Man to the holy Trinity are but shadows and imperfect Draughts which can never come up to the Original of all Beings who by an incomprehensible property of Infinity communicates himself without Division and forms a Society of three different Persons in the unity of the same Substance But tho' the Image of God which we bear be very imperfect in respect of our Original yet there is nothing more great and noble for a mere created Being than this faint resemblance We labour for our Perfection only as we maintain and keep it up we secure our Happiness no further than we fashion our selves according to our Model All our true Judgments and regular Motions all the Duties which we pay to the Wisdom Power and Love of God are so as many Steps by which we advance toward the Fountain of all Good and an habitual Disposition to frame these Judgments and excite these Motions is the real Perfection of Man who essentially depends on the supreme Good and was made for no other End but to find his Perfection and Happiness in doing his Duty V. Now as the three Persons in the Trinity are but one God one and the same Substance so all those Duties which seem to relate particularly to any one of the Persons give equal Honour to the other two Every Regular Motion honours the Power of the Father as its Good the Wisdom of the Son as its Law and the mutual Love of the Father and the Son as its Principal and Original On the contrary every Sin or every Love of the Creatures dishonours the true Power opposes the universal Reason and resists the holy Spirit So that we cannot absolutely separate the Duties which we owe to the Power of God from those which we owe to his Wisdom and to the Substantial and Divine Love and therefore I have been forc'd in the three foregoing Chapters to repeat the same things after different manners VI. Tho' all the Duties which Spiritual Beings owe to God who is a pure Spirit and will be worship'd in Spirit and in Truth consist only in true Judgments and Motions of Love conformable to those Judgments yet Men being compos'd of a Soul and a Body living in Societies with one another educated in the same outward Religious Worship and thereby tied to certain Ceremonies they are oblig'd to an infinite number of particular Duties which have all of them a necessary Relation to those which I have already set down in general All these external Duties are arbitrary and indifferent at least in their first Foundation and Original but the spiritual Duties are in themselves absolutely necessary We may dispense with outward Duties but we can never dispense with the others they depend on an inviolable Law the immutable and necessary Order Outward Duties of themselves do not sanctify those that render them to God they receive their Worth and Value only from the spiritual Duties which accompany them but all the Motions of the Soul which are govern'd by true Judgments do immediately and of themselves honour the Divine Perfections VII Thus for instance it is a Duty indifferent in it self for a Man to pull off his Hat when he comes into a Church But to enter into the presence of God with respect and with some inward Motion of Religion is not an arbitrary but an essential Duty He that for some particular Reason cannot be uncover'd at Mass may be cover'd at the Celebration of it Women are excus'd from this Duty and provided it be known that it is not done out of contempt but upon necessity commonly their needs no dispensation for it None but those that have wrong Notions of things cenforious and weak People will find fault with it but no one that is present at that Sacrifice can be excus'd from offering up to God the Sacrifice of his Mind and Heart Praises and Motions which honour God He that prostrates himself before the Altar is so far from meriting and honouring God by that outward Duty that he commits a heinous Crime if he designs by that Action only to gain the Esteem of the World But he who tho' he be unmov'd outwardly is nevertheless inwardly agitated with Motions agreeable to the Knowledge which Faith and Reason give him of the Divine Attributes honours God draws near and unites himself to him He conforms himself to the immutable Law by Regular Motions which leave behind them a Habit or Disposition of Charity and thereby truly purifies and sanctifies himself But there are many People whose Religion is not spiritual they go no farther than the outside which makes an Impression on them and often determines them to do that by imitation which they had no design to do of themselves VIII Certainly it is a disrespect to the universal Reason to separate our selves from it by the use of Wine or to run away from our selves where Reason inhabits and where it gives its Oracles and suffer our selves to be carried by our Passions into a World where the Imagination reigns In a word to depart voluntarily and without any necessity from the presence of our Good and of our Reason is a Motion which dishonours the Divine Majesty it is Irreligious and Impious But the generality of People do not judge of things after this manner they judge of a Man's inward Sentiments by his outward Actions and Behaviour they imagine it a great Crime to do some Actions in a holy Place tho' perhaps they are not indecent in themselves and yet never consider that nothing is more indecent than to neglect the essential Duties of a rational Creature in any place whatsoever A Man that is Religious even to Superstition passes for a Saint with them but the Christian Philosopher is counted no better than a Heathen if he will not abandon Reason to agree with their Notions and religiously observe their Customs IX Indeed the Philosopher doth ill if he neglects the external Duties Mat. 18.6 and thereby offends the Weak and Simple It were better for him that a Mill-stone were hang'd about his Neck and that he were Drown'd in the depth of the Sea Every Man ought to testify his Faith by visible Actions and thereby incline other Men who are always affected with the outward Behahaviour to such Motions as give honour to God In every thing that relates to God we should with all Humility assume the air and posture of Adoration Any other is at least Foolish and Ridiculous But it is Impious to use such outward Actions as are superstitious and lead Men's Minds to Judgments and Motions which dishonour the divine Attributes They are excusable perhaps in such as have but a confus'd Idea of God But he that is better instructed in Religion and hath a more particular knowledge of the divine Perfections ought not to do any thing out of any humane Consideration that contradicts his own Light X. The greatest part of Christians have a Jewish Spirit Joh. 17.3 their Religion is not
Grace only by Jesus Christ the Sacrifice once offer'd on the Cross and now glorified and consummated in God the High Priest of good Things to come the Head of the Church and the Architect of the eternal Temple It clearly denotes that the general Law of the Order of Grace is that God would Save all Men in and by his Son A Truth which S. Paul repeats upon all occasions as being the Foundation of the Religion which we profess It may be I have not light on the proper Word to express clearly that which Faith teaches us concerning Jesus Christ But let not any one therefore be offended with me I am willing to be Taught and shall never contend with Heat and Obstinacy for Terms When any one will give me better I will make use of them But I think that the clearest are the best For we should consider that Words are design'd only to express our Thoughts So that those Words which clearly express false Conceptions are in themselves preferable to those which express the most solid Thoughts confusedly Especially when Men make use of them as I do with a design to explain and prove clearly those Truths which Philosophers themselves do not very well comprehend V. But I desire that the World would do me that Justice or have so much Charity for me as to believe that my introducing some Ideas which I make use of in this Treatise proceeds neither from a resentment against any Persons nor from a desire of justifying my own Notions or ways of Expression I believe that those who have not done me Justice had no design to injure me and that if they judg'd a little too hastily of my Opinion from Terms which they do not understand it was their love to Religion which prompted them to it A Love which cannot be too great and which is hard to be kept within Bounds when it is so fervent as I know it to be in some of my Adversaries The Reader will pardon this short Digression I return to my Subject VI. God never acts without Reason and there are but two general Reasons which determine him to act Order which is his inviolable Law and those general Laws which he hath establish'd and which he constantly observes that so his Actions may bear the Character of his Attributes Therefore seeing that nothing happens in the Creatures which God doth not do and that as to Sinners the immutable order of Justice doth not require that God should do any good to them the Sinner cannot obtain any Good much less Grace without having recourse to the occasional cause which determines the true cause to communicate it to Men. So that there is a kind of necessity that we should know distinctly and precisely what is that occasional cause that so we may make our applications to it with confidence and obtain those assistances without which as I have shew'd it is not possible so much as to form a resolution of sacrificing our predominant Passion to the Law of God VII When a sick Man is in fear of Death and is fully satisfied that there is but one certain Fruit which can restore him to his Health again his Fear is sufficient to make him use some endeavours to get that Fruit. The first Man was immortal only because he knew that the Fruit of the Tree of Life could preserve vigour and give Immortality and that it was in his power to Eat of it So when we are in fear of Hell and know distinctly that Christ is the Tree of Life whose Fruit gives Immortality or to speak clearly and unequivocally to Philosophers when we know that Christ is the occasional cause of Grace the actual fear of eternal Death is sufficient to make us call upon him and pray that he would with relation to us form such desires as may determine God the true cause to deliver us from our Miseries VIII I say once again for we cannot imprint this Truth too deeply in our Minds that Jesus Christ as Man is alone the occasional cause of Grace and it is more certain that his desires procure for us the Spirit which quickens us than it is that to Morrow the Sun will diffuse its Light or the Fire its Heat and Motion The Fire hath sometimes respected the Bodies of Martyrs the Sun is often eclips'd and every Night leaves us in Darkness But Christ never pray'd in vain For if before he had compleated his Sacrifice by which he merited the Glory he now possesses speaking to his Father Joh. 11.42 he said of himself I knew that thou hearest me always Certainly now that he is entred by his Blood into the Holy of Holies and is ordain'd a High Priest of true Goods it would be a very great infidelity to want confidence in him But it may be objected that the Fire communicates its Heat by the necessity of natural Laws and that we cannot come near it without feeling its action whereas on the contrary it depends on the Will of Christ whether he will Pray for those which call upon him This difference is true But what Shall we doubt of the goodness of Christ Can we forget that he bears the Character of the Saviour of Sinners Shall we distrust the promises which he hath made us in so many places of his Gospel Heb. 4.14 15 5 9. Let us remember that we have in him a High Priest who hath experienc'd our Miseries and sympathizes with our Infirmities That he desires nothing so much as to finish his great Work the eternal Temple of which we should be living Stones Luk. 15.7 and that as he saith himself there is Joy in Heaven over one Sinner that repenteth And in those Thoughts let us approach with Confidence the Throne of his Grace the true Mercy-seat Let us ask and we shall receive Let us seek and we shall find let us knock and we shall at last have leave to enter Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be Sav'd Joel 2.32 The Scripture teaches us these Truths IX So then supposing that a Man fears the terrible Judgments of the living God believes in Christ and calls upon him as his Saviour and that in fine he hath receiv'd from him sufficient Strength to form that noble resolution of renouncing his predominant Passion That which he ought to do in this case is to come without delay and throw himself at the Feet of the Priest that by the Sacrament of Penance he may receive absolution of his Sins and justifying Charity which Sinners receive by this Sacrament when they come to it in the motion which the Holy Ghost inspires tho' he doth not yet dwell in them X. To prove the Truth of what I here assert I say that Christ after his Resurrection appear'd to his Apostles and said to them Peace be unto you Joh. 20.21 As my Father hath sent me even so send I you And when he had said this he breathed on them and
When he speaks as he speaks well all the World hearkens to him with Esteem as he speaks agreably they hear him with Pleasure as he advances only certain sensible Truths which are really false ones for that which is true to the Senses is false to the Mind every one applauds him Now is it possible for one who knows or rather by the air and behaviour of his Auditors is strongly and sensibly persuaded that they admire love honour and respect him is it possible I say for such an one to distrust his own Thoughts and believe that he is mistaken Can he avoid uniting himself not only to his own Visions which enchant him but also to that World which applauds him to those Friends which caress him and to those Disciples which adore him Can he be closely united with God who hath so many ties and relations with the Creatures XVII The Wit is a Man of Honour I allow it Yet he may be a Cheat and there are as many of them of that Character as any other He is not Vicious I grant it Tho' there are Debauchees among them and a great many too But certainly the Man of Wit is many ways allied to the World For how can he be Dead to the World when the World is so much Alive to him He is continually agitated by motions of Vanity For every one that he converses with doth nothing but provoke in him the Concupiscence of Pride The Man of Wit I speak still of such a one as lives in a select and chosen World one whose whole design is to gain an advantageous Post in Mens Minds or by the Reputation he hath already gotten is become in reality the Slave of all those who look upon him as their Master He I say is separated from God at a greater distance than any other and there is no likelyhood of his return The delight of Grace may diffuse it self in his Heart ten times a Day it will always find that Heart fill'd with Sensations and Motions that will choke it The Light may illuminate his Mind and dispel its Phantoms the Imagination will easily produce them again There are too many Fetters to break too many Chains to burst before this Captive can be deliver'd But he is in love with his Chains he is not sensible of his Slavery or he glories in it XVIII The Debauchee is not always actually in a Debauch his Blood and Humours cannot hold out to maintain it and when the Fermentation ceases he is asham'd of his Disorders But the Blood is always in a condition to furnish Spirits enough to keep up the Lust of Pride What time then can be favourable for the efficacy of Grace The Cheat feels continual checks of Conscience which trouble and disquiet him but the Wit feels no remorse He will say is it a Crime to have Wit and to merit the esteem of Persons of Worth and Reputation No it is no Crime to have Wit but it is an Error to take the Imagination for the Mind It is not a Crime to merit the esteem of others but it is an illusion to think that a Man merits it I will not say for having abundance of animal Spirits in his Head or a just proportion of the Fibres of his Brain to the Spirits but even for being united to Reason in the purest and closest manner that is possible There is no Merit in the sight of him who alone can judge of and reward Merit but by a conformity to Order and a right use of Liberty A use which cannot be well regulated without the assistance of Grace and of which he who values himself upon it loses the Merit because he doth not render to God alone the Glory which is due to him Do we think that God hath created other Men to employ their Thoughts and bestow their Love on us to turn towards and admire us to run after and rely upon us Certainly God would be worship'd by his Creatures But how by prostrating themselves before his Altars by burning Incense by joining Voices with Instruments and making the Churches resound with harmonious Airs compos'd in his Praise No without doubt God is a Spirit and will be worship'd in Spirit and in Truth He will have the whole Man his Thoughts Motions and Actions But the Man of Wit more than any one attracts the Eyes of other Men and fixes their Motions on himself Instead of putting himself in a posture of Adoration and turning the Minds and Hearts of others towards him who alone ought to be worship'd he exalts himself and assumes an honourable Place in Mens Minds he enters even into the Sanctuary of that Holy Temple the principal Habitation of the living God and by the sensible Pomp and Splendor which surrounds him he prostrates weak Imaginations at his Feet and makes them pay him a true and spiritual Worship a Worship which is due to God alone XIX Now can he who seeks the esteem of Men and robs God of that which he most values in his Creatures can he I say 1 Pet. 5.5 draw down upon himself the favours of Heaven Will God who resists the Proud prevent him with his Blessings The Spirit of God willingly rests on such as are humble such as the World despises These Truths the Scripture assures us of He enlightens those that retire into themselves This Experience shews But he blinds those lively and sparkling Imaginations which are always roving abroad For Truth dwells within us Besides the Grace either of Light or Sense doth not work its effect in the Mind and Heart of those who are united to every thing that is about them This is evident from what hath been here said So then the Man of Wit who seeks after Glory shall find only a vain and transitory one and shall fall for ever with those proud and ambitious Spirits into the disgrace which he deserves XX. But this beautiful ornament of Wit so fatal to those who possess it and value themselves upon it is also very dangerous to those who esteem and admire it in others without possessing it themselves This is a Truth necessary to be known There is nothing more contagious than the Imagination and those in whom it is strong and governing are alway Masters of those that look intently on them Their Air and Behaviour do as I may say diffuse conviction and certainty in all that behold them For they act every thing with so much Passion and Life that if a Man doth not retire into himself to confront that which they say with the answers of inward Truth which is very hard to do in their Presence he is convinc'd without knowing precisely what it is he is convinc'd of because he is struck he is dazled and subdu'd by force XXI Nevertheless we must know that those that have this lively and domineering Imagination are of all Men the most subject to Error their Sentiments are the most dangerous and their Motions the most irregular
none but God in the Creatures Jer. 17.7 5. Blessed is the Man that trusteth in the Lord and cursed is the Man that trusteth in Man and maketh flesh his Arm. IX This probably was the Philosophy of the noble Mordecai which he taught his adopted Daughter Esther For the Jews had a more divine Philosophy than that which the Heathens have left us In a Motion conformable to the Principles of that Philosophy without doubt it was that she makes this Prayer to God and lays before him the true Sentiments of her Heart Deliver us O Lord with thine hand Esther 14.14 c. and help me that am desolate and which have no other helper but thee Thou knowest all things O Lord thou knowest that I hate the Glory of the Unrighteous and abhor the Bed of the Uncircumcised and of all the Heathen Thou knowest my necessity for I abhor the sign of my high Estate which is upon mine Head in the days whereon I shew my self and that I wear it not when I am private by my self And that thine Hand-maid hath not eaten at Haman's Table and that I have not greatly esteem'd the King's Feast nor drunk the Wine of the Drink Offerings Neither had thine Hand-maid any joy since the day that I was brought hither to this present but in thee O Lord God of Abraham This great Queen takes God to witness That she had no joy but in him alone Tho' she were Wife to a Prince that commanded a Hundred and seventeen Provinces and liv'd in the midst of Pleasures yet she despises her Greatness and abhors the Delights of a voluptuous Court She remains unmov'd in the midst of so many Allurements and God alone is the Object of all the Motions of her Soul Thine Hand-maid never had any joy but in thee O Lord God of Abraham What constancy of Mind what greatness of Soul This is it which the Law of God teaches us and this also is demonstrated by that Principle that God alone doth every thing and that the Creatures are only the Occasional Causes of that Splendor which seems to environ them and of those Pleasures which seem to flow from them But the Duties we owe to Power which is in none but God require a more particular Explication X. All our Duties consist properly in nothing but certain Judgments and Motions of the Soul as I said before For God is a Spirit and will be worship'd in Spirit and in Truth All our outward Actions are but Consequences of the Action of our Mind This clear Perception That God alone hath Power obliges us to form the following Judgments 1. That God alone is the Cause of our Being 2. That he alone is the Cause of the duration of our Being or of our Time 3. That he alone is the Cause of our Knowledge 4. That he alone is the Cause of the natural Motions of our Will 5. That he alone is the Cause of our Sensations Pleasure Pain Hunger Thirst c. 6. That he alone is the Cause of all the Motions of our Body 7. That neither Men nor Angels nor Devils nor any other Creature can of themselves do us either good or harm That they may nevertheless as Occasional Causes determine God in consequence of certain general Laws to do us good or harm by means of the Body to which we are united 8. That in like manner we can do neither good nor harm to any one by our own strength but only oblige God by our practical Desires in consequence of the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body to do good or harm to other Men For we indeed have the Will to move our Tongue or Arm but it is God alone who can and doth actually move them XI These Judgments require of us the following Motions 1. To love none but God with a Love of Vnion or Conjunction because he alone is the Cause of our Happiness either small or great transitory or durable I say with a Love of Vnion for we must love our Neighbour not as our Good or the Cause of our Happiness but only as capable of enjoying the same Happiness with us The word Love is equivocal and therefore we must take care of it 2. To have no joy but in God alone for he that rejoyces in any other thing judges that that other thing can make him happy which is a false Judgment and can cause only an irregular Motion 3. Never to unite our selves to the occasional Causes of our Happiness contrary to the Prohibition of the true Cause for that would be to oblige God in consequence of his Laws to promote Iniquity 4. Not to unite our selves to them without a particular necessity for the Sinner ought to avoid Pleasure because actual Pleasure gives actual Happiness and Happiness is a Reward which the Sinner doth not deserve besides the Pleasures which we enjoy by the means of the Body fortify Concupiscence disturb the Mind and corrupt the Heart a thousand ways This is the Ground of the necessity of Penance 5. To fear none but God because he alone can Punish us We must fear God in this life to keep us from offending him The happy day will come which excluding Sin shall also banish Fear 6. To be sorry for nothing but our Sin because nothing but Sin can oblige a just God to make us miserable He that grieves at the loss of a false Good gives Honour to it and considers it as a true Good And he that grieves at a Misfortune which he cannot remedy afflicts himself in vain Self-love enlightned is griev'd only for its own Disorders and Charity for those of others 7. Tho' God alone can make us miserable yet we must not hate him tho' we may fear him Only he that is harden'd in Sin hates God out of Self-love for being sensible that he will not obey God or knowing as the damn'd do that in the condition which he likes and is pleas'd with he hath no means of access or return to God the invincible love of Happiness inspires him continually with an invincible hatred against him who alone can be the cause of Misery 8. We must not hate nor fear the occasional causes of physical Evil or Misery We may separate our selves from them But we must not do that neither against the Will of the true Cause I mean contrary to Order or the Law of God 9. We should will nothing but what God wills because we can do nothing but what God doth If we have not the Power to act it is plain that we should not have the Will to act Order or the divine Law should also be our Law or the Rule of our Desires and Actions because our Desires are efficacious only by the power and action of God I cannot move my Arm by my own Strength And therefore I ought not to move it according to my own Desires The Law of God should govern all the effects of Power not only in God but