by few things he could unite himself to God in a manner close enough to receive from him all the necessary lights This made him extremely learned Had he still disengag'd himself more from his Senses less immers'd himself in the World and yet more carefully apply'd himself to seek after Truth it is certain that he would have carried the Sciences of which he hath treated much further and his Metaphysics would not be such as he hath left them to us in his Writings Arist But Theodorus now that so many able Men have wrote of Philosophy Mathematics and other Learning methinks it is enough if we read their Works Those learned Persons whereof I was just now speaking to you know Des Cartes as well as Des Cartes could know himself My Friend whom I have a mind to convert understands him so throughly that nothing can be mention'd out of that Author but is known by him nay and the very place where it lies yet he never meditates reads a Book in three days and knows it all Therefore I judg that Retirement is not necessary for Learning Theod. Not for that Learning which resides in Memory and doth not enlighten the Mind Do you think that those Persons who so easily remember other Mens Opinions can see the truth of them Do you think that your Friend knows Des Cartes or rather do you think that he sees what Des Cartes saw If you do you are much mistaken I will grant to you that your Friend knows all the words which Des Cartes hath us'd better than Des Cartes himself did or that he can better relate Des Cartes's Opinion than Des Cartes himself could have done it In short I will believe if you will that he is fitter to make a Man a Cartesian to enlighten the minds of those that hear him and make them receive Des Cartes's Sentiments than Des Cartes himself was yet for all this I do not believe that he truly knows Des Cartes Des Cartes's Philosophy is in his memory and imagination and for that Reason he speaks pertinently of it but I do not believe that it is in his mind and for that Reason he neither sees nor approves those Sentiments that are the necessary Consequences of it It seems as a Paradox that a Man who doth not know a Truth should sometimes be more capable of persuading another of it than he who exactly knows it and discover'd it himself yet if you consider that we instruct others only by Words you will easily perceive that those that have any force of imagination and a happy memory often can remembring what they have read explain themselves more clearly than those who are accustom'd to meditation and who discover Truth by themselves Thus Aristarchus do not imagin that those who speak pertinently to you concerning some certain Truths see them perfectly for it is not always so many times this happens yet those Truths are only in their memory or else they see them by an imaginary sight for that sight furnishes expressions lively and that seem to signify much tho' they signify nothing distinct only to those whom they move to retire within themselves There is much difference between seeing and seeing between seeing after having read and seeing after having meditated And to find out those that see distinctly and perfectly possess a Truth from those who do not possess it there needs truly to propose to them some question that depends from it for then those that see clearly speak clearly but the others always speak in such a manner as discovers their want of light Examin your learned Men Aristarchus according to this method and you will find that the most learned are the most ignorant that they have the less penetration and the greatest rashness that they cannot so much as discern Truth from what seems to be such that they speak without conceiving what they say and that often in the very instant that you admire them what is most to be admired in them is nothing but an effect of that memory which like a Watch goes of itself and whose springs unbend themselves by the action of the imagination In short you will see after all that almost all their knowledg is destitute of light and evidence of that intellectual light and evidence that is darkned by the slightest sensation and dissipated by the smallest motion and that therefore Retirement a privation of sensible things the mortification of the senses and passions are absolutely necessary for the perfection of the understanding as also for the conversion of the heart But this doth not justify the Morals of the Gospel for Christ did not come to teach us the Mathematics Philosophy and such other Truths which by themselves are unuseful enough for our Salvation All knowledg of Truth rendring the mind in some manner more perfect it was necessary that Christ's directions should be proper to purchase it But the true perfection of the mind and the shortest way to learn generally all Sciences being an Union with God not the natural Union which is incessantly interrupted by the motions of Concupiscence but the Union which a clear sight and a continual love make indissolvable It was necessary that Christ's Precepts should put us in the way whereby we may attain to that Union You will see at our next Interview that the Christian Religion alone can lead us to it In the mean time I leave you with Erastus to meditate on the things which we have said now DIALOGUE VIII That Christian Morality is absolutely necessary for the Conversion of the Heart Theod. WEll Aristarchus are you convinc'd that Retirement from Business a Privation of Pleasures in a word that a mortification of the Senses and Passions is absolutely necessary for the discovery of secret abstracted and sound Truths whose knowledg puffs not up the Heart For I well know that the Commerce of the World engages the Mind in the Study of such Sciences as render a Man famous and that Concupiscence gives us a Passion for all Truths which are useful to make a Man considerable in the World Arist Yes Theodorus I am convinc'd Truth in itself appears so mean a thing to Men toss'd with Passion or join'd to some sensible Object that they can't but despise it and tho' there are many that seek after it 't is I confess out of design and hope to draw some advantage from it The brightness and glory which environs the Learned sparkles and dazles us our secret Pride awakes and stirs us up But the pure light of Truth is not lively enough to make us perceive it when we are preingaged with other things Erast I have known some Men who probably read in the Morning for a matter of Talk in the Afternoon for as soon as they had left the little Company that applauded them they have had such an horror for Books and every thing call'd Learning that they cou'd not abide to hear it spoke of You remember Mr. F. for
Christian Conferences DEMONSTRATING The TRUTH OF THE Christian Religion AND MORALITY By F. MALEBRANCHE To which is Added His MEDITATIONS ON HUMILITY and REPENTANCE LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by J. Whitlock near Stationers-Hall MDCXCV TO THE READER THE many pious Reflections which the Author of The Search after Truth makes in that admirable Book justly induc'd him to believe that they might be of use to demonstrate the Truth of Christian Religion by evident Reasons Those who follow Des Cartes will doubtless allow this to be true for nothing is set down there but what is plainly prov'd or what is an axiom universally granted Now as it is of great importance to convince all sorts of Persons of the Conformity of the Christian Religion with Reason This Author judged that the following Dialogues might be useful to that end Since these Philosophers ought not to be neglected But 't is also hop'd that many others not satisfied with the Proofs deduc'd from old Philosophy will be convinc'd by those that are given here provided these Dialogues be read with all the attention that is requisite to understand a work of this Nature This is all that is desired of them for a serious Application of the mind undoubtedly produces Light It may not be improper to answer a Thing which some Persons might think amiss in the management of this Work they might say that our young Erastus is too learned and answers Theodorus with two much strength and Judgment considering his unripe Years which are represented to be between Fifteen and Twenty But these Gentlemen may observe that our Author supposes Erastus to be altogether free from Prejudice and this ought to be supposed since Theodorus and Aristarchus chuse him Judge of their differences They may also consider that when Erastus speaks afterwards above his Years t is only some things which he had read in The Search after Truth And after all the Design of Christian Dialogues is not that of certain writings made only to indulge the Imagination but rather to instrust the Mind and 't is much better that Erastus should be admir'd for saying Things seldom spoken by those of his Years as they are now Educated than that he should give us occasion to laugh at his Childishness or at that Simplicity that so well expresses the Character of a young raw Student There are some few Passages in these Dialogues where the Author who is known to be a Roman Catholic has made his Interlocutors to speak like Men of that Persuasion But I did not think fit either to alter or omit any Thing this being a bare Translation which ought consequently to represent the Original as much as Possible Neither did did I think it necessary to confute those Passages For the Arguments used by the Roman Catholicks in behalf of their particalar Doctrines are so inconsiderable if compared with those which this Author has offer'd to prove the Truth of the Christian Religion that at this Day they do not deserve that Protestants should lose Time in confuting them As for the Translators Part if you can pardon some few Faults of Print and Gallicisms of which such Works are seldom wholly Free he dares assure you that he has taken all imaginable Care to give here his Author's Sence just in its full Extent and as close and clear as it was possible in such abstracted Notions The CONTENTS Dialogue I. THat their is a God and that none but he really act in us and can make us Happy or Miserable Page 1. Dialogue II. Objections and Answers p. 24. Dialogue III. Of the Order of Nature in the Creation of Man p. 44. Dialogue IV. Of the Disorder of Nature caused by Original Sin p. 61. Dialogue V. Of the Reparation of Nature by Jesus Christ p. 83. Dialogue VI. The Truth of the Christian Religion prov'd by other Reasons p. 104. Dialogue VII That Christian Morality is very useful to the Perfection of the Vnderstanding p. 123. Dialogue VIII That Christian Morality is absolutely necessary for the Conversion of the Heart p. 140. Dialogue IX The same Subject continued p. 159. Dialogue X. Reflections on the whole p. 178. Meditations concerning Humility and Repentance with Elevations of the Soul to God Of Man considered as a Creature Of Man considered as the Son of a sinful Father Of Man consider'd as a Sinner CHRISTIAN DIALOGVES DIALOGUE I. That there is a God and that none but him acts really in us and can make us happy or miserable Aristarchus I Must let you know my dear Theodorus how little satisfaction our late Conferences have yielded me I have discours'd with you of my Travels and several adventures of my last Campaigns you know them all do not ask me any more of them You told me a word yesterday which made such an impression on me that I am become insensible to all the things that have hitherto extreamly moved me I find their Emptiness and their Vanity and will have solid Enjoyments and certain Truths Theodorus Give thanks Aristarchus to your deliverer to him that breaks your bonds and changes your heart I have spoke a long time to your ears but at last he that put words into my mouth hath made you understand their meaning You have seen Truth and you love it you desire to see it more plainly that you may love it more fervently Think not Aristarchus that what enlightens you and creates in you the desire you feel now is a word spoke in the air which only affects the body or the sensible man uncapable of understanding How many times have I told you the same things without convincing you of them I spoke then to your ears but the light of truth did not shine in your mind or rather since that Light is always within us it did shine in your mind but it did not enlighten it Being out of your self you hearken'd to a man who only spake to the Body You were in Darkness and would not turn your self towards him who alone can disperse it Learn then my dear Aristarchus to retire within your self to be attentive to Inward Truth to ask and receive the answers of our common Master for without it I assure you all my words will be barren fruitless and like all those I have told you already which you hardly can remember Aristarchus I am willing to do my endeavour to follow you but I fear I shall not be able to do it for I have much ado to understand well the things you have told me now Theod. In the Passion that moves you now you will not fail to give attention to all the things I 'll tell you but you shall not always understand them your attention will hardly be pure enough and your intention sufficiently free from Interest to be always rewarded with the clear and distinct sight of Truth The attention of the mind is the natural Prayer we make to Inward Truth that it may discover it self to us but this Soveraign
tell freely what you think of it Erastus Is there any danger or folly in saying that God alone is our light That he alone is the perfection and nourishment of the mind and that we depend from him all manner of ways not only that we may become more happy but also more understanding and perfect Erast I am afraid that Aristarchus will say I am full of fantastick notions if I say that I see all things in God as if I affirmed that one may see God even in this life because whatever is in God is God Theod. There is a difference between seeing the essence of God and seeing the essence of things in God For though we see nothing but God when we see the essence of things in God we see God but by relation to Creatures we see the perfections of God but as they represent another thing than God So that though we see God and can see nothing but him since he preserves spirits for himself only it may in one sense be said that we see nothing but the Creatures For tho God sees nothing but himself 't is certain that he sees the Creatures when he sees what is in himself that represents them Thus though we see God but by an immediate and direct sight we see in God that which represents them for the Creatures are invisible in themselves There is no corporeâ—… nor spiritual Creature can act immediately in the soul and cause it self to be seen by it God shows us whatever we see but 't is in his substance that he shows it us for the Divine Substance alone can give us life enlighten and make us happy We are made to be nourished with that substance and to live by it and if the spirit hath some life I mean if it hath some knowledge for the knowledge of truth is the life of the soul it receives it from and in that substance Whatever God hath done Erastus he hath done it after his Image or according to his Image he hath made the Animals Plants and even the Insects according to the Image or living Idea he hath of them For he hath made all things by his Son by his Word according to the uncreated Wisdom in which all things live But he hath not only made man according to his Image or Wisdom but also for his Wisdom and to contemplate the Eternal Wisdom that includes the Ideas of all things An Impertinent Philosopher Averrois found this fault in the Religion of Christians that they Eat him whom they adore condemning our Communion with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ whom we receive after we have Worshipped him * Pontificius Loquitur He did not know that the Wisdom of the Father the Word that enlightens and nourishes our Spirit desired to teach us in a sensible manner and by the real Manducation of his Body that he is really our Life and Nourishment and that he hath made our Spirit to know and to love him For our Spirit ought to love but what gives it Life nourishes makes it more perfect and is above it since only this can be his true good If it is certain that our thinking faculty comes from God 't is certain that it is made for God since God Acts only for himself as Aristarchus owns But if we do not see things in God how can it be said that God hath only made and doth only preserve us for himself for after all if Bodies are the immediate object of our Knowledge our Spirit is partly made to see them In what sense can it also be said that God preserves the spirits of Devils and the Damned but for himself if the spirit of those wretches doth not see God in some manner You will tell me they are Dead and that is true in some sense but they perhaps know some truth and if the knowledge of truth is the life of the Soul they are not intirely dead nor annihilated they have yet some union with the eternal Wisdom whose light penetrates into the very abyss They nourish themselves with the word if they have some life left because he alone is life but they are not the happier for it for they wish themselves dead They nourish themselves with a truth they do not rellish they seek darkness and annihilation and wish that this remainder of union with God that enlightens and preserves them maybreak and dissolve it self for ever Arist What do you tell us here Theodore Doth the spirit see nothing but God What! Do we see Errour in God Do the Philosophers see all their Chymera's in God And doth the Father of lies receive from God Theod. Errour cannot be seen Aristarchus 'T is neither visible nor intelligible Truth is a relation that is And what is may be seen There is a relation of equality between two times two and four and this relation may be seen because it is There is a relation of inequality between two times two and five and this relation of inequality may be seen because it is So truth is visible or intelligible but errour is not One cannot see that two times two is five or a relation of equality between two times two and five for there is no such relation of equality One cannot see that two times two is not four nor a relation of inequality between two times two and four for there is no such relation of inequality And thus when men mistake themselves they do not see the relations which they suppose they see When a man mistakes himself he may well see things in God though after an imperfect manner but he doth not see the relations that are between things for those things are and those relations are not I will not here explain the cause of our errour and our different ways of falling into it It hath been done already Erast I own Theodorus that we see in God the eternal truths and immutable laws of Morality A finite and changeable spirit cannot see in himself the eternity of those truths nor the immutability of those laws 't is in God he sees them But he cannot see in God transitory truths and corruptible things since there is nothing in God but what is Immutable and Incorruptible Theod. Yet Erastus God sees all the changes that happen in the world and 't is in himself only he sees them It follows then that he sees in himself whatever is subject to change or corruption though there is nothing in him but is perfectly Immutable and Incorruptible But all this may be explained thus God hath in himself the Idea for example of Extent since he sees it and hath made it and this Idea in Incorruptible 'T was his will there should be extended beings and those beings were produced 'T was also his will that those extended parts should be incessantly moved and communicate naturally their motions to one another Now this communication of motions which cannot be unknown to God it being impossible he should not
rewards disorder Era. But Theodore Was not what you call Disorder put into the Child by God himself Since it is by the Decree of his Will that upon certain motions of the Brain certain thoughts should result in the Soul and the communication that is between the Brain of the Mother and that of the Child was established by God The. I own it Erastus however it is not amiss It was requisite that the Vestiges in the Brain and the motions of the Spirits should be attended with the thoughts and agitations of the Soul for the Reasons I have already told you the chief whereof is That Bodies do not deserve the application of a Spirit that is made for none but God It was necessary that Adam should be told by preingaging Sentiments by short and unquestionable Proofs that such and such things were good for his Body It was fit also that the impressions on the Mother's Brain should communicate themselves to that of the Child for the full conformation of his Body Those things are most wisely establisht Disorder is only found in Desire It is good that there result in the Soul certain thoughts when certain impressions form themselves in the Brain but it is not good that those impressions prompt us to the love of sensible things and do not vanish when we desire it or that our Body be not submitted to us Now the Sin of the first Man hath caused this for he became unworthy by his Sin that God should suspend the communication of motions for his sake so not being able to hinder the impression of the Bodies that act on us from reaching as far as the chief part of the Brain which is the seat of the Soul we have of necessity the sentiments and motions of Concupiscence tho God doth nothing else in us but deprive us of the power to hinder the natural communications of motions that is to say without acting in us For Concupiscence precisely as such is nothing it is in us only a want of power over our Body which want proceeds from our Sin only since it would be just without it that our Body were submitted to us Erast I perceive plainly Theodorus that the union of our Spirit with our Body proceeds from God and that our being Slaves to our Body proceeds from Sin All that is plain But you Aristarchus are you persuaded of the Sentiments and Proofs of Theodorus Arist I dare not assent to them for I fear to be mistaken Erast Perhaps it is because Theodorus speaks of the transmission of original Sin as of a thing not impossible to be explained and you have hitherto believed it to be unexplainable this may have prepossessed you Or it may be your Sceptical Friends have so often laught at the simplicity of those that believe what the Church teaches that your imagination hath been formerly somewhat spoilt by it For my part I remember that some time ago I was half stunned by the reflection of the amazement that appeared in the looks of one of those false learned at the appearance of an imaginary difficulty But remembring what Theodorus tells me continually not to suffer my self to be imposed upon by the Air and sensible impression of Men I retired within my self and could not help laughing at my pannick fear Arist Do you think Erastus that I am so much a Fool as to let my self be imposed on Erast You are too wise to do so Aristarchus but you are not yet wise enough not to receive some impression by the bold way and commanding Air of so many People that come to see you It is impossible to be always upon our guard and compare incessantly Mens words with the answers of inward truth and you shall give me leave to tell you that I even observed but two days ago by your countenance that you are a Man born for company that you are very full of complaisance and very easily embrace the Sentiments of others yet the business was of moment Arist I remember it it is true I was moved that person spoke to me in a very strong and lively manner but I soon came to my self Theod. Perhaps it is because the thing nearly concerned you and you were not then about a Philosophical Question or certain Points of Religion that have nothing common with the Senses Arist It is true but really I will no longer believe Men upon their word Theod. No you do not believe them upon their word for words being arbitrary persuade only as far as they enlighten the mind but the Air persuades naturally and by impression It persuades insensibly and without letting us even know what it is that we are persuaded of for all it can do by it self is to agitate and trouble I say it to you Aristarchus you confusedly believe above a million of things which you do not know and which the Commerce you have with the World hath heapt on your memory But be not vext at it there is no man but hath a very great number of those confused Notions for we are all sensible There is no man made for Society but is fastned to other men and receives in his brain the same impressions as those who speak to him with some emotion and force and those impressions are attended by those confused judgments whereof I am speaking Do not imagine that none but Children see and desire what their Mother sees and desires as I told you just now when I explained to you the propagation of original Sin All men live by opinion they commonly see and desire things as those they converse with proportionately to the need they have of their help Children are so strongly united with their Mothers that they see nothing but what she sees But men are capable to see and think of themselves they are not so narrowly united to other men seeing they can live alone they can think alone but seeing they cannot live conveniently out of Society they never think easily and without pain but when they suffer themselves to be persuaded by the air and way of those who speak to them Is it not true Aristarchus that there are some Persons who have prepossessed you against what I have said to you now of original Sin not as Erastus thinks by laughing at those things for you are too well converted to have still any deference for the silly banters of the false learned but rather gravely and piously inspiring you with a secret aversion for some Sentiments that seem new and are too clear for such as are not used to see the light I know it Aristarchus and plainly perceive that nothing but the disorder which they have caused in your mind by the darkness of their terms and the decisive and scientific air of their quality hinders you from assenting to what I have told you now But let not this make you uneasy there is a great number of others distinguisht by the same outward marks of Piety and Learning that approve what
how he is the beginning and end of all things Those holy persons that read the Scripture with an intention to find Christ never fail to find him there for he is in every place of it But they have not the spirit of this world but that of God whereby they know the greatness of the Gift that God hath imparted to them The outward and sensible Man is not capable of the things which the Divine Spirit teacheth us for the eye hath not seen the ear hath not heard nor the heart of man ever understood what God hath prepared for those that love him I do not only speak of those false learned who deny the corruption of Nature the necessity of Grace and the Divinity of Christ yet assume the quality of Christians I also speak of those who live in the bosom of the Church but have little love for Religion It is impossible they should be very well learned in the knowledge of Christ seeing they do not love him and do not study the Scriptures professing the Christian Religion perhaps only because it is that of their Parents Arist You have told us a great many things both to day and yesterday since I have seen my Friend I imagin that he wants me as I do to know what he will think of these things I must leave you to go to him Theod. Do Aristarchus make him sensible of the general corruption of Nature and the enmity that is between God and man and endeavor to demonstrate plainly to him the necessity of Christ's satisfaction If you find that he receives your Sentiments as he ought and is willing to be instructed immediately fall on the praises of our Redeemer and stir him up to the love of his Saviour by the consideration of the chief obligations he hath to him Tell him That Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life That he is our intelligible light that enlightens us in the deepest recess of our Reason and our sensible light that instructs us by Miracles by Parables and Faith That he alone is the food of the Soul That his light is the sole producer of Charity and that none but him can give us the holy Spirit whereby we become the children of God Tell him that he hath been predestinated before all time to be our King and Chief our Pastor and Law-giver That God receives our Prayers through him only That we are made clean only by his blood and enter into the Holy of Holies only through his Sacrifice In short That Christ is all things to us that in him we are new creatures and new men that have not been condemned in Adam that without Christ we are nothing have right to nothing but are sold to Sin Slaves to the Devils and the eternal objects of God's wrath Use all your endeavors to make him think on Christ to unite him to and make him esteem and love Christ and conclude with these words of St Paul at the end of one of his Epistles If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maran-atha 1 Cor. 16.22 DIALOGUE VI. The Truth of the Christian Religion proved by other Reasons Arist AH Theodorus how unsatisfy'd am I in my Friend Theod. Yes Aristarchus I can easily see it the Air of your Countenance does not rejoice those that examin it 't is not an Air of Triumph or of Victory that might please those who take part of it But how cou'd he resist you Arist As I was well persuaded of the truth of the Christian Religion by the proofs of original Sin and the necessity of a Mediator so I imagined I cou'd convince him by proposing the same proofs but I know not to what I should attribute the ill success of my words when I spoke to him instead of persuading him I provoked him and he rejected all that I proposed to him with a kind of scorn he would not so much as agree with me in common Notions but continually said that my Reasons were the Reasons of Philosophy Such Answers grieved me I strove to convince him and continued to repeat the same things hoping that at last he would reflect but all my Efforts were entirely lost 'T is something strange Theodorus that a Man can't convince others of the same thing that he himself is fully convinced of for it appears to me that all Men ought to see the same things Theod. If all Men were equally attentive to inward truth they would all equally see the same things but your Friend is not like you he is taken up with a multitude of things and his pride has now for many years kept him unconversant even with himself so that abstracted proofs and reasonings built upon Notions which have no dependance of the senses persuade him not because these proofs don't touch him and because he has many confused reasons which hinder his application to them When a Man has discovered a Geometrical Demonstration he can convince all Men of it to whom he clearly proposes it because that these things are sensible that they freely apply themselves to them that there 's no reason why they should not believe them that they are not prepossess'd by the authority of Men that deny them and that when they see these kinds of truth they see them after a sensible manner But 't is not the same with certain truths which are contrary to our inclinations there we think not seriously and we have many reasons not to believe them It 's necessary Aristarchus that I demonstrate to you the truth of the Christian Religion by more sensible proofs than those of our preceding Conferences it may be your Friend will more willingly hearken to them Do you take his place and object whatever you can imagin against what I shall offer I only suppose that God hath made our Souls to know and love him 'T is what your Friend assents to You have heard Aristarchus of one Moses the famous Legislator of the Jews to whom God gave the Ten Commandments upon Mount Sinai Do you believe what the Scripture says of him Arist But what if he was a Cheat an Impostor Theod. Very well Aristarchus you suppose your self under your Friend's character but you know that he must have an excessive bold spirit I would say the most ignorant and most transported of bold spirits who dares say that Moses was a Cheat you do much honour to your Friend Arist I know what I say Theod. Well then if you know him so well speak for him I will engage him in your person You have reason Aristarchus and ought not to oppose a Sentiment that is universally received by all reasonable persons unless you have good proofs that they are deceived Arist There is much prejudice Theod. Right but this common Reason does not justifie you nor will it justifie the most extravagant doubts that may be raised but I may tell you that there was never any Man that could be more unreasonably accused of Imposture
I do not know how I came to persuade my self that I should be guilty of want of respect towards the words of the Gospel should I speak any more to him about the Truths of Religion so that I stood before him without saying any thing But if my mind did not express itself by the sound of my voice my heart spoke sufficiently by the air of my face and my Friend might well imagin that I was not come to see him so early merely to bid him good morrow On the other side he being in the main a Man of a civil and mild disposition I cannot doubt but that he repented himself of the Answers he had made me and had pondered on those things which I had told him with a strength and plainness sufficient as I thought to convince him if he had any ways reflected Withal seeing me so early come to see him after the many expressions he had used which ought to have made me decline his Society for a long time being of the temper that I have mentioned he could not help being moved by my zeal and sorry for his want of attention In short whether he was shaken by my former Reasons or touched by some sentiments of Friendship and Gratitude he began after he had been some moments silent with an acknowledgment of his fault and of his sorrow After this he prayed me to repeat once more the proofs that I had offered to him of the Christian Religion assuring me that he had thought on them seriously and that he had found much solidity and light in them how imperfectly soever he remembred them I at first was somewhat unwilling to comply with his desire still remembring the words of Christ but seeing him persist in his demand with heat and eagerness I believed that he was disposed to hear me Accordingly I gave him the satisfaction he desired and he hath received without difficulty the same things that he had rejected with scorn Theod. You see even by this Aristarchus that it was convenient that Christ should cause himself to be expected during many Centuries and hide himself in the Scriptures for those who do not care to find him We easily receive what we desire and find with pleasure what we seek with passion Your Friend could not see two days ago that Truth which you proposed to him because he did not seek it but he hath discovered it because he desired it and hath found it with pleasure if he hath sought it with eagerness If Men do not know God 't is because they do not care to know him and if they do not see the truth of the Christian Religion 't is because the love of sensible things prepossesses them and makes them hate a Religion that destroys it All our Passions justifie themselves and speak incessantly for their conservation and those that hearken to the dictates of their Passions find themselves so strongly moved with compassion towards them that for their sakes they despise the Laws which condemn those Criminals to death For indeed nothing is more despicable than the Christian Religion if we believe our Passions The Gospel hath nothing that appears pleasing it preaches nothing to us but self-denial and Christ doth by the example of his life and death condemn the conduct of those who fix their minds on sensible things Those therefore who esteem nothing besides the objects of their Senses who blindly follow the motions of their Passions voluptuous Men or to use the words of Christ Swine are uncapable of understanding the truth of Religion and enjoying true happiness The Kingdom of God is a Pearl for which they will not sell all what they possess they do not know the value of it Therefore Christ will not have us to propose future happiness to those Wretches nor explain sacred Mysteries to them they being uncapable and unworthy of them We are only to threaten them in the Name of God and make them afraid by the Idea of Eternity or even by the fear of temporal Ills. But when they grow penitent deprive themselves of worldly pleasures and cease to be Swine it is necessary we should explain to them the Mysteries of Religion and the Secrets of the Gospel for being then become Sheep they hear and can discern the voice of the true Pastor of their Souls For this Reason and several others which you will perhaps understand by the Sequel of our Discourses I did not much approve of the design you had to relate all things to your Friend I was asraid for you and had no hopes of him But God who disposes of our hearts hath rewarded your Charity and Zeal and you ought to return your thanks to him for 't We have hitherto discoursed of the Proofs that concern the Truth of Religion and I believe that what I have said is sufficient to persuade reasonable persons that there is no other Religion in the world besides the Christian able to re-establish the Order which Sin hath reversed that none besides God-man could satisfie God's Justice reconcile us and give us an access to him and in a word pay to God a worship worthy of him It is time to shew you that Christian Morality is perfectly conformable to Reason and that in the state to which Sin hath reduced us nothing more useful to re-establish the order of things can be prescribed than the precepts and counsels of Christ concerning Prayer and the privation of sensible things for I suppose no others I entreat you to observe carefully whatever we shall speak of hereafter for you ought rather to instruct your Friend in those things which respect the government of our manners than in such speculative truths as are above the capacity of a carnal and sensible Man I will put some Questions to Erastus for I have not said any thing to him this good while Do you remember Erastus what we have said concerning the End and Order which God proposed to himself when he created Man and are you convinced of it Erast I remember it and am convinced of it I believe that God acts for none but himself that when he makes a Spirit it is that this Spirit may know him and that when he makes a Will it is that this Will may love him This Order seems to me so necessary that I do not believe that God preserves any Spirit but what in some manner knows and loves him I believe that the Union which Spirits have with God by their knowledg and love cannot altogether be dissolved without annihilating them For what kind of being were that Spirit that should know and love nothing But all Spirit that knows and loves knows and loves only by the means of the Union which he hath with God since he is not to himself his light and that the motion which he hath towards good in general and which makes him capable of loving private good doth not proceed from himself nor from any thing below him Theod. That 's true
may be worthy the Friendship I have for him I am going to endeavour his Conversion I have a world of things to say to him Theod. As he is capable of knowing and loving God he cannot but be worthy your Friendship for now nothing but that can recommend us to the love of one another since we don't perfectly know each other We begin even in this Life to love God and our Neighbour but because we are not to have a clear sight of God nor of our Neighbour till we are in Heaven our Charity cannot be perfect till we are there Go Sir see your Friend But you Erastus pray what do you think on Erast Aristarchus thinks on his Friend and I think on my self I don't know Theodorus whether I shall be here to morrow or no. Methinks I ought to make a good use of the Truths you have taught me I leave you for I am now too much disorder'd you doubtless perceive it well enough I recommend all things to your Prayers The Tenth and Last DIALOGUE Arist I Have a great deal of News to tell you Theodorus my Friend at last is converted but we have lost Erastus Theod. Pray what 's become of him Arist I just now discover'd it His Mother and I wondring that he was not at home at Dinner-time I went up into his Chamber to look for him and found this Letter seal'd up on his Table For Aristarchus I Am convinc'd Aristarchus by Reason and by Faith by a clear Light and an infallible Authority by the intelligible words of inward Truth and by the sensible words of incarnate Truth in short by all that can convince a Rational and Christian Soul that the most safe and usual way to come to God is to seclude our selves from the World and deprive our selves of all sensual things But I ought to take the greater care for the more the business is of consequence the more 't is necessary difficult and dangerous I ought therefore Aristarchus to retire to some place where I may be shelter'd against the persecution of those who would have me apply my self to some studies that are necessary to qualifie a Gentleman for some Employments to which I do not find my self to have a particular Call 'T is true indeed I do not find my self to have a particular and extraordinary call for the design I have But there needs no particular Call when Reason alone and the general vocation of Christians is sufficient Without doubt those who engage in the affairs of this World ought to have a particular Call to that way of living for Reason and our general vocation teach us to do otherwise But as the World goes now methinks a Man needs but to have common Sense and to believe the Gospel to do what I have done However as I would not engage in a particular Course of Life without a particular Call I 'll be still ready to return to you when 't is necessary But I declare I would think my self guilty of a less fault should I without a particular Call presume to conform my self to the way of living of the Religious Persons with whom I intend to live than if without a Call I enter'd into the Bonds of Matrimony or took an Employment that would tye me to too many things All my Relations persecute me every one according to his humour and ambition They have ends which I neither have nor would have Besides I would gladly break off the Society which I have with some infectious Wits who perhaps will abhor me at my coming back In short I believe I ought seriously to mind what is most essential Anthimus and Philemon are very fit to finish what Theodorus hath begun So I am now going to them you know they have wish'd for my coming a long while I beg that you will not impute my withdrawing my self without any previous leave or notice to a want of Friendship for you or of Dutifulness to my Mother Far from this I did it because the Natural Affection which I ought to have for her and you is too violent I dreaded the Consequences of it in the performance of a Design which I was resolved to fulfil for fear of being wanting in that which I owe to God but at last I perswaded my self that as my Mother and you have a very great esteem for the Persons to whom I am now going you will both of you forgive the omission of a peice of Formality which I could not keep merely out of too deep a sense of Love for you I did not dare write to my Mother at first but I beseech you dearest Cozen perswade her to admit of the Assurances of my Duty and Submission I know that next to God I owe all things to her As for Theodorus I pray you to tell him that I 'll continually meditate on the Principles which he discover'd to me and that I love Truth extremely By this he 'll easily know that I 'll seldom be without thinking of him Arist What think you of all this Theodorus Theod. If you would know Sir what I think of Erastus I must needs tell you that I never knew a more just and penetrating Mind a purer and clearer Imagination a sweeter and more honourable Temper a more upright and generous Heart and in short that I never saw a more accomplisht young Man than Erastus As for his Conduct if you blame any thing in it do but Answer what his Letter says in his Justification Finding himself here holden by Tyes that inslave him he breaks them publickly not being able to get free otherwise He is afraid of not being able to preserve the Purity of his Imagination the Freedom of his Mind and the Love of True Good among Persons who use to take all Things upon Trust without examining the Truth and who by their imposing Ways and infectious Behaviour are continually like to make some 〈◊〉 Impressions on his Mind You see that even some of his Relations persecute and seduce him They endeavour to bring him in to the World for their own Credit and they would have him to become considerable there that his Advancement may promote theirs and his Glory reflect some upon them But Erastus is convinc'd by the Strength of Reason that Wealth Pomp and Greatness disorder the Minds of those that enjoy them he is also convinced of it by the Authority of Christ Would you not have him be guided by his Light and Faith Would you have him grasp a Phantasm that vanishes court a Stage-Greatness and feed himself up with Illusions and Chimaera's Either let them prove to him that he follows a false Light and that Christ is a Seducer or else let him alone Arist Do not think Theodorus that I have the least Thing to object against his Conduct I will rather follow him than disturb him in his Design He is in the Right I am fully convinced of it not only by what we said in our former Conferences but
Sinful Father WE have seen in the fore-going Considerations that Man in himself is a meer Nothing that he is made up of Weakness Infirmity and Darkness that he receives Life Sense and Motion continually from God that he owes to him his whole Being and all his Faculties And therefore he is certainly under the highest Obligations of Love and Gratitude to God since he depends so absolutely upon him as he is a Creature But if we consider him as the Son of a Sinful Father and as a Sinner himself we shall find so great a multiplicity of essential and indispensable Duties which he owes to God and at the same time so great a want of Power and so much unworthiness to perform them that so far is he from being able to do his Duty that even his Performances would be rejected if Christ our Mediator had not merited Grace for him by his Death We must not then consider Man only as the Son of a Sinful Father and as he is a Sinner himself but we ought always to look upon him in Jesus Christ in whom alone we are able to please God The Fifth Consideration MAN considered as the Son of a Sinful Father is a Reprobate a Child of Wrath whom his Father will not see and who shall never see his Father for he is a Child whom his Father does not love nor will he be belov'd by such a Child God lov'd Adam before his Fall and desir'd to be lov'd by him He was willing to communicate himself to him and to be in a manner familiarly acquainted with him He call'd to him as he now does to us but with a much clearer and more intelligible Voice I am thy Good make me the only Object of thy Love and Hope At these words his Senses and Passions were silent nor was he disturb'd by that confus'd and flattering noise which arises in us even against our Wills and boldly opposes the dictates of Truth in our Souls God spoke to him and he did not murmur God inlighten'd him and he was freed from Darkness God commanded him and he made no resistance The Pleasure and Joy which he felt in seeing himself favour'd and protected by a God that would never forsake him if he did not first leave him kept him united to his Lord by Bonds that were never like to be broken God did not force Adam to love him by preingaging Pleasures because he would have him merit his Reward more speedily He left him to the determination of his own Free-will that he might have power to chuse for himself and he bestow'd a due measure of Knowledge and Understanding upon him that he might be enabled to make a good choice Thus Man perceiv'd clearly what he was to do to obtain solid and perfect Happiness and nothing could hinder him from performing that as long as he pleased But he was not separated from himself and the consideration of himself fill'd him with a certain Joy and Pleasure which made him in a manner feel that his Natural Perfection was the cause of his present Felicity for Joy seems to proceed naturally and absolutely from a view of our own Perfections because we do not always think on him who operates always in us Besides Adam had a Body and could when he pleas'd relish such Pleasures in the actual enjoyment of Sensible Things as made him feel that Corporeal Things were his Good I did not make choice of this Expression without Reason for he knew that God was his Good but did not feel it because he felt no preingaging Pleasures in the performance of his Duty and on the other side he felt that the Objects of his Senses were his Good but did not know them to be so because that which is not cannot be known When Adam felt that Sensible Objects were his Good or imagin'd that the cause of his Happiness was in himself when he tasted Pleasure in the use of Corporeal Things or rejoyc'd at the sight of his own Perfections his Sensations obscur'd the clear perceptions of his Mind by which he knew that God was his Good For Sensation confounds Knowledge because it modifies the Soul and divides its capacity Thus Adam who perceiv'd all these things clearly ought to have been perpetually upon his guard He should have resisted the allurements of the Pleasures which he felt least he should be distracted by them and betray'd into unavoidable destruction He should have stood firm in the presence of God and depended absolutely on his Light But relying too much upon himself he suffered his Understanding to be darkened by the relish of Sensual Pleasures or by a confus'd Sensation of a presumptuous Joy and being thus insensibly disunited from him who was his true Strength and the source of all his Happiness he was justly punished by the revolt of those Senses to which he had voluntarily submitted By which Punishment it seem'd that God had utterly forsaken him and that he would never any more vouchsafe to accept of his Love and had given him the Material World to be the Object of his Knowledge and Affection The Curse of God that was pronounc'd against Adam is fall'n upon all the Posterity of that rebellious Father God has withdrawn his presence from the World and instead of communicating himself to it does continually thrust it farther from him We suffer Pain when we seek God but we feel all sorts of Pleasures when being weary with following him through such rough and troublesome ways we joyn our selves to his Creatures The World does not clearly perceive that it ought to love God and that he alone ought to be the proper Object of its Affection but it feels in a very lively and alluring manner that it should love something else besides him and consequently it does not love God but flies from him continually and even is unable to turn to him It was shamefully driven out of Paradise in the Person of Adam it has forfeited its Title to God and lost the hope of Heaven and Happiness It is accurst and eternally accurst It is a Crime to wish well to it because it is and for ever shall be at enmity with God And even it cannot wish well to it self without doing it self an injury For by wishing well to it self it endeavours to break the establisht Order of Things it provokes the God of Order and increases the Hatred and Indignation of him to whom Vengeance belongs What can it thus do Shall it yield it self up to Fury and Despair and seek to be annihilated because it cannot enjoy God But annihilation it self is perhaps a Favour which it does not deserve and therefore shall not obtain We may indeed kill but cannot annihilate our selves and if Death were an annihilation it would not be in the power of Man to put an end to his Life What must we do then and what course must we take to regain our lost Happiness We must humble our selves before God we must hate our selves
not hinder us from discovering Truth Theod. You begin perhaps Aristarchus to discover by what we have said and by this last Answer of Erastus that what Christ hath preached about the mortification of our Senses is the best method that can be to reunite us to God by the knowledg of Truth Arist It is true But I am afraid that you attribute to the Doctrin of the Gospel some perfection that Christ never designed to give it For in all likelihood Christ never intended to give us any Precepts to direct our minds in the inquiry of certain Truths which are not absolutely necessary to us in the World Theod. I own Aristarchus that Christ's principal design was not to instruct us in certain speculative Truths which do not by themselves conduce to the knowledg and love of sovereign Truth But the Precepts of the Gospel are so useful that they extend to all the things that may in some manner add to the perfection of the mind for they are directly opposed to the cause of our disorders and remedy our diseases in their beginning And thus they tend to give us all the perfection whereof we are capable since to deprive our selves of sensible things is not only a necessary thing to help the conversion of our hearts but also for the perfecting our understandings as you will see it better hereafter Do you think Erastus that nothing besides actual Sentiments can hinder the mind from applying itself to Truth and that a Man who hath for some years enjoyed the pleasures of the World is able when he leaves them to unite himself to intellectual things with as much force and light as those who have during all their Lives been careful to purifie their Imaginations Erast No certainly none can enjoy worldly pleasure with impunity When the Imagination hath been touch'd by some sensible thing the impression of it remains and the enjoyment of worldly pleasures makes it easily Slaves to them There remains in our Brain some impressions that always represent to the mind the pleasures that it hath enjoy'd and that often hinder it from applying itself to such things as have no sensible attraction Therefore when the Imagination is sully'd the Mind is fill'd with darkness because Concupiscence which of itself takes off the Mind from the sight of Truth is strengthned and encreas'd by this new Concupiscence that is acquir'd by the use of sensible things Theod. What must we do then Erastus to become capable of attaining that perfection of understanding which consists in the knowledg of Truth Erast It appears plainly that we must with all imaginable care avoid whatever is able to make any deep impression in our Brain we must give me leave to use your expression strictly take care to purify our Imaginations Arist But then Theodorus we ought not to do Penance for painful Sensations as much divide our thinking Faculty as those that are pleasing Theod. A Man ought not to mortify himself with an intent to find the Solution of a Problem such an Action doth not enlighten the Mind None can actually seel Pain and see Truth actually at the same time But Sufferings how unuseful soever for the knowledg of certain Truths are very useful to take us off from sensible things * Pontificius loquitur to satisfy God's Justice being join'd to those of our Saviour to merit us the sight of that sovereign Truth which dissipates all our darkness and even to teach us some certain moral Truths on which we do not think when we feel nothing But Aristarchus do you not see that the impressions of Sufferings that remain in the Memory do not darken it like the impressions of Pleasures Do you not see that they never provoke Lust never disturb the Mind never divide its Attention and that things being thus they do not hinder it from discovering Truth We easily cease to think on Pain as soon as we cease to suffer it and have no cause to fear it because Pain hath nothing that is pleasing in itself But the same doth not happen when ever we have tasted of any Pleasures their vestiges or impressions remain strongly printed in our Brains and do each moment excite some troublesom desires that disturb the peace of the mind and those desires renewing those impressions Concupiscence which is the Spring of all our Ills and consequently of the want of application of the mind to Truth as well as the corruption of the heart incessantly receives new strength Arist You are in the right But yet we see that many learned Men have spent their whole Lives in Debauchery abandoning themselves continually to all sorts of Pleasures Theod. Not so many as you may think Aristarchus for the number of the false learned is very great A Man must see Truth clearly and distinctly to be truly learned It is not enough to have read much for the Mind knows nothing if it sees nothing Pleasure unless it be excessive doth not hinder a Man from reading none but violent Pleasures darken the memory and imagination but the least thing in the World can darken the sight of the Mind The Learned of whom you were speaking make more use of their memory and of their imagination than they do of their understanding and I every day perceive that those whom you esteem most for their Learning are a sort of Men whose understanding is so small so dark so dissipated that they are not capable of having the least apprehension of many Truths which Erastus very easily comprehends There is much difference between that Learning which depends upon the largeness of the Memory and the force of the Imagination and that Learning which consists in a sight purely intellectual wherein the Imagination hath no share unless it be indirectly All pure Idea's vanish and dissipate themselves at the appearance of sensible Idea's We do not hear the voice of Truth when our Senses and our Imagination speak to us for we had much rather confusedly know the relations that things have with us than clearly to know what relations they have between themselves We are in so great a dependance under Bodies and so little united to God that the least thing separates us from him But sensible knowledg and the sight of the imagination being strengthned by the vestiges or impressions of the Brain may withstand contrary Sentiments the Idea's of that knowledg have if I may use that expression a Body and cannot be so easily dissipated Thus Retirement and a privation from all Pleasure is not absolutely necessary to gain all the knowledg wherein we make a greater use of the Senses and Imagination than of Reason If Mr. Des Cartes came to be so learned in Geometry Physics and other parts of Philosophy it is because he pass'd 25 years in a Retirement it is because he hath perfectly discover'd the errors of our Senses that he hath with care avoided their impression and oftner meditated than read In a word it is because being held