him because not being yet disordered his Body was necessarily subject to his Mind Yet 't is not likely that he could forbear having Sensations of Objects at such time as he had not stopt the Motions which they produc'd in some part of his Body to which his Soul was immediately United for the Union of the Soul and Body consisting chiefly in a Mutual Relation between the Sensations of the Soul and the Motions of the Organs of the Body it appears that it would have been rather Arbitrary than Natural if Adam could have been Insensible when the chief part of his Body receiv'd some Impression from External Objects but I forbear making my self a Party in these two Opinions The first Man then took Pleasure in that which added Perfection to his Body even as in that which did so to his Soul and because he was in a perfect State he found the Pleasure of the Soul much greater than that of the Body so that it was much easier for him to preserve his Righteousness without the Grace of Jesus Christ than it is for us fince without it we feel but little satisfaction in our Duty S. Greg. Hom. 39. upon the Gospels yet he suffer'd himself unhappily to be Seduc'd and lost his Righteousness by his Disobedience and the principal Change which happen'd to him and which caus'd all the Disorder of his Senses and Passions is That God forsook him by way of Punishment and would no longer be his Good or rather would not any longer make him sensible of that Pleasure which assur'd him that he was his Good So that Sensible Pleasures which do but incline a Man to Corporeal Good remaining only and being no longer Counterballanc'd by these which formerly carry'd him to his true Good the strict Union which he had with God is strangely weaken'd and that which he had with his Body is much strengthned Sensible Pleasure reigns in his Corrupted Heart by enslaving him to all Sensible Objects and the Corruption of his Heart hath darkned his Mind by turning it aside from that Light which Enlightens it and inclining it to Judge only of Things as they can have any Relation with Bodies But after all we cannot say that there was any great Change in respect of the Senses 't is as if two Weights hang'd in Aequilibrio in a Ballance and I should take something from one of them the other would weigh down without any Change in its self in Relation to the first Weight since it is still the same Thus after the Fall of Adam the Pleasures of the Senses have Sensualiz'd the Soul for want of those Internal Delights which before Counterballanc'd the Inclination we have for Sensible Goods but without such a considerable Change in the Senses as is commonly imagin'd But to come to the second way of Explaining the Disorders of Sin and which is certainly more Reasonable than the preceeding 'T is very different from the former because it depends upon a different Principle however they both agree in what respects the Senses Because we are Compos'd of Mind and Body we have two sorts of Goods to enquire after viz. Those of the Mind and those of the Body We have also two ways of knowing whether a thing is good or bad for us by the Help of the Mind only or by the Assistance of the Mind and Body together We can know what is Good for us by a clear and evident Knowledge as also by a Confus'd Sensation I know by Reason that Justice is Amiable I also know by Taste that such Fruit is Good The Beauty of Justice is not Tasted the Goodness of Fruit is not known by Reason the Goods of the Body deserve not the application of a Mind which God has made only for himself the Mind then must receive such kind of Goods by a short and Incontestable Proof of Sensation without examining any further Stones are improper for Nourishment Experience proves it and Taste alone will convince all Men of it Pleasure and Pain are therefore Natural and Indubitable Characters of Good and Evil I confess it but 't is for such things only as in their own Nature are neither good nor bad nor can be known for such by a clear and distinct Knowledge and 't is only for such things that being below the Mind of Man can neither Reward nor Punish it In fine 't is for such things only as are unworthy the Application of the Mind and about which God being unwilling our Mind should be imploy'd inclines us to them only by a certain Instinct I mean by agreeable or disagreeable Sensations But as for God who is only the true Good of the Mind and who only is above it who only can Reward it a thousand different ways who is only worthy its Application and who is not afraid that those that Love him should not find him Amiable He is not content to be lov'd with a Blind Love or a Love of Instinct but will be lov'd with a Rational Love and a Love of Choice If the Mind saw only those things in Objects that are truly there with adding other things to them by the Imagination which really are not it would find much difficulty to Love or make Use of them so that it is as it were necessary for them to appear agreeable by causing Sensations which they have not but 't is not so with God it 's sufficient to see him as he is to incline us to him and it is not necessary that he make use of this Instinct of Pleasure as a kind of Artifice to draw our Love to him without his deserving it Hence we must conclude that Adam was not carried to the Love of God and his Duty by * Soe the Explanations prepossessed Pleasure because the Knowledge which he had of God as his Good and the Joy that he continually felt Deus ab initio constituit hominem reliquit illum in manu consilii sui adjecit mandata precepta sua Ecc. 15.15 as a necessary consequent of seeing his Happiness in being United to God might suffice to keep him to his Duty and make him act more Deservingly than if he had been as it were Determin'd by a prepossess'd Pleasure After this manner he enjoy'd full Liberty and perhaps 't was in this Condition that the Holy Scripture would Represent him by these Words God made Man in the beginning and after having propos'd his Commandments to him he left him to himself that is without determining him by the Sense of some Prepossess'd Pleasure only keeping him close to a clear Light of his Happiness and Duty But Experience hath shown the frailty of Adam in so Regulated and Happy Estate as that he was in before his Fall to the Shame of Free Will and the Glory of God alone But it cannot be said that Adam was inclin'd to seek after and make use of Sensible Things by an exact Knowledge of the Relation they might have with his
all those that 〈…〉 had whilst in the Womb. For since it every day 〈◊〉 that a great pain causes us to forget those that 〈…〉 it is not possible but that such lively 〈…〉 Children receive the first time the impression of 〈◊〉 is made upon the delicate organs of their 〈…〉 efface the greatest part of the traces that they haâ—â— received from the same objects only by a kind of 〈◊〉 stroke when they were as it were covered in their Mothers ' Womb. Yet when these traces are formed by a strong passion and accompanied with a violent agitation of the Blood and Spirits in the Mother they act with so much force on the Child's Brain and on the rest of its body that they imprint there Traces as deep and lasting as Natural ones As in the Example of Sir Kenelm Digby in the Child that became a Fool and all broken in the Brain and all the Members in which the Imagination of the Mother had produced such great disorders and likewise in the example of the general corruption of Man's Fature Nor is it to be wondered if the Children of King James had not the same weakness as their Father First because these sort of Traces are never imprinted so far into the rest of the Body as the Natural ones are Secondly because the Mother not having the same weakness with the Father she hinder'd its happening through the goodness of her Constitution and because the Mother acts insinitely more upon the Brain than the Father does as is evident by what has been already said But it must be observed that all these reasons which prove that the Children of King James cou'd not participate of the weakness of their Father prove nothing against the Explanation of Original Sin or this powerful Inclination for Sensible Things nor this great distance from God which we hold from our first Parents because the Traces that sensible Objects have imprinted in the Brain of the first Man were very deep and were accompanied and augmented with violent Passions and fortified by the continual use of sensible Things and such as were necessary to the preservation of life not only in Adam and Eve but also which must be well observed in the greatest Saints in all Men and all Women from whom we descend so that there is nothing which can put a stop to this corruption of Nature So far are these Traces of our first Fathers from being effaced by little and little that on the contrary they are augmented daily and without the Grace of JESVS CHRIST which continually opposes this torrent what this Heathen Poet has said wou'd be absolutely true Aetas Parentum pejor avis tulit Nos nequiores mox daturos Progeniem vitiosiorem For it must be well observed that those impressions that stir up Sentiments of Piety in the most Devout Mothers do not communicare it to their unborn Infants and that on the contrary the Traces which excite the Idea of sensible Things and which are followed lowed with Passions fail not to communicate to the Infants the Sensation and Love of Sensible Things A Mother for Instance who is excited to love God by the Motion of the Spirits which accompany the Trace of the Image of a venerable Old Man because this Mother has united the Idea of God to this Trace of the Old Man for as we shall soon see in the Chapter of the connexion of Idea's that it may easily be done altho' there is no relation between God and the Image of an Old Man This Mother I say can only produce in the Brain of her Child the Trace of an Old Man and an inclination for Old Men which is not the love of God wherewith she was affected For indeed there is no Traces in the Brain which can of themselves stir up any other Idea's than those of Sensible Things because the Body is not made to Instruct the Mind and speaks not to the Soul as to it self Thus a Mother whose Brain is filled with Traces which by their nature relate to sensible things and which she cannot efface since concupiscence still remains in her because her Body is not brought under subjection necessarily communicates them to her Child and begets it a sinner altho' she be righteous This Mother is righteous because actually loving or having loved God by a love of choice this concupiscence makes her no longer criminal altho' she shou'd follow the Motions thereof in her sleep But the Child she begets not loving God by a love of choice and its heart not being turned towards God it is evident that it is subject to disorder and irregularity and that there is nothing in it which deserves not the wrath of God But when they are regenerated by Baptism and have been justified either by a disposition of heart like to that which remains in righteous Persons during the illusions of the Night or it may be by a free act of love to God as they have made being delivered some moments from the dominion of the Body through the power of this Sacrament for as God hath made them to love him we cannot conceive that they are actually in the righteousness and order of God if they love him not or have not loved him or at least if their heart is not disposed after the same manner as it wou'd be if they actually loved him Then altho' they submit to concupiscence during their Infancy their concupiscence is no longer Sin it makes them no longer guilty and worthy of wrath they cease not to be righteous and agreeable to God by the same reason as we do not lose Grace altho' in our sleep we shou'd follow the Motions of concupiscence for the Brain of Infants is so soft and they receive so lively and strong impressions of the weakest Objects as they have not sufficient freedom of Mind to resist them But I stay too long upon these things which do not absolutely belong to the subject I treat of 'T is enough that I may conclude here from what I have explained in this Chapter that all these false Traces See the Explanations that Mothers imprint in the Brain of their Children make their Minds false and corrupt their Imagination and that thus the generality of Men are subject to imagine things otherwise than they are in giving some false colour or irregular draught to the Idea's of those things they perceive CHAP. VIII I. The changes that happen to the Imagination of a Child after it is Born by the Conversation it has with its Nurse its Mother and other Persons II. Advice how to Educate it well IN the precedent Chapter we have consider'd the Brain of an Infant whilest in the Womb let us now examine what happens to it as soon as it is Born In the same time that it quits Darkness and first sees Light the cold of the outward Air seizes it the tenderest embraces of the Woman that receives it offends its delicate Members all external Objects
she lets go her Metaphysical Thoughts and pure Intellections to apply her self only to her own Sensations Thus it seems Children cannot consider the pure Idea's of Truth with sufficient attention being so often and easily disturbed by the confused Idea's of their Senses Yet we may answer first that it is more easie for a Child of seven years to be deliver'd from the Errors whereinto the Senses lead it than for a person of Sixty who has all his life time followed the prejudices of Infancy Secondly that if a Child is not capable of the clear and distinct Idea's of Truth it is at least capable of being advertised that its Senses deceive it upon every occasion and if we do not teach it the Truth we ought not at least to entertain or fortify it in its Errors And lastly that the youngest Children how wedded soever they may be to agreeable and painful Sensations learn soon what grown Persons can't do in much more time as the Knowledge of the Order and Relations that there is between all Words and all Things which they see and hear For altho' these Things depend chiefly on the Memory yet it is plain enough that they must make great use of their Reason in the manner whereby they learn their Tongue But since the facility that the Fibres of Childrens Brains have for the receiving the impressions of sensible Objects II. Advice for the well Educating of Children is the reason why they are incapable of Judging of abstracted Sciences it is very easie to remedy it For 't is certain that if Children were taken without fear without desires and without hopes if we did not make them suffer pain and if we kept them as much as possible from their little pleasures we might as soon as they cou'd speak teach them the most difficult and most abstracted or at least the most sensible parts of the Mathematics Mechanics and other things of the like Nature which are necessary in the sequel of life But their Minds are not fit to be applied to abstracted Sciences when they are agitated by desires and troubled with frights which is requisite to be well considered For as an ambitious Man who shou'd lose his Riches and Honour or who shou'd have been raised all of a sudden to a great Dignity which he cou'd not have hoped for wou'd not be in a condition to resolve Metaphysical Questions or Algebraick Equations but only to do such things as his present passion inspired him with So Children in whose Brain an Apple and Sugar-plumb make as deep impressions as Offices and Grandeurs do in that of a Man of Forty are not in a condition of hearing such abstracted Truths as we teach them So that it may be affirmed there is nothing more contrary to the advancement of Children in the Sciences than the continual Divertisements wherewith they recompence them and the continual Punishments they threaten them with But what is infinitely more considerable is that these fears of Chastisement and these desires of sensible Recompence with which they fill Childrens Minds extreamly diverts them from Piety Devotion is yet more abstracted than Science it is less relished by corrupted Nature The Mind of Man is very much inclined to Study but it is not so to Piety If therefore great agitations permit us not to study altho' we naturally have some pleasure in it how is it possible that Children which are taken up with sensible Pleasures wherewith they recompence them and with the Pains they fright them with shou'd preserve a sufficient freedom of Mind to give them any inclination to Piety The capacity of the Mind is very much limited many things are not requisite to fill it and when it is full it is incapable of new Thoughts except it empties it self of some it had before But when the Mind is filled with sensible things it cannot part with them when it will to conceive this we must consider we are all naturally inclined to Good and Pleasure being the Character whereby we distinguish it from Evil it is necessary that Pleasures shou'd affect us and employ us more than all the rest Pleasure then being united to the use of sensible things because they are the Goods of Mans Body there is a kind of necessity that these goods shou'd fill the capacity of our Minds until God by imbittering them gives us a distaste and horror of them and by his Grace makes us feel the sweetness of Heaven which effaces all the Pleasures of this World S. Aug. Dando menti caelestem delectationem quâ omnis terrena delectatio superetur But because we are as much inclined to shun Evil as to love Good and Pain is the Character that Nature has united to Evil all that we have said of Pleasure must in a contrary sensce be understood of Pain Since those things therefore that make us feel Pleasure and Pain fill the capacity of the Mind and that it is not in our power to quit or not to be affected with them when we please it is plain that we cannot make Children be inclined to Piety no more than Men if we do not begin with them according to the Precepts of the Gospel by a privation of all things that touch the Senses and which excite great desires and great fears since all the Passions darken and extinguish Grace and that inward love to our Duty which God has implanted in us The least Children have reason as well as Men altho ' they have not experience they have also the same natural inclinations tho' they are carried to very different Objects they must therefore be accustom'd to guide themselves by reason since they have it and excited to their Duty by rightly managing their good Inclinations It destroys their reason and corrupts their best inclinations to engage them to their Duty by sensible impressions They appear then to be in their Duty but 't is only an appearance Virtue is neither engraven in their Mind nor Heart they scarcely know it and they love it much less Their Mind is full of fears and desires of aversions to and love of sensible things which they cannot disingage themselves from to gain their Liberty and to make use of their Reason Thus Children who are educated after this base and servile manner accustom themselves by little and little to a certain insensibility of all the Sentiments of honest Men and good Christians which continues with them all their Lives and when they think themselves freed from Chastisements either by their Authority or Craft they abandon themselves to whatever flatters their Concupiscence and their Senses because indeed they know no other good than what is sensible It is true there are some occurrences wherein it is necessary to instruct Children by their Senses but it must only be done when Reason is not sufficient They must first be perswaded to their Duty by Reason and if they are not capable of acknowledging their obligations to it it will be best
Disposition of their Heart Those who begin their Conversion have commonly need of a prepossessed and an indeliberate Pleasure to free them from their Sensible Goods to which they are united by other preventing and indeliberate Pleasures Sadness and Remorse of Conscience is not enough and they do not yet taste any Joy But the Just can live by Faith and in Want and it 's even in this Condition that they deserve more because Men being reasonable God will be lov'd by them with a Love of Choice rather than with a Love of Instinct and an indeliberate Love like that by which they love Sensible things without knowing them to be Good otherwise than by the Pleasure which they receive from them However the greatest part of Men have little Faith and being continually led to taste Pleasure they cannot long preserve their elective Love for God against a Natural Love for Sensible Goods if their Delight in Grace does not uphold them against the Efforts of Pleasure for a Delight in Grace begets preserves and increases Charity as Sensible Pleasures do Desire It is evident from what has been said V. Of Mens Ignorance That Men being never without some Passion or agreeable or disagreeable Sensations much of the Capacity and Extension of their Mind is taken up with them And when they are willing to employ the rest of their Capacity to examine some Truth they are often diverted by some new Sensations or by a Disgust which they find in this Exercise and by an Inconstancy of the Will which agitates and runs the Mind from one Object to another so that unless they have accustom'd themselves to overcome these Oppositions from their Youth as has been explain'd in the Second Part they will at last be incapable of penetrating into any thing that is a little Difficult or which requires a little Application We must then conclude That all Sciences especially those that include Questions very difficult to be resolv'd are full of an infinite Number of Errors and that we ought to suspect all those great Volumes which are every day composed upon Physicks Natural Philosophy and Morality and especially upon the particular Propositions of these Sciences which are much more compounded than general ones We ought even to judge that these Books are so much the more to be Contemned as they are better received by the generality of Men I mean those who are but little capable of Application and who know not how to make a good use of their Judgment because the Applause of the Vulgar in any difficult Matter is a certain Argument of the Falsity of that Opinion and that it is only maintained upon the delusive Notions of the Senses or some false Lights of the Imagination Yet it is not impossible but that a Man may of himself discover a greater Number of Truths which have been conceal'd from former Ages provided he does not want a good Judgment but lives in some retired place where nothing can divert him if he Seriously apply himself to an enquiry into Truth Wherefore those are very unreasonable who despise the Philosophy of Descartes without knowing it only for this reason because it appears impossible that one Man of himself should be able to discover the Truth in so Mysterious a Subject as that of Nature But if they knew the Manner how this Philosopher lived the Method he took in his Studies to prevent the Capacity of his Mind from being diverted by any other Objects besides those whose Truth he would discover the Clearness of the Idea's upon which he establish'd his Philosophy and generally all the Advantages he had over the Ancients by new Discoveries I say If they consider these things they would doubtless receive a more reasonable Prejudice in favour of Descartes than of Antiquity which Authorizes Aristotle Plato and many others Yet I advise them not to stop at this Prejudice nor to believe that Descartes is a great Man and that his Philosophy is good because he may be advantageously spoke of Descartes was a Man subject to Error and mistakes like others There are none of his Works even not excepting his Geometry wherein there are not some Footsteps of the Weakness of the Humane Mind He must not therefore be believ'd upon his Word but be read with Precaution as he himself advises us to do examining if he was not deceiv'd and believing nothing of what he says but what Evidence and the Secret Reproaches of our Reason oblige us to believe for indeed the Mind knows nothing truly but what it sees evidently We have shown in the preceding Chapters that our Mind is not infinite but on the contrary that it had a very mean Capacity which is commonly filled with the Sensations of the Soul And lastly That the Mind receiving its Direction from the Will cannot firmly consider any Object without being soon diverted from it through its Inconstancy and Levity These things are certainly the most general Causes of our Errors and we might longer insist upon them here but what I have said is sufficient to discover the Weakness of the Humane Mind to Persons that are capable of any Attention In the Fourth and Fifth Book we shall treat more largely of the Errors which our Inclinations and Passions lead us into and of which we have already said something in this Chapter THE SECOND PART OF THE Pure Understanding Of the Nature of IDEA'S CHAP. I. I. What is meant by Idea's That they truly Exist and that they are necessary to perceive all material Objects II. A division of all the Modes by which External Objects may be seen I Think every one will confess that we do not perceive External Objects by themselves We see the Sun the Stars and many Objects without us and it is not probable that the Soul should go out of the Body and walk as it were through the Heavens to Contemplate all those Objects there She does not then see them by themselves and as the immediate Object of Mind when it sees the Sun for instance it is not the Sun but something which is nearly united to our Soul and it is that which I call Idea So that here by this word Idea I mean only what is the immediate Object or the nearest the Mind when it perceives any thing It must be observed that to make the Mind perceive any Object it is absolutely necessary that the Idea of this Object should be actually present of which we can have no doubt but it is not requisite that there should be some external Object which resembles this Idea for it often happens that we perceive things which are not and which never had a being So that we often have in our Minds real Idea's of things which never were For instance when a Man imagins a Mountain of Gold it is absolutely necessary that the Idea of this Mountain should be really present to his Mind When a Mad Man a Man in a high Fever or a Man that is
Creatures but all Creatures only subsist by him The last Proof which perhaps will be a Demonstration to those that are used to abstracted Arguments is this It is impossible that God should have any other principal End of his Actions but himself It is a Notion that is common to all Men that are capable of any Reflection and Holy Writ does not allow us to doubt but that God has made every thing for himself Therefore it is necessary that not only our Natural Love I mean the Motion he produces in our Mind should tend towards him But moreover That the Knowledge and the Light which he bestows upon it should make us know any thing that is in him for whatever comes from God can only be for God Should God Create a Spirit and give it for an Idea or for the immediate Object of its knowledge the Sun In my Opinion God would Create that Spirit and the Idea of that Spirit for the Sun and not for him God cannot therefore Create a Spirit to know his Works unless that Spirit sees God in some measure by beholding his Works So that we may say that unless we do see God in some measure we should see nothing In like manner unless we do Love God I mean unless God did continually Imprint in us the Love of Good in general we should Love nothing For that Love being our Will we can Love nothing nor Will any thing without him since we cannot Love particular Goods without determining towards those Goods the motion of Love which God gives us towards him So that as we Love nothing but by the necessary Love we have for God so we see nothing but by the Natural Knowledge we have of God And all the particular Idea's we have of Creatures are only Limitations of the Idea of the Creator as all the Motions of the Will for the Creatures are only determinations of the motion for the Creator I believe there are no Divines but what will grant that the Impious Love God with that Natural Love I speak of And St. Austin and some other Fathers affirm as an undeniable thing That the Impious behold in God the Rule of Manners and Eternal Truths So that the Opinion I explain ought not to trouble any Body Thus St. Austin speaks L. 14. de Trin. c. 3. Ab illa incommutabili luce veritatis etiam impius dum ab ea avertitur quodammodo tangitur Hinc est quod etiam impii cogitant aeternitatem multa rectè riprehendunt rectéque laudant in hominum moribus Quibus ea tandem regulis judicant nisi in quibus vident quemadmodum quisque vivere debeat etiam si nec ipsi eodem modo vivant Vbi autem eas vident Neque enim in sua natura Nam cùm procul dubio mente ista videantur corumque mentes constet esse mutabiles has vero regula◠immutabiles videat quisquis in eis hoc videre potuerit ubinam ergo sunt istae regulae Scriptae nisi in libro lucis illius quae veritas dicitur unde lex omnis justa describitur inqua videt quid operandum sit etiam qui operatur injustitiam ipse est qui ab illa luce avertitur à qua tamen tangitur There are many passages in St. Austin like unto this by which he proves that we see God even in this Life by the knowledge we have of Eternal Truths Truth is uncreated Immutable Immense Eternal above all things It is true by it self It derives its Perfection from nothing It makes Creatures more perfect and all Spirits naturally endeavour to know it Nothing but God can have all those Perfections Therefore Truth is God We see some of those Immutable Eternal Truths Therefore we see God These are St. Austin's Reasons ours differ a little from them and we are unwilling to use the Authority of so great a Man unjustly to second our Sentiment We believe that Truths even those that are Eternal as that twice two are four are not so much as absolute Beings So far are we from believing that they are in God For it is visible that that Truth only consists in a relation of Equality which is between twice Two and Four Therefore we do not say that we see God in seeing Truths as St. Austin says but in seeing the Idea's of those Truths For Idea's are real but the Equality between the Idea's which is Truth has no reality When for example Men say that the Cloth they measure contains Three Yards the Cloth and the Yards are real But the Equality between Three Yards and the Cloth is not a real Being it is only a relation that is between the Three Yards and the Cloth When we say that twice Two are Four the Idea's of the Numbers are real but the Equality there is between them is only a Relation Thus according to our Sentiment we see God when we see Eternal Truths not that those Eternal Truths are God but because the Idea's on which those Truths depend are in God perhaps St. Austin understood it so We also believe that we know in God Changeable and Corrubtible things although St. Austin only speaks of Immutable and Incorruptible things because it is not necessary for that to place any Imperfection in God since it suffices as we have already said that God should shew us what there is in him that has a Relation to these things But though I say we see in God the things that are Material and Sensible it must be observ'd that I do not say we have a Sensation of them in God but only that it is from God who Acts in us for God Knows sensible things but he does not Feel them When we perceive any thing that is sensible Sensation and pure Idea is in our Perception Sensation is a Modification of our Soul and it is God that Causes it in us And he may Cause it though he has it not because he sees in the Idea he has of our Soul that it is capable of it As for the Idea which is joyn'd to Sensation it is in God we see it because it is his pleasure to discover it to us And God joins Sensation to the Idea when Objects are present to the end that we may believe them as they are and that we may have such Sensations and Passions as we ought to have in relation to them Lastly We believe that all Spirits see the Eternal Laws as well as other things in God but with some difference They know the Eternal Order and Eternal Truths and even the Beings which God has made according to those Truths or according to the Order by the Union which those Spirits have necessarily with the Word or Wisdom of God which directs them as we have shewn But 't is by the Impression they receive continually from the Will of God which inclines them to him and endeavours as it were to render their Will absolutely like unto his that they know
and in Truth and to whom they Sacrifice themselves But whereas the True God threatens them in the Secret of their Consciences with an Eternity of Torments to punish the Excess of their Ingratitude yet they will not quit their Idolatry they bethink themselves of performing some good Works externally They Fast like others they give Alms they say Prayers they continue for some time in the like Exercises and whereas they are troublesom to those that want Charity they leave them commonly to imbrace certain little Practices or easie Devotions which agreeing with Self-Love necessarily and insensibly overthrows all the Morals of Jesus Christ They are Faithful Earnest and Zealous Defenders of those Humane Traditions which Ignorant Persons perswade them to be very Useful and such things as the Idea of Eternity that frightens them does continually represent they eagerly defend as absolutely necessary for their Salvation It is not so with the Just They hear the Threatnings of their God as well as the Impious but the confused Noise of their Passions does not hinder them from hearkning to his Counsels The false Rays of Humane Tradition do not blind them so far as to make them Insensible of the Light of Truth They put their Confidence in the Promises of Jesus Christ and they follow his Councils for they know that the Promises of Men are as Vain as their Counsels Nevertheless we may say That that Fear which the Idea of Eternity creates in their Mind produces sometimes so great a Disorder in their Imagination that they dare not absolutely Condemn those Humane Traditions and that sometimes they approve them by their Example because they have some Appearance of Wisdom in their Superstition and in their False Humility like those Pharisaical Traditions mentioned by St. Paul Col. 2.22 23. But that which is particularly worthy of Consideration and which does not so much relate to the Corruption of Manners as to the Disorder of the Mind is That the Fear we have before mentioned extends to the Faith as well as the Zeal of those that are affected with it even to Things that are False and Unworthy the Holiness of our Religion There are many People who do believe and that with an Obstinate Faith That the Earth is Immovable in the Center of the World That Animals are Sensible of real Pain That there are Forms or Accidents really distinct from Matter And a World of the like False or Uncertain Opinions because they fancy that they should oppose the Faith in denying it They are frighten'd by the Expressions of the Holy Bible which speaks to our Capacity and consequently makes use of the common Manner of Speaking without any Design to Instruct us in Natural Philosophy They do not only believe what the Spirit of God will teach them but also all the Opinions of the Jews They do not see for Example that Joshua speaks before his Soldiers as Copernicus himself Galileus and Descartes would speak to the Vulgar part of Mankind and that though he had been of the Opinion of these last Philosophers he would not have commanded the Earth to stand still because he could not have made his Army Sensible by unintelligible words of the Miracle which God perform'd for his People Those who are of Opinion that the Sun is Immovable nevertheless tell their Servants their Friends and even those that are of their Opinion that the Sun Rises or Sets They always speak like other Men when their Principal Design is not to Philosophise Did Joshua perfectly understand Astronomy or if he did did his Souldiers understand it Or if both he and his Souldiers were skill'd in it can any body think that they design'd to Philosophise while they only thought of Fighting Therefore Joshua spoke as he ought to do although both he and his Souldiers had believ'd what the most Eminent Astronomers believe at this time Nevertheless those words of that great Captain Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon and what is said afterwards that the Sun stood still according to his Command perswade many People that the Opinion of the Motion of the Earth is not only a dangerous Opinion but that it is also absolutely Heretical and not to be maintain'd They have heard that some Pious Persons for whom we ought to have a great deal of Respect and Deference condemn'd that Opinion They have a confused Knowledge of something that happen'd upon that Subject to a Famous Astronomer of our Age and that seems sufficient for them to believe Obstinately that Faith extends even to that Opinion A certain confus'd Sentiment excited and entertain'd by a Motion of Fear which they hardly perceive makes them harbour Diffidences against those that follow Reason in things which relate to Reason They look upon them as Hereticks They are Uneasie and Troubled whenever they hear them speak and their Secret Apprehensions create in their Minds the same Respect and the same Submission for their own vulgar Opinions and for many other Notions of Philosophy as for Truths which are the Objects of Faith CHAP. XIII I. Of the Third Natural Inclination which is the Friendship we have for other Men. II. It Induces us to approve our Friends Thoughts and to deceive them by False Praises OF all our Inclinations taken in General and in the Sense I have explain'd it in the first Chapter there only remains that which we have for those we Live with and for all the Objects that are about us of which I shall hardly say any thing because that relates more to Morality and Policy than to our Subject As that Inclination is always joyn'd with the Passions it would perhaps be sitter to speak of it in the following Book But Order is not of so much Consequence in that Point In order rightly to apprehend the Causes and Effects of that Natural Inclination I. Of the Third Natural Inclination which is the Friendship we have for other Men. it is fit to know that God Loves all his Works and that he Unites them strictly one to another for their Mutual Preservation For continually loving the Works he produces since they are produc'd by his Love he also continually Imprints in our Hearts a Love for his Works since he continually produces a Love in our Hearts like unto his And to the end the Natural Love we have for our selves may not Annihilate it self and overmuch weaken that which we have for the Things that are not in us And on the contrary That those two Loves which God puts in us may maintain and strengthen each other he has united us in such a manner to all things that are about us and particularly with the Beings of the same Species with us that their Sufferings Afflict us Naturally their Joy Rejoyces us and their Grandeur their Fall their Diminution seems to Augment or to diminish our own Being The new Dignities of our Relations and Friends the new Acquisitions of those that have most relation to us the Conquests and Victories
of our Prince and even the new Discoveries of the new World seem to add something to our Subsistance Being united to all these things we rejoyce at their Grandeur and Extension we could even wish that this World had no Limits and that thought of some Philosophers that the Works of God have no Bounds does not only seem worthy of God but also very agreeable to Man who feels a Secret Joy at his being a part of Infinity because as little as he is in himself he fancies that he becomes as it were Infinite by defusing himself into the Infinite Beings that are about him It is true that the Union which we have with all the Bodies that move in those great Spaces is not very strict and therefore it is not Sensible to most Men And there are some who matter the new Discoveries that are made in the Heavens so little that one might believe they are no-wise united to it by Nature if it were not known that it is either for want of Knowledge or because they are too much engag'd to other things The Soul though united to the Body it Animates does not always feel the Motions of it or if it does it does not always apply it self to them The Passion which moves it being sometimes greater than the Sensations which affects it it seems to be more powerfully engag'd to the Object of its Passion than to its own Body For it is principally by the Passions that the Soul defuses it self upon External Objects that it feels it is really united to every thing about it as it is chiefly by Sensation that it defuses it self in its own Body and is Sensible that it is united to all the Parts that Compose it But whereas one cannot conclude that the Soul of a Passionate Person is not united to his Body because he is prodigal of his Life and takes no Care for the Preservation of it So there is no reason to imagine that we are not naturally engag'd to all things because there are some for which we are not concern'd Would you for Example know whether Men are united to their Prince or their Country Seek out some who understand their Interest and have no particular Affairs to take up their Mind Then you will see how Earnest they are for News their Disquiet for Battles their Joy for Victories their Affliction in Defeats There you will clearly see that Men are strictly united to their Prince and their Country In like manner Would you know whether Men are united to China Japan or the Planets and fix'd Stars Seek out some or else imagine some whose Country and Family enjoy a profound Peace that have no particular Passions and that do not actually feel the Union that unites them to things that are nearer us than the Heavens and you will find that if they have any Knowledge of the Greatness and Nature of those Stars they will rejoyce at the Discovery of any of them they will consider them with Pleasure and if they are Ingenious they will willingly take the Trouble to observe and Calculate their Motions Those who are busied with Assairs seldom mind whether any Comet appears or whether there is an Eclipse But those who are not so closely united to the things that are near them are very fond of these sort of Events because there is nothing to which we are not united though we do not always feel it as we do not always feel that our Soul is united I do not say to our Arm or to our Hand but to our Heart and to our Brain The strongest Natural Union which God has put between us and his Works is that which united us with those Men we live with God has commanded us to Love them like our selves and that the Love of Choice by which we love them may be Firm and Constant he upholds and strengthens it continually by a Natural Love which he imprints in us In order thereunto he has laid upon us some Invisible Tyes which necessarily oblige us to Love them to watch their Preservation like our own to look upon them as necessary parts to the whole which we compose with them and without which we cannot Subsist There is nothing more Admirable than those Natural Relations which are found betwixt the Inclinations of the Minds of Men between the Motions of their Bodies and between these Inclinations and Motions All this Secret Chain is a Wonder which can never be sufficiently admir'd and which can never be apprehended At the sight of any Pain which Surprises or that is felt for example we cry out that Cry which often comes out before we are aware of it by the Disposition of the Machine Infallibly strikes the Ears of those that are near enough to afford us the Assistance we stand in need of It penetrates through them and makes it self understood to People of all Nations and of all Qualities whatever for that Cry is of all Languages and of all Qualities as indeed it ought to be It moves the Brain and in a Moment changes the whole Disposition of the Body of those that are struck by it Morcover it makes them run to assist before they are aware of it But it is not long without acting upon the Mind and without obliging them to be willing to relieve them and of thinking of Means to secure those that have made that Natural Prayer provided always the said Prayer or rather this pressing Command be Just and according to the Rules of Society For an Indiscreet Cry made without a Cause or out of a vain Fear produces Indignation and Scorn in the Assistants instead of Compassion because in crying without a cause we abuse things establish'd by Nature for our Preservation That Indiscreet Cry naturally produces Aversion and the Desire of revenging the Abuse that has been offer'd to Nature I mean to the Order of things provided he that made it did it voluntarily But it ought only to produce the Passion of Laughter mix'd with some Compassion without Aversion and a Desire of Revenge when it proceeds from Fear that is from a false Appearance of a pressing Necessity which has induced any one to cry out For Laughter or Jest is necessary to repel their Fear and to correct them and Compassion is necessary to Succor them as Weak It is impossible to conceive any thing better order'd I do not pretend to explain by Example which are the Springs and the Relations which the Author of Nature has placed in the Brains of Men and all Animals to maintain the Consent and Union which is necessary for their Preservation I only make some Reflections upon those Springs that People may think upon them and may carefully inquire not how those Springs move nor how their Motion is communicated by the Air by the Light and by all the little Bodies that surround us for that is almost Incomprehensible and is not necessary but at least to know what are the Effects of it One may
sola substantia rationalis Quare omnia per ipsam sed ad ipsam non nisi anima rationalis Itaque substantia rationalis per ipsam facta est ad ipsam Non enim est ulla natura interposita Lib. Imp. de Gen. ad Litt. St. Austin for Truth to which alone it is immediately united It is true the Soul is united to the Body and is naturally the Form of it but it is also true that it is united to God after a much stricter and more Essential manner The relation it has to its Body might not be but the relation it has to God is so Essential that it is impossible to conceive that God could create a Spirit without that Relation It is evident that God can only Act for himself that he can only Create Spirits to Know and Love him that he can neither give them any Knowledge nor imprint any Love in them but what is for him and what tends towards him But he was not oblig'd to unite Spirits to Bodies as he has done Therefore the * Rectissimè dicitur factus ad imaginem similitudinem Dei non enim aliter incommutabilem veritatem posset mente conspicere De vera Rel. Relation which our Minds have to God is Natural Necessary and absolutely Indispensible but the Relation of our Spirits to our Bodies though Natural is neither absolutely Necessary nor Indispensible This is not a proper place to set forth all the Authorities and Reasons which may induce us to believe that it is more suitable to the Nature of our Mind to be united to God than to a Body these things would lead us too far To place this Truth in a just Light it would be necessary to destroy the Principal Foundations of Heathen Philosophy to explain the Disorders of Sin to engage what is falsly called Experience and to argue against the Prejudices and Illusions of the Senses Therefore to make the common sort of Mankind apprehend this Truth perfectly is too hard a Task to attempt in a Preface Nevertheless it is not difficult to prove it to attentive Minds which are acquainted with true Philosophy for it is enough to put them in mind that since the Will of God regulates the Nature of every thing it is more suitable to the Nature of the Soul to be united to God by the Knowledge of Truth and the Love of Good than to be united to a Body since it is certain as above that God has created Spirits to Know and Love him rather than to Inform Bodies This Proof is able at first sight to startle Ingenious Minds then to render them attentive and lastly to convince them But it is morally Impossible that Sensualiz'd Spirits who can know nothing but what is felt should ever be convinc'd by such Arguments These sort of Men must have gross sensible Proofs because nothing seems real to them unless it makes an Impression upon their Senses The Fall of the first Man has so much weakned the * Mens quod non sentit nisi cum purissima beatisma est nulla Cohaeret nisi ipsi veritati quae similitudo Imago patris sapientia dicitur Aug. lib. Imp. de Gen. ad Litt. Vnion of our Mind with God that none but those are sensible of it whose Heart is purified and whose Mind is inlightned for this Vnion seems Imaginary to all those who blindly follow the Judgments of the Senses and the Motions of the Passions On the contrary it has so much strengthned the Vnion of our Soul with our Body that these two parts of our selves seem to us to be no longer but one and the same Substance or rather it has made us such Slaves to our Senses and Passions that we are inclin'd to believe our Body is the Principal of the two Parts of which we are composed When we consider the different Employments of Men we have a great deal of reason to believe that they have a mean and low Opinion of themselves for as they all love Felicity and the Perfection of their Being and only labour to make themselves Happier or more Perfect have we not reason to believe that they have a greater Value for their Body and the Goods of their Body than for their Mind and the Goods thereof when we see them commonly imploy'd about things that have a Relation to the Body seldom or never thinking on those which are absolutely necessary for the Perfection of the Mind The greatest part of Men labour with so much Industry and Toil only to maintain a miserable Life and to leave their Children some necessary Conveniencies for the Preservation of their Bodies Those who by the good Fortune or Chance of their Birth are not subject to this Necessity do not shew better by their Business and Imployments that they look upon their Soul as the noblest part of their Being Hunting Dancing Gaming Entertainments are their common Imployments their Soul being a Slave to their Body Esteems and Cherishes all those Divertisements though altogether Vnworthy of it but because their Body has a relation to all Sensible Things the Soul is not only inslav'd to the Body but also to all sensible things by the Body and for the Body for 't is by the Body that Men are united to their Relations their Friends their Country their Imployments and to all sensible Enjoyments the Preservation of which seems to them as necessary and as valuable as the Preservation of their own Being Thus the Care of their Estates and the Desire of increasing them the Passion of Glory and Grandeur agitates and imploys them infinitely more than the perfecting of their Soul Moreover the Learned and those who pretend to Wit spend more than half their Life in Actions purely Animal or such as incline us to think that they value their Health their Estate and their Reputation more than the Perfection of their Mind They study more to attain a Chimerical Grandeur in the Opinion of other Men than increase the Power and Capacity of their Mind They make their Heads a kind of Wardrobe in which they Store up without choice or order whatever bears any Character of Learning I mean whatever may appear Rare and Extraordinary and excite the Admiration of other Men. They are proud of being like those Cabinets of Curiosity and Antiquity which have nothing Rich or Solid in them the Value whereof only depends on Fancy Passion and Chance and they seldom labour to improve their Mind and to regulate the Motions of their Heart Yet it is not that Men are wholly Ignorant they have a * Non exigua hominis portio sed totius Humana Universitatis substantia est Amb. 6. Hexa 7. Soul and that this Soul is the chief part of their Being They have also been convinc'd a thousand times by Reason and Experience that it is no very considerable Advantage to have some Reputation Riches and Health for some Years and generally that all the
were not compell'd into an Admiration of him by Convincing Reasons but by the Strength of that Authors Imagination The Word Pedant is very Equivocal but in my Opinion Custom and Reason require that we should call those Pedants who to make a fair shew of their false Learning quote at random all sorts of Authors who to gain a Popular Applause talk only for talking's sake and to make themselves admir'd by Fools who rake together without Judgment or Discretion Apothegms and Passages of History to prove or make a shew of proving Things that cannot be prov'd but by Reasons Pedants are oppos'd to Men that make use of their Reason and that which renders 'em odious to Men of Worth and Sense is this that Pedants are Enemies to Reason For Men of true Ingenuity love naturally sound Arguments nor can they endure the Conversation of Men that will not admit of the use of Reason Now those Persons whom we have describ'd can never argue truly because their Brains are very shallow and stuff'd with false Learning besides Nor will they argue because they find that some Men admire 'em more when they cite any unknown Author or any Sentence of an ancient Writer than when they pretend to Reasoning So that their Vanity Congratulating it self for the Veneration that is paid 'em causes 'em to apply themselves to the Study of all those Obsolete and unusual Sciences that procure the gaping astonishment of the Vulgar Pedants then are Vain and Arrogant Men of great Memories but of little Judgment quick and abounding in Quotations unfortunate and weak in their Arguments endu'd with a vigorous and spacious Imagination but volatile irregular and no ways able to contain it self within the bounds of Exactness After all this it will be no difficult thing to prove that Montagne was as much a Pedant as several others according to the Notion of the Word Pedant which seems most conformable to Reason and Custom I speak not here of Gown'd Pedants or Schoolmasters 't is not the Gown that makes a Pedant Montagne who had such an aversion for Pedantry might never wear a long Gown but he could not so easily discharge himself of his peculiar Vices He has labour'd to acquire a Genteel Air but he never studied how to be Master of a Just Mind or at least his Studies prov'd ineffectual And therefore he adorn'd his Wit with a sort of Learning that did not taste of the School but was empty vain and trivial while he neglected to cultivate his Reason to corroborate his Judgment and acquire to himself the Vertues of a Worthy Man Montagne's Book is stuff'd with so many Proofs of the Pride and Vanity of the Author that it would be a needless thing perhaps to spend time in the particular enumeration of ' em For he must be a Man extreamly conceited to believe that People would read such a large Book on purpose to understand the Genius and Humour of the Author Certainly he must think himself separated from the Vulgar and look upon himself as some extraordinary Person All Men are essentially oblig'd to turn the Mind of those that are prone to reverence 'em towards him who alone deserves to be ador'd And Religion teaches that the Mind and Heart of Man which were only made for God should never be taken up with our selves nor step at self-admiration and self-self-love When St. John fell prostrate at the Feet of the Angel of God the Angel bid him rise Apoc. 19.10 Conservus tuus sum adora deum I am thy Fellow-servant said he and of thy Brethren worship God Only the Devils and those that partake of their Impious Pride aspire to Adoration But to exact that other Men should employ themselves in meditating upon our Affections and Cogitations What is this but to seek after not only an External but an Internal and Real Adoration and ardently to desire the same Worship which God requires to be paid to himself in Spirit and Truth Montagne wrote his Essays to no other end but to paint forth his own Humours and Inclinations he himself confesses as much in his Advertisement to the Reader inserted in all the Editions 'T is my self that I paint forth 't is I that am the Subject of my own Book And this is apparent enough to them that read it For there are very few Chapters wherein he does not make some Digression or other to speak of himself And there are some whole Chapters which he consumes in talking of no body else but himself Wherefore though he compos'd his Book to make the Portraiture of himself yet he publish'd it for others to read 'T was therefore his design to turn the Gazing Eyes and Attentions of all Men upon himself though he says he knew not any reason he had to imploy his Leisure upon a Subject so vain and frivolous Thus his own words condemn him For if he thought there was no reason why Men should employ themselves in reading his Book certainly he acted against Common Sense in causing his Essays to be publish'd Whence we are oblig'd to believe that either he spoke one thing and thought another or that he did amiss to Print his Book 'T is also a very pleasant Excuse of his Vanity to say that he had never written but for the sake of his Friends and Relations For if that were true wherefore did he suffer three Impressions Would not one have been enough for his Friends and Relation How came it to pass that he enlarg'd his Book in the last Impressions and never expung'd any thing out of it unless it were because Fortune favour'd his Intentions I add says he but I never correct for he that has once mortgag'd his Work to the Publick in my Opinion has no farther right to it Let him say better if he can in another Book But let him not corrupt the work that he has sold At this rate nothing is to be purchas'd from such Men till after they are dead Let Men consider well before they appear in publick Who bids 'em make such haste My Book is always one and the same And therefore he mortgag'd and publish'd his Book as well to pleasure other Men as his Relations and Friends But though he had endeavour'd to oblige his Friends and Relations only and to have turn'd their Minds and Hearts upon his Picture made by himself all the time that was to be spent in reading his Book certainly his Vanity was ne're the more to be excus'd If it be a fault for a Man to speak often of himself certainly 't is a piece of Impudence or rather a kind of Madness for a Man to be always making Panegyries upon himself as Montagne does for it is not only a Sin against Christian Humility but against Right Reason Men were made to live together and to form Civil Bodies and Societies but it is to be observ'd that the Private Members which compose those Societies would not take it well to be accounted
Thousand sides or a Circular or Ecliptick Figure which may be consider'd as made up of an Infinity of Angles and Sides There is an infinite number of different Species of each of these Figures an infinite number of Triangles of different kinds besides other Figures of four six ten or Ten Thousand sides and infinite Poligons For the Circle the Ellipsis and generally every regular or irregular curve-lin'd Figure may be consider'd as an infinite Poligone The Ellipsis for example as an infinite Poligone but whose Angles or sides are unequal being greater towards the lesser Diameter than the other And thus of infinite other Poligones more compounded and irregular A simple piece of Wax is capable of infinite or rather infinitely infinite different Modifications which no Mind can comprehend What reason then is there to imagine that the Soul which is more noble than the Body is not capable of more Modifications besides those which it has yet receiv'd If we had never felt Pain nor Pleasure if we had never seen Colour or Light or if we had been as Blind or Deaf in relation to Colours and Sounds ought we thence to conclude that we were incapable of all the Sensations which we now have of Objects since these Sensations are only Modifications of our Soul as we have proved in the Treatise of the Senses We must then grant that the Capacity which the Soul has of receiving different Modifications is probably greater than the Capacity which it has of conceiving I mean as the Mind cannot draw out or conceive all the Figures whereof Matter is capable so it cannot comprehend all the different Modifications which the powerful Hand of God can produce in the Soul even though we should as distinctly know the Capacity of the Soul as that of Matter Which is Absurd from the Reasons brought in the Seventh Chapter of the Second Part of this Book Our Soul therefore receives very few Modifications here because it is united to the Body upon which it depends All its Sensations carry it to its Body and whereas it cannot enjoy God it can have no other Modifications besides what the other Enjoyments produce Matter which our Body is composed of is capable of very few Modifications in this Life this Matter cannot be resolv'd into Earth and Vapour till after Death it cannot now become Air Fire Diamond Metal it cannot be Square Round Triangular it must be Flesh and have the Figure of Man that the Soul may be united to it It is even so with our Soul it is necessary that it have Sensations of Heat Cold Colour Light Sounds Odours Sapors and many other Modifications that it may be united to its Body All these Sensations engage it to the Preservation of its Machine they agitate it and terrifie it so soon as the least Spring is loosed or broken And thus the Soul must be subject thereto as long as the Body shall be subject to Corruption but as soon as it shall be invested with Immortality and there shall be no farther Fear of a Dissolution of its Parts it 's reasonable to believe that it will no longer be affected with these Incommodious Sensations which we unwillingly feel but with an Infinity of all other different Things of which we have now no Idea which shall surpass all our Thoughts and be worthy of the Greatness and Goodness of God whom we shall enjoy 'T is therefore against all Reason that Men imagine to penetrate so into the Nature of the Soul as to be well assur'd that it 's only capable of Knowing and Loving This indeed might be maintain'd by those who attribute their Sensations to External Objects or to their own Body or who pretend that their Passions are in their Heart For indeed if we retrench from the Soul all its Passions and Sensations whatever can be known in that which is left behind is only a Chain of Knowledge and Love But I cannot apprehend how those who have taken their leave of the Illusions of their Senses can be perswaded that all our Sensations and Passions are only Knowledge and Love I mean the confused kinds of Judgments which the Soul draws from Objects relating to the Body which it Animates I do not apprehend how it may be said That Light Colours Odours c. are Judgments of the Soul for on the contrary it seems to me that Colours Odours and other Sensations are Modifications very different from Judgments Let us choose some of the quickest Sensations which most affect the Mind and let us see what these Men can say of Colour or of Pleasure They think according to many very Famous * St. Aug. Book 6. De Musica Descartes dans son homme c. Authors that these Sensations are only Consequences of the Faculty which we have of Knowing and Willing and that Pain for Example is nothing else but a certain Sollicitude Repugnancy and Aversion of the Will against things which it knows to be Hurtful to its Dear Body But it 's evident to me that this is to confound Pain with Sadness and make Pain a Consequence of the Knowledge and Action of the Will whereas on the contrary it precedes both For Example If a hot Coal was put into the Hand of a Person that was asleep or should hold his Hands behind his Back no one I believe with any probability of Truth would affirm that this Person would forthwith know that there were some Motions in his Hands contrary to a good Constitution of Body that afterwards his Will would oppose it and that this Pain would be a Consequence of this Knowledge of his Mind and this Opposition of his Will But rather on the contrary the first thing that this Person would conceive when the Coal touch'd his Hand would be Pain and this Knowledge of the Mind and Opposition of the Will would be only Consequences of Pain though indeed they were the Cause of Sadness which followed the Pains But there is much difference between the Pain and the Sadness which it produces Pain is the first thing which the Soul feels it precedes Knowledge and can never be agreeable in it self But on the contrary Sadness is the last thing which the Soul feels Knowledge always precedes it and it is always pleasant in it self This is evident from the Pleasure we perceive at the Lamentable Representations of Tragedies for this Pleasure increases with the Sadness but Pleasure never increases with Pain Comedians who study the Art of Pleasing know well that the Stage is not to be imbru'd with Slaughter because the Image of a Murder is rather Terrible than Pleasant But they are not afraid to affect the Spectators with too great a Sadness because indeed Sadness is always agreeable when there is a proper Subject of Sadness there is then an Essential Difference betwixt Sadness and Pain and one cannot say that Pain is only a Knowledge of the Mind joyn'd to an Opposition of the Will As for other Sensations such as
manner to maintain their Sentiments they are alike in that though they differ in the main This is sufficient for those who do not weigh the difference of Reasons to Judge that they are alike in all things because they are alike in that manner which every Body is capable to Judge of Devout Persons are not then obstinate they are only steddy as they ought to be But the Vicious and Libertines are always obstinate though they should not persist one Hour in their Sentiments Because Men are only obstinate when they defend a False Opinion although they should only defend it a little while This is the Case of some Philosophers who have maintain'd Chimerical Opinions which they lay aside at last They would have those who defend constant Truths whose certainty they see evidently to part with them as bare Opinions as they have done with those they had foolishly been prejudic'd with And because it is difficult to have a deference for them in prejudice of Truth as also because the Love we have Naturally for it inclines us to defend it earnestly they Judge us to be obstinate Those Men are to blame to defend their Chimera's obstinately but the others are in the right to defend Truth with Vigour and Steddiness of Mind The manner of both is the same but their Sentiments are different and it is that difference of Sentiment which makes the one constant and the others obstinate THE CONCLUSION OF THE Three First Books IN the beginning of this Book I have distinguished two Parts in the Simple and Indivisible Being of the Soul one purely Passive and the other both Passive and Active The first is the Mind or Understanding the second is the Will I have attributed three Faculties to the Mind because it receives its Modifications and Idea's from the Author of Nature after three different ways I have called it Sense When it receives from God its Idea's that are confounded with Sensations viz. Sensible Idea's occasion'd by certain Motions which pass in the Organs of its Senses at the Presence of Objects I have called it Imagination and Memory When it receives from God Idea's that are confounded with Images which are a kind of Weak and Languishing Sensations that the Mind receives only through some Traces that are produc'd or are stirr'd up in the Brain by the Course of the Spirits Lastly I have called it Pure Mind or Understanding when it receives from God pure Idea's of Truth without any mixture of Sensations and Images with it Not by the Union it hath with the Body but through that it hath with the Word or Wisdom of God not because it is in the Material and Sensible World but because it subsists in the Immaterial and Intelligible one Not to know Mutable things fit for the Preservation of the Life of the Body but to discover unchangeable Truths which preserve the Life of the Mind I have shown in the first and second Book that our Senses and Imaginations are very useful to discover to us the Relation betwixt External Bodies and our own that all the Idea's which the Mind receives through the Body are for the use of the Body that it is impossible clearly to discover any Truth whatsoever by the Idea's of our Senses and Imaginations that those confus'd Idea's serve only to engage us to our Body and through our Body to all Sensible things And lastly That if we would avoid Error we ought not to trust to them I also concluded it Morally Impossible to know by the pure Idea's of the Mind the Relations that are betwixt External Bodies and ours That we must not argue according to these Idea's to know if an Apple or a Pear are good to eat but we must judge it by our Taste And although we may make use of our Minds to discover after some confused manner the Relations that are betwixt External Bodies and our own yet it is always the surest way to make use of our Senses I will give another Example for we cannot impress too much on the Mind things that are so Essential and Necessary Supposing I would examine which is most Advantageous to be Religious or Rich if I open the Eyes of my Body Justice appears a Chimera I see no Attractives in it I see the Just are Miserable Abandoned Persecuted Defenceless and without Consolation for he that Comforts and Upholds them does not appear to my Eyes and indeed I do not see of what use Justice or Virtue can be but if I turn my Eyes upon Riches I soon perceive their Lustre and am dazled with it Power Grandeur Pleasures and all Sensible Goods accompany Riches I cannot doubt but Riches are necessary to make one Happy So likewise if I make use of my Ears I hear that all Men esteem Riches they speak of nothing but the ways of getting them and they always Praise and Honour those that possess them These two Senses and all the rest tell me That to be Happy I must be Rich And if I shut my Eyes and Ears and ask my Imagination it continually represents to me what my Eyes have seen and my Ears heard as to the Advantage of Riches but yet it will represent these things to me quite after another manner than my Senses did for the Imagination always enlarges the Idea's of those things that have any relation to the Body or which we Love If I will but permit it my Imagination will soon conduct me to an inchanted Palace like those of which Poets and Romances have made such Magnificent Descriptions of and there I shall see such Beauties which would be useless for me to describe This would convince me that the God of Riches who inhabits it is only capable of making me Happy This is what my Body is able to perswade me to for it speaks only for it self it is necessary for its Good that the Imagination should stoop before the Grandeur and Splendor of Riches But if I consider that the Body is infinitely below the Mind that it cannot be Master of it that it cannot instruct it in the Truth nor produce Light in it and that recollecting my self I ask my self or rather since I am neither my own Master nor Light if I draw near to God and in the Silence of my Senses and Passions ask him whether I ought to prefer Riches to Virtue or Virtue to Riches I shall hear a clear and distinct Answer of what I ought to do an Eternal Answer which has always been given is now given and will always be given an Answer which it is not necessary I should explain because all the World knows it either those who read this Book or those who read it not which is neither Greek Latin French or German and which is conceived by all Nations Lastly An Answer which Comforts the Just in their Poverty and which disturbs Sinners in the midst of their Riches I shall hear this Answer and be convinced of it I shall laugh at the Fancies
The Inclination for Good in General is the Principle of the Disquiet of our Will II. And consequently of our Negligence and Ignorance III. First Example Morality little known to many Men. IV. Second Example The Immortality of the Soul disputed by some Men. V. That our Ignorance is exceeding great in respect of abstracted things or such as have but little Relation to us THat vast Capacity which the Will has for all Good in General I. The Inclination for Good in General is the Principle of the Disquiet of our Will because it is only form'd by a Good which includes all Good in it self cannot be satisfied by all the things which the Mind represents to it and yet that continual Motion which God imprints in it towards Good cannot stand still This Motion never ceasing puts the Mind of necessity into a continual Agitation The Will which seeks what it desires obliges the Mind to represent all sorts of Objects to it self The Mind accordingly does it but the Soul does not relish them or if it does is not satisfied with them The Soul does not relish them by reason that often the Perception of the Mind is not accompanied with Pleasure for it is through Pleasure that the Soul relishes its Good And the Soul is not satisfied with it by reason that nothing can stop the Motion of the Soul but him that gives it Whatever the Mind represents to it self as its Good is Finite and whatever is Finite may withdraw our Love for a while but it cannot fix it When the Mind considers very new and uncommon Objects or that have some relation to Infinity the Will permits the Mind to examine them a while with some Attention in hopes of finding what it is in search of because whatever appears Infinite bears the Character of its real Good but in time it grows weary of it as well as of the rest Therefore the Will is always disquieted because it is inclin'd to seek for that which it can never find and which it always hopes to find It Loves whatever is Great and Extraordinary and resembles Infinity for not having found its real Good in Common and Familiar things it hopes to find it in such as are unknown to it We will demonstrate in this Chapter that the Disquiet of our Wills is one of the principal Causes of our Ignorance and of the Errors into which we fall in many things And in the two following we will explain what it is that produces in us the Inclination we have for every thing that has something Great or Extraordinary in it It is something evident by what has been said II. And consequently of our Negligence and Ignorance First That the Will seldom makes use of the Understanding unless on Objects that have some Relation to us and that it very much neglects all others for being ever earnestly desirous of Felicity by the Impression of Nature it only turns the Understanding towards such things as seem to be of use to us and which do in some measure please us Secondly That the Will does not permit the Understanding to apply it self long even to such things as it is delighted with Because as we have already said all things that are created may indeed please us for a while but we are soon disgusted with them and then our Mind lays them by to seek for that which can satisfie it elsewhere Thirdly That the Will is excited thus to make the Mind run from Object to Object because it never ceases to represent consusedly to it or as at a distance that which includes all Beings in it self as we have declared in the Third Book For the Will being desirous as it were to draw its real Good near to it self to be pleased with it and to receive from it the Motion which animates it it excites the Understanding to represent that Good in some measure But then it is no longer the General the Universal the Infinitely Perfect Being which the Mind perceives it is something that is Bounded and Imperfect which not being able to stop the Motion of the Will nor to please it long it forsakes it to turn after some other Object And whereas the Attention and Application of the Mind are absolutely necessary to discover abstracted Truths it is evident that the common sort of Mankind must live in a gross Ignorance in respect even of such things as have some relation to them and that it is impossible to express their Blindness in what relates to abstracted Truths and which have no sensible relation to them But we must endeavour to prove these things by Examples Amongst all Sciences Morality has most relation to us It teaches us all our Duty towards God III. First Example Morality little known among many Men. towards our Prince towards our Friends and Relations and generally towards all that are about us Moreover it teaches us the way to be Eternally Happy and all Men lie under an Essential Obligation or rather Indispensible Necessity to apply themselves wholly to it And yet though there have been Men on Earth these Six Thousand Years that Science is still very Imperfect That part of Morality which relates to our Duty towards God and which undoubtedly is the chief since it relates to Eternity has hardly been known by the most Learned and even in our days we find Men of Sence who are unacquainted with it and yet it is the easiest part of Morality For in the first place Where lies the Difficulty to discover that there is a God Whatever God has made proves it Whatever Men or Beasts do proves it Whatever we think whatever we see whatever we feel proves it In a word There is nothing but what proves the Existence of God or that may prove it to attentive Minds who apply themselves seriously to the Knowledge of the Author of all Things Secondly It is evident that there is a Necessity to follow the Commands of God to be Happy for as he is Powerful and Just we cannot disobey him without being Punish'd nor obey him without being Rewarded But what is it he exacts from us That we should Love him That our Mind should be taken up with him That our Hearts should be turned towards him For wherefore has he Created our Minds Certainly he can do nothing but for himself Therefore he has made us for himself only and we are Indispensibly obliged not to apply elsewhere the Impression of that Love which he continually preserves in us in order that we should continually Love him These Truths are easily discovered with little Application And yet this only Principle of Morality which teaches us that to be Vertuous and Happy it is absolutely necessary to Love God above all Things and in all Things is the Foundation of all Christian Morality Neither does it require an extraordinary Application of Mind to draw from thence all the Consequences we stand in need of to settle the general Rules of our Conduct
us well to remember that the Violent Inclinations we have for Divertisements Pleasures and generally for all that does affect us throws us into a great number of Errors Because the Capacity of our Mind being Bounded that Inclination withdraws our Mind continually from the Attention we should give to the clear and distinct Idea's of the Understanding which are proper to discover Truth to apply it to the false obscure and deceitful Idea's of our Senses which Influence the Will more by the hope of Good and Pleasure than they Instruct the Mind by their Light and Evidence CHAP. XII Of the Effects which the thought of Future Bliss and Sufferings is capable of producing in the Mind IF it happens often that the little Pleasures and slight Pains which we actually feel nay more which we have a Prospect of strangely disturb our Imagination and hinder us from judging of things according to their true Idea's we have no reason to believe that the prospect of Eternity cannot act upon our Mind But it will be necessary to consider what it may be capable of producing there We must observe in the First Place that the hopes of an Eternity of Pleasures does not Act so powerfully upon the Mind as the fear of an Eternity of Torments The Reason of it is Men do not Love Pleasure so much as they Hate Pain Moreover by the Internal Knowledge they have of their Disorders they are sensible that they deserve Hell and they see nothing in themselves to Merit such great Rewards as to participate of the Felicity of God himself They are sensible when they please and even sometimes against their Will that far from deserving Rewards they are worthy of the greatest Chastisements for their Conscience never leaves them but they are in the like manner continually convinc'd that God is willing to shew his Mercy upon Sinners after having satisfy'd his Justice upon his Son Therefore the Just themselves have more Lively Apprehensions of the Eternity of Torments than Hopes of an Eternity of Pleasures The prospect of Pain then consequently is more prevailing than the prospect of Reward and here is partly that which it is capable of producing not alone but as a principal Cause It produces an infinite number of Scruples in the Mind and confirms them so much that it is almost impossible to get rid of them It Extends as it were even Faith to prejudices and makes us pay the Worship which is only due to God to Imaginary Powers It obstinately fixes the Mind on vain or dangerous Superstitions It makes Men earnestly and zealously Embrace Human Traditions and Practices that are useless for Salvation Judaick and Pharisaick Devotions which have been invented by servile Fear Finally it sometimes throws Men into a blindness of Despair Insomuch that looking confusedly on Death as an Annihilation they foolishly hasten to make away with themselves to be freed of the Mortal Disquiets which possess and frighten them There is often more Charity than Self-Love in the Scrupulous as well as in the Superstitious but there is nothing but Self-love in the desperate For taking the thing rightly those must needs Love themselves extreamly who chuse rather not to be than to be uneasie Women Young People and Weak Minds are the most subject to Scruples and Superstitions and Men are more liable to Despair It is easie to know the reason of these things For it is Visible that the Idea of Eternity being the greatest the most terrible and the most frightful of all those that surprise the Mind and strike the Imagination it is necessary it should be attended with a long Train of Accessory Idea's to make together a considerable Effect upon the Mind because of the Relation they have to that great and terrible Idea of Eternity Whatever has any relation to Infinity cannot be Little or if it is Little in itself it receives an immense greatness by that Relation which cannot be compar'd to any thing that is Finite Therefore whatever has any relation or even what we fancy to have any relation either to an unavoidable Eternity of Torments or Delights which is propos'd to us must needs frighten those Minds that are capable of any Reflection or Thought The Fibers of the Brains of Women or young People and of weak Minds being as I have said elsewhere Soft and Flexible receive deep Marks of one of these two And when they have abundance of Spirits and are more capable of Thought and Just Reflection they receive by the Vivacity of their Imagination a very great number of false Impressions and Accessary Idea's which have no Natural Relation to the Principal Idea Nevertheless that Relation though Imaginary maintains and fortifies those False Impressions and Accessary Idea's which it has created When two Lawyers are ingag'd in some great Cause which wholly takes up their Mind and yet do not understand the Case they often have vain Fears being in dread that certain things may Prejudice them which the Judges have no regard to and which experienced Lawyers do not fear The Affair being of very great Consequence to them the Motion it produces in their Brains diffuses it self and is communicated to distant traces which have naturally no relation to it It fares just in the same manner with the Scrupulous they unreasonably form to themselves Subjects of Fear and Disquiet and instead of examining the Will of God in the Holy Scriptures and of relying on those whose Imagination is not tainted their Mind is wholly taken up with an Imaginary Law which disorderly Motions of Fear impress on their Brains And though they are inwardly convinc'd of their Weakness and that God does not require from them certain Duties which they prescribe to themselves since they hinder them from serving him they cannot forbear preferring their Imagination to their Understanding and from submitting rather to certain Confused Sentiments which frighten and plunge them into Error than to the Evidence of Reason which gives them Assurance and leads them again into the right way to Heaven We meet often with a great deal of Charity and Virtue in Persons that are afflicted with Scruples but there is not near so much in those that are addicted to some Superstitions and who imploy themselves chiefly about some Judaick or Pharisaick Practices God will be ador'd in Spirit and in Truth He is not satisfied with Gestures and External Civilities as kneeling in his Presence and being Praised by the Motion of the Lips when the Heart has no share in it Men indeed are satisfied with those Marks of Respect but 't is because they cannot search into the Heart for even Men would be serv'd in Spirit and in Truth God requires our Mind and our Heart he has only made it for himself and he only preserves it for himself But there are many People who unfortunately for themselves refuse him those things over which he has absolute Right They harbour Idols in their Hearts which they adore in Spirit