how he is the beginning and end of all things Those holy persons that read the Scripture with an intention to find Christ never fail to find him there for he is in every place of it But they have not the spirit of this world but that of God whereby they know the greatness of the Gift that God hath imparted to them The outward and sensible Man is not capable of the things which the Divine Spirit teacheth us for the eye hath not seen the ear hath not heard nor the heart of man ever understood what God hath prepared for those that love him I do not only speak of those false learned who deny the corruption of Nature the necessity of Grace and the Divinity of Christ yet assume the quality of Christians I also speak of those who live in the bosom of the Church but have little love for Religion It is impossible they should be very well learned in the knowledge of Christ seeing they do not love him and do not study the Scriptures professing the Christian Religion perhaps only because it is that of their Parents Arist You have told us a great many things both to day and yesterday since I have seen my Friend I imagin that he wants me as I do to know what he will think of these things I must leave you to go to him Theod. Do Aristarchus make him sensible of the general corruption of Nature and the enmity that is between God and man and endeavor to demonstrate plainly to him the necessity of Christ's satisfaction If you find that he receives your Sentiments as he ought and is willing to be instructed immediately fall on the praises of our Redeemer and stir him up to the love of his Saviour by the consideration of the chief obligations he hath to him Tell him That Christ is the Way the Truth and the Life That he is our intelligible light that enlightens us in the deepest recess of our Reason and our sensible light that instructs us by Miracles by Parables and Faith That he alone is the food of the Soul That his light is the sole producer of Charity and that none but him can give us the holy Spirit whereby we become the children of God Tell him that he hath been predestinated before all time to be our King and Chief our Pastor and Law-giver That God receives our Prayers through him only That we are made clean only by his blood and enter into the Holy of Holies only through his Sacrifice In short That Christ is all things to us that in him we are new creatures and new men that have not been condemned in Adam that without Christ we are nothing have right to nothing but are sold to Sin Slaves to the Devils and the eternal objects of God's wrath Use all your endeavors to make him think on Christ to unite him to and make him esteem and love Christ and conclude with these words of St Paul at the end of one of his Epistles If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maran-atha 1 Cor. 16.22 DIALOGUE VI. The Truth of the Christian Religion proved by other Reasons Arist AH Theodorus how unsatisfy'd am I in my Friend Theod. Yes Aristarchus I can easily see it the Air of your Countenance does not rejoice those that examin it 't is not an Air of Triumph or of Victory that might please those who take part of it But how cou'd he resist you Arist As I was well persuaded of the truth of the Christian Religion by the proofs of original Sin and the necessity of a Mediator so I imagined I cou'd convince him by proposing the same proofs but I know not to what I should attribute the ill success of my words when I spoke to him instead of persuading him I provoked him and he rejected all that I proposed to him with a kind of scorn he would not so much as agree with me in common Notions but continually said that my Reasons were the Reasons of Philosophy Such Answers grieved me I strove to convince him and continued to repeat the same things hoping that at last he would reflect but all my Efforts were entirely lost 'T is something strange Theodorus that a Man can't convince others of the same thing that he himself is fully convinced of for it appears to me that all Men ought to see the same things Theod. If all Men were equally attentive to inward truth they would all equally see the same things but your Friend is not like you he is taken up with a multitude of things and his pride has now for many years kept him unconversant even with himself so that abstracted proofs and reasonings built upon Notions which have no dependance of the senses persuade him not because these proofs don't touch him and because he has many confused reasons which hinder his application to them When a Man has discovered a Geometrical Demonstration he can convince all Men of it to whom he clearly proposes it because that these things are sensible that they freely apply themselves to them that there 's no reason why they should not believe them that they are not prepossess'd by the authority of Men that deny them and that when they see these kinds of truth they see them after a sensible manner But 't is not the same with certain truths which are contrary to our inclinations there we think not seriously and we have many reasons not to believe them It 's necessary Aristarchus that I demonstrate to you the truth of the Christian Religion by more sensible proofs than those of our preceding Conferences it may be your Friend will more willingly hearken to them Do you take his place and object whatever you can imagin against what I shall offer I only suppose that God hath made our Souls to know and love him 'T is what your Friend assents to You have heard Aristarchus of one Moses the famous Legislator of the Jews to whom God gave the Ten Commandments upon Mount Sinai Do you believe what the Scripture says of him Arist But what if he was a Cheat an Impostor Theod. Very well Aristarchus you suppose your self under your Friend's character but you know that he must have an excessive bold spirit I would say the most ignorant and most transported of bold spirits who dares say that Moses was a Cheat you do much honour to your Friend Arist I know what I say Theod. Well then if you know him so well speak for him I will engage him in your person You have reason Aristarchus and ought not to oppose a Sentiment that is universally received by all reasonable persons unless you have good proofs that they are deceived Arist There is much prejudice Theod. Right but this common Reason does not justifie you nor will it justifie the most extravagant doubts that may be raised but I may tell you that there was never any Man that could be more unreasonably accused of Imposture
three years he doubtless took great pleasure to teach three or four of us young Men who came to hear him since he wou'd fatigue himself every Morning to repeat the miserable Reasons which he plunder'd out of Aristotle's Problems Now he reads no more for we hearing him no longer with admiration he speaks no more with pleasure He even has much aversion for all Discourses of Learning and as he is a little troublesom we have found out the secret to get rid of his Company by proposing some Question to him to have it resolv'd Theod. This Example Erastus was not needful to convince us that Persons who are wedded to some sensible thing do not search after Truth for its sake You see that we are well enough convinc'd of it You may observe the weakness of other Men and how their Vanity renders 'em miserable provided that you suppose your self in their person for we are all very near one as the other But Erastus we never ought to inspire into any one a Contempt of or Estrangement from a Person unless we are certain I say certain that he is dangerous and contagious Otherwise we must speak in general terms You would perhaps by your judicious Reflection give us to understand that you are witty we already know it but we knew not that you would have it known 'T is a hard thing to accuse others of Vanity without condemning one's self of the same thing or something else equivalent Thus Erastus you may constantly observe continually criticize but think and correct your self and if you would not condemn your self hold your peace You freely grant Aristarchus that the Councels of JESVS CHRIST are necessary to acquire that perfection of the Mind which consists in the knowledg of Truth Nevertheless JESVS CHRIST came not to make us Philosophers his Councels as I told you yesterday tend only indirectly and by reason of their universality to make us wise But if he gave not to his Disciples many Precepts of Logic to reason justly yet he taught them all necessary Rules to live well and gave them also all necessary power to follow them 'T is for this end that JESVS CHRIST is come his design is to remedy the disorder of Sin to reunite us to God by separating us from the Body to save us and raise us up to himself in Heaven We shall eternally remain such as we shall be in the moment that our Soul shall leave our Body If we love God in this moment we shall love him always for the motion of Spirits is only unconstant and meritorious for this life But all human Sciences are in themselves unprofitable to regulate this moment upon which depends our Eternity they merit us not the Assistances of Heaven for this moment they incline not our hearts towards God Thus JESVS CHRIST was not to guide us directly to this perfection of the Mind which is barren for Eternity and which ceases at the moment of Death he was to recommend to us a privation from sensible Good to the end that our hearts may be fill'd with his love being empty of every thing else and to the end that adhering to nothing in the moment that commences Eternity our love may carry us towards God who is the source of all happiness Let us not then any more consider the Councels of JESVS CHRIST with respect to the knowledg of Truth but with respect to this perfection of Mind which consists in the love of real Good in Charity which remains for ever which alone merits Eternity and without which all Virtues are but imaginary Let us examin the Morality of the Gospel with relation to the Rule of Manners but let us examin it with all possible strictness that there may be no Subject for a second Enquiry let us not be convinc'd less of our Duties by Reason than we are by Faith Certainly if the things which I have prov'd concerning JESVS CHRIST in the preceding Conferences are true there remains no doubt about the truths of Morality we must renounce our own Wills we must bear his Cross we must weep fast and suffer JESVS CHRIST hath said it If he is God if he is Wise 't is evident that his Councels are very advantageous to us But because we can't be too much convinc'd of the truth of these Propositions which are so incommodious and which offend us so sensibly we must endeavor to discover by our own Reason that there is no other remedy for our Evils Perhaps we shall do like those that are dangerously hurt who to preserve a miserable life present their own Bodies to the Surgeons to be cut and burnt they believe these Men upon their word and confide in their Operations and expose themselves to a great pain in an uncertain prospect of a Good which in itself is very inconsiderable What then should hinder us from imitating them when the evidence of Reason concurs with the certainty of Faith If we refuse to believe in JESVS CHRIST if we fear not Eternity if we hearken to out Senses and Passions yet it may be that Reason join'd to Faith will effect our Conviction And it may be that by continually condemning our laziness it will excite in us a profitable Inquietude Let us therefore examin those things in their Principle We ought only to love what is lovely No Thing is lovely but what is good but no Thing is good with respect to us if it be uncapable of doing us good if it be uncapable of rendring us more perfect and happy for I speak not here of a kind of Good which consists in the perfection of every thing Now no Thing is capable of rendring us more perfect and happy if it be not above us and capable of acting in us But all Bodies are below us they can't act in us they can't produce in us either pleasure or light then they are not to be belov'd What think you Erastus Erast When I ask my Reason I freely rest upon this but when I make use of my Senses I doubt it Yet as my Reason answers me more distinctly than my Senses as it is preferable to my Senses and as it never deceives me tho' my Senses always do when I make use of them to judge of Truth I believe that sensible Objects are uncapable of rendring me more perfect and happy Theod. Then you ought not to love Bodies Erast 'T is true this is evident Theod. But don't you love them Erast Much Theodorus I follow not my Reason I follow my Senses my Pleasure Theod. Thus Erastus To love sensible things it 's sufficient to taste Pleasure in the use of 'em Pleasure captivates the Heart it acts more powerfully upon you than your reason since you love because of pleasure such things as you know by reason are unworthy of your Love Erast I have for a long time known what you now tell me Theod. I don't doubt it 't is not to teach you what I now tell you but
things yet whose Love is not lively being suffer'd by them to languish for want of Nourishment and weaken'd extreamly by that Concupiscence which incessantly wars against it so that the Ideas which according to the Laws of Nature present themselves to their Minds in Temptation dissipate and vanish in a moment they are of no substance nor consistence But the Ideas which according to the Laws of Nature are excited in the motions of the Passions are sensible Thus Erastus lest the Righteous should fall God must either give them a greater Light than that which should ensue from their love according to the Laws of Nature or awaken and fortifie their love by a preingaging delectation But because he does it if he pleases and as much as he pleases this not being in course of Nature a thing to which he is oblig'd the Light of the Righteous and the Disposition of their Hearts as sufficient as it is does not always give them the victory in the time of Temptation Erast 'T is a very sad thing that even the Righteous Theod. It is true Erastus but the Righteous can pray God has obliged himself by his Promises which he keeps as inviolably as the Laws of Nature to give them continually actual and efficacious help if they have need of it The Righteous are Members of Christ they are animated with the Spirit of Christ 't is as we may say Christ that prays in them and God can refuse nothing to his Son For the Righteous obtain nothing that they ask unless they ask it in the Name of Christ and in order to preserve the Spirit of Christ within them Erast But Theodorus when a Righteous Man through negligence lets his love decay when he lets the Light and Life of the Spirit dye in him God knows his wants God loves him for every Righteous Man is loved of God why then does he stay till he pray to him Why does he not grant before he demands Why does he not protect and defend him Theod. God does not always stay till the Righteous pray to him but often gives them help which they ask not of him and if he does command them to ask it of him it is because he will be lov'd and ador'd for it God knows our wants better than we do our selves and if he commands us to pray to him 't is to oblige us to think on him and to look upon him as the only Being that is able to fill us with good things 't is to excite and awaken our love towards him and not to learn of us either our wants or the motives he has to relieve us He is resolv'd to be gracious to us upon his Sons account and if it is his will that we pray to him for it in his Sons Name 't is that we may love him and his Son 'T is love that prays 't is respect 't is the disposition of the Mind and Heart For we cannot pray to God without actually believing a great many things concerning him and us without actually hoping in him and actually loving him But acts stir up and even beget habits therefore 't is principally to awaken in us our Faith our Hope and our Love that God commands us to pray to him But when our Faith is lively our Hope firm and our Love ardent it is not possible according to the very Laws of Nature we should want a lively and efficacious Light For as you say 't is impossible that what we love should be snatch'd away from us without exciting in us a desire to preserve it and this desire is naturally follow'd with a prospect of the means to preserve it Besides the Joy we find in the possession of what we ardently love is of great force For the Righteous possess God by the fore-taste of their hope and this fore-taste accompanied with light is able to make them overcome the strongest Temptations because it makes them embrace with Joy the means that the Light offers them Thus Prayer is the nourishment of the Soul and by it it receives new strength by it it thinks on God and comes into his presence unites its self to him that is its whole strength and even it receives of God through Christ the delectation of Grace to counterballance those preingaging Pleasures which it receives also of God for 't is God alone that acts in it but which are involuntary and rebellious by reason of Adam's disobedience And you ought to observe Erastus that the Righteous have always in them the strength to pray seeing it is Love that prays and consequently strength to obtain an increase of their Love seeing that God has obliged himself by his Promises to grant them their Prayers Nay they can easily make use of this strength they have to pray at all times in which they have liberty of Spirit and need of Prayer especially if they live in a retirement and deny themselves sensual Pleasures For as the Righteous love God it is easie for them when they have liberty of Mind and perceive that any thing sets them at a distance from God to make some attempt to return to him again And this effort is an efficacious Prayer which is rewarded according to the greatness of the effort They may fly to Christ think on his Counsels and Examples and if they cannot easily imitate his Life they may at least desire to do it they may strengthen their hope and raise their love by praying with Faith and Humility in the prospect of the Merits of Christ Arist They may do what you say if they think upon it But if they do not think upon it certainly they cannot do it for none can do what you say with out thinking on it Theod. They alwayes think upon it Aristarchus when it is necessary because being righteous they love God For those that love God have him still present when there is danger of losing him because we cannot have that which we love snatch'd away from us and not desire to preserve it I suppose in the mean time that they preserve the Liberty of their Minds by putting away Sensual Pleasures for sometimes the Imagination is so taken up and troubled by the Action of Bodies that are about us and by the Motion of the Spirits which the Passions raise in us that we may lose God easily enough and without making all the Reflections which I believe necessary to preserve and fortifie Love Erast Thus Theodorus we should always return to the Counsels of Christ There is nothing more necessary for the Righteous as well as for Sinners than to remove from the Noisie World and Violent Pleasures and I believe that those who set no Bounds to their Pleasures nor to their Passions can hardly continue in this Presence of God which bears up and fortifies their Love I fancy that the Hurry Music Pomp Magnificence and other Allurements that are at Publick Places would very much perplex my Mind if I should resort thither for they say
Eternal Wisdom this is the Advice which he gives not only to the Apostles but to all Mankind in general And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also he said unto them Whosoever will come after me let him deny himself c. The Elevation of the Soul to GOD. O LORD whose Will is ever effectual and all whose Decrees are unchangeable it is of thy bounty that we feel Pleasure in the use of sensible things but ungrateful Man loves that false good and despises the true cause of his Happiness or rather he is ignorant that thou O Lord alone art able to operate in him It was wisely ordered by thy Providence that Man should be able to discern by short and evident Proofs whether he should use or avoid the Bodies that surround him that he might not be obliged to turn from thee nor to six his Mind upon thy Creatures But he has abused thy Mercy to his own destruction for thou O God art not in all his thoughts He imagines that matter is the cause of all the Pleasure which he feels and therefore yields himself a slave to it and makes it the only Object of his Thoughts and Affections Thus what thou hadst appointed to preserve the Righteous Man in his Rightcousness serves now to harden the Wicked in their Wickedness Is it just thou shouldst work a Miracle for a sinful wretch O God No Lord let thy Decrees remain fixt for ever and woe be to those that tempt thee Let Men shun Poyson if they would avoid Death They can discern that Poyson for thou hast taught them to know and avoid it But O thou Just and Merciful God who dealest Righteously with thy Creatures how shall we be able to hate Pleasure How hate what thou causest us to love It is just that we suffer as Sinners but can we love Pain which thou seemest to make us hate by an invincible Impression O Lord whose Wisdom is infinite enable us perfectly to understand that thou art not contrary to thy self and that thy Wills do not imply contradiction that Pleasure in it self is not absolutely bad and that the true cause that produces it really deserves and ought to be belov'd and respected belov'd with all our Heart and Soul and respected so as not to be constrain'd in consequence of his Will to gratifie us when absolutely speaking be should punish us O Lord who hidest thy self from our mortal Eyes cause thy strength and the efficacy of thy will to exert themselves and do thou clearly and incessantly convince us that the Bodies which are on all sides about us are absolutely incapable of doing us either good or harm Perhaps Men will love none but thee when they come to know that thou alone art able to do them good and perhaps they will fear none but thee when they shall have rightly understood that thou alone hast sufficient strength and power to cause them to suffer Pain But I beseech thee O my God to deal with me in a more safe and merciful manner I know that thy Creatures are not my good yet I love them I am convinc'd that whatever is round me cannot penetrate me yet my Heart insensibly opens it self and expects to receive from the vilest of thy Creatures what thou alone art able to give me Therefore O Lord be pleased out of thy infimte Mercy to deal with me in a more safe manner than thou dost with those who follow the Dictates of their Love Oh set me apart from thy Creatures since they turn my Heart from thee Draw my Eyes from fixing themselves on sensible Objects since I mistake them for thee or rather since I love them instead of thee This is the surest means to remedy the disorders in my Heart All my Philosophy is not sufficient to regulate my Love and can only serve to accuse and confound me before thee It teaches me that I make use of the Order to overthrow the Order that I misemploy thy Gifts by promoting what is ill and that I make use of the immutability of thy Decrees meerly to reward Rebellion and other Crimes It plainly shows me my Impiety and Injustice but leaves me plung'd in it I am stricken with horrour when I think on my self yet I cannot forbear loving my self So I procure those Pleasures to my self which make me happy at least while I enjoy them O God how stupid and sensless am I not I love my self for a Moment and ruine my self for a whole Eternity But I have a feeling sence of that Moment and I have none of Eternity 'T is true I think on it and the Thought disturbs my Joy but alas Pleasure though never so weaken'd by my Reflections easily draws after its self a Heart which it has already put into motion Deprive me then O my God of all the Objects that flatter my Senses and disorder my Reason While as being the Author of Nature thou makest me seel Pleasure in the use of those Objects do thou as thou art the Author of Grace make me loath and abhor them And I beseech thee out of the abundance of thy Mercies that at such times as Pains are voluntary thou mayst make me suffer those which my Crimes deserve O God who canst not let sin remain impunished make me continually return to the observance of the Order Form me upon the model of thy Son crucifie me with him and let his Cross that is only folly and weakness to the Eyes of Man be all my Strength all my Wisdom and all my Joy O Jesus who wast nail'd on the Cross for my sins I am thine nail and fix me there with thee crucifie my Flesh with its Passions and unruly Desires destroy this body of Sin or by thy Grace deliver me from the stress of it that continually presses upon my Mind We are baptized in thy Death We are dead to all the things of this World We are even buried with thee through Baptism Our old Man according to thy great Apostle was crucified with thee that the body of sin might be destroy'd And wilt thou O Lord suffer this Old Man to live again and this Body of Sin to subsist O Saviour of the World do thou finish the work which thou hast begun Continue to suffer in thy Members Do thou in our Flesh sinish the Sacrifice which thou hast begun in Abel which thou didst continue in the Patriarchs and Prophets and to which thou wilt not put an end but by the Death of the last Member of thy Body that is to be the last Saint whom thou wilt give to thy Church O thou Blessed Spirit of Christ thou Love of the Father and of the Son diffuse thy Charity through our Hearts drive the servile fear of Slaves out of our Minds and fill us with that Fear that is found in the Children and which gives a Right to the Inheritance of our Father Come O thou Spirit of Comfort soften the bitterness and distaste which we find in Repentance make us partake of the Sufferings of Christ that we may also be made partakers of his Glory But give us at the same time some of that Heavenly Fire which thou didst shower down on the Apostles that Fire which kindled in them an ardent Zeal to preach the Cross of Christ without Fear and to suffer joyfully the shame of Whipping the stress of Torments and Death it self for Christ Jesus Amen FINIS
is convincing and taste alone hath made all mankind agree in that If the mind saw in bodies but what is in them without having a sentiment of what is not in them their use would be very painful and inconvenient to us for who would take the pains to examine with care the nature of all things that are about us to cleave to or leave them What should tell us when we ought to sit down to dinner and when rise from it What should place us at a reasonable distance from the fire And should we not often doubt whether we burnt or warm'd our selves In short would it not happen sometimes that we should be the cause of our own death by Inadvertency by Grief or even out of desire of making near discoveries in Anatomies Therefore it is most reasonable that God incline us to seek the good of the body and shun its contrary by the foregoing sensations of Pleasure and Pain For after all if men were oblig'd to examine the Configuration of a Fruit those of all the parts of their bodies and the different relations which result from the one to the other to be able to judge if in the present heat of their blood and a thousand other dispositions of their body this Fruit were good to nourish them 't is obvious that such things as are altogether unworthy of the application of their minds would wholly fill its capacity and that also unprofitably enough since they would not be able to preserve themselves any considerable time by that only way Arist I must confess this conduct is very wise and most worthy its Author But yet we feel some pleasure in the use of sensible things why then must we not love them Theod. Because they are not lovely you are a rational creature and your reason doth not represent to you bodies as your good If sensible objects did contain in themselves what you feel when you use them if they were the true cause of your Pleasure and Grief you might love and fear them but your reason doth not tell you so as I yesterday prov'd it to you You may use them but not love them you may eat of a fruit but not settle your Love upon it Likewise you ought to avoid Fire or a Sword but ought not to fear them * See the 8th Chapter of the 6th Book of the Inquiry after Truth We must love and fear what is able to cause pleasure and pain that 's a common notion which I do not contradict But we must take heed not to confound the true efficient cause with the occasional I say it once more we must love and fear the efficient cause of pleasure and of pain and we may seek or avoid their occasional causes provided we do not do it against the positive orders of that efficient cause and do not force it in consequence of its natural Laws to work in us what is against its precepts And we must not imitate the voluptuous who make God an instument of their sensuality and oblige him in consequence of his first will to reward them with a sentiment of pleasure in the very moment when they offend him for that 's the greatest Injustice can be committed Believe me Aristarchus the good of the body cannot be belov'd but by Instinct but the good of the mind can and ought to be belov'd by reason The good of the body can be belov'd but by Instinct and with a blind Love because the mind cannot even perceive so clearly that the good of the body is a real good for the mind cannot see what is not It cannot clearly perceive that Bodies are above the Spirit that they can act in it punish or reward it and render it more happy and more perfect but the good of the mind ought to be lov'd by reason God will be lov'd with a Love of choice with a reasonable Love a meritorious Love a Love worthy of him and worthy of us we see clearly that God is our good that he is above us that he can act in us that he can reward us and render us not only more happy but also more perfect than we are is it not this sufficient to make a Spirit love God And thus we see that God was not to make man love him by the instinct of Pleasure when he created him he was not to make use of this kind of art nor implore any force against the Liberty of a reasonable creature to lessen the merit of his Love For the first man ought to have adhered to God and could do it without the help of a preingaging pleasure though now Pleasure is commonly necessary to remedy the blindness which sin has brought upon us and to withstand the continual attacks of Concupiscence against our Reason I 'le say it again Aristarchus that you may remember it It was necessary that the antecedent pleasure and not the light of reason should incline us to the good of the body since reason cannot even represent to its self the bodies that are about us as a good But there was no need that God should make use of preingaging pleasure as of a kind of art to cause himself to be beloved by the first man since it was sufficient that he should enlighten his reason he being the sole and only good of Spirits Arist I grant all these things are very well imagin'd but there is still in your System a difficulty that puzzles me For methinks you confound Concupiscence with the institution of Nature and making God the Author of the pleasure we feel in the use of sensible things you also make him Author of Concupiscence since it is nothing else but that pleasure considered as striving against our reason Theod. This institution of Nature is thus Aristarchus God hath made the Soul and the Body of man and 't was his pleasure for the preservation of his work that as often as there should be in the body some certain motions there should result in the Soul some certain sentiments provided those motions did communicate themselves as far as a certain part of the Brain which I shall not specifie but because the will of God is efficacious there never hapned any motions in that part of the Brain but there followed some sensations and because the will of God is unchangeable this was not changed by the sin of the first man Yet as before man had sinned and whilst all things were in perfect good order it was not just that the body should hinder the Spirit from thinking on what is desired It follows that man had necessarily such a power over his body that he did as it were separate the principal part of his brain from the rest of his body and did hinder its usual communication with the sensitive Nerves as often as he desired to apply himself to truth or to some other thing than the good of the body And by those means it was in Adam's power first to make use
our love and we are so free in the love of finite good that we even feel the secret reproaches of our reason when we fix our selves on it Because he that made us for himself speaks to us that we may turn to him and give no bounds to the motion of love which he incessantly produces in us All the motion that the soul hath towards good comes from God and God only acting for himself all the motion of the soul hath no other end nor bound than God in the Institution of Nature God presenting to spirits no other Idea but himself since he hath made spirits for himself All the motion of our wills is towards him since wills move themselves towards those things only which the spirit perceives But men thinking that they see creatures in themselves the consent they give to the motion that God imprints in them ends in the creatures and it may be said with a great deal of truth that the free will of men or their consent to the motion they receive from God tends to the creatures though the natural motion of their love can tend only to God By this you see Aristarchus that God preserves spirits for himself only that the faculties they enjoy to know and love know and love none but him that sinners do not overturn the laws of nature that they are inviolable and that this general principle of Religion and Morality viz. That God hath made us for himself is undeniable Arist But if the order of nature is that we know and love God and if we cannot resist that order since the motion of our love for the creatures tends of necessity towards the Creator how can it be said that we really offend God Theod. It may be said for many reasons God incessantly moves spirits towards good either general or particular for all good is to be beloved He invincibly moves them towards general good but 't is otherwise with the impression he gives them towards particular good God doth not limit towards that good the act which he produces in them For if we observe it duely we sufficiently perceive that in the very time when we fix on some finite good we have some motion to go further if we will So we offend God by stopping his act and not letting him act in us according to the full extent of his act The reason why God moves us towards good is because it moves us towards him and he moves us towards himself because he loves himself 'T is then the love of God to himself that produces our love in us Therefore our love ought to be like to that which God bears to himself But it is not like it when it concenters in a particular good it is then unworthy of the cause that hath produced it and it may be said to be displeasing to him Order is certainly the essential and necessary Will of God according to which and by which he wills whatever he wills for God loves order he wills nothing but order his will always follows order But a creature who loves more those things that are less lovely thwarts order withdraws himself from it and even overthrows it as much as he is capable of it He resists then to the will of God and so deserves to come into the order of his justice since he leaves that of his goodness which is the first and most natural God alone can act in the soul and cause in her some pleasure And by his decree or general will that makes the order of nature 't was his desire that pleasure should attend certain motions in the body So those that produce in their body these motions without reason even against the secret reproaches of their reason oblige God in consequence of his general will to renumerate them by pleasing sentiments even in the very time when they ought to be punished They therefore use violence against his justice and offend him But they only use this violence by the love they have for particular good So this love offends God For all those who love their pleasure without minding the true cause that produces it offend that cause since God never causes pleasure with an intent that we should fix on it but rather that we may love the cause that produces the pleasure and that we may unite with the thing that determines that cause to produce it You see therefore Aristarchus that God is offended when we fix the motion of love he causes in us on particular good But though you might not see it you cannot doubt but it is so for when we confine our love to some particular good we feel an inward check in the secret of our reason and a just check is a mark of infidelity against him that causes it those checks or reproaches can proceed but from a general cause since they are generally to be found in all mankind and must therefore be just since they are caused by a just God and this just God is offended when we confine our love to particular good This single Argument is sufficient for 't is unnecessary to seek metaphysical proofs of a thing whereof we are convined by inward sentiments that is by a light which strikes through the blindest and by a punishment that stings the most hardened sinners Arist I believe all this and I pray you to go on Theod. If you believe all this Aristarchus you may see your friend ask him at first if he desires to be happy Show him that none but God can act and cause in him that pleasure he loves so much and that renders him the more happy the greater it is Let him know that God is just that he will be obey'd that it cannot be conceived he should make truely happy those who do not follow his orders nor unhappy those that follow them that so we ought to use all our endeavours to know the Will of God and ought to obey it with all the fidelity imaginable You are sensible that men must be either stupid or out of their senses not to see those things and that those that see them and are not affected with them must either be mad or desperate but do not tell him so take heed above all things you do not awaken his passions and principally his pride for he would conceive nothing of what you might tell him make him understand as much as you can that God acts only for himself That he hath made our spirit only for himself That he hath given some motion to our heart only to incline it towards him That therefore we ought not to make an ill use of the motion of love which God causes in us by loving any thing besides him or without relation to him Make him understand that God is his true good not only by being alone capable to make him happy but also because none but God can make him more perfect not only as he is the cause of pleasure but also as he is
actually dividing the capacity he hath to think and lessning the knowledge of his duty without being removed by it out of God's presence in short without weakning by little and little his love and his fear insomuch that actual pleasure seems a Reason or sufficient Motive to love what is not worthy of our love Adam ought to have remained fixt and unmoveable in the presence of God and not have suffered the capacity of his spirit to be divided by all those pleasures that were in perfect subjection to his Will and used only to warn him of what he was to do for the preservation of his life and as he should so he could have done it And had he made a good use of his Free-will during the time prescrib'd for a Reward he should have been confirm'd in his Righteousness not only by a more clear knowledge of God's continual operation on him but by a sensible knowledge which invincibly fixes on God all Spirits naturally desiring to be happy For the Saints do not only see by a Far-fetch'd and Metaphysical Sight that God alone is capable of acting in them and making them happy But they also feel it by an â—nspeakable comfort which God diffuses in them which â—enetrates them and unites them with him so strongly â—hat they cannot forsake him to love any thing else I speak of those things according to the present â—nowledge of human understanding and do not preâ—end always to certifie the truth or existence of things when I answer to what may be objected to me my â—tmost Design is to prove their Possibility Arist This is sufficient Theodore But how would â—ou explain the Transmission of Original Sin and the â—eneral Disorder of human Nature For it is our Soul â—hat hath sinn'd and is corrupt How comes it to â—e possible that coming from the hands of God they â—row corrupt as soon as they are united to Bodies Theod. Our Soul is made to love God She keeps â—n the Order of her Creation when she loves him that â—s to say when the motion which God gives her carries â—er towards him in the Sense that I explain'd it to you yesterday On the contrary she strays from the Order when having a motion sufficient to reach to God she stops at some particular good and thus hinders God's Act in her I do not believe it can be conceiv'd that she can be orderly or disorderly another way If then I demonstrate that by reason of the Union which Children have with their Mother the Soul of Children is by necessity turn'd towards Bodies that their Soul loves only Bodies and all her motion confines it self to some sensible thing from the moment she is form'd I shall have demonstrated the cause of the general disorder of Nature and how we are all born in Sin I prove it thus There is no Woman but hath in her Brain some Impression that represents to her sensible things either because she actually sees Bodies or receives her nourishment from them You do not doubt of this for after all we must at least eat to live and we cannot eat but our Brain receives some Impression of it since we remember it There happens also no Impression in the Brain without being follow'd by some Emotion in the Spirits which doth incline the Soul to the love of the thing that is present to the mind at the time of that Impression that is to say to the love of this or that Body for Bodies only can act on the Brain See the 7th Chapter of the 2d Book of the Inquiry after Truth In short there is no Woman but hath in her Brain some steps and vestiges or some motion of Spirits which makes her think and carries her to sensible things Now when the Child is in his Mother's Womb he feels the same Impression and Emotion of Spirits with his Mother therefore in that state he knows and loves Bodies The daily Instances we have of Children that fear or abhor those things that frighted their Mother whilst they were with Child sufficiently shews that they have had the same Impression and consequently the same Idea's and Passions as their Mothers since they sometimes never saw since they were born those things which they so much abhor And those Instances even shew us that the Impressions and Agitations are greater and consequently the Idea's and Passions more lively in Children than in their Mothers since they remain affected with them and oftentimes their Mothers no more remember it I perceive Erastus that you wonder to hear me say that Children see imagin and desire the same things with their Mothers Erast I must own that this amazes me but it seems to me demonstrated however there being holy Women and full of the love of God how come their Children to be Sinners Theod. It is because the love of God doth not communicate itself like the love of Bodies the reason whereof is that God is not sensible and that there are no steps in the Brain that by the institution of Nature do represent God nor any of those things that are purely intelligible A Woman may well represent to herself God in the Form of a Reverend old Man but whilst she thinks on God her Child shall think on an old Man when she loves God her Child will love old Men and this love of old Men doth not a justify All the Vestiges in the Brains of Mothers communicate themselves to Children But the Idea's that are join'd to those Vestiges by the Will of Man or by the Identity of Time and not by Nature do not communicate themselves to them for Children in the Womb are not as knowing and holy as their Mothers Erast But Theodore Children are not free I own they love Bodies but they cannot hinder themselves from loving them How then are they Sinners How are they corrupt Theod. Their Sin is not of their own chusing nor free and voluntary yet they are corrupt For all Spirits that are averse from God and inclin'd towards corporeal Beings do not follow God's Orders if it be true that God will be loved more than Bodies Concupiscence is not a Sin in virtuous persons because there is in them a love of choice that opposes it Concupiscence doth not reign in them but it reigns in Children their natural love is bad and they have no other When two sorts of loves are to be found in a heart God regards only that love which is free so Dreams are not sinful in pious Men because the love of choice that went before leaves in the Soul a disposition that carries and turns her towards God But in a Child who was never turned towards God nothing but his Nature and what God has fixt in him by the Decree of his first Will can be good he is a Child of wrath and must of necessity be damned For it cannot be conceived that God will ever reward the disposition of his heart except you also conceive that God
rewards disorder Era. But Theodore Was not what you call Disorder put into the Child by God himself Since it is by the Decree of his Will that upon certain motions of the Brain certain thoughts should result in the Soul and the communication that is between the Brain of the Mother and that of the Child was established by God The. I own it Erastus however it is not amiss It was requisite that the Vestiges in the Brain and the motions of the Spirits should be attended with the thoughts and agitations of the Soul for the Reasons I have already told you the chief whereof is That Bodies do not deserve the application of a Spirit that is made for none but God It was necessary that Adam should be told by preingaging Sentiments by short and unquestionable Proofs that such and such things were good for his Body It was fit also that the impressions on the Mother's Brain should communicate themselves to that of the Child for the full conformation of his Body Those things are most wisely establisht Disorder is only found in Desire It is good that there result in the Soul certain thoughts when certain impressions form themselves in the Brain but it is not good that those impressions prompt us to the love of sensible things and do not vanish when we desire it or that our Body be not submitted to us Now the Sin of the first Man hath caused this for he became unworthy by his Sin that God should suspend the communication of motions for his sake so not being able to hinder the impression of the Bodies that act on us from reaching as far as the chief part of the Brain which is the seat of the Soul we have of necessity the sentiments and motions of Concupiscence tho God doth nothing else in us but deprive us of the power to hinder the natural communications of motions that is to say without acting in us For Concupiscence precisely as such is nothing it is in us only a want of power over our Body which want proceeds from our Sin only since it would be just without it that our Body were submitted to us Erast I perceive plainly Theodorus that the union of our Spirit with our Body proceeds from God and that our being Slaves to our Body proceeds from Sin All that is plain But you Aristarchus are you persuaded of the Sentiments and Proofs of Theodorus Arist I dare not assent to them for I fear to be mistaken Erast Perhaps it is because Theodorus speaks of the transmission of original Sin as of a thing not impossible to be explained and you have hitherto believed it to be unexplainable this may have prepossessed you Or it may be your Sceptical Friends have so often laught at the simplicity of those that believe what the Church teaches that your imagination hath been formerly somewhat spoilt by it For my part I remember that some time ago I was half stunned by the reflection of the amazement that appeared in the looks of one of those false learned at the appearance of an imaginary difficulty But remembring what Theodorus tells me continually not to suffer my self to be imposed upon by the Air and sensible impression of Men I retired within my self and could not help laughing at my pannick fear Arist Do you think Erastus that I am so much a Fool as to let my self be imposed on Erast You are too wise to do so Aristarchus but you are not yet wise enough not to receive some impression by the bold way and commanding Air of so many People that come to see you It is impossible to be always upon our guard and compare incessantly Mens words with the answers of inward truth and you shall give me leave to tell you that I even observed but two days ago by your countenance that you are a Man born for company that you are very full of complaisance and very easily embrace the Sentiments of others yet the business was of moment Arist I remember it it is true I was moved that person spoke to me in a very strong and lively manner but I soon came to my self Theod. Perhaps it is because the thing nearly concerned you and you were not then about a Philosophical Question or certain Points of Religion that have nothing common with the Senses Arist It is true but really I will no longer believe Men upon their word Theod. No you do not believe them upon their word for words being arbitrary persuade only as far as they enlighten the mind but the Air persuades naturally and by impression It persuades insensibly and without letting us even know what it is that we are persuaded of for all it can do by it self is to agitate and trouble I say it to you Aristarchus you confusedly believe above a million of things which you do not know and which the Commerce you have with the World hath heapt on your memory But be not vext at it there is no man but hath a very great number of those confused Notions for we are all sensible There is no man made for Society but is fastned to other men and receives in his brain the same impressions as those who speak to him with some emotion and force and those impressions are attended by those confused judgments whereof I am speaking Do not imagine that none but Children see and desire what their Mother sees and desires as I told you just now when I explained to you the propagation of original Sin All men live by opinion they commonly see and desire things as those they converse with proportionately to the need they have of their help Children are so strongly united with their Mothers that they see nothing but what she sees But men are capable to see and think of themselves they are not so narrowly united to other men seeing they can live alone they can think alone but seeing they cannot live conveniently out of Society they never think easily and without pain but when they suffer themselves to be persuaded by the air and way of those who speak to them Is it not true Aristarchus that there are some Persons who have prepossessed you against what I have said to you now of original Sin not as Erastus thinks by laughing at those things for you are too well converted to have still any deference for the silly banters of the false learned but rather gravely and piously inspiring you with a secret aversion for some Sentiments that seem new and are too clear for such as are not used to see the light I know it Aristarchus and plainly perceive that nothing but the disorder which they have caused in your mind by the darkness of their terms and the decisive and scientific air of their quality hinders you from assenting to what I have told you now But let not this make you uneasy there is a great number of others distinguisht by the same outward marks of Piety and Learning that approve what
I don't know that Theodorus for being merciful he can pardon when he pleaseth Theod. But can he be willing to do it Arist What a Question that is Men themselves can do that Theod. Men can forgive when they are offended they ought not to revenge themselves nor have they power to do it As they love themselves to excess they would be sure to exceed being Sinners they would condemn themselves and whatsoever offends them being ordained by God they would be guilty of Rebellion For the only thing wherein God hath no hand to wit the inward malice of their Enemies doth them no harm they have no right to oblige others to love them neither can they take any revenge for want of that love that doth not belong to them But if Men had received the sovereign wisdom and power to judge and punish if their essential Will was the Order if they could not act against that Order might they not punish such Crimes as would be committed against God or pardon Sin and Disorder and yet not offend the Law and Order But supposing they could do you think they might also secure to Sinners the means of attaining Felicity They would certainly make an ill use of their power and by overthrowing the order of Justice prove themselves Sinners and thereby be altogether destitute of either love to God or zeal for his glory Do you think God can reverse the essential order of things or fight against himself Do you imagin it is possible he should not love himself or forbear his own satisfaction by neglecting his Justice and that mercy which you conceive to be a virtue in us to be a perfection in God No Aristarchus God is not merciful in the same manner as we are that Clemency would be contrary to his Justice That Sinners be happy implies contradiction if not on the part of Sinners at least on that of him that is omnipotent and cannot act against the essential order of things on the part I say of him that is essentially just God must punish Sin and if he hath a mind to spare those that commit it for the end that he proposed to himself in the construction of his work it is necessary that a Sacrifice more worthy of his greatness and justice than they are should receive the blow that was to make them eternally miserable Thus God may be merciful Things being thus you easily see what need we stand in of Christ's satisfaction That the Mediator of the Arians and Socinians is a Mediator who can never atone for them nor reconcile them to God And that none but those who believe that Jesus Christ is really God because none but a God can justifie and save us in a word that none but those who call upon Christ by that name which the Scripture gives him that expresses so well his qualities Jehovah Justitia nostra God our Righteousness can have a full assurance in his Sacrifice Observe Aristarchus that God doth whatever he ought to do Arist But God lieth under no obligation to any one Theod. I own it But God doth whatever he is obliged to for his own sake Men offend and oppose him and overturn the order of things ought not he then to revenge himself satisfy his Justice and punish those that offend him For I grant that as for our sakes God is obliged to do no more than he pleaseth But he is obliged to do something for himself and that being granted it is just to believe that he will not omit to do it for he loveth himself and is willing to do whatever he ought to do for himself I own that there is no Law that constrains him but that he is to himself his own Law However he is to himself inviolably a Law and must of necessity love himself tho' nothing forces him to love himself but himself Arist But Theodorus will you dive into God's Councels and give Bounds to his Wisdom and Power Do you think that God could not satisfie his Justice otherwise than by the death of his Son If it be so Theod. I understand you Aristarchus God's Justice could have been satisfied by a thousand other means The least Suffering the least Action of God-Man could fully satisfy God's Justice for all our Crimes for the merit of it is infinite by the dignity of the Person But God could not be fully satisfied by any other Satisfaction than that of a Divine Person Nothing is worthy of God but God himself All manner of offence against God is infinitely criminal and there is nothing Infinite but God He cannot therefore be satisfied without having a hand in it such is the Immensity of his greatness Tho' God had sacrificed all the Creation to his wrath and annihilated all his Works that Sacrifice would still have been unworthy of him But God had not made the world to annihilate it he had made it for him that hath restored it for his Son was predestinated before all Ages to be the Chief of it He is the First-born of all Creatures the Beginning of the Lord's Ways the Beginning End and Perfection of all the Works of God for whatever God hath made is only perfectly worthy of God through Christ I don't know Aristarchus whether your thoughts follow mine perhaps I run too fast But pray what is it you would say to me Arist I 'le tell you God being infinitely wise and powerful why could he not form a Creature sufficiently noble and raised above Sinners to atone for them Theod. How Aristarchus Shall a Creature undertake to reconcile Sinners Plead for them Shew any love for them That is for the damned For if we are not ranked with the damned it is because we are made free in Christ But supposing with you that a Creature could do all this satisfie for us and free us by his satisfaction it follows that we are indebted to that Creature and his Slaves that our obligations to him ought to divide our love between God and him and that our Restoration being perhaps a greater good to us than our Creation we ought to love him better than God himself if we ought to love most the things that do us most good Yet God requires that we should love him in all things and that all the motion of love which he causes in us tend towards him and he will not only be esteemed by us as the first Cause and Being but also beloved in all things as the only true cause of whatever the Creatures seem to produce in us This is the order of things Now it would be reversed and even its overturning justified should your Notion of God's design to give us another Restorer than himself subsist For that design would in some manner justify a Love not solely tending towards God since that design proposes to us another than God for an Object of our Love when it proposes to us a Creature endowed with an excellency sufficient to oblige us really and by himself
Mahomet are unworthy of Mankind for even the Heathen Philosophers themselves went thus far Christ would have us despise these Goods altho' the Law promises them and he declares those to be happy who are deprived of them and who are miserable and cursed according to the Law Thus I am satisfy'd that the promises of the Law were only figures for those amongst the Jews who had Charity could not desire the accomplishment of these promises as their true good but perhaps the Law in it self was good Theod. You perceive not that there must be a relation betwixt the good which the Law promises and the Law itself and that if the Law justifies really and by itself the recompences of the Law must be good in themselves and make a truly just Man happy But Men can't be just themselves and only desire these Rewards The just then could not trust in the Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the Law they were to expect the Messiah that could promise them such a happiness as they might lawfully wish it There were two sorts of Jews under the Law Jews after the Spirit and Jews after the Letter Those who had the Spirit of the Law were Christians for Christ is the end of the Law and those were circumcised with the circumcision of the heart and had put off the old man explaining the whole Law its Ceremonies and Promises by their relation to the Messiah and that eternal happiness which they expected from him They were not scandaliz'd when Isaiah spoke on the behalf of God to the Jews according to the flesh Isa 1.10,11 Hear the word of the Lord ye Princes of Sodom hearken to the Law of our God ye People of Gomorrah What have I to do with this multitude of Sacrifices chat ye offer to me saith the Lord All this is an abomination to me I love not the sacrifice of your Rams nor the fat of your Flocks nor the blood of Beeves Lambs and He-Goats They sung with joy in the same Spirit with Christians Psal 50. For thou desirest not Sacrifice else would I give it thou delightest not in burnt-offerings Lord do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion build thou the walls of Jerusalem then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness with burnt-offerings and whole burnt-offerings then shall they offer bullocks upon thine Altar In fine they sighed incessantly towards Heaven to draw down the true Messiah who was to deliver them from their sins But the Jews according to the flesh gloried in the shameful signature of the circumcision of their bodies they were uncircumcised in heart they had a vail which hid the end of the Law from them They placed their confidence in their Sacrifices and Ceremonies in the Ark and in the Temple of the Lord in Moses Abraham and their other Patriarchs They were full of Zeal and Fury against the true Israelites and continually persecuted the Prophets which had the Spirit of the Law and which reproved their Vices The Jews after the Spirit were true Christians they were always ready to acknowledg and receive Jesus Christ whenever he should come for the Moral of the New Testament is wholly conformable to the disposition of their heart since they acknowledg that the goods of the senses were unworthy of their love And as they explain'd not holy Scripture according to the Letter but according to the mystical Sense and with relation to the Messiah whom they expected so the proofs which the Apostles took out of the Old Testament to justifie the quality of Christ were entirely conformable to their Spirit Thus Christ and his Apostles were heard by those amongst the Jews who were moved by Charity but the carnal Jews who had their heart vail'd could not nay even would not comprehend the proofs which the Apostles gave of the Truth they preacht Arist But must it not be confessed that the proofs which the Apostles drew from the Old Testament to confirm the New were very weak Theod. They were no proofs or at best extravagant ones to the carnal Jews and those who know not distinctly that the Old Testament is only for the use of the New that Abraham Joseph Joshua David Solomon are only in the Scripture because of CHRIST and that whatever hapned to the Jews were but figures of things to come Yes Aristarchus if the literal Sense of the Scripture is the chief end then St Paul and the Apostles prove nothing nay they are mad Men and fanatical But he must be the most stupid and rash of all Men who can imagin that St Paul had not common Sense that he would render himself so very ridiculous to wrest passages of Scripture to convince the Jews how unprofitable their Sacrifices and Ceremonies were For after all if we can't believe that the Letter of the Law rather administers death than life after what I have already said I see not but that we must believe at least that there were some Men amongst the Jews who search'd into the Law for another Sense besides the literal since St Paul does not make use of the literal Sense to convince them of the Messiah's coming Do not you know that even the Jewish Commentators who are the declared Enemies of CHRIST refer most of the passages to the Messiah which the Apostles do to CHRIST altho' these passages might often be understood of David Solomon or others for as the truth is we must consider these persons as figures of CHRIST The Letter of the Scripture does by Divine Providence contain so many things which appear unworthy of God and even contrary to Reason that those who are not entirely stupid find themselves obliged to abandon it I have proved this to you by the Rewards which Moses proposed to the Jews which as you your self have freely granted are not only unworthy of such who love God above all things but in general of all other Beings which are more noble than Bodies Thus we can't reasonably doubt but that the Jews who from the times of the Apostles expected the Messiah and who believed him near at hand were very much disposed to receive him in that capacity which the Apostles had described to them provided the love of sensible things hindred them not from following him God always disposes things after such a manner that those who love him do always find him he leaves such footsteps after him that those who feel the inward motions of Charity do highly acknowledg him And if false Prophets back their Lyes with Miracles 't is because God tempts Men to discern those who love him for those who love him are not deceived CHRIST is so concealed in the Scriptures that those who love him not do not find him there He is not only come to enlighten the blind but also to blind the wise He is come to reprove the glory of the world for this is an abomination before God In fine he is come to preach the Gospel to the poor the simple and ignorant
himself in the Pleasures which St. John disclaim'd as contrary to the ways through which Christ comes to dwell in us Arist I must needs own to you Theodorus that all the Heroes whom I have hitherto set before my self as living Exemplars to walk by are more generous and communicative than St. John the Baptist since they are not afraid of being sociable nor of complying with the World injoying certain Pleasures which they term Civil and Gentleman-like Recreations I don't know whether they allow themselves this freedom as knowing themselves strong enough to overcome them but I think my self obliged in Conscience to let Erastus know that I never fail'd to become a slave to a great many Pleasures when like these Heroic Gentlemen I was not afraid to enjoy them Erast I would not make the Opinion of the Multitude the Rule of my Conduct I know we ought to follow a Rule and be guided by Reason since to act only by a Principle of Imitation has more of the Brute in it than of the Man I thank Theodorus for putting me in mind of this If we set our selves a Pattern to imitate 't is that its Example may excite us resolutely to do what we know Reason directs us to perform For as all Men are apt to err and to sin no Man can be to us an infallible Rule Reason ought to correct the defects of the Exemplar Theod. Reason ought also to make choice of these Exemplars For many times our Imagination dazzled by the deceitful lustre of false Vertues makes us admire a Heroe instead of a Saint and because 't is much more pleasant and easie to live like the first than like the latter that we may justifie our conduct we are very ready to set before our selves such Exemplars as suit with our humours Erast The surest way is to imitate such Exemplars as God prescribes us to follow since God cannot deceive us Our Saviour's Precepts are undoubtedly the best and St. John's Conduct is altogether consonant with them we must then walk after him Methinks Reason obliges me to retire like him to Desarts that I may avoid the Contagion which rages in the World and prepare for the Grace of Christ For after all Reason has convinc'd me that St. John is a good Pattern to imitate the Holy Ghost sets him before us in the Scripture and our Saviour highly commends him for his holiness of Life What do you think Theodorus do you believe I ought to imitate him Theod. I don't know Erastus but if you ought not to follow him I know you ought to follow Christ As St. John prepar'd us for Grace but did not bestow it he was to show us an Example of the greatest austerity 'T was his Duty to take out of the Scale all the Weights in general that make it have a propensity to cleave to the Earth because he could not give us the weight of Grace to make the Scales even As the precursor of the Author of Grace he was to remove by his Preaching and Example all the impediments that kept us from receiving Christ For this Reason it was fit he should with the greatest strictness imaginable forbid us the use of Worldly injoyments this was his Duty But Christ teaches us to make use of these things The weight of his Grace sets us free because it sets the Scales even again With that Grace we may live in the World without becoming slaves to it because it hinders us from loving the World We may injoy the things of this World because by the means of his Grace we enjoy them without Pleasure as enjoying them not or rather because the Pleasure which attends Grace is stronger than that which we find in the use of these things But we must take great care that the liberty which is given us by the Grace of Christ do not give us occasion to live according to the Flesh We may be sav'd without hating the World and if while we live in the World we love it and become slaves to its Pomp Reason teaches us that we ought to forsake it for we cannot overcome it without Christ and if his Grace dwelt in us we should feel within our selves a Power able to overcome the World We may use certain Pleasures on some occasions but never without fear and horrour and if we use them without fear and horrour we ought to avoid them Charity obliges us to live with the rest of Mankind for Grace does not destroy Civil Society But the same Charity obliges us to settle such a Communion with them as may not end with this Life I own that Christ did not come to send Peace on Earth he came not to send Peace but a Sword He came to set a Man at variance against his Father and the Daughter against her Mother and the Daughter in law against the Mother in law Matth. 10.34,35 If there be five in one house he is come to divide them and to set three against two and two against three Luke 12.52 He came to set Man at variance even with himself If any man hate not his own life and does not bear his Cross and come after Christ he cannot be his Disciple nor worthy to be call'd a Christian But our Saviour came to do these things only that he might reunite us to God reconcile us to our selves and even in this Life begin a fellowship that is to last eternally Do you think Aristarchus you whose Heart is so susceptible of Friendship that 't is possible you should here below have a real love for a person except you love him as a Christian You may indeed love him well enough so far as Civil Society which depends on the relation which Bodies have to one another requires it but you are neither in a condition to know him such as he is nor even to know your self Do you fancy you see your Friend when you behold a certain disposition of matter which is call'd a Face or when you hear the sound of words that move the Air I don't believe you do But if you do not see your Friend what is it you love then when you think you love him Certainly you either must love your self and then your Love is selfish or you love your Friend's Face and then your Love is unworthy your Friend or else you love your Friend's Vertue and upright Principles and in that case your Friendship is just but then 't is a Christian Friendship for thus you love God in your Friend or your Friend as he has a relation to God you love him because he belongs to God lives according to God's Commands and makes his own Will conformable to that of God And yet Sir your Friendship is still imperfect because you don't know what you love As you don't see your Friend's Mind in a clear and distinct manner you cannot really love him for if you saw him inwardly you would perhaps abhor him Arist You make me wish that my Friend
also by what he said to me Yesterday when I was come back from my Friend's Would you have me give you some account of it Theod. You will oblige me we are always very fond of knowing the last Words of those that leave us Arist Erastus never exprest himself with more Eloquence and Happiness of Thought He told me among other Things that Man is not only united to his own Body but also to all those that surround him that our Passions diffuse our Soul into all sensible Objects as our Senses diffuse it through every part of the Body and that those who launch into the wide World continually running after Riches Pleasures and Honours dissipate and lose themselves by being disperst as it were out of themselves While they fancy that they enlarge their own Being they weaken themselves and become Slaves to those whom they would command And while they encrease their Power on the Bodies that surround them they lose that which they have on the Truth that penetrates them Let me consider said he how Man comes to be sensible Out of his Brain certain Nerves are emitted whose infinite number of Branches are disperst over all the Parts of his Body These Nerves or Fibres which correspond to the Seat of the Soul agitate her as soon as they are stirred they disperse her through all the Parts into which they insinuate themselves and whatsoever happens in the Body breaks her Quiet and disturbs her Now let me examine the Condition which that Man is in who is led by his Passions and fasten'd to every Thing Out of his Heart some Bonds may in one sense be said to be emitted and thence their strings are disperst through all sensible Objects These Strings are no sooner stirr'd by the Motion of those Objects but his Heart is also mov'd If these Objects are remov'd at some distance his Heart must follow or be torn In short his Soul disperses her self by the Means of these Tyes through whatever surrounds him just as she diffuses her self by the Means of Nerves over every Part of the Body When a Man inconsiderately gives himself up to the Commerce of the World the Tyes of his Heart fasten him to a Thousand Objects which only serve to make him wretched and if he be mad enough to have a real Love for those Objects or to be pusst up with his new Greatness he is said he to me like those who would be proud of a Dropsie or of Wens or Bunches that swell their Body to a bigger Bulk than ordinary Do you think continued he that the Souls of Gigantic Men are greater than those of other Men They have indeed a larger Body and can put a greater Mass of Matter into Motion but if you examine them well you 'll find that their Motions are more irregular The very Horses and Elephants are stronger than they and more bulky and if these Men measur'd the Greatness of their Soul by that of their Body they would make themselves universally ridiculous Yet it were a juster Thing to measure the Greatness of the Soul by that of the Body than by that of Riches and Honours For after all our Body is more our own than our Wealth and we are more united to it than we are to our Clothes our House or our Lands How foolish and vain then are not Men when they pretend to grow greater by being disperst out of themselves Truely cry'd he Imaginary Greatness makes Men become very miserable Creatures Every thing offends them every thing disturbs them every thing holds them fast And can Men in a perpetual Hurry and as it were wounded in every Part be able to Think Can they be able to cleave to Truth for which alone they are made with which alone they can be nourish'd and through which alone they can grow more wise and more happy They are commonly mad stupid thoughtless Creatures void of Light and Understanding Do you think added he that the Voluptuous and those who continually strive to extend their Slavery by enlarging the Bounds of their Commands do so much as know that they are not made for Bodies nor for a Time and that they are not on Earth barely to live there Alas they know nothing of this they do not perceive that Bodies are inferiour to them uncapable of acting on them and altogether unworthy of their Love As they have not yet felt the Sting of Death they cannot strictly be said to know they shall dye Their Tongues indeed say they must and they believe it but they do not know it They think they shall be no more but they do not know they shall dye What vast difference is there not between seeing and seeing 'T is but a very little while since I know that I am not made for Corporeal Beings that the Figure of this World passeth away that the true Good of Spirits is a Spiritual Good and even since I know what it is to dye Nay as my Understanding is but small I have too been obliged to think with my utmost application to comprehend these Truths Before this I thought of Death what my Eyes discover'd to me of it and scarce any thing more And if I had not been in a greater Capacity of applying my self to thinking than those who are in the Hurry of Business or a hunting after Pleasure I must confess I had not known what I believe is unknown to great Numbers of Men. The application of the Mind produces Light and discovers Truth The sight of Truth gives perfection to the Mind and regulates the Heart Such an application is then necessary But can a Man when he is pull'd and drawn on all sides struck and wounded every where thrust back when he would get forwards dragg'd forwards when he would go back and continually disturb'd and misus'd can such a Man I say think with application Can a Man who fears every thing yet desires hopes for and runs after every thing think on what he does not see Truth is distant and not sensible nor is it a Good which we find our selves press'd to love We must seek it if we would find it But we may still put off the Search for it never wholly leaves us On the contrary Bodies cause themselves to be felt every Moment press us to love them and continually oblige us to cleave to them for they are transitory and leave us as soon as they have tempted us So because Opportunity when lost is not easily recover'd Men are quickly determin'd to enjoy them but as for Truth they put off from time to time the applying of themselves to it because it never leaves them nor causes it self to be felt and for that reason it does not press them to love it How happy are those added he who wait for Eternity in Deserts and who finding themselves too weak to preserve the Freedom of their Mind and the purity of their Imagination against the Efforts and Malignity of sensible Objects have bravely
to make you think of it But pray tell me do you love the Game of Piquet or Omber Erast Very much Theod. Do you love Hunting Erast I have not yet been at it but I imagine that there 's no great pleasure to course a Hare for three of four hours together in the Wind Rain or Sun Arist You know not what you say Erastus there 's no greater pleasure in the World Theod. Take heed Erastus Aristarchus judges not of Hunting as you do he loves it and you love it not But would you love it Does your Reason represent it as if it were worthy of your love Erast No Theodorus neither my Reason nor my Senses for what pleasure can it be to pursue a miserable Beast a whole day together I pity the Passion of Aristarchus Theod. I advise you then never to go to it for if you did you perhaps would come back more passionate than Aristarchus he was once as you are without any desire to hunt before he had tasted the pleasure it may be he had even an aversion for it but by little and little he was so accustomed to it that he could not refrain from it Erast I believe it and will never go for I would not be ruined in Horses and Dogs Theod. But Erastus why play you Why do you lose your time unprofitably Will you ruine your 〈◊〉 by play rather than Hunting Erast I can't help it Theod. Then 't is with you as with Aristarchus you condemn one another and have compassion for one another Arist 'T is true Erastus and I are not over wise thus to follow the Motions of our Passions altho I see well that he runs the Risque of losing at Cards and I of falling off my Horse Theod. What should have been done then to reclaim Erastus from gaming and Aristarchus from hunting For as things now are there only remains in human apprehension a violent Remedy Erast When Aristarchus perceived himself agitated by the pleasure of the Chace he should have forthwith left it He should resemble me his Imanation should not be filled with these Vestiges which continually renew the object of his Passion 't is the Pleasure that is found in the use of sensible things which is the Cause of Passions and which agitates the animal Spirits but when the animal Spirits are strongly agitated they impress deep Vestiges in the Brain they even break thro' their violent Course all the Fibres which resist them Thus as soon as we taste pleasure we must examine and see if it be advantageous that the Vestiges of the Object which cause this pleasure perfect their form if the Object which causes this pleasure is unworthy of our Application and Love we must deprive our selves of it and also shun the pleasure which enslaves us by the Vestiges it impresses in our Brain 'T is this I believe which we ought to do to hinder our Concupiscence from a continual growth Theod. But Erastus when you actually taste of pleasure can you easily quit the Object that causes it When Aristarchus was in the heat of the Chase the first time he went thither do you think he was in a Condition to reflect upon himself Did not the Sound of the Horn the Noise and running of the Dogs the motion of the Horse and above all this the pleasure that he found in all these different motions take up his mind Did not his Passion carry him as well as his Horse to the Death of the Hare or Stag And do you believe that he could then think of your Remedy Or if he had thought do you believe that he would have been willing to have made use of it Or that he could have resisted the Passion which agitated him The Philosophical Remedies which you have laid down are not proper at such a time Erastus to hinder our Concupiscence that it should not encrease Erast 'T is true Theodorus the most certain of all Remedies is that of privation Pleasure poysons us we must not taste it this the most short and sure Rule b He that commits Sin becomes the Slave of it Joh. 8.34 I find that reason perfectly agrees with the Gospel nevertheless I remember that I have cured my Imagination and resisted my Passion by the use of things which according to what you have said should encrease it Thus About three or four years ago I freely believed every thing that I heard One day there came an Officer hither who said that travelling with an Englishman that could not forbear smoking it hapned that this Englishmans Horse fell down and broke his Masters Leg who being upon the ground and thinking rather on his Pipe than Leg he put his hand into his Pocket and taking out his Pipe whole he cry'd out with Joy Well well my Pipe is not broke This Relation struck me and I imagin'd the smoke of Tobacco was the most agreeable thing in the World so that I perceiv'd my self urg'd with a violent Passion to try it but it happen'd to me as to many others that I had no sooner tasted it but had a horror for it Thus Theodorus your Remedy which is to deprive us of sensible things is not general for the use of Tobacco has cured me of the Passion I had for it and when I had not us'd it I was desirous of it Theod. But Erastus don't you see that we must be depriv'd of all that is capable of sullying the Imagination The Commerce we have with those who speak of Bodies as true Goods is capable of impressing traces in the Brain which carry us to the love of Bodies as well as the very use of Bodies A Drunkard who speaks of Wine as of his God who despises those who know not how to drink and who places amongst his bravest Actions the Victories which he hath got at the Table against the greatest Debauchees of the Province such a Drunkard in his gay humor easily persuades a young Man that 't is a fine quality to drink as much Wine as two Horses can drink Water 'T is for this that in all places where Men speak of drinking much as of a Vertue all the World drinks to excess for even those who don't at first delight in drinking doing as others to avoid being the Subject of their Companions Ralleries they are by degrees so accustom'd to Wine that they can't be without it Thus Erastus as Concupiscence does principally reside in the traces of the Brain which incline the Soul to the love of sensible things it must be depriv'd of all things which produce these traces not only of the actual use of Bodies which is of no use to the preservation of health and life but also of the Conversation of Debauchees who speak with esteem of the objects of their passions 'T is pleasure Erastus which agitates the Spirits and which produces dangerous traces not only that which we enjoy by our Senses but that also which we enjoy by Imagination not only the taste