor French nor German but which all Nations under Heaven understand An Answer lastly that consolates the Just in their Poverty and desolates Sinners in the abundance of their Riches I shall hear this Answer and remain convinc'd and then shall laugh at the Visions of my Imagination and the Delusions of my Senses The Internal Man that is in me shall ridicule the Animal and Terrestrial Man that I carry about me In fine the New Man shall thrive and the Old Man shall be destroy'd provided in the mean time I continually obey the Voice of Him who delivers Himself so clearly in the most secret recess of my Reason and who becoming sensible to accommodate Himself to my Weakness and Disease and to give me Life by that which gave me Death speaks to me anew in a most strong and lively and familiar way by my Senses I mean by the preaching of His Gospel But if I interrogate Him in all Metaphysical Natural and purely Philosophical Questions as well as those which respect the Rule of Manners I shall always have a faithful Master who will never deceive me I shall not only be a Christian but a Philosopher I shall be a sound Thinker and a Lover of what is Good In a word I shall follow the Road that leads me to all Perfection I am capable of either by Nature or by Grace We ought then to conclude from all that has been said that to make the best use possible of the Faculties of our Soul of our Senses Imagination and Vnderstanding we must apply them only to those things for which they were given us We ought carefully to distinguish our Sensations and Imaginations from our Pure Idea's and judge by the former of the Relations our Body has with those about us but never make use of them in discovering Truths which they always confound Whereas Pure Idea's must be us'd in the finding out of Truths but omitted when we judge of the Correspondencies between Exteriour Bodies and our own because their Idea's have never reach and extent enough to give a thorough Representation of them 'T is impossible for Men to have sufficient Knowledge of all the Figures and Motions of the little parts of their Body and Blood and of those of a particular Fruit at a certain Season of their Sickness to know whether there is a Relation of Agreement between that Fruit and their Body and that if they eat of it they shall recover Thus our Senses alone are more useful for the Conversation of our Body than the Rules of Experimental Medicine and Experimental Medicine than Theoretical But Theoretical Medicine that deferrs much to Experience and more to the Senses is the best of all Because all these should be caball'd together Reason then is of universal use and this is the Privilege it obtains over the Senses and Imagination which are limited and conâ—in'd to Sensible things yet this is to be regularly employ'd for though it be the principal part of Our selves it often happens to deceive us by our letting it act too much because it cannot act enough without tiring I mean it cannot know enough to make a right Judgment and yet it will still be judging F. MALEBRANCHE's TREATISE Concerning the SEARCH after TRUTH BOOK IV. Concerning the Inclinations or Natural Motions of the Mind CHAP. I. I. Inclinations are as necessary to Spirits as Motions to Bodies II. GOD gives no Motion to Spirits but what tends towards Himself III. The Tendency Spirits have to particular Goods proceeds but from their Motion towards Good in general IV. The Original of our chiefest Natural Inclinations Which will make up the Division of this Fourth Book THERE had been no occasion of Treating on the Natural Inclinations which are to be the Subject of this Fourth Book nor on the Passions which I am to speak to in the Fifth to discover the Causes of our Errours did not the Understanding depend on the Will in the Perception of Objects But because the Understanding receives its Direction from the Will and is determin'd and fix'd by it rather to some Objects than others in order to penetrate into the Causes of the Errours whereunto we are subject it will be absolutely necessary to be well acquainted with the Nature of our Inclinations Had God in the Creation of the World produc'd a Matter infinitely Extended without imprinting on it any Motion there had been no diversity in Bodies The whole Visible World at this day would have been nothing but an unweildy Mass of Matter or Extension which might perhaps have serv'd to shew the Greatness and Power of its Author but wanting that Succession of Forms and Variety of Bodies wherein the Beauty of the Universe consists would have little to invite Spiritual Beings to admire and adore the Infinite Wisdom of its Governour Now the Inclinations of Spirits seem to be in the Spiritual World what the Motions of Bodies are in the Material and that if Spirits had no Inclinations or Volitions that Variety would be wanting to the Order of Spiritual things which not only excites to the Admiration of the profound Wisdom of God as does the diversity observ'd in Material things but also of his Mercy Justice and Goodness and all his other Attributes in general The difference then of Inclinations has an Effect in Spirits much like that which the diversity of Motions produces in Bodies and the Inclinations of Spirits together with the Motions of Bodies make up all the Beauty of Created Beings So that 't is requisite for the former to have several Inclinations as for the latter to have different Motions But let us try to discover what Inclinations these ought to be Were not our Nature corrupted we should not need to seek by Reason as we are now to do what should be the Natural Inclinations of Created Spirits We need but have descended into our own Breast to have discover'd by an inward Feeling or Self-consciousness of what passes within us all the Inclinations we ought Naturally to have But since we are taught by Faith that Sin has inverted the Order of Nature and even by
pursuant to his first Will to give us the Sensation of Pleasure when we don't deserve it either because the Action we do is unprofitable or criminal or that being full of Sin we have no Right to demand a Recompence The Enjoyment of Sensible Pleasures was justly due to Man in his Regular Actions whilst he remain'd Innocent But â—ince the Fall there are no Sensible Pleasures entirely innocent or incapable of harming us when we taste them For it is commonly sufficient only to taste them to become their Slave Thirdly GOD being Just cannot chuse but punish one day the Violence that was done him by obliging him to reward with Pleasure criminal Actions committed against him When our Soul shall be dis-united from our Body GOD will be dispens'd from the Obligation he has impos'd upon himself of giving Sensations answerable to the Motions of the Animal Spirits but he will still be oblig'd to satisfie his Justice and so that will be the season of his Wrath and Vengeance Then though he change not the Order of Nature but remain ever fix'd and immutable in his first Will he will punish the unmerited Pleasures of the Voluptuous with Pains that will never have an end Fourthly Because the Certainty we have in this Life of the future Execution of that Justice exagiâ—ates the Mind with dreadful Anxieties and throws it into a sort of Despair which renders the Voluptuous miserable even amidst the greatest Pleasures Fifthly Because of those disquieting Remorses which almost ever attend the most Innocent Pleasures by reason we are inwardly convinc'd we don 't deserve them which Remorses rob us of a certain internal Joy that is found even in the Severities of Repentance And therefore though Pleasure be a Good yet it must be acknowledg'd that the Enjoyment of it is not always to our Advantage for the foregoing Reasons And for others of like nature most requisite to be known and easily deducible from them it must be granted that it is most commonly highly advantageous to suffer Pain though really an Evil. Nevertheless every Pleasure is a Good and actually makes happy the Enjoyer at the time of Enjoyment and so long as he enjoys it and every Pain is an Evil and makes the Sufferer actually unhappy at the instant of suffering and so much as he suffers it The Righteous and Holy may be said to be the most miserable of all Men in this Life and most worthy of Compassion Si in vita tantum in Christo speramus miserabiliores sumus omnibus hominibus says St. Paul For those that weep and suffer Persecution for Righteousness sake are not blessed for suffering Persecution for the sake of Righteousness but because the Kingdom of Heaven is Theirs and a great Reward is laid up for them in Heaven that is because they shall be happy Such as are persecuted for Righteousness are thereby Righteous Vertuous and Perfect as being in the Divine Order and because Perfection consists in the observing it But they are not happy because they suffer There shall be a time when they shall suffer no more and then they shall be happy as well as righteous and perfect However I deny not but the Righteous even in this Life may be in some measure happy by the Strength of their Hope and Faith which bring those future Goods as it were present to their Minds For it is certain that the vigorous and lively Hope of any Good brings it closer to the Mind and anticipates the Enjoyment and thus makes a Man happy in part since 't is the Taste and the Possession of Good 't is Pleasure that makes us happy Therefore we should not tell Men that Sensible Pleasures are not good and that they render the Possessors never the Happier since this is false and at the time of Temptation they find it so to their Misfortune They ought to be told That these Pleasures are in their own nature good and after a sort capable to make them happy yet for all that to be avoided for such like Reasons as the foremention'd but that they have not strength enough to withstand them of themselves because they desire to be happy by an invincible Inclination which these transitory Pleasures to be avoided by them in some measure satisfie and therefore are under a fatal necessity of being lost unless rescued and assisted These things are to be inculcated to them to give them a distinct Knowledge of their own Imbecillities and their need of a Redeemer We ought to speak to Men as our Lord and not as the Stoicks do who understand neither the Nature nor Distemper of an humane Mind We must continually tell them they are to hate and despise themselves and not look for a Settlement and Happiness here below that they must continually bear their Cross or the Instrument of their Suffering and lose their Life at present to save it everlastingly Lastly we must shew them their Obligation to act quite contrary to their Desires to make them sensible of their Impotence to Good For their Will is invincibly bent on Happiness which 't is impossible actually to obtain without doing what they have a Mind to Perhaps being sensible of their present Evils and knowing their future they will humble themselves on Earth possibly they will cry to Heaven will seek out a Mediator stand in fear of sensible Objects and conceive a salutary Abhorrence for whatever flatters Concupiscence and their Senses Probably they may enter into that Spirit of Prayer and Repentance so necessary to the obtaining Grace without which no Strength no Health no Salvation can be expected We are inwardly convinc'd that Pleasure is good which inward Conviction is not false for Pleasure is really so We are naturally convinc'd that Pleasure is the Character of Good and that natural Conviction is certainly true for whatever causes Pleasure is unquestionably very good and amiable But we are not assur'd that sensible Objects or even our Soul it self are capable of producing Pleasure in us For there is no reason why we should believe it but a thousand why we should not Thus sensible Objects are neither good nor amiable they are to be employ'd as serviceable to the Preservation of Life but we must not love them as being incapable of acting upon us The Soul ought only to love what is good to her and able to make her happier and more perfect and therefore nothing but what 's above her can be the Object of her Love since 't is evident her Perfection can derive from nothing that is not so But because we judge that a Thing is the Cause of some Effect when it constantly attends it we imagine that sensible Objects act on us because at their approach we have fresh Sensations and because we see not him who causes them really in us In tasting a Fruit we have a Sensation of Sweetness and we attribute that Sweetness to the Fruit which we judge both to cause it and contain it We
see not GOD as we see and touch this Fruit nay we do not so much as think on him nor perhaps on our selves And so we judge not that GOD is the true Cause of that Sweetness nor that it is a Modification of our Soul but impute both the Cause and Effect to the Fruit we eat What I have said of Sensations relating to the Body may be understood of those which have no relation to it such are those which are incident to pure Intelligences A Spirit contemplates it self and finds nothing wanting to its Happiness or Perfection or else sees that it is not in possession of what it desires Upon the View of its Happiness it feels Joy upon the sight of its Misery it feels Sorrow It immediately imagines that 't is the sight of its Happiness which produces in it self this Sensation of Joy because this Sensation still accompanies this Perception and fancies likewise that the sight of its Misery is what produces in it the Sensation of Sorrow because the latter is a constant Attendant of the former The true Cause of these Sensations which is GOD alone does not appear to it nor does it it may be think on GOD. For GOD acts in us in an imperceptible manner GOD rewards us with a Sense of Joy when we find our selves in the state we ought to be in to the intent we may continue in it that our Anxiety may cease and that we may fully enjoy our Happiness without suffering the Capacity of our Mind to be taken up with any thing else But he produces in us a Sensation of Sorrow when we know we are not in our convenienâ— state to the end we may not stay in it but restlesly seek out for the Perfection which we want For GOD continually drives us towards Good when we know that we do not possess it but gives us a powerful Check when we see we are fully possess'd of it Wherefore 't is evident to me that the Sensations of Intellectual Joy and Sorrow no less than Sensible are not the voluntary Productions of the Mind Our Reason then should constantly teach us to discover that invisible Hand which fills us with Good and which lies disguis'd to our Mind under Sensible Appearâ—nces This Hand we are to adore and to love and also to fear since though it loads us with Pleasures it can likewise over-whelm us with Pains We ought to love it with a Love of Choice an enlightned Love a Love worthy of GOD and our selves Our Love is worthy of GOD when it proceeds from our Knowledge of his being Amiable and this Love is worthy of our selves for that being Reasonable Creatures we ought to bestow our Love on that which Reason teaches us is worthy of it But we love sensible Things with a Love unworthy our selves and undeserv'd by them whilst being reasonable we love them without any Reason for it as not clearly knowing them to be lovely and on the contrary knowing they are not But we are betray'd by Pleasure to the Love of them the blind and irregular Love of Pleasure being the true Cause of the false Judgments of Men in Subjects of Morality CHAP. XI Of the Love of Pleasure with Reference to Speculative Sciences I. How it disables us from discovering Truth II. Some Instances OUR Inclination for Sensible Pleasures being misgovern'd is not only the Original of those dangerous Errours we are guilty of in Subjects of Morality and the general Cause of the Corruption of our Manners but likewise one of the main Causes of the Depravation of our Reason And it insensibly engages us in most gross but less dangerous Errours in point of Subjects purely Speculative because it disables us from bringing a sufficient Attention to comprehend and judge well of things that do not affect us We have spoken several times already of the Difficulty we find to apply our selves to Subjects somewhat Abstract the Subject of our Discourse requiring it As towards the End of the First Book where we shew'd that Sensible Ideas more affecting the Soul than Ideas purely Intellectual she was more taken up with the out-side manners than the Things themselves So again in the Second where treating of the Tenderness of the Fibres of the Brain we shew'd whence the Softness of certain Effeminate Minds proceeded Lastly in the Third when speaking of the Attention of the Mind it was necessary to shew that it was very careless of things Speculative but very attentive to such as affected her and made her feel Pleasure or Pain Our Errours have most commonly several Causes contributing to their Rise so that it ought not to be thought it is for want of Order that we repeat almost the same things and assign several Causes of the same Errours it is really because they have so many I still speak of Occasional Causes for we have often declar'd they have no other true and real Cause than the wrong use of our Liberty which wrong use consists in our not using it so much as we might as we have explain'd at the beginning of this Treatise We are not therefore to be blam'd if in order to make it fully conceiv'd how for Instance the Sensible Manners Things are involv'd in surprize and lead us into Errour we were oblig'd by way of Anticipation to speak of our Inclination for Pleasures in the other Books which seems fitter to have been reserv'd for this wherein we purposely treat of the Natural Inclinations and the same may be said of other things in other places All the harm that will come of it is this that we may dispense with many things here which we had been oblig'd to explain if it had not been done elsewhere All things in the Humane Nature are so link'd and twin'd to one another that we find our selves often as it were over-whelm'd with the Number of things necessary to be said at the same time to set our Conceptions in an open and clear Light We are sometimes forc'd to let things go unseparated which Nature has join'd together and to proceed against our own prescrib'd Method when this Method throws us in Confusion as it inevitably does on some Occasions And yet after all it is impossible to make others take in all our Conceptions All that can commonly be pretended to is to put others in a Capacity of discovering with Pleasure and Ease what we have discover'd our selves with great Pains and Fatigation And since 't is impossible to make any Discovery without Attention our Studies should be chiefly employ'd on Means of making others Attentive This is what we have essay'd to do though we must acknowledge but weakly perform'd and we are the willinger to confess we have been defective that the Confession may provoke our Readers to supply themselves what is wanting in us to make them attentive in order to penetrate the Bottom of Subjects which deserve to be thorowly consider'd Infinite are the Errours wherein our Inclination for Pleasures and in general
Conditions might be fully treated of in general yet they are too well known by those that are conversant with the World and of all the thinking part of Mankind to increase with them the Bulk of this Book especially seeing that our Eyes may afford us a very pleasant and solid Instruction of all such matters But if any chuse to read them in Greek rather than to learn them by his own reflection on what he sees I refer him to the second Book of the Rhetoricks of Aristotle which I take to be the Master-Piece of that Philosopher because he says there few things in which he can be mistaken and that he seldom ventures to prove what he asserts It is therefore evident that the sensible Union of the Mind of Men with whatever has any Relation to the preservation of their Life or of the Society of which they are Members differs in different Persons reaching farther in those that have more Knowledge that are in a higher Station and are indued with a larger Fancy whereas that Union is stricter and stronger in those that are more sensible that have a livelyer Imagination and have more blindly given up themselves to the violence of their Passions Such Considerations upon the almost infinite Bands that fasten Men to sensible Objects are of an extraordinary Use and the best way to become a great proficient in this sort of Learning is the study and observation of our selves since from the Inclinations and Passions of which we are conscious in our selves we can be fully assur'd of all the inclinations of other Men and can make a good guess at a great part of the Passions they are subject to to which adding the Information we can get of their particular Exgagements and of the different Judgments that follow from every different Passion of which we shall speak hereafter it may perhaps not prove so hard a Task to guess most part of their Actions as it is for an Astronomer to foretell an Eclipse For though Men be free yet it seldom happens that they make use of their Liberty in opposition to their natural Inclinations and violent Passions Before the Close of this Chapter I must observe that it is one of the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body that all the Inclinations of the Soul even those she has for Goods that have no relation to the Body should be attended with Commotions of the Animal Spirits that render those Inclinations sensible because Man being not a pure Spirit it is impossible he should have any Inclination altogether pure and without mixture of any Passion whatsoever So that the love of Truth Justice Vertue of God himself is always attended by some Motion of the Animal Spirits that render that love sensible though we be not aware of their sensibility being then taken up with livelyer Sensations Just as the Knowledge of Spiritual things is always accompanied with traces on the Brain which indeed make that Knowledge more lively but commonly more confused 'T is true we are frequently inapprehensive of the Imagining Faculty's mixing in any manner with the Conception of an abstracted Truth The Reason of it is that those Truths are not represented by Images or traces of Nature's Institution and that all the traces that raise such Ideas have no Relation with them but such as proceeds from Chance or the Free-will of Men. For Instance Arithmeticians and Algebraists who apply themselves to very abstracted Objects make however a very great use of their Imagination in order to fix the view of their Mind upon these Spiritual Ideas The Cyphers the Letters of the Alphabet and the other Figures which they see or imagine are always join'd to those Ideas though the traces that are wrought by these Characters have no proper Relation to those abstracted Objects and so can neither change nor obscure them Whence follows that by a proper Use and Application of these Cyphers and Letters they come to discover such remote and difficult Truths as could not be found out otherwise Since therefore the Ideas of such things as are only perceivable by the pure Understanding can be connected with the traces of the Brain and that the sight of Objects that are beloved hated or fear'd by a Natural Inclination can be attended with the Motion of the Animal Spirits it plainly appears that the thoughts of Eternity the fear of Hell the hope of an Eternal Happiness though they be Objects never so insensible can however raise in us very violent Passions And therefore we can say that we are united in a sensible manner not only to such things as relate to the preservation of our Life but also to Spiritual things with which the Mind is immediately and by it self united And even it often happens that Faith Charity and Self-Love make that Union with Spiritual things stronger than that by which we are join'd to all sensible Objects The Soul of the true Martyrs is more united to God than to their Body and those that suffer Death for asserting a false Religion which they believe to be true give us sufficiently to know that the fear of Hell has more power upon them than the fear of Death There is for the most part so much heat and obstinacy on both sides in the Wars of Religion and the defence of Superstitions that it cannot be doubted but some Passion has a hand in it and even a Passion far stronger and stedfaster than others because it is kept up by an Appearance of Reason both in such as are deceived and in those that follow the Truth We are then united by our Passions to whatever seems to be the Good or the Evil of the Mind as well as to that which we take for the Good or Evil of the Body Whatever can be known to have any relation to us can affect us and of all the things we know there is not one but it has some reference or other to us We are somewhat concern'd even for the most abstracted Truths when we know them because there is at least that Relation of Knowledge betwixt them and our Mind and that in some manner we look on them as our Property by virtue of that Knowledge We feel our selves as wounded when they are impugned and if we be wounded then surely we are affected and disturb'd So that the Passions have such a vast and comprehensive Dominion that it is impossible to conceive any thing in reference to which it may be said that Men are exempt from their Empire But let 's now see what is their Nature and endeavour to discover whatever they comprehend CHAP. III. A particular Explanation of all the Changes happening either to the Body or Soul in every Passion SEven things may be distinguished in each of our Passions save Admiration only which is indeed but an Imperfect Passion The first is the Judgment the Mind makes of an Object or rather the confused or distinct View of the Relation that Object has to
is not strange that our Sensations should agitate us and quicken our love for sensible things whereas our Light dissipates and vanishes without producing any zeal and ardency for Truth 'T is true that several Men are persuaded that God is their real Good love him as their All and earnestly desire to strengthen and increase their Union with him But few evidently know that by meditating on the Truth we unite our selves to God as far as natural strength can attain that it is a sort of Enjoyment of him to contemplate the true Ideas of things and that that abstracted view of some general and immutable Truths on which all the particulars depend are flights of a Mind that sequesters it self from the Body to unite it self to God Metaphysicks speculative Mathematicks and all those universal Sciences which regulate and contain the particular as the Universal Being comprehends all particular Beings seem to be Chimerical to most Men as well to the pious as to those that do not love God So that I dare hardly make bold to say that the study of those Sciences is the most pure and perfect Application to God that the Mind may be naturally capable of and that it is by the sight of the Intellectual World which is their Object that God has produced and still knows this sensible World from which Bodies receive their Life as Spirits live from the other Those that purely follow the Impressions of their Senses and motions of their Passions are not capable of relishing the Truth because it flatters them not And even the Vertuous who constantly oppose their Passions when they proffer them false Goods do not always resist them when they conceal from them the Truth and make it despicable because one may be pious without being a Man of parts To please God we need not exactly know that our Senses Imagination and Passions always represent things otherwise than they are since it appears not that our Lord and his Apostles ever intended to undeceive us of several Errours upon this matter which Descartes has discover'd to us There is a great difference betwixt Faith and Understanding the Gospel and Philosophy the greatest Clowns are capable of Faith but few can attain to the pure Knowledge of Evident Truth Faith represents to vulgar Men God as the Creator of Heaven and Earth which is a sufficient motive of Love and Duty towards him whereas Reason knowing that God was God before he was Creator not only considers him in his Works but also endeavours to contemplate him in himself or in that immense Idea of the infinitely perfect Being which is included in him The Son of God who is the Wisdom of his Father or the Eternal Truth made himself Man and became sensible that he might be known by Men of Flesh and Blood by gross material Men that he might instruct them by that which was the Cause of their Blindness and draw them to the love of him and disengage them from sensible goods by the same things that had enslav'd them for having to doe with Fools he thought fit to take upon him a sort of Folly whereby to make them wise So that the most pious Men and truest Believers have not always the greatest Understanding They may know God by Faith and love him by the help of his Grace without understanding that he is their All in the sense Philosophers understand him and without thinking that the abstracted Knowledge of Truth is a sort of a Union with him We ought not therefore to be surprized if so few Persons labour to strengthen their natural Union with God by the Knowledge of Truth since to this there is required a continual opposition of the Impressions of the Senses and Passions in a very different way from that which is usual with the Vertuous who are not always persuaded that the Senses and Passions abuse them in the manner that has been explain'd in the foregoing Books The Sensations and Thoughts in which the Body has a share are the sole and immediate Cause of the Passions as proceeding from the Concussion of the Fibres of the Brain raising some particular Commotion in the Animal Spirits And therefore Sensations are the only sensible proofs of our dependence on some things which they excite us to love but we feel not our Natural Union with God when we know the Truth and do not so much as think upon him because he is and operates in us so privately and insensibly as to be imperceptible to our selves And this is the Reason that our natural Union with God raises not our Love for him But it goes quite otherwise with our Union to sensible things All our Sensations prove it and Bodies appear before our Eyes when they act in us Their Action is visible and manifest Our Body is even more present to us than our Mind and we consider the former as the best part of our Selves So that our Union to our Body and by it to sensible Objects excites in us a violent Love which increases that Union and makes us depend on things that are infinitely below us CHAP. VI. Of the more general Errours of the Passions with some particular Instances 'T IS the part of Moral Philosophy to discover the particular Errours concerning Good in which our Passions engage us to oppose irregular affections to restore the Integrity of the Heart and to rule the Course of our Life But here we chiefly aim at giving Rules to the Mind and finding out the Causes of our Errours in reference to Truth so that we shall not proceed farther in those Matters that relate to the Love of true Good We are tending to the Instruction of the Mind and only take the Heart in the way in as much as the Heart is its Master We search into Truth it self without a special Respect to our selves and we consider its Relation with us only because that Relation is the Spring of Self-love's disguising and concealing it from us for we judge of all things by our Passions whence it is that we mistake in all things the Judgments of Passions never agreeing with the Judgments of Truth 'T is what we learn in these excellent Words of St. Bernard Neither Love nor Hatred know how to make a Judgment according to Truth Will you hear a true Judgment As I hear I judge says our Lord he says not as I hate as I love or as I fear Here you have a Judgment of Hatred We have a Law say the Jews and by that Law he ought to die Here a Judgment of Fear If we let him alone say the Pharisees the Romans shall come and take away our Place and Nation Here another of Love as that of David speaking of his Parricide Son Spare the young Man Absalom Our Love Hatred and Fear cause us to make false Judgments only Nothing but the pure Light of Truth can illuminate our Mind nothing but the distinct Voice of our common Master can cause us to make
on a sudden design'd the destroying of the whole Nation that his Revenge might be the more splendid Two Men sue each other about a Piece of Land they ought only to produce in Court their Titles to it and to say nothing but what relates to the Case or to set it off fair However they seldom fail to slander one another to contradict each other in every thing to raise trifling Contestations and Accusations and to intricate the Suit with an infinity of Accessary Circumstances which confound the Principal In short the Passions reach as far as the sight of the Mind does in those that are affected by them I would say there is nothing to which we may suppose their Object to be related but their Motion will extend to it which is done after the following manner The Tracks of the Objects are so connected to each other in the Brain that it is impossible the Course of the Spirits should violently move any one of them without raising several others at the same time The principal Idea of the Thing perceiv'd is therefore necessarily accompanied with a vast number of accessary Ideas which increase more and more as the Impression of the Animal Spirits is more violent Now that Impression cannot but be very violent in the Passions because they continually hurry into the Brain abundance of such Spirits as are fit to preserve the Traces of the Ideas which represent their Object So that the Motion of Love or Hatred extends not only to the Chief Object of either Passion but also to all the Things that are found any ways relating to it because the Motion of the Soul in the Passion follows the Perception of the Mind as the Motion of the Animal Spirits in the Brain follows the Traces of the Brain as well those that excite the principal Idea of the Passion 's Object as those that are related to it And therefore we must not be surprized if Men carry their Hatred or Love to such a heighth and commit such strange and capricious Actions Every one of those Effects has its proper Cause though unknown to us because their accessary Ideas being not always like to ours we cannot rightly judge of them So that Men act always by some particular Reason even in those Actions that appear most extravagant to us CHAP. VII Of the Passions in particular And first Of Admiration and its ill Effects WHatever I have said hitherto of the Passions is general yet 't is no hard matter to draw particular Inferences from it If one do but reflect upon what occurs in his own Breast and upon the Actions of others he will discover at one View a greater number of those Truths than can be explain'd in a considerable time However there are so few who think of retiring into themselves and make any Attempt to that purpose that to quicken them and raise their Attention it will not be amiss somewhat to descend into Particulars It seems when we handle or strike our selves that we are almost insensible whereas if we be but never so little touched by others we receive such lively Sensations as awaken our Attention In a word as it never comes into our Mind to tickle our selves and if it did perhaps the Attempt would be unsuccessful So almost for the same Reason the Soul cares not to feel and sound her self is presently disgusted at that sort of Exercise and commonly is incapable of feeling or knowing all the Parts that belong to her till touch'd and made sensible to her by others So that it will be necessary for the facilitating some People in acquiring the Knowledge of themselves to mention some of the particular Effects of the Passions to â—each them by touching them of what Make and Constitution their Soul is of In the mean while those that shall read the following Thoughts must be forewarn'd that they will not always be touched to the Quick nor be aware that they are subject to the Passions and Errours of which I shall speak because particular Passions are not always the same in all Men. All Men indeed have the same natural Inclinations which referr not to the Body and likewise all those that relate to it when 't is in a very good Constitution But its various Tempers and frequent Alterations produce an infinite Variety in particular Passions To which diversity of Constitutions if that variety of Objects be added which cause very different Impressions upon those who follow not the same Employments and manner of Life it will plainly appear that such a Person who is lively touched by some Things in one Place of his Soul may be absolutely insensible as to many others so that we should commonly mistake should we always judge of the Commotions of others by what we feel in our selves I am not afraid of being deceiv'd when I assert That all Men would be happy for I fully and certainly know that Chinese and Tartars Angels and Devils in a word all Spirits whatsoever have an Inclination for Felicity Nay I know that God shall never produce any Spirit without that Desire I never saw either Chinese or Tartar so that I never learn'd it from Experience nor yet from my inward Consciousness which only teaches me that I would my self be happy God alone can inwardly convince me that all other Men Angels and Devils desire Happiness and he only can assure me that he will never create a Spirit that shall not care for Felicity For who else can positively assure me of what he does and even thinks And as he cannot deceive me so I may safely relie on what I learn from him And therefore I am certain that all Men would be happy because that Inclination is natural and independent on the Body It goes quite otherwise with particular Passions For because I love Musick Dancing Hunting Sweet-meats high-season'd Dishes c. I cannot certainly conclude that other Men have the same Passions Pleasure is doubtless sweet and grateful to Men but all find it not in the same Things The Love of Pleasure is a Natural Inclination not depending upon the Body and therefore general to all Men But the Love of Musick Hunting or Dancing is not general because the Disposition of the Body from which it proceeds being different in several Persons the Passions they produce are not always the same General Passions as Desire Joy and Sorrow are the Mean betwixt natural Inclinations and particular Passions They are general as well as Inclinations but they are not always of the same strength because the Cause which produces and feeds them is not always equally active There is an infinite Variety in the Degrees of Agitation of the Animal Spirits in their Plenty and Scarcity in their Solidity and Fineness and in the Relation betwixt the Fibres of the Brain and those Spirits And therefore it often happens that we touch not Men in any part of their Soul when we treat of particular Passions but if they chance to
a poor weak and languishing Wretch who though he have the same Spirit and Principles yet because he is Master of Nothing imagines he is almost Nothing himself However our Retinue is not our self and so far is the plenty of the Blood and Animal Spirits the vigour and impetuousness of the Imagination from leading us to the Truth that on the contrary nothing carries us so far from it whereas 't is the Dull if I may so call them that is the cool and sedate Minds that are the fittest for the Discovery of solid and hidden Truths Their Passions being silent and quiet they may listen in the Recess of their Reason to the Truth that teaches them but most unhappily they mind not its Words because it speaks low without a forcible sound and that nothing wakens them but a mighty Noise Nothing convinces them but what glitters to appearance and is judg'd great and magnificent by the Senses they love to be dazled with Brightness and rather chuse to hear those Philosophers who tell them their Stories and Dreams and assert as the false Prophets of former times that the Truth has spoken to them though it has not than to listen to Truth it self For they have already suffer'd four thousand Years and that without opposition humane Pride to entertain them with Lies which they reverence and keep to as to Holy and Divine Traditions It seems the God of Truth is wholly gone from them they think on him and consult him no more they meditate no more and cover their neglect and laziness with the delusive pretences of a sacred Humility 'T is true that we cannot of our selves discover the Truth but we can doe it at all times with the assistance of him that enlightens us and can never doe it with that of all the Men in the World Those that know it best cannot shew it to us unless we ask it of him to whom they have made their Application and unless he be pleased to answer our Questions that is our Attention as he has done theirs We are not therefore to believe because Men say this or that for every Man is a Liar but because he that cannot deceive speaks to us and we must perpetually interrogate him for the solution of our Difficuties We ought not to trust to them that speak only to the Ears instruct but the Body or at the utmost move but the Imagination But we ought attentively to listen unto and faithfully believe him who speaks to the Mind informs the Reason and piercing into the most abstruse Recesses of the inward Man is able to enlighten and strengthen him against the outward and sensible Man that continually labours to seduce and corrupt him I often repeat these things because I believe them most worthy of a serious Consideration God alone is to be honour'd because he only can endue us with Knowledge as 't is he alone that can fill us with Pleasure There is sometimes in the animal Spirits and the rest of the Body a Disposition that provokes to Hunting Dancing Running and other Corporeal Exercises wherein the Force and Activity of the Body are most conspicuous Which Disposition is very ordinary to young Men especially before their Body be in a State of Consistency Children cannot stay in one place and will always be moving if they follow their humour For whereas all their Muscles are not yet strengthened nor perfectly finisht therefore God who as the Author of Nature regulates the Pleasures of the Soul with reference to the Good of the Body causes them to be delighted with such Exercises as may invigorate it Thus whilst the Flesh and Fibres of their Nerves are yet soft the Channels through which the animal Spirits must necessarily flow to produce all sorts of Motion are wore and kept open Humours have no time to settle and all Obstructions and Causes of Corruption are removed The confused Sensation that young Men have of that Disposition of their Body makes them pleased with the thoughts of their Strength and Dexterity They admire themselves when they know how to measure their Motions and to make extraordinary ones and are ambitious of being in the presence of Spectators and Admirers Thus they strengthen by degrees their Inclination to Corporeal Exercises which is one of the principal Causes of Ignorance and Brutishness For besides the time that is by that meanes lavisht away the little use they make of their Understanding causes the chief part of the Brain in whose tractableness the force and quickness of the Mind especially consists to become altogether inflexible and the animal Spirits through disuse are difficultly dispers'd in the Brain in a manner requisite to think of what they please This incapacitates most part of the Nobility and Gentry especially such as follow the War to apply themselves to any thing They answer with a Word and a Blow as the Proverb says for if you speak any thing that they don't willingly hear instead of thinking upon a suitable Reply their Animal Spirits insensibly flow into the Muscles that raise the Arm and make them answer without Consideration with a Blow or a Threatning Gesture because their Spirits agitated by the Words they hear are conveyed to such Places as are most open through Habit and Exercise The sense of their Corporeal Strength confirms them in those insulting Manners and the submissive Aspect of their Hearers puffs 'em up with such an absurd Confidence as makes them believe they have said very fine things when they have but haughtily and brutishly uttered Impertinencies being flater'd by the Fear and Caution of the Standers by It is not possible to have applied our selves to any Study or to make actual profession of any Science to be either Author or Doctor without being conscious of it But that very Consciousness naturally produces in some Men such a vast Number of Imperfections that it would be better with them if they wanted those Honourable Qualities As they look upon them as their most considerable Perfections so they are extreamly pleased with that Contemplation they set them before the Eyes of others with all the possible Dexterity and conceive they have thereby right to judge of every thing without Examination If any be so couragious as to contradict them they at first endeavour skillfully and with a sweet and obliging Countenance to insinuate what they are and what right they have to determine of such Matters And if any still presume to oppose them and that they be at a loss for an Answer they do not stick openly to declare what they think of themselves and of their Adversaries Every inward Sense of any Qualification we enjoy naturally swells up the Courage A Trooper well mounted and accoutred who neither wants Blood nor Spirits is ready to undertake any thing that Disposition inspiring him with an undaunted Boldness So it goes with a Man of Letters when he fansies himself to be Learned and that the Haughtiness of his Heart has
corrupted his Mind he becomes if I may so speak bold and fierce against Truth Sometimes he rashly impungs it without knowing it at other times he consciously betrays it and relying upon his imaginary Learning is always ready to assert either the Affirmative or Negative according as he is possessed with a Spirit of Contradiction It goes quite otherwise with those that make no Ostentation of Learning they are not positive neither do they speak unless they have something to say and it even often happens that they remain silent when they should speak They have neither that Fame nor those outward Characters of Learning which spur Men on to speak without Knowledge and so may decently hold their Peace but the Pretenders are afraid to make a stop since they are sensible they shall be despis'd for their Silence even when they have nothing to say and that they are not always in danger of falling into Contempt though they speak but Impertinencies provided they utter them with a Scientifick Confidence What makes Men capable of thinking enables them to know the Truth but neither Honours Riches University-Degrees nor Chimerical Erudition makes them capable of thinking It 's their own Nature for they are made to think because they are created for the Truth Even bodily Health qualifies them not for thinking well but only is a less Hinderance than Sickness Our Body assists us in some manner in perceiving by Sense and imagining but not at all in conceiving For though without its Help we cannot attentively meditate nor oppose the continual Impression of the Senses and Passions which endeavour to perplex and obliterate our Ideas because in this present State we cannot overcome the Body but by the Body yet 't is plain that the Body cannot illuminate the Mind nor produce in it the Light of Understanding since every Idea that discovers the Truth proceeds from Truth it self All that the Soul receives from the Body relates only to it and when she follows those Glimpses she sees nothing but Phantasms and Dreams that is to say she sees not things as they are in themselves but only as they have relation to her Body As the Idea of our own Greatness or Littleness is a frequent occasion of Errour so likewise the Ideas of outward things that have refference to us make no less dangerous an Impression We have already observ'd that the Idea of Greatness is always attended with a great Motion of Spirits and a great Motion of the Spirits is ever accompanied with the Idea of Greatness and that on the contrary that of Littleness is always followed with a small Motion of Spirits which is in its turn accompanied with the Idea of Meanness From that Principle 't is easy to infer that such things as produce in us great Motions of Spirits must naturally appear greater stronger and more real and perfect than others for in the word Greatness I comprehend all those Qualifications and such like So that sensible Good must needs seem to us more considerable and solid than that which cannot be felt if we judge of it by the Motion of the Spirits and not by the pure Idea of Truth A great House a sumptuous Retinue a fine Furniture Offices Honour Riches will then appear to us to have more greatness and reality in them than Justice and other Vertues When we compare Vertue to Riches by the pure Eyes of the Mind we prefer Vertue but if we make use of our Corporeal Eyes and Imagination and judge of those things by the Motion of the Spirits which they raise in us we shall doubtless chuse Riches rather than Vertue 'T is from the same Principle that we imagine that spiritual and insensible things are almost nothing that the Ideas of our Mind are less noble than the Objects they represent that there is less reality and substance in the Air than in Metalls and in Water than in Ice that those vast Spaces that reach from the Earth to the Firmament are empty or that the Bodies that fill them have not so much reality and solidity as the Sun and Stars In short our reasoning upon that false Principle induces us into an infinite number of Errours concerning the Nature and Perfection of every thing A great Motion of Spirits and by consequence a strong Passion always attending the sensible Idea of Grandeur and a small Motion and consequently a weak Passion still accompanying the sensible Idea of Meanness we are very attentive to and bestow a great deal of our time on the study of such things as raise the sensible Idea of Grandeur whereas we neglect those which afford but the sensible Idea of Meanness Those great Bodies for instance which make their Circumvotions over our Heads have ever made a great Impression upon Men who at first ador'd them because of their Light and Brightness or sensible Idea of Grandeur some bolder Wits presum'd to examine their Motions so that the Stars have been in all Ages the Object either of the Study or of the Veneration of the greatest part of Mankind It may even be said that the fear of their Phantastick Influences which still fright Astrologers and weak Persons is a sort of Adoration paid by a Brain-sick Imagination to the Idea of Greatness that represents Celestial Bodies But the Body of Man on the contrary that is infinitely more admirable and deserves more our Application than whatever we can know of Saturn Jupiter and other Planets has remained a long time almost unknown The sensible Idea of dissected parts of Flesh having nothing great but being rather distastful and noisome it is but a few years since Men of Parts have looked upon Anatomy as a Science that deserved their study There have been Princes and Kings that boasted of being Astronomers the height and magnitude of the Stars seem'd to suit their Dignity and Grandeur but I know not of any that were ever ambitious of knowing Anatomy and skilfully dissecting a Heart or a Brain The same may be said of several other Sciences Rare and extraordinary things incite in Mens Minds greater and more sensible Motions than such as are seen every day we admire them and by a natural Consequence we fix on them an Idea of Greatness that is followed with Passions of Esteem and Reverence This perverts the Reason of several Persons who are so very respectful and curious of all the Remains of Antiquity and whatever comes from far or is rare and extraordinary that they are as Slaves to them because the Mind dares not sit and pronounce upon the Objects of its Veneration I grant Truth is in no great danger because some Men are taken up with the Medals Arms and Habits of the Ancients or with the Dress of the Chinese and Savages It is not altogether unserviceable to know the Map of Ancient Rome nor the ways from Tomquin to Nanquin though it be more useful to us to know those from London to Oxford or from Paris to St. Germain or Versailles
In short we cannot find fault with those that will enquire into the History of the Wars betwixt the Greeks and Persians betwixt the Tartars and Chinese let them have for Thucydides Xenophon or any other whatsoever as much Inclinations as they please But we cannot suffer that Admiration of Antiquity should lord it over Reason that it should be forbidden to make use of our Understanding in examining the Opinions of the Ancients and that the Discovery and Demonstration of their Errours should pass for a rash and presumptuous Attempt Truth is of all Times and Ages If Aristotle did discover it it may still be found out his Opinions are to be proved by strong Reasons for if they were solid in his time they will be so in ours 'T is to deceive our selves to pretend to demonstrate natural Truths by humane Authorities It may perhaps be proved that Aristotle has had such and such Thoughts upon such and such Subjects but 't is a very slender improvement of Reason to read Aristotle or any other Author with great Diligence and Trouble that we may historically learn his Opinions and teach them to others We cannot without Indignation look on some Universities that were established for the Enquiry and Defence of Truth and are now turned into particular Sects and boast of studying and maintaining the Opinions of some Men. We are ready to fall into Passion at the reading of those Philosophers and Physicians who store their Books with so many Quotations that one would rather take them for Commentaries of the Civil and Cannon Law than for Tracts of Natural Philosophy and Physick For who can suffer that Reason and Experience should be deserted and the Fancies of Plato Aristotle Epiâ—urus or any other Philosopher blindly followed Such strange methods would perhaps strike us dumb with Amazement though we were not hurt by them I mean though these Gentlemen did not impung the Truth which alone we think our selves obliged to espouse But their admiring the Dreams of the Ancients inspires them with a blind Zeal against Truths newly discovered they cry them down without knowing them they oppose them without understanding them and by the strength of their Imagination infuse their Sentiments into the Minds and Hearts of their Auditors and Admirers As they judge of those new Discoveries by the Esteem they have for their Authors and that their Contemporaries which they have seen and convers'd with have not that big and extraordinary Appearance which the Imagination attributes to Ancient Authors so they have no Consideration for the Modern For the Idea of the Men of our Age raises nothing but Contempt because it is not attended with violent and surprizing Motions Limners and Statuaries never represent Ancient Philosophers as other Men but give them a big Head and a broad and high Fore-head and a long and venerable Beard That 's a good Argument to prove that the Vulgar Sort has some such Idea of them for Painters picture things as they represent them to themselves and follow the Natural Motions of the Imagination and so for the most part we look on the Ancients as Uncommon Men. Whereas Imagination representing Men of our Age like to those with whom we daily converce and producing no extraordinary Motion in the Spirits raises nothing in the Soul but Contempt and Indifferency towards them I have seen Des-Crates said one of those learned Admirers of Antiquity I have known him and conversed with him several times he was an honest Man and no Fool but had nothing extraordinary He had form'd a contemptible Idea of the Cartesian Philosophy because he had conversed with the Author some minutes and had not observed in him those great and extraordinary Looks that oversway the Imagination If he were puzzled with some Arguments of that Philosopher he proudly said meaning it a sufficient Answer That he had known him formerly I could wish those Gentlemen might see Aristotle otherwise than in Picture and converse an hour with him provided he should speak French or English and not Greek and not make himself known before they had declar'd their Opinion of him Such things as bear the Character of Novelty whether they be new in themselves or appear in a new Order or Situation agitate us very much striking the Brain in places that are most sensible because least exposed to the Course of the Spirits Such things as bear a sensible Mark of Greatness do also strangely move us because they stir up a great Motion of the Spirits But such as at once come attended with Characters of Novelty and Greatness do not simply move us they overthrow ravish stupifie us by their violent Commotions For Instance Those who speak nothing but Paradoxes attract the Admiration of weak Minds because what they say has the Character of Novelty those that speak by Sentences and use high and lofty Flights inspire Veneration because they seem to say something great But those that joyn Loftiness to Novelty and Greatness to Rarity never fail of ravishing and stupifying the Vulgar Sort though they should speak but Impertinences for that pompous and stately Nonsence insani fulgores those false Declamatory Glitterings for the most part dazle the Eyes of infirm Minds and make such a lively and surprizing Impression upon their Imagination that they know not where they are that they venerate the Power that blinds 'em and cast 'em down and admire as shining Truths confused and unexpressible Sensations CHAP. VIII A Continuation of the same Subject What good Vse can be made of Admiration and other Passions ALL Passions have two very considerable Effects for they apply the Mind and win the Heart by the former they may by a due use be made serviceable to the Knowledge of Truth because Application produces that light by which it is discovered but the latter Effect is always disadvantageous because Passions cannot win the Heart but by corrupting the Reason and representing things not as they are in themselves or according to Truth but as they are related to us Admiration is of all Passions that which least affects the Heart because 't is the Sight of things consider'd as Good or Evil that agitates us and that the Consideration of their Greatness or Smallness without any other Relation to us makes but little Impression upon us so that the Admiration that attends the Knowledge of the Greatness or Littleness of new things we consider corrupts the Reason much less than any other Passion and can even be of great use for the Knowledge of Truth provided we be very careful to hinder its being followed by other Passions as it happens for the most part In Admiration the Animal Spirits are strongly driven to those places of the Brain that represent the new Object as it is in it self which print thereon Traces of it distinct and deep enough to be long continued and consequently afford to the Mind a clear Idea and easie to be remembred and therefore it cannot be denied but
when it thinks upon nothing Should that Idea vanish my Mind it seems should vanish with it or at least become smaller and narrower if it should fix upon a less considerable Idea so that the preservation of that great Idea being the preservation of my own Greatness and the perfection of my Being I am in the right to admire nay others ought to admire me for it should they give me my due For I am really something great by the Relation I have to great things and I enjoy them in some manner by my Admiration and that Foretast which a sort of Hope affords me Other Men would be Happy as well as I am my self if knowing my Greatness they should fix themselves upon the Cause that produces it but they are blind and insensible to great and fine things and know not how to raise and make themselves considerable It may be said That the Mind naturally and without Reflection argues in some such manner when it it suffers it self to be led away by the abusive Meteors of the Passions Those Reasonings have some Likelihood though their Weakness be sufficiently visible however that Probability or rather the confused Sense of the Probobility that attends natural and inconsiderate Arguments is so prevalent that they never fail of seducing us when we stand not upon our guard For Instance When Poetry History Chymistry or any other Humane Science has struck the Imagination of a young Man with some Motions of Admiration if he do not carefully watch the Attempt these Motions make upon his Mind if he examine not to the bottom the Use of those Sciences if he compare not the Trouble of learning them with the Benefits that may accrue to him in short if he be not as nice in his Judgment as he ought to be he runs the hazard of being seduced by his Admiration shewing him only the fairest Part of those Sciences and 't is even to be feared lest they should so far corrupt his Heart as that he should never awake out of his Dream even when he comes to know it to be but a Dream because it is not possible to blot out of the Brain deep Tracks engraven and widened by a long-continued Admiration And therefore we ought to take diligent care to keep our Imagination untainted that is to say to hinder the formation of dangerous Traces that corrupt the Heart and Mind I shall here set down 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 so violent as to imprint on the Brain deep Traces that corrupt the Imagination it is always attended with some Commotion of the Soul And as the Soul cannot be moved without being conscious of it she is thereby sufficiently warn'd to stand upon her guard and to examine whether it be for her good to suffer those Traces to be enlarged and finished But at the time of the Commotion the Mind is not so free as rightly to judge of the Usefulness of those Traces because the same Commotion deceives and inclines it to indulge them We must therefore endeavour to stop that Commotion or to turn to some other Place the Current of the Spirits that cause it and in the mean while 't is absolutely necessary to suspend our Judgment But we ought not to imagine that the Soul always can by her bare Will stop the Course of the Spirits that hinder her from making use of her Reason her ordinary Power being not sufficient to quell Motions not raised by her so that she must dexterously endeavour to deceive an Enemy that attacks her unawares As the Motions of the Spirits stir up respective Thoughts in the Soul so our Thoughts excite such and such Motions in the Brain so that to stop a rising Motion of the Spirits a bare Will is not sufficient but Stratagem must be us'd and we must skilfully represent to our selves such Things as are contrary to those that stir up and indulge that Motion whence a Revulsion will arise But if we would only determine another way the Motion of the Spirits already risen we must not think of contrary but only different Things from those that have produced it which will certainly make a Diversion But because the Diversion and Revulsion are great or little as the new Thoughts are accompanied with a greater or less Motion of the Spirits we must carefully observe what sort of Thoughts agitate us most that we may in urging Occasions represent them to our seducing Imagination and use our selves so much to that sort of Resistance that no surprizing Motion may affect our Soul If we take care firmly to unite the Idea of Eternity or some other solid Thought to those violent and extraordinary Motions they will never be stirr'd up for the future without raising that Idea and furnishing us with Weapons to resist them This appears from Experience and from the Reason mention'd in the Chapter Of the Connection of Ideas so that we must not imagine it absolutely impossible by a dexterous Managery to conquer our Passions when we are stedfastly resolv'd upon it However by that Resistance we ought not to pretend to Impeccability nor to the avoiding of all Errours whatsoever First Because 't is very difficult to acquire and preserve such a Habit as that our extraordinary Motions shall raise in us Ideas fit to oppose them Secondly Though we should have gotten that Habit those Motions of the Spirits will directly excite the Ideas to be impugned and but indirectly supply us with the necessary Weapons to assault them So that the Evil Ideas being still the principal will be stronger than the Good that are but accessary and the latter ever stand in need of the Help of the Will Thirdly Those Motions of the Spirits may be so violent as to take up the whole Capacity of the Soul so that there will remain no room if I may so speak for the reception of the accessary Idea that is proper to make a Revulsion in the Spirits or not at least for such a Reception as may incite us to an attentive Contemplation of it Lastly There are so many particular Circumstances that can make that Remedy useless that though it ought not to be neglected yet we must not relie too much upon it We must have a perpetual Recourse to Prayer that we may receive from Heaven necessary Helps in the time of Temptation and in the mean while endeavour to present to the Mind some Truths so solid and prevalent as that they may overcome the most violent Passions For I must needs add by the way That several pious Persons often return into the same Faults because they fill their Mind with a great many Truths that are more glittering than solid and fitter to weaken and dissolve than to fortifie it against Temptations whereas others that are not endued with so much Knowledge faithfully stick to their Duty because of some
a great Number but also differ by the different Perceptions and Judgments that cause or accompany them Those different Judgments of the Soul concerning Good or Evil produce different Motions in the Animal Spirits to dispose the Body in relation to the Object and consequently cause in the Soul Sensations that are not altogether like Whence it proceeds that some Passions are observ'd to differ from each other though their Commotions be not different In the mean while the Commotion of the Soul being the chief Thing observable in every Passion 't is better to refer them to the Three original Passions in which those Commotions are very different than to treat confusedly and disorderly of them in reference to the different Perceptions we may have of the Good and Evil that raises them For we may have so many different Perceptions of Objects in reference to Time to our selves to what belongs to us to the Persons or Things to which we are united either by Nature or Choice that it is wholly impossible to make an accurate Enumeration of them When the Soul perceives any Good which she cannot enjoy it may perhaps be said that she hopes for it though she desires it not However 't is plain that this her Hope is not a Passion but a simple Judgment And therefore 't is the Commotion that attends the Idea of any Good of which we take the Enjoyment to be possible that adopts Hope into a true Passion It is the same when Hope grows into Security For the latter is a Passion only because of the Commotion of Joy that mixes with that of Desire since the Judgment of the Soul that considers any Good as certain is a Passion but as much as it is a foregoing Taste of the Good that affects us Last of all When Hope diminishes and is succeeded by Despair 't is visible again that the latter is a Passion but because of the Commotion of Sorrow that mixes with that of Desire for the Judgment of the Soul that considers any Good as unattainable would not be a Passion should we not be actuated by that Judgment But because the Soul never looks upon Good or Evil without any Commotion and even without any Alteration in the Body we often give the Name of Passion to the Judgment that produces it confounding together whatever happens both to the Soul and Body at the sight of any Good or Evil For the Words Hope Fear Boldness Shame Impudence Anger Pity Derision Grief and the Names of all other Passions in common use are short Expressions made up of several Terms by which can be explain'd in particular whatever Passions contain We understand by the Word Passion the View of the Relation any thing has to us the Commotion and Sensation of the Soul the Concussion of the Brain and the Motion of the Spirits a new Commotion and Sensation of the Soul and lastly a Sensation of Pleasure that always attends the Passions and makes them grateful All these we commonly understand by the Name of Passions but sometimes it only signifies either the Judgment that raises it or only the Commotion of the Soul or the bare Motion of the Spirits and Blood or lastly something else that accompanies the Commotion of the Soul It is very useful for the Knowledge of Truth to abridge Ideas and Expressions but that often causes some considerable Errour especially when those Ideas are abridg'd by popular Use For we ought never to abridge them but when we have made them very clear and distinct by a great Application of Mind and not as 't is ordinarily done as to Passions and sensible Things when we have made them familiar to us by their Sensations and the mere Action of the Imagination which easily imposes on the Mind There is a great difference betwixt the pure Ideas of the Mind and the Sensations or Commotions of the Soul Pure Ideas are clear and distinct but 't is a hard Task to make them familiar whereas Sensations and Commotions are intimate with us but can never plainly and distinctly be known Numbers Extension and their Properties may be clearly known but unless we make them sensible by some expressive Characters 't is very difficult to represent them to our Mind because whatever is abstracted moves us not On the contrary the Commotions and Sensations of the Soul may easily be represented to the Mind though the Knowledge we have of them be but confused and imperfect for all the Words that raise them lively strike the Soul and make it attentive Thence it proceeds that we often imagine we rightly understand some Discourses that are altogether incomprehensible and that reading some Descriptions of the Sensations and Passions of the Soul we persuade our selves that we perfectly comprehend them because they strongly move us and that all the Words that reverberate upon our Eyes agitate our Soul The hearing of the very Names of Shame Despair Impudence c. straightway excite in our Mind a confused Idea and obscure Sensation that powerfully influences us and because this Sensation is very familiar to us and presents it self without any Trouble or Endeavour of the Mind we fancy it to be clear and distinct These Words however are the Names of compounded Passions and by consequence abridg'd Expressions which popular Use has made up of many confused and obscure Ideas Seeing we are oblig'd to employ such Terms as common Use has approv'd of the Reader should not be surpriz'd to meet with Obscurity and sometimes with a sort of Contradiction in our Words And if it were but consider'd that the Sensations and Commotions of the Soul that answer to the Terms us'd in such Discourses are not wholly the same in all Men because of their different Dispositions of Mind they would not so easily condemn us when they could not enter into our Opinions This I say not so much to prevent Objections against my self as that we may understand the Nature of the Passions and what we are to think of Books treating of such Matters After so many Cautions I shall not stick to say that all the Passions may be referr'd to the three Primitive namely Desire Joy and Sorrow and that it is specially by the different Judgments the Soul makes of Goods and Evils that such as relate to the same Primitive Passion differ from each other For Instance I may say that Hope Fear and Irresolution that is the Mean betwixt them both are Species of Desire That Boldness Courage and Emulation c. have a greater Relation to Hope than to all others and that Timidity Cowardise Jealousie c. are Species of Fear I may say that Alacrity and Glory Kindness and Gratefulness are Species of Joy caused by the Sight of the Good that we know to be in us or in those to whom we are united as Derision or Jeering is a sort of Joy commonly arising at the Sight of the Evil that befalls those from whom we are separated Lastly That Distaste
them For instance that those Persons who speak several Tongues are as many individual Men as they know different Languages since Speech distinguishes us from Beasts that the Ignorance of Tongues deprives us of a multitude of things since Ancient Philosophers and Strangers are more Learned then we Suppose but these and the like Principles and Conclusions and you 'll quickly form such Judgments as are fit to beget the Passion for Tongues and consequently like those wherewith the same Passion inspires the Linguists to vindicate their Studies There is not a Science so abject and contemptible but some part of it will shine very bright to the Imagination and dazle the Mind when Passion heightens those false Glimpses That Splendour I own vanishes when the Blood and Spirits cool and the Light of Truth begins to shine but that Light disappears also when the Imagination grows warm again and leaves but some transitory Shadows of those solid Reasons which pretended to condemn our Passion Farthermore when the Passion that agitates us finds it self a dying it repents not of its demeanour but on the contrary it disposes all things either to an honourable Funeral or to be reviv'd spedily again that is to say it always prepares the Mind to frame Judgments in its Vindication In this condition it makes a sort of Alliance with such other Passions as may keep it up in its weakness supply it with Spirits and Blood in its necessity raise it out of its Ashes and give it a new Birth For Passions are not unconcern'd for one another and those that can live together faithfully contribute to their mutual preservation So that all the Passions that are not contrary to the Studies of Tongues or of any thing else do continually sollicite and fully confirm those Judgments that are made to vindicate it A Pretender to Learning imagines himself now as surrounded with respectfull Hearers then as Conquerour of those whom he has amaz'd with his unintelligible words and almost always as one rais'd far above the common sort of Men. He flatters himself with the Commendations he receives with the Preferments that are proposed to him with the Courtship that is made to him He 's of all Times and Countries He is not limited as vulgar Wits to the present nor confin'd within the Walls of his Town but is continually communicating himself abroad and his Communication makes his Delight See how many Passions combine together to manage the Cause of pretended Learning how hotly they prosecute their Judgments and bribe the Mind in its favour Should every Passion act separately without caring for the rest they would vanish immediately after their Rise not being able to make a sufficient number of false Judgments to maintain themselves and defend the Glimmerings of Imagination against the Light of Reason But all Passions concur admirably well to their mutual Preservation assisting and strengthning each other though never so remote provided they be not declared Enemies as though they were minded to follow the Rules of a well-order'd State If the Passion of Desire were alone all the Judgments it might pass would only amount to represent the Good as attainable For the Desire of Love consider'd as such is produced by the Judgments we make that it is possible to enjoy such a Good And so this Desire could only form Judgments about the Possibility of enjoying it since the Judgments which follow and preserve the Passions are exactly like those which precede and produce them But that Desire is animated by Love fortified by Hope increased by Joy renewed by Fear attended by Courage Emulation Anger Irresolution and several other Passions that form each in their turn a great variety of Judgments which succeed each other and maintain the Desire that has produced them 'T is not therefore strange that the desire of a mere Trifle or of a Thing that is evidently hurtful or fruitless should however justifie it self against Reason for many Years nay during the whole Life of a Man that is agitated with it since so many other Passions endeavour to vindicate it I shall here set down in few Words how Passions justifie themselves that I may explain Things by distinct Ideas Every Passion agitates the Blood and Spirits which when agitated are driven into the Brain by the sensible Sight of the Object or the Strength of the Imagination in such a manner as is fit to imprint deep Tracks representing that Object They bend and even sometimes break by their impetuous Course the Fibres of the Brain and thereby leave the Imagination soil'd and corrupted For these Traces obey not the Commands of Reason nor will they be blotted out when it pleases on the contrary they put a Force upon it and oblige it incessantly to consider Objects in such a manner as moves and inclines it to favour the Passions Thus the Passions act upon the Imagination and the corrupted Imagination makes an Effort against Reason by continually representing Things not as they are in themselves that the Mind might pronounce a true Judgment but as they are in reference to the present Passion that it might pass a favourable Sentence in its behalf The Passions not only bribe the Imagination and Mind in their favour but produce in other Parts of the Body such Dispositions as are necessary to preserve them The Spirits they move stop not in the Brain but run as I have elsewhere shewn to all other Parts of the Body especially to the Heart the Liver the Spleen and the Nerves that surround the principal Arteries and lastly to all Parts whatsoever that may supply necessary Spirits for the maintenance of the predominant Passion But while these Spirits disperse themselves into all the Parts of the Body they destroy all along and by degrees whatever might hinder their Course and make their Passages so slippery and smooth that a very inconsiderable Object exceedingly moves us and consequently inclines us to make such Judgments as favour the Passions Thus it comes to pass that they establish and justifie themselves If we consider how various the Constitution of the Fibres of the Brain and withal the Commotion and Quantity of the Spirits and Blood may be in the different Sexes and Ages we shall easily and nearly conjecture to what Passions some Persons are most subject and consequently what Judgments they pass upon Objects For instance we may make a very near Guess by the plenty or want of Spirits that is observable in some People the same Thing being proposed and explained to them in the same manner that some of them will make Judgments of Hope and Joy whilst others shall pass such Judgments as proceed from Fear and Sorrow For those that abound with Blood and Spirits as young Men cholerick Persons and those that are of a Sanguine Complexion use to doe being very susceptible of Hope because of the secret Sense of their Strength will not believe that they shall meet with any Opposition to their Designs which
they may not overcome and so will quickly feed themselves with a borrowed Taste of the Good they hope to enjoy and will pass such Judgments as are fit to justifie their Hope and Joy But those that want agitated Spirits as Old Men and those that are of a Phlegmatick and Melancholy Temper being inclined to Fear and Sorrow because their Soul is conscious of her own Weakness and destitute of Spirits to perform her Orders will make quite contrary Judgments imagine insuperable Difficulties to justifie their Fear and give up themselves to Envy Sorrow Despair and other sorts of Aversion of which weak Persons are most susceptible CHAP. XII That such Passions as have Evil for their Object are the most Dangerous and Vnjust And that those that have the least Mixture of Knowledge are the most lively and sensible OF all the Passions the several sorts of Aversions make their Judgments the most remote from Reason and the most dangerous there being no Passion which corrupts and bribes Reason so much in its behalf as Hatred and Fear Hatred chiefly in the Cholerick or in those whose Spirits are in a perpetual agitation and Fear in the Melancholy or those whose gross and heavy Spirits are neither easily moved nor soon quieted But when â—atred and Fear conspire together to bribe Reason which is very frequently done then there are no Judgments so unjust and capricious but they will pass and defend them with an insuperable Obstinacy The Reason of this is That as in this Life Evil strikes the Soul more to the quick than Good so the Sense of Pain is livelier than that of Pleasure Injuries and Scandals more sensibly affect us than Commendations and Applause and though there are Men indifferent as to the enjoying some Pleasures and receiving certain Honours yet there is scarce one that can bear Pain and Contempt without Uneasiness And therefore Hatred Fear and other sorts of Aversion that have Evil for their Object are most violent Passions which shake the Mind with such unexpected Commotions as discompose and stupifie it and quickly pierce into the bottom of the Heart dethrone Reason and pass upon all sorts of Subjects erroneous and unjust Sentences to favour their tyrannical Madness Of all Passions they are the most cruel and distrustful contrary to Charity and Civil Society and at the same time the most ridiculous and extravagant since they give such impertinent and frantick Judgments as excite the Laughter and Indignation of all other Men. Those Passions inspired the Pharisees with these absurd Discourses What are we doing This Man works many Miracles If we let him alone all Men will believe in him and the Romans will come and destroy both our City and Nation They agreed that our Saviour had wrought many Miracles for the Resurrection of Lazarus was undeniable But what were the Judgments of their Passions To murther both JESUS and Lazarus whom he had raised from the Dead Why JESUS Because say they if we let him alone all Men will believe in him and the Romans shall come and extirpate our Nation And why Lazarus Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus Oh Judgments equally Cruel and Irrational Cruel through Hatred and Irrational through Fear The Romans shall come and destroy our City and Nation The same Passions moved a great Assembly consisting of Annas the High-Priest Caiaphas John Alexander and as many as were of the Kindred of the High-Priest to speak thus What shall we doe with these Men For that indeed a notable Miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it But lest it should spread farther let us threaten to punish them severely if they preach the Name of JESUS any more All those great Men agitated by their Passions and blinded by their false Zeal pass Judgment both impertinent and unjust They dare not punish the Apostles because of the People and that the Man who had been miraculously cured was above Forty Years of Age and present in the Assembly but threaten them lest they should â—each in the Name of Jesus supposing they ought to condemn the Doctrine because they put the Author to death You intend say they to bring this Man's Blood upon us When false Zeal unites it self to Hatred it shelters it from the Reproofs of Reason and justifies it so well that we scruple not to be led by its Motions When Ignorance and Weakness accompany Fear they extend it to innumerable Subjects and drive on its Commotions to that heighth that the least Suspicion disturbs and frightens Reason False Zealots imagine they serve God when they obey their Passions They blindly follow the secret Motions of their Hatred as Inspirations from internal Truth and insisting with great satisfaction on the Proofs of Sense that justifie that Excess their Errours become confirmed with an unconquerable Stubbornness As to ignorant and weak Persons they create to themselves Matter of ridiculous and fantastick Fears like Children that walk in the dark without a Guide and Light fansie frightful Bugbears are distur'd and cry out as though they were undone Knowledge retrieves them if they be ignorant but if they be weak their Imagination continues crazed and the least thing that relates to that frightful Object renews the Tracks and opens the Current of the Spirits which cause the Symptoms of their Fear So that it is altogether impossible to cure or pacifie them for ever But when false Zeal meets with Hatred and Fear in a weak Mind it incessantly produces such unjust and violent Judgments as cannot be thought upon without Horrour To change a Mind possest with those Passions requires a greater Miracle than that which converted St. Paul and his Cure would be absolutely impossible could we seâ— Bounds to the Power and Mercy of God Those that walk in the Dark rejoyce at the sight of Light but this Man cannot suffer it because it wounds him by opposing his Passion His Fear is in some sort voluntary as being produced by his Hatred and therefore he loves to feel its Commotions because we love to be agitated even with the Passions that have Evil for their Object when the Evil is only imaginary or rather when we know as in Tragedies that the Evil cannot hurt us The Phantasms which those that walk in the Dark frame in their Imaginations vanish at the Approach of Light but the idle Dreams of this sort of Men will not disappear at the Light of Truth which instead of dissipating the Darkness of their Mind incenses their Imagination so that the frustrated Light recoils because they are wholly taken up with the Objects of their Passion and it seems those Apparitions have a real Body since they reflect some weak Rays of the Light that falls upon them But though we should suppose in those Men a sufficient Teachableness and Attention to listen to and comprehend the Reasons that
may dissipate their Errours yet their Imagination being disorder'd by Fear and their Heart corrupted by Hatred and false Zeal those Reasons how solid soever they might be could not long stop the impetuous Stream of those violent Passions nor hinder them from speedily justifying themselves by sensible and convincing Proofs For we ought to observe that there are transitory Passions which never return whereas there are others that are constant and permanent Those that are not kept up by the sight of the Mind but are only produced and fortified by the sensible View of an Object and the Fermentation of the Blood are not lasting but commonly die soon after their Birth whereas those that are associated with the Contemplation of the Mind are steady because the Principle that produces them is not subject to change as Blood and Humours are So that Hatred Fear and all other Passions that are excited or preserved by the Knowledge of the Mind and not raised by the sensible View of Evil must needs be durable and withal very violent and unjust However those Passions are not the most lively and sensible as we shall now shew The Perception of Good and Evil which raises the Passions is produced Three ways by the Senses by the Imagination and by the Mind By way of the Senses it produces very quick and sensible Passions by way of the Imagination much weaker but those which proceed from the Perception of Good and Evil by the Mind alone are true Passions on no other account than as that View of Good and Evil is always attended by some Motion of the Animal Spirits Passions are only given us for the good of the Body and for uniting us by it to sensible Things For though sensible Things are neither good nor bad in reference to the Mind yet they are so in relation to the Body to which the Mind is united So that the Senses and Imagination discovering much better than the Mind the Relation of sensible Objects to our Body must needs raise Passions far livelier than a clear and evident Knowledge But because our Knowledge is always attended with some Commotion of the Spirits a clear and evident Knowledge of a great Good or a great Evil not to be discover'd by the Senses always raises some secret Passion However all clear and evident Knowledge of any Good or Evil is not always followed with a sensible and perceptible Passion as all our Passions are not accompanied with an intellectual Knowledge For as we sometimes think upon Good or Evil without being conscious of any Commotion so we often feel our selves agitated with Passion without knowing or sometimes without being sensible of the Cause A Man that sucks in a good Air is affected with Joy and knows not why nor what sort of Good he enjoys that produces it And if some invisible Corpuscle mixes with his Blood and hinders its Fermentation he is taken with Sorrow and may even ascribe the Cause of it to something visible that offers it self to him in the time of his Passion Of all Passions none are more sensible nor quick and consequently less mingled with Knowledge than Horrour and Antipathy Agreeableness and Sympathy A Man sleeping under the Shadow of a Tree often starts up when a Fly stings him or a Leaf tickles him as though a Serpent had bitten him The confused Sense of a Thing as terrible as Death it self frightens him and he finds himself surpriz'd with a very strong and violent Passion which is an Aversion of Desire before he bethinks himself On the contrary a Man in want discovers by chance some small Good the Sweetness of which surprizes him and he is inconsiderately taken up with that Trifle as though it were the greatest Good in the World without making any Reflection on it The same happens in the Motions of Sympathy and Antipathy We see in a Company a Person whose Deportment and Manners have some secret Agreeableness to the present Disposition of our Body so his Sight pierces and strikes us and we are inclined without Reflection to love and wish him well Thus we are agitated by I don't know what since Reason has no Share in it The contrary befals those whose Aspect and Looks shed as it were Disgust and Aversion They have I know not what that offends and puts us back for the Mind understands nothing in it the Senses only are competent Judges of sensible Beauty and Ugliness which are the Objects of those kinds of Passions F. MALEBRANCHE's TREATISE Concerning the SEARCH after TRUTH BOOK VI. Concerning METHOD CHAP. I. The Design of this Book Two general Ways for the Preserving Evidence in the Search of Truth which shall be the Subject of this Tract WE have seen in the foregoing Books that the Mind of Man is very obnoxious to Errour that the Deceptions of his Senses the Visions of his Imagination and the Abstractions of his Mind lead him into frequent Mistakes that the Inclinations of his Will and the Passions of his Heart almost ever conceal the Truth from him and never suffer it to appear without being tinged with those false Colours that flatter Concupiscency In short we have partly discover'd the Errours of the Mind with their Causes Now 't is time we should shew the Way that leads to the Knowledge of Truth and give the Mind all the possible Skill and Strength to walk therein without straying or wearying it self in vain But to spare the Readers an unprofitable Labour we think fit to advise them this Last Book is only made for such as earnestly desire to seek the Truth by themselves and to make use of the Force of their own Mind for that purpose I require them to despise for a while all probable Opinions to wave the strongest Conjectures to neglect the Authority of all the Philosophers to free themselves as far as possible from all Prejudice Interest and Passion to enter into an extreme Mistrust of their Senses and Imagination In a word well to remember the greatest part of the Things that have been said in the former Books I attempt in this last Book to give the Mind all the Perfection it can naturally attain to by supplying it with the necessary Helps to become more attentive and enlarg'd and prescribing it those Rules that must be observed in the Inquiry after Truth that it may never mistake but learn in time whatever can be known Could I carry this Design to its utmost Perfection which I pretend not this being but an Essay towards it I might boast to have found out an Universal Science which would make those truly learned that knew how to make use of it since they would have the Foundation of all the particular Sciences which they would acquire proportionably as they should make use of that Universal Science For by this Treatise we endeavour to render the Mind capable of passing a true and certain Judgment upon all the Questions that are not beyond its reach
engages us to apply our selves to Subjects that are very disgusting First because that Passion is very dangerous to the Conscience Secondly because it insensibly draws us into ill Studies that have more Lustre than Use or Truth in them and Lastly because it is very difficult to moderate it and that we often become its Fool and Property and instead of enlightning the Mind we only strengthen the Concupiscence of Pride which both corrupts our Moral Powers and darkens our Understanding with an undissolvable Obscurity For it must be consider'd how That Passion insensibly increases settles and fortifies it self in the Heart of Man and when it is too violent instead of helping the Mind in the Search of Truth it strangely blinds it and even persuades it that Things are just as it desires they should be Sure it is there would not be so many false Inventions nor imaginary Discoveries were not Men's Heads giddy'd by the ardent Desire of appearing Inventors For the firm and obstinate Persuasion wherein several Persons have been to have found for Instance the Perpetual Motion the Quadrature of the Circle the Duplication of the Cube by ordinary Geometry in all likelihood proceeded from an extraordinary Desire of seeming to have perform'd what others have vainly attempted And therefore 't is fitter to excite in us such Passions as are so much more useful to our searching out of Truth as they are more strong and wherein the Excess is not to be fear'd Such are the Desires of making a good Use of our Mind of freeing our selves from Prejudices and Errours of getting a sufficient Light to behave our selves in our Condition and such others as neither engage us into fruitless Studies nor carry us on to rash and inconsiderate Judgments When we have begun to taste the pleasure of making use of our Mind to be sensible of the Profit that arises from it have freed our selves of violent Passions and have disrelish'd sensible Pleasures which always prove the Masters of or rather the Tyrants over Reason in those that indiscreetly give up themselves to them we need not other Passions but such as we have spoken of to become attentive upon the Subjects on which we desire to meditate But most Men are not in that Condition they have neither Taste nor Understanding nor Curiosity for any thing but what affects the Senses their Imagination is corrupted by an almost infinite Number of deep Traces which raise none but false Ideas and as they depend upon all the Objects that resort to the Senses and Imagination so they always judge by the Impression they receive from them that is with reference to themselves Pride Debauchery the various Engagements the restless Desires of Advancement which are so common amongst the Men of the World darken the Sight of Truth and stifle in them the Sense of Piety because they separate them from God who alone is able to enlighten as he alone is able to govern us For we cannot increase our Union with sensible Things without diminishing that which we have with intellectual Truth since we cannot be at the same time strictly united with Things so different and opposite Those whose Imagination is pure and chaste that is whose Brain is not fill'd up with deep Traces that fasten them to visible Things may easily unite themselves to God listen attentively to the Truth that speaks to them and even forbear the Use of the most just and rational Passions But as to those that live amongst the Great who depend upon too many things and whose Imagination is soil'd by the false and obscure Ideas of sensible Objects they cannot apply themselves to the Truth unless they be born up by some Passion strong enough to countervail the Weight of the Body that carries them down and to imprint Traces on their Brain that may make a Revulsion upon the Animal Spirits However as every Passion can only by it self perplex our Ideas they ought to use that Help but so far as Necessity requires and all Men ought to study themselves that they may proportionate their Passions to their Weakness It is no hard matter to find a Method of raising in us such Passions as we desire since the Knowledge we have given in the foregoing Books of the Union betwixt Soul and Body has sufficiently open'd the way to it In a word no more is requir'd than to think attentively upon those Objects that by the Institution of Nature are able to raise the Passions Thus we may almost at any time excite in our Hearts whatever Passion we have occasion for but because we can easier excite them at any time than suppress them or remedy the Disorders they cause in the Imagination we must be very sober and cautious in employing them Above all we must take care not to judge of Things by Passion but only by the clear Sight of the Truth which is almost impossible when the Passions are somewhat lively they ought only to raise our Attention but they never fail of stirring up their proper Ideas and violently driving the Will to judge of Things by those Ideas that affect it rather than by the pure and abstracted Ideas of Truth that make no Impression upon it So that we often make Judgments which last no longer than the Passion because they are not produced by the clear Sight of the immutable Truth but by the Circulation of the Blood True it is that Men are wonderfully obstinate in some Errours which they maintain as long as they live but then those Errours have other Causes than the Passions or at least depend on such as are permanent and lasting proceeding from the Constitution of the Body from Interest or from some other durable Cause For Instance Interest being a Motive of a continual standing produces a Passion that never dies and the Judgments that arise from it are very long liv'd But all the other Sentiments of Men which depend upon particular Passions are as inconstant as the Fermentation of their Humours They say one while this another while that and yet what they say is commonly conformable to what they think And as they run from one counterfeit Good to another by the Motion of their Passion and are disgusted at it when that Motion ceases so they run from one false System into another and ardently assert a false Opinion when Passion makes it probable which the Passion ebbing they afterwards forsake By their Passions they taste of every Good without finding any really so and by the same Passions see all Truths without discovering any thing absolutely true though in the time of their Passion what they taste seems to them the Sovereign God and what they see an undeniable Truth The Senses are the second Spring whence we can draw Succours to make the Mind attentive Sensations are the very Modifications of the Soul and differ from the pure Ideas of the Mind the former raising a much stronger Attention than the latter So that 't is plain that
certain and undeniable Principles We must then look upon Geometry as a sort of universal Science which opens and enlarges the Mind makes it attentive and affords it so much Skill as to regulate its Imagination and to draw from it all the possible Succours For by the assistance of Geometry the Mind regulates the Motion of the Imagination and the Imagination regulated keeps up the View and Application of the Mind But that we may learn to make a good use of Geometry we must observe that all the things that fall under the Imagination are not as easily imaginable one as the other since all the Images do not equally fill the Capacity of the Mind 'T is more difficult to imagine a Solid than a Plain and this than a simple Line because the clear perception of a Solid requires a greater thought than that of a Plain and a Line Even Lines differ as to this amongst themselves a Parobolick Elliptick or some other very composed Line requires more thinking that is takes up the Mind more than the Figure of a Circle and this than a right Line because 't is harder to imagine Lines that are described by very composed Motions and have several different Relations than those that are drawn by Motions very simple and have but a few Relations For Relations cannot be clearly perceived without the Attention of the Mind to several things and as their number is greater so must the thought or the perception be more extended Hence it happens that there are Figures so much composed that they extend beyond the reach of a distinct Imagination whereas others may be imagin'd with great facility Amongst the three sorts of Right-lined Angles viz. the acute the right and the obtuse none but the Right raises a very distinct and determinate Idea For as there are an Infinity of either acute or obtuse Angles that differ all from one another so we can imagine nothing nicely nor distinctly when we imagine an acute or obtuse Angle But we cannot be mistaken in imagining a right Angle the Idea of it is so very distinct and its Image which it raises in the Brain so very neaâ— and just True it is that we may determine the general and indefinite Idea of an acute Angle to the particular Idea of an Angle of 30 degrees which Idea is as accurate as that of an Angle of 90 that is or a right Angle but the Image of it which we may endeavour to imprint on the Brain will never â—e so very exact as that of a right Angle being not used to describe that Image we cannot draw it but by thinking on a Circle or on the determinate Portion of a Circle divided into equal Paâ—â—s But to imagine a right Angle we need not think on that division of a Circle the bare Idea of a Perpendicular is sufficient for the Imagination to draw the Image of that Angle and we can â—â—present Perpendiculars without trouble being used to see all things standing upright Hence it is easie to judge That to have a simple distinct and well-determin'd Object apt to â—e easily imagin'd and consequently to make the Mind attentive and to promote its Evidence in the Truths it is in quest of we must reduce all the Magnitudes we consider to plain Superficies termin'd by Lines and right Angles as are perfect Squares and other right Angled Figures or to bare right Lines for these are the Figures whose nature is the most easily known We pretend not however that all the Subjects of our Knowledge and Enquiry may be represented by Geometrical Lines and Figures There are many which neither can nor ought to be brought under that Rule For Instance the Knowledge of a God Allmighty All-just on whom all things depend all manner of ways who commands his Creatures to obey his Orders that they may be capable of Happiness that Knowledge I say is the Principle of all Morality and of an infinite number of certain and undoubted Consequences yet neither the Principle nor the Consequences can be represented by Geometrical Figures Neither is it possible to figure and represent by Lines many Notions of Natural Philosophy which yet may evidently discover to us several Truths However it may be truly said that an Infinity of things may be examin'd and learn'd by that Geometrical Method which is ever advantageously imploy'd since it accustoms the Mind to Attention by causing it to make a regular use of its Imagination and that things which are learn'd that way are more clearly demonstrated and easier retain'd than others I might have ascribed to the Senses the Assistances we derive from Geometry to preserve the Attention of the Mind but though Lines be something sensible yet I thought Geometry belongs rather to the Imagination than to the Senses It would be unprofitable to set down my Reasons for it which could only justifie the order I have observed in this Treatise and that 's a thing not very material to our purpose I have not yet spoken of Arithmetick and Algebra because the Cyphers and Letters of the Alphabet that are used in those Sciences are not so serviceable to strengthen the Attention of the Mind as to encreaâ—e its Extent as we shall explain it in the following Chapter These are the general Helps to improve the Attention of the Mind I know of no other besides a firm Resolution of being attentive of which we forbear to speak because we suppose it in those that give up themselves to study There are however some others particular to some Persons as some Meats some Drinks some Places some Dispositions of the Body and the like which every one must learn from Experience observing the State of his Imagination after the Meal and what Things best preserve or most dissipate the Attention of the Mind This only may be said in general That the moderate Use of such Aliments as make many Animal Spirits is very fit to improve the Attention of the Mind and the Strength of the Imagination when 't is weak and languishing CHAP. V. Of the Means to improve the Extent and Capacity of the Mind That Arithmetick and Algebra are of absolute Necessity to it WE ought not hastily to imagine that the Extent and Capacity of the Mind can really be increased The Humane Soul is if I may so speak a determined Quantity or a Portion of Thought contained within some certain Bounds which she cannot pass She cannot grow greater or more capacious than she is She neither swells up nor dilates as 't is commonly believed of Liquors and Metals and perceives never more at one time than another This I confess seems contrary to Experience since sometimes we think upon many Objects and sometimes but upon one and even we often suppose that we think upon nothing However if it be consider'd that Thought is to the Soul what Extension is to Matter it will plainly appear that as a Body cannot truly be more extended at one time than another so if
we conceive it right the Soul cannot think more at one time than another whether it be then that she perceives many Objects or is taken up with one or even when she is said to think upon nothing But the Reason why we imagine that we think more at one time than another is that we do not sufficiently distinguish betwixt confused and distinct Perceptions More Thought is doubtless required or the Capacity of Thinking must be more fill'd distinctly to perceive several Objects than one alone but we need not more Thought to perceive many Things confusedly than one alone distinctly Thus the Degrees or Quantity of Thought is equal in the Soul when she considers many Things and when she considers only one For when she is taken up with one Thing she has always a clearer Idea of it than when she applies her self to many For 't is fit to be observed That a simple Perception sometimes contains as much Thought or fills as much the Thinking Capacity of the Mind as a Judgment and even a composed Reasoning since Experience teaches us that the simple but lively clear and evident Perception of one Thing engages our Application and possesses us as much as a composed Reasoning or the obâ—cure and confused Perception of several Relations betwixt many Things For as there is as much or more Sensation in the sensible Sight of an Object which I hold near my Eyes and curiously examine than in the Sight of a spacious Field on which I cast a negligent and careless Eye because the nearness of the Sensation of the Object near my Eyes makes up for the Extent of that confused Sensation of those many Things which I slightly and unattentively look upon in a Field So the spiritual Sight the Mind hath of an Object is often so lively and distinct that it contains as much and more Thought than the View of the Relations betwixt many Things True it is that at some certain times it seems to us as though we thought but upon one Thing which yet we can hardly comprehend whereas at other times we comprehend that Thing and several others with great easiness Thence we imagine that the Soul has more Extent and a larger Capacity of Thinking at one time than at another But our Mistake is visible for the Reason why at some certain times we can scarce conceive the easiest Things proceeds not from the Capacity of the Soul 's being straitned or impair'd but from its being fill'd with some lively Sensation of Pain or Pleasure or with a great number of weak and dark Sensations that cause a sort of Giddiness which is commonly nothing else but the confused Sensation of a great number of Things A Piece of Wax is susceptible of a very distinct Figure but cannot admit two without a Mixture of both since it cannot be perfectly round and square at the same time and if one should pretend to give it a Million of Figures none of them would be distinct And in that Case supposing that Piece of Wax capable of knowing its own Figures yet it could not tell which it is that terminates it on all sides the number would be so great It is even so with our Soul when a very great number of Modifications take up her Capacity she can perceive none distinctly because she has not a separate Sensation of them and so thinks she is sensible of nothing She cannot say that she feels Pain Pleasure Light Sound Savour 't is none of those Qualities and yet 't is them all together she is sensible of And though we should suppose that the Soul is not subject to the confused and unruly Motion of the Animal Spirits and so free from the Contagion of her Body as to have her Thoughts altogether independent on what happens in it yet it might fall out that we should easier understand some Things at one time than at another without any Enlargement or Diminution in the Capacity of our Soul for then we might think upon particular Objects or of Being indefinite and in general The general Idea of Infinite is inseparable from the Mind and wholly takes up its Capacity whenever it thinks upon no particular Thing For when we say that we think on nothing it signifies not that we think not upon that general Idea but only that our Thoughts are not applied to any particular Object And certainly if that Idea did not fill our Mind we could not think as we do upon all sorts of Things since we cannot think upon Objects of which we have no Knowledge And if that Idea were not more present to the Mind when we suppose we think upon nothing than when we are busie about some particular Object we could as easily think upon whatever we please when we are mightily taken up with some particular Truth as when we are not attentive unto any thing Which is repugnant to Experience For to instance when we are strongly engag'd in meditating on some Geometrical Proposition we find not so much easiness to think upon other Things as when we are diverted by no particular Thought And therefore we think more on the General and Infinite Being when we think less on the Particular and Finite and we think always as much at one time as at another We cannot then improve the Extent and Capacity of the Mind by swelling it up as I may say and giving it more Reality than it has received from Nature But only by a skilful and dexterous managing thereof which is done to the best advantage by Arithmetick and Algebra For those Sciences afford Means of abridging Ideas so methodically and reducing them into such an Order as that the Mind with its little Extent is capable with their Assistance of discovering very composed Truths and such as appear at first sight incomprehensible But we must draw these Things from their Principle that we may explain them with more clearness and certainty Truth is nothing else but a real Relation either of Equality or Inequality Whereas Falsehood is but the Negation of Truth or a false and fantastick Relation Truth is that which is and Falsehood is not or if you will is that which is not We never mistake when we see Relations that are since we cannot be deceived when we see the Truth But we always mistake when we judge that we see some Relations that are not in being for then we see a Falsehood we see what is not or rather we see not at all Whoever sees a Relation of Equality betwixt two times Two and Four sees a Truth because there is such a Relation as he sees and whoever sees a Relation of Inequality betwixt twice Two and Five sees a Truth because he sees a Relation that really is But whoever judges that he sees a Relation of Equality betwixt two times Two and Five mistakes because he sees or rather supposes he sees a Relation of Equality where there is none Truths are but Relations and the Knowledge of Truths is
Water that feels warm to the Hands will seem cold if we wash with it any Part near the Heart Salt that is savoury to the Tongue is pricking and smarting to a Wound Sugar is sweet and Aloes very bitter to the Tongue but nothing is either sweet or bitter to the other Senses So that when we say a Thing is cold sweet bitter c. that same has no certain Signification Secondly Because different Objects can cause the same Sensation Plaister Bread Snow Sugar Salt c. are of the same Colour and yet their Whiteness is different if we judge of 'em otherwise than by the Senses And therefore when we say that Meal is white we say not any thing distinctly significative The third Reason is Because such Qualities of Bodies as occasion Sensations altogether different are however almost the same whereas such as excite very near the same Sensation are often very different The Qualities of Sweetness and Bitterness differ but little in Objects whereas the Sense of Sweet essentially differs from that of Bitter The Motions that cause Smart and Tickling differ but in more or less and yet the Sensations of Tickling and Smart are essentially different On the contrary the Sharpness of Fruit differs not so much from Bitterness as Sweetness does however that sharp Quality is the farthest from Bitterness that possibly can be For a Fruit that is sharp for being unripe must undergo a great many Changes before it grows bitter from Rottenness or too much Ripeness When Fruits are ripe they taste sweet and bitter when over-ripe Bitterness and Sweetness therefore in Fruits differ but in degree of more and less which may be the Reason why they seem sweet to some Persons whilst they taste bitter to others Nay there are those to whom Aloes seem as sweet as Honey The same may be said of all sensible Ideas so that the Words Sweet Bitter Salt Sowre Acid c. Red Green Yellow c. of such and such a Smell Savour Colour c. are all equivocal and raise no clear and distinct Idea in the Mind However School-Philosophers and the vulgar part of Men judge of all the sensible Qualities of Bodies by the Sensations they receive from them Nor do the Philosophers only judge of these sensible Qualities by their own Sensations of them but also judge of the Things themselves from the Judgments they have pass'd about sensible Qualities For from their having had Sensations of certain Qualities essentially different they judge that there is a Generation of new Forms producing those fantastick Differences Wheat appears yellow hard c. Meal white soft c. Thence upon the Testimony of their Eyes and Hands they infer That those Bodies are essentially different unless they chance to think on the Manner of the Transmutation of Wheat into Flower For Meal is nothing but bruised and ground Corn as Fire is only divided and agitated Wood as Ashes are but the grossest Parts of the divided Wood without Agitation as Glass is but Ashes whose Particles have been polished and rounded by the Attrition caus'd by the Fire And so in other Transmutations of Bodies 'T is therefore evident that sensible Words and Ideas are altogether unserviceable to a just stating and clear resolving of Questions that is to the Discovery of Truth Yet there are no Questions how intricate soever they may be by the equivocal Terms of the Senses but Aristotle and most part of other Philosophers pretend to resolve them in their Books without the foregoing Distinctions and without considering that they are equivocal by Errour and Ignorance If for example those Persons who have employed the best part of their Life in reading Ancient Philosophers and Physicians and have wholly imbib'd their Spirit and Opinions are ask'd whether Water be wet whether Fire be dry Wine hot the Blood of Fishes cold Water rawer than Wine Gold perfecter than Mercury whether Plants and Beasts have Souls and a thousand like undetermin'd Questions they rashly answer by consulting only the Impressions of Objects upon their Senses or the Tracks the reading of Authors has left upon their Memory They never think those Terms are equivocal 't is a Wonder to them they should need a Definition and they cannot endure those that endeavour to let 'em understand that their Procedure is too quick and that they are seduced by their Senses and though they are never at a loss for Distinctions to perplex the most evident Things yet in these Questions in which Equivocation needs so much to be removed they find nothing to distinguish If we consider that most of the Questions of Philosophers and Physicians contain some equivocal Terms like to those that have been spoken of we shall not doubt but that those Learned Gentlemen that could not define them were unable to say any Thing solid and real in the bulky Volumes they have compos'd Which is in a manner sufficient to overthrow most of the Opinions of the Ancients It is not so with Des Cartes he perfectly knew how to distinguish those Things He ne'er resolves any Question by sensible Ideas and whoever shall be at the pains to read him shall see that he clearly evidently and almost ever demonstratively explains the chief Operations of Nature by the sole and distinct Ideas of Extension Figures and Motion The second sort of equivocal Words that is much in request amongst Philosophers contains all those general Terms of Logick by which any Thing may be easily explain'd without so much as knowing it Aristotle was the Man that made the most of it his Books are full of nothing else and some are but a mere Logick He proposes and resolves all Things by the specious Words of Genus Species Act Power Nature Form Faculty Quality Causa per se Causa per accidens His Followers can hardly understand that those Words signifie Nothing and that one is not more learned than he was when he has heard that Fire dissolves Metals by its dissolving Faculty that a Man digests not because his Stomach is weak or because his Concoctive Faculty does not operate as it should do I grant that those who use such general Terms and Ideas for the Explication of all Things commonly fall not into so many Errours as those that only employ such Words as raise the confused Ideas of the Senses The School-Philosophers are not so liable to be deceived as some opinionative and dogmatical Physicians who build Systems upon Experiments the Reasons of which are unknown to them because the School-men talk so generally that they do not venture much out of their Depth Fire heats dries hardens and softens because it has the Faculty of producing those Effects Sena purges by its purgative Quality Bread nourishes by its nutritious Quality These Propositions are not liable to mistake for a Quality is that which denominates a Thing by such a Name Master Aristotle's Definition is undeniable But he speaks true only because he says nothing and if his rambling
false Supposition of the Philosophers which we are here endeavouring to destroy that the surrounding Bodies are the true Causes of our Pain and Pleasure Reason seems to justifie a Religion like the Pagan Idolatry and approve the universal Depravation of Morals Reason I grant teaches not to adore Onions and Leeks for instance as the Sovereign Divinity because they can never make us altogether happy when we have them or unhappy when we want them neither did the Heathens worship them with an equal Homage as their great Jupiter whom they fansied to be the God of Gods or as the Sun whom our Senses represent as the universal Cause that gives Life and Motion to all things and which we can hardly forbear to look on as the Sovereign Divinity if we suppose as the Pagan Philosophers that he Comprehends in his Being the true Causes of what he seems to produce as well upon our Soul and Body as upon all the Beings that surround us But if we must not pay a Sovereign Worship to Leeks and Onions they deserve at least some particular Adoration I mean they may be thought upon and loved in some manner if it be true that they can in some sort make us happy and may be honour'd proportionably to the good they doe us Surely Men that listen to the Reports of Sense think Pulse capable of doing them good otherwise the Israelites would not have bewailed the loss of them in the Wilderness or look'd on themselves as unhappy for being deprived thereof had they not fansied to themselves some great Happiness in the Enjoyment of them See what an Abyss of Corruption Reason plunges us into when it goes hand in hand with the Principles of Pagan Philosophy and follows the footsteps of the Senses But that the Falshood of that wretched Phylosophy and the Certainty of our Principles and Distinctness of our Ideas may not be longer doubted it will be necessary plainly to establish the Truths that contradict the Errours of the Ancient Philosophers or to prove in few words that there is but one true Cause since there is but one true God that the Nature and Force of every thing is nothing but the Will of God that all Natural things are not real but only occasional Causes and some other Truths depending on them It is evident that all Bodies great and little have no force to move themselves a Mountain a House a Stone a Grain of Sand the minutest and bulkiest Bodies imaginable are alike as to that We have but two sorts of Ideas viz. of Spirits and Bodies and as we ought not to speak what we conceive not so we must only argue from those two Ideas Since therefore our Idea of Bodies convinces us that they cannot move themselves we must conclude that they are moved by Spirits But considering our Idea of finite Spirits we see no necessary Connexion betwixt their Will and the Motion of any Body whatsoever on the contrary we perceive that there is not nor can be any Whence we must infer if we will follow Light and Reason That as no Body can move it self so no Created Spirit can be the true and principal Cause of its Motion But when we think on the Idea of God or of a Being infinitely perfect and consequently Almighty we are aware that there is such a Connexion betwixt his Will and the Motion of all Bodies that it is impossible to conceive he should will that a Body be moved and it should not be moved And therefore if we would speak according to our Conceptions and not according to our Sensations we must say that nothing but his Will can move Bodies The moving force of Bodies is not then in themselves this force being nothing but the Will of God Bodies then have no proper Action and when a moving Ball meets with another and moves it the former communicates nothing of its own to the latter as not having in it self the Impression it communicates though the former be the Natural Cause of the latter's Motion and therefore a natural Cause is not a true and real Cause but only an occasional which in such or such a Case determines the Author of Nature to act in such or such a manner 'T is certain that all things are produced by the Motion of visible or invisible Bodies for Experience teaches us that those Bodies whose parts are in greater Motion are always the most active and those that Cause the greatest Alterations in the World so that all the Forces of Nature are but the Will of God who Created the World because he will'd it who spake and it was done who moves all things and produces all the Effects we see because he has established some Laws by which Bodies Communicate their Motion to each other when they meet together and because those Laws are efficacious they and not the Bodies act There is then no Force Power nor true Cause in all the Material and sensible World Nor need we admit any Forms Faculties or real Qualities to produce Effects which the Bodies bring not forth or to divide with God his own Essential Force and Power As Bodies cannot be the true Causes of any thing so likewise the most Noble Spirits are subject to the same impotency on that respect They cannot know any thing unless God enlightens them nor have the Sensation of any thing unless he modifies them nor will unless he moves them towards himself They may indeed determine the Impression God has given them to himself towards other Objects but I doubt whether it can be call'd a Power For if to be able to sin is a Power it is such a one as the Almighty wants saith St. Austin somewhere If Men had of themselves the Power of loving Good it might be said that they have some Power but they cannot so much as love but because God Wills it and that his Will is Efficacious They love because God continually drives them towards Good in general that is towards himself for whom alone they are Created and preserved God moves them and not themselves towards Good in general and they only follow that Impression by a free Choice according to the Law of God or determine it towards false and seeming Goods according to the Law of the Flesh But they cannot determine it but by the sight of Good For being able to doe nothing without an Impression from above they are incapable of loving any thing but Good But though it should be supposed which is true in one sense that Spirits have in themselves the Power of knowing Truths and loving Good should their Thoughts and Will produce nothing outwardly it might still be said that they were impotent and unoperative Now it seems undeniable that the Will of Spirits is not able to move the smallest Body in the World it being evident there is no necessary Connexion betwixt the Will we may have of moving our Arm for instance and the Motion of the same Arm. It moves
indeed whenever we will it and we may be call'd in that sense the natural cause of the Motion of our Arm yet natural Causes are not true but only occasional as acting by the mere force and efficacy of the Will of God as we have already explain'd For how is it possible for us to move our Arm To perform this 't is requir'd we should have Animal Spirits and send them through certain Nerves towards certain Muscles to swell up and contract them for so that Motion is perform'd as some pretend though others deny it and assert that the Mystery is not yet discover'd However it be most Men know not so much as that they have Spirits Nerves and Muscles and yet move their Arms with as much and more dexterity than the most skilful Anatomists Men therefore will the moving their Arm but 't is God that is able and knows how to doe it If a Man cannot overthrow a Tower yet he knows what must be done to effect it but not one amongst them knows what the Animal Spirits must doe to move one of his Fingers How should they then move the whole Arm of themselves These things appear very evident to me and I suppose to all thinking Persons though they may be incomprehensible to others such as are only used to the confused voice of the Senses But Men are so far from being the true Causes of the Motions produc'd in their Body that it seems to imply a Contradiction they should be so For a true Cause is that betwixt which and its Effect the Mind percieves a necessary connexion for so I understand it But there is none besides the infinitely perfect Being betwixt whose Will and the Effects the Mind can perceive a necessary Connexion and therefore none but God is the true Cause or has a real Power of moving Bodies Nay it seems unconceivable that God should communicate this Power either to Angels or Men And those that pretend that the Power we have of moving our Arm is a true Power must by Consequence grant that God can give Spirits the Power of creating annihilating and doing all possible things in short that he can make them Almighty as I am going to pove God needs not Instruments to act 't is enough he should Will the Existence of a thing in order to its Existing because it is contradictory that he should will a thing and his Will should not be fulfilled And therefore his Power is his Will and to communicate his Power is to communicate his Will so that to communicate his Will to a Man or an Angel can signifie nothing else but to will that whenever that Man or Angel shall desire that such or such a Body be moved it may actually be moved In which Case I see two Wills concurring together that of God and that of the Angel and to know which of them is the true Cause of the Motion of that Body I enquire which is the Efficacious I see a necessary Connexion betwixt the Will of God and the thing willed in this Case God wills that whenever the Angel shall desire that such a Body be moved it be really so There is then a necessary Connexion betwixt the Will of God and the Motion of that Body and consequently God is the true Cause of that Motion and the Will of the Angel is only occasional Again to make it more evidently manifest let us suppose God wills it should happen quite contrary to the Desire of some Spirits as may be thought of the Devils or some other wicked Spirits in Punishment of their Sins In that Case it cannot be said God communicates his Power to them since nothing happens of what they wish However the Will of those Spirits shall be the natural Cause of the produced Effects as such a Body shall be removed to the Right because they wish it were moved to the Left and the Desires of those Spirits shall determine the Will of God to act as the Will of moving the Parts of our Body determine the first Cause to move them and therefore the Desires of all finite Spirits are but occasional Causes If after all these Reasons it be still asserted that the Will of an Angel moving a Body is a true and not a bare occasional Cause 't is evident that the self-same Angel might be the true Cause of the Creation and Annihilation of all things since God might as well communicate to him his Power of Creating and annihilating Bodies as that of moving them if He should will that they should be created and annihilated in a word if he will'd that all things should be performed according to the Angel's Desires as he wills that Bodies be moved as the Angel pleases if therefore it may be said that an Angel or Man are true Movers because God moves Bodies as they desire that Man or Angel might likewise be call'd true Creatours since God might create Beings on occasion of their Will Nay perhaps it might be said that the vilest of Animals or even mere Matter is the real Cause of the Creation of some Substance if it be supposed with some Philosophers that God produces substantial Forms whenever the Disposition of Matter requires it And lastly since God has resolved from all Eternity to create some certain things at some certain times those Times might also be called the Causes of the Creation of such Beings with as much right as 't is pretended that a Ball meeting with another is the true Cause of the Motion that is communicated to it because God by his general Will that constitutes the Order of Nature has decreed that such or such Communication of Motions should follow upon the Concourse of two Bodies There is then but one true Cause as there is one true God Neither must we imagine that what precedes an Effect does really produce it God himself cannot communicate his Power to Creatures according to the Light of Reason He cannot make them true Causes and change them into Gods But though he might doe it we conceive not why he should will it Bodies Spirits pure Intelligences all can doe nothing 'T is he who has made Spirits that enlightens and moves them 't is he who has created Heaven and Earth that regulates all their Motions In fine 't is the Authour of our Being that performs our Desires Semel jussit semper paret He moves even our Arms when we use them against his Orders for he complains by his Prophets That we make him subservient to our unjust and criminal Desires All those little Divinities of the Heathens all those particular Causes of Philosophers are Chimeras which the wicked Spirit endeavours to set up that he may destroy the Worship of the true God The Philosophy we have received from Adam teaches us no such things but that which has been propagated by the Serpent for ever since the Fall the Mind of Man is turned Heathen That Philosophy join'd to the Errours of the Senses has made
desire to know whether a Thing has such or such Properties or if we know it has we desire only to discover what is the Cause of them To solve the Questions of the first sort we must consider Things in their Birth and Original and conceive that they are always produc'd by the most simple and natural Ways But the Solution of the others requires a very different Method for they must be resolv'd by Suppositions and then we must examine whether those Suppositions induce into any Absurdity or whether they lead to any Truth plainly and clearly known For instance We desire to discover the Properties of the Roulet or some one of the Conick Sections We must consider those Lines in their Generation and form them by the most simple and least perplexing Ways for that is the best and shortest Means to discover their Nature and Properties We easily see that the Subâ—endent of the Roulet is equal to the Circle whence it is form'd And if we discover not many of its Properties that way 't is because the Circular Line that produces it is not sufficiently known But as to Lines merely Mathematical the Relations of which may be more clearly known such as are Conick Sections 't is sufficient for the discovering a vast Number of their Properties to consider them in their Generation Only we must observe that as they may be produc'd by a Regular Motion several Ways so all sorts of Generation are not equally proper to enlighten the Mind that the most simple are the best and that it often happens notwithstanding that some particular Methods are fitter than others to demonstrate some particular Properties But when it is not requir'd to discover in general the Properties of a Thing but to know whether such a Thing has such a Property then we must suppose that it actually enjoys it and carefully examine the Consequences of that Supposition whether it induces into a manifest Absurdity or leads to an undeniable Truth that may serve as a Means to find out what is sought for That is the Method which Geometricians use to solve their Problems They suppose what they seek and examine what will follow of it they attentively consider the Relations that result from the Supposition they represent all those Relations that contain the Conditions of the Problem by Equations and then reduce those Equations according to the usual Rules so that what is unknown is found equal to one or several Things perfectly known I say therefore that when 't is requir'd to discover in general the Nature of Fire and of the different Fermentations which are the most universal Causes of natural Effects the shortest and surest Way is to examine them in their Principle We must consider the Formation of the most agitated Bodies the Motion of which is diffus'd into those that ferment We must by clear Ideas and by the most simple Ways examine what Motion may produce in Matter And because Fire and the various Fermentations are very general Things and consequently depending upon few Causes there will be no need of considering very long what Matter is able to perform when animated by Motion to find out the Nature of Fermentation in its very Principle and we shall learn withall several other Things altogether requisite to the Knowledge of Physicks Whereas he that would in such a Question argue from Suppositions so as to ascend to the first Causes even to the Laws of Nature by which all things are form'd would make a great many of them that should prove false and unprofitable He might perhaps discover that the Cause of the Fermentation is the Motion of an invisible Matter communicated to the agitated Parts of Matter For 't is sufficiently known that Fire and the various Fermentations of Bodies consist in their Agitation and that by the Laws of Nature Bodies receive their immediate Motion only from their meeting with others that are more agitated So that he might discover that there is an invisible Matter the Motion of which is communicated to visible Bodies by Fermentation But 't is morally impossible that he should ever by his Suppositions find out how all that is perform'd which however is not so hard to do when we examine the Formation of Elements or of Bodies of which there is a greater Number of the same Nature as is to be seen in Monsieur des Cartes's System The Third Part of the Question concerning Convulsive Motions will not be very difficult to solve if we suppose that there are in our Bodies Animal Spirits susceptible of Fermentation and withall Humours so piercing as to insinuate themselves into the Pores of the Nerves through which the Spirits are diâ—â—us'd into the Muscles provided always that we pretend not to determine the true Texture and Disposition of those invisible Parts that contribute to these Convulsions When we have separated a Muscle from the rest of the Body and hold it by the two Ends we sensibly perceive that it endeavours to contract it self when prick'd in the Middle 'T is likely that this depends on the Construction of the imperceptible Parts of which it is made which are as so many Springs determin'd to some certain Motions by that of Compunction But who can be sure he has found out the true Disposition of the Parts employ'd in the Production of that Motion and who can give an uncontroverted Demonstration of it Certainly that appears altogether impossible though perhaps by long thinking we might imagine such a Construction of Muscles as would be fit to perform all the Motions we know them to be capable of we must not therefore pretend to determine the true Construction of the Muscles However because it cannot be reasonably doubted but that there are Spirits susceptible of some Fermentation by the Mixture of a very subtile heterogeneous Matter and that acriminious and pungent Humours may creep into the Nerves that Hypothesis may be suppos'd Now to proceed to the Solution of the Question propos'd We must first examine how many sorts of Convulsive Motions there are and because their Number is indefinite we must insist on the Principal the Causes of which seem to be different We must consider in what Parts they are made what Diseases precede and follow them whether they are attended with Pain or free from it and above all what are the Degrees of their Swiftness and Violence for some are very swift and violent others are very swift but not violent a third sort are violent and not swift and others again are free from both these Symptoms Some finish and begin afresh perpetually others keep the Parts rigid and unmoveable for some time and others deprive us of their Use and altogether deform them All this being well weigh'd it will be no hard matter to explain in general after what has been said concerning Natural and Voluntary Motions how the Convulsive are perform'd For if we conceive that some Matter capable of fermenting the Spirits mixes with those contain'd in
a Muscle it must needs swell up and produce in that part a Convulsive Motion If that Motion may easily be resisted 't is a sign that the Nerves are not yet obstructed by any Humour since we may empty the Muscle of the Spirits that have enter'd into it and determine them to swell up the opposite Muscle But if we cannot do it we must conclude that pungent and piercing Humours have some part at least in that Motion Even it may often happen that those Humours are the only Cause of Convulsions since they may determine the Course of the Spirits to some certain Muscles by opening some Passages that convey them and shutting others Besides that they may contract the Tendons and Fibres by penetrating their Pores When a very ponderous Weight hangs at the end of a Rope it may considerably be rais'd by only wetting that Cord because the Particles of Water penetrating as so many little Wedges betwixt the Threads of the Rope shorten it by dilating it So the piercing and pungent Humours insinuating into the Pores of the Nerves contract them stretch the Parts to which they are tied and produce in the Body Convulsive Motions that are extremely slow violent and painful and and often leave the Part sadly distorted for a long time As to the Convulsive Motions that are very swift they are caus'd by the Spirits but it is not necessary that those Spirits should receive any Fermentation 't is enough that the Conduits through which they pass be more open at one side than at the other When all the Parts of the Body are in their natural Situation the Animal Spirits diffuse themselves equally and readily through them according to the Necessities of the Machine and faithfully perform the Orders of the Will But when Humours disturb the Disposition of the Brain alter or variously move the Apertures of the Nerves or penetrate into the Muscles they agitate their Springs and the Spirits diffusing into those Parts after a new and unusual manner produce extraordinary Motions without the Consent of the Will However we may often by a strong Resistance hinder some of those Motions and insensibly diminish the Traces that produce them even when the Habit is wholly form'd Those that look carefully to themselves find little Difficulty in preventing Grimaces unbecoming Gestures and a sourish Countenance though their Body have a Disposition to them and may even conquer them when strengthen'd by Habit but with a great deal more Difficulty for such Dispositions should always be oppos'd in their Birth and before the Spirits have traced out a Way not easie to be stopp'd up The Cause of those Motions is often in the agitated Muscle and proceeds from some pungent Humour or fermenting Spirits but we must judge that it is in the Brain especially when the Convulsions agitate not one or two parts of the Body but most or all and withall in several Diseases which alter the natural Constitution of the Blood and Spirits 'T is true that one Nerve often having different Branches which disperse through Parts of the Body very remote as into the Face and Bowels it sometimes happens that a Convulsion the Cause of which lies in a Part to which some one of those Branches resorts may have Communication with those to which other Branches reach without proceeding from the Brain and without a Corruption of the Spirits But when the Convulsive Motions are common to most Parts of the Body we must needs say either that the Spirits ferment in a very extraordinary manner or that the Order and Disposition of the Parts of the Brain is disturb'd or that it proceeds from both Causes together I shall not insist any longer upon this Question because it grows so compound and depending on so many things when we enter into Particulars that it cannot easily be made serviceable to a clear Explication of the Rules we have given There is no Science which may supply us with more Examples to shew the Usefulness of those Rules than Geometry and especially Algebra since these two Sciences make a perpetual Use of them Geometry plainly discovers the Necessity always to begin with the most simple Things and which include the least Number of Relations It always examines those Relations by Measures that are clearly known it takes off whatever is unserviceable to discover them it divides into Parts Compound Questions disposes those Parts and examines them in order In short The only Fault to be found in this Science is as I have observ'd elsewhere that it affords no convenient Means to abridge Ideas and discover'd Relations So that though it regulates the Imagination and makes the Mind exact yet it increases not its Extent very much neither does it give a Capacity to discover very compound Truths But Algebra continually teaching to abridge and in the shortest Way imaginable Ideas and their Relations extremely improves the Capacity of the Mind for nothing so compound can be conceâ—v'd in the Relations of Magnitudes but the Mind may discover it in time by the Means it affords when we know the Way that ought to be taken The fifth Rule and the following which speak of the Method of abridging Ideas concern only that Science for none else has a convenient Way of abridging them so that I shall not insist upon their Explication Those who have a great Inclination for Mathematicks and desire to give their Mind all the Force and Extent it is capable of and to put themselves into a State of discovering without a Tutor an infinite Number of new Truths will perceive if they earnestly apply themselves to Algebra that the Usefulness of that Science as to the Enquiry after Truth proceeds from its observing the Rules we have prescrib'd But I must advertise that by Algebra I especially understand that which des Cartes and some others have made use of Before the Conclusion of this Book I shall set down an Example somewhat at large to shew the Usefulness of the whole Treatise I shall represent by it the Advances of a Man who in the Discussion of an important Question endeavours to free himself from Prejudices I shall at first make him fall into some Faults that they may excite the Remembrance of what has been said elsewhere But at last his Attention leading him to the Truth enquir'd after I induce him speaking positively and as one who pretends to have solv'd the Question he examin'd CHAP. IX The last Instance to shew the Vsefulness of this Treatise wherein the Cause of the Vnion of Parts in Bodies and withall the Rules of the Communication of Motion are examin'd BOdies are united together three different Ways by Continuity Contiguity and in a third manner that has no particular Name because it seldom happens I shall call it by the general Term of Union By Continuity or by the Causes of it I understand somewhat or other which causes the Parts of a Body to hold so strongly together that we must use violence
which two Principles of Errour I remember to have been often seduc'd For to return to the Difficulty in hand 't is not possible to conceive how those little Fetters should be indivisible by their own Essence and Nature nor consequently how they should be inflexible since on the contrary I conceive them most divisible nay necessarily divisible by their own Essence and Nature For the Part A is most certainly a Substance as well as B and consequently 't is plain that A may exist without B since Substances may exist without one another otherwise they would be no Substances It cannot be said that A is no Substance for 't is plain that that is not a bare Mode whereas every Being is either a Substance or the Mode of a Substance And therefore since A is not a Mode it is a Substance and may exist without B and much more the Part A exists separately from B so that this Fetter is divisible into A and B. Moreover if this Fetter were indivisible or crooked by its own Nature and Essence there would happen a thing quite contrary to what we see by Experience for not one Body could be broken Let us suppose as before a Piece of Iron composed of many Fetters perplexed within one another and A a B b to be two of them I say it will not be possible to disintangle them and consequently to break the Iron For to break it the Fetters that make it up must be bent which however are supposed inflexible by their own Nature and Essence If they be not supposed inflexible but only indivisible by their own Nature the Supposition would be unserviceable for solving the Question For then the Difficulty will be Why those little Fetters obey not the Force that is used to bend a Bar of Iron Neither must they be supposed indivisible if they be not supposed inflexible For if the Parts of those Fetters could change their situation in reference to one another 't is visible that they might be separated since there is no Reason why if one part may be somewhat removed from the other it could not be entirely removed And therefore whether these little Fetters are supposed indivisible or inflexible the Question cannot be solved by that means for if they be only supposed indivisible a Piece of Iron must be broken without trouble and if they be supposed inflexible it will be impossible to break it since the little Fetters that make up the Iron being intricated within one another it will be impossible to disintangle them Let us therefore solve the Difficulty by clear and undeniable Principles and find the Reason why that little Band has two Parts A B so firmly united to one another 'T is needful I perceive to divide the Subject of my Meditation into Parts that I may examine it the more exactly and with less Intention of Thought since I could not at first at a single view and with the whole Attention I am capable of discover what I enquired after This I might have done at the beginning for when the Subjects of our Meditation are somewhat abstruse 't is always the best way to consider them by parts and not fruitlessly weary our selves with the vain Hopes of meeting happily with the Truth What I enquire after is The Cause of the strict Union betwixt the minute Parts that make up the little Fetter A B. Now I conceive only distinctly three Things that can be the Cause sought for viz. The very Parts of that little Fetter or the Will of the Author of Nature or lastly invisible Bodies surrounding such little Bands I might yet alledge as the Cause of these things the Form of Bodies the Qualities of Hardness or some occult Quality the Sympathy betwixt Parts of the same Species c. but since I have no distinct Idea of those fine things I neither must nor can ground my Reasonings thereupon so that if I find not the Cause I search after in those things of which I have distinct Ideas I will not fruitlessly trouble my self with the Contemplation of such rambling and general Notions of Logick and shall forbear speaking of what I understand not But let us examine the first of these things that may be the Cause why the Parts of that small Band are so firmly joined viz. the very Parts of which it is made up When I only consider the Parts of which hard Bodies are composed I am inclined to believe That no Cement which unites the Parts of that Fetter can be imagin'd besides themselves and their own Rest for of what Nature could it be It cannot be a thing subsisting of it self since all those minute Parts being Substances for what Reason should they be united by other Substances but themselves Neither can it be a Quality different from Rest because there is no Quality more contrary to Motion that may separate those Parts but their own Rest but besides Substances and their Qualities we know not any other sorts of things 'T is true that the Parts of hard Bodies remain united as long as they are in Rest one by another and that when they are once in Rest they remain of themselves in the same state as long as they can but this is not what I enquire after and I know not how too I came to mistake the Subject I endeavour here to discover why the Parts of hard Bodies have so great a strength to remain in Rest one by another that they withstand the Force that is used to move them I might however answer my self that every Body has truly Force of continuing fix'd in its present state and that this Force is equal whether in Motion or Rest But that the Reason why the parts of hard Bodies remain in Rest by one another and that we can difficultly move and separate them is our not imploying sufficient Motion to overpower the Rest. This is probable but I am seeking Certainty if it be to be found and not bare Probability And how can I know with Certainty and Evidence that each Body has this Force to continue in the state it 's in and that this Force is equal both as to Motion and Rest since Matter on the contrary seems indifferently passive to either and altogether destitute of Force Let us have recourse then with M. des Cartes to the Will of the Creatour which is it may be that Force which Bodies seem to have in themselves which is the second thing above mention'd suppos'd capable of preserving the Parts of this little Fetter we speak of so closely link'd to one another Certainly 't is possible that God may will every Body should remain in its present state and that his Will should be the Force which unites their Parts to one another as I otherwise know his Will to be the Moving Force which puts Bodies in Motion For since Matter is incapable of moving it self I have Reason methinks to conclude it is a Spirit and even the Author
and agitated than those we daily see 't is to be consider'd that the Hardness of Bodies is not to be measur'd with relation to our Hands or the Endeavours we are able to make which are different at different times For indeed if the greatest Force of Men be nothing in comparison with that of the subtle Matter we should be much to blame to believe that Diamonds and the hardest Stones cannot derive their Hardness from the Compression of those little rapid Bodies which environ them Now we may visibly discover how inconsiderably weak is Humane Force if it be consider'd that Man's Power of moving his Body in so many manners proceeds from a very moderate Fermentation of the Blood which somewhat agitates the smaller Parts of it and so produces the Animal Spirits For 't is the Agitation of these Spirits which makes the Strength of the Body and gives us the Power of making those Endeavours which we groundlesly regard as something great and mighty But it must be observ'd that this Fermentation of our Blood is but a small Communication of that subtle Matter 's Motion we have been speaking of For all the Fermentations of visible Bodies are nothing but Communications of Motion from the Invisible since every Body receives its Agitation from some other 'T is not therefore to be wonder'd if our Force be not so great as that of the same subtle Matter we receive it from But if our Blood fermented as much in our Heart as Gun-Powder ferments and is agitated when Fire is put to it that is if our Blood receiv'd as great a Communication of Motion from the subtle Matter as Gun-Powder receives we might do extraordinary things with a great deal of Ease as break a Bar of Iron overturn an House c. provided we suppose a competent proportion between our Members and our Blood so violently agitated We must therefore rid our selves of our Prejudice and not following the Impression of our Senses imagine that the Parts of hard Bodies are so strongly united to one another because of the Difficulty we find to break them But if moreover we consider the Effects of Fire in Mines the Gravity of Bodies and several other natural Effects which have no other Cause then the Commotion of these insensible Corpuscles as is prov'd by M. Des Cartes in many places of his Works we shall manifestly discover that it does not exceed their Force to unite and bind together the Parts of hard Bodies so powerfully as we find them For in short I fear not to affirm that a Cannon-Bullet whose Motion seems so extraordinary receives not the thousandth part of the Motion of the subtle Matter which surrounds it My Assertion will not be doubted of if it be consider'd First That the Gun-Powder is not all inflam'd nor at the same instant Secondly That though it were all on Fire in the self-same Moment yet it floats a very short time in the subtle Matter and Bodies swimming but a little while in others can receive no great Motion from them as may be seen in Boats when riding in a Stream which receive their Motion by degrees Thirdly and principally That each part of the Powder can receive but a collateral Motion which the subtle Matter yields to For Water only communicates to the Vessel the direct Motion which is common to all the parts of it which Motion is generally very inconsiderable in respect of the others I might still prove to M. Des Cartes's Followers the Greatness of the subtle Matter 's Motion by the Motion of the Earth and the Heaviness of Bodies from whence might be drawn very certain and exact Proofs if that were necessary to my Subject But in order to have one sufficient Proof of the violent Agitation of the subtle Matter to which I ascribe the Hardness of Bodies it suffices without seeing Des Cartes's Works to read attentively what I have written in the second Chapter of the fourth Book towards the End Being now deliver'd from our Prejudices which induc'd us to believe our Efforts very potent and those of the subtle Matter which surrounds and constringes hard Bodies very feeble being likewise satisfied of the vehement Commotion of this Matter by what has been said of Gun-Powder 't will be no hard Matter to discover that 't is absolutely necessary that this Matter acting infinitely more on the Surface than the Inside of the hard Bodies it encompasses and compresses should be the Cause of their Hardness or of the Resistance we feel when we endeavour to break them But since there are always many Parts of this invisible Matter passing through the Pores of hard Bodies they not only render them hard as I have before explain'd but are also the Causes that some are springing and elastical that others stand bent and others still are Fluid and liquid and in short are the Cause not only of the Force which the Parts of hard Bodies have to remain close by one another but of that likewise which the parts of fluid Bodies have to separate or which is the same thing are the Cause of the Hardness of some Bodies and the Fluidity of others But whereas 't is absolutely necessary to know distinctly the Physicks of M. Des Cartes the Figure of his Elements and of the parts which constitute particular Bodies to account for the stiffness of some and the flexibility of others I shall not insist upon explaining it Such as have read the Works of that Philosopher will easily imagine what may be the cause of these things whereas it would be a difficult task for me to explain it and those who are unaquainted with that Author would have a very confus'd Notion of the Reasons I might offer Nor shall I stand to resolve a vast number of Difficulties which I foresee will be urg'd against what I have been establishing because if those who propose them have no knowledge of true natural Philosophy I should but tire and confound them instead of satisfying them But if they were Men of Science I could not answer them without a long train of diagrams and reasoning Wherefore I think it best to intreat those who shall find any Difficulty in what I have said to give this Discourse a more careful perusal not doubting but if they read it and consider it as they ought all their Objections will fall to the Ground But after all if they think my Request inconvenient let them sit still there being no great danger in the Ignorance of the Cause of the Hardness of Bodies I speak not here of contiguity for 't is manifest that contiguous things touch so little that there 's always a good quantity of subtle Matter passing between them which endeavouring to continue its Motion in a right Line hinders them from uniting As to the union found between two Marbles that have been polish't one upon another I have already explain'd it and 't is easie to see that though the subtle Matter passes constantly between the
our natural Judgment so long as it 's not positively corrigible by Light and Evidence For every natural Judgment coming from God may be rightly seconded by our free Judgments when God furnishes us not with means to manifest its falsity And if on such occasions we mistake the Author of our Mind may seem in a manner to be the Author of our Errors and Delinquencies This Reasoning is possibly good though it must be acknowledg'd that it ought not to go for an Evident Demonstration of the Existence of Bodies For indeed God does not irresistibly force us to consent to it if we give our consent it is a free act and we may with-hold it if we please If this arguing I have made be just we are to believe it highly probable that there are Bodies but this bare Argumentation alone ought not to give us a plenary Conviction and Acquiescence otherwise it is we our selves that act and not God in us it being by a free act and consequently liable to Error that we consent and not by an invincible Impression for we believe it freely because we will and not because we see any obliging Evidence Surely nothing but Faith can convince us of the actual Existence of Bodies We can have no exact Demonstration of any other Being's Existence than the necessary and if we warily consider it we shall find it even impossible to know with perfect Evidence whether GOD is or is not the Creatour of a Material and sensible World for no such Evidence is to be met with except in necessary Relations which are not to be found betwixt GOD and such a World as this It was possible for him not to have created it If he has made it it is because he will'd it and freely will'd it The Saints in Heaven see by an evident Light That the FATHER begets the SON and that the HOLY GHOST proceeds from the FATHER and the SON for these are necessary Emanations But the World being no necessary Emanation from GOD those who most clearly see his Being see not evidently his External Productions Nevertheless I am perswaded that the Blessed are certain of the World's Existence but 't is because GOD assures them of it by manifesting his Will to them in a manner by us unknown and we on Earth are certain too but 't is because Faith obliges us to believe That GOD has created this World and that this Faith is conformable to our natural Judgments or our compound Sensations when they are confirm'd by all our Senses corrected by our Memory and rectify'd by our Reason I confess that at first sight the Proof or Principle of our Faith seems to suppose the Existence of Bodies Fides ex auditu It seems to suppose Prophets Apostles Sacred-Writ and Miracles but if we closely examine it we shall find that in supposing but the Appearances of Men Prophets Apostles Holy Scripture Miracles c. what we have learn'd from these supposs'd Appearances stands undeniably certain since as I have prov'd in several places of this Work GOD only can represent to the Mind these pretended Appearances and He is no Deceiver For Faith supposes all this Now in the Appearance of Holy Scripture and by the Seemingness of Miracles we learn That GOD has created an Heaven and an Earth that the Word is made Flesh and other such like Truths which suppose the Existence of a created World Therefore Faith verifies the Existence of Bodies and all these Appearances are actually substantiated by it 'T is needless to insist longer upon answering an Objection which seems too abstracted for the common part of Men and I believe that this will be enough to satisfie those who pretend not to be over-difficult From all which we are to conclude That we both may and ought to correct our Natural Judgments or compound Perceptions which relate to the sensible Qualities we attribute to the Bodies that surround us or to That we animate But as for natural Judgments which relate to the actual Existence of Bodies though absolutely we are not oblig'd to form free ones to accord with them yet we ought not to supersede doing it because these natural Judgments agree perfectly with Faith Finally I have made this Explanation chiefly to the intent we may seriously reflect upon this Truth That nothing but Eternal Wisdom can enlighten us and that all sensible Notices wherein our Body is concern'd are fallacious at least are not attended with that Light which we feel our selves oblig'd to submit to I am sensible that these Notions will not pass with the common sort of Men and that as they are dispos'd by the Superfluity or Poverty of their Animal Spirits they will either ridicule or flinch at the Reasonings I have laid down For the Imagination cannot endure abstract and un-ordinary Truths but either considers them as ghastly Spectres or ridiculous Phantasms But I chuse rather to be the Subject of Droll and Raillery for the strong and bold Imagination and the Object of Indignation and Fear to the weak and timorous than to be wanting in what I owe to Truth and to those generous Defenders of the Mind against the Efforts of the Body who know how to distinguish the Responses of illuminating Wisdom from the confus'd Noise of the perplexing and erroneous Imagination THE ILLUSTRATION UPON THE Fifth CHAPTER of the Second BOOK Of the Memory and Spiritual Habits I Had no mind to speak in this Chapter of the Memory and spiritual Habits for several Reasons the chief of which is That we have no clear Idea of our Soul For how can we clearly explain what are the Dispositions which the Operations of the Soul leave in her which Dispositions are her Habits whilst we have no clear Knowledge of the Nature of our Soul 'T is plain that 't is impossible to know distinctly the Changes whereof a Being is capable when we have no distinct Knowledge of the Nature of that Being For if for Instance we had no clear Idea of Extension in vain should we endeavour to discover its Figures However since I am desir'd to speak of a Matter which I know not in it self see what a compass I fetch that I may only keep to clear Idea's I suppose that there 's none but God who acts upon the Mind and represents to it the Idea's of all things and that if the Mind perceive any Object by a very clear and distinct Idea 't is because God represents that Idea in a most perfect manner I farther suppose that the Will of God being entirely conformable to ORDER and Justice we need but to have a Right to any thing to obtain it The Suppositions being laid down which are easily conceiv'd the Spiritual Memory is readily explain'd For Order requiring that Spirits which have frequently thought of any Object should more easily think again upon it and have a more clear and lively Idea of it that those who have but seldom consider'd it The Will of God which
done by ways that seem most plain and simple Whereas the second Adam acting on the baptiz'd Infant 's Mind for one moment the contrary to what the first Adam produc'd in it before Regeneration is perform'd by the usual ways of acting which God takes in his sanctifying the Adult For the Infant at that moment being void of Sensations and Passions which divide its Thinking and Willing Capacity has nothing to encumber it and prevent its knowing and loving its true Good This is all I say at present because it is not necessary to know precisely how Regeneration of Infants is perform'd provided we admit in them a true Regeneration or an inward and real Justification caus'd by Acts or at least by Habits of Faith Hope and Charity My offering an Explication so repugnant to Prejudices is design'd for the Satisfaction of those who will not allow of Spiritual Habits and to prove to them the Possibility of the Regeneration of Infants For the Notion of Imputation seems to me to include a manifest Contradiction it being impossible That God should consider his Creatures as Righteous and actually love them whilst they are actually in Disorder and Corruption Though he may for his SON's sake have a Design to re-instate them in ORDER and love them when re-instated OBJECTIONS Against the Proofs and Explications of Original Sin OBJECTION against the first Article GOD wills Order it is true but 't is his Will that makes it it does not suppose it Whatever God wills is in Order purely for this Reason that God wills it If God wills that Minds should be subject to Bodies should love and fear them there is no disorder in all this If God will'd that two times two should not be four we should not speak false in saying two times two were not four For it would be a Truth God is the Principle of all Truth and the Master of all Order he supposes nothing neither Truth nor Order but makes all ANSWER Then all is thrown in Confusion There is no longer any Science nor Morality nor undeniable Proofs of our Religion Which consequence is evident to any Man who clearly comprehends this false Principle That God produces Order and Truth by a Will absolutely Free But this is not to answer it I Answer then that God can neither do nor will any thing without knowledge that therefore his Will supposes something but what it supposes is nothing of a created nature Order Truth Eternal Wisdom is the Exemplar of all the Works of God which Wisdom is not made God who makes all things never made it though he constantly begets it by the necessity of his Being Whatever God wills is in Order for that sole reason that he wills it No body denies it But this is because God cannot act against himself that is his Wisdom and his Knowledge He is at liberty not to produce any External Work but supposing he will act he cannot act otherways than by the immutable order of his Wisdom which he necessarily Loves For Religion and Reason teach me that he works nothing without his SON without his WORD without his WISDOM Therefore I fear not to affirm that God cannot positively will that the mind should be subject to the Body Because that Wisdom whereby God wills whatever he wills makes me clearly understand it is contrary to Order And I see this clearly in that same Wisdom because it is the Soveraign and Universal Reason which is participated by all Spirits for which all Intelligences are created and by which all Men are Reasonable For no Man is his own Reason Light and Wisdom unless it be when his Reason is Particular his Light an Ignis fatuus and his Wisdom Folly As the Generality of Men know not distinctly that it is only Eternal Wisdom which enlightens them and that Intelligible Ideas which are the Immediate object of their Mind are not created so they imagine that Eternal Laws and Immutable Truths receive their Establishment from a free will of God And this is what occasion'd M. des Cartes to say that God was able to effect that twice four should not be eight and that the three Angles of a Triangle should not be equal to two Rights Because there is no Order says he no Law no Reason Goodness or Truth but depends on God and that is he who from all Eternity has ordain'd and establish'd as supreme Legislator Eternal Truths This Learned Man did not observe that there was an Order a Law a Sovereign Reason Coeternal with God and necessarily lov'd by him and accordingly to which he must necessarily act supposing he will act For God is indifferent as to his External Workings but the manner of his working though he be perfectly free is not indifferent to him He always acts in the wisest and perfectest manner possible he constantly follows immutable and necessary Order Thus God is at liberty not to make either Spirits or Bodies but if he creates these two Kinds of Beings he must create them by the simplest ways and situate them in the most perfect Order He may for Example unite Spirits to Bodies but I maintain that he cannot subject them thereunto unless in pursuance of the Order which he always follows the Sin of Spirits obliges him to use them in that manner as I have already explain'd in the seventh Article and in the first Explication towards the end To anticipate some instances that might be urg'd against me I think it necessary to say that Men are to blame to consult themselves when they would know what God can do or will They are not to judge of his wills by the inward sense they have of their own Inclinations For otherwise they would often make him an unjust cruel sinful instead of an Almighty God They ought to lay aside the general Principle of their Prejudices which disposes them to judge of all things with reference to themselves and not to attribute to God what they do not clearly conceive to be included in the Idea of a Being infinitely perfect For they ought not to judge of things save by clear Ideas And then the God they worship will not be like those of Antiquity Cruel Adulterous Voluptious as the Persons who have imagin'd them nor will he resemble the God of some Christians who to make him as powerful as the Sinner wishes him ascribe to him an actual power of acting against all Order of leaving Sin unpunisht and of condemning to eternal Torments Persons never so righteous and Innocent Second OBJECTION against the First Article If God wills Order what is it that makes Monsters I say not amongst Men for they have sinned but amongst Animals and Plants What is the cause of the general corruption of the Air which breeds so many Diseases By what Order is it that the Seasons are so irregular and that the Sun and the Frost burn up and kill the Fruits of the Earth Is it to act with Wisdom and Order
as it is more united to Universal Reason and less sensible to the impression of the Senses and Passions In a word as it is more reasonable But 't is requisite that I explain as clearly as possibly I can the sense I have about Natural or Divine Order and Law For the difficulty that is found to embrace my Opinion proceeds it may be from the want of a distinct conception of my meaning 'T is certain that God comprehends in himself after an intelligible manner the Perfections of all the Beings he has created or can create and that by these intelligible Perfections he knows the Essence of all things as by his own Wills he knows their Existence Which perfections are likewise the immediate Object of the Mind of Man for the Reasons I have given Therefore the intelligible Ideas or the Perfections which are in God which represent to us what is external to him are absolutely necessary and immutable But Truths are nothing but relations of Equality or Inequality that are found between these Intelligible Beings since it is only true that 2 times 2 are 4 or that 2 times 2 are not 5 because there is a Relation of Equality between 2 times 2 and 4 and of Inequality between 2 times 2 and 5. Therefore Truths are as immutable and necessary as Ideas It has ever been a truth that 2 times 2 are 4 and 't is impossible it should ever be false which is visible without any Necessity that God as supream Legislator should have establish'd these Truths so as is said by M. des Cartes in his Answer to the six Objections We easily comprehend then what is Truth but Men find some difficulty to conceive what is this immutable and necessary Order what is this Natural and Divine Law which God necessarily wills and which the Righteous likewise will For a Man's Righteousness consists in his Loving Order and in his conforming his Will in all things to it as that which makes a Sinner in his disliking Order in some things and willing that it should conform to his Desires Yet methinks these things are not so mysterious as is imagin'd and I am perswaded all the difficulty that is found in them proceeds from the trouble the mind is at to aspire to abstract and Metaphysical Thoughts Here then is in part what are my Thoughts of Order 'T is evident that the perfections which are in God representative of created or possible Beings are not all Equal That those for Example which represent Bodies are less noble than others that represent Spirits and that even in those which represent only Bodies or Spirits there are degrees of perfection greater and lesser ad infinitum This is clearly and easily conceiv'd though it be hard to reconcile the simplicity of the Divine Essence with that variety of Intelligible Ideas included in his Wisdom For 't is evident that if all the Ideas of God were equal he could see no difference between his Works since he cannot see his Creatures save in that which is in himself representing them And if the Idea of a Watch which shows the Hour with all the different Motions of the Planets were no perfecter than that of another which only points to the hour or than that of a Circle and a Square a Watch would be no perfecter than a Circle For we can judge of the Perfection of Works only by the Perfection of the Ideas we have of them and if there was no more understanding or sign of Wisdom in a Watch than a Circle it would be as easie to conceive the most complicated Machines as a Square or a Circle If then it be true that God is the Vniversal Being who includes in Himself all Beings in an intelligible manner and that all these intelligible Beings which have in God a necessary Existence are not equally perfect 't is evident there will be between them an Immutable and Necessary Order and that as there are Eternal and necessary Truths because there are Relations of Magnitude between intelligible Beings there must likewise be an immutable and necessary Order by reason of the Relations of Perfection that are between these Beings 'T is therefore an Immutable Order that Spirits should be nobler than Bodies as it is a necessary Truth that 2 times 2 should be 4 or that 2 times 2 should not be 5. But hitherto immutable Order seems rather a Speculative Truth than a necessary Law For if Order be consider'd but as we have just now done we see for Example that it is True that Minds are more noble than Bodies but we do not see that this Truth is at the same time an Order which has the force of a Law and that there is an Obligation of preferring Minds before Bodies It must then be consider'd that God loves himself by a necessary Love and therefore has a greater degree of love for that which in him represents or includes a greater degree of perfection than for that which includes a less So that if we will suppose an Intelligible Mind to be a thousand times perfecter than an Intelligible Body the love wherewith God loves Himself must necessarily be a thousand times greater for the former than for the latter For the Love of God is necessarily proportion'd to the Order which is between the intelligible Beings that he includes Insomuch that the Order which is purely Speculative has the force of a Law in respect of God himself supposing as is certain that God loves himself Necessarily And God cannot love Intelligible Bodies more than Intelligible Minds though he may love created Bodies better than created Minds as I shall show by and by Now that immutable Order which has the force of a Law in regard of God himself has visibly the force of a Law in reference to us For this Order we know and our natural love comports with it when we retire into our selves and our Senses and Passions leave us to our Liberty In a word when our Self-love does not corrupt our Natural Being we are made for God and that 't is impossible for us to be quite separate from him we discern in him this Order and we are naturally invited to love it For 't is His Light which enlightens us and his Love which animates us though our Senses and Passions obscure this Light and determine against Order the Impression we receive to love according to it But in spite of Concupiscence which conceals this Order and hinders us from following it it is still an essential and indispensable Law to us and not only to us but to all created Intilligences and even to the Damn'd For I do not believe they are so utterly estrang'd from God as not to have a faint Idea of Order as not to find still some beauty in it and even to be ready to conform to it in some particular Instances which are not prejudicial to Self-Love Corruption of Heart consists in Opposition to Order Therefore Malice or Corruption of
is included in the Idea of a necessary Being as the Equality of Diameters is included in the Idea of a Circle And I except the Existence of our Soul because we are inwardly conscious that we Think Will and Feel and have no clear Idea of our Soul as I have sufficiently explained in the seventh Chapter of the second Part of the third Book and elsewhere These are some of the Reasons which we have to add to those already given to prove that all our Light is deriv'd to us from God and that the immediate and direct Object of our clear and evident notices is an immutable and necessary Nature Some Objections are usually made against this Opinion which I shall now endeavour to solve Against what has been said that none but God enlightens us and that we see all things in him OBJECTION I. OUR Soul thinks because it is her Nature God in creating her gave her the faculty of thinking and she needs nothing more But if any thing else is wanting let us stick to what Experience teaches us of our senses which is that they are the manifest causes of our Ideas 'T is an ill way of Philosophizing to argue against Experience ANSWER I cannot but admire that the Cartesian Gentlemen who with so much reason reject and scorn the general Terms of Nature and faculty should so willingly employ them on this occasion They cry out against a Man that shall say the Fire burns by its nature and converts certain Bodies into Glass by a natural Faculty And yet some of them fear not to say that the Humane Mind produces the Ideas of all things in it self by its nature and because it has a thinking faculty But be it spoken without offence these words are no more significative in their Mouths than in the Peripateticks I know very well that the Soul is capable of thinking But I know likewise that extension is capable of Figures The Soul is capable of Will as matter is of Motion But as it is false that matter though capable of figure and motion has in it self a force faculty or nature by which it can move it self and give it self now a round figure and anon a square one so though the Soul be naturally and essentially capable of Knowledge and Will it is false that she has Faculties whereby she can produce in her Ideas or motion towards good There is a great difference between being Moveable and self moving Matter is by its nature moveable and capable of Figures nor can it subsist without a figure But it neither moves it self nor shapes it self nor has it any faculty to do it The Mind is of its nature capable of motion and Ideas I acknowledge But it neither moves nor enlightens its self But 't is God that does all in Minds as well as in Bodies Can we say that God effects the changes that happen in matter and that he causes not those which occur in the Mind Is this to give to God the things that are his to leave these latter sort of Beings to their own management Is he not equally Lord of all things Is he not the Creator Preserver and true mover of Minds as well as Bodies Certainly he makes all both Substances Accidents Beings and Modes of Being For in short he knows all But he knows nothing but what he does We therefore streighten him in his Knowledge if we limit him in his Action But if it must be said that Creatures have such faculties as are commonly conceived and that natural Bodies have a Nature which is the Principle of their Motion and Rest as says Aristotle and his Followers This indeed overthrows all my Ideas but yet I will rather agree to it than say the Mind enlightens it self Men may say that the Soul has the force of moving diversly the Limbs of her Body and of communicating to them Sense and Life They may say if they please that it is she that gives heat to the Blood motion to the Spirits and to the rest of her Body its Bulk Situation and Figure Only let them not say that the Mind gives Light and Motion to it self If God works not all let us allow him at least to do what is Noblest and Perfectest in the World And if Creatures do any thing let them move Bodies and range and posture them as they think fit But let them never act upon Minds We will say if that will serve that Bodies move each other after they have been mov'd themselves or rather will sit down ignorant of the different Dispositions of matter as not concerning us But let not our Minds be ignorant whence proceeds the Light that enlightens them Let them know from what hand they receive all that can make them more happy or more perfect let them acknowledge their dependence in its whole extent and know that whatever they actually have God gives them every moment for as says a great Father upon another Subject 'T is a very criminal Pride to use the gifts of God as our own innate Perfections Above all let us take heed of imagining that the Senses instruct Reason that the Body enlightens the Mind that the Soul receive of the Body what it wants it self We had better believe our selves independent than to believe we truly depend on Bodies 'T is much better to be our own Masters than to seek for Masters among inferior Creatures But we had much better submit our selves to Eternal Truth which assures us in the Gospel that none else is our Instructor than to believe the Testimony of our Senses or of some Men who presume to talk to us as our Teachers Experience whatever may be said does not countenance prejudices For our Senses no less than our Teachers after the Flesh are only occasional causes of the Instruction which Eternal Wisdom infuses into our most inward Reason But because this Wisdom enlightens us by an insensible Operation we imagine it is our Eyes or the words of those that verberate the Air against our Ears who produce this Light or pronounce that intelligible Voice which instructs us And for this Reason as I have said in another place our LORD thought it not enough to instruct us in an intellible manner by his Divinity unless he condescended also to inform us in a sensible way by his Humanity thereby teaching us that he is every way our Master And because we cannot easily retire into our selves to consult him in Quality of eternal Truth immutable Order intelligible Light he has rendred Truth sensible by his Words Order Amiable by his Example Light Visible by a Body which breaks the force of its Lustre and after all we are still so ungrateful unjust stupid and insensible as to respect as our Masters and that against his express prohibition not only other Men but it may be the most insensible and vilest Bodies OBJECTION II. Since the Soul is more perfect than Bodies how comes it that she cannot include
Philosophy But to return to the passage of St. John No man has seen God at any time I believe the design of the Evangelist in affirming no Man has seen God is to state the difference between the Old and New Testament Between JESUS CHRIST and the Patriarchs and Prophets of whom it is written that they have seen God For Moses Jacob Isaiah and others saw God only with corporeal Eyes and under an unknown Form They have not seen him in himself Deum nemo vidit unquam But the only Son who is in the Bosom of the Father has instructed us in what He has seen Vnigenitus qui est in sinu Patris Ipse enarravit OBJECTION St. Paul writing to Timothy says that God inhabits inaccessible Light which no man hath seen nor can see if the Light of God cannot be approach'd to we cannot see all things in it ANSWER St. Paul cannot be contrary to St. John who assures us that JESUS CHRIST is the true Light that lightens all Men who come into the World For the mind of Man which many of the Fathers call Illuminated or Enlightned Light Lumen Illuminatum is Enlightned only with the Light of Eternal Wisdom which the Fathers therefore call Illuminating Light Lumen Illuminations David advises to approach to God and to be englightned by him Accedite ad eum illuminamini But how can we be enlightned by it if we cannot see the Light by which we are to be enlightned Therefore when St. Paul says that Light is inaccessible he means to Carnal Man who cannot retire into himself to contemplate it Or if he speaks of all Men 't is because there are none but are disturb'd from the perfect Contemplation of Truth because our Body incessantly troubles the attension of our mind OBJECTION God answering Moses when he desired to see him says Thou canst not see my Face for there shall no man see Me and live ANSWER It is evident that the literal sence of this Passage is not contrary to what I have said hitherto For I do not suppose it possible to see God in this life as Moses desired to see Him However I Answer that we must die to see God For the Soul unites herself to Truth proportionably as she quits her union with the Body Which is a Truth that cannot be sufficiently consider'd Those who follow the Motions of their passions those whose Imagination is defil'd with the enjoyment of Pleasures Those who have strengthned the Union and Correspondence of their Mind with their Body In a word those who live cannot see God For they cannot retire into themselves to consult the Truth Happy therefore are they who have a pure Heart a disengag'd Spirit a clear Imagination who have no dependance on the World and hardly any on the Body In a word happy are the Dead for they shall see God Wisdom has publish'd it openly upon the Mountain and Wisdom whispers it secretly to those who consult Her by retiring into themselves Those who are constantly quickning in them the Concupiscence of Pride who are indefatigably forming a thousand Ambitious designs who unite and even enslave their Soul not only to the Body but all surrounding Objects In a word those who Live not only the Life of the Body but also that of the World cannot see God For WISDOM inhabits the most retired and inward Reason whilst they perpetually expand themselves abroad But such as constantly deaden the Activity of their Senses who faithfully preserve the Purity of their Imagination who couragiously resist the Motions of their Passions In a word that break all those Bonds whereby others continue enchain'd to the Body and sensible grandeur may discover infinite Truths and see that Wisdom which is bid from the Eyes of all Living They after a sort do cease to live when they retire into themselves They relinquish the Body when they draw near to Truth For the mind of Man obtains that Site and Position between God and Bodies that it can never quit the one but it must approach the other It cannot draw towards God but it must remove from Bodies nor pursue Bodies but it must recede from God But because we cannot give an absolute Farewell to the Body till Death makes the separation I confess it impossible till then to be perfectly united to God We may at present as says St. Paul see God confusedly as in a Glass but we cannot see him face to face Non videbit me homo vivet Yet we may see him in part that is imperfectly and confusedly It must not be imagin'd that life is equal in all Men living or that it consists in an indivisible point The Dominion of the Body over the Mind which withstands our uniting our selves with God by the Knowledge of Truth is susceptible of more and less The Soul is not equally in all Men united by Sensations to the Body which she animates nor by Passions to those her Inclinations carry her to And there are some who so mortifie the Concupiscence of Pleasure and of Pride within them that they scarce retain any Commerce with their Body or the World and so are as it were Dead St. Paul is a great instance hereof who chastis'd his Body and brought it to subjection who was so humbled and destroy'd that he thought no longer on the World nor the World on him For the World was dead and crucified to him as he was dead and crucified in the World And on this account it was says St. Gregory that he was so sensible to Truth and so prepar'd to receive those Divine Lights which are included in his Epistles which however all glorious and splendid make no impression save on those who mortifie their Senses and Passions by his Example For as he says himself the carnal and sensible Man cannot comprehend Spiritual things Because Worldly address the tast of the Age to fineness of Wit the Nicety the Liveliness the Beauty of Imagination whereby we live to the World and the World to us infuse into our Mind an incredible stupidity and a sad insensibility to all those Truths which cannot be perfectly conceiv'd unless in the silence and calm of the Senses and Passions We must therefore desire that Death which unites us to God or at least the image of that Death that is the Mysterious Sleep in which all our External Senses being lock'd up we may hear the Voice of internal Truth which is never audible but in the silence of the Night when Darkness involves sensible Objects and when the World is as it were dead to us Thus it is says St. Gregory that the Spouse heard the Voice of her beloved in her sleep when she said I sleep but my heart wakes Outwardly I slumber but my heart watches within For having no life nor sense with reference to External Objects I become extreamly sensible to the Voice of inward Truth which accosts me in my inmost reason Hinc
Man sees these Colours yet this could not be concluded without a long train of Reasonings they could not see it by a simple view nor ever discover it by consulting the pretended Idea of the Soul but rather by consulting that of the Body They could not be certain that sensible Qualities belong'd to the Soul were it not because they did not belong to Extension whereof they have a clear Idea Nor could they ever convince of it such as having little thought are incapable of complicated Perceptions or Reasonings or rather such as cannot dwell upon the consideration of the clear Idea of Body and who are apt to confound all things And so there would be always Clowns Women Children and it may be some Scholars and Doctors who would doubt of it But Women and Children Learned and Unlearned the most Intelligent and most stupid Persons easily conceive by their Idea of Extension that it is susceptible of all sorts of Figures they clearly comprehend that Extension is not capable of Pain Savour Odour or any other Sensation when they but faithfully and attentively consider the Idea only that represents it For there is no sensible Quality included in it's representative Idea 'T is true they may doubt whether Body is or is not capable of admitting some Sensation or sensible Quality But then they understand by Body some other thing than Extension and have no clear Idea of Body taken in this sense But when des Cartes or the Cartesians whom I am concern'd with maintain that the Soul is better known than Body they mean only by Body bare Extension Which makes me admire how they can hold that the nature of the Soul is clearer known than that of the Body since the Idea of Body or Extension is so manifest that all the World 's agreed about what it contains and what it excludes whilst the Idea of the Soul is so confus'd that the Cartesians themselves daily dispute whether the Modifications of Colour appertain to it We know say these Philosophers with their Master des Cartes the nature of a substance so much more distinctly as we know more of its Attributes Now there is nothing whereof we know so many Attributes as of our Mind Because as many as we know in other things we may put to the mind's account from its knowing them and therefore its Nature is better known than that of any other thing But who is it that sees not a great deal of difference between knowing by a clear Idea and knowing by Conscience When I know that 2 times 2 are 4 I know it very clearly but I know not clearly what within me 't is that knows it I feel it I confess I know it by consciousness or internal sense But I have no clear Idea of it as I have of Numbers whose Relations I can distinctly discover I can reckon in my mind three properties one of knowing that 2 times 2 are 4 another of knowing that 3 times 3 are 9 a third of knowing that 4 times 4 are 16. And these Properties if you please shall be different from one another and so I may count an infinite number of Properties belonging to me But I deny that we can clearly know the nature of the things that we can reckon thus It may be said that we have a clear Idea of a Being and that we know its Nature when we can compare it with others which we likewise have a clear Idea of or at least when we can compare together the Modifications incident to it We have clear Ideas of Numbers and of the parts of Extension because we can compare these things together As 2 may be compar'd with 4 4 with 16 and every number with any other So likewise a square may be compar'd with a Triangle a Circle with an Ellipsis a Square and a Triangle with every other Square and Triangle and thus a Man may clearly discover the relations these Figures and these Numbers have to one another But we cannot compare our Mind with other Beings thereby to discover clearly their Relations nor can we compare the Modifications of the Mind together Can we clearly discover what Relation or Proportion there is between Pleasure and Pain Heat and Colour Or to keep to Modifications of the same sort can we determine exactly the Proportion between Green and Red Yellow and Purple or even between Purple and Purple We see well enough that one is darker or brighter than the other But we know not evidently how much nor what it is to be Darker or Brighter We have then no clear Idea either of the Soul or her Modifications and though I see or have the sense of Colours Tasts Smells yet I may say as I have done that I know them not by a clear Idea since I cannot clearly discover their Relations 'T is true I can discover the exact proportions betwen sounds That a Diopason for instance is Double that a Fifth is as 3 to 2 and that a Fourth is as 4 to 3. But I cannot know these proportions by the sensation I have of them If I know that an Eighth or Diopason is double 't is because I have learn't by Experience that the same string sounds an Eighth when having stricken it whole I strike it presently again dividing it into two equal parts or because I know the number of Vibrations is double in equal time or by some such way and this because the Trepidations of the air the Vibrations of the strings and the string it self are things which may be compared by clear Ideas and that we distinctly conceive what relations there can be between a string and it's parts as likewise between the celerity of different Vibrations But we cannot compare sounds betwixt themselves or as they are sensible Qualities and Modifications of the Soul nor that way are their Proportions or Relations discoverable And though Musicians distinguish very well the different concords yet they do not distinguish their proportions by clear Ideas By the ear only they judge by a clear Idea or otherwise than by sensation Therefore Musicians have no clear Idea of sounds as they are sensations or Modifications of the Soul And consequently we conceive not the Soul nor her Modifications by a clear Idea but only by Conscience or internal sense Moreover we know not wherein consist those dispositions of the Soul which facilitate her to act and represent Objects to her self Nay we cannot conceive wherein such Dispositions might possibly consist I say farther that we cannot be positively assur'd by Reason whether the meer Soul separate from the Body or consider'd without relation to it be capable of Habits or Memory But how can we be ignorant of these things if the nature of the Soul be better known to us than of the Body 'T is easily discern'd wherein that readiness consists wherewith the animal Spirits flow into the Nerves which they have often us'd to glide into at least 't is no trouble to discover that whilst
the conduiâ—s of the Nerves are widened and the Fibres recumbent after a particular manner the Spirits may easily insinuate themselves But what is it we can conceive capable of augmenting the Soul's Facility to act or think For my part I own I cannot comprehend it And in vain should I interrogate my self what these dispositions are For I could give my self no answer nor light upon the matter though I have a most lively sense of that easiness with which some Thoughts arise in me And if I had no particular Reasons to induce me to believe that I really have such Dispositions though I know them not in me I should judge there neither was spiritual Habit nor Memory in my Soul But in short seeing there is doubt and scruple about it we have an infallible Symptom that Men are not so enlightned as is pretended For Doubt can never be reconcil'd to Evidence and clear Ideas 'T is certain that a Man of the greatest Understanding cannot evidently know whether he deserves Hatred or Love as speaks the Wiseman My own consciousness of my self cannot satisfy me herein St. Paul says indeed his Conscience reproach'd him with nothing yet for all that he does not affirm he is justified On the contrary he asserts he is not thereby justified and that he dares not judge himself since he that judges is the Lord. But having a clear Idea of Order if we had another as clear of the Soul from the inward feeling of our selves we should evidently know whether she was conformable to Order We should know whether we were Righteous or not and we could exactly discover all our interiour Dispositions to Good and Evil whenever we were conscious of them But if we could know our selves just as we are we should not be so subject to Presumption And there is great likelihood that St. Peter would not have said to his Master whom he was not long after to deny Why cannot I follow thee now I will lay down my life for thy sake Animam meam pro te ponam For being inwardly conscious of his own Strength and good Will he might have seen with Evidence whether he had Resolution and Courage to conquer Death or rather the insults of a silly Maid and two or three Servants If the nature of the Soul be more known than any other If the Idea we have of her be as clear as that we have of the Body I ask only how it comes to pass that there are so many who confound her with it Is it possible to confound two clear Ideas intirely different Let us do justice to all Mankind Those who dissent from our Opinion are as rational as our selves they have the same Ideas of things and are partakers in the same Reason Why then do they confound what we distinguish Do they use on other occasions to confound things whereof they have clear Ideas Do they ever confound two different numbers or take a Square for a Circle And yet the Soul differs more from the Body than one of these Figures from the other For they are two substances which are in nothing alike and are confounded notwithstanding Which must therefore proceed from some difficulty there is to discover their difference from it s not being observable by a simple perception and from the Impossibility of concluding that one is not the other without Argument and Reasoning It must come from hence viz. That the Idea of Extension must be cautiously consulted and Extension discover'd to be no Mode of Existence of a Body but the Body it self as being represented a subsisting Thing and as the Principle and Foundation of whatever we conceive clearly in Bodies And that so the Modes of which Body is capable having no Proportion of sensible Qualities the subject of these Qualities or rather the Being of which they are Modes must needs be different from Body For such like argumentation is requisite to prevent our confounding the Soul with the Body But if we had a clear Idea of the Soul as we have of Body certainly we need not take these round-about ways to distinguish her from it Since it would be discoverable by a simple view and with as great ease as we see a Circle is not a Square I insist not longer upon proving that we know not the Soul nor her Modifications by clear Ideas Survey our selves on what side soever we will this sufficiently appears And I had not added this to what I have said in the Search after Truth if some Cartesians had not found fault with it If this will not satisfy them I shall expect they will make me sensible of this clear Idea which I am not able to find in my self do whatever I can to discover it THE ILLUSTRATION UPON THE Eighth CHAPTER of the Second PART of the Third BOOK Of loose and general terms which signify nothing How they are distinguish'd from others IN order to comprehend what I have said in some Places how that they give not the reasons of things who explain them by Logical Terms and General Ideas we need but consider that whatever exists is reduc'd to Being or Modes of Being whatever Term signifies neither of these signifies nothing and every Term that signifies not one or other of them distinctly and in particular signifies nothing distinct This to me seems most clear and evident but what is evident in it self is not so to all the World Words are the current Coin wherewith Men pay themselves and others All Terms that are inoffensive to the Ear have free Passport amongst them And Truth comes so rarely into the Commerce of the World that those who speak it or hear it have commonly no regard for it The gift of Speech is the greatest of Talents the language of Imagination is the surest of means and a Memory charg'd with incomprehensible Terms will always make a splendid appearance whatever the Cartesians may say of it When Men shall have no addiction but to Truth they will be Cautious of what they say they will carefully examine their own meaning rejecting with scorn senseless and insignificant Terms and closely adhering to clear Ideas But when will the time come that Men shall love Truth only We may say when they shall depend no longer on their Body when they shall have no necessary relation to sensible Objects when they shall not any more corrupt one another but faithfully consult their Master who instructs them in the recesses of their Reason But this will never happen whilst we live on Earth However all Men are not equally indifferent for Truth If there are some who speak without Reflection and hear without distinction and have no attention but to what affects them there are others who industriously labour to inform themselves and to convince others of the Truth And to these chiefly I address my self for at their Instance I entred on making these Remarks I say then that whatever is whether it actually exists or not and consequently
incident to the Corporeal World which is an Opinion sufficiently now receiv'd among Men of Letters But let their Opinion about it be what it will that matters not much since it seems much easier to conceive that a Body drives another when it strikes it than to comprehend how Fire can produce Heat and Light and educe from the power of matter a substance that was not in it before And if it be necessary to acknowledge that God is the True Cause of the different Communications of Motion by a much stronger reason we should conclude that none but He can Create and Annihilate real Qualities and substantial Forms I say Create and Annihilate For it seems to me at least as difficult to educe from matter a substance that was not in it or to reduce it into it again whilst yet there nothing remains of it as to create it or Annihilate it But I stick not to the Terms And I make use of those because there are no other that I know of which express without Obscurity and Ambiguity the changes suppos'd by the Philosophers to arrive every moment by the force of second Causes I had some scruple to set down here the other Arguments which are commonly urg'd for the Force and Efficacy of natural Causes For they appear so weak and trifling to those who withstand Prejudices and prefer their Reason before their Senses that I can scarce believe methinks that Reasonable Men could be perswaded by them However I produce and answer them since there are many Philosophers who urge them ARGUMENT I. If second Causes did not Operate say Suarez Fonseca and some others Animate things could not be distinguish'd from Inanimate since neither one nor the other would have an inward principle of their Actions ANSWER I answer that Men would have the same sensible proofs that have convinc'd them of the distinction they make between things Animate and Inanimate They would still see Animals do the same Actions as eat grow cry run bound c. and would discern nothing like this in Stones And this one thing makes the vulgar Philosophers believe that Beasts live and that Stones do not For we are not to fancy that they know by a clear and distinct view of Mind what is the Life of a Dog 'T is their Senses which regulate their Decisions upon this Question If it were necessary I could prove here that the principle of the Life of a Dog differs not from the principle of the Motion of a Watch. For the Life of Bodies whatever they be can consist but in the Motion of their Parts And we may easily judge that the same subtil matter which causes the Fermentation of the Blood and Animal Spirits in a Dog and which is the principle of his Life is no perfecter than that which gives Motion to the Spring of a Watch or which causes the Gravitation in the Weights of a Clock which is the principle of their Life or to speak as others do of their Motion It behoves the Peripateticks to give those whom they stile Cartesians a clear Idea of what they call the Life of Beasts Corporeal Soul Body which Perceives and Desires Sees Feels Wills and then we shall clearly resolve their Difficulties if after that they shall persist in raising them ARGUMENT II. It were impossible to discover the Differences or Powers of the Elements So that Fire might refrigerate as Water and nothing would be of a settled and fix'd Nature ANSWER I answer That whilst Nature remains as it is that is to say whilst the Laws of the Communication of Motions remain constantly the same it is a Contradiction that Fire should not burn or separate the Parts of certain Bodies Fire cannot refrigerate like Water unless it becomes Water for Fire being only Fewel whose Parts have been violently agitated by an invisible surrounding Matter as is easie to demonstrate it is impossible its Parts should not Communicate some of their Motion to approaching Bodies Now as these Laws are constant the Nature of Fire its Virtues and Qualities are unchangeable But this Nature and these Vertues are only Consequences of the General and Efficacious Will of GOD who does all in all things Therefore the Study of Nature is in all respects false and vain when we look for other true Causes than the Wills of the ALMIGHTY I confess that we are not to have recourse to God or the Universal Cause when we require the Reason of particular Effects For we should be ridiculous to assert for Instance That GOD dries the Ways or Freezes the Water in the River We must say The Air dries the Earth because it moves and bears off the Water with it that dilutes it Or that the Air or the subtil Matter Freezes the River in Winter because at that time it communicates not sufficient Motion to the Parts that constitute the Water In a Word we must if we can assign the Natural and particular Cause of the Effects propos'd to Examination But because the Action of these Causes consists in the moving Force which actuates them which moving Force is the Will of GOD which create them we ought not to say they have in themselves a Force or Power to produce any Effects And when in Reasoning we are at last arriv'd to a general Effect of which we seek the Cause 't is no good Philosophy to imagine any other than the general And to feign a certain Nature a first Moveable and universal Soul or some such Chimera whereof we have no clear and distinct Idea would be to argue like an Heathen Philosopher For Example when we are ask'd whence it comes that some Bodies are in motion or that the agitated Air communicates its Motion to the Water or rather whence proceeds the mutual Protrusion of Bodies Motion and its Communication being a general Effect on which all others depend we cannot answer I do'nt say like Christians but Philosophers without ascending to God who is the Universal Cause Since 't is His Will that is the moving Force of Bodies and that regulates the Communication of their Motions Had he will'd there should be no new Production in the World he would not have put its Parts in motion And if hereafter He shall will the Incorruptibility of some of the Beings he had made he shall cease to will the Communication of Motions in point of those Beings ARGUMENT III. 'T is needless to Plow to Water and give several preparatory Dispositions to Bodies to fit them for what we desire from them For GOD has no need of preparing the Subjects on which he Works ANSWER I answer That GOD may do absolutely all he pleases without finding any Dispositions in the Subjects he works upon But he cannot do it without a Miracle or by Natural ways that is by the General Laws of the Communication of Motions which he has constituted and which he almost always follows in his Actings GOD never multiplies his Wills without Reason
'Mongst all which that which instantly appears Greatest and most Magnificent most Uniform and Comprehensive is that whereof all the Parts have most Symmetry with the Person who constitutes the whole Glory and Sanctity of it And the wisest way of executing that Design is the Establishing certain most simple and fruitful Laws to bring it to its Perfection This is what Reason seems to answer to all those who consult it with Attention when following the Principles which Faith teaches us Let us examine the Circumstances of this Great Design and then endeavour to discover the Ways of executing it XXV The Holy Scripture teaches us That 't is Jesus Christ who ought to make all the Beauty the Sanctity the Grandeur and Magnificence of this Work If Holy Writ compare it to a City 't is Jâ—sus Christ who makes all the Lustre it not being the Sun and the Moon but the Glory of God and the Light of the Lamb that shine upon it When representing it as a Living Body whereof all the Parts have a wonderful Proportion 't is Jesus Christ who is the Head of it 'T is from Him the Spirit and Life are communicated into all the Members that compose it Speaking of it as a Temple Jesus Christ is the Chief Corner-stone which is the Foundation of the Building 'T is He who is the High Priest and Sacrifice of it All the Faithful are Priests but as they participate of his Priesthood they are Victims only as parâ—aking of His Holiness it being in Him and through Him alone they continually offer themselves to the Majesty of God In fine 't is only from the Analogy they bear to Him that they contribute to the Beauty of this August and Venerable Temple which has always been and will eternally continue the Object of the good Pleasure of God XXVI Reason likewise evinces these same Truths For what Proportion is there between Creatures how perfect soever we suppose them and the Action that produces them How can any Creatures which are finite be equivalent to the Action of God of infinite Worth Can God receive any thing from a mere Creature that determines him to act But be it so that God made Man with Hopes of being honour'd by him whence comes it that those who dishonour Him make the greatest Number Is not this a sufficient Indication that God is very negligent of His pretended Glory which He receives from His Work if separated from His Well-beloved Son that it was in Jesus Christ that He resolv'd to produce it and that without Him it would not subsist a moment XXVII A Man resolves upon a Work because he has need of it or has a Mind to see what Effect it will have or lastly because by this Essay of his Strength he learns what he is able to produce But God has no need of his Creatures nor is He like Men who receive new Impressions from the Presence of Objects His Ideas are Eternal and Immutable He saw the World before it was form'd as well as he sees it now Lastly Knowing that His Wills are efficacious he perfectly knows without making trial of his Strength all that He 's capable of producing Thus Scripture and Reason assure us that by Reason of Jesus Christ the World subsists and through the Dignity of his Divine Person receives an additional Beauty which renders it well pleasing in the Sight of God XXVIII From which Principle methinks it follows that Jesus Christ is the Model by which we are made that we were fram'd after His Image and Similitude and have nothing comely in us any farther than we are the Draught and Ectypon of Him that He is the End of the Law and the Archetype of the Ceremonies and Sacrifices of the Jews That to determine that Succession of Generations preceding His Birth they must needs have had some certain Agreements with Him whereby they became more pleasing to God than any other That since Jesus Christ was to be the Head and Husband of the Church 't was requisite he should be typified by the Propagation of Mankind from one Person as related by Moses and explain'd by St. Paul In a word from this Principle it follows that the present World ought to be the Figure of the future and that as far as the Simplicity of General Laws will permit all the Inhabitants of it have been or shall â—e the Figures and Resemblances of the Only Son of God quite from Abel in whom he was sacrificed to the last Member that shall constitute His Church XXIX We judge of the Perfection of a Work by its Conformity with the Idea afforded us by Eternal Wisdom For there is nothing Beautiful or Amiable but as related to Essential Necessary and Independent Beauty Now that Intelligible Beauty being made sensible becomes even in this Capacity the Rule of Beauty and Perfection Therefore all Corporeal Creatures ought to receive from it all their Excellency and Lustre All Minds ought to have the same Thoughts and the same Inclinations as the Soul of Jesus if they would be agreeable to those who see nothing Beautiful nothing Amiable save in what is conformable to Wisdom and Truth Since therefore we are oblig'd to believe the Work of GOD to have an absolute Conformity with Eternal Wisdom we have all Reason to believe that the same Work has infinite Correspondencies with Him who is the Head the Principle the Pattern and the End of it But who can explain all these Agreements XXX That which makes the Beauty of a Temple is the Order and Variety of Ornaments that are found in it Thus to render the Living Temple of the Divine Majesty worthy of its Inhabitant and proportionate to the Wisdom and infinite Love of its Author all possible Beauties are to make it up But it is not so with this Temple rais'd to the Glory of God as with Material ones For that which constitutes the Beauty of the Spiritual Edifice of the Church is the infinite Diversity of Graces communicated from Him who is the Head of it to all the constituent Parts 'T is the Order and admirable Proportions settled among them 't is the various Degrees of Glory shining and reflecting on all sides round about it XXXI It follows from this Principle that to the establishing that Variety of Rewards which make up the Beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem Men ought to be subject upon Earth not only to Purgative Afflictions but also to the Motions of Concupiscence which make them gain so many Victories by administring such a multitude of various Combats XXXII The Blessed in Heaven no doubt will be endow'd with a Sanctity and Variety of Gifts perfectly corresponding to the Diversity of their Good Works Those continual Sacrifices whereby the Old Man is destroy'd and annihilated will enrich the Spiritual Substance of the New Man with Graces and Beauties And if it were necessary that Jesus Christ should suffer all sorts of Afflictions before He enter'd on the Possession of His
Glory Sin which introduc'd into the World the Miseries of Life and Death which follows it were necessary that Men after their Trial upon Earth might be legitimately crown'd with that Glory the Variety and Order whereof shall make the Beauty of the future World XXXIII 'T is true that Concupiscence which we feel in us is not necessary to our Meriting For Jesus Christ whose Merits are infinite was not subject to it But though He absolutely controll'd it He was willing to admit in Himself the most vexatious Motions and Sensations that He might merit all the Glory that was prepar'd for Him Of all Sensations that which is most repugnant to a Soul willing and deserving to be happy is Pain wbich yet He was willing to suffer in the most excessive degree Pleasure makes actually Happy the Person that actually enjoys it which yet he willingly deny'd Himself Thus he has offer'd like us innumerable Sacrifices through a Body which he took like ours But these Sacrifices were of a different kind from those of the greatest Saints because he voluntarily rais'd in Himself all those painful Sensations which in the rest of Men are the necessary Consequences of Sin which being thus perfectly voluntary were therefore more pure and meritorious XXXIV If I had a clear Idea of the Blessed Spirits who are not embody'd I perhaps could clearly resolve a Difficulty that arises from their Consideration For it may be objected either that there is very little Variety in the Merits or Rewards of Angels or that it was to ill purpose for God to unite Bodies to Spirits which are whilst united so dependant on them I confess I do not see any great Diversity in the Rewards answering the Merits of purely intelligible Substances especially if they have merited their Recompence by one sole Act of Love For being not united to a Body which might be an Occasion to God's giving them by most Simple and General Laws a Train of different Thoughts and Sensations I see no Variety in their Combats or Victories But possibly another Order has been establish'd which is unknown to me and therefore I ought not to speak of it And 't is sufficient that I have establish'd a Principle from whence may be concluded that God ought to create Bodies and unite Minds to them that by the most simple Laws of Union of these two Substances He might give us in a general constant and uniform manner that great Variety of Sensations and Motions which is the Principle of the Diversity of our Merits and Rewards XXXV Lastly 't was requisite that God alone should have all the Glory of the Beauty and Perfection of the future World This Work which infinitely excels all others ought to be a Work of pure Mercy It was not for Creatures to glory in having any other part in it than that the Grace of Jesus Christ had given them In a word 't was fit that God should suffer all Men to be involv'd in Sin that He might shew them Mercy in Jesus Christ. XXXVI Thus the first Man being impower'd by the Strength of His Charity to persevere in Original Righteousness God ought not to have fix'd him to his Duty by preventing Pleasures for having no Concupiscence to conquer God ought not to prevent his Free Will by the Delectation of His Grace In short having all in general that was necessary to his meriting his Reward God who works nothing in vain ought to leave him to himself though He foresaw His Fall since He design'd to raise him up in Jesus Christ put Free Will to confusion and manifest the Greatness of His Mercy Let us now endeavour to discover the Ways whereby God executes His Eternal Purpose of the Sanctification of His Church XXXVII Though God in the Establishment of the future World acts in Ways very different from those by which He preserves the present yet it ought not to be imagin'd that difference is so great as to take from the Laws of Grace the Character of the Cause that made them As it is the same God who is the Author both of the Order of Grace and Nature these two Orders must agree in all those included Symptoms which discover the Wisdom and Power of their â—ounder Therefore since God is a General Cause whose Wisdom has no Bounds He must needs for the Reasons before given act as such in the Order of Grace as well as in that of Nature and His own Glory being His End in the Construction of His Church He must establish most Simple and General Laws and which have the greatest Proportion of Wisdom and Fertility with their design'd Effect XXXVIII The more wise an Agent is the more comprehensive are his Wills A very limited Understanding is constantly taking fresh Designs and in the Execution of any one of them employs more Means than are useful In a word a straitned Capacity does not sufficiently compare the Means with the End the Force and the Action with the Effect to be produc'd by them On the contrary a Mind of great Reach and Penetration collates and weighs all things forms not Designs except upon the Knowledge of the Means to dispatch them and when it has observ'd in these Means a certain Proportion of Wisdom with their Effects he puts them in practice The more simple are the Machines and more different their Effects the more Marks they bear of an intelligent Workman and more worthy they are to be esteem'd The great Number of Laws in a State are commonly a Proof of the want of Insight and Extent of Thought in their â—ounders it being rather the Experience of their Exigency than a wise Fore-sight that establish'd them God therefore whose Wisdom is infinite ought to employ the simplest and most comprehensive Means in the Formation of a future World as well as in the Preservation of the present He ought not to multiply His Wills which are the executive Laws of His Designs save when Necessity obliges Him to it but must act by General Wills and so settle a Constant and Regular Order by which He foresees through the infinite Comprehension of His Wisdom that a Work so admirable as His must needs be form'd Let us see the Consequences of this Principle and the Application we may make of it in the Explication of those Difficulties which seem very puzzling and perplex'd XXXIX Holy Writ on one hand teaches us that God wills all Men should be sav'd and come to the Knowledge of the Truth and on the other that He does whatever He wills and yet Faith is not given to all Men and the Number of those that perish is greater than that of the Predestinate How can this be reconcil'd with His Power XL. God foresaw from all Eternity Original Sin and the Infinite Number of those whom Sin should cast into Hell and nevertheless created the First Man in a State from whence He knew He must fall and likewise has appointed such Relations betwixt this Man and his
as Jesus Christ alone can merit Grace for us so it is he alone that can administer Occasions to the General Laws by which it is distributed to Men. For the Principle or Foundation of these General Laws or that which determines their Efficacy being necessarily either in us or in Jesus Christ since it is certain that it is not in us it must needs be found in him VIII Besides when Man had sinn'd did it behoove God to have any more regard to his Desires Being we are all in a disorder'd State we can no longer be an Occasion of God's shewing us Favour But a Mediatour was needful not only to give us Access towards God but to be the Occasional Cause of the Favours we hope from him IX Whereas God had a Design of making his Son the Head of his Church it was requisite he should constitute him the Occasional or Natural Cause of the Grace which sanctifies it For 't is the Head which communicates Life and Motion to the Limbs and with that Prospect God permitted Sin For if Man had continued in Innocence as his Will had been meritorious of Grace and even of Glory so the inviolable Laws of Order would have requir'd that God should have appointed in Man the Occasional Cause of his Perfection and his Happiness In so much that Jesus Christ would not have been the Head of the Church or at most had been but the Head of those Influences which all the Members might have easily dispens'd with X. If our Soul were in our Body before it was form'd and if by her diverse Volitions all the Parts which compose it were rang'd and postur'd with how many various Sensations and different Motions would she be touch'd upon consideration of all the Effects which were to follow her Volitions Especially if she were extremely desirous of forming the most vigorous and best made Body pobssile XI Now Holy Scripture does not only say that Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church but also that he begets it and fashions it and gives it increase that he suffers merits acts and influences continually in it The Zeal which Jesus Christ has for his Father's Glory and the Love he bears to his Church constantly suggest to him the Desire of making it the most ample the most magnificent and the perfectest that can be Therefore as the Soul of Jesus has not an infinite Capacity and yet would endow his Church with infinite Beauties and Ornaments we have all reason to believe that there is in his holy Soul a continual Chain of Thoughts and Desires with reference to the mystical Body which he constantly forms XII Now they are these continual Desires of the Soul of Jesus that tend to sanctifie his Church and render it worthy of his Father's Majesty which God has establish'd the Occasional Causes of the Efficacy of the general Laws of Grace For we are taught by Faith that God hath given his Son an absolute Power over Men in constituting him Head of his Church which yet cannot be conceiv'd unless the several Volitions of Jesus Christ are follow'd by their Effects For 't is manifest I should have no Power over my Arm if it mov'd when I would not have it and remain'd dead and motionless when I desir'd to move it XIII This Sovereign Power Jesus Christ has merited over Men as also that Quality of Head of the Church by the Sacrifice he offer'd upon Earth on full Possession of which Right he entred after his Resurrection 'T is now that he is High Priest of future Goods and that He by his diverse Desires prays indefatigably for Men to the Father And since his Desires are Occasional Causes his Prayers are always heard His Father denies him nothing as the Scripture assures us and yet his Prayers and Desires are necessary to obtain Because Occasional Physical Natural Causes for these three Terms have here the same Signification have no Power of themselves and all the Creatures even Jesus Christ consider'd as Man are in themselves but Weakness and Impotence XIV Therefore the Soul of Jesus having a Succession of various Thoughts with reference to the diverse Dispositions whereof Souls in general are capable has these Thoughts attended with certain Desires relating to the Sanctification of these Souls Which Desires being Occasional Causes of Grace ought to shed it on those Persons in particular whose Dispositions resemble that which the Soul of Jesus Christ actually thinks on and this Grace ought to be so much stronger and more abundant as his Desires are more strong and lasting XV. When a Person considers any Part of his Body that is not form'd as it ought to be he naturally has certain Desires relating to it and to the Use he would make of it in a sociable Life which Desires are prosecuted with certain insensible Motions of the Animal Spirits and tend to the posturing or proportioning it in a due manner When the Body is quite form'd and the Flesh is grown solid and consistent these Motions cannot change the Contexture of the Parts but only give them certain Dispositions which we call Corporeal Habits But when the Body is not completely form'd and the Flesh is extremely soft and tender these Motions which accompany the Desires of the Soul not only give the Body particular Dispositions but also change its Construction Which is sufficiently manifest in Children unborn For they are not only mov'd with the same Passions as their Mothers but also receive on their Bodies the Marks of these Passions from which their Mothers are always exempt XVI The Mystical Body of Jesus Christ is not yet grown into a Perfect Man nor will be till the Accomplishment of Ages but he continually is forming it For he is the Head which gives all the Members their increase by the Efficacy of his Influence according to the proportion convenient for each to the end it may be form'd and edified by Charity Which are Truths we are taught by St. Paul Now since Jesus Christ has no other Action than the diverse Motions of his Will 't is necessary that his Desires should be follow'd with the Influence of Grace which only can form him in his Members and give them that Beauty and Proportion which ought to be the Eternal Object of Divine Love XVII The diverse Motions of the Soul of Jesus being the Occasional Causes of Grace we need not wonder if it be sometimes given to the greatest Sinners or to Persons that make no use of it For the Soul of Jesus desiring to raise a Temple of a vast Extent and of infinite Beauty may wish that Grace may be given to the greatest Sinners and if in that Moment Jesus Christ thinks actually on the Covetous for Instance the Covetous shall receive Grace Or Jesus Christ wanting for the Construction of his Church Minds of a certain Character commonly not attainable but by those who suffer certain Persecutions whereof the Passions of Men are the natural
hears the Prayers of the Humble he will comfort them justfie them and save them he will fill them with Blessings and will debase the high Mind of the Proud Blessed are the Poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven but woe to the Rich â—or they have their Consolation in this World How hard is it says our Saviour for those that have much Wealth to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven 'T is harder for a Camel to pass through the Eye of a Needle which cannot be done without a Miracle As for those who like David humble their Souls with Fasting change their Garments for Sack-cloth in a word afflict themselves upon sight of their Sins and the Holiness of God they are the worthy Objects of the Compassion of Jesus For God despises not a broken and contrite Heart We constantly disarm the Anger of God when we take his Part against our selves and revenge his Quarrel The Will of Jesus Christ being entirely conformable to Order whereof all Men have naturally some Idea we might still discover by Reason that he has more Thoughts and Desires in regard to some Persons than others For Order requires that more Graces should be shed on those for Example who are call'd to Holy Orders than on others whose Employment necessarily engages them in Worldly Commerce in a word On those who constitute the Principal Parts of the Church Militant than on such as have no regard to any body or that meddle in the Ecclesiastical State or raise themselves above others out of Ambition or Interest For though it be requisite that Jesus Christ should give them Graces in relation to their Charge they merit not the Gift of that Grace which may sanctifie them in the Station they have chosen out of Self-love They may have the Gift of Prophecy whilst they may want Charity as we are taught by Scripture XXVI But though we may discover by the Light of Reason and the Authority of Holy Writ something of the diverse Wills of the Soul of Jesus yet that Order and Process of Desires which accomplish the Predestination of the Saints and which tend only to the honouring God in the Establishment of his Church is an unfathomable Abyss to the Mind of Man For if St. Paul had not taught us that God would that all Men should be included in Unbelief that he might exercise his Mercy towards them should we ever have thought that the Jews were to fall into a wilful Blindness not only that the multitude of the Nations might enter into the Church but that they themselves might receive Mercy at the Accomplishment of Ages The future World being to be a Work of pure Mercy and to have infinite Ornaments whereof we have no Idea since the Substance of Spirits is unknown to us it is plain we can discover very little in the different Desires of the Soul of Jesus these Desires being related to Designs we are ignorant of Thus in the Distribution God makes of his Graces we ought to cry out with St. Paul O the depth of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out XXVII We have prov'd that the diverse Designs of the Soul of Jesus are the Occasional Causes of Grace and we have endeavour'd to discover something of these Desires Let us now see of what sort of Grace they are the Occasional Causes For though Jesus Christ be the meritorious Cause of all Graces it is not necessary he should be the Occasional Cause of the Graces of Light and of certain external Graces which are Preparatory to the Conversion of the Heart and which do not opperate For Jesus Christ is always the Occasional or Necessary Cause according to the Establish'd Order of God in point of all those Graces which opperate Salvation XXVIII In order to our distinct understanding what this Grace is which Jesus Christ as Head of the Church diffuses in his Members we ought to know what is that Concupiscence which the First Man has communicated to all his Posterity For the Second Adam came to remedy the Disorders which the First Adam was the Cause of And there is such an Affinity between the Sinful and Earthly and the Innocent and Heavenly Adam that St. Paul looks upon the former communicating Sin to his Children by his Disobedience as the Type and Figure of the latter infusing Justice and Holiness into Christians by his Obedience XXIX Order requires that the Mind should have the Supremacy over the Body and not be divided against its Will by all those Sensations and Motions which apply it to sensible Objects Therefore the First Man before his Sin was so absolute over his Senses and Passions that they were mute and silent as soon as he desir'd it nothing could give him an involuntary Diversion from his Duty and all the Pleasures which at present precede Reason did only respectfully caution him in a ready and easie manner of what ought to be done for the Preservation of his Life But after his Sin he lost on a sudden that Power over his Body So that not being able to stop the Motions nor obliterate the Traces which sensible Objects produc'd in the principal Part of his Braiâ— his Soul by the Order of Nature and in Punishment of his Disobedience found her self miserably enslav'd to the Law of Concupiscence to that Carnal Law which constantly wars against the Mind inspiring it with the Love of sensible Goods and so ruling it by strong and lively and at once soft and agreeable Passions that it cannot and indeed will not make the necessary Struggles for its breaking the captivating Bonds For the Contagion of Sin is spread through the Children of Adam by an unavoidable Consequence of the Order of Nature as I have explain'd in another place XXX The Heart of Man is the constant Slave of Pleasure and when Reason teaches us that 't is not convenient to enjoy it we put it off but with Design of finding it more delicate and solid We willingly sacrifice little Pleasures to the greater but the invincible Impression we are under for Happiness will not permit us to deny our selves all our Life the Satisfaction we enjoy when we give our selves up to follow our Passions XXXI 'T is certain that Pleasure makes happy the Possessour at least whilst he enjoys it Therefore Men being made to be Happy Pleasure always gives the Will the first shock and puts it constantly in Motion towards the Good that causes or seems to cause it The contrary is to be said of Pain Now Concupiscence consisting only in a continual train of Sensations and Motions antecedent to Reason and not subject to it of Pleasures which seeming to flow from surrounding Objects inspire into us the Love of them and of Pains which rendring the Exercise of Vertue rough and painful make us hate it The Second Adam to remedy the Disorders of the First ought to
they had committed in murthering our Saviour it was fit that Jesus Christ should come into the World about the Reign of Herod supposing that People by the necessary Consequence of the Order of Nature was to be divided about that time that Civil Wars and perpetual Seditions were to weaken them and that lastly the Romans were to ruine and disperse them with the total Destruction of their City and Temple 'T is true there seems to be something extraordinary in the Desolation of the Jews But as it shews greater Wisdom in God to produce so surprizing Effects by the most simple and general Laws of Nature than by particular Wills which are always Miracles I question whether on that Occasion we are to fly unto a Miracle But for my part I dispute it not here since 't is a Fact that we cannot easily nor need we explain our selves upon And I produce this Instance only to make some Application of my Principles and to make them more easily intelligible to others I have I think said enough of Nature and Grace to satisfie all equitable and moderate Persons about an infinite Number of Difficulties which disturb only their Minds who must needs judge of God by themselves For if Men would consult the Idea of an Infinitely Perfect Being of a General Cause of an Infinite Wisdom and if they would consent to the Principles I have establish'd conformable to that Idea I believe they would neither be surpriz'd nor offended at the Conduct of GOD and that they would change their Murmurs and Censures into Wonder and Adoration CONCERNING Nature and Grace DISCOURSE III. Of the Manner of GRACE's acting in us PART I. Concerning Liberty I. THERE is nothing more rude and unform'd than the Substance of Spirits if we separate it from God For what 's a Mind void of Understanding and Reason destitute of Motion and Love Yet it is the Word and Wisdom of God which is the universal Reason of Minds and 't is the Love whereby God loves himself that gives the Soul the Motion she has towards Good If the Mind knows Truth 't is by its Natural and Necessary Union with Truth it self If it is reasonable 't is so through supreme Reason Lastly If it be a Spirit or Intelligence 't is in one sense because its Substance is enlightned penetrated and perfected by the Light of God himself These Truths I have explain'd in another Place So likewise the Substance of the Soul is not capable of loving Good save by its Natural and Necessary Union with the Eternal and Substantial Love of the Supreme Good it advances not towards Good any farther than convey'd by God it is volent only from the Motion it continually receives from him it lives only through Charity and wills merely through the Love of Good which God makes it participate though it abuses it For in fine God making and preserving Minds only for himself inclines them towards him as long as he preserves their Being and communicates the Love of Good to them whilst they are capable of receiving it Now that natural and continual Motion of the Soul towards Good in general towards Good indefinite towards God is what I here call Will Since 't is that Motion which capacitates the Substance of the Soul to love different Goods II. This Natural Motion of the Soul towards Good in general is invincible for 't is not in our Power not to will to be happy We necessarily love what we clearly know and lively feel to be our Good All Minds love God by the Necessity of their Nature and if they love any thing else by a Free Choice of their Will 't is not because they seek not God or the Cause of their Felicity but because they are deceiv'd 'T is because perceiving by a confus'd Sensation that surrounding Bodies make them happy they consider them as good and by an Ordinary and Natural Consequence love them and unite to them III. But the Love of all these particular Goods is not naturally invincible Man consider'd in his Original State might supersede loving those Goods that fill'd not the whole Capacity of his Affection There being but one Good which includes all others he might sacrifice every other Love to the Love of this For God having made Minds only for himself cannot invincibly carry them to the loving any thing besides him or without relation to him Lastly our own inward Consciousness informs us that we can reject a Fruit though we are inclin'd to take it Now that Power of loving or not loving particular Goods the Non-invincibility which is found in the Motion which carries Minds to the loving what does not seem every way inclusive of all Goods That Power or Non-invincibility is what I call Liberty Thus placing the Definition instead of the thing defin'd that Expression our Will is free signifies that the Natural Motion of the Soul towards Good in general is not invincible in point of Good in particular To the Word Free the Idea of Voluâ—tary is commonly annex'd but in the Sequel of this Discourse I shall take the Word in the Sense I have observ'd as being the most Natural and Ordinary IV. The Word Good is equivocal and may signifie either Pleasure which makes formally happy or the true or seeming Cause of Pleasure In this Discourse I shall constantly take the Word Good in the second Sense because indeed Pleasure is imprinted on the Soul that she may love the Cause that makes her happy that she may advance towards it by the Motion of her Love and may strictly unite to it to be perpetually happy When the Soul loves nothing but her own Pleasure she in effect loves nothing distinct from her self For Pleasure is only a Condition or Modification of the Soul which renders her actually happy and content But whilst the Soul cannot be the Cause of her own Pleasure she 's unjust ungrateful and blind if she loves her Pleasure and forgets to pay the Love and Devotion which is due to the true Cause that produces it in her As none but God can act immediately and by himself on the Soul and make her sensible of Pleasure by the actual Efficacy of his all-potent Will so he alone is truly Good However I term the Creatures Good which are the seeming Causes of the Pleasures we feel occasionally from them For I am unwilling to deviate from the customary way of Speaking any farther than is necessary to explain my self clearly All Creatures though Good in themselves or Perfect with reference to the Designs of God are not Good with reference to us They are not our Good nor the true Cause of our Pleasure or Felicity V. The natural Motion which God constantly imprints on the Soul to carry it to love him or to make use of a Term which is the Abridgement of several Ideas and can be no longer equivocal or confus'd after the Definition I have given of it the Will is determin'd towards particular Goods either
it and though never so desirous of Happiness or the Enjoyment of Pleasures no Pleasure is stronger than his Light Not but that Pleasures can blind him perturbate his Reason and fill up his thinking Capacity For the Mind being finite all Pleasure is capable of dividing and distracting it But that Pleasures being subjected to his Will he is too cautious to be intoxicated by them For the sole invincible Pleasure is that of the Blessed or that which the First Man had found in God if God should have prevented and hindred his Fall not only because this Pleasure fills all the Faculties of the Soul without disturbing her Reason or carrying her to the Love of a pretended Good but also because nothing withstands the Enjoyment of this Pleasure neither the Desire of Perfection nor that of Felicity For when we love God we are perfect when we enjoy him we are happy and when we love him with Pleasure we are happy and perfect all at once Thus the perfectest Liberty is that of Minds which can at all times overcome the greatest Pleasures of Minds to which no Motion towards particular Goods is ever irresistible 'T is that of a Man before the Sin before Concupiscence troubled his Mind and corrupted his Heart And the most imperfect Liberty is that of those to whom no Motion towards a particular Good though never so little but is invincible in all sorts of Circumstances X. Now betwixt these two sorts of Liberty there are more and less Perfect to an Infinity of Degrees which is a thing not sufficiently minded 'T is commonly imagin'd that Liberty is equal in all Men and that 't is an Essential Faculty of the Mind the Nature whereof remains constantly the same though its Action varies according to the diversity of Objects For we regardlesly suppose a perfect Equality in all things wherein no sensible Inequality appears Men indulge their Mind and rid it of all tedious Application by giving things an abstract Form consisting in a sort of indivisible Essence But this is an Errour Liberty being no such Faculty as is imagin'd There are not two Persons equally free in respect of the same Objects Children have less Liberty than Men arriv'd to the perfect Exercise of their Reason Nor are there two Men whose Reason is equally clear constant and certain in regard of the same Objects Those whose Passions are unruly and who have been unaccustom'd to resist them are less free than others who have couragiously impugn'd them and who are naturally Men of Temper and there are not two Men equally moderate equally sensible to the same Objects and who have equally fought for the Preservation of their Liberty Some Persons there are so sold to Sin that they less resist or think of resisting it when awake than pious Men in their Sleep since we are taught by the Word of Truth that he who commits Sin becomes a Slave to it XI ' True it is that by the Institution of Nature all Men are equally free For God does not invincibly determine Men to the Love of any particular Good But Concupiscence corrupts the Moral and Intellectual Part and since Man has lost the Power of obliterating the Tracts of sensible Pleasures and stopping the Motions of Concupiscence That Liberty which had been equal in all Men if they had not sinn'd grows unequal according to their different degrees of Light and as variously work'd on by Concupiscence For Concupiscence it self which is equal in all Men in as much as they have lost their Power over their Body is a thousand ways unequal because of the Diversity that is found in the Construction of the Body in the Multiplicity and Motion of the Spirits and those almost infinite Alliances and Relations obtain'd through the Commerce of the World XII To our distincter understanding the Inequality which is found in the Liberty of different Persons we must observe that every Man perfectly reasonable perfectly free and who would be truly happy may and ought upon the Presence of any Object which gives him the sense of Pleasure suspend his Love and carefully examine whether this Object be the true Good or whether the Motion which carries him towards it exactly comport with that which leads him to the true Good Otherwise he would love by Instinct and not by Reason and if he could not suspend the Judgment of his Love before he had examin'd it he would not be perfectly free But if he clearly discovers that this Object which gives him the Sense of Pleasure is truly good to him and if the Evidence in conjunction with the Sensation be such as will not permit him to suspend his Judgment then though perfectly free he is no longer free in respect of that Good but he invincibly loves it because Pleasure agrees with Evidence But being that God alone can act in us as our Good and the Motion which byasses us towards the Creatures is repugnant to that which carries us towards God every Man perfectly reasonable and entirely free may and must forbear to judge that sensible Objects are his Goods He may and ought to suspend the Judgment which regulates or should regulate his Love For he can never evidently see that sensible Goods are true Goods since that can never be evidently seen which is not XIII This Power of suspending the Judgment which is the actual Rule of Love this Power which is the Principle of our Liberty and by which Pleasures are not always invincible is very much weaken'd since the Sin though not quite destroy'd And that we may have actually this Power when we are tempted by an Object 't is necessary besides the Love of Order to have a thoughtful Mind and to be sensible to the Remorse of Conscience for a Child or a Man asleep have not actually this Power But all Men are not equally enlightned the Mind of Sinners is full of Darkness Consciences are not equally tender the Heart of Sinners is hardned The Love of Order actual Graces are unequal in all Men Therefore they are not equally free nor have equal Power of suspending their Judgment Pleasure determines them and moves some rather than others This Man can suspend his Judgment and wave his Consent when a present Object gives him the Tast of a most quickning and sensible Pleasure and another is of so narrow a Mind and corrupt an Heart that the least Pleasure is irresistible and the least Pain insupportable Being not wont to fight against sensible Allurements he becomes so dispos'd as not even to think of resisting them Thus he has not then the Power of deferring his Consent since he even wants the Power of making a Reflection and in regard to that Object he is like a Man asleep or out of his Wits XIV The more weak is Reason the more sensible grows the Soul and more readily and falsly she judges of sensible Good and Evil. If a Leaf pricks or even tickles a Man when asleep he wakes in a start
full of Obscurity and Darkness are founded on the Ignorance we are in of the Properties of our Soul 'T is from our having as I have elsewhere proved no clear Idea of our Being and that what is in us which gives way to be conquer'd by a Determination not invincible is absolutely unknown to us Furthermore if I cannot clearly answer these Objections I can answer by others which to me seem more incapable of Solution I can from Principles oppos'd to mine deduce more harsh and unlucky Consequences than those which are presum'd to follow from Liberty such as I have suppos'd in us But I engage not on the Particulars of all this as taking no delight to walk in the dark and to lead others upon Precipices THE ILLUSTRATION OR CONTINUATION OF THE TREATISE CONCERNING Nature and Grace What is meant by acting by General and Particular Wills I. I Say that God acts by General Wills when he acts in consequence of the General Laws which he has establish'd For Example I say that God acts in me by General Wills when he gives me the Sense of Pain when I am prick'd since in pursuance of the General and Efficacious Laws of Union of my Soul and Body which he has constituted he makes me suffer Pain when my Body's ill dispos'd So when a Bowl strikes another I say God moves the stricken by a General Will because he moves it in pursuance of the General and Efficacious Laws of the Communications of Motions God having generally Ordain'd that at the Instant of Collision of two Bodies the Motion should be distributed between them according to certain Proportions and 't is by the Efficacy of that General Will that Bodies have the force of moving one another II. I say on the contrary that God acts by Particular Wills when the Efficacy of his Will is not determin'd by some General Law to the producing any Effect Thus supposing God should make me feel the Pain of pricking whilst there happen'd no Change in my Body or in any Creature whatsover which determines him to act in me by some General Law I say that then God acts by Particular Wills So again supposing a Body begins to move without being stricken by another or without any Alteration happening in the Will of Spirits or in any other Creature which determines the Efficacy of some General Laws I say that God would move that Body by a Particular Will III. According to these Definitions it plainly appears that so far from denying Providence I suppose on the contrary that God works all in all things that the Nature of the Heathen Philosophers is a Chimera and that to speak properly Nature is nothing but the General Laws which God has establish'd for the Construction or Preservation of his Work by the simplest ways by an Action always uniform constant perfectly worthy of an infinite Wisdom and an universal Cause But that which I here suppose though certain for the Reasons I have given in The Search after Truth is not absolutely necessary to what I design to prove For if it be suppos'd that God had communicated his Power to the Creatures in such a manner as that surrounding Bodies had a real and true Force by which they might act on our Soul and make her happy and miserable by Pleasure and Pain and that Bodies in Motion had in themselves a certain Entity which they call Impress'd Quality that they can communicate it to those about them and with that Celerity and Uniformity we observe it would be still equally easie to prove what I intend For then the Efficacy of the concurrent Action of the General Cause would be necessarily determin'd by the Action of the Particular Cause God for Instance would be oblig'd by these Principles to afford his Concourse to a Body at the Instant of Collision that it might communicate its Motion to others which is still to act by virtue of a General Law Yet I do not argue upon that Supposition as believing it utterly false as I have shewn in the Third Chapter and Second Part of the Sixth Book of The Search after Truth in the Illustration of the same Chapter and elsewhere Which Truths suppos'd here follow the Notes by which we may discover whether an Effect be produc'd by a General or Particular Will MARKS by which we may judge whether an Effect be produc'd by a General or Particular Will IV. When we see an Effect immediately produc'd after the Action of an Occasionl Cause we ought to judge it produc'd by the Efficacy of a General Will. A Body moves immediately after the Collision the Collision of Bodies is the Action of an Occasional Cause Therefore this Body moves by a General Will. A Stone falls on the Head of a Man and kills him and this Stone falls like all others that is continues its Motion almost in Arithmetical Proportion 1 3 5 7 9 c. Which suppos'd I say it moves by the Efficacy of a General Will or by the Laws of the Communications of Motions as is easie to demonstrate V. When we see an Effect produc'd without the Mediation of the known Occasional Cause we have reason to think it produc'd by a Particular Will supposing this Effect be not manifestly unworthy of its Cause as I shall say hereafter For Example When a Body 's mov'd without being smitten by another there 's great Probability it was mov'd by a Particular Will but yet we cannot be confident of it For on Supposition of a General Law that Bodies should move according to the several Volitions of Angels or the like 't is visible this Body might be put in Motion without Impulsion the particular Will of some Angel being in this case able to determine the Will of the general Cause to move it Thus we may be often positive that God acts by general Wills but we cannot have the like Assurance that he acts by particular Wills even in the most averr'd Miracles VI. Since we have not a competent Knowledge of the various Combinations of Occasional Causes to discover whether such and such Effects arrive in consequence of their Action and are not sufficiently Intelligent to discover for Instance whether such a Rain be Natural or Miraculous produc'd by a necessary Consequence of the Communication of Motions or by a particular Will we must judge an Effect is produc'd by a General Will when 't is visible the Cause did not propose it self a particular End For the Wills of Intelligences have necessarily an End general Wills a general End and particular Wills a particular Design Nothing can be more plain and evident For Example Though I cannot discover whether a Shower of Rain which falls on a Meadow falls in consequence of general Laws or by a particular Will of God I have reason to think it falls by a general Will if I see it fall as well on the neighbouring Grounds or on the River which bounds the Meadow no less than on the Meadow it self For
and absolute Lord of all things by right of Generation These Truths are evident as we are assur'd by Jesus Christ himself who says that his Father has given him power to judge Men because he is the Son of Man So we ought not to think that Scripture Expressions which make Jesus Christ the Author of Grace must be understood of him consider'd in his Divine Person For if so I confess I should not have prov'd him the Occasional Cause since he would be the True Cause of it But whereas it is certain that the Three Persons of the Trinity are equally the True Cause of Grace because all the External Operations of God are common to them all my Proofs are undeniable since Holy Scripture says of the Son and not of the Father or the Holy Spirit that he is the Head of the Church and that in this Capacity he communicates Life to the constituent Members of it Second OBJECTION XIV 'T is God who gives the Soul of Jesus Christ all the Thoughts and Motions relating to the Formation of his Mystical Body So that if on one hand the Wills of Jesus Christ as Occasional or Natural Causes determine the Efficacy of the General Wills of God on the other 't is God himself who determines the several Wills of Jesus Christ. And thus it comes to the same thing For in brief the Volitions of Jesus Christ are always conformable to those of his Father I grant that the particular Volitions of the Soul of Jesus Christ are always conformable to the Wills of his Father not as if there were any particular Wills in the Father which answer to those in the Son and determine them but only that the Volitions of the Son are always conform'd to Order in general which is the necessary Rule of the Will of God and of all those who love him For to love Order is to love God 't is to will what he wills 't is to be Just Wise Regular in our Love The Soul of Jesus desires to form to the Glory of his Father the largest most sumptuous and accomplish'd Temple possible Order demands this since nothing can be made too great for God All the several Thoughts of this Soul perpetually intent on the Execution of its Design proceed likewise from God or the Word to which it is united But its various Desires are certainly the Occasional Cause of these various Thoughts for it thinks on what it wills Now these diverse Desires are sometimes entirely free and probably the Thoughts which excite them do not invincibly determine the Soul of Jesus Christ to apply her self to the Means of executing them For in brief 't is equally advantageous to the Design of Jesus Christ whether it be Peter or John that causes the Effect which the Regularity of his Work requires 'T is true the Soul of Jesus is not indifferent in any thing that relates to his Father's Glory or that Order necessarily demands but is entirely free in all the rest there is nothing extraneous to God which invincibly determines his Love Thus we ought not to wonder if Jesus have particular Wills though there be not the like Wills in God to determine them But let it be granted that the Volitions of Jesus Christ are not free and that his Light invincibly carries him to will and to will always in a determinate manner in the Construction of his Church But it is Eternal Wisdom to which his Soul is united that must determine his Volitions We must not for that Effect suppose Particular Wills in God But all the Wills of Jesus Christ are Particular or have no Occasional Cause to determine their Efficacy as have those of God For the Soul of Jesus Christ having not an infinite Capacity of Thinking his Notices and consequently his Volitions are limited Therefore his Wills must needs be Particular since they change according to his diverse Thoughts and Applications For probably the Soul of Jesus Christ otherwise imploy'd in Contemplating and tasting the infinite Satisfactions of the True Good methinks ought not according to Order desire at once to think on all the Ornaments and Beauties he would bestow upon his Church nor on the different Ways of executing each of his Designs For Jesus Christ desiring to render the Church worthy of the infinite Majesty of his Father would gladly perfect it with infinite Beauties by Ways most conformable to Order He must then constantly change his Desires there being but one infinite Wisdom who can fore-see all and prescribe himself General Laws for the executing his Designs But the future World being to subsist eternally and to be infinitely more perfect than the present it was requisite that God should establish an Occasional Cause Intelligent and Enlightned by Eternal Wisdom to remedy the Defects which should unavoidably happen in the Works that were form'd by General Laws The Collision of Bodies which determines the Efficacy of the General Laws of Nature is an Occasional Cause without Understanding and Liberty and therefore 't is impossible but there must be Imperfections in the World and Monsters produc'd which are not of such account as that the Wisdom of God should descend to remedy them by Particular Wills But Jesus Christ being an Intelligent Occasional Cause illuminate with the Wisdom of the Word and susceptible of Particular Wills according to the particular Exigencies of the Work he forms 't is plain that the future World will be infinitely more perfect than the present that the Church will be without Spot or Wrinkle as we are taught by Scripture and that it will be a Work most worthy of the Complacency of God himself 'T is in this manner that Eternal Wisdom renders as I may say to his Father what he had taken from him For not permitting him to act by Particular Wills he seem'd to disable his Almighty Arm But becoming incarnate he so brings it to pass that God acting in a manner worthy of him by most Simple and General Laws produces a Work wherein the most Illuminate Intelligences cannot observe the least Imperfection PROOFS founded on REASON XV. Having demonstrated by the Authority of Scripture that the diverse Motions of the Soul of Jesus Christ are the Occasional Causes which determine the Efficacy of the General Law of Grace by which God would have all Men sav'd in his Son 't is necessary to shew in general by Reason that we are not to believe God acts in the Order of Grace by Particular Wills For though by Reason separate from Faith it cannot be demonstrated that God has constituted the Wills of Man-God the Occasional Causes of his Gifts yet it may without Faith be shewn that he distributes them not to Men by Particular Wills and that in two manners a priori and a posteriori that is by the Idea we have of God and by the Effects of Grace For there is nothing but serves to prove this Truth First then for the Proof of a priori A wise Being
* By the Essence of a thing I mean that which is first conceiv'd in it on which depend all the Modifications observ'd in it †Second Part of the Pure Mind Chap. 7. II. We know not all the Modifications our Soul is capable of * S. Aug. lib. 6. de Musica Des Cartes in his Man c. I. The Mind being limited cannot comprehend anything of an infinite Nature II. The limitation of the mind is the Origine of a great many Errors * Art of Thinking III. And especially of Heresies I. That the Philosophers want order in their Studies II. An Instance of the want of order in Aristotle Lib. 5. de generatione Anim. c. 1. III. That Geometricians take a good Method in search of Truth IV. That their Method increases the strength of the Mind and that Aristotle 's Logick diminishes it Book 6 in the 1 st Part concerning Method V. Another Fault of Learned Men. I. The Mind cannot dwell long upon Objects that have no Relation or that include not something of Infinity in them II. The Inconstancy of the Will is the Cause of that want of Application and consequently of Error III. Our Sensations take us up more than the Pure Idea's of the Mind See the 7 th Chap. of the Second Part of this Book IV. Which is the Source of the Corruption of our Morals * Namely a Natural Love for we cannot hate Pleasure by an Elective Hatred †Because Elective Love cannot be long without conforming to Natural Love I. What is meant by Idea's That they really exist and are necessary to our Perceiving all material Objects This Paragraph is in Italick because it may be passed over as being difficult to be understood unless a Man know what I think of the Soul and of the Nature of Idea's II. A Particularization of all the ways possible for us to perceivâ— External Objects If a Man has a mind to know how all the Impressions of Visible Objects tho' oppos'd can be communicated without weakning let him read Mr. Des-Cartes 's Dioptrics Tanto meliora esse judico quae oculis cerno quanto pro sui natura viciniora sunt iis quae animo intelligo Aug. 6.3 de Vera Religione See the 3 d. Ch. of the 2 d. Part concerning Method Dic quia tu tibi lumen non es Serm. 8. de verbis Domini 2 Cor. 3.5 Rom. 1.19 Jac. 1.17 Ps. 94.10 Joh. 1.9 Lib 14. de Trin. cap. 13. See the Illustrations Act. Apost c. 17.28 I. Four different manners of Perception II. How we know GOD Humanis mentibus nulla interposita natura praesidet Aug. lib. de vera Relig. c. 55. III. How we know Bodies IV. How we know the Soul See the Illustrations V. How we know the Souls of other Men. I. The intimate Presence of the indefinite Idea of Being in general is the cause of all the disorderly Abstractions of the Mind and the most part of the Chimaera's of the Vulgar Philosophy which hinder many Philosophers from acknowledging the solidity of true Principles of Physick II. Of the Essence of Matter If this Definition of the word Essence be admitted all the rest is absolutely demonstrated if it be not admitted 't is only a nominal Question wherein consists the Essence of Matter or rather it cannot be the subject of a Question I. The last general Cause of our Errors II. That the Idea's of things are not always present to the Mind when we would have them III. Every finite Mind is subject to Error IV. We ought not to judge that there is no created Being besides Body and Spirit nor that GOD is a Spirit according to the conception of Spirits Riccioli 2. Vol. Nemo est paulo eruditior in Astronomicis qui Coelorum ordinem contemplatus non agnoscat Harmoniam quandam in Planetarum intervallis motibus Journal of the Learned Aug. 9 1666. See the Illustrations I. Inclinations are as necessary to Spirits as Motions to Bodies II. God having no other Principal End of his Actions than himself gives no Motion to Spirits but what tends towards himself III. The Tendency Spirits have to Particular Goods proceeds from their Motion towards Good in general IV. The Original of the chiefest Natural Inclinations which will make up the Division of this Fourth Book I. The Inclination for Good in general is the Principle of the Restlesness of the Will II. And consequently of our Inadvertency and Ignorance III. The first Instance shewing that Morals are but little known by the generality of Men. 〈◊〉 39. de Natali Domini IV. The second Instance shewing that the Immortality of the Soul is controverted by some People V. That we are in extreme ignorance in point of Abstract things and which have but little reference to us I. Curiosity is natural and necessary II. Three Rules to moderate Curiosity III. A particular Explication of the first of these Rules Quis tam stulte curioâ—us est qui filium suum mitâ—at in Scholam ut quid Magister cogitet discat I. The Second Rule concerning Curiosity II. The Third Rule concerning Curiosity 2 Tim. 6.9 I. Of the Sâ—cond natural Inclination or of Self-love II. The Division of Self-love of Being and of Well-being or of Greatness and Pleasure I. Of the Inclination we have for whatever elevates us above others II. Of the false Judgments of some Religious Persons III. Of the false Judgments of the Superstitious and Hypocrites Of Voetius I. Of the Desire of seeming Learn'd II. Of the Conversation of the falsly Learn'd III. Of the Books of the Falsly Learn'd I. Pleasure ought to be shunn'd tho' it makes us happy 1 Cor. 15.16 II. It ought not to carry us to the loving Sensible Goods I. How it disables us from disvering Truth II. Some Instances Oper. Perf. * I speak according to common Opinion which is that the Chicken is form'd from the Egg though perhaps it is no more than nourish'd by it Col. 2.23 * Galilaeus put into the Inquisition for maintaining the Earth mov'd I. Of the Third Natural Inclination viz. The Friendship we have for other Men. * I speak as a Man For the Truest Earthly Grandeur consists only in the Imagination II. This Inclination makes us approve the Thoughts of our Friends and deceive them by undue Praises Chap. 4. E. 1. Page 9 10. Page 1. Page 10. Page 1. Page 20. Page 21. * Book 1. Ch. 9. B. 3. in several places Page 22. Page 9. Page 9. Page 6. Page 44. Page 47. Page 56 57. Page 62. Page 64. Page 80. Page 98. * Pref. Page 4. Page 12. (a) Page 1 The Animadverter's Answer * Book 1. Chap. 1. and elsewhere * Tunc beatum esse te judica cum tibi ex te gaudium omne nascetur cum in his quae homines eripiunt optant custodiunt nihil inveneris non dico quod malis sed quod velis Sen. Epist. 124. Rom. 7 23 24 * Before Sin that Sensation was not a pain but