MALEBRANCH's SEARCH AFTER TRUTH OR A Treatise of the Nature OF THE Humane Mind AND Of its Management for avoiding Error in the Sciences VOL. I. Done out of French from the last Edition LONDON Printed for I. Dunton at the Raven in the Poultrey and S. Manship at the Ship in Cornhil 1694. TO THE Marquess of NORMANBY My LORD THis Learned Treatise of the Famous Malebranch begs the Favour of your Lordships Patronage and if any thing could do so would almost deserve it All great Genius's are nearly related to one another at least there is a sort of Sympathy between them and the Wits of France have never fail'd of a kind Reception from those in England which the most Cruel Wars cannot hinder nor does Love to our Country forbid us from doing Justice to theirs The Translation of good French Books into our Tongue is a Reprisal on their Nation who have taken the same way by such Writings as are Famous in Antiquity doing all that was in their Power for an Universal Language perhaps to make way for Universal Empire So that Translation from them again is only a Countermining them and Fencing with them at their own Weapons And this perhaps might succeed as well in our Language as any in Europe since 't is much fuller and stronger and consequently capable of mending an Original and indeed nothing can hinder it but want of Encouragement from Men in Power or Weakness in the Performance For the First there is no one that can justly complain of it who has the Ambition of placing the Name of Normanby before his Writings it gives him a new Soul and he ought neither to think or write meanly when he considers at whose Altars his Labours are offer'd For the Second I have as little to say for it as I could wish our Criticks may have to say against it The Errors that have escap'd the Press in the Original the Difficulty of the Subject the Confinement of Language for fear of spoiling the Philosopher to gratifie the Gentleman my own necessary Avocations and the very little time I did it in cannot promise so correct a Translation as perhaps it otherwise might have been yet I am willing to believe it may in some measure be useful to such as can read it without Prejudice and it being design'd by the Author only for such as are willing to know the Errors of their Senses and Imagination and the Weakness of the Humane Mind in order to discover Truth and Happiness I cannot be very uneasie about anticipating its Fate amongst others especially under your Lordships Protection Indeed I may very well be Ambitious and Proud of such a Protection when the Government begins to be so very Sensible of the Happy Influences of your great Abilities and Interest 'T is a rare Happiness to have Prudence in Council joyn'd with Bravery in Action Nay the same Man may be a Politick-General and Master of much Personal Valour yet be far enough from an Accomplish'd Statesman But to think coolly yet act warmly to seize and improve every Advantage and yet pierce into the Depths of Futurity and disintangle intricate and distant Causes and Effects are only Accomplishments for such a King as ours and such a Minister of State as your Lordship Nor are your great Abilities to serve the Publick Good without particular Instances of your Personal Hazards and Signal Zeal for its Preservation in the late Dutch Wars when your Lordship was pleased to Command the Royal Catherine a Post that was the greatest Evidence of your Lordships Loyalty and Bravery The highest Military and Civil Honours which require great Application hinder not your Lordship from excelling in the less Severe Studies a great Genius will do best upon whatever Employment it fixes it self witness your Lordships Essay on Poetry and that admirable Product of your Youth the Temple of Death with several other Miscellany Pieces of your Lordships which like our great Roscommon's Works have a particular noble Air that is not only the Effect of a great Genius but also of a Genteel and Happy Education and therefore unimitable by our best Wits who can only plead the former Qualification Nor is it any Wonder that so great a Master should Patronize others who have excell'd in the same Divine Art which requires that force of Spirit and fineness of Thought that are necessary to all that even in Prose shall do any thing extraordinary or worthy the Perusal of such Judges as your Lordship this Malebranch is allow'd by all to have in his Native Language and therefore if he gives your Lordship no Entertainment the Defect must be in the Translation not the Original the very Faults of this great Man have something in them extreamly Beautiful and the Jewel is so dazling that the flaws are scarce discern'd The inscribing these Papers to your Lordships most honorable Patronage is the occasion of this Address wherein I have the Honor to testifie both to your Lordship and the World with how profound a Deference and Respect I am My LORD Your Lordships most Humble and most Obedient Servant Richard Sault THE PREFACE THE Mind of Man is by its Nature as it were situated between its Creator and Corporeal Creatures since according to * Nihil est potentius illâ Creaturâ quae mens dicitur rationalis nihil est sublimius Quidquid supra illam est jam Creator est Tr. 23. upon St. John St. Austin there is nothing above it but God alone and nothing below it but Bodies But as the great Elevation it has above all Material things does not hinder it from being united to them and from depending in some measure upon a Portion of Matter so the infinite distance that is between the Sovereign Being and the Mind of Man does not hinder it from being immediately and in a very strict manner united to him This last Vnion raises it above all things it gives it Life Light and all its Felicity and * Quod rationali animâ melius est omnibus consentientibus Deus est Aug. St. Austin speaks of this Vnion in many Passages of his Works as of that which is the most Natural and the most Essential to the Mind On the contrary the Vnion of the Mind with the Body debases Man exceedingly and is the Principal Cause of all our Errors and Miseries I do not wonder that the common sort of Men or that the Heathen Philosophers should only consider in the Soul its Retation and Vnion with the Body without distinguishing its Relation and Vnion with God But I am surprised that Christian Philosophers who should prefer the Mind of God to the Mind of Man Moses to Aristotle St. Austin to some wretched Commentator upon a Heathen Philosopher should look upon the Soul rather as the Form of the Body than as being made after the Image and for the Image of God that is according to * Ad ipsam similitudinem non omnia facta sunt sed
little Fibres may be moved two ways either by beginning at the ends which terminate in the Brain or those that terminate in the Exterior parts of the body The agitation of these Fibres cannot be communicated unto the Brain but the Soul must perceive something If this Motion begins by an impression that the objects make upon the extremity of the Fibres of our Nerves is so communicated to the Brain then the Soul perceives and judges that what it * By a Natural judgment which I 〈◊〉 before judge of in many places feels is without that is it perceives an object as present But if it is only the inward Fibres which are agitated by the course of the 〈◊〉 of Spirit or by some other way the Soul imagines and judges that what it imagines is not without but within the Brain that is it perceives an object as absent This is the difference there is between Sensation and Imagination But it is requisite to observe that the Fibres of the Brain are much more agitated by the impression of Objects than by the course of the Spirits and that that is the reason why the Soul is made more sensible by external Objects which it looks upon as present and as it were capable of making it immediately feel either pleasure or pain than by the course of the Animal Spirits Nevertheless it sometimes happens in Persons who have their Animal Spirits very much agitated by Fasting Watching a high Fever or by some violent Passion that these Spirits move the internal Fibres of the Brain with as much force as outward objects could do so that these Persons perceive what they ought only to imagine and think they see those objects before their Eyes which are only in their Imagination From whence it plainly appears that in respect to what passes in the Body the Senses and Imagination differ only as to More or Less as I have before advanced But to give a more particular and distinct Idea of Imagination we must know that every time there happens any change in that part of the Brain where the Nerves meet there likewise happens some change in the Soul that is as we have already explain'd if in this part there is any Motion that changes the order of its Fibres there also happens some New perception in the Soul and it feels or imagines some New thing and the Soul can never perceive or imagine any thing anew except there be some change in the Fibres of this same part of the Brain So that the faculty of Imagining or the Imagination consists only in the power that the Soul has of forming to its self Images of objects in producing a change in the Fibres of this part of the Brain which may be called the principal part since it answers to all the parts of our bodies and is the place where our Soul immediately resides if we may be permitted to say so That shews us very evidently that this power which the Soul hath of forming Images includes two things the one depending upon the Soul it self and the other upon the Body II. Two faculties in the imagination one Active and the other Passive The first is Action and the Command of the Will The second is the Obedience that is given to it by the Animal Spirits which trace these Images and to the Fibres of the Brain upon which they must be imprinted In this discourse the name of Imagination is indifferently given to either of these two things nor are they distinguished by the words Active and Passive which might be given to them because by the sense of what we shall speak may easily be understood which of the two we mean whether it be of the active imagination of the Soul or passive imagination of the Body We have not yet determined in particular what that principal part is which we have just spoke of First because we believe it very unnecessary Secondly because we have not a certain knowledge of it And in fine we think it better to be silent in a matter whose truth cannot here be demonstrated to others altho it were manifest to us what that principal part is Let it be then according to the opinion of Willis that common Sense resides in those two Corpuscles he calls Corpora Striata Let the sinuosity of the Brain preserve the Species of the Memory and let the Callous body be the seat of the Imagination or following the Opinion of Fernellius let us suppose it in the Pia Mater which involves the substance of the Brain or with D'Cartes in the Glandula Pinealis or in fine let it be in some other part hitherto unknown that our Soul exercises its principal functions 't will will be very indifferent to me It suffices that there is a principal part Nay it is absolutely necessary there shou'd be such an one as also that the foundation of D'Cartes system should subsist for it ought to be well observed that althô he were deceived when he assures us that the Soul is immediately united to the Glandula Pinealis that ought not nevertheless to injure the foundation of his System from which we shall always gather all the usefulness that can be expected from Truth to improve our selves in the knowledge of Man Since then the Imagination consists only in the power that the Soul has of forming to it self Images of Objects by imprinting them if we may so say III. The general cause of the Changes that happen in the Imagination and the design of the 2d Book in the Fibres of its Brain the more distinct and larger the footsteps of these Animal Spirits be which are the traces of these Images the more strongly and distinctly the Soul will imagine these Objects Now even as breadth depth and clearness of the traces of any Graving depend upon the force wherewith the Instrument is acted and on the Obedience that the Copper renders to the Workman so the depth and clearness of the Impressions made on the Imagination depend upon the force of the Animal Spirits and the Constitution of the Fibres of the Brain 't is the variety that is found in both these which makes almost all this great difference that we observe in Persons Minds For 't is no difficult thing to give a reason for all the different Characters which we meet with in the Mind of Man On the one side through Abundance and Want Agitation and Slowness or largeness and smalness of the Animal Spirits and on the other side through the Delicateness and Courseness Humidity and Dryness Flexibility or Inflexibility of the Fibres of the Brain and in fine through the relation that these Animal Spirits may have with these Fibres And it would be very reasonable for every one first to endeavour to represent to himself the different Combinations of these things and to apply them to all the different Dispositions they meet with because it is always more useful nay even more agreeable to make
of things that we shall afterwards treat of but for what we shall speak of in this Chapter it is necessary that we know there is Natural dispositions in the Brain which incline us to Compassion as well as Imitation We must then consider that not only the Animal Spirits carry themselves Naturally into the parts of our Bodies to cause the same Actions and Motions we see in others but also in some manner to receive their Injuries and to take part in their Miseries for Experience teaches us that when we very attentively consider any one that is rudely hurt or that hath any great wound the Spirits are carried with great force into such parts of our Bodies as answer to those that we see hurt in another Provided that we do not turn the course of the Animal Spirits otherways by an industrious and voluntary titillation of some other part of the body Or except their Natural course to the Heart and Bowels which is wont to happen in sudden Motions draw them along with it self or change that course which we speak of Or lastly except some extraordinary connection with the traâ—â—s of the Brain and Motions of the Spirits produce the same effect The Spirits being thus carried into the parts of the Body which answer to those that we see hurt in oothers make a very sensible Impression in delicate Persons who have a lively Imagination and very tender and soft flesh for they very often feel a kind of trembling in their Legs if they attentively look upon any one that hath an Ulcer or that has actually received some blow there This that one of my Friends writ me an account of confirms my Opinion An Old Man that lived at one of my Sisteâ—s being sick a young Maid Servant of the House held the Candle whilst he was let blood in the Foâ—t and when she saw the Surgeon give the prick with the Lancet she was seized with such an apprehension that she felt so lively a pain in the same place of the Foot for three or four days afterwards that she was forced to keep her Bed all that time The reason of these accidents is that the Spirits forcibly diffusing themselves into those parts of our body which answer to what we see hurt in others being kept more bent they make the Soul more sensible and put it upon its guard to avoid those evils that it sees happen to others This Compassion in the Body produces one in the Mind it excites us to help and assist others because in that we relieve our selves and it also stops our Malice and Cruelty for the horrour of Blood the fear of Death and in a word the sensible impression of Compassion often hinders those from killing of Beasts who even are much perswaded that they are only Machines because the generality of Mankind cannot kill them without hurting themselves by the counterstroke of Compassion What is chiefly to be observed here is that the sensible sight of a wound that any Person receives produces in those that see it another hurt so much the more sensible as the beholder is more weak and delicate because this sensible sight pushes the Animal Spirits with more violence into those parts of the body which answer to what they see hurt and so make a greater Impression in the Fibres of a delicate body than in one that is more strong and robust So Men who are strong and vigorous are not hurt by the sight of a Murder they are not so much inclined to Compassion because this sight offends their Bodies but because it offends their Reason These Persons have no pity for Criminals they are immoveabie and inexorable But Women and Children suffer much Pain by the Wounds they see others receive they have a Mecanical Compassion for the Miserable Nay they cannot see a Dog beat or hear him cry without being disturbed at it As for Infants who are yet in their Mothers Belly the delicacy of the Fibres of their Flesh being infinitely greater than that of Women or Children the Course of the Spirits will produce more considerable changes in them as we shall afterwards observe Let what I have said be look'd upon as a simple Supposition if it is desired yet we must endeavour to comprehend it well if we will distinctly conceive what I would explain in this Chapter For the two Suppositions that I have made are the principles of an infinite Number of things which have been generally believed very hidden and mysterious and which appear impossible to me to be explained without receiving these Suppositions Of which here are some Examples About Seven or Eight years ago I saw in the * An Hospital in France for such as we past Cure III. An Explanation of the generation of Mâ—nstrous Children and of the prâ—pagâ—tion of the Species Incurables a young Man who was born a Fool and his body broken after the same manner as Criminals are broke on the Wheel He had lived near twenty Years in this condition many Persons have seen him and the late Queen-Mother going to visit this Hospital had the Curiosity to see him and to touch the Arms and Legs of this young Man in the same places where they were broke According to the principles that I have established the Cause of this sad Accident was that his Mother who heard a Criminal was to be broken went to see him executed all the blows that this miserable Man received so strongly smote the Imagination of this Mother and by a kind of Counter-blow the render delicate Brain of her * According to the first Supposition Child The Fibres of this Womans Brain were strangely shaken and it may be broke in some places by the impetuous Course of the Animal Spirits caused by the sight of so terrible an Action but she was strong enough to hinder their absolute ruine though on the contrary the Fibres of this Child's Brain being not able to resist the torrent of these Spirits were entirely dissipated and the shock was great enough to make him wholly lose his Wits and this was the reason he came into the World deprived of his Understanding this was likewise the cause that the same parts of his body was broken as those of the Criminal whom his Mother saw executed At the sight of this Execution which was so capable of frighting a Woman the violent course of the Mothers Animal Spirits went impetuously from her Brain to all the parts of her Body which answer'd to those of the Criminal * According to the second Supposition and the same thing passed in the Infant But because the Bones of the Mother were able to resist the Violence of these Spirits they received no hurt Nay it may be she did feel no pain nor the least trembling in her Legs when the Criminal was broken but the rapid stream of the Spirits was capable to separate the soft and tender Bones of the Infant for the Bones are the last parts of the
9 Chap. 3. I. That Philosophers dissipate their Mind by applying it to Subjects which include too many Relations and which depend upon too many things without keeping any Order in their Studies II. An Example drawn from Aristotle III. That Geometricians on the contrary proceed well in an Enquiry after Truth especially those who make use of Algebra IV. That their method increases the power of the Mind and that Aristotle's Logick weakens it V. Another defect of studious Persons p. 15 Chap. 4. 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 p. 20 The Second Part of the Pure Understanding Of the Nature of IDEA'S Chap. 1. I. WHat is meant by Idea's That they truly Exist and that they are necessary to perceive all material Objects II. A division of all the Modes by which External Objects may be seen p. 29 Chap. 2. That material Objects do not emit Species which resemble them p. 33 Chap. 3. That the Soul has no power of producing Idea's The Cause of Mens Error in reference to this Subject p. 35 Chap. 4. That we do not sie Objects by the means of Idea's which were created with us And that God does not produce them in us so often as we have occasion for them p. 41 Chap. 5 That the Mind neither sees the Essence nor Existence of Objects in considering its own Perfections That none but God sees them in that manner p. 44 Chap. 6. That we see all things in God p. 46 Chap. 7. I. Four different ways of seeing things II. How we know God III. How we know Bodies IV. How we know our Soul V. How we know the Souls of other Men and pure Spirits p. 55 Chap. 8. I. The Intimate Presence of the Wandering Idea of Being in General is the Cause of all the Irregular Abstractions of the Mind and of the greatest part of the Chimera's of common Philosophy which hinder many Philosophers from discovering the Solidity of the True Principles of Moral Philosophy II. Example concerning the Essence of Matter p. 6â— Chap. 9. I. The last General Cause of our Errors II. That the Idea's of things are not always present to the Mind as soon as 't is desir'd III. That all Finite Minds are liable to Error and why IV. We ought not to judge that there are only Bodies or Spirits nor that God is a Spirit as we conceive Spirits p. 71 Chap. 10. Examples of some Physical Errors into which Men fall because they suppose that things which differ in their Nature Qualities Extension Duration and Proportion are alike in all things p. 77 Chap. 11. Examples of some Errors of Morality which depend on the same Principle p. 87 The Conclusion of the Foree first Books p. 91 BOOK IV. Of the Inclinations and Natural Motions of the Mind Chap. 1. I. IT 's necessary the Mind have Inclinations as well as the Body Motions II. God acts the Humane Mind only for himself III. Mens Minds are only inclin'd to Particular Good through the Motion they have to Good in General IV. The Origine of the Chief Natural Inclinations which will make up the Division of this Fourth Book p. 1 Chap. 2. I. The Inclination for Good in General is the Principle of the Disquiet of our Will II. And consequently of our Negligence and Ignorance III. First Example Morality little known to many Men. IV. Second Example The Immortality of the Soul disputed by some Men. V. That our Ignorance is exceeding great in respect of abstracted things or such as have but little Relation to us p. 7 Chap. 3. I. Curiosity is natural and necessary II. Three Rules to moderate it III. Explanation of the first of these Rules p. 20 Chap. 4. A Continuation of the same Subject I. Explanation of the Second Rule of Curiosity II. Explanation of the Third p. 27 Chap. 5. I. Of the Second Natural Inclination or of Self-Love II. It is divided into the Love of Being and Well-Being or of Greatness and Pleasure p. 31 Chap. 6. I. Of the Inclination we have for every thing that raises us above other Persons II. Of the false Judgments of some Pious Persons III. Of the false Judgments of the Superstitious and Hypocrites IV. Of Voetius an Enemy to Monsieur Descartes p. 35 Chap. 7. Of the desire of Science and of the Judgments of pretenders to Learning p. 42 Chap. 8. I. Of the Desire of being thought Learned II. Of the Conversation of pretenders to Learning III. Of their Works p. 48 Chap. 9. How the Inclination we have for Honours and Riches lead us to Error p. 56 Chap. 10. Of the Love of Pleasure in relation to Morality I. We must shun Pleasure though it make us Happy II. It must not incline us to the Love of Sensible Delights p. 58 Chap. 11. Of the Love of Pleasure in relation to Speculative Sciences I. How it hinders us from discovering Truth II. Some Examples p. 65 Chap. 12. Of the Effects which the thought of Future Bliss and Sufferings is capable of producing in the Mind p. 79 Chap. 13. 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 p. 85 A SEARCH AFTER TRUTH BOOK I. Of 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 its Liberty consists ERROR is the Cause of Man's Misery the corrupt Principle that has produc'd Evil in the World 't is this which begets and cherishes in our Souls all the Evils that afflict us and we can never expect a true and solid Happiness but by a serious Endeavour to avoid it Holy Scripture teaches us that Men are miserable only because they are Sinners and Criminals and they would be neither if they did not make themselves the Slaves of Sin by assenting to Error If it be true then that Error is the Origin of Men's Misery how very just is it that they should endeavour their Deliverance from it and certainly an Effort towards it would not be vain and unrewarded though perhaps it might not have all the effect that could be desired admit we could not arrive at Infallibility and accomplish an absolute Victory yet we should be less deceiv'd and subject to fewer Evils We are not to expect an entire Felicity in this Life because we cannot pretend to Infallibility but our Endeavours to avoid Error must be as continual as are our Aversions for Misery In a word as we earnestly desire Happiness without Hopes of attaining it here so we must vigorously pursue
Eye must be lengthned by pressing the sides closer together and on the contrary it must be compess'd if the Objects are too far off By this Experiment 't is plain that we ought to judge or be sensible of the Colours at the bottom of our Eyes after the same manner as we judge the Heat to be in our Hand if our Senses were given us to discover the truth and if we were guided by Reason in the Judgments we make upon the Objects of our Senses But to be able to give a Reason for the variety of our Judgments upon sensible Qualities 't is necessary that we consider how strictly the Soul is united to the Body and that it is so sensualized since Original Sin that many things are attributed to it which belong to the Body and that it is now hardly to be distinguished from it so that it ascribes to it not only all its Sensations which we are speaking of but also the force of Imagining and even sometimes the power of Reasoning For there has been a great number of Philosophers that have been ignorant and foolish enough to believe that the Soul was only a more fine and subtile part of the Body If we read Tertullian we shall soon see too many proofs of what I say since we shall find him of the same Opinion with a great number of Authors whom he Cites It is true in the Book of the Soul he endeavours to prove that Faith Scripture and even particular Revelation oblige us to believe that the Soul is Corporeal I will not refute these Opinions because I have already supposed that we ought to have read fome of St. Augustin or Descartes Works which wou'd have sufficiently shewn the extravagancy of these Thoughts and also wou'd have confirm'd the Mind in the distinction betwixt Extention and Thought betwixt the Soul and Body The Soul is then so blind that she is ignorant of her self and does not see that her own Sensations belong to her II. An Explanation of the three kinds of the Sensations of the Soul To explain this we must distinguish three sorts of Sensations in the Soul some strong and lively others weak and languishing and some again in the medium between both The strong and lively Sensations are those which surprize the Mind and awaken it with some force because they are either very agreeable or very troublesome such as are Pain or Pleasure Heat or Cold and generally all such as are not only accompanied with Impressions in the Brain but also with some Motions of the Spirit such as are proper for the exciting the Passions as shall afterwards be explained The Weak and Languishing Sensations are those which very little affect the Soul and which are neither very agreeable nor very troublesome as a Moderate Light all Colours Ordinary Sounds which are very weak c. And the Medium between both I call those sort of Sensations which indifferently touch the Soul as a great Light a violent Sound c. Now it is to be observed that a Weak and Languishing Sensation may become indifferent and afterwards strong and lively For Example the Sensation that we have of Light is weak when the Light of a Flambeau is weak and languishing or very far from us and afterwards this Sensation may become indifferent if the Flambeau be brought near enough to us and at last it may become very strong and lively if the Flambeau be brought so near our Eyes that they be dazled with it or else when we look upon the Sun Thus the Sensation of Light may be strong weak or moderate according to its different degrees These are then the Judgments that our Soul makes of these three sorts of Sensations V. Errors which accompany our Sensations wherein we may perceive that it almost always blindly follows the sensible Impressions or Natural Judgments of our Senses and that it is pleased if we may so say in dispersing it self over all the Objects that it considers and by divesting it self to cloath them The first of these Sensations is so lively and moving that the Soul can scarce hinder it self from acknowledging that in some respect they belong to it so that it does not only judge them to be in the Object but also believes them to be in the Members of the Body which it considers as a part of it self Thus it judges that Cold and Heat are not only in the Ice and Fire but that they are also in its own Hands The Languishing Sensations so little affect the Soul that it does not believe them to belong to it nor that they are either within it self or the Body but only in the Objects 'T is for this reason that we take away Light and Colours from our Soul and Eyes thereby to adorn External Objects with them although Reason teaches us that they are not in the Idea we have of Matter And Experience shews us we ought to judge them in our Eyes as well as upon Objects since we see them as well there as in the Objects as I have proved by the Instance of an Oxe's Eye placed at the hole of a Window Now the Reason why all Men do not immediately see that Colours Odours Taste and all other Sensations are only Modifications of their Soul is because we have no clear Idea of our Soul For when we know any thing by the Idea which represents it we clearly know all the Modifications it can have All Men agree for Example that Roundness is a Modification of Extension by a clear Idea which represents it See Chap. 7. 2d part of the 3d Book Thus not knowing our Soul by its Idea as I shall explain hereafter but only by the Internal Sentiment we have thereof we know not by a simple Sight but only by Reasoning whether Whiteness Light Colours and other Weak and Languishing Sensations are not Modifications of our Soul but for the lively Sensations such as Pain and Pleasure we easily judge they are within us because we are very sensible that they affect us and have no need to know them by their Ideas to perceive they belong us As for Indifferent Sensations the Soul is very much perplexed with them for on the one hand it wou'd follow the Natural Judgments of the Senses and therefore it removes from it as much as possible these sort of Sensations to attribute them to the Objects but on the other side it cannot avoid feeling within self that they belong to it especially when these Sensations come near those that I call strong and lively so that 't is after this manner that it guides it self in the Judgment it makes of them if a Sensation affects it very much it concludes it to be in its own Body as well as in the Object and if it touches it but a little the Soul believes it only in the Object And if this Sensation is exactly in the Medium between the Strong and Weak then it knows not what to
that the same Motions of the Internal Fibres of the Optic Nerve do not cause the same Sensations in different persons that is to see the same Colours and that such a Motion may happen which shall cause in one the Sensation of Green or Gray in another or even a new Sensation which no body before ever had It is certain that this may be and that Reason does not demonstrate the contrary to us yet 't is generally agreed that 't is not probable it should be so It is much more reasonable to believe that God acts always after the same manner in respect to the Union he hath created between our Souls and Bodies and that he hath tyed the same Idea's and the same Sensations to like Motions of the Internal Fibres of the Brain altho' in different Persons Let us take it for granted then as the same Motions of those Fibres which end in the middle of the Brain are accompanied with the same Sensations in all Men so if it happens that the same Objects produce not the same Motions in their Brain by consequence they do not excite the same Sensations in their Soul Now it appears indisputable to me that all Mens Organs of their Senses not being disposed after the same manner they cannot receive the same impressions from the same Objects For instance The blows a Porter hits himself over the sides to warm himself wou'd be sufficient to lame a great many Men The same blow wou'd produce many different Motions and by consequence as many different Sensations in a Man of a strong Constitution and in a Child or a Woman that is of a weak Constitution So that there not being two Persons in the World who we can be certain have the Organs of their Senses in a perfect conformity we cannot affirm that there is two Persons in the World who have exactly the same Sensations of the same Objects This is the Original of that strange variety which we meet with in the Inclinations of Men. There are some who love Musick extreamly and others who are insensible of it and even amongst those that delight in it some love one kind of Musick and others another according to the almost infinite diversity that is found in the Fibres of the Nerve of the Ear in the Blood and in the Spirits For instance how great a difference there is between the Musick of France that of Italy of Chinese and other places and by consequence between the Tastes that different People have of different kinds of Musick Nay it even happens that at different times by the same Consorts we receive different Impressions for if the Imagination is heated by a great quantity of agitated Spirits we are much more pleased with a bold and dissonant Musick than with one that is more sweet and more agreeable to mathematical Rules and Exactness This Experience proves and it is not very difficult to give a reason of it It is the same also of Odours he that loves to smell of the Flower of an Orange it may be cannot endure a Rose and the contrary There is likewise as much diversity in Tastes as in any other of the Sensations Sauces must be very different equally to please different Persons nay to please the same Person at different times One loves that which is sweet another that which is sowre one thinks Wine agreeable another hates it and the same Person who liked it when he was well thinks it bitter and unpleasant when he 's in a Fever and so of the rest of the Senses Yet all Men love Pleasure they all delight in agreeable Sensations and have all in respect to that the same Inclination they receive not then the same Sensations of the same Objects fince they love them not equally Thus what makes one Man say he loves that which is sweet is because the Sensation he has thereof is agreeable and that which causes another to say he does not love what is sweet is that indeed he has not the same Sensation as he that loves it And when he says he loves not that which is sweet he does not mean he does not love to have the same Sensation with the other but that he has it not So that he speaks improperly when he says he loves not that which is sweet he ought to say he does not love Sugar Hony c. that every one else thinks to be sweet and agreeable and that he has not the same Taste as others have because the Fibres of his Tongue are otherwise disposed This is a very Sensible Example Suppose that of twenty Persons there was one amongst them who had his Hands very cold and knew not the Words that are made use of to explain the Sensations of heat and cold and that on the contrary all the rest had their Hands extreamly hot If in Winter cold Water was carried to all of them to Wash in those whose Hands were very hot would immediately upon washing one after another say this Water is very cold I don't love it but when the other whose Hands were extreamly cold should come at last to wash his Hands he wou'd say on the contrary I don't know why you don't love cold Water for my part I take a great deal of pleasure in feeling the cold and washing my Hands in it From this Instance 't is very clear that when this last shou'd say I love cold it shou'd signifie nothing else but that he loves heat and feels it whereas the others feel the contrary And so when a Man says I love what is bitter and cannot abide sweet things it is only to be understood that he has not the same Sensations as those who say they love sweet Things and have an aversion for whatsoever is bitter It is then certain that a Sensation which is agreeable to one Person is also to all those who feel the same but that the same Objects cause not the same Sensation in all the World because of the different dispositions of the Organs of the Senses which is of the highest consequence to be observ'd both in respect to Philosophy and Morality 'T is true an Objection may here be rais'd but 't will be very easily solved viz. It sometimes happens that persons who extreamly love certain sorts of Food come afterwards to have an aversion for them either because in Eating they have found some Dirt in them or have been Sick because they have Eat to excess of them or else for some other reasons These same Persons say they no longer love the same Sensations that they loved formerly for they have them still when they Eat the same Food and yet they are not agreeable to them To answer to this Objection it must be observed that when those Persons taste any Food that they have so much aversion to they have two very different Sensations at the same time they have that of the Food they Eat according to the Objection and they have also another Sensation
use of our own Wit and so accustom it of it self to discover truth then to suffer it to be spoiled with idleness by only applying it to such things as are already well known and discover'd Besides there are some things to be observed in the difference of Peoples Genii that are so fine and so delicate that althô we may be able to discover and perceive them well our selves yet we cannot represent them to nor make others sensible of them But to explain as much as possible all these differences that are to be observed in Dispositions and that very one may the more easily observe in himself the Cause of all the changes that he feels at different times it seems very proper in general to examine the Cause of these Changes which happen in the Animal Spirits and in the Fibres of the Brain because thereby we shall discover all that are found in the Imagination Man never continues very long in the same Mind every one hath sufficient inward proofs of his own inconstancy he judges of the same Subject sometimes after one manner and sometimes after another In a word the Life of Man consists only in a Circulation of Blood and in another Circulation of Thoughts and Desires and it seems the best way of imploying his time would be in seeking after the Cause of these Changes which happen to us so that way to know our selves CHAP. II. I. Of the Animal Spirits and the Changes to which they are subject in general II. That the Chyle goes to the Heart and thereby produces some change in the Spirits III. That Wine has the same effect 'T IS agreed by every on I. Of the Animal Spirits that the Animal Spirits are only the most subtile and active parts of the Blood which subtilises and agitates it self chiefly by the Fermentation that it receives in the Heart and by the violent Motion of the Muscles whereof this part is composed that the Spirits are conducted with the most of the blood through the Arteries into the Brain and that there they are separated by some parts that are destined to this use which are not yet agreed upon From hence may be concluded that where the Blood is very subtile there are much Animal Spirits but where it is gross there are but a sew that if the Blood is composed of such parts as are easily received into the Heart or very proper for Motion the Spirits which are in the Brain will be extreamly heated or agitated and if on the contrary the Blood ferments not sufficiently in the Heart the Animal Spirits will be languishing without action and without strength so that according to the solidity which shall be found in the parts of the Blood the Animal Spirits shall be more or less solid and consequently have more or less strength in their Motion But these things must be explained more at length by Examples and incontestible Experiments to make the truth evident The Authority of the Antients has not only blinded the Minds of some Men II. That the Chyle goes to the heart and causes some change in the Spirits but we may say it has shut their Eyes also For many Persons have still such a respect for their opinion or it may be so opinionative that they will not see some things which they could no longer contradict if they would only please to open their Eyes We may see every day Persons that are much esteemed for their Learning who write Books and publish Conferences against the visible and sensible Experiences of the Circulation of the Blood against that of Weight the Exastick power of the Air and others of the like Nature The discovery that Mr. Pecquet has made in our time which we make use of here is in the Number of those that are unfortunate only because he discover'd it before he had grey Hairs and a venerable Beard But we shall nevertheless make use of it not fearing but there will be some Judicious Persons who will not find fault with it According to this discovery the Chyle goes not immediately from the Bowels into the Liver by the Mesaraick Veins as the Antients believed but passes from the Bowels into the Lacteal Veins and afterwards into certain receptacles where they meet and from thence it goes by the Thoraick Duct or Canal along the Vertebres of the Back and so mingles it self with the Blood in the Axillary Vein which enters into the upper part of the Vena Cava and thus being mingled with the Blood it meets in the Heart From this Experiment may be concluded that the Blood thas is mingled with the Chyle being very different from the other Blood which has already Circulated many times through the Heart the Animal Spirits which are only the most subtile parts thereof will be also very different in Persons that are Fasting and others who have just Eat Moreover because that amongst Meats and Drinks which are generally used there is great variety and even those Persons that use them have bodies diversly disposed two Persons that have just Dined and at the same Table will feel in their faculties of Imagination so great a variety of changes that it would be impossible to describe It is true that those who are in perfect health digest so quick that the entring of the Chyle into the Heart scarcely augments or diminishes any of its heat and hinders not the Blood from fermenting there almost the same manner as if it entered only by it self so that their Animal Spirits and by consequence their faculty of imagining receives very little if any change But for Old and infirm People they observe in themselves very sensible changes after they have Eat they grow very dull and sleepy or at least their imagination becomes very Languishing and they have neither Vivacity or quickness left they no longer conceive any thing distinctly nor can they apply themselves to any thing whatsoever in a word they are perfectly altered from what they were before But that the most healthful and strongest may also have sensible proofs of what we have already said III. That Wine produces the same effect they need only reflect upon what happens to them when they have drunk more Wine then they are accustomed to or else by observing what would be the effects if they drink Wine one Meal and Water another For 't is certain that if they are not entirely stupid or if their bodies are not composed after a very extraordinary manner they shall soon perceive a gayety of temper some little drowsiness or some other like accident Wine is so Spiritous that it comes near the nature of our Animal Spirits but are these a little too luxurious to submit to the command of the Will because of their Solidity and excessive Agitation Thus even in the strongest and most vigorous Men it produces greater changes in the Imagination and in all the parts of the body Vinum Luctator delosus est then Meat or
Correspondence and Sympathy which is found between the Nerves of the Face and some others that answer to other parts of the Body and which want a Name is yet more remarkable and that which produces this great Sympathy is that as in the other Passions the little Nerves that go to the face are only branches of that which descends lower When we are surprized with any violent Passion if we carefully reflect upon what we feel in our Bowels and the other parts of the Body where these Nerves infold themselves as also upon the changes which accompany it in the face and if we consider that all these diverse agitations of our Nerves are wholly involuntary and that they happen notwithstanding all the resistance our Will can make against them we shall not find it so difficult to suffer out selves to be perswaded of this plain Exposition that has been made of all those Relations the Nerves have one to another But if we examine the reasons and end of all these things we shall find therein so much Order and Wisdom that but a little serious attention will be requisite to convince those Persons that are the most Wedded to Epicurus and Lucretius that there is a Providence which rules the World When I see a Watch. I have reason to conclude that there is an Intelligence since it is impossible that Chance shou'd have produc'd and dispersed all its Wheels into order How then can it be possible that Chance and the meeting together of Atoms shou'd be able so justly and proportionably to dispose all those divers Springs as appear both in Man and other Animals And that Man and all other living Creatures shou'd beget others which bear such an absolute resemblance to them So it is ridiculous to think or say with Lucretius that 't is Chance that has form'd all the parts whereof Man is composed that the Eyes were not made to see but Men were induced to see because they had Eyes and so of the other parts of the Body These are his Words Lumina ne facias oculorum clara creata Prospicere ut possimus ut proferre viai Proceras passus ideo fastigia posse Surarum ac feminum pedibus fundata plicari Bâ—achia tum porro validis exapta lacertis Esse manusque datus utrâque ex parte ministras Vt facere ad vitam possimus quae foret usus Caetera de genere hoc inter quaecumque pretantur Omnia perversà praepostera sunt ratione Nil ideo natu'est in nostro corpore ut uti Possimus sed quod natum est id procreat usum Must not one have a strange aversion for a Providence thus voluntarily to be blinded for fear of acknowledging it and endeavour to render our selves insensible to proofs so strong and convincing as those that Nature has furnished us with It is true that if once we come to affect being thought great Wits or rather Impious as the Epicureans have done we shall immediately find our selves surrounded with darkness and perceive only by false Lights boldly deny those things that are most clear and arrogantly and magisteriously affirm what is most false and obscure This Poet may serve for a proof of the blindness of these mighty Wits for he boldly determines tho' contrary to all appearance of Truth upon the most difficult and obscure Questions and it seems that he did not perceive even those Idea's that are most clear and evident If I shou'd stay to relate some more passages of this Author to justifie what I say I shou'd make too long and tedious a digression altho' it may be permitted to make such reflections as may for a moment divert the Mind from more essential Truths yet is it never permitted to make such digressions as for a considerable time take off the Mind from giving attention to the most important Subjects to apply it to trivial things CHAP. V. I. Of the Memory II. Of Habits WE have already explain'd the general Causes as well external as internal which produce any change in the Animal Spirits and by consequence in the faculty of Imagining we have show'd that the external are the Food which nourishes us and the Air we breath and that the internal consists in the involuntary agitation of certain Nerves We know of no other general Causes and even dare affirm there are none So that the faculty of Imagining depending in respect to the Body only upon these two things the Animal Spirits and the disposition of the Brain upon which they act there remains nothing more in order to the giving a perfect knowledge of the Imagination but only to shew the different changes that can happen in the substance of the Brain We will examine them after we have given some Idea of the Memory and of Habits that is of the faculty that we have of thinking of those things that we have before thought of and of acting things over again which we have already done Order requires this Method For the Explanation of the Memory I. Of the Memory 't is necessary to remember what has already been repeated so many times that all our different Perceptions depend upon the changes that happen to those Fibres that are in that part of the Brain in which the Soul more particularly resides This only supposed the nature of the Memory is explained for even as the Branches of a Tree which have continued sometime bent in a certain form still preserve an aptitude to be bent anew after the same manner So the Fibres of the Brain having once received certain impressions by the course of the Animal Spirits and by the action of Objects along time retain some facility to receive these same dispositions Now the Memory consists only in this facility since we think on the same things when the Brain receives the same impressions As the Animal Spirits act sometimes with more and sometimes with less force upon the substance of the Brain and that sensible Objects make a much greater impression than the Imagination alone it is easie from thence to discover why we do not equally remember all things we perceive For example why what one often perceives is commonly represented more lively to the Soul than what one perceives but once or twice why we remember more distinctly what we have seen than what we have only imagined and so likewise why one shou'd know better how the Veins are dispersed through the Liver after having but once seen a dissection of this part than after having many times read in a Book of Anatomy and other like things But if we shou'd reflect upon what hath been before said of the Imagination and the short discourse made on the Memory supposing us once delivered from this prejudice that our Brain is too small to preserve a very great number of traces and impressions we shall have the pleasure to discover the cause of all these surprizing effects of the Memory whereof St. Austine speaks with so much
hours are dissipated by transpiration through the Pores of those Vessels that contain them and it very often happens that others succeed which do not perfectly resemble them but the Fibres of the Brain are not so easily dissipated there does not often happen any considerable Change in them and their whole substance cannot be changed but after many years The most considerable differences that are found in a Man's Brain during the whole Course of his Life are in Infancy at his full Strength and in Old Age. The Fibres of the Brain in Children are soft flexible and delicate in perfect Age they become more dry hard and strong but in Old Age they become wholly inflexible gross and sometimes mingled with superfluous humours that the feeble heat of this Age cannot be any longer dissipated For as we see the Fibres which compose the Flesh harden in 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 Youth will be much more soft and delicate than those of Persons that are more advanced in years We shall soon see the reason of these Changes if we but consider how these Fibres are continually agitated by the Animal Spirits which run round about them in many different ways For as the Wind drys the Earth by blowing upon it so the Animal Spirits through their continual agitation by little and little render the greatest part of the Fibres of Man's Brain more dry compressed and solid so that Persons a little advanced in Years will almost always have them more inflexible then those that are Younger And for those that are of the same Age as Drunkards who for many years have used Wine to Excess or such Liquors as have been able to stupifie them will also have them more solid and more inflexible then such as are deprived of those Drinks during their whole Lives Now the different Constitutions of the Brain in Children Men at full growth and old Men are very considerable Causes of the difference that is observed in their faculty of Imagining of which we shall afterwards speak CHAP. VII I. Of the Communication which is between the Brain of a Mother and that of her Child II. Of the Communication that is between our Brain and the other parts of our Body which carries us to Imitation and Compassion III. An Explanation of the generation of Monstrous Children and of the Propagation of the Species IV. Some Irregularities of the Mind and some Inclinations of the Will explained V. Of Concupiscence and Original Sin VI. Objections and Answers IT is sufficiently evident to me that we incline to all things and that we have a Natural relation to every thing about us that is most useful for the Preservation and conveniency of Life But these relations are not equal we are more inclined to France than to China to the Sun than to any Star and to our own House more than to our Neighbours There are invsible ties which unite us more strictly to Men than to Beasts to our Relations and Friends than to Strangers to those we depend upon for the preservation of our Lives than such from whom we neither fear nor hope any thing What is chiefly to be observed in this Natural Union which is between us and other Men is that 't is so much the greater as we have more need of them Relations and Friends are strictly United one to another we may say their Griefs and Miseries are Common as well as their Joys and Happiness for all the Passions and Sensations of our Friends are communicated to us by the impression of their aspect and air of their Face Yet because we cannot absolutely live without them there is also another stricter Union then that Natural and Mutual one which is betwixt us and them Children in their Mothers Bellies I. Of the Communication which is between the Brain of a Mother and that of a Child whose Bodies are not yet entirely formed who are of themselves in as weak and helpless a condition as can be conceived must also be united with their Mothers in the stricktest manner that can be imagined And althâ— their Souls are separated from their Mothers yet their Bodies being linked together we must think they have the same Sensations and Passions and indeed the same thoughts which are excited in the Soul by the motions that are produced in the Body Thus Infants see what their Mothers see they hear the same Crys receive the same impressions of Objects and are agitated with the same Passions For since the air of a passionate Mans face penetrates those who look upon him and naturally imprints in them a passion like that which agitates him although the Union of the Man with those that consider him is not so great it seems reasonable to me to think that Mothers are capable of impressing upon their Children all the same Sensations they are affected with and all the same passions by which they are agitated For the body of an Infant makes but one with that of the Mothers the Blood and Spirits are common to both and Sensations and Passions are the Natural Consequence of the Motion of the Spirits and Blood which Motions necessarily Communicate themselves from the Mother to the Child Therefore the passions sensations and generally all the thoughts which proceed from the body are common both to the Mother and Child These things appear unquestionable for many reasons and I advance them only here as a supposition agreeable to my thoughts but shall sufficiently demonstrate them hereafter For whatsoever hypothesis can resolve all difficulties that can be brought against it ought to pass for an unquestionable principle The invisible bonds by which the Author of Nature unites all these Works are worthy the Wisdom of God and admiration of Men there is nothing that 's both more surprizing and instructive together but we think not of it we suffer our selves to be conducted without considering who it is that conducts us Nature is hidden from us as well as its Author and we feel the Motions which she produces in us without considering the Causes of 'em yet are there few things more necessary to be known for 't is upon their knowledge that the Explanation of whatsoever belongs to Man depends There are certainly springs in our Brain which Naturally incline us to Imitation II. Of the Communication there is between our Brain and the other parts of our bodies which inclines us to Imitation and Compassion for it is very necessary to Civil Society It is not only requisite that Children should believe their Fathers Disciples their Masters and Inferiors those which are above them for all Men must have some disposition to take the same manners and to do the same actions with those they live with To unite Men together there must be a resemblance both of Body and Mind this is the principle of an infinite Number
Body that are formed and they have very little consistence in Infants while they are in the Womb And it must be observed that if this Mother had determined the Motion of these Spirits to any other part of her Body by some violent titilation her Child would not have had his Bones broken but that part which had answer'd to that to which the Mother determined these Spirits had been much hurt as I have already said The Reasons of this accident may serve to explain in general how Women who during their being with Child upon seeing Persons with certain Marks in their Faces imprint the same on their Children and in the same part of the Body And from thence we may judge that advice very reasonable which bids 'em touch some hidden part of the Body when they perceive any thing which surprizes 'em and when they are agitated with any violent Passion for that may cause the Marks to be traced rather upon these hidden parts than upon the Face of their Infants We should often have instances like to what I have now related if Infants could live after having received such great Wounds but generally it causes Abortions For we may conclude that almost all Infants who dye before they are born except they be sick have no other cause of their Death than a fright some ardent desire or some other violent passion of their Mothers Here is also another very particular instance 'T is not above a Year since that a Woman having with too much application consider'd the Picture of Saint Pius when the Feast of his Canonization was celebrated was brought to bed of a Child which was perfectly like the Representation of this Saint He had the Face of an Old Man as much as it was possible in an Infant that has no Beard his Arms were crossed upon his Breast his Eyes turned towards Heaven and he had a very low Forehead because the Image of this Saint being raised towards the Vault of the Church and looking towards Heaven had almost no Forehead likewise He had a kind of a confused Miter upon his Shoulders with many round marks in the places where Miters are covered with Stones And indeed this Child very much resembled the Picture by which his Mother had formed him through the power of her Imagination 'T is a thing that all Paris might have seen as well as I because 't was a long time preserved in Spirits of Wine This instance is the more particular because there was not the sight of a Man living and agitated with some passion who moved the Spirits and Blood of the Mother to produce so strange an effect but only the sight of a Picture which yet was very sensible and accompanied with a great emotion of Spirits caused either through the Zeal and application of the Mother or through the agitation that the noise of the Feast had produc'd in her This Mother therefore looking upon this Picture with some application and emotion of Spirits the Child according to the first supposition saw it as she did with the same application and emotion of Spirits The Mother being lively affected imitated him at leaft in the Posture according to the second Supposition for her body being entirely formed and the Fibres of her Flesh hard enough to resist the course of the Spirits she could not imitate or make her self like to him in all things but the Fibres of the Infant 's Flesh being extreamly soft and consequently susceptible of all sorts of impressions the violent course of the Spirits produced in his Flesh whatsoever was necessary to make him entirely like the Image that he saw and the imitation to which Children are much more disposed perfected it as much as possible but this imitation having given to the body of this Child a figure so very extraordinary it was also the cause of its Death There are many other Examples in Authors of the power of the Imagination of Mothers and there is nothing so fantastical but has caused Abortions sometimes For they not only make Children deformed but also marked with such Fruits as they have longed for as Plumbs Pears Grapes and such like things For instance some Mothers having a strong Inclination to eat Pears the Children imagine and desire them with the same ardour and the course of the Spirits excited by the image of this desired fruit disposing it self through the little body is able to change its sigure because of its sostness So that these poor Children become like those things they wish'd for with so much ardour But the Mothers suffer no Injury because their bodies are not soft enough to take the figure of such things as they imagine Thus they cannot imitate them or render themselves entirely like ' em Now it must not be imagined that this Correspondence that I have explained and which is sometimes the cause of such great disorder is useless or ill ordered by Nature for on the contrary it seems very useful in the Propagation of Humane Bodies or in the formation of the Foetus and it is absolutely necessary to the transmitting certain dispositions of the Brain which ought to be different at different times and in different Countrys For instance it is requisite in some Countrys that Lambs should have their Brains to disposed as to fly at the sight of a Wolf because there are many of 'em there and they have a great deal to fear from them 'T is true that this Communication of the Mothers Brain with her Infants has sometimes ill consequences when the Mothers suffer themselves to be surprized by any violent passion Yet it seems to me that without this Communication Women and Animals could not easily beget young ones of the same kind for although some reason might be given of the formation of the Foetus in general as D'Cartes has happily enough attempted However 't is very difficult without this Communication of the Mothers Brain with the Childs to explain how a Mare should not beget an Ox or an Hen lay an Egg which contains a little Partridge or some Foul of a new kind I believe those that have considered the sormation of the Foetus will be of this opinion The most reasonable thought and that which is most conformable to experience about this difficule question of the formation of the Foetus is that Children are perfectly formed even before the action by which they are conceived and that their Mothers only contribute to their growth whilst they continue in the Womb. However this Communication of Animal Spirits and of the Mothers Brain with the Spirits and Brain of the Child seems still serviceable to regulate this growth and determine the parts which serve for its Nourishment and by little and little to dispose the Child like the Mother or else like some of the same Species This appears plain enough by the accidents which happen when the Imagination of the Mother is disordered and the Natural Disposition of her Brain is changed
by some violent passion for then as we have already explain'd this communication charges the conformation of the body of the Child and the Mother is so much the more apt to miscarry of the the Foetus as it has more resemblance to the desired Fruits and as the Spirits find less resistance in the Fibres of the Infants body Now it cannot be deny'd but that God without this Communication was able to have disposed all things in so exact and regular a manner as would have been necesary for the Propagation of the Species for insinite Ages that Mothers should never have Miscarried and even that they should always have had Children of the same bigness of the same Colour and that would have resembled in all things For we must not measure the power of God by our weak Imagination and we know not the Reasons he had in the construction of his work We see every day that without the help of this Communication Plants and Trees produce their kinds regularly enough and that Fowls and many other Animals have no need of it to cherish and bring forth other Animals when they sit upon Eggs of different kinds as when a Hen sits on a Partridges Eggs. For although we may reasonably conclude that the Seeds and Eggs contain in themselves the Plants and Birds which proceeds from 'em and that they may produce the little bodies of these Birds having received their Conformation by the Communication we have spoke of and the Plants theirs by another Equivocal Communication yet we cannot be certain of it But although we cannot discover the reasons why God has made every thing as it is we must not conclude from thence that he could make 'em no otherwise If we consider further that Plants who receive their growth by the action of the Female Plant resemble her much more than those which come from the seed as Tuleps for instance which come from the Root are of the same Colour as the Tulep it self and yet those that proceed from the Seed thereof are almost very different we cannot doubt that if the Communication of the Female Plant with the Fruit is not absolutely necessary to form the same kind yet it is always requisite to make the Fruit intirely like her So that although God foresaw that this Communication of the Mothers Brain with that of the Infants would sometimes destroy the Foetus and produce Monsters because of the Irregularity of the Mothers imagination yet this Communication is so admirable and so necessary for the Reasons before-mentioned and for many others that I could yet add that this knowledge that God had of these inconvencies ought not to have hindred him from executing his design We may say in one sense that God never had a design to make Monsters for it appears evident to me that if God should create one Animal only it would not be Monstrous But designing to produce an admirable work by the most simple ways and unite all these Creatures one to another he foresaw certain effects that would necessarily follow from the Order and Nature of things and this hath not diverted him from his design For although a Monster simply considered be an imperfect work yet when it is joyn'd with the rest of the creatures it does not render the World imperfect We have sufficiently explain'd what power the Imagination of a Mother has over the body of her Child let us now examine the power it hath over its Mind and that way discover the first Irregularities of the Mind and Will of Men in his Original For this is our chief design It is evident that the traces of the Brain are accompanied with Sentiments and Ideas of the Soul IV. An Explanation of some irregularities of the Mind and of the inclinations of the Will and that the emotion of the Animal Spirits have no effect in the Body but what the Motions in the Soul answer to and in a word it is certain that all the Sensations and Passions of the Body are accompany'd with true Sentiments and Passions in the Soul Now according to our first supposition Mothers first communicate the traces of their Brain to their Children and afterwards the Motions of their Animal Spirits and so produce the same passion in the mind of their Children with which they themselves are affected and by consequence they cortupt both their affections and reason in several respects If so many Children are observed to bear upon their Faces the Marks and Traces of the Idea that affected their Mother although the Fibres of the skin make much more resistance against the course of the Spirits than the soft parts of the Brain and thô the Spirits are much more agitated in the Brain than towards the Skin we cannot reasonably doubt but that the Animal Spirits of the Mother produce in the Brain of the Infant many traces by their irregular emotions Now the great traces of the Brain and the emotion of the Spirits which answer to them continuing a long time and sometimes all the life it is certain that as there are few Women who have not some weaknesses and who have not been moved with some Passion during their being with Child it cannot be expected but that there will be very few Children who are not ill inclined to something and who have not some predominant passion We have only too much experience of these things and all the World is sensible that there are whole Families who are afflicted with great weakness of Imagination which they have drawn from their Parents but it is not necessary here to give any particular Examples thereof On the contrary 't is more proper for the consolation of some Persons to assure 'em that those weaknesses of the Parents not being Natural or proper to the Nature of Man the traces and impressions of the Brain which are the cause of them may be effaced by time We may yet add here the Example of King James I. of England of whom Sir Kenelm Digby speaks in his Book which he writ of the Sympathetic Powder He tells us that Mary Stuart being with Child of King James some Scotch Lords entred her Chamber and in her presence killed her Secretary who was an Italian altho' she cast her self before him to hinder them that this Princess received some slight hurts by them and the frights she had made so great an impression in her Imagination that she communicated it to the Child in her Womb So that King James cou'd never endure to see a Naked Sword He says that he himself was a witness of it for when he was Knighted this Prince coming to lay the Sword upon his Shoulder run it strait at his Face and had wounded him if some body had not directed it aright where it ought to be There are so many instances of the like Nature that 't would be needless to search Authors for them I believe there is no body that will dispute these things for we see a
Of Old Men. with more Reason ought to be understood of Old Men because the Fibres of their Brain are still more inflexible and that for want of Animal Spirits to trace out new Footsteps their Imagination becomes altogether languishing And because the Fibres of their Brain are usually intermixt with many superfluous Humours therefore they loose by little and little the memory of things past and fall into Infirmities that are common to Children So that in their decrepit Age they have those Defects which depend upon the Constitution of the Fibres of the Brain which are to be met with both in Children and grown Men though it may be said that they are Wiser than either because they are no longer so subject to their Passions which proceed from the vehement Agitation of the Animal Spirits We shall not undertake any farther Explanation of these things because it is easie to make a judgment of this Age by the others that we have spoken of before and to conclude from thence that Old Men with much more difficulty conceive what is said to 'em than those that are younger that they are more obstinately tied to their Prejudices and long receiv'd Opinions and consequently that they are more harden'd and confirm'd in their Errors and Ill Habits Though this ought to be observed that the State of Old Age does not happen precisely at Sixty or Seventy years that all Old Men do not doat nor are all those who are past Sixty always free from the Passions of young People and that we should proceed too far to draw General Consequences from Establish'd Principles CHAP. II. That the Animal Spirits usually observe the Traces of Idea's which are most familiar to us which is the Reason that we never make a sound Judgment of things I Suppose I have sufficiently explain'd in the foregoing Chapters the various alterations that are to be met with in the Animal Spirits and in the Constitution of the Fibres of the Brain according to the several Ages of Man So that but a little Meditation upon what has been said will help us to a distinct Knowledge of the Imagination and of the most common Natural Causes of the Differences that are to be observ'd among Wits since all the Alterations that befall the Imagination and the Mind are but Consequences of those in the Animal Spirits and in the Fibres of which the Brain is compos'd But there are several Particular Moral Causes of the Alterations that befall the Imagination of Man viz. their different Conditions Employments and manner of Living to the Consideration of which we must oblige our selves since these sorts of Alterations are the Causes of almost an infinite number of Errors every one judging of Things according to the relation they have to his Condition We do not think it necessary to spend time in Explaining the Effects of some indifferent Causes as great Sicknesses surprising Misfortunes and other unexpected Accidents which make most violent impressions upon the Brain and extreamly disturb it because these things but rarely happen and for that the Errors into which such sort of Persons fall are so palpable that they are no way contageous seeing they are so easily found out and rejected by all the World Now for the more perfect apprehending all the Alterations which Different Conditions produce in the Imagination 't is absolutely necessary to remember that we never imagine Objects but by first forming Images of 'em and that these Images are nothing else but the Traces which the Animal Spirits delineate in the Brain that we imagine things so much the more strongly the deeper and more plainly these Traces are impress'd and the oftner and more violently the Animal Spirits have past through them and that when the Spirits have past through several times they enter in more easily than into other parts adjoining through which they never past or at least not so often This is the most usual Cause of the Confusion and Falshood of our Idea's For the Animal Spirits that are directed by the Action of External Objects or else by the Orders of the Soul to produce certain Traces in the Brain many times produce others which in truth resemble 'em in something but which are not altogether the Traces of the same Objects nor those which the Soul desired to represent to it self for that the Animal Spirits finding some Resistance in those parts of the Brain through which they ought to have past readily turn aside and croud into the deeper Traces of those Idea's which are more familiar to us And here we shall produce very manifest and sensible Examples of these Things When they who are not extreamly short sighted behold the Moon they see two Eyes a Nose and a Mouth in a word it seems to them as if they saw a Face Nevertheless there is nothing at all in the Moon of what they imagine there Many Persons behold there quite another Thing And they who take the Moon to be such as she seems to be to them may be easily undeceived if they look upon her with a small Prospective Glass or if they consult the Descriptions which Hevelius Riccioli and others have publish'd Now the Reason why Men generally behold a Face in the Moon and not the Irregular Spots which are there is this because the Traces of the Face which are in the Brain are very deep for that we frequently and with great Attention look upon Faces So that the Animal Spirits finding some Resistance in other parts of the Brain easily turn aside from the Direction which the Light of the Moon imprints and enter into those Traces to which the Idea's of a Face are naturally affixt Besides that the Appearing Bigness of the Moon not being much different from the largeness of an ordinary Head at a certain distance the Impression of it forms those Traces which have a great Affinity with those that represent a Nose a Mouth and Eyes and by that means determines the Spirits to take their Course in the Traces of a Face Some there are who see a Man a Horseback in the Moon or any thing else which is not a Face because their Imagination having been strongly affected by certain Objects the same Traces are open'd by the least things to which they have any Relation For the same Reason it is that we imagine we behold Chariots Men Lions and other Animals in the Clouds when there is the least resemblance between those Creatures and their Figures and that all Men but chiefly they who are accustomed to Designing and Drawing many times see Heads of Men upon the Walls where there are several Irregular Spots 'T is for this Reason also that the Spirits of Wine entring without any direction of the Will into Traces most familiar to us help to discover Secrets of the greatest Importance and that in our sleep we most commonly dream of those Objects which we have seen in the day time and which had form'd the largest Traces in the
by Conversion to the Phantasmes or Traces of the Brain So soon as the Soul would have the Arm to move the Arm is moved tho' it does not so much as know what it ought to do to make it move and so soon as the Animal Spirits are agitated the Soul finds it self mov'd tho' it does not so much as know there are Animal Spirits in the Body When I come to treat of the Passions I shall speak of the Connexion between the Traces of the Brain and the Motions of the Spirits and of that between the Idea's and Emotions of the Soul for that all the Passions depend upon it My business here is only to treat of the affinity between Idea's and Traces and the Connexion of the Traces one with another There are three very considerable Causes of the Connexion of the Idea's with the Traces Three considerable Causes of the union between the Idea's and Traces the first and most general is the Identity of Time For frequently it suffices that we had certain Thoughts at such time as some new Traces came into our Brain so that those Traces cannot be produced again without renewing the same Thoughts If the Idea of God present it self to my Mind at the same time that my Brain was struck with the sight of these three Characters Iah or with the sound of the Word it self 't is enough if the Traces which those Characters have produc'd be excited to make me think of God And I cannot think of God but there will be produc'd in my Brain some confused Traces of the Characters or Sounds which accompany'd the Thought which I had of God for the Brain being never without Phantasmes there are always such as have some Relation to what we think tho' many times these Phantasmes are very imperfect and very confus'd The second Cause of the Connexion of the Idea's with the Traces and which always supposes the first is the Will of Man This Will 〈◊〉 necessary that this connexion of the Idea's with the Traces may be regulated and proper for Use For if Men had not Naturally an Inclination to agree between themselves to affix their Idea's to Sensible Signs not only this Connexion of Idea's wou'd be absolutely unprofitable for Society but it would be also very Irregular and Imperfect First because Idea's are never strongly united with the Traces but when the Spirits being agitated they render those Traces deep and durable So that the Spirits being never agitated but by the Passions if Men had no such Union to communicate their Sentiments and participate of those of others 't is evident that the exact Union of their Idea's with certain Traces would be very weak because they do not subject themselves to those Exact and Regular Connexions but to render themselves Intelligible Secondly the Repetition of the Meeting of the same Idea's with the same Traces being necessary to form a Connexion that may be of long continuance since the meeting unless it be accompany'd with a violent Motion of the Animal Spirits suffices not to make strong Connexions 't is clear that if Men should refuse to assent it would be the greatest Chance in the World if the same Traces and Idea's should meet together so that the Will of Man is necessary to regulate the Connexion of the same Idea's with the same Traces tho' this Will of Agreement be not so much an effect of their Choice and Reason as an Impression of the Author of Nature who has made us altogether one for another and with a strong Inclination to unite in Mind as well as in Body The third Cause of the Connexion of the Idea's with the Traces is the Constant and Immutable Nature or Will of the Creator For example There is a Natural Connexion and which depends not upon our Will between the Traces produc'd by a Tree or Mountain which we behold and the Idea's of a Tree or Mountain between the Traces which the Cries of a Man or Beast that suffer Pain beget in our Brain the Air of one who threatens us or of whom we stand in fear and the Idea's of Grief of Strength or Weakness as also between the Sentiments of Compassion of Fear and Courage which are excitedin us These Natural Bands are the strongest of all they are generally alike in all Men and they are absolutely necessary for the Preservation of Life For which reason it is that they depend not upon our Will for if the Band or Connexion of Idea's with certain Sounds and Characters be but feeble and very different in several Countries 't is because it depends upon the weak and changeable Will of Men. And the reason why it depends upon it is because this Connexion is not absolutely necessary for Life but only for living like Men that are to form among themselves a Rational Society Here we must observe that the Connexion of Idea's that represent to us Spiritual Things and such as are distinct from us with the Traces of our Brain is not nor can be Natural and by consequence it is or may be different in all Men for that it has no other Cause than their Will and the Identity of Time of which I have spoken before On the other side the Connexion of the Idea's of all Material Things with certain particular Traces is Natural and hence there are certain Traces that stir up the same Idea in all Men. For Example there is no question but that all Men have the Idea of a Square upon the sight of a Square because that Connexion is Natural but 't is to be doubted whither all Men have that Idea when they hear the Word Square pronounced because that Connexion is entirely voluntary The same thing may also be thought of all Traces that are tyed to the Idea's of Spiritual Things But because the Traces which have a Natural Connexion with Idea's do affect the Mind and consequently render it attentive the greatest part of Men do easily enough comprehend and retain Sensible Truths that is the mutual Relations that are between Bodies On the other side because the Traces that have no other Connexion with the Idea's then what is voluntary do never vigorously strike the Mind 't is not without a great deal of trouble that all Men Comprehend and with much more difficulty retain abstracted Truths that is the mutual Relations between things that fall not under the Imagination But when these Relations are never so little compounded they appear absolutely Incomprehensible especially to those that are not accustomed to them in regard they have not fortify'd the Connexion of those abstracted Idea's with their Traces by continual Meditation and tho' others have perfectly comprehended them they forget them in a short time because this Connexion is seldom or never so strong as the Natural one It is so true that all the trouble Men have to comprehend and retain Spiritual and Abstracted Things proceeds from the difficulty of fortifying the Connexion of their Idea's
these Persons is to have a narrow Wit and how much the narrower it is so much the deeper Traces their Brain receives of inconsiderable Objects The second Defect is they are Visionaries yet after a Delicate Manner and difficult to be discover'd The Vulgar sort of Men believe 'em not to be such there are none but just and clear Wits that perceive their Visions and the Deviations of their Imagination Now that we may be able to conceive the Original of this Defect 't is necessary to remember what we have said at the beginning of the second Book That as to those things which are acted in the Brain the Senses and Imagination differ only in the more and less that it is by reason of the largeness and deepness of the Traces that the Mind becomes sensible of Objects that it judges of 'em as present and capable of affecting it and so near it as to make it sensible of Pain and Pleasure For when the Traces of an Object are small the Soul imagines only that same Object it does not judge it to be present nor does it look upon it to be very great or very considerable but as the Traces become deeper and greater the Mind also judges that the Object becomes greater and more considerable approaches nearer to us and lastly is more apt to affect and injure us Those Visionaries of whom we here discourse are not arriv'd to that Excess of Folly to believe they see present before their Eyes those Objects which are Absent The Traces of their Brain are not yet deep enough they are but half Mad were they absolutely so 't were in vain for us to talk of 'em here Seeing that all Men being sensible of their Errors they would not suffer themselves to be deluded by ' em They are not Visionaries in respect of the Senses but only in reference to the Imagination Madmen are Visionaries in reference to the Senses because they see not Things as they are and many times believe they see those Things which are not However 't is evident that Visionaries in reference to the Senses and in reference to the Imagination differ only in the more and less neither is the Passing from one Condition to the other very difficult Whence it comes to pass that the Distemper of Mind in the latter ought to be represented by comparing it with the Distemper of the former which is more manifest and more strongly affects the Mind since in things which differ no otherwise than in the more or less those things that less sensibly affect us are always to be explain'd by those things that affect us more vehemently The second Defect of those who have a strong and vigorous Imagination is that they are Visionaries as to the Imagination or barely Visionaries for we call those Madmen that are Visionaries in reference to the Senses And thus we have enumerated the Vices of Visionary or Fantastick Wits These People exceed their Bounds in every thing they extol mean and abject things they magnifie small things and bring remote things near to the sight Nothing appears to 'em what it really is They admire every thing they exclaim against every thing without Discretion If they are naturally dispos'd to be fearful I mean if their Animal Spirits are in small quantity without vigor without motion they are afraid of every thing they tremble at the shaking of a Leaf But if they abound in Blood and Spirits which is most usual they feed themselves with vain Hopes and give themselves up to their Imagination which is fruitful in Idea's and according to the Proverb they build Castles in the Air with extraordinary joy and satisfaction They are vehement in their Passions obstinate in their Opinions always full of and highly satisfied in the Contemplation of themselves When they have a fancy to be accounted famous Wits and to set up for Authors for there are Authors of all sorts as well Visionaries as others What Extravagancies what Deliriums what Ravings are they not guilty of They never imitate Nature every thing is affected forced and rapturous they rather Skip and Leap than Walk they speak in Measure they utter nothing but Figures and Hyperboles If they addict themselves to Godliness and to follow it according to their own Fancies they put on a Spirit of Judaism and Pharisaic Hypocrisie their Minds are altogether intent upon the outside of things External Ceremonies and performances of no moment They become scrupulous fearful and superstitious If you will believe them every thing belongs to Faith and every thing is Essential except what really belongs to Faith and what is truly Essential For many times their Minds being taken up with Duties of little moment they neglect the more useful and more important Precepts of the Gospel in reference to Justice Mercy and Faith What needs any more They that desire to be convinc'd of these Defects and many others need only to consider what passes in their daily Conversations But they that have a Strong and Vigorous Imagination are endu'd with other Qualities which 't is very necessary for us to explain in this Place We have only spoken hitherto of their Defects we are now to Discourse of their Vertues and Prerogatives among which they have one that principally regards our subject for by means of that Prerogative they rule over the Minds of the Vulgar obtrude their Idea's upon 'em and communicate to 'em all those false Impressions with which they are affected This Prerogative consists in a strong and vigorous manner of expressing themselves That they who have a stâ—ong Imagination castly persuade others though it be not natural They who have a strong Imagination of things express 'em vigorously and perswade all those who are convinâ—â—â— rather by outward shew and sensible Impression than by the force of Reason For the Brains of those who excel in Strength of Imagination admitting deep Traces of the Subjects which they imagine as we have said before those Traces for the most part are not imprinted without a great Commotion of the Animal Spirits which dispose the whole Body after a quick and lively manner to express the Cogitations of the Mind Thus the Air of their Face the Tone of their Voice and Elegancy of Speech enlivening their Expressions they gain Attention of their Spectators and Hearers and prepare 'em to receive Mechanically the Impression of the Image that violently moves ' em For in short those things that are deeply infus'd into our Mind are usually as deeply infus'd by us into the Minds of others He that is mov'd by a vehement Passion still moves others with the same Passion and though his Rhetoric be often Irregular yet for all that 't is very perswasive Because the External Air and Gesture as being most sensible acts more vigorously upon the Imagination of Men than the most solid Arguments that are sedately pronounced because those Ratiocinations neither flatter the Senses nor strike the Imagination Persons then who excel
and the greatness of their Courage and Friendship would be more admir'd than the weakness of their Judgment would be derided But 't is not the same thing with the Modes of France their Fantasticalness is not supported by any Probable Reason so that if they are not so troublesome they are still the more Ridiculous In a word they wear the Character of a most Corrupted Age wherein there is nothing sufficiently powerful to moderate the Irregularity of the Imagination What we have said of Courtiers is to be understood of the greatest part of Men Servants in reference to their Masters and Maid Servants in reference to their Mistresses and that we may not spend too much time I would have it to be understood of all Superiors but chiefly of Children in reference to their Parents because Children are under a particular Dependency upon their Parents because their Parents have a particular Love and Tenderness for 'em which other Persons have not Lastly because Children are induc'd by Reason to that Submission and Obsequiousness that many times exceed the Bounds of Reason But 't is not always necessary that other Men should have Authority over us or that we should depend in some measure upon 'em to enable 'em to work upon the Imagination For the only power of the Imagination is sometimes sufficient for that purpose seeing it frequently falls out that Persons such as are unknown of no Reputation and for whom we are not prepossess'd with any Esteem are endu'd with such a force of Imagination and by Consequence so lively and moving that they perswade us we neither know which way nor how 'T is true it seems very strange but there is nothing so common Now this Imaginary Persuasion can only come from the power of a Visionary Person who speaks without understanding what he says and by that means inclines the Minds of those that hearken to him to believe strongly without knowing what they believe For most Men are so stupified with the Effort of a Dazling Expression that they judge as their Passion leads 'em of those things which they understand but very confusedly And I desire the Readers of this Treatise to observe such Examples as they meet with in their daily Conversations and to revolve in their Minds what passes upon those Occasions for I make no question but they will find more Benefit by it than they can imagine But it is farther to be observed that there are two things that wonderfully contribute to the Operations of the Forcible Imagination of others over us The first is an Air of Piety and Gravity The second an Air of Libertinism and Confidence For according to our Propensity either to Devotion or Licentiousness Persons that speak with a Grave and Pious Air or an Air of Confidence and Libertinism work very differently upon us 'T is true that of these there are some more dangerous than others However have a care of being deluded by the outward shews either of the one or the other or of submitting to any thing but the force of solid Arguments To this may be utter'd after a Grave and Modest manner and Impiety and Blasphemy may be cover'd with the Cloak of Piety It behoves us to Examine according to the Precept of St. John whether the Spirits are of God or no and not confide in every Spirit The Devils sometimes transform themselves into Angels of Light Nor are there wanting some Persons who having as it were a Natural Air of Piety are look'd upon as Men endu'd with true Devotion and under that Mask are so daring as to pronounce Men free and exempted from their Essential Obligations and even from the Love of God and their Neighbours on purpose to enslave 'em to some Pharisaical Practice or Ceremony But the Imaginations whose Impression and Contagion we ought most chiefly to avoid are those of certain Persons in the World who affect the Title of Great Wits which they acquire with little difficulty For now there needs no more than with a certain Air of Impudence to deny Original Sin the Immortality of the Soul or to scoff at some receiv'd Opinion of the Church to acquire the Rare Title of a Great Wit among the Common sort of Men. These slender Wits are usually full of Fire and I know not by what Air of License and Boldness they impiously impose upon other Mens Minds and incline weak Imaginations to surrender to Lively and Plausible Words but such as signifie nothing to those which duely weigh and consider ' em They are very happy in their Expressions though very unfortunate in their Reasons But because even Men how reasonable soever they are rather choose to be affected with the sensible Pleasure of Gesture and Expressions than to tire themselves with the difficult Examination of Reason therefore 't is visible that those Wits are preferr'd to others and by that means communicate their Errors and Malignity through the Power which they have over the Imaginations of other Men. CHAP. III. I. Of the Force of the Imagination of certain Authors II. Of Tertullian ONE of the greatest and most Remarkable Proofs of the Power which some Imaginations have over others is the Power that certain Authors have to persuade though they bring no Reasons for what they say For Example Tertullian Seneca Montaigne and some others give a Turn to their Words that have so many Charms and such a Lustre as dazles the Minds of most People though in their Writings the Imaginations of those Authors be but imperfectly painted and shadow'd Their Words though they want Life have a greater Efficacy in 'em than the Reasons of some Persons They enter they penetrate and command the Mind after so imperious a manner that they force it to a blind Obedience and tyrannically compel it to an unthought of Submission The Mind is willing to believe but knows not what to believe for when it fain would know what it desires to believe and approaches near those Phantomes to distinguish what they are they vanish into Air with all their Pomp and Splendour Though the Writings of the Authors above mention'd are very proper to demonstrate the Force of Imagination and though I propose 'em for Example sake yet do I not go about to condemn 'em in all things There are some certain Beauties in 'em that I cannot but applaud nor is it my design to inveigh against the Universal Approbation of many Ages I protest that I have a high Respect for some of Tertullian's Works more especially for his Apology against the Gentiles and his Book of Prescriptions against Hereticks I also admire Seneca in some parts of his Writings but as for Montaigne's whole Book I very little value it Tertullian was in truth a Man of profound Learning but he had a better Memory than Judgment he had more of Penetration and Extent of Imagination than of Wit Nor can it be denied but that he was a Visionary in that sense which I have already explain'd and
Odours Sapours Sounds Colours c. the greatest part of Men do not think them to be Modifications of the Soul but on the contrary that they are dispersed upon Objects or at least they are in the Soul as the Idea of a Square or Circle that is They are united to the Soul but are not Modifications thereof They judge thus of them because they are not more affected by them as was shown in the Explanation of the Errors of the Senses We must therefore agree that we know not all the Modifications whereof our Soul is capable and besides those which it has by the Organs of the Senses it may have innumerable more which it has not yet try'd nor shall know till it be deliver'd from the Prison of its Body However we must confess that even as Matter is capable of infinite Configurations because of its Extension so it 's visible that the Soul would not be incapable of the Modifications of Pleasure Pain nor even of all others which are indifferent to it if it were incapable of Perception or Thought It is sufficient therefore to know that the Principle of all these Modifications is Thought and if any one will have it that there is any thing in the Soul antecedent to Thought I shall not dispute it but as I am certain that no one has any knowledge of his Soul but by Thought or by an internal Sentiment of whatever passes in his Mind so I am also assur'd that if any one will reason upon the Nature of the Soul he must consult this internal Sentiment which will always represent him to himself such as he is and he must not imagin against his own Conscience that the Soul is an invisible Fire a subtil Air a Harmony or other like thing CHAP. II. I. The Mind being limited cannot comprehend any thing that relates to Infinity II. Its limitation is the Original of many Errors III. And chiefly of Heresies IV. We must submit our Minds to Faith WE discover at first sight I. The mind being limited cannot comprehend any thing which relates to infinity that the Human Mind is very much limited from whence two very important Consequences may be drawn The first That the Soul can have no perfect Knowledge of Infinity The second That it can't know distinctly many things at the same time For as a piece of Wax is not capable of having many different Figures at the same time so neither is the Soul capable of having the knowledge of many things at the same time Likewise a piece of Wax cannot be Square and Round at the same time but only part Square and part Round and so many more different Figures it shall have they will be so much the less perfect and distinct Thus the Soul cannot perceive many things at once and its Thoughts are so much the more confused as they are greater in Number If a piece of Wax should have a Thousand Sides and in each Side a different Figure it would be neither Square Round nor Oval and we could not say of what Figure it would be so it happens sometimes that we have so great a number of different Thoughts that we imagin we think nothing at all as happens to those that are in a Swound The Animal Spirits turning irregularly in the Brain stirs up so great a number of Traces that they do not sufficiently open any one of 'em to excite a particular or distinct Idea in the Mind so that these persons perceive so great a number things at once that they perceive nothing distinct which induces them to think they have perceived nothing at all There are some who sometimes Swound away for want of Animal Spirits but then the Soul having only thoughts of pure Intellection which leave no Traces in the Brain they remember nothing when they come to themselves again which makes them believe they thought of nothing I have said this by the by to shew those are mistaken who believe the Soul does not think always because it sometimes imagins that it thinks on nothing Every one that does but reflect a little upon their own Thoughts II. The limitation of the mind is the Original of many Errors have experience enough that the Mind cannot apply it self to many things at the same time and much more that it cannot penetrate into Infinity Yet I know not by what Caprice some persons who are not ignorant of this busie themselves more about the study of infinite Objects and such Questions as require an infinite Capacity of the Mind than about what better suits the Capacity of their own Minds and also why there are a great number of others that are desirous to know every thing and apply themselves to so many Sciences in the same time that it confounds them and makes them uncapable of knowing any Science truly How many Men are there who would comprehend the infinite Divisibility of Matter and how a little Grain of Sand contains as many parts as the whole World although much less in proportion How many Questions are formed upon these Subjects which are never resolved and upon many others which include any thing of Infinity which yet they would find a Solution of in their own Minds They apply themselves to it with all possible Attention But at last all they gain is this they are prejudic'd with some Extravagance and Error Is it not a pleasant thing to see some Men who deny the infinite Divisibility of Matter from hence only because they cannot comprehend it Although they very well comprehend the demonstrations that prove it and at the same time confess that the Human Mind cannot comprehend Infinity The Proofs which are brought for the infinite Divisibility of Matter are as Demonstrative as any thing else in Nature and these Men confess it when they seriously consider them however if we propose to them such Objections as they cannot Solve their Mind leaves that Evidence which just before they perceived and they begin to doubt of it they are strongly possest with the Objection they cannot Resolve and invent some frivolous distinction against the demonstrations of the Infinite Divisibility of Matter and at last they conclude they were deceiv'd as also the World with them and so embrace the contrary Opinion This they defend with Chimerical Atoms and other like Absurdities with which the Imagination always furnishes them Now the Original of all their Errors is this they are not inwardly convinc'd that the Mind of Man is Finite and that to be perswaded of the infinite Divisibility of Matter it is not necessary to Comprehend it because all Objections that cannot be resolv'd without Comprehending it are Objections which its impossible to Resolve If Mens Curiosity would be terminated by Questions of this Nature we should have no great reason to be concern'd for if some Men were prepossessed with such Errors they are Errors of little Consequence As for others they have not wholly lost their time in thinking of
than Creates an Infinite Number of Idea's in every Mind First Although we do not absolutely deny that God was able to produce an Infinitely infinite Number of Beings which represent Objects with every Mind he Creates yet we ought not to believe that he does so For it is not only consonant to Reason but it also appears by the Oeconomy of Nature that God never does by very difficult means what may be done by a plain easie way God does nothing in vain and without Reason That which shews his Wisdom and his Power is not to do little things by difficult Means for that is repugnant to Reason and shews a limited Knowledge But on the contrary it is to do great things by plain easie Means 'T is thus that out of Extension only he produces whatever we see that is admirable in Nature and even that which gives Life and Motion to Animals For those who will needs have Substantial Forms Faculties and Souls in Animals different from their Blood and from the Organs of their Body in order to perform their Functions at the same time seem to argue that God wants Understanding or that he cannot do those admirable things by Extension only They measure the Power of God and his Soveraign Wisdom by the smallness of their own Capacity Then since God may make Humane Minds see all things by willing barely that they should see what is in themselves that is what is in him that has a relation to those things and which represents them there is no probability that he would do it otherwise and that he should produce in order thereunto as many Infinities of Infinite Numbers of Idea's as there are Created Spirits But we must observe that we are not to conclude that Spirits see the Essence of God because they can see all things in God in that manner Since what they see is very Imperfect but that God is very Perfect They see Matter Divisible and Figured c. and there is nothing in God that is Divisible or Figured for God is all Beings because he is Infinite and Comprehends all but he is no Being in particular Nevertheless that which we see is but one or several Beings in particular and we do not apprehend that perfect Simplicity of God which includes all Beings Besides that it may be said that we do not so much see the Idea's of things as the things which those Idea's represent for when we see a Square for instance we do not say that we see the Idea of that Square which is united to the Mind but only the Square which is without us The Second Reason which may induce us to believe that we see all Beings because God Wills that that which is in him which represents them should be discover'd to us and not because we have as many Idea's created with us as we can see things for this puts all created Spirits in an absolute Dependence upon God and the greatest that can be For this being so we cannot only see nothing but what God is willing we should see but we can also see nothing unless God himself shews it us 2 ad Cor. 3.5 Non sumus sufficientes cogitare aliquid à nobis tanquam ex nobis sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est 'T is God himself which instructs and enlightens Philosophers in that Knowledge which ungrateful Men call Natural although it is an immediate Gift from Heaven Deus enim illis manifestavit Rom. 1.19 It is he that is properly the Light of the Mind and the Father of Light or Knowledge Pater Luminum Jac. 1.17 It is he that teaches Wisdom to Men Psa 53. Qui docet hominem scientiam In a word He is the true Light which enlightens all those that come into this World Lux vera quae illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc Mundum Joan 1.9 For in fine It is pretty difficult distinctly to apprehend the Dependence which our Minds have on God in all their particular Actions supposing they have all that which we distinctly know to be necessary for them in order to Act or all the Idea's of things present to their Mind and truly that general and confused word Concurrence by which Men pretend to explain the Dependence that Creatures have on God does not awaken any distinct Idea in an attentive Mind and yet it is very necessary Men should know distinctly that they can do nothing without God But the strongest of all Reasons is the manner how the Mind perceives all things It is certain and every body knows by Experience that when we have a mind to think on any thing in particular we first cast our Eyes on all Beings and in the next place we apply our selves to the Consideration of the Object we design to think on Now it is most certain that we see it already though confusedly and in general So that as we may desire to see all the Beings sometimes one and sometimes another it is certain that all Beings are present to our Mind and it appears that all Beings can only be present to our Mind because God is present to it that is He who includes all things in the Simplicity of his Being It seems moreover That the Mind would not be capable of representing to it self universal Idea's of Kinds and Species c. unless it saw all Beings included in one For every Creature being a particular Being we cannot say that we see any thing Created when we see for instance a Triangle in general In fine I am of opinion that it is impossible to give a good Reason of the Manner how the Mind comes to know several abstracted and general Truths unless it be by the presence of him that can direct the Mind in a World of different Manners In fine The Best the most Sublime the most Solid and the chief Proof of the Existence of God or that which supposes the fewest things is the Idea we have of Infinity though it does not comprehend it and that it has a very distinct Idea of God which it can only have by the Union it has with him since it cannot be conceiv'd that the Idea of a Being infinitely perfect as that we have of God should be any thing that is Created But the Mind has not only the Idea of Infinity it has it even before that of Finite For we conceive the Infinite Being from this alone that we conceive a Being without considering whether it is Finite or Infinite But in order to conceive a Finite Being we must needs retrench something of that general Notion of a Being which consequently must precede Thus the Mind perceives nothing but in Infinity and that Idea is so far from being form'd by the confused Mixture of all the Idea's of particular Beings as Philosophers imagine that on the contrary all those particular Idea's are only Participations of the general Idea of Infinity As God does not derive his Being from the
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
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