body may be an Eye-witness of their Error But when Cato assures us that they who struck him never hurt him he asserts it or may assert it with so much Confidence and Gravity that a Man may justly question whether he be really the same as he appears to be And we may be inclin'd to think that his Soul is not to be shaken because his Body seems to be immovable For the outward Air of the Body is generally a mark of the inward disposition of the Mind So that a daring and undaunted Lyar perswades us sometimes to believe things incredible because their talking with so much Confidence is a Proof that affects the Senses and therefore a most effectual Argument that strongly convinces the generality of People Few there are therefore who look upon the Stoicks as Visionaries or as Audacious Lyars because we have no sensible Proof of that which lies reserv'd in their Breast and because the Air of the Face is a most sensible Proof that easily imposes upon us besides that our innate Vanity readily induces us to believe that Man is capable of that Grandeur and Independency to which he pretends Hence it is apparent that those Errors which abound in Seneca's Writings are of all others the most Pernicious and Contagious because they are a sort of Delicate Insinuating Errors proportion'd to the Vanity of Mankind and like to that wherein the Devil engag'd our first Parents They are likewise array'd with those Pompous and Magnificent Ornaments which make way for 'em into most Mens Minds They enter take possession stupifie and captivate 'em not with a Blindness that inclines those miserable Mortals to Humility a sensibleness of their own Ignorance and an acknowledgment of it before others but with a Haughty dazling Blindness and a Blindness accompanied with some false Glimmerings And when once Men are smitten with this blindness of Pride they presently rank themselves in the number of fine and great Wits Others also reckon 'em in the same Order and admire ' em So that there is nothing that can be thought more Contagious than this Blindness because the Vanity and Sensuality of Men the Corruption of their Senses and Passions dispose them to be known thereby and puts 'em also upon infecting others with it I believe then there is no Author more proper than Seneca to demonstrate how contagious the Imagination of some Men is who are call'd fine and great Wits and what a Command strong and vigorous Imaginations have over Weak and more Illiterate People not by the strength or evidence of their Arguments which are the productions of Wit but by a certain turn and liveliness of Expression which depends upon the Force of Imagination I know well that this Author is highly esteem'd in the World and that I shall be accus'd of more than ordinary rashness for having spoken of him as of a Man that had a Strong Imagination but little Judgment But it was chiefly by reason of this Esteem that I undertook to speak of him not out of Envy or any Morose Humour but because his great Reputation will excite many to consider more attentively those Errors of his which I have hinted We ought as much as in us lies to produce famous Examples for the confirmation of things that we assert when they are of Consequence and he that Criticizes upon a Book sometimes does it an honour However it be if I find fault with any thing in Seneca's Writings I am not single in that Opinion For not to speak of some Illustrious Persons in this Age 't is about 1600 years ago that a certain Judicious Author observ'd 1. In Philosophia parum diligens 2. Velles eum dixisse suo ingenio alieno judicio 3. Si aliqua Contempsisset c. consensu potius Eruditorum quam puerorum amore comprobaretur Quintil. l. 10. c. 1. 1. That there was little Exactness in his Philosophy 2. Little Judgment or Exactness in his Elocution 3. That his Reputation was more grounded upon the Imprudent Heat of Young Men than confirm'd by the consent of the Wise and Learned 'T is in vain to Encounter palpable Errors with Publick Writings because they are not Contagious 'T is ridiculous to admonish Men that Hypochondraical Persons are in some measure mad they know it well enough But if they for whom they have a high value mistake 't is necessary to bid 'em have a care of such for fear lest they adhere to their Errors Now it is manifest that Seneca's Spirit is a Spirit of Pride and Vanity Therefore since Pride according to the Scripture is the Original of Sin Initium peccati Superbia the Spirit of Seneca cannot be the Spirit of the Gospel Nor can his Morals have any alliance with Christian Morals which are only true and solid 'T is certain that all Seneca's thoughts are neither false nor dangerous They who being endu'd with a found Wit have attain'd the Doctrine of Christian Morals may read him to good advantage Great Men have made a profitable use of him neither is it my intention to blame those who being willing to comply with the weakness of other Men who had so high an esteem for him have drawn Arguments from the Writings of that Author to defend the Morals of Jesus Christ and to engage the Enemies of the Gospel with their own Weapons There are some good things in the Alcoran and we find some true Prophecies in the Centuries of Nostra Damus We make use of the Alcoran to confound the Religion of the Turks and the Prophecies of Nestra Damus may be serviceable to convince some Whimsical Persons But it does not follow because there is something good in the Alcoran that the Alcoran is to be call'd a good Book as some true Explanations of Nostra Damus's Centuries will not make Nostra Damus a Right Prophet and they who make use of these Books to the ends aforesaid cannot be said to have a real Esteem for ' em It would be in vain for any Man to oppose what I have said concerning Seneca by bringing a great number of Passages out of that Author conformable to the solid Truths of the Gospel I agree that there are some such as there are also in the Alcoran and in other Impious Books And they would do me wrong to overwhelm me with the Authority of an infinite number of People that have made use of Seneca because we may sometimes make use of a Book which we believe to be impertinent provided they with whom we have to deal have not the same Opinion of the Author as we have To ruine all the Philosophy of the Stoicks there needs but only one thing sufficiently prov'd by Experience as also by what we have already said That we should be bound to our Body our Parents our Friends our Prince our Country by those ties that we neither can and which it would be a shame for us to endeavour to break Our Soul is united to our Body
of Dislike which for instance proceeds from the strong Imagination they have of the Dirt in what they Eat The reason of it is that when two Motions are made in the Brain at the same time the one is never excited after the other except it be after a considerable time Thus because the agreeable Sensation never comes without this other disgustful one and because we confound things that are produced at the same time we imagine that this Sensation that was formerly agreeable to us is now no longer so Yet if it is always the same it is necessary that it should always be agreeable So that if we imagine it is not agreeable 't is because it is join'd and confounded with another that causes more distaste than the other does of agreeableness There is more difficulty to prove that Colours and some other Sensations which I have called weak and languishing are not the same in all Men because all those Sensations so little affect the Soul that we cannot distinguish them so well as we can Tastes or other Sensations more strong and lively the one being more agreeable than the other and thus to discover the diversity of Sensations that are found in different Persons by the variety of their pleasure or dislike Reason which always shows that the other Sensations are not the same in different Persons tells us also that there will be a variety in the Sensations they have of Colours And indeed there is no doubt but there is much diversity in the Organs of Sight in different Persons as well as in those of the Ear or the Taste for there is no reason to suppose a perfect resemblance in the disposition of the Optic Nerve in all Men since there is an infinite variety in every thing in Nature and chiefly in those that are Material 't is therefore very probable that all Men see not the same Colours in the same Objects Yet I believe it never or very rarely happens that Persons see White or Black to be of any other Colour than we do altho' they do not see it equally White or Black But for mixt Colours as Red Yellow and Blue and chiefly such as are compounded of all three I believe there are few Persons who have perfectly the same Sensation of them For Instance there are some Persons who when they look upon cettain Bodies with one Eye take them to be Yellow and when they behold them with the other see them to be Green or Blue yet if we suppos'd these Persons Born blind of one Eye or with both their Eyes so dispos'd to see that Blue which we call Green they wou'd believe they saw Objects of the same colour as we see them because by Green or Blue they wou'd always have understood what they see Yellow or Red. We may further prove that all Men see not the same Objects of the same Colour because according to the observation of some the same Colours do not equally please all sorts of Persons and if these Sensations were the same they wou'd be equally agreeable to all Men but because very weighty doubts may be raised against the Answer I have given to the precedent Objection I do not believe it solid enough to insist upon it Indeed it is very seldom that we are as much more pleased with one Colour than another even as we are much more pleased with one Taste than another The reason is the Sensations of Colours are not given us to Judge whether or no Bodies are proper for our Nourishment that is distinguished by Pleasure and Pain which are the Natural Characters of Good and Evil Objects in respect to their Colour are neither good nor bad to Eat If Objects appear agreeable or disagreeable to us in respect to their Colour their sight wou'd be always followed with the course of those Spirits which excite and accompany the Passions since the Soul cannot be touched without moving it and we shou'd often hate good Things and love bad so that we shou'd not long preserve our lives In fine the Sensations of Colours are only given us to distinguish Bodies from one another and therefore it does as well if we see Herbs Red as if we see them Green provided the Person that sees them Red or Green sees them always after the same manner But we have said enough of these Sensations let us now speak of Natural Judgments and the free Judgments which accompany them which is the fourth thing that we confound with the three others that we have already mention'd CHAP. XIV I. Of the false Judgments that accompany our Sensations and which we confound with them II. Reasons of these false Judgments III. That Error is not in our Sensations but only in these Judgments 'T IS easily foreseen I. Of the false Judgments that accompany our Sensations and which we confound with them that we shall not meet with many Persons that will not be offended with this General Proposition that I here advance viz. That we have no Sensation of External Objects which include not one or many Judgments we know very well that the generality of the World do not believe that there is so much as one Judgment in our Sensations either true or false so that these Persons being surprized with the Novelty of this Proposition will say without doubt in themselves But how can it be I do not Judge this Wall to be white I see very well what it is Nor do I Judge Pain to be in my Hand I most certainly feel it to be there And who can doubt of things so certain if they do not feel Objects otherwise than I do Indeed their Inclinations for the Prejudices which they have imbib'd from their Infancy carries them much further and if they do not Reproach and Contemn those whom they believe to be perswaded of a contrary Opinion to their own without doubt they deserve to be placed in the Number of Moderate Persons But we must not here stay to Prophesie of the ill success of our Thoughts it will be more to the purpose to endeavour to produce them with the strongest Proofs and so clearly discover them that they may be no sooner well examin'd or attentively consider'd but they must be submitted to Since 't is necessary to prove that we have no Sensation of External Objects which does not include some false Judgment take it thus It seems Indisputable to me that our Souls do not fill those vast Spaces which are between us and the fixt Stars altho' it shou'd be granted that themselves are extended so likewise it is not reasonable to believe that our Souls are in the Firmament when they behold the fixt Stars there Nor is it Credible that they should go out of their Bodies a thousand Paces to see Houses at that distance It is therefore necessary that our Souls see Houses and Stars where they are not since it goes not out of the Body where it is and yet sees them out
accompanied with the Emotions of the Spirits because all things which we see do not appear to us always either Good or Evil. These Connexions also may alter and break off because not being always requisite for the Preservation of Life they ought not always to be the same But there are Traces in our Brains that are Naturally united one with another as also with certain Emotions of the Spirits because such a Connexion is necessary for the Preservation of Life and their Connexion cannot be broken off or at least not very easily because it 's convenient that it should be always the same For Example the Trace of a Precipice which a Man sees under himself and from which he is in danger of falling or of some great Body which is ready to fall upon us and crush us to Death is Naturally join'd to the Trace which represents Death as also to an Emotion of the Spirits which disposes us to fly or desire an Escape This Connexion of Traces never changes because it is necessary that it should be always the same and it consists in a Disposition of the Fibres of the Brain which we have from our Birth All those Connexions which are not Natural may and ought to be broken because the various Circumstances of Time and Place ought to alter them so that they may be useful to the Preservation of Life 'T is convenient for Example that Partridges should fly from Men with Birding-Pieces in their Hands especially at such times and in such places where Men are accustomed to Hunt after them but it is not necessary that they should fly at other times and in other places Thus for the Preservation of all Creatures 't is necessary that there should be certain Connexions of Traces which may be easily form'd and destroy'd and that there should be others which may not be broken without great difficulty And lastly others which are never to be broken 'T is very useful to enquire carefully into the different Effects which these different Connexions are capable of producing for they are very numerous and of great importance for the Understanding of Man and of all things between him and which there is any Relation We shall find in the sequel of this Discourse that these Things are the Principal Cause of our Errors But 't is time to return to what we promis'd to treat of and to explain the different Changes that befal the Imagination of Men by reason of their various Manner of Living CHAP. IV. I. That Studious Men are the most subject to Error II. The Reasons why they rather choose to follow Authothority than make use of their Judgment THE Differences that are in the various Manners of Mens Living are almost Infinite There are a great Number of different Conditions Employments and Societies These Differences are the reason that almost all Men pursue different Designs and argue upon different Principles It would be very difficult to meet with several Persons who have absolutely the same Prospects in one and the same Community wherein particular Persons ought to be all of the same Spirit and have the same Designs Their different Employs and Conversation do necessarily give a different Turn and Humour in the way of Managing the Execution of those Things in which they agree This shews that it would be an impossible Undertaking to particularize the Moral Causes of Error But besides it would be of no use to do it here 't is our business only to speak of such Manners of Living as betray Men into the greatest Number of Errors and to such as are of the highest Importance When we shall have Explained those we shall have open'd a Way sufficient to enable the Mind to proceed farther and every body may be able to Survey at once and very easily the most bidden Causes of several particular Errors which cannot be explain'd but with a great deal of Time and Labour When the Mind sees clearly it delights it self with pursuing Truth which it does with an inexpressible swiftness I. That Studicus Persons are the mst subject to Error The Employment which seems most necessary to be treated of in this place because it produces the most considerable changes in the Imagination of Men and which lead us most into Error is the Employment of Studious Persons who make more use of their Memory than Wit For Experience always shews us that they who apply themselves most eagerly to the Reading of Books and to Search after Truth are those who have lead us into the greatest number of Errors 'T is the same thing with those that Study as with those that Travel When a Traveller by misfortune has taken the wrong Road the farther he advances the more remote he is from the Place whither he designs to go and the more diligent and hasty he is to arrive to the end of his Journey the more he wanders out of the way In like manner those ardent desires which Men have for Truth cause 'em to precipitate themselves into the Reading of Books where they think to find it or to frame to themselves a Chimerical Systeme of things which they desire to know for which they have a strong fancy and which they endeavour by the vain Efforts of Wit to make others relish to the end they may receive the Honour which is usually due to the Inventors of Systemes Now let us explain these two Defects 'T is a difficult thing to apprehend how it comes to pass that Men of Sense should rather choose to make use of other Persons Judgment in the Search of Truth than of that which God has bestow'd upon ' em Without doubt there is infinitely much more pleasure and honour for a Man to guide himself with his own than other Men's Eyes nor does any Man who has good Eyes ever dream of shutting 'em or of putting 'em out in hopes of one to guide him nevertheless 't is the same thing with the use of Judgment as with the use of the Eyes for as the Judgment is â—â—â—nitely above the Eyes the use of it is accompanied with satisfactions far more solid and which content it after another manner than Light and Colours do the Sight However Men always make use of their own Eyes to be their Guides but they seldom or never make use of their own Judgment to discover the Truth But there are several Causes which contribute to this same Perturbation of the Mind II. Reasons why they rather choose to follow Authority than make use of their own Judgement First the Natural Sloath of Men that will not give themselves the Trouble of Meditation Secondly Their Inability of Meditating into which they are fallen for want of applying themselves to it in their Youth as has been shew'd in the Ninth Chapter In the third place the little Love Men have for Abstracted Truths which are the foundation of every thing that is to be known here below In the fourth place the Satisfaction that Men
Familiar Letters to express and abridge their Idea's Thus the mind not being embarrassed nor imploy'd upon any Representation which it would be oblig'd to make upon many Figures and Lines it may perceive at one view all that it is capable of seeing otherwise And thus the Mind can penetrate deeper and extend it self much farther when its Capacity is well manag'd The Art of rendring the Mind more penetrating and Extensive consists as we have elsewhere explain'd in a good Management of its Powers and Capacity not in imploying it to no purpose upon things which are not necessary to discover the Truth it seeks after which ought to be well observ'd Book VI. The Second Part of Method For this only shows that common Logicks are fitter to lessen the Capacity of the Mind than to inlarge it because it is evident That if in a Search after any Truth we use the Rules they prescribe us the Capacity of the Mind is divided so that it will be unfit to be attentive and to apprehend all the Extension of the Subject it examines It is therefore sufficiently evident from what I have said That the greatest part of Men make but little Reflection upon the Nature of the Mind whilst they apply themselves to a Search after Truth for indeed they have never been well convinc'd of its little Extension and the necessity there is of well managing and enlarging it And this is one of the most considerable Causes of their Errors and from hence it is that they have so unhappily perfected their Studies But we do not pretend that there were ever any Men which were not conscious of their own Limitation and their little Capacity and Extension of Mind all the World confesses it but the Generality of them only know it confusedly and confess it only with their Mouths The Method they take in their Study gives the Lye to their Confession since they act as if they truly thought their Mind bad no Limits and they would penetrate into things that depend upon a great many Causes whereof generally they do not know one There is also another Defect which is very common in these Studious Men V. Another Defect in Studious Men. which is the applying themselves to too many Sciences at once and if they Study but six Hours in a day they will sometimes study six different things 'T is plain this Defect proceeds from the same Cause as the rest that I have before mention'd For 't is very probable that if those that study after this manner know certainly that it was not agreeable to the Capacity of their Minds and that it was more likely to fill them with Errors and Confusion than with true Science they would not suffer themselves to be hurried away by the irregular Motions of their Passions and Vanity for indeed that is not the way to satisfie the Mind since 't is not the proper Means to know any thing CHAP. IV. I. The Mind cannot long apply it self to any Object which neither relates to it self nor to Infinity II. The Inconstancy and consequently the Error of the Will proceeds from this Defect of Application III. Our Sensations affect us more than the Pure Idea's of the Mind IV. What is the Original Cause of the Corruption of Manners V. And the Ignorance of the Generality of Mankind THE Mind of Man is not only subject to Error because it is Finite or more limited than the Objects they consider as has been explained in the two precedent Chapters but also because it is Inconstant and has no Firmness in whatsoever it does and cannot keep it self fix'd long enough upon any Subject to examine it entirely To conceive the Cause of this Inconstancy and Levity of our Minds it is necessary to know that its Action is directed by the Will which applies it to such Objects as it loves and is of it self continually Inconstant and unsettled of which this is the Cause We cannot doubt but God is the Author of all things that he hath made them for himself and has inclined the Heart of Man towards him by a Natural and Invincible Impression that he continually imprints upon him God cannot Will the Existence of any Mind which cannot love him or which should love him less than any other Good if any other besides himself could be found because he cannot Will that any Mind should not love that which is most Amiable or love it more than that which is less Amiable Thus it is requisite that a Natural Love should carry us to God since it comes from him and that there is nothing that can stop the Motions of it only God himself who imprinted them Every bodies Will therefore necessarily follows the Motions of this Love The Righteous and Wicked the Happy and the Damned Love God with this Love for the Natural Love which we have for God being the same thing as the Natural Inclination that carries us to Good in General to the Infinite and Soveraign Good it is evident that all Minds Love God with this Love since he only is the Universal Infinite and Soveraign Good For indeed all Spirits and even the Devils have an Ardent Desire to be Happy and to possess the Chief Good And they desire it without Choice without Deliberation without Liberty and by a Necessity of their Nature Being therefore made for God for an Infinite Good for a Good which comprehends all others in it our Hearts can never be satisfied but by the Possession of this Good Thus our Will always labouring under an eager Thirst always agitated with Desires Anxieties II. The Inconstancy of the Will Causes the Defect of our Application and consequently causes our Error and full of Inquietudes for the Good that it does not possess cannot without much Pain suffer the Mind for any time to stop at abstracted Truths which affect it not and which it judges uncapable of making it Happy Thus she Incessantly pushes it forward to search after other Objects and when in this Agitation which the Will communicates to it it meets with any Object that has the Appearance of a Good I mean such as makes the Soul Sensible of any Pleasure or inward Satisfaction at its approach then this Thirst is excited anew these Desires these wishes and these Ardours take new Life and the Mind being oblig'd to obey them engages it self only to that Object which causes or seems to cause them to draw it nearer to the Soul which tasts it and feeds on it for some time But the Emptiness of Creatures cannot fill the Infinite Capacity of Man's Mind these little Pleasures irritate its Thirst rather than allay it and give the Soul a vain sort of a Hope of being satisfied in the Multiplicity of the Pleasures of this Life which also produces an Inconstancy and an inconceivable Levity in the Mind which was to discover to it all these Goods It 's true that when the Mind accidentally meets with any Object which is
Creatures but all Creatures only subsist by him The last Proof which perhaps will be a Demonstration to those that are used to abstracted Arguments is this It is impossible that God should have any other principal End of his Actions but himself It is a Notion that is common to all Men that are capable of any Reflection and Holy Writ does not allow us to doubt but that God has made every thing for himself Therefore it is necessary that not only our Natural Love I mean the Motion he produces in our Mind should tend towards him But moreover That the Knowledge and the Light which he bestows upon it should make us know any thing that is in him for whatever comes from God can only be for God Should God Create a Spirit and give it for an Idea or for the immediate Object of its knowledge the Sun In my Opinion God would Create that Spirit and the Idea of that Spirit for the Sun and not for him God cannot therefore Create a Spirit to know his Works unless that Spirit sees God in some measure by beholding his Works So that we may say that unless we do see God in some measure we should see nothing In like manner unless we do Love God I mean unless God did continually Imprint in us the Love of Good in general we should Love nothing For that Love being our Will we can Love nothing nor Will any thing without him since we cannot Love particular Goods without determining towards those Goods the motion of Love which God gives us towards him So that as we Love nothing but by the necessary Love we have for God so we see nothing but by the Natural Knowledge we have of God And all the particular Idea's we have of Creatures are only Limitations of the Idea of the Creator as all the Motions of the Will for the Creatures are only determinations of the motion for the Creator I believe there are no Divines but what will grant that the Impious Love God with that Natural Love I speak of And St. Austin and some other Fathers affirm as an undeniable thing That the Impious behold in God the Rule of Manners and Eternal Truths So that the Opinion I explain ought not to trouble any Body Thus St. Austin speaks L. 14. de Trin. c. 3. Ab illa incommutabili luce veritatis etiam impius dum ab ea avertitur quodammodo tangitur Hinc est quod etiam impii cogitant aeternitatem multa rectè riprehendunt rectéque laudant in hominum moribus Quibus ea tandem regulis judicant nisi in quibus vident quemadmodum quisque vivere debeat etiam si nec ipsi eodem modo vivant Vbi autem eas vident Neque enim in sua natura Nam cùm procul dubio mente ista videantur corumque mentes constet esse mutabiles has vero regula◠immutabiles videat quisquis in eis hoc videre potuerit ubinam ergo sunt istae regulae Scriptae nisi in libro lucis illius quae veritas dicitur unde lex omnis justa describitur inqua videt quid operandum sit etiam qui operatur injustitiam ipse est qui ab illa luce avertitur à qua tamen tangitur There are many passages in St. Austin like unto this by which he proves that we see God even in this Life by the knowledge we have of Eternal Truths Truth is uncreated Immutable Immense Eternal above all things It is true by it self It derives its Perfection from nothing It makes Creatures more perfect and all Spirits naturally endeavour to know it Nothing but God can have all those Perfections Therefore Truth is God We see some of those Immutable Eternal Truths Therefore we see God These are St. Austin's Reasons ours differ a little from them and we are unwilling to use the Authority of so great a Man unjustly to second our Sentiment We believe that Truths even those that are Eternal as that twice two are four are not so much as absolute Beings So far are we from believing that they are in God For it is visible that that Truth only consists in a relation of Equality which is between twice Two and Four Therefore we do not say that we see God in seeing Truths as St. Austin says but in seeing the Idea's of those Truths For Idea's are real but the Equality between the Idea's which is Truth has no reality When for example Men say that the Cloth they measure contains Three Yards the Cloth and the Yards are real But the Equality between Three Yards and the Cloth is not a real Being it is only a relation that is between the Three Yards and the Cloth When we say that twice Two are Four the Idea's of the Numbers are real but the Equality there is between them is only a Relation Thus according to our Sentiment we see God when we see Eternal Truths not that those Eternal Truths are God but because the Idea's on which those Truths depend are in God perhaps St. Austin understood it so We also believe that we know in God Changeable and Corrubtible things although St. Austin only speaks of Immutable and Incorruptible things because it is not necessary for that to place any Imperfection in God since it suffices as we have already said that God should shew us what there is in him that has a Relation to these things But though I say we see in God the things that are Material and Sensible it must be observ'd that I do not say we have a Sensation of them in God but only that it is from God who Acts in us for God Knows sensible things but he does not Feel them When we perceive any thing that is sensible Sensation and pure Idea is in our Perception Sensation is a Modification of our Soul and it is God that Causes it in us And he may Cause it though he has it not because he sees in the Idea he has of our Soul that it is capable of it As for the Idea which is joyn'd to Sensation it is in God we see it because it is his pleasure to discover it to us And God joins Sensation to the Idea when Objects are present to the end that we may believe them as they are and that we may have such Sensations and Passions as we ought to have in relation to them Lastly We believe that all Spirits see the Eternal Laws as well as other things in God but with some difference They know the Eternal Order and Eternal Truths and even the Beings which God has made according to those Truths or according to the Order by the Union which those Spirits have necessarily with the Word or Wisdom of God which directs them as we have shewn But 't is by the Impression they receive continually from the Will of God which inclines them to him and endeavours as it were to render their Will absolutely like unto his that they know
mean the Idea we have of Extension is sufficient to make us know all the Proprieties which Extension is capable of and we can never desire to have a more distinct and fuller Idea of Extension of Figures and Motions than that which God gives us of them Whereas the Idea's of the things which are in God include all their Proprieties whoever sees their Idea's may successively have all their Proprieties For when we see things as they are in God we see them always after a very perfect manner and it would be infinitely perfect if the Mind that sees them there were Infinite That which is wanting in the knowledge we have of Extension of Figures and Motions is not a defect of the Idea which represents it but of our Mind which considers it It is not so with the Soul IV. How we know our Soul we do not know it by its Idea We do not see it in God we only know it by Conscience and therefore the knowledge we have of it is imperfect We know no more of our Soul than what we feel passes within us Had we never felt Pain Heat Light c. we could not know whether our Soul would be capable of them because we do not know it by its Idea But did we see in God the Idea which answers to our Soul See the Explanations we should know at the same time or might know all the properties it is capable of As we know all the Properties that Extension is capable of because we do know Extension by the Idea of it It is true we know by our Conscience or by the Internal Sense we have of our selves that our Soul is something that is Great But it may be that which we do know of it is hardly any thing of what it is in it self If we had no more knowledge of Matter than that of Twenty or Thirty Figures it had been modified into certainly we should hardly know any thing of it in comparison of what we do know by the Idea which represents it It is not therefore sufficient to have a perfect knowledge of the Soul to know what we do know of it by the Internal Sense alone since the Conscience we have of our selves perhaps only shews us the least part of our Being It may be concluded from what has been said that though we know the Existence of our Soul more distinctly than the Existence of our Body and of those that are about us yet we have not so perfect a knowledge of the Nature of the Soul as of the Nature of Bodies and may serve to reconcile the different Opinions of those that say nothing is better known than the Soul and of those that maintain there is nothing of which they have less knowledge It may also serve to prove that the Idea's which represent some External thing to us are not Modifications of our Soul For if the Soul saw all things in considering its own Modifications it would know its Essence or Nature more clearly than that of Bodies and all the Sensations or Modifications it is capable of than the Figures or Modifications which Bodies are capable of Nevertheless it does not find that it is capable of such a Sensation by the sight it has of it self but only by Experience Whereas it knows that Extension is capable of an infinite number of Figures by the Idea it has of Extension Moreover there are certain Sensations as Colours and Sounds which most Men cannot discover whether or no they are Modifications of the Soul and Men know all manner of Figures by the Idea they have of Extension to be the Modification of Bodies What I have said also shows the Reason why it is Impossible to give a Definition that may explain the Modifications of the Soul for since we neither know the Soul nor the Modifications of it by Idea's but only by Sensations and that such Sensations of Pleasure for instance of Pain of Heat c. are not tied to words it is evident that if a Man had never seen Colours nor felt Heat it would be impossible to make him Sensible of those Sensations by whatever Definitions we could give him in order thereunto Now Men having only their Sensations upon the account of the Body and their Bodies not being dispos'd in the same manner in all of them it often happens that words are Equivocal that those which are used to express the Modifications of our Souls signifie quite contrary to what we design and we often make Men think on Bitterness for Example when we design to make them think on Sweetness Although we have not a full Knowledge of our Soul that which we have by Conscience suffices to demonstrate the Immortality Spirituality Liberty and some other Attributes of iâ— which it is necessary we should know And for that reason God does not give us the Knowledge of it by its Idea as he gives us the Knowledge of Bodies 'T is true The Knowledge we have of our Souls by our Conscience is Imperfect but it is not False The Knowledge on the contrary which we have of Bodies by Sensation or Conscience if we may call the Sensation of what passes in our Body Conscience is not only Imperfect but False Therefore it was necessary we should have an Idea of Bodies to correct the Sensations we have of them But we do not stand in need of the Idea of our Soul since the Conscience we have of it does not engage us into Error And not to be deceiv'd in the Knowledge of it it is sufficient not to Confound it with the Body which our Reason might induce us to do In sine Had we had a clear Idea of the Soul like unto that we have of the Body that Idea would have made us consider it too much as separated from it And thus it would have lessen'd the Union of our Soul with our Body by hindering us from looking upon it as being diffus'd through all our Members which I shall explain no farther V. How we know the Souls of other Men. Of all the Objects of our Knowledge there only remains the Souls of other Men and the Pure Intelligences and it is evident that we only know them by Conjecture We know them now neither in themselves nor by their Idea's and as they are distinct from us it is impossible that we should know them by Conscience We conjecture that the Souls of other Men are of the same Species with ours we think they feel what we feel in our selves and even when those Sensations have no relation to the Body we are certain that we are not deceiv'd Because we see in God certain Idea's and certain Immutable Laws according to which we know certainly that God acts equally in all Spirits I know that two and two are four that it is better to be Just than Rich and I am not mistaken in believing that others know those Truths as well as my self I love Good and Pleasure
great use and since we ought to delight in the Knowledge of things that 〈◊〉 necessary We may and ought to apply our selve to whatever may contribute any thing towards our Happiness or rather to Ease our Infirmities â—nd Miseries But to pass whole Nights in peeping through a Telescope to discover some Spot or some new Planet in the Heavens to the prejudice of our Health to the impairing our Estate to the neglecting the Care of our Affairs only to Visit the Stars Regularly and to measure their Size and Situation is in my Opinion absolutely to forget what we are at present and what we shall be hereafter Let no Body urge that it is in order to discover the Greatness of him that has form'd all these great Objects The least Fly discovers more the Power and Wisdom of God to those that consider it with Attention and without being prejudic'd by its smallness than all what the Astronomers know of the Heavens Nevertheless Men are not made to consider Flies neither do I approve the Pains some People have taken to instruct us how Lice and all kinds of Animals are Form'd and how the Transformations of different Worms into Flies and Butterflies are effected It is lawful for Men to amuse themselves about these things when they have nothing else to do to divert themselves But Men ought not to employ all their time about it unless they are insensible of their Miseries They ought continually to apply themselves to the knowledge of God and of themselves to labour Seriously to overcome their Errors and Prejudices their Passions and Inclinations for Sin earnestly to search after the Truths that are most necessary for them to know For those are the most Judicious that take most Care to discover the most solid Truths The main Cause which engages Men in false Studies is that they have fix'd the Idea of Learning to a Vain Useless Knowledge instead of fixing it to solid and necessary Sciences For when a Man resolves upon Learning and when the Spirit of Polymathy begins to move him he seldom examins what Sciences are most necessary for him either to behave himself like an Honest Man or to improve his Reason He only looks upon those that pass for Learned Men in the World and examins what renders them considerable All the most solid and necessary Sciences being pretty Common the Persons that possess them are neither admired nor respected for them for Common things are look'd upon without Attention or Emotion though never so excellent and admirable in themselves So that those who aim at Learning seldom fix on those Sciences that are necessary for the Conduct of this Life and for the Perfection of the Mind Those Sciences do not Excite in them that Idea of Sciences which they have Form'd to themselves for those are not the Sciences they have admir'd in others and which they desire others should admire in them The Gospel and Morality are Sciences that are too Common and too Ordinary they desire to learn the Criticisms of some Terms that are met with in Ancient Philosophers or in Grecian Poets Languages and particularly those that are not in use in their Country as Arabick and that of the Rabbies or the like appear to them most worthy of their Application and of their Study If they read the Bible it is not to learn Religion or Piety Points of Chronology of Geography and the difficulties of Grammar take up all their Minds They desire the knowledge of those things with more Zeal than the wholsome Truths of the Gospel They are desirous to possess that Science themselves which they have foolishly admir'd in others and which Fools will not fail to admire in them The same appears in things that relate to the Knowledge of Nature they seldom Study that which is most useful in it but that which is least Common Anatomy is too mean for them but Astronomy is a more exalted Study Common Experiments are not worthy their Application but those extraordinary and surprising Experiments which can never Improve us are what they most carefully observe The most Obscure and Ancient Histories are those they are Proud to be acquainted with They are Ignorant of the Genealogy of the Princes that Reign at this time and they make it their business to study the Descent of those that have been Dead Four Thousand Years ago They neglect the most Noted Histories of their time and apply themselves carefully to the Study of the Fables and Fictions of the Poets They hardly hnow their own Relations but if you please they will quote you many Authorities to prove that a Roman Citizen was Related to an Emperor and other like things They hardly know the Names of the Dresses that are worn in their days and yet lose their time in studying those of the Greeks and Romans The Animals of their own Country are little known by them and yet they will lavishly employ whole Years in the Composure of large Volumes about the Animals mention'd in the Bible to seem to have guess'd better than others what unknown Terms signisie Such a Book is the delight of its Author and of the Learned that Read it for being full of Greek Hebrew and Arabick Passages c. of Quotations of Rabbi's and other obscure and extraordinary Authors it satissies the Vanity of the Author and the Foolish Curiosity of the Readers who will think themselves more Learned than others when they can proudly affirm that there are Six different Words in Scripture which signifie a Lion or the like They are often Ignorant of the Map of their own Country or of the City where they are Born while they study the Map of Ancient Greece of Italy of the Gauls in Julius Caesar's Time or the Streets and publick Places of Ancient Rome Labor Stultorum says the Wise Man affliget eos qui nesciunt in urbem pergere They do not know the Way to their own Town and they Fatigue themselves Foolishly in useless Discoveries They neither know the Laws nor Customs of the Places where they Live but they carefully Study Ancient Rights the Laws of the Twelve Tables the Customs of the Lacedemonians or of the Chinese or the Ordinances of the Great Mogol Finally they are desirous to know all Extraordinary distant things which others do not know because they have Foolishly fix'd the Idea of Learning on those things and that it is sufficient to be thought Learned only to know what others are Ignorant of though at the same time they are Ignorant of the most necessary and most excellent Truths The Truth is that the Knowledge of all those things and the like is call'd Science Learning and Doctrin Use will have it so But there is a Science which is only Folly and Vanity according to Scripture Doctrina Stultorum fatuitas I have not hitherto observ'd that the Holy Ghost which gives so many Elogies to Science in holy Writ says any thing to the advantage of that false
that is Because they shall be Happy Those that suffer Persecution for Justice are thereby Just Virtuous and Perfect because they are in the Order that God has prescrib'd and Perfection consists in following him but they are not Happy because they Suffer A time will come when they will Suffer no more and then they will be Happy as well as Just and Perfect However I do not deny but that the Righteous may be Happy in some measure even in this Life by the strength of their Hope and Faith which render those future Felicities as it were present to their Mind For it is certain that when the Hope of some Happiness is strong and lively it draws it nearer to the Mind and gives it a taste thereof before-hand And thus it makes us Happy in some measure since it is the taste and possession of Good and of Pleasure which makes us Happy Therefore it is unreasonable to tell Men that sensible Pleasures are not Good and that those that enjoy them are never the Happier since it is not true and at the time of Temptation they discover it to their misfortune We must tell them that those Pleasures are good in themselves and capable to make them Happy in some measure Nevertheless they ought to avoid them for the Reasons beforementioned but they cannot avoid them of themselves Because they desire to be Happy through an Inclination which they cannot overcome and those transitory Pleasures which they ought to avoid satisfie it in some measure Thus they are in a miserable Necessity of losing themselves unless they are assisted It is necessary to tell them these things that they may distinctly know their Weakness and the want they have of a Redeemer We must speak to Men like Jesus Christ and not like the Stoicks who neither understand the Nature nor Distemper of Human Minds They must continually be told that they must hate and despise themselves and not look for an Establishment or Happiness on Earth That they must daily carry their Cross or the Instrument of their suffering and that they must lose their Life at present in order to preserve it Eternally They must be taught that they are oblig'd to act contrary to their desire to make 'em sensible of their inability to good For Men wou'd be invincibly Happy and they cannot be actually so unless they do what they please Perhaps being convinced of their present Evils and knowing their future sufferings they may humble themselves on Earth Perhaps they may invoke the Assistance of Heaven and seek a Mediatour be afraid of sensible Objects and timely abhor whatever flatters their Senses and Concupiscence And it may be they may thus obtain that Spirit of Prayer and Repentance which is so necessary to obtain Grace and without which there is no Power no Health nor no Salvation to be expected We are inwardly convinc'd that Pleasure is Good II. It must not incline us to the Love of sensible Delights and that the inward Conviction thereof is not False for Pleasure is really Good We are Naturally Convinc'd that Pleasure is the Character of Good and that Natural Conviction is certainly true for that which Causes Pleasure is certainly very Good and very Lovely But we are not convinc'd that either sensible Objects or our Souls themselves are capable of producing Pleasure in us for there is no reason to believe it and there are a Thousand against it Therefore sensible Objects are neither Good nor Lovely Were they necessary toward the Preservation of Life we ought to use them But as they are not capable of Acting in us we ought not to Love them The Soul must only Love him that is Good who only is capable to make it Happier and more perfect Therefore it should only Love that which is above it since it can receive its Perfection from nothing that is either below or equal to it But whereas we judge that a Thing is the Cause of some Effect when it always attends it we fancy that they are Sensible Objects which act in us because at their approach we have new Sensations and because we do not see him that produces them really in us We taste a Fruit and we find a Sweetness we impute that Sweetness to that Fruit we conclude that it causes it and even that it contains it We do not see God as we see and as we feel that Fruit we do not so much as think on him nor perhaps on our selves Therefore we do not conclude that God is the real Cause of that Sweetness nor that the said Sweetness is a Modification of our Soul we impute both the Cause and the Effect to that Fruit which we eat What I have said of Sensations which have a relation to the Body is also to be understood of those that have no relation to it as those which are found in pure Intelligences The Mind considers it self it sees that nothing is wanting to its Happiness and Perfection or else it sees that it does not possess what it desires At the sight of its Happiness it feels Joy at the sight of its Misfortunes it endures Sorrow It straight fancies that it is the sight of its Happiness which produces in it self that Sentiment of Joy because the said Sentiment always attends that sight It also imagines that it is the sight of its Misfortune which produces in it self that Sentiment of Grief since the said Sentiment is the Consequence of this sight The real Cause of those Sentiments which is God alone does not appear before it It does not so much as think on God for he acts in us without our knowing it God rewards us with a Sentiment of Joy when we know that we are in the Condition in which we ought to be that we may remain in it that our Disquiet may cease and that we may fully enjoy our Happiness without suffering the Capacity of our Mind to be filled with any thing else But he produces a Sentiment of Grief in us when we are Sensible that we are not in the State in which we ought to be so that we may not remain in it and that we might earnestly seek after the Perfection that is wanting in us For God pushes us continually toward Good when we are Sensible that we do not possess it and he fixes us powerfully upon it when we find that we possess it fully So that it seems evident to me that the Intellectual Sentiments of Joy or of Grief as well as the Sensible ones are no voluntary Productions of the Mind Therefore we ought continually to acknowledge by our Reason that Invisible Hand which fills us with Bliss and which disguises it self to our Mind under Sensible Appearances We must Adore it we must Love it but we must also Fear it for since it fills us with Pleasures it may also overwhelm us with Grief We ought to Love it by a Love of Choice by a Sensible Love by a Love worthy of God when
Self-Love in us 't is Generosity We have an Affection for other Men upon several accounts for they may please and serve us in several ways The resemblance of Humours of Inclinations of Imployments their Air their Behaviour their Virtue their Estate the Affection or Esteem they express for us the Services they have done us or that we expect from them and several other particular reasons do determin us to Love them Therefore when any of our Friends I mean some Person that has the same Inclinations that appears well that speaks agreeably whom we think Virtuous or of great Quality who expresses an Affection and Esteem for us that has done us some Service or from whom we expect any or finally whom we Love for some other particular reason If any such Person I say chances to advance some Proposition we suffer our selves strait to be perswaded by them without consulting our Reason We maintain his Opinion without examining whether it be Consonant to Truth and often even contrary to our own Conscience according to the Obscurity and Confusion of our Mind according to the Corruption of our Heart and according to the advantage we expect to derive from our false Generosity It is not necessary to bring particular Examples of those things in this place for People are seldom an hour in any Company without observing several if they will reflect a little upon them Favours and Laughters according to the old saying do but seldom side with Truth but almost always with those they Love He that speaks is Obliging and Civil Therefore he is in the right If what he says is barely likely it is look'd upon as True and if what he urges is absolutely ridiculous and impertinent it will at least become very probable If it is a Man that Loves me who has an Esteem for me who has done me some Service and is desirous and capable of doing me more who has maintain'd my Opinion on other Occasions I should be ungratesul and imprudent in opposing his or even in failing to applaud him Thus Truth is abus'd and is made subservient to Interest and thus we embrace each others false Opinions An honest Man can never be offended when any one that instructs and informs him provided it be done according to the Rules of Civility And when our Friends take Offence at our representing modestly to them that they are deceiv'd we must allow them to Love themselves and their Errors since they will have it so and because we have not the Power to Command them nor to change their Mind But a real Friend must never approve the Errors of his Friend For we ought to consider that we do them more harm than we are aware of when we injudiciously defend their Opinions Our Applauses swell their Hearts and confirm their Errors they become Incorrigible they Act and Decide as if they were become Infallible Whence comes it that the Richest the most Powerful the Noblest and generally all those that are Elevated above others think themselves very often Infallible and behave themselves as if they had a great deal more Reason than those that are of a mean and low Condition unless it be because all their thoughts are indifferently and basely approv'd So the Approbation we give our Friends perswades them by degrees that they have more Sense than others which makes them Proud Bold Imprudent and capable of falling into the present Errors without perceiving it Therefore our Enemies are often kinder to us and inform our Understanding more by their Oppositions than our Friends by their Approbations because our Enemies oblige us to stand upon our Guard and to be Attentive to what we urge which alone is capable to make us sensible of our Errors But our Friends Lull us asleep and gives us a false Confidence which makes us vain and ignorant Men therefore must never admire their Friends and submit to their Sentiments out of kindness as they must never oppose those of their Enemies out of Malice but must lay aside the Spirit of Flattery or Contradiction to become sincere and approve Evidence and Truth where-ever they find it We ought also to be fully perswaded that most Men are inclin'd to Flatter and Compliment us out of a kind of Natural Inclination to appear Witty to gain the good Will of others and in hopes of some return or finally out of a kind of Scorn and Raillery and we ought never to suffer our selves to be impos'd upon by whatever can be said to us Do we not daily see that Persons who know not each other nevertheless extol one another to the Skies the very first time they see and speak to one another And what is more common than to see some who give hyperbolical praises and express extraordinary motions of admiration to a Person that has spoken in publick even in the presence of those with whom they have laugh'd at him a little before Whenever People Cry out and grow Pale with admiration and seem as it were astonish'd at what they hear it is not a good proof that he that speaks says Wonders but rather that he speaks to Flatterers that he has Friends or perhaps Enemies who Laugh at him It is because he speaks in an engaging Way that he is Rich and Powerful or if you will have it so it is a pretty good proof that what he says is grounded upon the Confused and Obscure Notions of the Senses but very moving and very agreeable or that he has a Lively Imagination since praises are given to Friendship Riches Dignities Probabilities and very seldom to Truth It may be expected perhaps that having treated in general of the Inclinations of the Mind I should descend to an exact Account of all the particular Motions they resent at the sight of Good and Evil viz. That I should explain the Nature of Love Hatred Joy and Sadness and of all Intellectual Passions both general and particular as well Simple as Compounded But I have not engag'd to Explain all the different motions the Mind is capable of I am willing it should be known that my principal Design in all that I have written hitherto about a Search after Truth has been to make Men sensible of their Weakness and Ignorance and that we are all liable to Error and Sin I have said it and say it again perhaps some will remember it My Design never was to give a particular Account of the Nature of the Mind But I have been oblig'd to say something about it to explain Errors in their Original and in order in a word to make my self more Intelligible And if I have gone beyond the Bounds I had propos'd it is because I thought I had some new things to say which seem'd to me of Consequence and which I thought might be read with Pleasure Perhaps I was mistaken but that presumption was necessary to encourage me to write them For how can one speak without hopes of being hearken'd unto The Truth is I have said many things which do not seem to belong so much to the Subject I am treating of as that particular of the Motions of the Soul I own it but it is not my Intention to oblige my self to any thing when I prescribe a Method to my self I lay down a Rule to guide me but I reserve to my self the power of turning aside from it as I walk if I meet with any thing that deserves to be consider'd I may leave the way sometimes to rest my self provided I do not lose my self Those who have not a Mind to stop with me may go on if they please 't is but turning over the Leaf But if they are offended at it let them know there are many who believe those places which I have pitch'd upon to rest in make them find the Way the easier and more delightful FINIS
us well to remember that the Violent Inclinations we have for Divertisements Pleasures and generally for all that does affect us throws us into a great number of Errors Because the Capacity of our Mind being Bounded that Inclination withdraws our Mind continually from the Attention we should give to the clear and distinct Idea's of the Understanding which are proper to discover Truth to apply it to the false obscure and deceitful Idea's of our Senses which Influence the Will more by the hope of Good and Pleasure than they Instruct the Mind by their Light and Evidence CHAP. XII Of the Effects which the thought of Future Bliss and Sufferings is capable of producing in the Mind IF it happens often that the little Pleasures and slight Pains which we actually feel nay more which we have a Prospect of strangely disturb our Imagination and hinder us from judging of things according to their true Idea's we have no reason to believe that the prospect of Eternity cannot act upon our Mind But it will be necessary to consider what it may be capable of producing there We must observe in the First Place that the hopes of an Eternity of Pleasures does not Act so powerfully upon the Mind as the fear of an Eternity of Torments The Reason of it is Men do not Love Pleasure so much as they Hate Pain Moreover by the Internal Knowledge they have of their Disorders they are sensible that they deserve Hell and they see nothing in themselves to Merit such great Rewards as to participate of the Felicity of God himself They are sensible when they please and even sometimes against their Will that far from deserving Rewards they are worthy of the greatest Chastisements for their Conscience never leaves them but they are in the like manner continually convinc'd that God is willing to shew his Mercy upon Sinners after having satisfy'd his Justice upon his Son Therefore the Just themselves have more Lively Apprehensions of the Eternity of Torments than Hopes of an Eternity of Pleasures The prospect of Pain then consequently is more prevailing than the prospect of Reward and here is partly that which it is capable of producing not alone but as a principal Cause It produces an infinite number of Scruples in the Mind and confirms them so much that it is almost impossible to get rid of them It Extends as it were even Faith to prejudices and makes us pay the Worship which is only due to God to Imaginary Powers It obstinately fixes the Mind on vain or dangerous Superstitions It makes Men earnestly and zealously Embrace Human Traditions and Practices that are useless for Salvation Judaick and Pharisaick Devotions which have been invented by servile Fear Finally it sometimes throws Men into a blindness of Despair Insomuch that looking confusedly on Death as an Annihilation they foolishly hasten to make away with themselves to be freed of the Mortal Disquiets which possess and frighten them There is often more Charity than Self-Love in the Scrupulous as well as in the Superstitious but there is nothing but Self-love in the desperate For taking the thing rightly those must needs Love themselves extreamly who chuse rather not to be than to be uneasie Women Young People and Weak Minds are the most subject to Scruples and Superstitions and Men are more liable to Despair It is easie to know the reason of these things For it is Visible that the Idea of Eternity being the greatest the most terrible and the most frightful of all those that surprise the Mind and strike the Imagination it is necessary it should be attended with a long Train of Accessory Idea's to make together a considerable Effect upon the Mind because of the Relation they have to that great and terrible Idea of Eternity Whatever has any relation to Infinity cannot be Little or if it is Little in itself it receives an immense greatness by that Relation which cannot be compar'd to any thing that is Finite Therefore whatever has any relation or even what we fancy to have any relation either to an unavoidable Eternity of Torments or Delights which is propos'd to us must needs frighten those Minds that are capable of any Reflection or Thought The Fibers of the Brains of Women or young People and of weak Minds being as I have said elsewhere Soft and Flexible receive deep Marks of one of these two And when they have abundance of Spirits and are more capable of Thought and Just Reflection they receive by the Vivacity of their Imagination a very great number of false Impressions and Accessary Idea's which have no Natural Relation to the Principal Idea Nevertheless that Relation though Imaginary maintains and fortifies those False Impressions and Accessary Idea's which it has created When two Lawyers are ingag'd in some great Cause which wholly takes up their Mind and yet do not understand the Case they often have vain Fears being in dread that certain things may Prejudice them which the Judges have no regard to and which experienced Lawyers do not fear The Affair being of very great Consequence to them the Motion it produces in their Brains diffuses it self and is communicated to distant traces which have naturally no relation to it It fares just in the same manner with the Scrupulous they unreasonably form to themselves Subjects of Fear and Disquiet and instead of examining the Will of God in the Holy Scriptures and of relying on those whose Imagination is not tainted their Mind is wholly taken up with an Imaginary Law which disorderly Motions of Fear impress on their Brains And though they are inwardly convinc'd of their Weakness and that God does not require from them certain Duties which they prescribe to themselves since they hinder them from serving him they cannot forbear preferring their Imagination to their Understanding and from submitting rather to certain Confused Sentiments which frighten and plunge them into Error than to the Evidence of Reason which gives them Assurance and leads them again into the right way to Heaven We meet often with a great deal of Charity and Virtue in Persons that are afflicted with Scruples but there is not near so much in those that are addicted to some Superstitions and who imploy themselves chiefly about some Judaick or Pharisaick Practices God will be ador'd in Spirit and in Truth He is not satisfied with Gestures and External Civilities as kneeling in his Presence and being Praised by the Motion of the Lips when the Heart has no share in it Men indeed are satisfied with those Marks of Respect but 't is because they cannot search into the Heart for even Men would be serv'd in Spirit and in Truth God requires our Mind and our Heart he has only made it for himself and he only preserves it for himself But there are many People who unfortunately for themselves refuse him those things over which he has absolute Right They harbour Idols in their Hearts which they adore in Spirit
and in Truth and to whom they Sacrifice themselves But whereas the True God threatens them in the Secret of their Consciences with an Eternity of Torments to punish the Excess of their Ingratitude yet they will not quit their Idolatry they bethink themselves of performing some good Works externally They Fast like others they give Alms they say Prayers they continue for some time in the like Exercises and whereas they are troublesom to those that want Charity they leave them commonly to imbrace certain little Practices or easie Devotions which agreeing with Self-Love necessarily and insensibly overthrows all the Morals of Jesus Christ They are Faithful Earnest and Zealous Defenders of those Humane Traditions which Ignorant Persons perswade them to be very Useful and such things as the Idea of Eternity that frightens them does continually represent they eagerly defend as absolutely necessary for their Salvation It is not so with the Just They hear the Threatnings of their God as well as the Impious but the confused Noise of their Passions does not hinder them from hearkning to his Counsels The false Rays of Humane Tradition do not blind them so far as to make them Insensible of the Light of Truth They put their Confidence in the Promises of Jesus Christ and they follow his Councils for they know that the Promises of Men are as Vain as their Counsels Nevertheless we may say That that Fear which the Idea of Eternity creates in their Mind produces sometimes so great a Disorder in their Imagination that they dare not absolutely Condemn those Humane Traditions and that sometimes they approve them by their Example because they have some Appearance of Wisdom in their Superstition and in their False Humility like those Pharisaical Traditions mentioned by St. Paul Col. 2.22 23. But that which is particularly worthy of Consideration and which does not so much relate to the Corruption of Manners as to the Disorder of the Mind is That the Fear we have before mentioned extends to the Faith as well as the Zeal of those that are affected with it even to Things that are False and Unworthy the Holiness of our Religion There are many People who do believe and that with an Obstinate Faith That the Earth is Immovable in the Center of the World That Animals are Sensible of real Pain That there are Forms or Accidents really distinct from Matter And a World of the like False or Uncertain Opinions because they fancy that they should oppose the Faith in denying it They are frighten'd by the Expressions of the Holy Bible which speaks to our Capacity and consequently makes use of the common Manner of Speaking without any Design to Instruct us in Natural Philosophy They do not only believe what the Spirit of God will teach them but also all the Opinions of the Jews They do not see for Example that Joshua speaks before his Soldiers as Copernicus himself Galileus and Descartes would speak to the Vulgar part of Mankind and that though he had been of the Opinion of these last Philosophers he would not have commanded the Earth to stand still because he could not have made his Army Sensible by unintelligible words of the Miracle which God perform'd for his People Those who are of Opinion that the Sun is Immovable nevertheless tell their Servants their Friends and even those that are of their Opinion that the Sun Rises or Sets They always speak like other Men when their Principal Design is not to Philosophise Did Joshua perfectly understand Astronomy or if he did did his Souldiers understand it Or if both he and his Souldiers were skill'd in it can any body think that they design'd to Philosophise while they only thought of Fighting Therefore Joshua spoke as he ought to do although both he and his Souldiers had believ'd what the most Eminent Astronomers believe at this time Nevertheless those words of that great Captain Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and what is said afterwards that the Sun stood still according to his Command perswade many People that the Opinion of the Motion of the Earth is not only a dangerous Opinion but that it is also absolutely Heretical and not to be maintain'd They have heard that some Pious Persons for whom we ought to have a great deal of Respect and Deference condemn'd that Opinion They have a confused Knowledge of something that happen'd upon that Subject to a Famous Astronomer of our Age and that seems sufficient for them to believe Obstinately that Faith extends even to that Opinion A certain confus'd Sentiment excited and entertain'd by a Motion of Fear which they hardly perceive makes them harbour Diffidences against those that follow Reason in things which relate to Reason They look upon them as Hereticks They are Uneasie and Troubled whenever they hear them speak and their Secret Apprehensions create in their Minds the same Respect and the same Submission for their own vulgar Opinions and for many other Notions of Philosophy as for Truths which are the Objects of Faith CHAP. XIII I. Of the Third Natural Inclination which is the Friendship we have for other Men. II. It Induces us to approve our Friends Thoughts and to deceive them by False Praises OF all our Inclinations taken in General and in the Sense I have explain'd it in the first Chapter there only remains that which we have for those we Live with and for all the Objects that are about us of which I shall hardly say any thing because that relates more to Morality and Policy than to our Subject As that Inclination is always joyn'd with the Passions it would perhaps be sitter to speak of it in the following Book But Order is not of so much Consequence in that Point In order rightly to apprehend the Causes and Effects of that Natural Inclination I. Of the Third Natural Inclination which is the Friendship we have for other Men. it is fit to know that God Loves all his Works and that he Unites them strictly one to another for their Mutual Preservation For continually loving the Works he produces since they are produc'd by his Love he also continually Imprints in our Hearts a Love for his Works since he continually produces a Love in our Hearts like unto his And to the end the Natural Love we have for our selves may not Annihilate it self and overmuch weaken that which we have for the Things that are not in us And on the contrary That those two Loves which God puts in us may maintain and strengthen each other he has united us in such a manner to all things that are about us and particularly with the Beings of the same Species with us that their Sufferings Afflict us Naturally their Joy Rejoyces us and their Grandeur their Fall their Diminution seems to Augment or to diminish our own Being The new Dignities of our Relations and Friends the new Acquisitions of those that have most relation to us the Conquests and Victories