Man might Glory in himself and that he leaves even Concupiscence in the most holy and most perfect that they may have no vain Satisfaction in themselves For when we consider the Perfection of our Being Aug. in Tul. lib. 6. c. 9. it is difficult to despise our selves unless at the same time we see and love Soveraign Good in the presence of which all our Perfection and Grandeur vanishes in a moment I own that Concupiscence may prove the Subject of our Merit and that it is reasonable the Mind should for a time follow Order difficultly to deserve to be Eternally submitted to it with pleasure I grant that it may be upon this account that God has permitted Concupiscence after having foreseen Sin But Concupiscence not being absolutely necessary to our Meriting if God permitted it it was because Man might be able to do no good without the assistance which Jesus Christ has merited for us and that he might have no reason to Glory in his own power for it is plain that Man cannot sight against and overcome himself unless he be animated by Jesus Christ who as the Head of the Faithful inspires them with such Sensations as are directly opposite to the Concupiscence they derive from the first Man XVI Supposing then that Children are Born with Concupiscence it is evident that they are really Sinners since their heart is set upon Bodies as much as it is capable There is as yet but one love in their Will and that love is irregular So there is nothing in them that God can love since God cannot love disorder XVII But when they have been Regenerated in Jesus Christ that is when their Heart has been turn'd towards God either by an actual motion of love or by an inward disposition like unto that which remains after an Act of Loving God then Concupiscence is no longer a Sin in them for it inhabits no longer alone in the Heart it has no longer any dominion there The habitual Love which remains in them by the Grace of Baptism in Jesus Christ is freeer or stronger than that which is in them by the Concupiscence they have in Adam They are like the Just who in their Sleep follow the Motions of Lust yet lose not the Grace of Baptism for they do not freely consent to these Motions XVIII And it should not be thought strange if I believe it possible for Children while they are Baptizing to love God with a free Love For since the second Adam is contrary to the first why should he not at the time of Regeneration deliver Children out of the servitude of their Bodies to which they are only subjected by the first Adam so that being enlightned and excited by a lively and effectual Grace to love God they may love him with a free and reasonable love without being hindered by the first Adam It is not observable some may urge that their Bodies ceases one moment from acting over their Mind But should Men wonder at their not seeing that which is not visible That Act of Love may be produced in one Instant And whereas that Act may be formed in the Soul without making any Traces in the Brain we need not wonder if even those who are come to Men's estate when they are Baptiz'd do not always remember it for we have no remembrance of those things of which the Brain keeps no traces XIX St. Paul teaches us that the Old Man or Concupiscence is Crucified with Jesus Christ and that we are dead and buried with him by Baptism It is not that we are then delivered from the warring of the Body against the Mind and that Concupiscence is as it were dead that moment It is true it revives but having been destroy'd and thereby left the Children in a state of loving God it can no longer harm them though it revives in them For when there are two Loves in the Heart the one Natural and the other Free Order wills that only that should be regarded which is free And if Children loved God in Baptism by an Act no wise free loving Bodies afterwards by several Acts of the same kind God perhaps could not according to Order have more regard to one only Act than to many which are all natural and constrained Or rather if those contrary Loves were equal in force he must have regard to the last by the same reason that when there have been successively in a Heart two free Loves contrary to one another God ever has regard to the last since Grace is lost by one Mortal Sin XX. However it cannot be denied that God may without suspending the Dominion of the Body over the Childs Mind make it Just or turn its Will towards him by infusing into its Soul a disposition like unto that which remains after an Actual motion of Love towards God But that way of proceeding does not perhaps appear so natural as the other for we do not conceive clearly what those dispositions may be which would remain Indeed we need not wonder at it for having no clear Idea of the Soul as I have proved elsewhere * See the 7th Chapter of the 2d Part of the said Book with its Explanation we must not wonder if we do not know all the Modifications it is capable of But the Mind cannot be fully satisfied with things it does not conceive clearly In my Opinion it requires an extraordinary Miracle to give those dispositions to the Soul without a preceding Act. Surely it cannot be done by the most simple means Whereas the second Adam producing for a moment in the Mind of the Child which is Baptis'd the contrary of what the first did produce there before it is sufficient to regenerate it that God should act in it by the usual means according to which he sanctifies the Adult for the Child not having at that moment any sensations or motions to divide its capacity of thinking and willing nothing hinders it from knowing and loving its real Good I say no more because it is not necessary to know precisely how the regeneration of Children is perform'd provided we admit a real regeneration in them or an inward and real Justification caused by the Acts or at least by the habits of Faith Hope and Charity If I propose an Explanation so contrary to received Prejudices it is to satisfie even those who will not admit spiritual habits and to prove to them the possibility of Children's Regeneration for Imputation seems to me to include a down right contradiction since God cannot repute as just and actually love Creatures who are actually in disorder the he may for the love of his Son design to restore them to order and love them when they are restor'd OBJECTIONS Against the Proofs and Explanations of Original Sin Objection against the First Article GOD Wills Order it is True but it is his Will which makes it It does not suppose it Whatever God Wills is in Order from this only reason that
Jesus Christ or the Word of God of his Divinity does not yet so throughly darken the Mind as to hide from it this Truth that God Wills Order Thus whether the Wills of God make Order or suppose it we clearly see when we examine our selves that the God whom we worship cannot do that which evidently appears contrary to Order So that Order willing our Time or duration of Being should be for him who preserves us that all the Motion of our Heart should continually tend towards him who continually impresses it upon us that all the Powers of our Soul should only labour for him by vertue of whom they act God cannot dispense with the Commandment which he gave us by Moses in the Law and which he repeated by his Son in the Gospel Mark 12.30 Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart with all thy soul with all thy mind and with all thy strength But because Order wills that every righteous Person should be happy and every Sinner unhappy that every Action conformable to Order and every Motion of love towards God be recompenced and on the contrary it is evident that every one who will be happy must continually tend towards God and with horrour reject every thing that would stop his Course or diminish his Motion towards his True Good 'T is not necessary that for this he consult a Spiritual Guide for when God speaks Men should be silent and when we are absolutely certain that our Senses and Passions have no part in the Answers which we hear inwardly we must alwayes hearken respectively to these Answers and submit to them Would we know whether we should go to a Ball or a Play Whether we may in Conscience spend a great part of the day at Gaming or unprofitable Entertainments Whether certain Businesses Studies Employments are conformable to our Obligations Let us enter into our Selves let us silence our Passions and Senses and see the Light of God if we can for his sake do such an Action Let us interrogate him who is the Way the Truth and the Life to know if the Way we follow does not lead to Death and whether God being essentially Just and necessarily obliged to punish every Thing that is contrary to Order and to recompence every Thing that is conformable thereto we have reason to believe we go to encrease or assure our felicity by the Action we are about If it be our Love to God that carries us to the Ball let us go thither if we should play to gain Heaven let us play Day and Night if we have in sight the Glory of God in our Employ let us encrease it let us do all Things with Joy for our Recompence will be great in Heaven But if after having carefully examined our Essential Obligations we discover clearly That neither our Being nor duration are of us that we do an Injustice which God cannot but punish when we endeavour to spend our Time in vain If our Master and Lord Jesus Christ who has purchased us by his Blood reproaches our Infidelity and Ingratitude after a very clear and intelligible manner for living after the Flesh and the World for leading a Soft and Voluptuous Life and for following Opinion and Custom let us obey his voice and not harden our Hearts let us not seek for Guides that soften these Reproaches embolden us against these Menaces and who obscure this Light with agreeable Clouds which hurt and penetrate our very Soul When the blind lead the blind they both fall into the ditch sayes the Gospel but if the Blind Man who suffers himself to be lead fall with him that leads him if God does hot excuse him will he excuse him who sees clearly and yet suffers himself to be lead by the Blind because this Blind Person leads him agreeably and entertains him in the way according to his inclinations These voluntary Blind ought to know that God who never deceives does sometimes permit these Seducers to punish corrupted Hearts who seek Seducers that Blindness is a punishment of Sin although 't is often the Cause thereof and that 't is just that he who would not hearken to Eternal Wisdom which only speaks to him for his good should leave him at length to be corrupted by Men who deceive so much the more dangerously as they flatter him more agreeably It is true 't is difficult to enter into ones self to silence ones Senses and Passions and to discern whether 't is God or our Body who speaks to us for we often take the Proofs of Sensation for evident Reasons and then 't is necessary to consult Guides but 't is not alwayes necessary to consult them For we see our Duty on many occasions with the utmost evidence and certainty and then it is even dangerous to consult them if it be not done with an entire Sincerity and a Spirit of Humility and Obedience for these Dispositions oblige God not to permit us to be deceived or at least in no very dangerous manner When 't is necessary to consult a Guide we must choose one who understands Religion who reverences the Gospel and who knows Man We must take care that the Converse of the World has not corrupted him that Friendship has not made him too Complaisant so that he may either fear or hope any thing from us We must choose one among a thousand sayes St. Theresia who as she relates of her self had like to have been lost by the defect of an ignorant Guide The World is full of Deceivers I say Religious Deceivers as well as others Those who love us seduce us through Complaisance those who are below us flatter us through Respect or Fear those who are above us consider not our Necessities either through Contempt or Negligence Besides all Men counsel us according to the relation we give them of what passes in us and we are never wanting to flatter our selves for we insensibly cover our Sore when we are ashamed of it We often deceive those who direct us that we may deceive our selves for we suppose our selves safe when we follow them They guide us whither we have a mind to go and we endeavour to perswade our selves in spight of our Light and the secret reproaches of our Reason that 't is our Obedience which determines us We deceive our selves and God permits it but we never deceive him who examines our Hearts and though we shut our Ears as much as we can against the voice of inward Truth we sufficiently feel by the reproaches of this soveraign Truth which leaves us to our selves that it inlightens our darkness and discovers all the subtleties of self-love 'T is therefore evident that we must consult our Reason for the Health of our Soul as our Senses for that of our Body and when Reason answers not clearly we must necessarily have recourse to Guides as we would to Physicians when our Senses fail us but this must be done with discretion for Guides
of which it is proper to change all the motions of the Passion suddenly determine the course of the Animal Spirits to the Nerves which encompass these Arteries that by their contraction they may shut up the passage whereby the Blood ascends into the Brain and by their dilating lay open that which disperses it self through all the other parts of the Body These Arteries which carry the Blood to the Brain being free and all those which disperse it through the rest of the Body being strongly tied by these Nerves the Head will be filled with Blood and the Face coloured with it But any circumstance changing the shaking of the Brain which caused this disposition in these Nerves the Arteries that were contracted are unloosed and the others on the contrary are strongly contracted Thus the Head is void of Blood a paleness diffused over the Face and the little Blood which goes out of the Heart and which the Nerves we spoke of admit into it to maintain life descend mostly into the lower part of the Body the Brain is defective of Animal Spirits and all the rest of the Body is seized with a weakness and trembling To explain and particularly prove what we have already said it would be necessary to give a general knowledge of Physics and a particular one of Human Bodies But these two Sciences are also too imperfect to be treated of with all the exactness I could wish besides if I should push this matter farther it would soon carry me from my subject and therefore I shall only give a general and gross Idea of the Passions and am satisfied provided this Idea be not false These Shakings of the Brain and Motions of the Blood and Spirits are the fourth thing that is found in each of our Passions and they produce the fifth which is the sensible Emotion of the Soul In the same time that the Animal Spirits are pushed from the Brain into the rest of the Body there to produce the Motions that 's proper to maintain the Passion the Soul is carried towards the good that it perceives and that so much the more violently as the Spirits go out of the Brain with the more force because it is the same shaking of the Brain which acts the Soul and Animal Spirits The Motion of the Soul towards good is so much the greater as the sight of good is more sensible and the Motion of the Spirits which proceed from the Brain to disperse themselves into the rest of the Body is so much the more violent as the shaking of the Fibres of the Brain caused by the impression of the Object or Imagination is stronger so this same shaking of the Brain rendring the sight of the good more sensible it is necessary that the Emotions of the Soul in the Passions should augment in the same proportion as the Motion of the Spirits do These Emotions of the Soul differ not from those which immediately follow the intellectual sight of the good we have spoke of They are only stronger and more lively because of the union of the Soul and Body and the sensibility of the sight which produces them The sixth thing which occurs is the Sensation of Passion the Sensation of Love Aversion Desire Joy Sorrow c. This Sensation is not different from that we have already spoke of it is only more quick because the Body hath a great share in it But it is always followed with a certain Sensation of Sweetness which renders all our Passions agreeable to us and is the last thing observed in every one of our Passions as has been already said The cause of this last Sensation is thus At the sight of the Object of the Passion or any new Circumstance some of the Animal Spirits are pushed from the Head to the extream parts of the Body to put it into the gesture the Passion requires and others forcibly descend into the Heart Lungs and Bowels from thence to draw necessary assistances which has already been explained Now it never happens that the Body is in the condition it ought to be but the Soul receives much satisfaction from it whereas if the Body is in an estate contrary to its good and preservation the Soul suffers much pain Thus when we follow the Motions of our Passions and stop not the course of the Spirits which the sight of the Object of the Passion causes in our Body to put it in the condition it ought to be in relation to this Object The Soul will by the Laws of Nature receive this Sensation of delight and inward satisfaction because the Body is in the state it ought to be in On the contrary when the Soul following the Rules of Reason stops the course of the Spirits and resists these Passions it suffers pain proportionably to the evil which might from thence happen to the Body For even as the reflexion that the Soul makes upon it self is necessarily accompanied with the Joy or Sorrow of the Mind and afterwards with the Joy or Sorrow of the Senses when doing its duty and submitting to the order of God it would discover that in a proper condition or abandoning it self to its Passions it is touched with remorse which teaches it that 't is in an ill disposition Thus the course of the Spirits excited by the good of the Body is accompanied with a sensible Joy or Sorrow and afterwards with a Spiritual one according as the course of the Animal spirits is hindered or favoured by the Will But there is this remarkable difference between the Intellectual Joy that accompanies the clear knowledge of the good estate of the Soul and the sensible Pleasure which accompanies the confused Sensation of the good disposition of the Body that the Intellectual Joy is solid without remorse and as immutable as the truth which causes it whereas sensible Joy is generally accompanied with Sorrow of the Mind or remorse of Conscience whence it is unquiet and as inconstant as the Passion or Agitation of the Blood which causes it In fine the first is almost always accompanied with a great Joy of the Senses when it is a consequence of the knowledge of a great good that the Soul possesses and the other is seldom accompanied with any Joy of the Mind although it be a consequence of a great good which only happens to the Body if it is contrary to the good of the Soul It is therefore true that without the Grace of JESVS CHRIST the satisfaction the Soul tastes in abandoning it self to its Passions is more agreeable than that it feels in following the Rules of Reason and it is this Satisfaction which is the cause of all the Disorders that have followed Original Sin and it would make us all Slaves to our Passions if the Son of God did not deliver us from their servitude by the delights of his Grace For indeed what I have said on the behalf of the Joy of the Mind against the Joy of the Senses is
is accompanied with a greater number of Accessory Ideas or that the Good or Evil are more Circumstantiated in respect to us If we remember what has been said of the connexion of Ideas and that in all great Passions the Animal Spirits being extreamly agitated stir up in the Brain all the Traces which have any relation with the Object which affects us we shall find that there are an infinite number of different Passions which have no particular name and which we can no way explain but must confess they are inexplicable If the Original Passions which compose the rest were not capable of more or less we should have no difficulty in determining the number of all the Passions but the number of those Passions which are produced by the complication of others must necessarily be infinite because the same Passion having infinite degrees it may by joining it self with others be infinitely complicated So that perhaps two Men were never moved by the same Passion if by the same Passion we understand the collecting together of all equal Motions and like Sensations which at the presence of any Object is stirred up in us But as the more or less do not alter the Species so we may say that the number of Passions is not infinite because the Circumstances which accompany the Good or Evil may be limited But let us explain our Passions in particular When we see any thing the first time or when we have many time seen it attended with certain Circumstances we are surprized and admire at it if we afterwards see it appear in another manner Thus a new Idea or a new Connexion of old Ideas begets in us an imperfect Passion which is the first of all and which I name Admiration I call this Passion imperfect because it is neither excited by the Idea nor Sensation of Good The Brain being then shaken in certain places which never were before affected or after a manner that is perfectly new the Soul is sensibly touched with it and consequently strongly applies it self to whatever it finds new in that object for the same reason as a simple tickling at the Soles of the Feet excites a most lively and moving Sensation in the Soul rather through the novelty than the force of the impression There is yet other Reasons for the Souls applying it self to Novelties but I have explained them where I spoke of Natural Inclinations We here consider the Soul in relation to the Body and according to this relation 't is the emotion of the Spirits which is the Natural Cause of its application to new things In Admiration strictly taken we consider things only as they are in themselves or according to their appearances and not as they relate to us or as they are good or bad And therefore the Spirits diffuse not themselves through the Muscles to give a proper disposition to the Body to pursue good or avoid evil nor agitate the Nerves which goes to the Heart and to the rest of the Bowels to hasten or delay the fermentation and motion of the Blood as it happens in the rest of the Passions All the Spirits go towards the Brain there to trace a lively and distinct image of the surprizing object that the Soul may consider and know it again But the rest of the Body continues in the same posture and as if it were immoveable For there being no emotion in the Soul there is also no motion in the Body If what we admire appears great the admiration is always followed with Esteem and sometimes with Veneration But on the contrary it is always accompanied with Contempt and sometimes Disdain when it appears little The Idea of Greatness produces a great motion of Spirits in the Brain and the trace that represents it is preserved a long time A great motion of Spirits likewise excites the Idea of Greatness in the Soul and strongly fixes the Mind on the consideration of this Idea But the Idea of Littleness creates in the Brain but an inconsiderable motion of the Spirits and the trace which represents it does not continue long Also when the Spirits are but little moved they cause in the Soul an Idea of Meanness and stays the Mind but a very little in the consideration of this Idea These things deserve to be well observed When we consider our selves or any thing which is united to us our Admiration is always attended with some Passion which moves us But this agitation is only in the Soul and in the Spirits which go to the Heart because there being no good that it makes us seek after nor evil that it makes us shun the Spirits are not dispersed through the Muscles to dispose the Body to any action The thoughts of the perfection of our Being or of any thing belonging to it naturally produces Pride the esteem of our Selves contempt of others Joy and some other Passions The prospect of Grandeur produces Haughtiness that of Power Generosity or Boldness and the sight of any other advantagious quality naturally produces some other Passion which will be always a kind of Pride On the contrary the foresight of some Imperfection of our Being or of any thing which belongs to it will naturally produce Humility contempt of our selves respect for others sorrow and some other Passions The prospect of Poverty creates meanness of Spirit that of weakness Timerousness and thus the sight of any disadvantageous quality naturally produces a Passion which will be a kind of Humility But this Humility as well as that Pride is properly neither a Virtue nor a Vice They are both of 'em only Passions or involuntary Motions which are nevertheless very useful to civil Society and even absolutely necessary in some occurrences for the preservation of the Life or Goods of those who are actuacted by them It is necessary for instance to be humble and timerous and even outwardly to testifie the disposition of our Minds by a respectful and modest Air when we are in the presence of a Person of Quality or of a proud and powerful Man For 't is commonly advantagious for the Good of the Body that the imagination should submit at the sight of sensible Grandeur and that it should give it external Marks of its Humility and inward Veneration But this is Naturally and Mechanically performed without the Will 's having any share in it and often even notwithstanding all its Resistance Even Bruits themselves have need of it as Dogs to prevail with those they live with have their Machine composed after such a manner that they assume such an Air as they ought to have in relation to those about 'em as is absolutely necessary for their preservation And if Birds or any other Animals have not a fit disposition of Body to give 'em this Air 't is because they have no occasion to asswage those the effects of whose Anger they can avoid by flight and without whose help they can preserve their lives It cannot be too much considered
well apprehended and to teach us what we ought to think of Treatises which are written upon this Subject After all these precautions I believe I may say that all the Passions may be referr'd to the three Primitive ones Desire Joy and Sorrow and that 't is chiefly through the different Judgments the Soul makes of Good and Evil that those which relate to one and the same Primitive Passion differ amongst themselves I may say that Hope Fear and Irresolution which keep the Mean between these two are kinds of desire that Boldness Courage Emulation c. relate more to Hope than to the other two and that Fearfulness Cowardise and Jealousie c. are kinds of Fear I may further say that Cheerfulness and Glory Favour and Acknowledgment are kinds of Joy caused by the sight of the good we discover in our selves or in those to whom we are united as Laughing and Rallery is a sort of Joy which is commonly excited in us at the sight of the Evil which happens to our Enemies Lastly disgust tediousness regret pity and indignation are kinds of sorrow caused at the sight of something which displeases us But besides these Passions and many others which I mention not and which particularly relate to some one of the Primitive Passions The number of the Passions is greater than the number of terms we express 'em by there are also many others whose emotion is almost equally compound either of Desire and Joy as Impudence Anger Revenge or of Desire and Sorrow as Shame Regret and Despight or of all three when we meet with Motives of Joy and Sorrow joined together But altho' these last Passions have not as I know of any particular Name they are nevertheless the most common because in this Life we hardly ever enjoy any Good without the mixture of some Evil and that we scarcely ever suffer any Evil without some hopes of being delivered from it and of possessing some Good And altho' Joy be quite contrary to Sorrow it nevertheless admits it and even with his Passion shares the Souls capacity of Willing as he prospect of Good and Evil divides the Souls capacity of perceiving All the Passions therefore are kinds of Desire Joy and Sorrow and the chief difference to be observed between the Passions of the same kind proceeds from the different Perceptions or different Judgments which cause or accompany them so that it is necessary to enquire into the different Judgments that we make of Good and Evil. But as our chief design here is to search after the cause of our Error we ought not so much to stop at the examining the Judgments which follow them and which the Soul makes of Objects when it is agitated by any Passion for 't is these last Judgments which are the most liable to Error Those Judgments which precede and cause the Passions are commonly false in something for they are generally upheld upon the perceptions of the Soul in as much as it considers things in relation to it self and not according as they are in themselves But those Judgments which follow the Passions are false in every respect for the Judgments which form the Passions are upheld only upon the perceptions the Soul has of Objects in relation to it self or rather in relation to its emotion In those Judgments which precede the Passions both the true and the false are joined together but when the Soul is agitated and Judges of every thing according to the inspiration of the Passion the true is dissipated and the false preserved from whence are drawn so many more false conclusions as the Passion is greater Every Passion justifies it self they continually represent to the Soul that Object which affects it after such a manner as is most proper to preserve and encrease its agitation The Judgment or Perception which causes it is fortified in proportion as the Passion encreases and the Passion encreases ini proportion as the Judgment which produces it is in its turn fortified False Judgments and Passions continually contribute to their mutual preservation So that if the Heart ceased not sometimes to supply such Spirits as are proper to maintain the traces of the Brain and the distributions of the same Spirits which are necessary to preserve the sensation and emotion of the Soul which accompanies the Passions they wou'd continually encrease and we shou'd never discover our Errors But as all our Passions depend upon the fermentation and circulation of the Blood and as the Heart cannot always furnish such Spirits as are requisite for their preservation they must necessarily cease when the Spirits diminish and the Blood cools If it is so very easie to discover the common Judgments of the Passions we ought not to neglect it There are few Subjectys more worthy the application of those who enquire into the Truth and endeavor to deliver themselves from the dominion of their Bodies and who wou'd judge of all things according to the true Idea's of them We may instruct our selves upon this Subject two different ways either by reason only or by the internal sensation that we have of our selves when we are agitated with any Passion For instance we know by our own Experience that we are inclined to judge disadvantageously of those we love not and to discover all the malignity of our hatred by that means to the Object of our Passion We may also by pure Reason discover that hating only what is Evil it is necessary for the preservation of hatred that the Mind shou'd represent its Object on the worst side for indeed it is sufficient to suppose all the Passions justify themselves and that they divert the Imagination and afterwards the Mind in such a manner as is fit to preserve their own emotion that we conclude what those Judgments are which all the Passions cause us to make Those who have a strong and lively Imagination are extreamly sensible and very subject to the Motions of the Passions may perfectly instruct themselves in these things by the sensation they have of what passes within them and even speak of them after a more agreeable manner and sometimes more instructive than those who have more Reason than Imagination For we must not think that such as best discover the Springs of Self-love that penetrate farthest and after a more sensible manner unfold the secrets of Man's heart are always the most Learned 'T is indeed often a mark that they are more lively more imaginative and sometimes more malicious than others But those who without consulting their internal Sensation only make use of their Reason to discover the Nature of their Passions and what they are capable of producing if they are not always as penetrating as others they are always more reasonable and less subject to Error for they judge of things as they are in themselves They see very near what the Passions can perform according as they suppose them more or less moved and they do not judge rashly of
Consequence We must therefore not answer him at all but only endeavour to make him re-enter into himself that he may receive the same Idea's as we do of him who is only capable of enlightening him 'T is also a Question which appears difficult enough to resolve viz. Whether Beasts have a Soul or not Yet when we take away the Equivocation it seems no longer difficult and the Generality of those Men who think they have do not know the Opinions of those who think they have not We may take the Soul for something Corporeal diffused through the whole Body which gives it Life and Motion or else for something Spiritual Those who say Animals have no Soul understand it in the Second Sense for no Man ever denied but that there was in Animals something Corporeal which was the Principle of their Life and Motion since they cannot even deny it to Watches Those on the contrary who affirm Animals have Souls mean it in the first Sense for there are few who believe Animals have a Spiritual and indivisible Soul so that the Peripateticks and Cartesians do both believe that Beasts have a Soul viz. a Corporeal Principle of their Motion and both of them believe they have none viz. That they have nothing in them Spiritual and indivisible Thus the Difference that is between the Peripateticks and Cartesians is not in that the first believe Beasts have Souls and the last believe it not But only in that the first think Animals capable of feeling Pain Pleasure seeing Colours hearing Sounds and generally of having all the Sensations and Passions that we have and the last doubt it The Cartesians distinguish the Word Sensation to take away the Equivocation of it For instance they say that when we are too near the Fire the Particles of Wood strike against the Hand and shake the Fibres that this shaking is communicated to the Brain that it determines the Animal Spirits which are there contained to diffuse themselves through the External Parts of the Body in a proper manner to make them retire They agree that all these things or the like may meet in Animals and that they certainly meet there because these are the Properties of Bodies and the Peripateticks grant this The Cartesians further say that in Man the shaking of the Fibres of his Brain is accompanied with a Sensation of Heat and that the Course of the Animal Spirits to the Heart or Bowels is followed with the Passion of Hatred or Aversion But deny that these Sensations or Passions of the Soul is in Beasts The Peripateticks on the contrary affirm that Beasts feel Heat as well as we that like us they have an Aversion for whatever incommodes them and generally that they are capable of all the Sensations and Passions that we are The Cartesians do not think that Beasts feel Pain or Pleasure or that they love or hate any thing because they admit nothing but what is material in Beasts and they do not believe that Sensations or Passions are Properties of Matter whatever it may be Some Peripateticks on the contrary think that Matter is capable of Sensation and Passion when it is as they say Subtilized that Beasts may feel by the means of Animal Spirits viz. by the means of a Matter extreamly fine and delicate and that even the Soul is not capable of Sensation and Passion but only as it is united to this Matter Thus to resolve the Question whether Beasts have a Soul we must re-enter into our selves and consider the Idea we have of Matter with all the Attention we are capable of And if we conceive that Matter Figured after such manner as Square Round Oval c. is capable of Pain Pleasure Heat and Cold Colour Smells Sound c. we may affirm that the Souls of Beasts how material soever they are may be capable of Sensation If we conceive it not we must not assert it is for we must only affirm what we conceive So if we conceive that Matter agitated up and down in a Circular Spiral Parabolick Eliptick Line c. be capable of Love Hatred Joy Sorrow c. we may say that Beasts have the same Passions with us If we see it not we must not say it at least without confessing we speak what we do not know But I think it may be affirmed that we never believe any Motion of Matter can be capable of Love or Joy provided we think Seriously of it So that to resolve this Question if Beasts feel we need only take away the Equivocation as Cartesians do for this way we reduce it to a Simple Question that an indifferent Attention of Mind will suffice to resolve it It is true that St. Austin supposing according to the common Prejudice that Beasts have Souls or at least I have not read in his Works that he ever Seriously examined it or called it in Question and perceiving well the Contradiction of saying that a Soul or Substance that thinks feels desires c. should be Material he believed that the Souls of Beasts were certainly Spiritual and Indivisible He has proved by evident Reasons L 4. de anima ejus origine c. 23. l. 5. de quantitate animae and elsewhere that all Souls that is whatever feels imagines fears doubts desires c. are necessarily Spiritual but I have not observed that he had any Reason to say that Beasts had Souls He does not give himself the Trouble to prove it because 't is very probable that in his Time there was hardly any one that doubted of it Now there are some who endeavour wholly to deliver themselves from their Prejudices and who call all Opinions in Question that are not maintained upon clear and demonstrative Reasons who begin to doubt whether Animals have a Soul capable of the same Sensations and Passions as ours but they always find many prejudiced Defenders who pretend to prove that Beasts feel will think and reason as we do although in a much more imperfect manner Dogs say they know their Masters they love them suffer patiently the Blows they receive from them because they judge it advantageous for them not to abandon them But for Strangers they hate them so violently that they cannot so much as suffer themselves to be caressed by them All Animals have a Love for their Young Ones and those Birds that make their Nests in the Extreme Branches of a Tree make it plainly appear that they fear certain Animals that would devour them They think these Branches are too weak to bear their Enemies and yet strong enough to support their Little Ones and Nests too There is amongst the Spiders and the most vile Insects something that looks like an Intelligence which Animates them For we cannot forbear admiring the Conduct of an Animal which although blind finds a means to catch others in its Snares that have both Eyes and Wings and are bold enough to attack the greatest Animal that is It is true that all the
of producing certain Motions and that that Power for instance they have to move their Tongue several ways occasions an infinite number of Evils But then it is evident that this Power is absolutely necessary to maintain Society to ease one another in the wants of this present Life and to be Instructed in that Religion which gives the hopes of that Redeemer for whose sake the World subsists If we carefully examine those Motions which we produce in our selves and in what part of our Body we can produce them we shall find clearly that God has left us no more Power over our Body than what is necessary to preserve our Life and maintain Civil Society For instance the Beating of the Heart the Dilatation of the Diaphragme the Peristaltick Motion of the Bowels the Circulation of the Spirits and Blood and divers Motions of the Nerves in our Passions are produced in us without staying for Orders from the Soul As they must needs be partly the same on the same Occasions nothing obliges God to submit them now to the Will of Men But whereas the Motions of the Muscles which serve to stir the Tongue the Arms and Legs must change every moment according to the almost infinite diversity of the Good or Ill Objects which surround us it was necessary those Motions should depend on the Will of Men. We must observe that God always Acts by the most simple Means and that the Laws of Nature must be general and therefore having given us the Power to move our Arm and Tongue he must not take away that Power from us to strike a Man unjustly or to Calumniate him For if our Natural Faculties did depend on our Designs there would be no Uniformity nor certain Rule in the Laws of Nature which nevertheless must be very plain and general to be suitable to the Wisdom of God and conformable to Order Insomuch that God in pursuance of his Decrees chooses rather to perform the Materiality of Sin as the Divines say or to serve the Injustice of Men as one of his Prophets says than by changing his Will to put a stop to the disorder of Sinners But he reserves his Vengeance for the unworthy treatment he meets with until he may be allow'd to do it without acting against the Immutability of his Degrees that is when Death having corrupted the Body of the Voluptuous God will lye no longer under the necessity he has impos'd upon himself of giving them Sensations and Thoughts relating thereunto Objection against the Eleventh and Twelfth Articles ORiginal Sin does not only make Man a Slave to his Body and subject to the motions of Concupiscence but likewise fills him with Spiritual Vices The Childs Body is not only corrupted before Baptism but its very Soul and all its Faculties are infected by Sin Though the Rebellion of the Body is the chief cause of some gross Vices as Intemperance and Incontinency yet it does not occasion Vices that are purely Spiritual such as Pride and Envy So that Original Sin is something very different from the Concupiscence wherewith we are Born and is probably the privation of Grace or of Original Justice Answer I own that Children are depriv'd of Original Righteousness and I prove it when I show they are not born Just and that God hates them For in my Opinion it is impossible to give a clearer Idea of Justicâ— and of Righteousness than in saying that the Will is upright when it loves God and that it is irregular when it is turn'd towards the Body But if by Original Justice or Grace you mean certain or unknown Qualifications like unto those which 'tis said God had infus'd into the Soul of the first Man to adorn it and to render it agreeable in his sight it is also evident that the privation of this Justice is not Original Sin for properly speaking that Privation cannot be transmitted If Children have nor those Qualifications it is because God does not give 'em to them And if God does not give 'em it is because they are unworthy of it 'T is then that unworthiness which is transmitted and which is the cause of the privation of Original Justice Therefore 't is that unworthiness which properly speaking is Original Sin Now this unworthiness which consists as I have shown in this that the Inclinations of Children are actually corrupted that their Heart is turn'd towards Bodies and Loves them this I say is really in them It is not the Imputation of their Fathers Sin they are actually in disorder So those that are justify'd by Jesus Christ of which Adam was the Figure are not justify'd by Imputation They are actually restor'd into Order by an inward Justice different from that of Jesus Christ tho' it is only he that has merited it for them The Soul has but two Natural or Essential Relations the one to God the other to its Body Now it is evident that the Relation or Union it has with God can neither corrupt it or make it vicious Therefore it is only so in the moment of its Creation by the Relation it has to its Body So that it is necessary to say either that Pride and the other Vices which are call'd Spiritual may be Communicated by the Body or that Children are not liable to them at the moment of their Birth I say at the moment of their Birth for I do not deny but those ill habits are easily acquir'd Yet pure Intelligences have no other relation then to God and that in the moment of their Creation they were subject to no Vice yet they are fallen into Disorder but 't is only by their having made an ill use of their Liberty and Children have made no use of it for Original Sin is not free But I am of Opinion that those are mistaken who fancy the Rebellion of the Body only occasions gross Vices as Intemperance and Incontinency and not those which are call'd Spiritual as Pride and Envy And I am perswaded that there is such a Correspondence between the dispositions of our Brain and those of our Soul that perhaps the Soul has no ill habit but what derives its Principle from the Body Saint Paul in divers places calls Law Wisdom Desires and the Works of the Flesh whatever is contrary to the Law of the Spirit he does not mention Spiritual Vices He places among the Works of the Flesh Idolatry Heresies Dissentions and many other Vices which are call'd Spiritual According to his Doctrine we follow the motions of the Flesh in being guilty of Vain-glory Gal. c. 5. Passion and Envy Finally it appears by the Expressions of that Apostle that all Sins proceed from the Flesh not that the Flesh commits them or that the Spirit of Man without Grace or the Spirit of Jesus Christ does that which is good but because the Flesh acts upon the Mind of Man in such a manner that it does no Evil which the Flesh does not sollicit Rom. c. 7. St. Paul
wrote about Idolatry In the Days of Enos Men fell into strange Delusions R. Moses Maimonides and the Wise Men of that Time perfectly lost their Sense and Reason Enos himself was in the Number of those deceived Persons These were their Errours Since God said they has created the Stars and the Heavens to govern the World has placed them on high surrounded them with brightness and glory and employes them to exexecute his Orders it is just that we should honour them and pay reverence and homage to them 'T is the Will of our God that we should honour those whom he has raised and exalted in Glory even as a Prince requires we should honour his Ministers in his presence because the Honour we give to them redounds to himself After they had once received this Notion they began to build Temples in honour of the Stars to offer Sacrifices and Praises to them and even prostrate themselves before them thinking thereby to gain the favour of him who created them And this was the original of Idolatry It is so Natural and Just to have Sentiments of Acknowledgment in proportion to the Benefits we receive See Vossius l. 2. de Idolatria that almost all the World have adored the Sun Ipsi qui irridentur Aegyptii nullam belluam nisi ob aliquam utilitatem quam ex ea caperent consecraverant Cic. l. 1. de Natura Deorum because they all thought he was the cause of the Happiness they injoyed And if the Egyptians have adored not only the Sun the Moon and the River Nilus because its overflowings caused the fruitfulness of their Country but also the vilest Animals 't was as Cicero relates because of some benefit they received from them So that as we cannot and indeed ought not to banish out of Mens Minds the inclination they Naturally have for the true Causes of their Happiness it is evident that there is at least some danger in maintaining the Efficacy of Second Causes although we joyn thereto the necessity of an immediate concourse which has I know not what of incomprehensible in it and which comes in as an after-game to justifie our Prejudices and Aristotles Philosophy But there is no danger in speaking only what we know and atributing Power and Efficacy to God alone since we see nothing but his Wills which have an absolute necessary and indispensable connection with Natural Effects I confess that Men are now knowing enough to avoid the gross Errors of the Heathens and Idolaters But I am not afraid to say that our Mind is disposed or rather that our Heart is often inclined like that of the Heathens and that there will alwayes be some kind of Idolatry in the World until the day that Jesus Christ shall again deliver up his Kingdom to God his Father having first destroyed all Empire Power and Dominion that God may be all in all Quorum Deus venter est Phil. 13.9 Omnis fornicator aut immundus aut avarus quod est idolorum servitus Eph. 5.5 In spiritu veritate oportet adorare John 4.24 For is it not a kind of Idolatry to make a God of our Belly as St. Paul speaks Is it not to idolize the God of Riches continually to labour after Worldly Possessions Is this to render to God the Worship due to him to adore him in Spirit and Truth to have our Hearts filled with some sensible Beauty and our Minds dazled with the brightness of some imaginary Grandeur Men believing they receive from the Bodies which are about them the Pleasures they injoy by their use they unite themselves to them with all the Powers of their Soul And thus the principal of their disorder proceeds from the sensible conviction they have of the Efficacy of Second Causes 'T is Reason only that tells them there is none but God acts in them But besides that Reason speaks so low that they can scarcely hear it and the Senses which oppose it cry so loud that it stupifies them they are still confirmed in their Prejudices by Arguments which are so much the more dangerous as they bear external Characters and sensible Marks of Truth The Philosophers and chiefly the Christian Philophers ought continually to oppose Prejudices or the Judgments of the Senses and especially such dangerous ones as that of the Efficacy of Second Causes And yet I know not from what Principle there are some Persons whom I extreamly honour and that with reason who endeavour to confirm this Prejudice and even to make this Doctrine pass for superstitious and extravagant which is so holy pure and solid and maintains that God alone is the true cause of every thing They will not have us love and fear God in all things but love and fear all things in relation to God We ought say they to love the Creatures because they are good to love and respect our Father render honour to our Prince and Superiour since God commands it I don't deny it but I deny that we must love the Creatures as our goods although they be good or perfect in themselves I deny that we are to pay service and respect to Men as to our Masters For we must neither serve our Master obey our Father or Prince with any other design but to serve God and obey him This is what St. Paul sayes who became all things to all Men and complyed in all things for the Salvation of those to whom he Preached Servi obedite Dominis carnalibus cum timore tremore in simplicitate cordis vestri SICVT CHRISTO Non ad oculum servientes quasi omnibus placentes sed ut servi Christi facientes voluntatem Dei ex animo cum bona voluntate servientes SICVT DOMINI ET NON HOMINIBVS And in another Epistle Non ad oculum servientes quasi hominibus placentes sed in simplicitate cordis DEVM TIMENTES Quodcumque facitis ex animo operamini SICVT DOMINO ET NON HOMINIBVS We must therefore obey our Father serve our Prince and render honour to our Superiours AS VNTO GOD AND NOT VNTO MAN Sicut Domini non Hominibus This is clear and can never have any bad consequences Superiours would alwayes be more honoured and better served But I believe I may say that a Master who would be honoured and served as having in himself another Power than that of God must be a Devil and that those who served him under that Notion would be Idolaters for I can't but believe that all Honour and Love that tend not towards God are kinds of Idolatry SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA AN EXPLANATION Of what I have said in the Fourth Chapter of the Second Part Of Method and elsewhere That God acts alwayes with Order and by the most Simple Wayes IT seems to some Persons to be too rash a Conjecture or an abusing of indeterminate and general Terms to say That God acts alwayes with Order and by the most simple wayes in