Ideas would doubtless have imagined that the first man had no sentiment of Objects and that to eat and nourish himself he studied to know the consiguration of the parts of the fruits of Paradise the relation they might have with those of his Body thereby to judge whether they would have been proper for his nourishment In all probality they would have believed that to walk Adam had thought on the Nerves which answered to his Legs and that he had continually conveyed to them such a quantity of Animal spirits to remove them and thus they would have judged of other Functions by which Mans life is preserved We very near do the same thing as to the manner in which J. C. forms his Church We will needs judge thereof according to our Ideas and yet perhaps we understand nothing thereof God united the Soul to the Body of the first Man after a much more wise and real manner than the Angels themselves could imagine For God advertised him by sentiments after a short and undoubted manner of what he ought to do and this without dividing as little as might be the capacity which he had of thinking upon his Sovereign good For then his Senses kept silence whensoever he desired it Man may still walk and meditate both together but the first man upon all occasions might and also ought without withdrawing himself from the presence of God to give unto his Body all that which was necessary for it Why may not God at present therefore give unto J. C. certain kinds of compendious knowledge whereof we have no Idea that he may thereby better facilitate the construction of his Church so that the relation which he has to us may not divide the capacity which he has of seeing God and enjoying his happiness God appointed certain general Laws of the union of Soul and Body that the first Man might preserve his Life without applying himself over-much to particular Objects Why may not God by making his Son the Head of the Church have established such like general Laws It may be this ought to have been so that God might act in such a manner as agrees best with the divine attributes and perhaps that apparent irregularity with which Grace is given unto men is in part a consequence of this marvelous invention of eternal wisdom Assuredly it may be the first Adam was even in this a figure of the second and that J.C. besides his knowledge and desires which we cannot deny to him without impiety hath still compendious ways worthy of an infinite wisdom by which as we by our sentiments and passions he acts in his mystical body without being diverted from his Sovereign good which he loves too much to lose the sight of or remove himself from its presence There are several passages in Scripture may countenance this opinion but I might well be accounted rash should I pretend to establish it as a point which ought to be believed That which I say may be true but I ought not to assert it as true before I am well convinced of it my self If this be not it may be or some such like thing as for my part I have not justified the Wisdom and Goodness of God but by leaving to J. C. as Architect of the Eternal Temple that we cannot take from him without offering violence to Reason and good Sense But I am glad to know that there are several ways of answering those who oppose the Quality which I give to J. C. of an occasional cause which determines the efficacy of the good will of God in respect to men and that all the Objections which can be made against me in this can upon no other account be hard to be resolved but because we are ignorant of a great many things which it would be necessary to know for the clearing them up XVII The divers desires of the Soul of J. C. giving Grace hence we clearly apprehend whence it is that it is not equally given to all men and that it falls upon certain persons at one time more than at another Since the Soul of J. C. does not think at the same time of sanctifying all men it has not at the same time all the desires of which it is capable Thus J. C. does not act upon his Members after a particular manner but by successive influences like as our Soul does not at the same time remove all the Muscles of our Bodies For the Animal Spirits go equally and successively into our Members according to the different impressions of Objects the divers motions of our passions and different Desires which we freely form in our selves XVIII It is true that all the just continually receive the influence of the Head that gives them life and that when they act by the Spirit of J. C. they merit and receive new graces tho it be not necessary that the Soul of J. C. has any particular desires which may be the occasional causes of them for the order which requires that all Merit be rewarded is not in God an Arbitrary Law it is a Necessary Law which depends not upon any occasional cause But tho he that has done a Meritorious Action may be rewarded for it and yet the soul of J. C. have actually no desires in respect of him nevertheless it is certain that he has not merited Grace but by the dignity and holiness which the Spirit of J. C. communicated to him For men are not acceptable to God and do nothing that is good John 15.4 but so far as they are united to his Son by Charity Additions Altho I say order requires that the Just Merit Grace it must not be understood of all Graces but only of those which are absolutely necessary for the vanquishing unavoidable temptations But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able says St. Paul Now Order requires that God should be faithful Quis autem dicat eum qui jam coepit credere ab illo in quem credit non mereri says St. Augustine de Praedest Sanct. Ch. 2. The just therefore may merit Grace by the assistance of Grace but he cannot in strictness merit those Graces which are not absolutely necessary for him This depends upon the good will of J. C. as he is the occasional cause of the order of Grace And in strictness good works perhaps merit only the reward of happiness But it is not necessary that I should stand to explain the different ways of understanding merit XIX Moreover it must be confest that they who observe the councels of J. C. by the esteem which they have for them and by the fear they have of future Punishments do solicite as I may say by their obedience the love of J. C. to think of them tho as yet they should act only by self-love But all their actions are not occasional causes neither of Grace since they are not infallibly attended therewith nor even of the
proper seasons all these grains are not increased thereby Or if they be the Hail or some other unlucky accident which is a necessary consequence of the same Laws of Nature hinders them from nourishing their Ear. Now because it is God who has established these Laws it might be said that he would that some certain seeds should be fruitful rather than others if we did not know otherwise that the general cause ought not to act by particular wills nor an infinitely wise Being by compounded ways God ought not to take other Measures than those which he has taken to govern the rains according to the seasons and places and desires of the Husbandmen We need to say no more of the order of Nature Let us explain a little more largely that of Grace and above all things let us observe that it is the same wisdom and the same will in a word the same God who has established both the one and the other of these Orders Additions Above all let us observe that it is the same wisdom and the same will in a word the same God who has established both the one and the other of these orders that is to say that of Grace and that of Nature This is of the greatest consequence For God cannot be false to himself or not follow his wisdom in the establishment of the order of Grace It is therefore necessary to the end that Gods conduct may bear the Character of his divine attributes that his ways be simple general uniform and constant Thus we may already see that it will not be impossible to justifie the wisdom and goodness of God tho Grace often falls without effect and tho there be more men who are damned than those who are saved God will appear wise tho Grace should not be always proportioned to our weakness He will be good and love men tho all be not saved because we cannot take it ill that God has greater love for his wisdom which is consubstantial to him than for his work which is only an imperfect Image of his substance THE SECOND PART Of the Necessity of the general Laws of Grace XXIV GOD loving himself by the necessity of his Being and resolving to procure an infinite glory to himself and honour perfectly worthy of him consulted his wisdom about the accomplishment of his desires This divine wisdom filled with love for him from whom he received a Being by an Eternal and ineffable generation seeing nothing in all possible creatures the intelligible Ideas of which he contains that might be worthy of the Majesty of his Father offered himself that he might establish to his Honour an Eternal Worship and as Sovereign Priest offer unto him a victim which by the dignity of his Person might be capable to please him He rerepresented unto him an infinite number of designs for the Temple which he intended to raise to his glory and at the same time all possible ways of performing them That design which at first sight seems Greatest and most Magnificent the justest and most easily understood is that which has most relation to the Person unto whom all the Glory and Holiness thereof must refer and the wisest manner of performing this design is to Establish certain very simple and fruitful Laws to bring it to its perfection This is that which Reason seems to answer to all those who consult it with attention and according to the principles which Faith teaches us Let us examine the circumstances of this Great design and afterwards endeavour to find out the ways of performing it Additions The proof of all this is because God does nothing without his Wisdom or without his Son which Scripture teaches us as well as Reason Joh. I. 3. Heb. I. 2. c. That Jesus Christ is the principle design of God see the first Article and the following That he is the Model of the Elect Rom. VIII 29. And above all that his ways do more than any other bear the Character of the divine Attributes that which I have already proved and which you may see further manifested in the third explication I shall not hereafter stop in the Explication of what is clear enough in its self and of little consequence XXV The Holy Scripture teaches us that it is Jesus Christ who makes all the Beauty the Holyness the Greatness and Magnificence of this Great Work For if it be compared therein to a City it is Jesus Christ who makes all the Splendor thereof The Sun and the Moon does not enlighten it Apocal. XXI 23. but the Brightness of God and the Light of the Lamb. If it be represented as a living body all whose parts have a marvelous relation to one another Col. I. 18. II. 19. Eph. I. 22 23. it is Jesus Christ who is the head thereof it is from him that Spirit and Life is communicated to all the Members that compose it If it be spoken of as a Temple it is Jesus Christ who is the Corner-stone Eph. II. 20 c. upon which all the building is founded it is he who is the Sovereign Priest It is he who is the Sacrifice thereof Heb. IV. V c. X c. None of the Faithful are Priests but because they partake of his Priesthood They are not Sacrifices but because they partake of his Holiness It is only in him and by him that they continually offer themselves to the Majesty of God To conclude it is only by the Relation which they have to him Phil. III. 9 10 11 c. that they contribute to the beauty of this august Temple which always has been and for ever will be the delightful Object of God himself XXVI Reason also teaches us these Truths For what relation is there betwixt creatures how perfect so ever they are supposed to be and the Action by which they are made Every Creature being limited how can it be worth the Action of a God whose price is infinite Can God receive any thing from a pure Creature which may incline him to act But let it be that God hath made man in hopes of being honoured by him Whence is it that the number of those who dishonour him is much the greater Doth not God hereby sufficiently declare that he very much neglects the glory pretended to be received by his work if separated from his well beloved Son that it is only in Jesus Christ that he resolved to produce it and that without him it should not subsist a moment XXVII A man resolves to do somthing because he hath need thereof or because he wou'd see what wou'd be the effect of his work or lastly because he learns by trying his strength what he is able to do But God has no need of his creatures He is not like men who receive new impression from the presence of objects His Ideas are eternal immutable he saw the world before it was form'd as he sees it at present In short being
conscious that his will is efficacious he perfectly knows without making any tryal of his strength whatsoever he is able to do Thus Scripture and Reason teach us that it is by Jesus Christ that the world subsists and that it is by the dignity of this divine person that it receives a beauty which renders it agreeable in the sight of God XXVIII It follows in my opinion from this principle that Jesus Christ is the Model or Pattern by which we are made that we are form'd according to his Image and likeness and that we have nothing beautiful but so far as we are his representations and figures that he is the end of the Law and the finishing of the Jewish Ceremonies and Sacrifices that till this succession of generations which preceded his birth had an end it was necessary they shou'd have had certain relations to him by which they were made more agreeable to God than any others That since Jesus Christ was to be the Head and Spouse of the Church to represent him all men were to proceed from one and their propagation to begin after that manner which Moses relates and St. Paul explains In a word it follows from this principle that the present world ought to be the figure of the future and that as far as the simplicity of the general Laws will permit it all they who have or shall dwell therein have been or shall be figures and resemblances of Gods only Son from Abel in whom he was sacrificed to the last Member that shall be of his Church XXIX We may judge of the perfection of a Work by the conformity there is betwixt this work and the Idea which the eternal wisdom gives us of it For there is nothing Beautiful nothing Amiable but by relation to the essential necessary and independent beauty Now this intelligible beauty being made sensible became also in this estate the rule of beauty and perfection Thus all Corporeal Creatures must still receive from him their Beauty and Splendor All minds must have the same thoughts and the same inclinations with the soul of Jesus if they would be agreeable to those who see nothing Beautiful nothing Amiable but that which is conformable to Wisdom and Truth Since then we are obliged to believe that the work of God has a perfect conformity with the eternal Wisdom we have all reason to believe that the same work has infinite relations to him who is the Head the principle the model and the end thereof But who can explain all these relations XXX That which makes the Beauty of a Temple is the order and variety of the Ornaments which are there to be seen Thus to render the living Temple of the Majesty of God worthy of him who is to inhabit it proportion'd to the infinite wisdom love of its Author all Beauties ought to be found therein But it is not with the Glory and Magnificence of this Spiritual Temple as it is with the gross and sensible Ornaments of Material Temples That which makes the Beauty of the Spiritual Edifice of the Church is the infinite diversity of the Graces which he who is the Head thereof communnicates to all the parts that compose it it is the order and the admirable relations they have by him to one another it is the divers degrees of Glory which shine on all sides XXXI It follows from this principle that to establish this variety of rewards which compose the beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem it is necessary that men upon Earth shou'd be subject not only to afflictions which purisie them but also to the motions of Concupiscence which gives them opportunity of gaining so many Victories by engaging them in so great a number of different Combats XXXII The Blessed in Heaven will doubtless have an Holiness and variety of gifts which will perfectly answer the diversity of their good works These continual sacrifices by which the Old Man is destroyed and annihelated will Adorn and Beautifie the Spiritual substance of the New Man Luke XXIV 26. And if it became Jesus Christ himself to suffer all sorts of afflictions before he entred into his glory the sin of the first Man which brought the evils into the World which accompany Life and Death which follows it was necessary that men having been tryed upon Earth might justly be rewarded with that Glory the variety and order of which will make the beauty of the future World Additions The sin of the first Man was not necessary in it self God might without this sin have found a Thousand means to make the future Church as Beautiful as it shall be but since God acts always as wisely as is possible and according to the character of the divine attributes since he invincibly loves his Wisdom There cou'd be no such means for Men to Merit the Glory which one day they shall possess as that which suffers them to be ingulf'd in sin that mercy might be shewn to them all in Jesus Christ For the Glory which the Elect shall obtain by the Grace of Jesus Christ in resisting their Concupiscence will be greater and also more worthy of God than any other See the 34 and 35. Articles St. Aug. de cor grat C. 10. XXXIII If I had a clear Idea of the Blessed Spirits which have no body perhaps I might clearly answer a difficulty which arises in respect of them For it may be objected either that there is little variety in the merits and recompences of Angels or else that it was adviseable that God should unite Spirits to bodys on which they do at present so much depend I confess that I do not see any great diversity of rewards which ought to answer the merits of substances purely intelligible especially if they have merited their reward by one single act of Love They not being united to a body which might occasion God to give them according to certain most simple and general Laws a succession of different sentiments or thoughts I can see no diversity in their combats nor in their victories But perhaps there may be an order established which to me is unknown And upon this account I ought not to speak of it It is enough for me to have setled a principle whence we may conclude that it became God to create Bodys and to unite Spirits unto them that by the most simple Laws of the Union of these two substances he might in a general constant and uniform way give us that great variety of sentiments and motions which is the principle of our different Merits and Rewards XXXIV To conclude God ought to have all the Glory of the Beauty and Perfection of the future World This Work which infinitely surpasses all others must be a work of pure mercy The Creatures ought not to boast of having any other part therein but that which the grace of Jesus Christ hath given them In a word Rom. XI 32. Gal. III. 22. it was adviseable that God shou'd
have neither strength nor even desire to cultivate it LII But if God should act in the order of Grace by particular wills if he should efficaciously cause in all men their good motions and all their good works with a particular design I do not see how it could be maintained that he acts by the most simple Laws When I consider all the turnings by which men come whither God leads them for I doubt not at all but that God often gives to a man more than an Hundred good thoughts in one day Neither can I any more comprehend how his Wisdom and Goodness can be made to agree with all those inefficacious graces which the Malice of men resists For God being good and wise is it not evident that he must proportion his assistance to our needs if he granted them with a particular design of encouraging us Additions It appears by these Articles that my principle does still perfectly well agree with the Counsels of Jesus Christ and that as the Husbandmen ought on their part to Cultivate Plow and Sow their Lands so men on theirs should endeavour to remove the impediments of the efficacy of Grace But that as the labours of men are not the cause of rain so Grace likewise is not given to natural merits since its distribution depends upon certain general Laws like as the ordinary rain is the natural consequence of the general Laws of the communication of motions LIII God causes the weeds to grow with the Corn till the day of Harvest he makes it to rain on the just and on the unjust because grace falling on men by general Laws is often given to such as make no use thereof whereas if others had received it they wou'd have been converted by it If Jesus Christ had preached to the Tyrians and Sydonians as well as to the Inhabitants of Bethsaida Corazin they wou'd have Repented in Sackcloath and Ashes If the rain which falls upon the Sands was shed upon well-managed Land it would have rendred it fruitful But whatsoever is regulated by general Laws does not agree with particular designs That these Laws be wisely established it is sufficient that being extreamly simple they bring to perfection the great work for which God appointed them LIV. But tho I do not think that God has infinite particular designs in reference to each of the Elect so that he every day gives a great number of good thoughts and good motions by particular wills Yet nevertheless I deny not but they are all predestinated by the good will of God towards them for which they ought to be eternally thankful See how I explain these things LV. God discovers in the infinite treasures of his wisdom an infinite number of possible works and at the same time the most perfect way of producing each of them Amongst others he considers his Church J. C. who is the Head thereof and all persons who in consequence of certain general laws must compose it In short having in mind Jesus Christ and all his members he established his laws for his own glory This being so is it not evident that J. C. who is the principle of all that glory that comes to God from his work is the first of the predestinated That all the Elect also are truly and freely beloved and predestinated in J. C. because they may honour God in him that lastly they are all infinitely obliged to God who without considering their merit hath established the general Laws of Grace which must sanctify the Elect and bring them to that glory which they shall eternally possess Additions Man is a strange creature he is as full of pride as he is worthy of contempt He is not satisfied with God if God does not go out of his way to please him He looks upon himself as the Centre of the Vniverse he refers all things to his own particular even God himself and his Eternal Attributes God is not good but as he is good to him and even the incarnation of J. C. is a work useless and ill managed if it do not deliver him from his miseries But on Gods side what excess of bounty It seems as if God to render himself Amiable to those who are most in love with themselves favours this prejudice by his way of speaking unto men God so loved the World says J. C. himself that he gave his only begotten Son to the end that all that believe in him shou'd have eternal life What! is J. C. in the eternal designs of God made Man only for mens salvation No doubtless On the contrary men were made for Jesus Christ They are the materials wherewith he is to build the Eternal Temple and this Temple is only for God This is the design of the uncreated Wisdom J. C. is the Head of the Church now the Members are for the Head and not the Head for the Members J. C. is the first in all things In omnibus primatum tenens But he himself is for God Omnia vestra sunt vos autem Christi Christus autem Dei Let us be satisfied that God who has no need of us was pleased to create us in Jesus Christ for his own glory He might have left us in our nothing yet he has loved us in J. C. before the creation of the world But let us not flatter our selves it is because we have J. C. as our Head that we can render unto him divine Honours For God cannot act but for his own glory Omnia propter semetipsum operatus est Dominus But he cannot find it except in himself Because a prophane World a Temple a Worship a Priesthood which is not consecrated by the eternal Spirit has no proportion with the Holiness of God God after sin might have reduced us to nothing and yet on the contrary he hath made us his adopted Sons in J. C. He will give us a part in the inheritance of his well beloved Son How thankful should we be for such an extream kindness It is true that they who shall be thus happy are not chosen by an absolute and rash will it is because the simplicity of the general Laws of the order of Grace is favourable unto them and that herein God acts after such a manner as may be most worthy of him But what shall not God be amiable to men if he does not forsake his wisdom to love them with a blind love Should Nothing exalt its self and not be content with its Creator if he does not without reason prefer it before the rest of his creatures shall he not rather put himself in the condition of so many sinners nations abandon'd to error whom God leaves therein without help he who has sworn by his Prophets that hedesires their Conversion and Sanctification God desires the Salvation of a sinner and yet he suffers him to dye in his sin God searches the hearts and turns them as he pleases and without injuring their liberty and yet all the
passages of Scripture which agree with this Idea we correct the sence of some other places which ascribe unto God members or passions like unto ours So when we wou'd speak exactly of the manner of Gods acting in the order of Nature or grace we ought to explain the passages which make him act as a man or a particular cause by that Idea which we have of his wisdom and his goodness and by other places of Scripture which are agreable to this Idea For in conclusion if the Idea which we have of God permits nay obliges to say that he does not cause every drop of rain to fall by particular wills tho this sentiment is authorized by the natural sence of some places of Scripture there is the like necessity to think that notwithstanding certain authorities of the same Scripture God does not give to some sinners by particular wills all those good motions which are of no effect to them and yet to several others wou'd be effectual because otherwise it seems impossible to me to make the Holy Scripture agree either with reason or with its self as I think I have proved LIX If I thought that what I have already said was not sufficient to convince considering persons that God acts not by particular wills as particular causes or limited understandings do I should proceed to shew that there are few truths whereof more proofs may be given supposing it granted that God governs the World and that the Nature of HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS is but a Chimaera For in truth nothing is done in the World which doth not prove this sentiment Miracles only excepted which nevertheless wou'd not be Miracles different from the effects which are called natural if it was true that God ordinarily acts by particular wills since Miracles are not such but because they happen not according to general Laws Thus do Miracles suppose these Laws and prove the sentiment which I have laid down but as for ordinary effects they clearly and directly demonstrate general Laws or Wills For example if a stone be let fall upon the head of one that passes by the stone will always fall with equal swiftness without distinguishing either the piety or the quality the good or evil dispositions of the passenger If any other effect be examined we shall see the same constancy in the action of the cause which produces it But no effect proves that God acts by particular wills tho men often imagine that God works Miracles every moment for their sakes Since the way by which they wou'd have God to act is agreable to ours since it flatters self-love which refers all things to its self since it comports well with the ignorance we are in of the combination of occasional causes which produce extraordinary effects it naturally enters into the mind when we do not sufficiently study Nature and consult with attention enough the abstracted Idea of an infinite Wisdom of an Universal Cause of a Being infinitely perfect Additions Let me be permitted to desire of the Reader that he do meditate some time upon this first Discourse before he reads that which follows The Second Discourse Of the Laws of Grace in particular and of the Occasional Causes which Govern and Determin their Efficacy First Part. Of the Grace of Jesus Christ Additions Before this 2d Dis read 3d. C. of 2d P. of Search after Truth and the Expli of the same C. where the Author opposes the Efficacy of pretended second causes I Have proved in the First Discourse the necessity of Occasional Causes in the Order of Grace as well as in that of Nature and I don't think that which I have written can be distinctly understood but it must be granted But now I am about to prove by those arguments which Faith supplies that Jesus Christ is this cause Since this is of the greatest consequence clearly to understand the principles of Religion and to make us draw near with confidence to the true Propitiatory or the occasional cause which never fails to determine the efficacy of the general Law of Grace I think I may require the Reader to Meditate upon this Second Discourse with all diligence and without prejudice I. Since there is none but God who acts immediately and by himself upon Spirits who produces in them all the different Modifications whereof they are capable it is he alone who enlightens our minds and inspires us with certain sentiments which determine our divers wills Thus there is none but God who can as the * By the true cause I understand the Cause which Acts by its own strength true cause produce grace in our Souls For the principle of all the regular motions of our love is necessarily either knowledge which teaches us or a sentiment which convinces us that God is our happiness since we never begin to love any object if we do not either clearly see by the light of Reason or confusedly feel by the taste of pleasure that the object is good I mean capable of rendring us more happy than we are II. But seeing all men are engaged in Original sin and all even by their nature infinitely below God it is only J. Christ who by the dignity of his Person and the holiness of his Sacrifice could have access to his Father reconcile us to him and merit his favours for us Thus it is J. C. only who cou'd be the Meritorous cause of Grace These truths are agreed on But we do not seek after the cause which Produces Grace by its proper efficacy nor that which merits it by his sacrifice and good works we seek after that which regulates and determines the efficacy of the general cause that which may be called the second particular and occasional III. For that the general cause may act by general Laws or Wills and that his action may be regular constant and uniform it is absolutely necessary that there be an occasional cause which determines the efficacy of these Laws and serves to establish them If the percussion of bodies or some such thing did not determine the EFFICACY of general LAWS of the Communication of motions it would be necessary that God should move bodies by particular wills The Laws of the union of the Soul and Body are made efficacious only by the changes which happen in each of these substances For if God should make the Soul feel a pungent pain tho the body was not pricked or if the brain shou'd not be moved as if the body was pricked he wou'd not act by the general Laws of the union between Soul and body but by a particular will If it shou'd rain upon the Earth any other ways but by the necessary consequence of the general Laws of the communication of motions the rain and the fall of each drop that composes it would be the effect of a particular will Insomuch that if order did not require that it should rain this will would be altogether unworthy of God It is therefore
by his Body as the occasional or natural cause receiving a great number of divers sentiments he might sacrifice himself as an Holocaust in Honour of the true good by suffering afflictions and the privation of sensible Pleasures XXXIV That I may not leave in some Persons an imperfect Idea of the Grace of J. C. I think I ought further to say that it doth not consist in delectation alone for all Grace of sentiment is the Grace of J. C. Now of this sort of Grace there are several kinds and of each kind infinite degrees God sometimes gives disgust and bitterness to the objects of our passions he weakens their sensible perswasives or causes us to have an horror of them and this kind of grace of sentiment has the same effect as delectation It re-establishes and fortifies our Liberty it puts us almost in Equilibrio so that by this means we are in a condition of following our Knowledge in the motion of our love For to put a Ballance in a perfect Equilibrio or to change the inclination it is not necessary to increase the Weights which are too weak it is sufficient to take something from those which weigh too much Thus there are Graces of Sentiment of several kinds and each kind is capable of infinite degrees for there are Pleasures Horrors and Disgusts greater and lesser to infinity That which I have hitherto said of delectation may be easily applyed to other kinds of Graces of Sentiment I only took pleasure or delectation as a particular example that I might explain my self more clearly and without equivocation If there be any other principle of our determinations to good besides the Grace of Sentiment and that of Knowledge I confess to me they are altogether unknown and it is upon this account that I have explained the effects which are necessary to the conversion of the heart only by these two Principles lest I should have been accused of having spoken in general terms and such as only excite confused Ideas which I have avoided with all possible care But tho I have explained my self only in such terms as all Men understand since there is no person who knows not that Knowledge and Sentiment of good are the principles of our determinations nevertheless I don't pretend to oppose those who not making use of these clear Ideas say in general that God works in the souls of Men their Conversion by a particular action different perhaps from all that I have said here * First Explicat of the Search after Truth and elsewhere that God doth in us Since I experience nothing in my self but Motion towards good in general and Knowledge or Sentiment which determines this Motion I ought to suppose nothing else if by this alone I can give a reason of all that which the Scripture and the Councils have defined concerning the subjects of which I treat In a word I am sure that Knowledge and Sentiment are the Principles of our determinations but I declare that I know not whether there may be something else of which I have no knowledge XXXV Beside Grace efficacious in it self and the Grace the effect of which depends intirely upon the good dispositions of the Mind besides the Grace of Sentiment and the Grace of Knowledge the Just also have Habitual Grace which makes them agreeable to God and puts them in a condition of doing actions Meritorious of Salvation This Grace is Charity the Love of God the Love of Order Love which is not properly Charity if it be not stronger and greater than all other Loves As it is Pleasure which ordinarily produces the love of the object which cause it or seems to cause it so it is the delectation of Grace which produces the love of God It is the enjoyment of sensible pleasures which encreases Concupiscence It is also the Grace of Sentiment which augments Charity Concupiscence diminishes by the privation of sensible Pleasures and then Charity is easily preserved and encreased Charity also diminishes by the privation of the actual Grace of J. C. and Concupiscence is easily encreased and fortified For these two loves of Charity and Concupiscence continually engage one another and strengthen themselves by the weakness of their Enemy XXXVI All that proceeds from Charity is agreeable to God but Charity does not always act in the just themselves To the end it may act it ought at least to be enlightned for Knowledge is necessary to determine the motion of Love Thus the Grace necessary for every good work relating to Salvation is the Grace of Sentiment in those who begin their Conversion it is the Grace of Knowledge it is some motion of Faith and Hope in those who are animated by Charity For the Just may do good works without the Grace of delectation yet they have always need of some actual succours to determine the motion of their Charity But tho Charity without Delectation is sufficient to vanquish many temptations nevertheless the Grace of Sentiment is necessary in many occasions For Men cannot without the continual assistance of the second Adam resist the continual action of the first They cannot persevere in righteousness if they be not often assisted by the particular Grace of J. C. which produces augments and sustains Charity against the continual efforts of Concupiscence XXXVII The effects of Pleasure and all the sentiments of the Soul depend a thousand ways upon the actual dispositions of the Mind The same weight has not always the same effects Its action depends upon the machine by which it is applyed with respect to the contrary weights If a ballance be unequally hung the force of the weights being unequally apply'd the weaker may turn the stronger It is the same of the weights of pleasure they act one upon another and determine the motion of the Soul as they are differently applyed Pleasure must have more effect in one who has already a love to the Object which causes the pleasure than in him who has an aversion to it or who loves the opposite goods Pleasure forcibly determines him who clearly sees or lively imagines the advantages of the good which seems to produce it and it acts weakly upon the mind of him who knows this good only confusedly or contemns it In conclusion pleasure acts with all its force in him who blindly follows that which flatters Concupiscence and may perhaps have no effect in him who has attain'd to some habit of suspending the Judgment of his love XXXVIII Now the different degrees of Knowledge Charity Concupiscence and the degrees of Liberty being every moment combin'd after infinite ways with the different degrees of actual pleasures and these pleasures not having their effect but according to the relation which they have to the dispositions of the mind and heart It is plain that no finite mind can judge with any assurance what effect any particular Grace will produce in us For besides the Combination of all that which concurs to make it efficacious
quod dictum est quia elegit nos ante mundi constitutionem non video quomodo sit dictum nisi praescientiâ Aug. l. 1. ad Simp. quaest 2. I confess it Yet all they who know how to enter into themselves and consult universal Reason which enlightens all attentive minds clearly see that God acts not by Caprice that his designs don't prevent his knowledge that the Predestination and choice of the Elect supposes the prescience of all good works which they ought to do by the assistance of Grace that it is the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God which causes one to be chosen and another rejected This is that which St. Paul says this is that which the Fathers say and this is also that which I Assert I don't say that one is chosen and another rejected simply and meerly because God wills it for I am afraid of making God like unto Man who guides himself by Humour and hath no regard to his own work It is not enough to shew that God is powerful and that he doth what he will with his Creatures We ought if possible to justifie his wisdom and his goodness We ought to represent him as amiable and adorable as much at least as we make him terrible You cry out with St. Paul O the Height but let us go on and add of the riches of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God for it is the depth of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God which is the principle of the Predestination of Saints it is not a blind rash and imperious will such as is often observed in the great ones of the Earth But Men will make God such an one as they would be themselves because they prefer Power to Wisdom God shall always be just and wise enough for them provided he be Powerful and Sovereign Men love Independance it is a sort of Servitude to them to submit to Reason to them it is a kind of impotence not to be able to do that which she forbids They fear therefore to make God Impotent instead of making him Wise They place God above all Reason according to them he observes none he absolutely does all that which he pleases and for this reason meerly and solely because any thing pleases him it is just wise and good to be done Principles which certainly overturn the very Foundation of Religion as I have * In the Explicat of the nature of Ideas To. 3. of the Search elsewhere explained Will Men never reflect that the Word of God is Sovereign and Universal Reason that this Reason is Co-eternal and Substantial with God that he necessarily invincibly inviolably loves it that tho he be obliged to follow it he nevertheless continues independent And that thus all that God wills is Just Wise Regular because God cannot act but according to his knowledge because he cannot love but according to Order because he cannot despise his Wisdom and falsifie himself But what must it be permitted to reason upon Gods way of proceeding Yes doubtless provided we reason upon clear Ideas and always have regard for the Truths which Faith teaches us 'T is this infinitely wise Conduct which we cannot too much examine and too much admire nothing is more comforting and instructing both together but we lose our time when we examine Mens ways of proceeding for they almost always follow the motions of their passions He who loves Order cannot make it his pass-time to see them do so he cannot be instructed in his duty by hearing their discourses Let it suffice that the Historians make Heroes of their Benefactors great Men of their Friends let all their characters flatter but Christians ought to propose to themselves other Models Let them be perfect as their Heavenly Father is perfect let them imitate his Conduct but I must Answer the principal Objection The Fathers 't is said and St. Augustine chiefly permit us not to seek after the reason of the choice which God makes of the Elect. I maintain that this is not true and that the only thing which St. Augustine requires is that Gods choice should not be founded upon natural Merits so far he is from desiring that we should not have recourse to the Wisdom and Knowledge of God to give an account of his choice But to make this well understood we must know that the enemies of Grace and free Predestination always used this argument which enters naturally into the mind and which in my opinion cannot e answered by reason but by the principles which I have laid down Thus they reason There is no choice to be made where is no inequality or difference Now God in the distribution of his Graces chuses some rather than others Therefore there are some Persons whom God judges more worthy of Grace and more fit to receive it than others God wills that all Men should be saved he wills that all should come to the knowledge of the Faith Now all are not saved even the Gospel has not been preached to all Therefore there is some inequality or some difference among Men for if there was a perfect equality among them since God would enlighten them all all would at least have the gift of Faith Now this difference can only come from the good or ill use of Liberty Therefore 't is Man who makes himself in this sense to differ from another * Vid. Prosp adversus Col. c. 6. and in some sort merits Grace For surely t is just or at least more reasonable that God should give his Grace to those who are better disposed to receive it and more likely to make a good use of it than others to those who actually use their Liberty better who make some essays towards acquiring Virtue and who have more love for Order the Truth and Justice than to those who make no use of their Liberty and blindly follow the motions of their passions Therefore Grace does not prevent our wills for God acts always with the most wisdom and reason that can be Before he assists us he expects that we should make that use of our Liberty which we ought and may 'T is upon this account that he made us free our Salvation is in our own hands * See St. Augustine lib. 1. ad Bonif. c. 19. lib. 2. c. 8. elswhere the necessity of a preventing Grace ruins free will and renders the exhortations and councils of J. C. useless 'T is Grace must make us act but 't is in our power to will to pray and to begin These Reasonings are so plausible and so easily enter into the mind that Men are naturally Pelagians A Man speaks the Language of the Church when he is upon his guard when he actually feels his own weakness and remembers that Grace is not given according to his merits But when nature speaks he scarce ever fails to speak those things which favour and exalt it The Greek Fathers who lived before Pelagius's
as 't is written in the book of wisdom of a Saint dying in his Infancy Let every one seek after the best reasons of this and if he shall find any other besides this which I have given which renders a reason that is probable and according to the Analogy of Faith let him embrace it and if it shall be imparted to me I shall embrace it with him The Author of the calling of the Gentiles Lib. 1. c. 13. seq observes the same way of proceeding that St. Augustine doth He every where says that the Judgments of God are unsearchable because he opposes the same errors and that Faith doth not suffer us to give a reason of Gods choice of Men from the difference of their natural Merits * Lib. 2. c. 23. If for example he asks himself whence it is that all Children are not Baptized He is not afraid to say that if this came from any ill use of the general Grace given to the Parents that * C. 24. if all received Baptism the Parents were too negligent not fearing lest their Children should be surprized with Death He says that such answers would give some ground to believe that the grace of Baptism was due to the innocence of age and to deny original sin When the question is about excluding natural merits he cries out that the Judgments of God are unsearchable but yet he nevertheless doth not fail to give some general Reasons thereof upon other occasions * Lib. 2. c. 30. His principle is that a Reason of all the Designs and Works of God cannot be given Tertia Definitio temperanter sobrie protestatur non omnem voluntatis Dei comprehendi posse rationem multas divinorum operum causas ab humana intelligentia esse subductas An undeniable principle But neither he nor St. Augustine nor I believe any of the Fathers ever maintain'd that the Judgments of God were so unsearchable as that it should be a crime to seek and give some general Reasons of them They never forbad Men to represent God Amiable and Adorable by justifying his Conduct by that Idea which we have of a Being infinitely Perfect and by the Truths Faith teach us That which I have endeavoured in The Treatise of Nature and Grace The Last Explication The frequent Miracles of the Old Law do by no means shew That God often acted by particular Wills I Do not well understand how Persons who grant that God does all and that therefore he communicates not his power to Creatures but by making them the occasional causes of producing certain effects can Imagine that the Conduct which he observed in respect of the Jews should be contrary to that which I think I have demonstrated several ways viz. That God acts not by particular wills but when the necessity of Order requires him They are always saying as a thing extraordinary that the Old Testament is full of Miracles that God had promised to the Jews Plenty and Prosperity proportionably to their sidelity and obedience and that it was not possible that nature and morality should be so exactly combin'd together that the Holy-Land should abound in fruits proportionably as its Inhabitants did in virtue and good works For my part I willingly grant all this But I do not yet see how this opposes my sentiments if it be not supposed that I acknowledge no other general Laws by which God executes his designs but those of the communication of motions How troublesome is it for a Man not to be able to explain his thoughts but by words which popular use has introduced and which every one interprets according to his prejucices and temper and above all to have for ones judges such Persons who tho they are nimble and quick yet often want equity and penetration of mind Certainly they do not do me justice who say that I think Manna fell every day of the Week among the Israelites except Saturday by a necessary consequence of the Laws of the communication of motions He who is of this opinion must needs be very foolish and impious I am perswaded that the greatest part of the miraculous effects of the Ancient Law was done in consequence of some general Laws since the general cause ought not to execute his purpose by particular wills and for many more Reasons which I might add to those already mentioned But I am far from believing that these extraordinary effects were only the consequences of the natural Laws of the communication of motions I grant that they may be looked upon as Miracles and that there are more such in the World than we imagine But I must explain my self after what manner that I may not be thought to have changed J. C. as Man received all Power in Heaven and in Earth because God executes all the desires of his holy Soul by the general Law of Grace by which he would save all Men in his Son The Father has given to the Son after this manner all the Nations of the World as Materials which he is to employ in the Building of his Church as I have said elsewhere Supposing then that J. C. for the executing of his designs desires a certain degree of Grace for one of his Members or rather that he desired that the fire which sacrificed St. Lawrance should lose its heat it is certain this would be what we call a Miracle nevertheless God would not work this Miracle by a particular will but in consequence of the general Law the efficacy of which is determined by the actual desires of the Soul of J. C. According to the general Laws of the communications of motions heavy bodys fall towards the Earth my arm is heavy yet nevertheless I lift it up to Heaven whensoever I desire it Certainly God who determines the motion of the Animal spirits for the lifting up my arm according to my desires does not then act but in consequence of the general Law of the union of the Soul and Body by which Law I have power to move my arm nevertheless this motion wou'd be accounted miraculous if we did not own some other natural Laws than those of the communication of motions Now I think I am able to demonstrate by the Authority of the Holy Scripture that the Angels have received from God Power over the present World and that thus God executes their desires and by them his own designs according to certain general Laws so that all which appears miraculous in the Old Testament does no wise prove that God may often act by particular wills St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews intending to exalt J. C. above Angels says that God had not subjected the World to come to them as he had to J. C. He believed then as a thing whereof those to whom he wrote had no doubt that God had subjected the present World to Angels If the Angels had had power over nothing it would have been much more easy for
these Miracles but by general wills for if they had been performed by particular wills the Angels could not have wrought them by a power which God gave them of conducting his people Thus St. Michael and his Angels were to the Jews that which J.C. is to the Christians The Angels gave the old Law J.C. is the Angel of the new Law as the Prophet Malachy calls him Chap. III. 1. The new Convenant promises true goods therefore the Mediator of this Covenant must be the occasional or distributive cause of that Grace which gives a right to the possession of these goods But the Old Covenant promised only Temporal goods because the Angel the Minister of the Law could only bestow these goods All that relates to Eternity both goods and evils ought to be reserved to J.C. The Angels who are pure Spirits ought according to Order to have power over Bodies inferiour substances and by them upon the minds of Men For since sin the Soul depends upon the Body they may prepare for Grace as in St. John and remove the occasions of falling Lastly the Angel or rather the Arch-Angel St. Michael represented J.C. as the Old Law represents the New the Synagogue the Church Temporal goods Eternal Thus it appears that to prove the New Covenant more excellent than the Old St. Paul was obliged to prove as he has done in the beginning of the Epistle to the Hebrews that J.C. who is the Minister thereof is infinitely exalted above the Angels It must therefore be granted from the arguments which I have drawn from the Idea of a Being infinitely Perfect from a thousand a thousand experiences that God executes his designs by general Laws But it is not easie to demonstrate that God acts upon such and such occasions by particular wills tho the H. Scripture which accommodates its self to our weakness represents God sometimes as a Man and often makes him act like Men. For tho all that which I have said of Angels should be absolutely false I might nevertheless suppose and should even have all reason to believe that God wrought the Miracles of the Old Law by certain general Laws tho I had no knowledge of them for we ought not to reject a truth clearly known because of some objections which may be drawn from our ignorance of many things Thus God forms and preserves the purely material World by the Laws of the communication of motions and makes the Bodies themselves the occasional causes which determine these Laws for 't is the striking of bodies upon one another which determine their efficacy A Body is never moved but when another strikes upon it and a Body is always moved when it is struck upon God preserves the life of Men and likewise Civil Society by the general Laws of the Union of Soul and Body and makes something in these two substances the occasional causes which determine the efficacy of these Laws Mine Arm is moved according to my desires my Soul suffers pain when a Thorn pricks me God builds up his great Work by the general Laws of Grace according to which he would save all Men in his Son and because all Men are born sinners God draws the occasional causes which determine the efficacy of his general Laws only from J.C. who is the Head which influences his Members the Mediator betwixt God and Men the Sovereign Priest of good things the true Solomon who has received Wisdom without measure to make a Work whereof the Jewish Temple was but the figure how Magnificent soever it was To Conclude God governed the Jews by general Laws the efficacy of which was determined by the Action of St. Michael and his Angels In truth intelligent Beings are necessary to conduct Men to reward and punish them that by the Laws of the communication of motions the Hail knocks down the Fruit which the Rain had made to grow this is not properly a disorder Bodies are not capable of good or evil of happiness or misery But to adjust Rewards and Merits one with another intelligent Beings are necessary In a word God has established all Powers second Causes visible and invisible Hierarchies immediately by himself or by the mediation of other powers that he may execute his designs by general Laws whose efficacy is determined by the action of these same Powers For he acts not like the Kings of the Earth who give out their Orders and do nothing else God in general doth all that which second causes do Matter has not in it self any moving virtue upon which depends its efficacy and there is no necessary connexion betwixt the wills of spirits and the effects which they produce God doth all but he acts by Creatures because he was pleased to communicate his power to them that he might accomplish his work by ways most worthy of himself Thus has God done all things with Wisdom I say with Wisdom for an infinite Wisdom is requisite to understand all the consequences of general Laws to rank and combine them one with another after the exactest manner and foresee that from thence would proceed a work worthy of himself 'T is an evidence of limited understandings to be able to do nothing but by compounded ways But a God who knows all things ought not to disturb the simplicity of his ways an immutable Being must always be uniform in his conduct a General Cause ought to act by particular wills God's Conduct must carry in it the Character of his Attributes if the immutable and necessary order of Justice do not oblige him to change For Order is an inviolable Law in respect of God himself He invincibly loves it and will always prefer it to the Arbitrary Laws by which he executes his Designs THE END THE Author's Idea of Providence SEcond causes of what nature soever have no proper efficacy of their own But All their power is communicated unto them by God in consequence of those general Laws which he has establish't Now All Philosophers and Divines agree that God governs the World and takes care of all things by second causes Therefore The Providence of God is Executed by general Laws Nevertheless his Providence is not blind and subject to chance For by his infinite Wisdom he knows the consequences of all possible general Laws And As Searcher of Hearts He foresees all the future determinations of free causes Therefore He proportions the means with the end free Causes as well as necessary with the effects which he intends they shall produce Therefore He combines Nature with Morality and with Divinity after the wisest manner that can be So that the effects of the combination and connection of causes may be most worthy of his Wisdom Goodness and other Attributes for God wills in particular all the good effects which he produces by general ways Nevertheless the immutable Order of Justice which God owes to himself and his own attributes requires or permits that he should sometimes act by particular wills But
ordinarily it is then only and in those circumstances when one only Miracle i. e. an effect which cannot be the consequence of natural Laws doth happily adjust a great many events and the most that can be For his prescience being infinite he doth not work two Miracles when one will suffice So that in the Divine Providence there is nothing that is not Divine or which doth not bear the character of the Divine Attributes for God acts according to what he is He is wise his foreknowledge is infinite Now to establish general Laws and to foresee that from thence a work will arise worthy of these Laws is a mark of such a Wisdom as hath no bounds and to act by particular wills is to act as Men who can foresee nothing Therefore God acts by general Laws God is the Searcher of Hearts Now to make use of free Causes for the execution of his designs without determining these Causes after an invincible manner is to be the Searcher of Hearts and it is not necessary to have this quality for the execution of his designs if he did determine causes after an invincible manner Therefore God ordinarily leaves J.C. Angels and Men to act according to their natures He doth not communicate to them his power that he may destroy their liberty He gives them part in the glory of his work and thereby augments his own For leaving them to act according to their natures and nevertheless executing by them designs worthy of himself he makes it admirably appear that he is Searcher of Hearts Nevertheless the limitation of Angels the malice of Devils and both these qualities in good and evil Men and many other reasons may oblige God to act sometimes by particular wills For a limited spirit tho perfectly united to Order cannot foresee the connection of free causes which is necessary to bring the work of God to its perfection So that where Order permits God must determine Angels by particular wills and make even the sins of Men and the malice of Devils to enter into the order of his Providence And proportionably the same must be said of Jesus Christ considered as Man and Head of the Church and as Architect of the Eternal Temple God is immutable now immutability in his Conduct imports immutability in his nature to change Conduct every moment is a mark of inconstancy So that God must follow general Laws with respect to this attribute if none of his other attributes do otherwise require that he cease to observe it For God acts not but for himself but for that love which he bears unto himself but to Honour his attributes both by the Divinity of his ways and the Perfection of his work In a word the immutable Order of Justice which he owes to himself and his own perfections is a Law with which he never can dispence Thus experience teaches us that God governs the purely Corporeal World by the general Laws of the communications of motions By these it is that he makes the admirable Vicissitude of Night and Day Summer and Winter Rain and Fair weather By them also it is that he covers the Earth with Fruits and Flowers that he gives to Animals and Plants their growth and nourishment Experience also teaches us that God governs Men by the general Laws of Union of Soul and Body For by these Laws he doth not only unite the Soul to the Body for the conservation of Life but thereby he also diffuses it as I may say over all his works and so makes it admire the beauties thereof It is by these that he forms Societies and makes as I may say but one body of all People It is by them that he teaches Men the truths of Religion and Morality And Lastly by them it is that he makes Christians absolves Penitents Sanctifies the Elect and makes them merit all those degrees of glory which makes up the beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem When I say that it is by them he doth all this it is easily perceived that I mean they are subservient thereunto in the Order of Divine Providence For it is cheifly by the general Laws which give power to J.C. and the Angels that GOD doth build his Church Further Faith teaches us that it is by general Laws that God punishes and rewards men since Angels who are the distributers of Temporal goods have no efficacy of their own It is by them that God provides for the necessities of his Elect and resists the pernicious use which Wicked Men and Devils make of that Power which they have to tempt and afflict us in consequence also of certain general Laws But all Powers are submitted to that which J.C. has in consequence of the general Laws of the Order of Grace for at present the Angels themselves who command others for there is a certain subordination among them according to the most probable and received opinion are submitted to J.C. their Head and Lord. It is under him that they labour in the building of his Temple They do not now as under the Law proportion Rewards to Merits For the treasures of Grace are opened by the entrance of J.C. into the Sanctuary For it is true that by afflictions the Saints are purified So that it is better that J.C. give unto Men true goods than that Angels should deliver them from their miseries for if good Men were not afflicted in this World J.C. could not give them the form they must necessarily have to be placed in his building Lastly further yet it is by general Laws that God exercises his Providence over his Church that is to say by the Laws which make the Order of Grace Laws which give unto J.C. as Man Sovereign power in Heaven and in Earth It is by J. C that God hath established the different orders which do externally govern his Church 'T is by him that he spreads abroad inward Grace in Souls It is by him that he sanctifies his chosen people that he will govern them in Heaven and recompence them according to their deserts It is by him that he will judge the Devils and the Damned and condemn them to that fire whose eternal efficacy shall only be the effect of general Laws which shall be observed for ever more By him I say enlightned to this end by eternal wisdom and also subsisting in this wisdom by him being advertised by a revelation whose Laws are unknown of all that which Order requires that he should know and of all that he desires to know of what passes in the World to bring his work to its perfection by him lastly acting by practical desires by prayers by endeavours or actions of an infinite merit but of a limited virtue and proportionable to a finite and a stinted work but by him perfectly free absolutely Master of his desires and actions submitted only to immurable Order the inviolable rule of his will as well as of his Fathers and if I be not deceived very rarely determined after
or any other Father had considered my opinion and afterwards refuted it then he would truely have been against me and his authority might have been urged against my sentiment But where can it be found that St. Augustine and St. Thomas have opposed that which I lay down probably neither the one nor the other ever thought of it And therefore neither the one nor the other could approve or disapprove it They answered the objections of HERETICKS and LIBERTINES after another manner than I do I grant it But are we forbidden to prove Religion by all ways possible St. Augustine answered the Manichees according to the principles which these Hereticks received and I answer the Hereticks of these times according to those principles which they receive Ought we not to speak unto Men according to their Ideas The Treatise of Nature and Grace I have often said was not made for all Men I pretend only to justifie the Wisdom and Goodness of God in the Construction of his Work to the minds of some certain Philosophers notwithstanding all the Disorders which may be observed therein and the Damnation of the greatest number of Men. Neither St. Augustine nor St. Thomas have written any thing either for or against the Cartesians of whom they had no knowledge How then should we find any thing in their works either condemning or approving the Reasons which I have drawn from the principles of these Philosophers to convince them that God sincerely wills the Salvation of all Men and that if he doth not save all it is because he loves his Wisdom more than his Work Assuredly it is to abuse the simplicity of the Readers and the respect which they have for the Fathers to raise prejudices in them by a many citations out of great men and endeavour by their suffrages to condemn those principles which probably were not known to them so far were they from rejecting them as untrue For at the bottom all such passages tho different from what I say tend to prove the same truths of Faith which I maintain for I have not and never shall I hope quit this Maxim of the Search after Truth That novelty in matter of Divinity is a sign of Error I distinguish the Truths of Faith from those of Reason and shall always seek for Theological Doctrines in Tradition But I shall endeavour to prove these Doctrines to others by those Philosophical principles which they receive or however those whereby I may hope to be able to convince them St. Augustine has not answered the same objectijections as I do What follows from hence That they did not come into his mind Not at all That he did not approve them By no means That he has condemned them as contrary to the Faith Still less 'T is because he did not perhaps think them proper to perswade those against whom he wrote For had I lived in St. Augustine's time and had written for all men and not for some particular Men who are accustom to certain Principles I should not have spoken as I have done in the Treatise of Nature and Grace because common sense requires that we should speak to Men according to their Ideas in a Language which they well understand and willingly hearken unto No person can think that the Principles which I suppose in the Treatise were known to the Manichees so that it would have been an odd undertaking to have perswaded them of the truth thereof that afterwards they might be convinc't by these Principles that they were in Error Moreover all Men are not capable to understand these principles to this end a great deal of time and application is necessary without mentioning several other requisite qualifications which all Men have not In truth the greatest part of publick Disputes such as those were which St. Augustine had with the Manichees will not permit Men to make use of abstracted notions to give light to the Truth It was therefore better done to deny for example That Monsters made the Work of God less Perfect by comparing them to the Dissonances in Musick and the Shades in Painting which give more Body and Life to the Figures It was much the shorter way for the Manichees to shew them that the mind of Man is too weak to judge of the Designs of God and compare all the parts of the World together thereby to discover the just relations of them than to explain to them those principles which are necessary to make Men comprehend that certain dismal effects are the necessary consequences of the simplicity of the ways by which God executes his designs These Hereticks would perhaps have learnt nothing by these principles and their rebellious imagination was to be humbled by sensible Reasons and suitable to their capacity And if this was not enough to content the understanding and convince by light and evidence it was however sufficient to oblige them to silence restrain their Pride and to give satisfaction to the Catholicks who assisted at St. Augustine's Conferences or read his works with a pious disposition of mind I should my self fear that I should be wanting to Religion if I should use such like Reasons to satisfie those who should make such objections to me if I saw that they could not attend unto Truths much abstracted and yet that it was necessary to satisfie them with respect to their doubts wherewithal they were intangled And assuredly it would be unjust for any man thence to conclude either that I contradict my self in my works or that I have not those sentiments of which I am convinc't For we ought to satisfie all Men the Simple as well as the Philosophers and keep both the one and other in that submission which they owe to the Truths of Faith This certainly was St. Augustine's design in his writings against the Manichees and 't is also of all the Fathers and of all Divines They all laboured only to maintain the Faith by reasons fitted to the capacity of those they had to deal with and according to such Principles as they received But if some Philosophers full of sublime Metaphisicks come and tell me that God as positively and directly wills evil as he doth the good that he doth not truely will the Beauty of the Universe and by no means the particular perfection of any of his Creatures That the World is an Harmony whereof Monsters are the necessary dissonances That God wills there should be Sinners as well as just Persons and that as the Shades in Painting make the Face to appear and gives as it were body to the Picture So the the wicked are absolutely necessary in the work of God that the virtue of good Men may be more remarkable And that thus God himself is the Author of Sin who wills it and works it in us and by us as truely as our good works and that Free-will is no more than a vain title of Honour wherewithal Men generally flatter themselves What shall I answer to these
Reason which inlightens all minds and teaches the most Stupid that the Eyes were made for seeing and plac'd in the uppermost part of the Head that we might see further Is it not plain that the perfection of a work depends not upon the designs of the workman if his designs themselves be not agreeable to the Reason which enlightens us If all the parts of a Watch have such relations and connections with one another as are necessary to measure the time exactly this is a perfect work in its kind tho it should be supposed that the Watch-maker had the extravagant design of making a thing good for nothing and if a Watch should not rightly point to the hours it would have an Essential fault what design soever he had who made it Thus a Monster is an imperfect work whatsoever the design of God was in making it Ought we not to find fault rather with the works of God than with his designs Should we not rather leave in the World those visible defects which all Men observe and which we cannot remove and maintain that all these disorders are consequences of the simplicity of the Natural Laws then pretend that God directly and positively wills them and attribute to a Being absolutely Perfect such designs as are unworthy of his Wisdom his Goodness and his other Attributes Not that I assume to my self a Right of pronouncing concerning all natural effects For I confess there are an infinite number that are Equivocal of which we cannot determine whether they do or do not render the World more Perfect But there are such Monsters whose Deformity is visible and which are so far from making the World more perfect that God seems to have repented that he brought them to Light seeing he strikes them with Death presently after their Birth in this number I put not only those effects which we call Monsters but all Creatures which want parts necessary for their preservation I hold that God directly wills the Perfection of the World and of all the parts that compose it For a World made up of Creatures which want nothing which they ought to have is more Perfect than a World full of Monsters and a great many Beings which have not that which Reason teaches us they ought to have for their preservation But it should always be remembred that all this is but accessary to the Question in hand the Principle is that wicked Men are not necessary to the perfection of the Universe and if we meet with a great many of them therein notwithstanding God abhors them it is because altho he may hinder them by his Power his Wisdom permits him not to have practical wills for this end and because his Justice subjecting them to the Law of Order they contribute whether they will or no not to the Sovereign Perfection of the Universe but rather to the glory of its Author and do admirably set forth the wisdom of his Conduct But it may be said you do not consdier the the World in all Ages you look only upon the present time Cast your Eyes further And if you have a Soul large enough admire the Relations which there are betwixt this World and the future Church betwixt the different States of the World in different Ages I Answer I confess that these Relations are admirable But it is because God wonderfully serves himself even of those disorders themselves which happen in consequence of the natural Laws and makes even the ill use which spirits make of their Liberty subservient to his glory Once more it is not because Monsters are necessary to render the World more perfect It is not because he positively willed that the number of the Damned should be the greatest part Infernal Babylon is not properly his work but the Devils By the Rigours of his Justice the Wicked are reduc't to Order But he wills not their Malice tho he uses it to brighten and set forth the virtue of his Saints He figures Morality by Nature Sinners by Monsters but he directly wills neither the one nor the other He suffers them because he can reduce both to Order But if he suffers them 't is because the simplicity of his Laws require it and because he ows this to himself that his Conduct should bear the Character of his Attributes That which renders the World admirable in all its Conditions is not so much the perfection it contains as the simplicity of the ways which have produced and do preserve it If the future Church was more ample and Hell not so full of Reprobates If the Elect were still more Holy and the Devils less Wicked If all the Creatures did Praise the Lord and not the greatest part Blaspheme his Holy Name is it not evident that the World would be more perfect than it is The Devils therefore and the Damned render it less perfect And tho God corrects this disorder in his Creatures yet nevertheless 't is a disorder that the greatest part of Men should Blaspheme their Creator But God is not concern'd that there should be disorders in Hell provided that there be none in the Heavenly Jerusalem he is willing that there should be faults in his work but not in his Conduct and in his designs The Damned are in disorder but God's conduct in respect of them is perfectly agreeable to order The faults of any work oblige those who would judge of it to compare it with the ways that at the same time they may admire both the work and the ways but the faults of any design directly suppose either malice or ignorance in the Workman Hence we are forc'd to say that God has made the World not absolutely as perfect as he could but as perfect as it could be with respect to the ways which his Wisdom and other Attributes did oblige him to observe which is the Foundation of the Treatise of Nature and Grace I desire it may be examined without prejudice and with that attention which is necessary to understand it in its utmost extent and with reference to all its consequences and then let Men judge of it Then I hope it will have that effect upon them it has had upon many persons tho prevented with the sentiments which it overthrows without leaving any other difficulties if I am not mistaken than those which have always been look'd upon as incomprehensible to the mind of Man I do assure my self that they will clearly see that there are no such certain Principles to prove by reason that which Faith teaches and to silence both the Libertines and the Hereticks in a matter wherein they use to insult and pretend to triumph Object V. What would the Author of the Treatise have by his great Principle That the Ways of God ought to bear the Character of his Immutability Is it that God cannot do one thing to day and another to morrow without being inconstant Cannot he will to day that the Vine should put forth and to morrow