Fears and Disquiet and instead of examining the Will of GOD in Holy Writ and referring to Men of untainted Imagination they constantly intend an Imaginary Law which the disorderly motions of Fear have engraven in their Brain And though they be inwardly convinc'd of their Infirmity and that GOD requires not certain Duties they prescribe themselves as being inconsistent with his Service yet they cannot forbear preferring their Imagination to their Understanding and submitting rather to some confus'd and terrifying Sensations that throw them into Errour than to the Evidence of Reason which brings them back to a good Assurance and reduces them into the right way of Salvation There is commonly a good stock of Vertue and Charity in Persons tormented with Scruples but not so much in People devoted to certain Superstitions and whose principal Employment is some Jewish and Pharisaick Practices GOD requires to be worship'd in Spirit and in Truth He is not satisfy'd with our making Faces and paying external Ceremonies with our bending the Knee before him and praising him with a Lip-offering when our Heart is far from him If Men are content with these exteriour Marks of Respect 't is because they cannot fathom the depth of the Heart for even they would be worship'd in Spirit and in Truth GOD demands our Mind and our Heart which as he has created so he preserves only for himself But many there are who to their own misfortune deny him those things which he has all manner of Right and Claim to They harbour Idols in their Hearts which they adore with a spiritual and true Worship and to which they sacrifice themselves and all they have But because the true GOD threatens in the Recesses of their Conscience to punish their excessive Ingratitude with an Eternity of Torments and yet they cannot think of quitting their belov'd Idolatry they therefore bethink themselves of an external Performance of some good Works They betake themselves to Fasting to Almsgiving and Saying of Prayers as they see others do and continue some time in such like Exercises but whereas they are painful to those that have not Charity they commonly forsake them to substitute some little Practicks and easie Devotions in their room which striking in with Self-love necessarily but insensibly subvert the whole System of Morals which our LORD has left us They are faithful fervent and zealous Defenders of those Humane Traditions which Un-enlightned Persons make them believe most useful and the frightful Idea of Eternity daily represents as absolutely necessary to their Salvation It fares not so with the Righteous They hear no less than the Wicked the Menaces of their GOD but the confus'd Noise of their Passions does not deafen them to his Counsels The false Glarings of Humane Traditions do not dazle them so far as to make them insensible to the Light of Truth They place their Confidence in the Promises of CHRIST and follow his Precepts as knowing that the Promises of Men are as vain as their Counsels However it may be said that the Dread which the Idea of Eternity breeds in their Minds sometimes effects so great a Commotion in their Imagination that they dare not absolutely condemn these Humane Traditions and that sometimes they approve them by their Example because they have A shew of Wisdom in Will-worship and Humility like those Pharisaick Traditions mention'd by St. Paul But that which more especially deserves to be consider'd in this place and which does not so much relate to Moral as Intellectual Disorder is that the fore-mention'd Fear stretches the Faith as well as Zeal of those it infects to things false or unworthy the Holiness of our Religion There are many who believe and that with a stiff and obstinate Faith That the Earth rests immovably in the Centre of the World That Brutes are sensible of Real Pain That Sensible Qualities are strew'd and diffus'd over Objects That there are Forms or Real Accidents distinguish'd from Matter and a world of the like false or uncertain Opinions because they conceit it would be repugnant to their Faith to deny them They are frighted with the Expressions of the Holy Scripture which speaks to our Capacity and consequently makes use of the receiv'd manners of Speech without design of making us Philosophers They believe not only what the Spirit of GOD means to teach them but likewise all the Opinions of the Jews They can't see for example that Joshua speaks before his Souldiers as even Copernicus Galilaeus and Des Cartes would speak to the Vulgar part of Men and that though he had been of the Opinion of these Philosophers he would not have commanded the Earth to stand still since he could not have manifested to his Army in words which they did not understand the Miracle GOD shew'd for his People Don't those who believe the Sun immoveable say to their Servants to their Friends or to those who are of their Opinion that The Sun Rises and Sets Do they affect to speak differently from others whenever their chief Design is not to Philosophize Was Joshua so admirably vers'd in Astronomy Or if he was did his Souldiers understand it But were he and his Souldiers Astronomers could we think they would be playing the Philosophers when their Thoughts were intent on Fighting Joshua therefore must have spoke as he did though both he and his Souldiers were of the same Opinion that the best Astronomers hold now-a-days And yet the Words of that great General Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and what is said afterwards that the Sun stood still according to his Command persuade a great many that the Opinion of the Earth's Motion is not only dangerous but also absolutely Heretical and unwarrantable They have heard that some Devout Men whom we are to treat with much Deference and Respect have censur'd and condemn'd it and have some confus'd Notion of what happen'd to a Famous Astronomer of our own Age upon that occasion All which seems sufficient to make them obstinately believe that Faith is concern'd in that Opinion A certain confus'd Sensation rais'd and encourag'd by a Motion of Fear which yet they are scarce aware of throws them into Suspicions of those who follow Reason in things of Reason's Jurisdiction Hence they regard them as Hereticks they hear them but with Impatience and Regret of Mind and these their secret Apprehensions breed in them as great a Reverence and Submission to these Opinions and several others purely Philosophical as to Truths that are Objects of Faith CHAP. XIII I. Of the Third Natural Inclination viz. The Friendship we have for other Men. II. It makes us approve the Thoughts of our Friends and deceive them by undue Praises OF all our Inclinations taken in the general and in the Sense explain'd in the first Chapter there remains now to be spoken to only that which we have for those we live with and for all the Objects round about us of which I shall say but little
proceed from their feeling an Uneasiness and Regret to retire into themselves there to discover their Weaknesses and Infirmities and their being pleas'd with Curious Enquiries and gayer sort of Sciences Being always Abroad they are insensible of the Disorders that happen at Home within themselves They think all 's right because there 's a Stupor on their Soul and find fault with those who knowing their Distemper betake to Remedies saying they make themselves sick because they try for Cure But these Great Genius's who pierce into the most Mysterious Secrets of Nature who lift themselves in Opinion as high as Heaven and descend to the bottom of the Abyss ought to remember what they are These great Objects it may be do but dazle them The Mind must needs depart out of it self to compass so many things and this it can't do without scattering its Force Men came not into the World to be Astronomers or Chymists to spend their whole Life at the end of a Telescope or labouring at a Furnace to deduce trifling Consequences from their painful Observations Grant that an Astronomer made the first Discoveries of Continent and Sea and Mountains in the Moon that he first observ'd the Spots that circuit upon the Sun and that he had exactly calculated their Motions Suppose that a Chymist had found out at length the Secret of fixing Mercury or of making the Alkaest wherewith Van-helmont boasted to dissolve all Bodies What are they the wiser or happier for all this It perhaps has set them up in Reputation with the World but if they would reflect upon it they would find that Reputation did but increase their Bondage Astronomy Chymistry and most of the other Sciences may be look'd on as proper Divertisements for a Gentleman But Men should never be enamour'd with their Gayety not prefer them before the Science of Humane Nature For though the Imagination fixes a certain Idea of Greatness to Astronomy by reason of its considering Great and Glorious Objects and seated infinitely above all other things the Mind is not blindly to prostrate it self to that Idea but sit its Master and its Judge and strip it of that Sensible Pomp which amazes Reason The Mind must pronounce of all things according to its Internal Light without hearkening to the false and confus'd Verdict of its Senses and Imagination and whilst it examines all Humane Sciences by the Pure Light of Truth which enlightens it we doubt not to affirm it will disesteem most of them and set a greater Price on that which teaches us to know our selves than on all the other put together Therefore we choose rather to advise such as wish well to Truth to judge of the Subject of this Treatise by the Responses they shall receive from the Sovereign Instructor of all Men after having interrogated him by some Serious Reflexions than to forestall them with a long anticipating Discourse which perhaps they might look on as Common-place Matter or the Vain Ornaments of a Preface If they are persuaded this is a Subject worthy their Study and Application we desire them once more not to judge of the Things contain'd in it by the good or ill Manner they are express'd in but still to retire into themselves and there to hear the Decisions they are to follow and to judge by Being thus fully persuaded that Men cannot teach one another and that those who hear us learn not the Truths we speak to their Ears unless at the same time He who taught them us manifest them likewise to their Mind We think our selves farther oblig'd to advertise the Readers that would profit by this not to credit us on our Word out of any Inclination and Good-liking nor withstand our Sentiments out of Prejudice or Aversion For though we think nothing be therein advanc'd but what we learn'd at the Expence of Meditation we should however be very sorry that others should be contented with the Remembrance and Belief without the Knowledge of our Notions and fall into Errour for want of Understanding us or because we have Err'd before them That presumptuous Pride of some of the Learned who demand our Belief upon their Word seems intolerable They are angry with us for Interrogating GOD when once they have spoke to us because they Interrogate Him not themselves They grow warm upon every Opposition to their Opinions requiring an absolute Preference should be given to the Mists and Darkness of their Imagination before the Pure Light of Truth which illuminates the Mind We are Thanks to GOD very remote from this way of proceeding though it be often charg'd upon us We demand indeed a Resignation to Matters of Fact and the Experiments we produce because there are things not learn'd by the Applying the Mind to Sovereign and Universal Reason But as to Truths discoverable in the True Ideas of things which the Eternal Wisdom suggests to us in our most inward and secret Reason herein we expresly caution against resting upon what we have thought of them as judging it no small Crime thus to equalize our selves with GOD by usurping a Power over the Minds of Men. The chief Reason why we are so earnestly desirous that those who read this Work bring all possible Application along with them is that we are willing to be reprehended for the Faults we have been guilty of For we pretend not to be Infallible We have so strict an Union with and so strong a Dependence on our Body that we are justly apprehensive lest we have sometimes mistaken the confus'd Noise wherewith it fills the Imagination for the Pure Voice of Truth which speaks to the Understanding Were it GOD only who spoke and did we judge only according to what we heard we might perhaps say in the words of our LORD As I hear I judge and my Judgment is just But we have a Body that speaks lowder than GOD Himself but never speaks the Truth We have Self-love which corrupts the Words of GOD which are all Truth and we have Pride which emboldens us to judge without staying for the Words of Truth which ought to be the Rule of all our Judgments For the principal Cause of our Errours is that our Judgments reach farther than our Pure Intellectual Perceptions Wherefore I intreat those to whom GOD shall discover my Wandrings to put me in the Right Way that so this Treatise which I offer as an Essay whose Subject is well worthy the Application of Men may by degrees arrive to its Perfection This Undertaking was at first ettempted only with design of instructing my self But some Persons being of Opinion it might be of use if publish'd I the willinger submitted to their Reasons because one of the principal so well suited with the desire I had of advantaging my self The best means said they of being inform'd in any Matter is to communicate our Opinions about it to the Learned This quickens our own Attention as well as provokes theirs Sometimes they have
which in our ordinary way of Conception is a Decree posteriour to this Order of Nature Mysteries then of Faith must be distinguish'd from things of Nature We ought equally to submit to Faith and to Evidence but in the concernments of Faith we must not look for Evidence as in those of Nature we ought not to take up with Faith That is with the Authority of Philosophers In a word to be a Believer 't is requir'd to Assent blindly but to be a Philosopher it is necessary to See plainly 'T is not however to be deny'd but there are some Truths besides those of Faith for which it would be unreasonable to demand indisputable Demonstrations as are those which relate to Matter of Fact in History and other things which have their dependence on the Will of Men. For there are two kinds of Truth the one Necessary the other Contingent I call Necessary Truths those which are immutable by their Nature and those which have been fix'd and determin'd by the Will of God which is not subject to Change All other sorts of Truth are Contingent Mathematicks Physicks Metaphysicks as also a great part of Morality contain Necessary Truths History Grammar Private Right or Customs and such other things as depend on the changeable Will of Man contain only Contingent Truths We demand therefore an exact Observation of the Rule we have been establishing in the Search of Necessary Truths the Knowledge of which may be call'd Science and we must be content with the greatest Probability in History which includes the Knowledge of things Contingent For under the general Name of History may be concluded the Knowledge of Languages Customs as also of the different Opinions of Philosophers when Men have only learnt them by Memory without having either Evidence or Certainty concerning them The Second thing to be Observ'd is that in Morality Politicks and Medicine and in all Practical Sciences we are obliged to be content with Probability Not Universally but upon occasion not because it satisfies the Mind but because the Instance is pressing And if a Man should always delay Acting till he had perfect Assurance of Success the Opportunity would be often lost But though it falls out that a Man must inevitably act yet he should in acting doubt of the Success of what he does And he should indeavour to make such Advances in Sciences as to be able on Emergencies to act with greater Certainty For this should be the constant end of all Mens Study and Employment who make any use of Thought The Third and last thing is this That we should not absolutely despise Probabilities since it often happens that many of them in Conjunction have as convincing a force as most evident Demonstrations Of which Nature there are infinite Examples to be found in Physicks and Morality So that 't is often expedient to amass together a sufficient number of them in subjects not otherwise Demonstrable in order to come to the Knowledge of Truth impossible to be found out any other way And now I must needs confess that the Law I impose is very Rigorous and Severe That there are abundance of Those who had rather renounce Reasoning at all than Reason on such Conditions That 't is impossible to run so fast with such retarding Circumspections However it must be granted me that a Man shall walk with greater Security in observing it and that hitherto those who have march'd so hastily have been oblig'd to return upon the same Ground Besides there are a great number of Men who will agree with me in this That since Monsieur Des-Cartes has discover'd more Truths in Thirty Years than all the Philosophers that preceded him meerly for his Submission to that Law if many others would study Philosophy as he has done we should in time be acquainted with the greatest part of those things which are necessary to make Life as happy as is possible upon an Earth which God has Curs'd CHAP. IV. I. Of the Occasional Causes of Error whereof there are Five Principal II. The general Design of the whole Work III. The particular Design of the First Book WE have seen from what has been said that a Man falls not into Error but for want of making a due use of his Liberty that 't is for want of curbing that eagerness of the Will and moderating its Passion for the bare appearances of Truth that he is deceiv'd And that Error consists only in the Consent of the Will which has a greater Latitude than the Perception of the Understanding since we should never err if we only simply judg'd according as we perceiv'd But though to speak properly there is no other cause of Error than the ill use of our Liberty it may notwithstanding be said we have several Faculties that are the Causes of our Errors not Real Causes but such as may be term'd Occasional All the ways of our Perceiving are so many occasions of Deceiving us For since our false Judgments include two things namely the Consent of the Will and the Perception of the Vnderstanding it is manifest that all the ways of our Perception may afford us some occasion or other of falling into Error forasmuch as they may incline us to rash and precipitate Consents But because it is necessary first to make the Soul sensible of her Weaknesses and Wandrings in order to possess Her with just Desires of a Deliverance from them and that she may with greater ease shake off her Prejudices We will endeavour to make an exact Division of her Manners of Perception which may serve as so many Heads to one or other of which may be referr'd as we proceed the different Errors whereunto we are obnoxious The Soul has three several ways of Perception By Pure Intellect by Imagination and by the Senses By Pure Intellect she perceives things Spiritual Universals Common Notions The Idea of Perfection that of a Being infinitely perfect and in general all her own thoughts when she knows them by a Reflexion made upon her self 'T is likewise by Pure Intellect she perceives Material things Extension with its Properties For 't is the pure Understanding only which is capable of Perceiving a Circle and a perfect Square a Figure of a thousand sides and such like things Such sort of Perceptions bear the name of Pure Intellections or Pure Perceptions since there is no necessity of the Mind 's forming Corporeal Images in the Brain to represent them by By Imagination the Soul only perceives things Material when being Absent she makes them present to her by forming the Images of them in the Brain This is the way whereby a Man Imagines all sorts of Figures a Circle a Triangle a Face an Horse Towns and Fields whether he has already seen them or not This sort of Perceptions we may call Imaginations because the Soul represents to her self these things by framing Images of them in the Brain And for as much as Spiritual things cannot be represented
in difficult Questions that the Mind must survey at one sight a multiplicity of Relations that are between two things or more it is plain that if it has not consider'd these things very attentively or if it has but a confus'd Knowledge of them it can never have a distinct Perception of their Relation and consequently cannot make any solid Judgment of them One of the main Causes of our Mind 's wanting Application for Abstract Truths is our seeing them as at a Distance whilst other things are continually offering themselves to the Mind that are nearer at hand The great Attention of the Mind brings home as I may say the remote Idea's of the Objects we consider But it often falls out that when a Man is very intent on Metaphysical Speculation he is easily thrown off from them by some accidental Sensations breaking in upon the Soul which sit closer to it than those Idea's For there needs no more than a little Pleasure or Pain to do it The Reason whereof is that Pleasure and Pain and all Sensations in general are within the very Soul They modifie her and touch her more to the quick than the simple Idea's of Objects of Pure Intellection which though present to the Mind neither touch nor modifie it at all And thus the Mind on one hand being of a straitned and narrow reach and on the other unable to prevent feeling Pain and all its other Sensations has its Capacity fill'd up with them and so cannot at one and the same time be sensible of any thing and think freely of other Objects that are not sensible The Humming of a Fly or of any other little Animal supposing it communicated to the principal part of the Brain and perceiv'd by the Soul is capable do what we can of interrupting our Consideration of very Abstract and Sublime Truths because no Abstract Idea's modifie the Soul whereas all Sensations do From hence arises that Stupidity and Drousiness of the Mind in regard of the most Fundamental Truths of Christian Morality which Men know only in a Speculative and Fruitless manner without the Grace of JESVS CHRIST All the World knows there is a GOD and that this GOD is to be serv'd and worshipp'd But who is it that serves and worships him without the Divine Grace which alone gives us a relish of Delight and Pleasure in these Duties There are but very few that do not perceive the Emptiness and Inconstancy of Earthly Goods and that are not convinc'd with an Abstract though most certain and evident Conviction that they are indeserving of our Cares and Application But where are those who despise these Goods in their Practice and deny their Pains and Application to acquire them 'T is only they that perceive some Bitterness and Distaste in the Injoyment of them or that Grace has made sensible to Spiritual Goods by an inward Delectation affix'd to them by GOD 't is these only who vanquish the Impressions of Sense and the Strugglings of Concupiscence A View of the Mind alone can never make us resist them as we should do but besides that View there must be a certain Sensation of the Heart That Intellectual Light all alone is if you please the Sufficient Grace which makes only for our Condemnation which acquaints us with our own Weakness and of our Duty of flying by Prayer to Him who is our Strength But the Sensation of the Heart is a Lively and Operative Grace 'T is this which touches us inward which fills us and perswades the Heart and without it there is no body that considers with the Heart Nemo est qui recogitet corde All the most certain Truths of Morality lye conceal'd in the folds and doubles and secret corners of the Mind and as long as they continue there are barren and inactive since the Soul has no relish of them But the Pleasures of the Senses dwell nearer to the Soul and since she cannot be insensible to or out of love with her Pleasure 't is impossible to disengage her self from the Earth and to get rid of the Charms and Delusions of her Senses by her own Strength and Abilities I deny not however but the Righteous whose Heart has been already vigorously turn'd towards GOD by a preventing Delectation may without that particular Grace perform some Meritorious Actions and resist the Motions of Concupiscence There are those who are couragious and constant in the Law of GOD by the strength of their Faith by the care they have to deprive themselves of Sensible Goods and by the contempt and dislike of every thing that can give them any temptation There are such as act for the most part without the taste of Indeliberate or Preventing Pleasure That sole Joy they find in acting according to the Will of GOD is the only Pleasure they taste and that Pleasure suffices to make them persevere in their state and to confirm the Disposition of their Heart Those who are Novice Converts have generally need of an Indeliberate or Preventing Pleasure to disintangle them from Sensible Goods to which they are fastened by other Preventing and Indeliberate Pleasures Sorrow and Remorse of their Consciences are not sufficient for this purpose and as yet they taste no Joy But the Just can live by Faith and that in Indigence and 't is likewise in this Estate they merit most Forasmuch as Men being Reasonable Creatures GOD will be lov'd by them with a Love of Choice and not with a Love of Instinct or an Indeliberate Love like that wherewith we love Sensible things without knowing they be Good otherwise than from the Pleasure we receive in them Notwithstanding most Men having but little Faith and yet constant opportunities of tasting Pleasures cannot long preserve their Elective Love for GOD against their Natural Love for sensible Goods unless the Delectation of Grace support them against the Efforts of Pleasure For the Delectation of Grace produces preserves and augments Charity as Sensible Pleasures Cupidity It is apparent enough from what has been said that Men being never free from some Passion or some pleasant or troublesome Sensations have their Capacity and Extent of Mind much taken up and when they would imploy the remainder of its Capacity in examining any Truth they are frequently diverted by some new Sensations through the dislike they take to that Exercise and the Inconstancy of the Will which tosses and bandies the Mind from Object to Object without letting it stand still So that unless we have habituated our selves from our Youth to the conquering all these Oppositions as I have explain'd in the Second Part we find our selves at last incapable of piercing into any thing that 's somewhat difficult and demands something of Application Hence we are to conclude That all Sciences and especially such as include Questions very hard to be clear'd up and explain'd abound with an infinite number of Errors And that we ought to have in suspicion those bulky
As to be a good Mathematician 't is not sufficient to learn by Heart all the Demonstrations of Euclid Pappus Archimedes Apollonius and others that have written of Geometry so to be a Learned Philosopher 't is not enough to have read Plato Aristotle Des Cartes and perfectly to know their Sentiments upon Philosophical Questions For the Knowledge of all the Opinions and Judgments of other Men either Philosophers or Geometricians is rather a History than a Science the true Science that perfects as far as possible the Mind consisting in a certain Ability of solidly judging of all things proportion'd to its Reach But not to lose time nor prepossess the Reader with precipitate Judgments let us begin to treat of such an important Matter First of all we ought to remember the Rule that has been established and proved at the beginning of the First Book because 't is the Foundation and Principle of whatever we shall say hereafter And therefore I repeat it We must never give a full Consent but to those Propositions that appear so evidently true that they cannot be denied it without feeling an inward Pain and the secret Reproaches of our Reason that is to say without clearly knowing we should make a wrong Use of our Liberty by with-holding our Consent For as many times as we yield to Probabilities we certainly venture to be mistaken and 't is but by good Chance or a lucky Hit if we be not really deceived So that the confused Sight of a great number of Probabilities upon different Subjects makes not our Reason more perfect nothing but the clear View of the Truth being able to afford it any real Perfection and Satisfaction Thence 't is easie to conclude That since according to our first Rule nothing but Evidence can assure us that we are not deceived we ought to take a special care to preserve that Evidence in all our Perceptions that we may pass a sound Judgment upon all the Things to which our Reason can attain and discover as many Truths as we are capable of The Things that can produce and preserve that Evidence are of two sorts some are within us and in some manner depending on us others are out of our Jurisdiction For as to see distinctly visible Objects 't is required to have a good Sight and to fix it steadfastly upon them which two Things are in us or in some manner depending on us So 't is requisite to have a sound Understanding and a strong Application in order to pierce into the bottom of intelligible Truths which two Things are in us or in some sort in our power But as the Eyes stand in need of Light to see which Light depends upon foreign Causes so the Mind needs Ideas to conceive which as it has been proved elsewhere have no Dependency upon us but are furnished to us by a foreign Cause So that should the Ideas of Things supersede being present to our Minds as often as we desire to see them should he that enlightens the World conceal them from us it would not be more possible for us to redress it or to know any thing than it is to see visible Objects when the Light is gone But we have no reason to fear it For the Presence of Ideas being natural to our Minds and depending on the general Will of God which is constant and immutable they can never disappear nor fail us in the Discovery of such Things as are attainable by Natural Reason For the Sun that enlightens the Minds is not like that which illuminates Bodies it is never eclipsed nor goes ever down but penetrates every thing without dividing its Light The Ideas of all Things being then continually present to us even when we do not attentively consider them all that we need doe to make all our Perceptions evident is only to look for such Means as can increase the Attention and Extent of the Mind as nothing else is required on our side to distinguish visible and present Objects but to have good Eyes and to fix them thereupon However because the Objects we consider have more Relations than we can discover at once by a simple Essay of Thought we still need some Rules skilfully to unfold the Difficulties by which Succours the Mind being grown more attentive and extended may with a full Evidence discover all the Relations of the Thing examined We shall divide this Sixth Book into Two Parts We shall treat in the First of those Supplies that may afford the Mind more Attention and Extent and in the Second we shall prescribe those Rules that it must follow in the Inquiry after Truth to pass sound and undeceivable Judgments CHAP. II. That Attention is necessary to preserve Evidence in our Knowledge That the Modifications of the Soul make her attentive but share and take up too much her Capacity of Perceiving WE have shewn at the Beginning of this Work that the Understanding does nothing but perceive and that as to its Concern there is no difference betwixt bare Perceptions Judgments and Reasonings unless it be that the second and third are Perceptions more composed than the first because they not only represent many Things but also the Relations they have together For naked Perceptions represent only Things to the Mind whereas Judgments represent the Relations that are betwixt Things and Reasonings the Relations that are betwixt the Relations of Things provided they be simple Reasonings for if they were Complex they would represent Relations of Relations or compound Relations which are between the Relation of Things and so ad infinitum For proportionably as Relations multiply so the Reasonings that represent them to the Mind become more composed However Judgments and simple Reasonings as well as those that are composed are but as to the Understanding bare Perceptions since it does no more than simply perceive as has been already observed Whence it appears that the Understanding never falls into Errour since there is none in Perceptions and that Errour it self is not of an intelligible nature For as we have already said many times it consists in a too hasty Consent of the Will which suffers it self to be dazzled by some false Glimpse and instead of keeping its Liberty as long as possible negligently relies upon the Appearance of Truth Notwithstanding as it commonly happens that the Understanding has but confused and imperfect Perceptions of Things so 't is really a Cause of our Errours though only occasional For as the Corporeal Sight leads us into Mistake when it represents outward Objects confusedly and imperfectly confusedly when they are at too great a distance or for want of Light and imperfectly when it only shews such Faces of them as look towards us So the Understanding often having but a confused and imperfect Conception of Things because they are not sufficiently present to it and that it discovers not all their Parts causes the Will that too easily yields to those obscure and imperfect Conceptions to fall into
there is any Thing useful and which may be certainly and exactly known but it may be found out by an Arithmetical and Algebraical Method So that those two Sciences are the Foundation of all others and help us to the true Means to acquire all those that are accurate because the Capacity of the Mind cannot be better managed than it is by Arithmetick and especially by Algebra THE SECOND PART OF THE SIXTH BOOK Concerning METHOD CHAP. I. Of the Rules that are to be observed in the Search after Truth HAving explain'd the means how to improve the Attention and Extension of the Mind by which alone it may acquire a greater perfection that is become more enlightned sagacious and piercing it is time to set down those Rules the Observation whereof is absolutely necessary to resolve any Question whatsoever I shall insist long upon it and endeavour to explain them by several Instances that their necessity may be better known and the Mind accustomed to make use of them it being not so difficult or necessary to know them theoretically as to put them in Practice Let none expect here very extraordinary surprizing and abstruse things For on the contrary that those Rules may be good they must be very simple natural and few very plain and intelligible and depending on each other in short such as may lead our Mind and rule our Attention without distracting either For Experience shews that the Logick of Aristotle is of no great use because it takes up the Mind too much and disturbs the Attention it ought to give to the Subjects of its Enquiry Let then those Lovers of Mysteries and rare Inventions lay aside for a while that capricious humour and consider as attentively as they can whether the Rules we shall prescribe are sufficient to preserve Evidence in the Preceptions of the Mind and to discover the most hidden Truths Unless they suffer themselves to be unjustly prejudiced against those Rules by the simplicity and easiness of the same I hope that the great use which may be made of them as we shall shew hereafter will convince them that the most clear and simple Principles are the most pregnant and fecund and that rare and difficult things are not always so useful as our fruitless Curiosity endeavours to persuade us The Principle of all those Rules is that we must always preserve Evidence in our Reasonings to discover Truth without Fear and danger of being mistaken From that Principle follows this general Rule that respects the Subject of our Studies We ought only to Reason upon such things whereof we have clear and distinct Ideas and by a necessary consequence we must still begin with the most simple and easie Subjects and insist long upon them before we undertake the Enquiry into such as are more composed and difficult The Rules that concern the Method to be taken in resolving Questions depend likewise on the same Principle and the first of those Rules is that we must very distinctly conceive the State of the Question proposed to be resolv'd that is have Ideas of the Terms so distinct as that we may compare them together and discover the Relations which we look for When those Relations cannot be found out by an immediate comparison of their Ideas then the second Rule is that we must try by an Essay of Thought to discover one or several intermediate Ideas that may be a means or common measure to discover the Relations that are betwixt those things A special care is to be taken that those Ideas be the more clear and distinct as the Relations we endeavour to discover are more nicely exact and numerous When the Questions are very difficult and require a long Examination the third Rule is that we must carefully take off from the Subject to be consider'd all things whose Examination is not needful to the Discovery of the Truth we are in quest of For the Capacity of the Mind must not be vainly shar'd and divided but its strength must only be employed in such things as may enlighten it so that all those things which are to be laid aside are such as concern not the Question and which when taken off leave it whole and entire When the Question is thus brought within the least compass the fourth Rule is to divide the Subject of our Meditations into Parts and consider them one after the other in a natural order beginning with the most simple or those that contain the least number of Relations and never medling with the more composed before the most simple are distinctly known and become familiar When they are become familiar by Meditation the fifth Rule is to abridge Ideas and dispose them in the Imagination or write them upon Paper that they may no longer clog and fill up the Capacity of the Mind Though that Rule be always useful yet 't is not of absolute necessity unless it be in very intricate Questions that require a great extent of Mind for the Mind is only enlarg'd by the abridgment of Ideas But the use of that Rule and the following is best known by Algebra The Ideas of all the things that necessarily require Examination being clear familiar abridg'd and disposed and ranged in good order in the Imagination or written upon Paper the sixth Rule is to compare them all by the Rules of Complications one with the other alternately either by the View of the Mind alone or by the Motion of the Imagination attended with the View of the Mind or by the Calculation of the Pen joined to the attention of the Mind and Imagination If amongst all the Relations that result from those Comparisons you find not that which you enquire after then take off again all the Relations that are not subservient to resolve the Question make the others familiar abridge them posture and dispose them in the Imagination or write them upon Paper compare them together by the Rules of Complications and then see whether the composed Relation that is look'd for is one of the composed Relations that result from those new Comparisons If none of those new discover'd Relations contain the Solution of the Question then take off again those that are useless make the other familiar c. That is doe the same over and over and continuing thus you shall discover the Truth or Relation you enquire after how composed soever it may be provided you can extend the Capacity of your Mind to it by abridging your Ideas and still in all your Operations having before your Eyes the Scope you aim at For 't is the continual and steady view of the Question which must regulate all the advances of the Mind since we should always know whither we are going We must above all take care not to satisfie our selves with some glimpse or likelyhood but begin anew so often the Comparisons that are conducible to discover the Truths enquired after as that we may not withold our Assent to it without feeling the secret Lashes
desire to know whether a Thing has such or such Properties or if we know it has we desire only to discover what is the Cause of them To solve the Questions of the first sort we must consider Things in their Birth and Original and conceive that they are always produc'd by the most simple and natural Ways But the Solution of the others requires a very different Method for they must be resolv'd by Suppositions and then we must examine whether those Suppositions induce into any Absurdity or whether they lead to any Truth plainly and clearly known For instance We desire to discover the Properties of the Roulet or some one of the Conick Sections We must consider those Lines in their Generation and form them by the most simple and least perplexing Ways for that is the best and shortest Means to discover their Nature and Properties We easily see that the Subâ—endent of the Roulet is equal to the Circle whence it is form'd And if we discover not many of its Properties that way 't is because the Circular Line that produces it is not sufficiently known But as to Lines merely Mathematical the Relations of which may be more clearly known such as are Conick Sections 't is sufficient for the discovering a vast Number of their Properties to consider them in their Generation Only we must observe that as they may be produc'd by a Regular Motion several Ways so all sorts of Generation are not equally proper to enlighten the Mind that the most simple are the best and that it often happens notwithstanding that some particular Methods are fitter than others to demonstrate some particular Properties But when it is not requir'd to discover in general the Properties of a Thing but to know whether such a Thing has such a Property then we must suppose that it actually enjoys it and carefully examine the Consequences of that Supposition whether it induces into a manifest Absurdity or leads to an undeniable Truth that may serve as a Means to find out what is sought for That is the Method which Geometricians use to solve their Problems They suppose what they seek and examine what will follow of it they attentively consider the Relations that result from the Supposition they represent all those Relations that contain the Conditions of the Problem by Equations and then reduce those Equations according to the usual Rules so that what is unknown is found equal to one or several Things perfectly known I say therefore that when 't is requir'd to discover in general the Nature of Fire and of the different Fermentations which are the most universal Causes of natural Effects the shortest and surest Way is to examine them in their Principle We must consider the Formation of the most agitated Bodies the Motion of which is diffus'd into those that ferment We must by clear Ideas and by the most simple Ways examine what Motion may produce in Matter And because Fire and the various Fermentations are very general Things and consequently depending upon few Causes there will be no need of considering very long what Matter is able to perform when animated by Motion to find out the Nature of Fermentation in its very Principle and we shall learn withall several other Things altogether requisite to the Knowledge of Physicks Whereas he that would in such a Question argue from Suppositions so as to ascend to the first Causes even to the Laws of Nature by which all things are form'd would make a great many of them that should prove false and unprofitable He might perhaps discover that the Cause of the Fermentation is the Motion of an invisible Matter communicated to the agitated Parts of Matter For 't is sufficiently known that Fire and the various Fermentations of Bodies consist in their Agitation and that by the Laws of Nature Bodies receive their immediate Motion only from their meeting with others that are more agitated So that he might discover that there is an invisible Matter the Motion of which is communicated to visible Bodies by Fermentation But 't is morally impossible that he should ever by his Suppositions find out how all that is perform'd which however is not so hard to do when we examine the Formation of Elements or of Bodies of which there is a greater Number of the same Nature as is to be seen in Monsieur des Cartes's System The Third Part of the Question concerning Convulsive Motions will not be very difficult to solve if we suppose that there are in our Bodies Animal Spirits susceptible of Fermentation and withall Humours so piercing as to insinuate themselves into the Pores of the Nerves through which the Spirits are diâ—â—us'd into the Muscles provided always that we pretend not to determine the true Texture and Disposition of those invisible Parts that contribute to these Convulsions When we have separated a Muscle from the rest of the Body and hold it by the two Ends we sensibly perceive that it endeavours to contract it self when prick'd in the Middle 'T is likely that this depends on the Construction of the imperceptible Parts of which it is made which are as so many Springs determin'd to some certain Motions by that of Compunction But who can be sure he has found out the true Disposition of the Parts employ'd in the Production of that Motion and who can give an uncontroverted Demonstration of it Certainly that appears altogether impossible though perhaps by long thinking we might imagine such a Construction of Muscles as would be fit to perform all the Motions we know them to be capable of we must not therefore pretend to determine the true Construction of the Muscles However because it cannot be reasonably doubted but that there are Spirits susceptible of some Fermentation by the Mixture of a very subtile heterogeneous Matter and that acriminious and pungent Humours may creep into the Nerves that Hypothesis may be suppos'd Now to proceed to the Solution of the Question propos'd We must first examine how many sorts of Convulsive Motions there are and because their Number is indefinite we must insist on the Principal the Causes of which seem to be different We must consider in what Parts they are made what Diseases precede and follow them whether they are attended with Pain or free from it and above all what are the Degrees of their Swiftness and Violence for some are very swift and violent others are very swift but not violent a third sort are violent and not swift and others again are free from both these Symptoms Some finish and begin afresh perpetually others keep the Parts rigid and unmoveable for some time and others deprive us of their Use and altogether deform them All this being well weigh'd it will be no hard matter to explain in general after what has been said concerning Natural and Voluntary Motions how the Convulsive are perform'd For if we conceive that some Matter capable of fermenting the Spirits mixes with those contain'd in
Learning or in the Study of all vain and useless Sciences which flatter the secret Pride of our Heart because this is what recommends us to the Admiration of the Vulgar I have shewn that the Inclination for Pleasures constantly throws off the View of the Mind from the Consideration of abstracted Truths which are the most simple and exuberant and permits it not to consider any thing with a competent Attention and Impartiality to judge well of it That Pleasures being the Modes of our Souls Existence they necessarily divide the Capacity of the Mind and that a Mind thus divided cannot fully comprehend a Subject of any great Extent Last of all I have made appear that the Relation and Natural Union we have to all those with whom we live and converse is the Occasion of many Errours we fall into and of our communicating them to others as others communicate to us the same they were engag'd in In the Fifth where I have endeavour'd to give some Idea of our Passions I have I think made it sufficiently evident that they were ordain'd to unite us to all things sensible and to give us as we are among them a due and necessary Disposition for their Preservation and our own That as our Senses unite us to our Body and expand our Soul into all the composing Parts of it so our Commotions carry us as it were out of our selves and diffuse us upon all things round about us That Lastly they incessantly represent things not as they are in themselves whereby we may form true Judgments but according to the Relation they have to us whereby to form Judgments useful to the Preservation of our Being and of those to whom we are either naturally or voluntarily united After having attempted the Discovery of Errours in their Causes and the Deliverance of the Mind from the Prejudices it is subject to I thought it was time at last to prepare it for the Search of Truth Wherefore in the Sixth Book I have explain'd the Means which I thought most natural for the increasing the Attention and enlarging the Capacity of the Mind by shewing the Use that might be made of its Senses its Passions and Imagination to the giving it all the Force and Penetration it is capable of After which I have establish'd certain Rules which must of necessity be observ'd for the Discovery of any Truth whatever I have explain'd them by many Examples that I might make them more sensible and have chosen those which I thought most useful or that included more fecund and general Truths that they might be read with greater Application and be made more sensible and familiar Possibly it may be acknowledg'd by this Essay of Method which I have given how necessary it is to reason only about clear and evident Ideas and in which we are inwardly convinc'd that all Nations do agree and never to proceed to Compound Things till having sufficiently examin'd the Simple whereon they depend And if it be consider'd that Aristotle and his Followers have not observ'd the Rules I have explain'd as we ought to be assur'd by the Reasons I have alledg'd and by the Correspondence that may be had with the most zealous Defenders of that Philosopher it may be we shall despise his Doctrine in spight of all the Impressions which persuade such as give way to be amuz'd by Words they do not understand But if we take notice of the manner of Monsieur des Cartes's Philosophizing we cannot doubt of the Solidity of his Philosophy For I have sufficiently shewn that he reasons but upon distinct and evident Ideas beginning with most Simple Things and afterwards passing on to the more Compound which depend on them Those who shall read the Works of that Learned Man will have plenary Conviction of what I say of him provided they read them with all the Application that is necessary to understand them And they will feel a secret Joy for being born in an Age and Country so fortunate as to free them from the Trouble of seeking a Master to teach them Truth among the past Ages of the Heathens and in the Extremities of the Earth among Barbarians and Strangers But as we ought not to be very sollicitous to know the Opinions of Men even though we were otherwise assur'd they had found out Truth so I should be very sorry if the Esteem I manifest for Monsieur des Cartes should prepossess any Man in his behalf and make him sit down satisfy'd with reading and retaining his Opinions without caring to be enlighten'd with the Light of Truth This would be preferring Man before GOD and consulting him in God's stead and acquiescing in the obscure Answers of a Philosopher which do not enlighten us to avoid the Trouble of Interrogating by our Meditation Him who answers and enlightens us both together 'T is a mean and unworthy thing to become the Partizan of any Sect and to look upon the Authors of it as infallible And thus Monsieur des Cartes chusing rather to make Men Disciples of Truth than Opinionated Followers of his Sentiments expressly forewarns them Not to take any thing he writes upon Trust and to embrace nothing but what the Force and Evidence of Reason should constrain them to believe He desires not like some Philosophers to be credited upon his Word He ever remembers that he is a Man and that disseminating his Light but by Reflexion he ought to direct the Minds of those who would be illuminated by him towards Him alone who can make them more perfect by the Gift of Understanding The principal Advantage that can be made of Application to Study is the rendring the Mind more accurate more illuminated more penetrating and fit for the Discovery of all the Truths we desire to know But such as read the Philosophers with Design of remembring their Opinions and factoring them to others approach not Him who is the Life and Nourishment of the Soul Their Mind grows blind and enervate by their Commerce with such as can neither strengthen nor enlighten them They are swell'd up with a spurious sort of Learning the Weight whereof overwhelms and the Glittering blinds them and fancying to themselves they are hugely learnâ—d when their Heads are cramm'd with the Opinions of the Antients they forget that they become their Disciples who St. Paul says became Fools by usurping the Name of Wise. Dicentes se esse Sapientes stulti facti sunt The Method I have given will if I mistake not be highly advantageous to those who desire to make use of their Reason or to receive of God the Answers he gives all those who can faithfully consult Him For I think I have said what is chiefly requir'd to corroborate and conduct the Attention of the Mind which is the natural Prayer we make to the true Master of all Men in order to be instructed But because this Natural Way of Searching out Truth is very painful and commonly impracticable except in
giving him relief For on these occasions he sometimes does a great deal who does no mischief I conclude then that we must have recourse to Physicians and refuse not to obey them if we would preserve our Life For though they cannot be assur'd of restoring our Health yet sometimes they may contribute much for it by reason of the continual Experiments they make upon different Diseases They know indeed very little with any exactness yet still they know much more than our selves and provided they will give themselves the trouble of studying our constitution of carefully observing all the Symptoms of the Disease and diligently attending to our own inward Feeling we may hope from them all the Assistances that we may reasonably expect from Men. What we have said of Physicians may in a manner be apply'd to Casuists whom 'tis absolutely necessary to consult on some occasions and commonly useful But it sometimes happens not only to be most useless but highly dangerous to advise with them which I explain and prove 'T is commonly said that humane Reason is subject to Error but herein there is an equivocal sence which we are not sufficiently aware of For it must not be imagin'd that the Reason which Man consults is corrupted or that it ever misleads when faithfully consulted I have said it and I say it again that none but the Soveraign Reason makes us Rational None but the Supream Truth enlightens us nor any but God that speaks clearly and knows how to instruct us We have but one True Master even JESUS CHRIST Our LORD Eternal WISDOM the WORD of the Father in whom are all the Treasures of Wisdom and the Knowledge of God And 't is Blasphemy to say this Vniversal Reason whereof all Men participate and by which alone they are reasonable is subject to Error and capable of deceiving us 'T is not Man's Reason but his Heart that betrays him 'T is not his Light but his Darkness that hinders him from seeing 'T is not the Union he has with God which seduces him noâ— in one sence his Union with the Body But 't is the dependance he has on his Body or rather 't is because he will deceive himself and enjoy the Pleasure of Judging before he has been at the Pains of Examining 't is because he will rest before he arrives to the place of the Rest of Truth I have more exactly explain'd the cause of our Errors in many places of the preceding Book and I here suppose what I there have said Which being laid down I affirm it is needless to consult Casuists when it is certain that Truth speaks to us which we are sure it does when Evidence displays it self in the Answers that are made to our Enquiries that is to the attention of our Mind Therefore when we retire into our own Breast and in the silence of our Senses and Passions hear a Voice so clear and intelligible that we cannot be doubtful of the Truth of it we must submit to it let the World think of us what they please We must have no regard to custom nor listen to our secret Inclinations nor defer too much to the resolves of those who go for the Learned part of Men. We must not give way to be misguided by the false shew of a pretended Piety nor be humbled by the oppositions of those who know not the Soul which animates them But we must bear patiently their proud Insults without condemning their Intentions or despising their Persons We must with simplicity of heart rejoice in the Light of Truth which illuminates us and though its Answers condemn us yet ought we to prefer them before all the subtil Distinctions the Imagination invents for the justification of the Passions Every Man for Example that can enter into himself and still the confus'd noise of the Senses and Passions clearly discovers that every motion of Love which is given us by God must Center upon him and that God himself cannot dispense with the Obligation we have to Love him in all things 'T is evident that God cannot supersede acting for Himself cannot create or preserve our Will to will any thing besides him or to will any thing but what he Wills Himself For I cannot see how it is conceivable that God can Will a Creature should have more Love for what is less lovely or should Love Soveraignly as its end what is not Supreamly amiable I know well that Men who interrogate their Passions instead of consulting Order may easily imagine that God has no other Rule of his Will than his will it self and that if God observes Order 't is meerly â—ecause he will'd it and has made this same Order by a Will absolutely Free and Indifferent There are those who think there is no Order immutable and necessary by its Nature And and that the Order or Wisdom of God whereby he has made all things though the first of Creatures is yet it self a Creature made by a Free-Will of God and not begotten of his Substance by the necessity of his Essence But this Opinion which shakes all the Foundations of Morality by robbing Order and the Eternal Laws depending on it of their Immutability and overturns the entire Edifice of the Christian Religion by divesting JESUS CHRIST or the WORD of God of his Divinity does not yet so perfectly benight the Mind as to hide from it this Truth That God Wills Order Thus whether the Will of God Makes Order or Supposes it we clearly see when we retire into our selves that the God we Worship cannot do what plainly appears to us to be contrary to Order So that Order Willing that our Time or the Duration of our Being should be for him that preserves us that the Motion of our Heart should continually tend towards him who continually impresses it in us that all the Powers of our Souls should labour only for him by vertue of whom they act God cannot dispense with the Commandment he gave by Moses in the Law and repeated by his Son in the Gospel Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind and with all thy Strength But because Order requires that every Righteous Person should be happy and every Sinner miserable and that every Action conformable to Order and every Motion of Love to God should be rewarded and every other contrary to Order or that tends not to him punish'd It is evident that whoever will be happy must constantly tend towards God and reject with abhorrence whatever stops or retards him in his course or Weakens his propension to the true good And for this he need not consult any Casuists For when God speaks 't is fit that Men should be silent And when we are absolutely certain that our Senses and Passions have no Voice in those resolves we hear in our most Secret and inward Reason we ought always respectfully to attend and submit to them Would we be
and Body are chang'd no otherwise than that the Union of the former is grown into a Dependence for the Reasons I have given elsewhere For at present we depend on that Body to which before Sin we were only united XLV Now the Laws of Nature are always most Simple and General For God acts not by particular Wills unless Order requires a Miracle Which Truth I have sufficiently prov'd in the First Discourse Thus when a Stone falls on the Head of a good Man and rids him of his Life it falls in consequence of the Laws of Motions and not because that Man is Just and God designs to recompense him When a like Accident destroys a Sinner 't is not because God will actually punish him For God on the contrary would have all Men sav'd But he is not to change the Simplicity of his Laws to suspend the Punishment of a Criminal So likewise when Light breaks into our Understanding 't is because our Desires are the Natural or Occasional Causes of it 't is because we hear some understanding Person and because our Brain is dispos'd to receive the Impressions of the Speaker And not that God has a particular Will on our behalf but that he follows the General Laws of Nature to which he has oblig'd himself I can see nothing Mysterious in the Distribution of these kinds of Graces and I stand not to draw Consequences deducible from these Truths XLVI 'T is to be observ'd that Jesus Christ who is the sole Meritorious Cause of the Goods we receive from God by the Order of Nature is sometimes the Occasional Cause of the Grace of Light as well as of that of Sensation yet I am of Opinion that this but rarely happens because indeed it is not necessary it should Jesus Christ as much as possible makes the Order of Nature subservient to that of Grace For besides that Reason evinces that Order will have it so because that Method is most simple it is sufficiently manifest by the Conduct he takes on Earth and the Order he has establish'd and still preserves in his Church Jesus Christ made use of Speech for the Instruction of the World and likewise sent his Disciples two by two to prepare the People to receive him He has settled Apostles Prophets Evangelists Doctors Bishops and Priests to labour in the Edification of the Church Is not this to make Nature Handmaid to Grace and to propagate the Light of Faith in Mens Minds by ways most Simple and Natural And indeed Jesus Christ on Earth was not to instruct Men by particular Wills since he might instruct them as Interiour Truth and Eternal Wisdom by the most simple and exuberant Laws of Nature XLVII That which lies most hidden and unreveal'd in the Order God has follow'd for the Establishment of his Church is doubtless the Time Place and other Circumstances of the Incarnation of his Son and the Preaching of the Gospel For why should Jesus Christ for whom the World was created become Man Four thousand Years after its Creation Why must he be born among the Jews he that was to reject that wretched Nation Why must he choose to be the Son of David when the Family of David was obscur'd and not rather to be born from Emperours who have commanded the whole World since he came to Convert and Enlighten all the Earth Why to elect his Apostles and Disciples out of the Ignorant and Illeterate to preach to the Inhabitants of Bethsaida and Corazin who remain in Incredulity and to leave Tyre and Sidon who would have been converted by the like Grace afforded them to hinder St. Paul from preaching the Word of God in Asia and to appoint him to pass into Macedonia A thousand other Circumstances which have accompanied the Preaching of the Gospel are no doubt such Mysteries as admit not clear and evident Reasons nor is it my Design to give them My Purpose is only to establish some Principles that may afford some Light to these and the like Difficulties or at least give us to understand that nothing can be thence concluded against what I have said of the Order of Nature and Grace XLVIII 'T is certain that Natural Effects are complicated and mix'd a thousand ways with the Effects of Grace and that the Order of Nature strengthens or weakens the Efficacy or Effects of the Orders of Grace according as these two Orders variously combine together Death which by the General Laws of Nature at a particular Juncture befals a good or ill Prince or Bishop occasions a great deal of Good or Evil in the Church because such kind of Accidents cause a great Diversity in the Sequel of Effects which depend on the Order of Grace But God would have all Men sav'd by the simplest ways Therefore we may and ought to say in general That He has chosen the Time the Place and Manners which in the process of Time and by the General Laws of Nature and Grace must all things consider'd introduce a greater Number of the Predestinate into the Church God does all things for his Glory Therefore among all the possible Combination of Nature and Grace he has from the infinite Extent of his Knowledge made choice of that which could form the perfectest Church and most suitable to his Majesty and Wisdom XLIX This one would think were sufficient to answer all the Difficulties that can arise about the Circumstances of our Mysteries For if it be said that Jesus Christ ought to be born to a Roman Emperour and to perform his Miracles in the Metropolis of the World that the Gospel might spread it self with greater Ease into the remotest Countries It may be boldly answer'd That though this seems so to Men yet that Combination of Nature and Grace had not been so worthy of the Wisdom of God as that which he has chosen I confess Religion had been propagated with greater ease but its Establishment had not been so Divine and Extraordinary nor consequently an invincible Proof of its Reality and Truth So â—hat according to that Combination Religion would at this Day have been destroy'd at least less disseminated abroad in the World Besides when we say that God acts by the simplest ways we ever suppose an Equality in the rest and especially in the Glory that ought to redound to God from his Work But the Church had not been so perfect nor so worthy of the Greatness and Holiness of God if it had been form'd with so much ease For the Beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem consisting in the Variety of Rewards accruing upon the several Combats of Christians 't was requisite the Martyrs should lay down their Lives as well as Jesus Christ to enter into the Possession of their present Glory In a word this Principle That of all the infinite Combinations of Nature and Grace God has chosen that which ought to produce an Effect most worthy of his Greatness and Wisdom suffices for a General Answer to all the