manner capable of breaking them All this is perform'd as in an Instant when the Flint strikes the Steel in a Place void of Air and the Spark then is hardly visible But when the Steel is stricken in full Air the part broken off from it as it whirls meets and vibrates a good deal of Air whose Parts probably branchy meet with it and break many more of the Vortices than the Iron alone So that the subtile Matter of these Vortices coming to surround the Iron and the Air affords them plenty enough of different Motions strongly to repel the other Vortices Thus the Sparks must be much more glittering in the Air than in a Vacuum they must remain much longer and have sufficient force to fire Gun-powder which cannot want subtile Matter to set it on fire whatever Quantity of Powder there is since it is not only the first Element but much more the second which produces its extraordinary Motion If one make Reflexion on what happens to Fire when 't is clear that is when a great deal of Air is driven against it we shall not doubt but that the Parts of the Air are very proper to determine the subtile Matter to communicate a part of its Motion to the Fire since 't is only from this Matter that the Fire can derive its Motion no Body being capable of moving it self but by the Action of those which environ it or which strike against it The END A TREATISE CONCERNING Nature and Grace BY Father MALEBRANCHE Of the ORATORY Done into English out of French ADVERTISEMENT I Intreat those into whose Hands this Tract shall come to believe I principally undertook it to satisfie the Difficulties of some Philosophers who methoughts had not all that due Sense Religion teaches us to have of the Goodness of GOD nor were sufficiently acquainted with the Obligations we are under to JESUS CHRIST I desire it may be look'd on only as an Essay and not judg'd of before it be attentively examin'd and that the Reader would not let himself be surpriz'd by the Motions of Fear and Mistrust which naturally arise in us from any thing that bears the Character of Novelty Having written for Philosophers who stand upon a great Accuracy and rigorous Exactness I have been oblig'd to avoid the General Terms in Ordinary Vse since I could not content them without using such Terms as raise distinct and particular Ideas in the Mind as far as the Subject will permit I question not but equitable Persons will conclude I had no other Design than to prove in all possible manners the Truths we are taught by Faith and that I am not so Inconsiderate as to call in question what the Church entertains as certain and Religion obliges us to believe But it has ever been allow'd Men to give New Proofs of Ancient Truths to endear GOD to the Affections of Men and to shew that there is nothing harsh or unjust in the Conduct He takes for the Establishment of His Church This Piece is divided into Three Discourses In the First I represent GOD as working for his Creatures all the Good His Wisdom will permit In the Second I explain how the SON of GOD as Incarnate Wisdom and Head of the Church sheds on His Members the Graces He could not bestow as Eternal Wisdom and they could not receive from His Father And I likewise endeavour to make Men sensible of the Obligations and Relations they are under to JESUS CHRIST Lastly in the Third Discourse I shew what is Liberty and how Grace works in us with a Salvo to it Since there are Persons of so little Equity as to draw dangerous Consequences from Principles most Advantageous to Religion I desire I may not be condemn'd upon their bare Word but that before I am judg'd I may have the Justice done me of being understood Surely there ought to be no Necessity of my making this Petition CONCERNING Nature and Grace DISCOURSE I. Of the Necessity of the General Laws of NATURE and of GRACE PART I. Of the Necessity of the General Laws of Nature I. SINCE GOD can act only for his own Glory and can find this no where but in Himself He could have no other Design in the Creation of the World than the Establishment of His Church II. JESUS CHRIST who is the Head of it is the Beginning of the Ways of the LORD is the First Born of the Creatures and though sent among Men in the Fulness of Time was their Exemplar in the Eternal Designs of his Father After his Image all Men were created as well those that preceded as we that succeed His Temporal Birth In a word 't is He in whom the Universe subsists there being none besides that could make the Work of GOD perfectly worthy of its Author III. Some Proportion there ought to be between the World and the Action that produc'd it But the Action that educ'd it out of Nothing is that of GOD of an infinite Worth whilst the World though never so perfect is not infinitely Amiable nor can render to its Author an Honour worthy of Him Thus separate JESUS CHRIST from the rest of the Creatures and see if He who acts but for his own Glory and whose Wisdom has no Bounds can purpose the Production of any External Work But joining JESUS CHRIST to His Church and the Church to the rest of the World it is taken from you raise to the Glory of GOD a Temple so majestick magnificent and holy that you 'll wonder perhaps he laid the Foundations of it so late IV. Yet if you observe that the Glory which redounds to GOD from His Work is not essential to Him if you are persuaded that the World cannot be a necessary Emanation of Deity you will evidently see that it must not have been Eternal though it ought to have no End Eternity is the Character of Independency The World therefore must have a Beginning Annihilation of Substances is a Sign of Inconstancy in Him that produc'd them therefore they will have no End V. If it be true then that the World must have begun and that the Incarnation of JESUS CHRIST could not have been so ancient as the Eternal Generation of his Divine Person An Eternity must necessarily have preceded Time Think not therefore that GOD delay'd the Production of His Work He has a greater Love for the Glory He receives from it in JESUS CHRIST In one Sense it may be most truly affirm'd that He made it as soon as possible For though to us he might have created it Ten thousand Years before the Beginning of Ages yet Ten thousand Years having no proportion to Eternity He could neither do it sooner nor later since an Eternity must have gone before VI. 'T is manifest that Soon and Late are Properties of Time and though we suppose that GOD had created the World as many Millions of Years as there are Grain of Sand on the Sea-shore before He did it might still
if he has 't was to very little purpose And so he became a Genteel Pedant or a Pedant of a species entirely new rather than a Rational Judicious and a Worthy Man Montagne's Book contains so evident Proofs of the Vanity and Arrogance of its Author as may make it seem an useless Undertaking to stand to remark them For a Man must needs be very conceited that like him could imagine the World would be at the pains of reading so large a Book meerly to gain some acquaintance with its Author's Humours He must necessarily distinguish himself from the rest of the World and look upon his own Person as the Miracle and Phoenix of Nature All created Beings are under an indispensable obligation of turning off the Minds of such as would adore them towards the only One that deserves their Adoration And Religion teaches us never to suffer the Mind and Heart of Man whom GOD created for himself to be busied about us and to be taken up with loving and admiring us When St. John prostrated himself before the Angel of the LORD the Angel forbad him saying I am thy fellow Servant and of thy Brethren Worship GOD. None but the Devils and such as partake of their Pride are pleas'd with being worshipp'd To require therefore that others should be affected and taken up with our particulars what is it but to desire not only to be worshipp'd with an outward and apparent but also with a real and inward worship 'T is to desire to be worshipp'd even as GOD himself desires it that is in Spirit and in Truth Montagne wrote his Book purely to picture himself and represent his own Humours and Inclinations as he acknowledges himself in the Advertisement to the Reader inserted in all the Editions I give the Picture of my self says he I am my self the Subject of my Book Which is found true enough by those that read him for there are few Chapters wherein he makes not some Digression to talk of himself and there are even some whole Chapters wherein he talks of nothing else But if he wrote his Book meerly to describe Himself he certainly Printed it that his own Character might be read in it He therefore desir'd to be the Subject of the Thoughts and Attention of Men though he says there is no reason a Man should employ his time upon so frivolous and idle a Subject Which words make only for his Commendation For if he thought it unreasonable for Men to spend their time in reading his Book he himself acted against Common Sense in publishing it And so we are oblig'd to believe either that he Thought not what he said or did not what became him But 't is a pleasant Excuse of his Vanity to say he wrote only for his Friends and Relations For if so how chance there were publish'd three Editions Was not one enough for all his Friends and Relations Why did he make Additions to his Book in the last Impressions but no Retractions but that Fortune favour'd his Intentions I add says he but make no Corrections because when once a Man has made his Book of publick right he has in my Opinion no more pretence or title to it Let him say what he can better in another but let him not corrupt the Works already sold. Of such as these 't is folly â—o purchase any thing before they are dead Let them think long before they publish Why are they in such haste My Book is always one and the same He then was willing to publish his Book for and deposite it with the rest of the World as well as to his Friends and Relations But yet his Vanity had never been pardonable if he had only turn'd and fix'd the Mind and Heart of his Friends and Relations on his Picture so long time as is necessary to the reading of his Book If 't is a Fault for a Man to speak often of himself 't is Impudence or rather a kind of Sottishness to praise himself at every turn as Montagne does This being not only to sin against Châ—â—stian Humility but also Right Reason Men are made for a sociable Life and to be form'd into Bodies and Communities But it must be observ'd that every particular that makes a part of a Society would not be thought the meanest part of it And so those who are their own Encomiasts exalting themselves above the rest and looking upon others as the bottom-most parts of their Society and themselves as the Top-most and most Honourable assume an Opinion of themselves that renders them odious instead of indearing them to the Affections and Esteem of the World 'T is then a Vanity and an indiscreet and ridiculous Vanity in Montagne to talk so much to his own Advantage on all occasions But 't is a Vanity still more Extravagant in this Author to transcribe his own Imperfections For if we well observe him we shall find that most of the Faults he discovers of himself are such as are glory'd in by the World by reason of the Corruption of the Age That he freely attributes such to himself as can make him pass for a Bold Wit or give him the Air of a Gentleman and that with intent to be better credited when he speaks in his own Commendation he counterfeits a frank Confession of his Irregularities He has reason to say that The setting too high an Opinion of one's self proceeds often from an equally Arrogant Temper 'T is always an infallible sign that a Man has an Opinion of himself and indeed Montagne seems to me more arrogant and vain in discommending than praising himself it being an insufferable Pride to make his Vices the Motives to his Vanity rather than to his Humiliation I had rather see a Man conceal his Crimes with Shame than publish them with Impudence and in my Mind we ought to have that Vnchristian way of Gallantry in abhorrence wherein Montagne publishes his Defects But let us examine the other Qualities of his Mind If we would believe Montagne on his word he would perswade us that he was a Man of No Retention that his Memory was treacherous and fail'd him in every thing But that in his Judgment there was no defect And yet should we credit the Portraicture he has drawn of his own Mind I mean his Book we should be of a different Opinion I could not says he receive an Order without my Table-book and if I had an Oration to speak that was considerably long-winded I was forc'd to that vile and miserable necessity of learning it word for word by Heart otherwise I had neither Presence nor Assurance for fear my Memory should shew me a slippery trick Does a Man that could learn Memoriter word for word long-winded Discourses to give him some Presence and Assurance fail more in his Memory than his Judgment And can we believe Montagne when he says I am forc'd to call my Domestick Servants by the Names of their Offices or their
Religion against Hereticks give frequent occasion to the same Hereticks of adhering obstinately to their Errors and treating the mysteries of Faith as Humane Opinions The Working and Agitation of the Mind and the Subtilties of the School are no fit means to make Men sensible of their own Weakness and to inspire them with that Spirit of Submission requisite to make them humbly resign to the Decisions of the Church On the contrary these Subtil and Humane Reasonings may kindle a secret Pride in their Heart and dispose them to imploy their Mind to evil purpose by framing a Religion suitable to its Capacity And so far are we from seeing Hereticks convinc'd by Philosophic Arguments and the Reading of Books purely Scholastical so as to acknowledge and condemn their Errors that on the contrary we find them daily taking constant occasion from the Weakness of some School-men's Arguings to turn the most Sacred mysteries of our Religion into Jest and Raillery which indeed are not establish'd on any Reason and Explications of Humane Derivation but only on Authority of the Word of GOD written or unwritten that is transmitted down to us by way of Tradition And indeed 't is impossible for Humane Reason to make us comprehend how one GOD is in Three Persons How the Body of our LORD can be really present in the Eucharist and how 't is consistent for Man to be free whilst GOD knows from all Eternity all that Man shall do The Reasons that are brought to prove and explain these things are such for the generality as convince none but those who are willing to admit them without Examination but look ridiculous and extravagant to Men minded to oppugn them and that are not settled in the Belief of the Foundation of these mysteries Nay it may be said that the Objections that are form'd against the Principal Articles of our Faith and especially against the mysteries of the TRINITY are so strong as cannot possiby admit of any clear evident and satisfactory Solution such I mean as one way or other does not shock our weak and staggering Reason These mysteries being in truth incomprehensible The best way of converting Hereticks is not then to accustom them to the Exercise of Reason by urging to them only uncertain Arguments deduc'd from Philosophy because the Truths we would instruct them in come not under the Scrutinity of Reason Nor is it always convenient to use Argument in Truths that can be made out by Reason as well as Tradition as the Immortality of the Soul Original Sin the necessity of Grace the corruption of Nature and some others for fear least the Mind having once tasted the Evidence of Argument upon these Questions will not acquiesce in those which are only prov'd by Tradition On the other hand they should be taught to quit their own Reason by making them sensible of its Weakness its Limitation and its Disproportion to our mysteries and when the Pride of their mind shall be humbled and brought down it will be easie to introduce them into the Sentiments of the Church by representing to them her Authority or explaining to them the Tradition of all Ages if they are capable of understanding it But whilst men are continually calling of their Sight from the Weakness and Limitation of their Mind their Courage will be puffed up with an indiscreet Presumption they will be dazled by an abusive Light and blinded with the love of Glory and so Hereticks will be continually Hereticks Philosophers obstinate and opinionated And Men will never leave disputing on all things they can dispute on as long as Disputation pleases them CHAP. III. I. The Philosophers dissipate or dissolve the force of their Mind by applying it to Subjects including too many Relations and depending on too many things and by observing no Method in their Studies II. An Instance taken from Aristotle III. That Geometricians on the contrary take a good Method in the Search of Truth Especially those who make use of Algebra and Analyticks IV. That their Method increases the strength of the Mind and that Aristotle's Logick lessens it V. Another Fault of Learned Men. MEN not only involve themselves in a multitude of Errors by being busied with Questions partaking of Infinity whilst their Mind is Finite but by over-matching their Mind which is but of a narrow Reach with those of a vast Comprehension It has been already said That as a piece of Wax was incapable of receiving many perfect and very distinct Figures so the Mind was incapable of receiving many distinct Idea's that is of perceiving many things distinctly at the same time Whence 't is easie to conclude that we should not apply our selves at first to the finding out occult Truths the Knowledge whereof depends on too many things some of which are unknown to us or not so familiar as they should be For we ought to study with order and make what we know distinctly serviceable to the Learning we know not or what we know but confusedly And yet the most part of those who take to any Study trouble not themselves so much They never make trial of their forces nor enter into themselves to try how far the reach of their Mind will go 'T is a secret Vanity and a disorderly Desire of Knowledge and not Reason which regulates their Studies For without consulting their Reason they undertake the fathoming the most hidden and inscrutable Truths and the resolving Questions which depend on such a multitude Relations that the most quick and piercing Mind would to the discovering their Truth with an absolute Certainty require several Ages and infinite Experiments to build upon In Medicine and Morality there are a vast many Questions of this nature all the Sciences of Bodies and their Qualities as of Animals Plants Mettals and their Properties are such Sciences as can never be made sufficiently evident or certain especially unless they are cultivated in in another manner than has been done and the most simple and least compos'd are began with on which those other depend But Men of study care not to be at the pains of a methodical Philosophy They are not agreed about the certainty of the Principles of Physics They frankly confess they know not the Nature of Bodies in general nor their Qualities And yet they fancy themselves able for instance to account for Old Men's Hairs growing White and their Teeth becoming Black and such like Questions which depend on so many Causes as 't is impossible to give any infallible Reason of them For to this 't is necessary to know wherein truly consists the Whiteness of Hairs in particular the Humours they are fed with the Strainers which are in the Body to let these Humours through the Conformation of the Root of the Hairs or of the Skin they pass through and the difference of all these things in a Young Man and an Old which is absolutely impossible or at least extreamly difficult to be known Aristotle for instance
false Supposition of the Philosophers which we are here endeavouring to destroy that the surrounding Bodies are the true Causes of our Pain and Pleasure Reason seems to justifie a Religion like the Pagan Idolatry and approve the universal Depravation of Morals Reason I grant teaches not to adore Onions and Leeks for instance as the Sovereign Divinity because they can never make us altogether happy when we have them or unhappy when we want them neither did the Heathens worship them with an equal Homage as their great Jupiter whom they fansied to be the God of Gods or as the Sun whom our Senses represent as the universal Cause that gives Life and Motion to all things and which we can hardly forbear to look on as the Sovereign Divinity if we suppose as the Pagan Philosophers that he Comprehends in his Being the true Causes of what he seems to produce as well upon our Soul and Body as upon all the Beings that surround us But if we must not pay a Sovereign Worship to Leeks and Onions they deserve at least some particular Adoration I mean they may be thought upon and loved in some manner if it be true that they can in some sort make us happy and may be honour'd proportionably to the good they doe us Surely Men that listen to the Reports of Sense think Pulse capable of doing them good otherwise the Israelites would not have bewailed the loss of them in the Wilderness or look'd on themselves as unhappy for being deprived thereof had they not fansied to themselves some great Happiness in the Enjoyment of them See what an Abyss of Corruption Reason plunges us into when it goes hand in hand with the Principles of Pagan Philosophy and follows the footsteps of the Senses But that the Falshood of that wretched Phylosophy and the Certainty of our Principles and Distinctness of our Ideas may not be longer doubted it will be necessary plainly to establish the Truths that contradict the Errours of the Ancient Philosophers or to prove in few words that there is but one true Cause since there is but one true God that the Nature and Force of every thing is nothing but the Will of God that all Natural things are not real but only occasional Causes and some other Truths depending on them It is evident that all Bodies great and little have no force to move themselves a Mountain a House a Stone a Grain of Sand the minutest and bulkiest Bodies imaginable are alike as to that We have but two sorts of Ideas viz. of Spirits and Bodies and as we ought not to speak what we conceive not so we must only argue from those two Ideas Since therefore our Idea of Bodies convinces us that they cannot move themselves we must conclude that they are moved by Spirits But considering our Idea of finite Spirits we see no necessary Connexion betwixt their Will and the Motion of any Body whatsoever on the contrary we perceive that there is not nor can be any Whence we must infer if we will follow Light and Reason That as no Body can move it self so no Created Spirit can be the true and principal Cause of its Motion But when we think on the Idea of God or of a Being infinitely perfect and consequently Almighty we are aware that there is such a Connexion betwixt his Will and the Motion of all Bodies that it is impossible to conceive he should will that a Body be moved and it should not be moved And therefore if we would speak according to our Conceptions and not according to our Sensations we must say that nothing but his Will can move Bodies The moving force of Bodies is not then in themselves this force being nothing but the Will of God Bodies then have no proper Action and when a moving Ball meets with another and moves it the former communicates nothing of its own to the latter as not having in it self the Impression it communicates though the former be the Natural Cause of the latter's Motion and therefore a natural Cause is not a true and real Cause but only an occasional which in such or such a Case determines the Author of Nature to act in such or such a manner 'T is certain that all things are produced by the Motion of visible or invisible Bodies for Experience teaches us that those Bodies whose parts are in greater Motion are always the most active and those that Cause the greatest Alterations in the World so that all the Forces of Nature are but the Will of God who Created the World because he will'd it who spake and it was done who moves all things and produces all the Effects we see because he has established some Laws by which Bodies Communicate their Motion to each other when they meet together and because those Laws are efficacious they and not the Bodies act There is then no Force Power nor true Cause in all the Material and sensible World Nor need we admit any Forms Faculties or real Qualities to produce Effects which the Bodies bring not forth or to divide with God his own Essential Force and Power As Bodies cannot be the true Causes of any thing so likewise the most Noble Spirits are subject to the same impotency on that respect They cannot know any thing unless God enlightens them nor have the Sensation of any thing unless he modifies them nor will unless he moves them towards himself They may indeed determine the Impression God has given them to himself towards other Objects but I doubt whether it can be call'd a Power For if to be able to sin is a Power it is such a one as the Almighty wants saith St. Austin somewhere If Men had of themselves the Power of loving Good it might be said that they have some Power but they cannot so much as love but because God Wills it and that his Will is Efficacious They love because God continually drives them towards Good in general that is towards himself for whom alone they are Created and preserved God moves them and not themselves towards Good in general and they only follow that Impression by a free Choice according to the Law of God or determine it towards false and seeming Goods according to the Law of the Flesh But they cannot determine it but by the sight of Good For being able to doe nothing without an Impression from above they are incapable of loving any thing but Good But though it should be supposed which is true in one sense that Spirits have in themselves the Power of knowing Truths and loving Good should their Thoughts and Will produce nothing outwardly it might still be said that they were impotent and unoperative Now it seems undeniable that the Will of Spirits is not able to move the smallest Body in the World it being evident there is no necessary Connexion betwixt the Will we may have of moving our Arm for instance and the Motion of the same Arm. It moves
Men pay their Worship to the Sun and is still the universal Cause of the Disorders of their Mind and the Corruption of their Heart Why say they by their Actions and sometimes by their Words should we not love Bodies since they are able to afford us Pleasure And why are the Israelites blam'd for lamenting the Loss of the Garlick and Onions of Egypt since the Privation of those things which enjoyed afforded them some Happiness made them in some sort unhappy But the Philosophy that is mis-call'd New and represented as a Bugbear to frighten weak Minds that is despised and condemned without hearing that New Philsosophy I say since it must have that name destroys all the Pretences of the Libertines by the establishing its very first Principle that perfectly agrees with the first Principle of the Christian Religion namely That we must love and fear none but God since none but He alone can make us happy As Religion declares that there is but one true God so this Philosophy shews that there is but one true Cause As Religion teaches that all the Heathen Divinities are but dead Metals and immovable Stone so this Philosophy discovers that all the second Causes or Divinities of the Philosophers are but unactive Matter and ineffective Wills As Religion commands not to bow to those Gods that are not Gods so this Philosophy teaches not to prostrate our Minds and Imagination before the phantastick Grandeur and Power of pretended Causes which are not Causes which we ought neither to love nor to fear nor be taken up with but think upon God alone see and adore love and fear him in all things But that 's not the Inclination of some Philosophers they will neither see God nor think upon him for ever since the Fall there is a secret Opposition betwixt God and Man They delight in Gods of their own Invention in loving and fearing the Contrivances of their Heart as the Heathens did the Works of their Hands They are like those Children who tremble at the sight of their Play-Fellows after they have dawb'd and blacken'd them Or if they desire a more noble Comparison though perhaps not so just they resemble those famous Romans who reverenced the Fictions of their Mind and foolishly adored their Emperours after they themselves had let loose the Eagle at their Canonization CHAP. IV. An Explication of the Second Part of the General Rule That the Philosophers observe it not but that Des Cartes has exactly followed it WE have been shewing to what Errours Men are liable when they reason upon the false and confused Ideas of the Senses and their rambling and undetermin'd Notions of Logick whence it appears that to keep to Evidence in our Perceptions 't is absolutely necessary exactly to observe that Rule we have prescrib'd and to examine which are the clear and distinct Ideas of things that we may only argue by deduction from them In that same general Rule concerning the Subject of our Studies there is yet a remarkable Circumstance namely That we must still begin with the most simple and easie things and insist long upon them before we undertake the Enquiry after the more composed and difficult For if to preserve Evidence in all our Perceptions we must only reason upon distinct Ideas 't is plain that we must never meddle with the Enquiry of compound things before the simple on which they depend have been carefully examin'd and made familiar to us by a nice Scrutiny since the Ideas of compound things neither are nor can be clear as long as the most simple of which they are composed are but confusedly and imperfectly known We know things imperfectly when we are not sure to have considered all their Parts and we know them confusedly when they are not familiar enough to the Mind though we may be certain of having consider'd all their Parts When we know them but imperfectly our Argumentations are only probable when we perceive them confusedly there is neither Order not Light in our Inferences and often we know not where we are or whither we are going But when we know them both imperfectly and confusedly which is the commonest of all we know not so much as what we would look for much less by what Means we are to find it So that it is altogether necessary to keep strictly to that Order in our Studies Of still beginning by the most simple Things examining all their Parts and being well acquainted with them before we meddle with the more composed that depend on the former But that Rule agrees not with the Inclination of Man who naturally despises whatever appears easie his Mind being made for an unlimited Object and almost incomprehensible cannto make a long Stay on the Consideration of those simple Ideas which want the Character of Infinite for which he is created On the contrary and for the same Reason he has much Veneration and an eager Passion for great obscure and mysterious Things and such as participate of Infinity Not that he loves Darkness but that he hopes to find in those deep Recesses a Good and Truth capable of satisfying his Desires Vanity likewise gives a great Commotion to the Spirits stirring them to what is great and extraordinary and encouraging them with a foolish Hope of hitting right Experience teaches that the most accurate Knowledge of ordinary Things gives no great Name in the World whereas to be acquainted with uncommon Things though never so confusedly and imperfectly always procures the Esteem and Reverence of those who willingly conceive a great Idea of whatever is out of their depth of Understanding And that Experience determines all those who are more sensible to Vanity than to Truth which certainly make up the greatest Number to a blind-fold Search of a specious though chimerical Knowledge of what is great rare and unintelligible How many are there that reject the Cartesian Philosophy for that ridiculous Reason That its Principles are too simple and easie There are in this Philosophy no obscure and mysterious Terms Women and Persons unskill'd in Greek and Latin are capable of learning it It must then be say they something very inconsiderable and unworthy the Application of great Genius's They imagine that Principles so clear and simple are not fruitful enough to explain the Effects of Nature which they supposed to be dark intricate and confused They see not presently the Use of those Principles that are too simple and easie to stop their Attention long enough to make them understand their Use and Extent They rather chuse to explain Effects whose Causes are unknown to them by unconceivable Principles than by such as are both simple and intelligible For the Principles these Philosophers are wont to explain obscure Things by are not only obscure themselves but utterly incomprehensible Those that pretend to explain Things extremely intricate by Principles clear and generally receiv'd may easily be refuted if they succeed not since to know whether what they say
done by ways that seem most plain and simple Whereas the second Adam acting on the baptiz'd Infant 's Mind for one moment the contrary to what the first Adam produc'd in it before Regeneration is perform'd by the usual ways of acting which God takes in his sanctifying the Adult For the Infant at that moment being void of Sensations and Passions which divide its Thinking and Willing Capacity has nothing to encumber it and prevent its knowing and loving its true Good This is all I say at present because it is not necessary to know precisely how Regeneration of Infants is perform'd provided we admit in them a true Regeneration or an inward and real Justification caus'd by Acts or at least by Habits of Faith Hope and Charity My offering an Explication so repugnant to Prejudices is design'd for the Satisfaction of those who will not allow of Spiritual Habits and to prove to them the Possibility of the Regeneration of Infants For the Notion of Imputation seems to me to include a manifest Contradiction it being impossible That God should consider his Creatures as Righteous and actually love them whilst they are actually in Disorder and Corruption Though he may for his SON's sake have a Design to re-instate them in ORDER and love them when re-instated OBJECTIONS Against the Proofs and Explications of Original Sin OBJECTION against the first Article GOD wills Order it is true but 't is his Will that makes it it does not suppose it Whatever God wills is in Order purely for this Reason that God wills it If God wills that Minds should be subject to Bodies should love and fear them there is no disorder in all this If God will'd that two times two should not be four we should not speak false in saying two times two were not four For it would be a Truth God is the Principle of all Truth and the Master of all Order he supposes nothing neither Truth nor Order but makes all ANSWER Then all is thrown in Confusion There is no longer any Science nor Morality nor undeniable Proofs of our Religion Which consequence is evident to any Man who clearly comprehends this false Principle That God produces Order and Truth by a Will absolutely Free But this is not to answer it I Answer then that God can neither do nor will any thing without knowledge that therefore his Will supposes something but what it supposes is nothing of a created nature Order Truth Eternal Wisdom is the Exemplar of all the Works of God which Wisdom is not made God who makes all things never made it though he constantly begets it by the necessity of his Being Whatever God wills is in Order for that sole reason that he wills it No body denies it But this is because God cannot act against himself that is his Wisdom and his Knowledge He is at liberty not to produce any External Work but supposing he will act he cannot act otherways than by the immutable order of his Wisdom which he necessarily Loves For Religion and Reason teach me that he works nothing without his SON without his WORD without his WISDOM Therefore I fear not to affirm that God cannot positively will that the mind should be subject to the Body Because that Wisdom whereby God wills whatever he wills makes me clearly understand it is contrary to Order And I see this clearly in that same Wisdom because it is the Soveraign and Universal Reason which is participated by all Spirits for which all Intelligences are created and by which all Men are Reasonable For no Man is his own Reason Light and Wisdom unless it be when his Reason is Particular his Light an Ignis fatuus and his Wisdom Folly As the Generality of Men know not distinctly that it is only Eternal Wisdom which enlightens them and that Intelligible Ideas which are the Immediate object of their Mind are not created so they imagine that Eternal Laws and Immutable Truths receive their Establishment from a free will of God And this is what occasion'd M. des Cartes to say that God was able to effect that twice four should not be eight and that the three Angles of a Triangle should not be equal to two Rights Because there is no Order says he no Law no Reason Goodness or Truth but depends on God and that is he who from all Eternity has ordain'd and establish'd as supreme Legislator Eternal Truths This Learned Man did not observe that there was an Order a Law a Sovereign Reason Coeternal with God and necessarily lov'd by him and accordingly to which he must necessarily act supposing he will act For God is indifferent as to his External Workings but the manner of his working though he be perfectly free is not indifferent to him He always acts in the wisest and perfectest manner possible he constantly follows immutable and necessary Order Thus God is at liberty not to make either Spirits or Bodies but if he creates these two Kinds of Beings he must create them by the simplest ways and situate them in the most perfect Order He may for Example unite Spirits to Bodies but I maintain that he cannot subject them thereunto unless in pursuance of the Order which he always follows the Sin of Spirits obliges him to use them in that manner as I have already explain'd in the seventh Article and in the first Explication towards the end To anticipate some instances that might be urg'd against me I think it necessary to say that Men are to blame to consult themselves when they would know what God can do or will They are not to judge of his wills by the inward sense they have of their own Inclinations For otherwise they would often make him an unjust cruel sinful instead of an Almighty God They ought to lay aside the general Principle of their Prejudices which disposes them to judge of all things with reference to themselves and not to attribute to God what they do not clearly conceive to be included in the Idea of a Being infinitely perfect For they ought not to judge of things save by clear Ideas And then the God they worship will not be like those of Antiquity Cruel Adulterous Voluptious as the Persons who have imagin'd them nor will he resemble the God of some Christians who to make him as powerful as the Sinner wishes him ascribe to him an actual power of acting against all Order of leaving Sin unpunisht and of condemning to eternal Torments Persons never so righteous and Innocent Second OBJECTION against the First Article If God wills Order what is it that makes Monsters I say not amongst Men for they have sinned but amongst Animals and Plants What is the cause of the general corruption of the Air which breeds so many Diseases By what Order is it that the Seasons are so irregular and that the Sun and the Frost burn up and kill the Fruits of the Earth Is it to act with Wisdom and Order
to furnisâ— an Animal with parts quite useless and to congeal the Fruits after they are perfectly formed Is not this rather because God does what he pleases and that his power supersedes all Order and Rule For to mention things of greater Importance than the Fruits of the Earth wherewith he may do as he sees good the Clay whereof God makes Vessels of wrath is the same with that which he fashions Vessels of Mercy ANSWER These are the difficulties which serve only to obscure the Truth as proceeding from the darkness of the Mind We know that God is just we see that the wicked are Happy ought we to deny what wee see ought we to doubt of what we know because we may possibly be so stupid as not to know and so Libertine as not to believe what Religion teaches us of future Torments So we know that God is Wise and all that he does is Good mean while we see Monsters or defective Works What are we to believe that God is out of his aim or that these Monsters are not his handiwork Certainly if we have sence and constancy of Mind we shall believe neither the one nor the other For 't is manifest that God does all and that whatever he does is as perfect as possible with relation to the simplicity and fewness of the means he imploys in the Formation of his Work We must hold fast to what we see and not quit our ground for any difficulties impossible to be resolv'd when our Ignorance is the cause of that Impossibility If Ignorance must raise Difficulties and such like Difficulties overthrow the best establisht Opinions what will remain certain among Men who know not all things What Shall not the brightest Lights be able to disperse the least Darkness and shall any little shadow Eclipse the clearest and the liveliest Light But though the answering such sort of Difficulties might be dispenc'd with without Prejudice to the fore-establisâ—t Principle yet it is not amiss to show they are not unanswerable For the Mind of Man is so unjust in its Judgments that it may possibly prefer the Opinions which seem to result from these imaginary Difficulties before certain Truths which no Man can doubt of but because he will and with that design ceases to examine them I say then that God wills order though there are Monsters and 't is moreover because God wills order that there are Monsters and this is my reason Order requires that the Laws of nature whereby God produces that infinite Variety so conspicuous in the World should be very simple and very few in number Now 't is the simplicity of these general Laws which in some particular Junctures and because of the Disposition of the subject produces irregular Motions or rather Monstrous Combinations and consequently God's willing order is the cause of these Monsters Thus God does not positively or directly will the Existence of Monsters but he positively wills certain Laws of the Communication of Motions whereof Monsters are the necessary consequences because these Laws though of a most simple kind are nevertheless capable of producing that variety of forms which can't be sufficiently admired For Example In consequence of the general Laws of the Communication of Motions there are some Bodies which are driven near the Centre of the Earth The Body of a Man or an Animal is one of these that which upholds him in the Air breaks under his Feet is it just or according to Order that God should change his general Will for that particular Case Surely it seems not probable That Animal therefore must necessarily break or maim its Body And thus we ought to argue about the generation of Monsters ORDER requires that all Beings should have what 's necessary to their Preservation and the Propagation of the Species provided this may be done by most simple Means and worthy the Wisdom of God And so we see that Animals as also Plants have general Means to preserve themselves and to continue their Species and if some Animals fail thereof in some particular Occasions 't is because these general Laws whereby they were form'd reach not these private Emergencies because they respect not Animals separately but generally extend to all Beings and that the Good of the Publick must be preferr'd before Particular Advantages 'T is evident That if God made but one Animal it would not be Monstrous But Order would require That he should not make that Animal by the same Laws that he at present forms all others for the Action of God must be proportion'd to his Design By the Laws of Nature he designs not the making one Animal but a whole World and he must make it by the simpliest Means as Order requires 'T is enough then that the World be not monstrous or that the general Effects be suitable to the general Laws to vindicate the Work of God from Censure and Reproach If for all particular Changes God had instituted so many particular Laws or if He had constituted in every Being a particular Nature or Principle of all the Motions that arrive in it I confess it would be hard to juâ—tifie his Wisdom against so visible Disorders We should perhaps be forc'd to confess either that God wills not Order or that he knows not how or is not able to rectifie Disorder For in short it seems to me impossible to ascribe an almost infinite Number of second Causes of natural Forces Vertues Qualities and Faculties to what we call the Sports and Disorders of Nature with a Salvo to the infinite Power and Wisdom of the Author of all things OBJECTION against the Second Article GOD can never act for Himself A wise Being will do nothing useless but whatever God should do for himself would be useless because he wants nothing God wills nothing for himself if by the Necessity of his Essence he has all the Perfection he can desire And if God desires nothing for himself he works nothing for himself since he works only by the Efficacy of his Will The Nature of Good is to be communicative and diffusive 't is to be useful to others and not to it self 't is to seek out 't is if it be possible to create Persons whom it may make happy Therefore it is a Contradiction for God who is essentially and supremely good to act for himself ANSWER GOD may be said to act for himself two ways either with intent to derive some Advantage from what he does or to the end his Creature may find its Happiness and Perfection in him I enquire not at present whether God acts for himself in the first sense and whether to receive an Honour worthy of himself he has made and restor'd all things by his SON in whom according to the Scripture all things subsist I only assert that God cannot create and preserve Spirits in order to know and love created Beings 'T is an Immutable Eternal and necessary Law That they should know and love God as I
produce in us contrary Pleasures and Aversions to those of Concupiscence Pleasures for the True and Aversions or Dislikes for sensible Goods Thus the Grace whereof Jesus Christ is the Occasional Cause and which he incessantly sheds on us as Head of the Church is not a Grace of Light though he has merited that Grace likewise for us and sometimes may communicate it as I shall say by and by But 't is a Grace of Sensation 't is the preventing Delectation which begets and nurses Charity in our Hearts For Pleasure naturally produces and cherishes the Love of those Objects which cause or seem to cause it 'T is likewise the Disgust which sometimes sensible Objects give us which create an Aversion to them and capacitate us to guide the Motions of our Love by Light or Knowledge XXXII We must oppose the Grace of Sensation to Concupiscence Pleasure to Pleasure Dislike to Dislike that the Influence of Jesus Christ may be directly opposite to the Influence of the First Man The Remedy must be contrary to the Disease that it may cure it For illuminating Grace cannot heat an Heart that is wounded by Pleasure this Pleasure must cease or another succeed it Pleasure is the Weight of the Soul and naturally bears it along with it and sensible Pleasures weigh it down to Earth In order to her determining her self these Pleasures must vanish or delectable Grace must raise her up towards Heaven and instate her well-nigh in Equilibrio Thus it is the New Man may war against the Old the Influence of our Head may resist that of our Progenitor and Jesus Christ may conquer in us all our Domestick Enemies The First Man being free from Concupiscence before his Sin needed not to be invited to the Love of the True Good by preventing Delectation He knew clearly that God was his Good and there was no Necessity he should have the Sense of it 'T was not fit he should be allur'd by Pleasure to the Love of him since nothing withstood this Love and he knew him perfectly deserving it But after the Sin the Grace of Delectation was necessary to counterpoize the continual Struggle of Concupiscence Therefore Light is the Grace of the Creator Delectation is that of the Restorer Light is communicated by Jesus Christ as Eternal Wisdom Delectation is given by him as Wisdom Incarnate Light in its Original was mere Nature Delectation has ever been Pure Grace Light after the Sin was granted us only for the Merits of Jesus Christ. Delectation is granted both for the Merits and by the Efficacy of the same Jesus Lastly Light is shed into our Souls according to our own several Volitions and various Applications as I shall explain by and by But the Delectation of Grace is infus'd into our Hearts according to the diverse Desires of the Soul of Jesus Christ. XXXIII 'T is true Pleasure produces Light because the Soul is more attentive to Objects that give her Pleasure Since most Men despise or neglect the Truths of Religion because abstract or unaffecting it may be said that the Delectation of Grace instructs them For that rendring these Truths more sensible they more easily learn them by the Attention they afford And for this Reason St. John says That the Unction we receive from Jesus Christ teaches all things and that those who have receiv'd it have need of no Instructor XXXIV Yet it must be observ'd That this Unction does not produce Light immediately and by its self it only excites our Attention which is the Natural or Occasional Cause of our Knowledge So we see that Men of the greatest Charity are not always the most Understanding All Men being not equally capable of Attention all the Receivers of the same Unction are not equally instructed by it Therefore though Light may be shed on the Soul by a supernatural Infusion and Charity often produces it yet we are always to look upon this kind of Grace but as a Natural Effect For ordinarily Charity produces not Light in the Mind save in proportion to the Inducement it gives the Soul to desire the Knowledge of what she loves For in fine the diverse Desires of the Soul are the Natural or Occasional Causes of the Discoveries we make on any Subject whatsoever But these things we must explain more at large in the Second Part of this Discourse PART II. Of the Grace of the CREATOR XXXV I Know but two Principles that directly and of themselves determine the Motion of our Love Light and Pleasure Light to discover our several Goods and Pleasure to make us tast them But there is a great difference betwixt Light and Pleasure the former leaves us absolutely to our selves and makes no Intrenchment on our Liberty It does not efficaciously carry us to Love nor produce in us Natural or Necessary Love but only induces us to carry our selves to the loving with a Love of choice the Objects it discovers or which is the same thing only causes us to determine to particular Goods the general Impression of Love God constantly gives us for the General But Pleasure effectually determines our Will and as it were conveys us to the Object which causes or seems to cause it It produces in us a Natural and Necessary Love weakens our Liberty divides our Reason and leaves us not perfectly to our own Conduct An indifferent Attention to the Sense we have of our internal Motions will convince us of these Differences Thus Man before the Sin being perfectly free and having no Concupiscence to hinder him from prosecuting his Light in the Motions of his Love and knowing clearly that God was infinitely amiable ought not to be determin'd by preventing Delight as I have already said or by any other Graces of Sensation which might have lessen'd his Merit and induc'd him to love by Instinct the Good which should only be lov'd by Reason But after he had sinned he besides the Grace of Light had need of that of Sensation to resist the Motions of Concupiscence For Man having an invincible Desire for Happiness cannot possibly sacrifice his Pleasure to his Light his Pleasure which makes him actually Happy and subsists in him in spight of his Resistance to his Light which subsists but by a painful Application of Thought and dies at the presence of the least actual Pleasure and lastly which promises no solid Happiness till after Death which to the Imagination seems a perfect Annihilation Light therefore is due to Man to conduct him in the quest of Happiness and belongs to Natural Order and supposes neither Corruption nor Reparation in Nature But Pleasure which relates to the true Good is pure Grace For naturally the true Good ought not to be belov'd otherwise than by Reason Therefore the Occasional Causes of the Graces of Sensation ought to be found in Jesus Christ because he is the Author of this Grace But the Occasional Causes of Light ought to be ordinarily found in the Order of Nature because Light is
whom according to St. Paul God has made all things is the Man Jesus Christ. 'T is to teach Men that they are created and that they subsist in Jesus Christ 't is to unite them straitly to him 't is to induce them to make themselves like him that God has figur'd Jesus Christ and his Church in the principal of his Creatures For 't is necessary that Jesus Christ should be found in the whole Work of God that it might be the worthy Object of his Love and of the Action that produc'd it LVI If we consider the manner of the First Man's Creation as related by Holy Scripture how his Wife was form'd out of his Flesh and Bone his Love to her and the Circumstances of their Sin we shall doubtless judge that God thought on the Second Adam in the Formation of the First that he consider'd the Father of the future World in creating the Father of the present and that he design'd the First Man and Woman for express Types of Jesus Christ and his Church St. Paul permits us not to doubt of this Truth when he assures us we are form'd of the Flesh and Bone of Jesus Christ that we are his Members and that the Marriage of Adam and Eve is the Figure of Jesus Christ and his Church LVII God might perhaps form Men and Animals by ways as simple as common Generation But since this way typified Jesus Christ and his Church since it wore the Impress of the principal of God's Designs and represented as I may say the well-belov'd Son to his Father that Son in whom alone the whole Work of the Creation subsists God ought to prefer it before all other thereby likewise to teach us that as intelligible Beauties consist in their Relation to Eternal Wisdom so sensible Beauties must though in a manner little known to us relate to Incarnate Truth LVIII Doubtless there are many Analogies and Agreements betwixt the most principal of the Creatures and Jesus Christ who is their Pattern and their End For all is full of Jesus Christ every thing represents and typifies him as much as the Simplicity of the Laws of Nature will permit But I shall not venture to enter on the Particulars of this Subject For besides that I am fearful of mistaking and have not a competent Knowledge either of Nature or Grace of the present World or the future to discover their Relations I know that the Imagination of Men is so sarcastical and nice that we cannot by Reason lead them to God much less to Jesus Christ without tiring their Patience or provoking their Railery Most Christians are accustom'd to a Philosophy that had rather have recourse to Fictions as extravagant as those of the Poets than to God and some of them are so little acquainted with Jesus Christ that a Man would perhaps be reckon'd a Visionist if he said the same things with St. Paul without using his Words For 't is rather that great Name which persuades them than the View of Truth The Authority of Scripture keeps them from blaspheming what they do not understand but whereas they are but little conversant with it it cannot much enlighten them LIX 'T is certain that the Jewish People was the Figure of the Church and that the most Holy and Remarkable Persons among the Kings Prophets and Patriarchs of that Nation were the Types of the Messiah our Saviour Jesus Christ which is a Truth not deniable without undermining the Foundations of the Christian Religion and making the most Learned of the Apostles pass for the most Ignorant of Men. Jesus Christ being not yet come ought at least to be typified For he ought to be expected he ought to be desired and by his Types he ought to strew some sort of Beauty over the Universe to make it acceptable to his Father Thus it was necessary he should in some manner be as ancient as the World and that he should die presently after the Sin in the Person of Abel The Lamb that was slain from the Foundation of the World The Beginning and End Alpha and Omega Yesterday and to Day He is was and is to come These are the Qualifications St. John attributes to the Saviour of Men. LX. But supposing that Jesus Christ ought to be typified 't was necessary it should be done by his Ancestors especially and that their History dictated by the Holy Spirit should be handed down to future Ages to the end we might still compare Jesus Christ with his Figures and acknowledge him for the true Messiah Of all Nations God loving that most which had nearest Relation to his Son ought to make the Jews the Fathers of Jesus Christ according to the Flesh since they had been the most lively and express Figures of his Son LXI But if driving this Difficulty up higher the Reason be demanded of the Choice God made of the Jews to be the principal Figures of Jesus Christ I think I may and ought affirm that God acting always by the simplest ways and discovering in the infinite Treasures of his Wisdom all the Combinations of Nature with Grace chose that which was to make the Church the most ample most perfect and most worthy of his own Greatness and Holiness as I have said before Secondly I think I ought to answer that God foreseeing that what was to happen to the Jewish People by a necessary Consequence of Natural Laws would have more Analogy to his Design of typifying Jesus Christ and his Church than all that could befall other Nations thought fit to choose that People rather than any other For in brief Predestination to the Law is not like Predestination to Grace and though there be nothing in Nature that can oblige God to shed his Grace equally on a whole People yet methinks Nature may merit the Law in the Sense I here understand it LXII 'T is true that all that befell the Jews who represented Jesus Christ was not a necessary Consequence of the Order of Nature There was need of Miracles to make the Jews lively and express Figures of the Church But Nature at least furnish'd Ground-work and Materials and possibly the principal Strokes in most Instances and Miracles finish'd the rest Whereas no other Nation would have been so proper for so just and accomplish'd a Design LXIII If I mistake not we are oblig'd to think that God having a Wisdom prescious of all the Events and Consequences of all possible Orders and all their Combinations never works Miracles when Nature is sufficient and that therefore he must choose that Combination of Natural Effects which as it were remitting him the Expence of Miracles nevertheless most faithfully executes his Designs For Example 'T is necessary that all Sin should be punish'd But that 's not always done in this World Yet supposing it was requisite for the Glory of Jesus Christ and the Establishment of Religion that the Jews should be punish'd in the Face of the whole World for the Crime
their Effect The Prayers and diverse Desires of Jesus Christ with reference to the Formation of his Body have likewise most constantly and speedily their Accomplishment God denies his Son nothing as we learn from Jesus Christ himself Occasional Causes produce not their Effect by their own Efficacy but by the Efficacy of the General Cause 'T is likewise by the Efficacy of the Power of God that the Soul of Jesus Christ operates in us and not by the Efficacy of Man's Will 'T is for this Reason that St. Paul represents Jesus Christ as praying to his Father without Intermission For he is oblâ—gâ—d to Pray in order to Obtain Occasional Causes have been establish'd by God for the determining the Efficacy of his General Wills and Jesus Christ according to the Scripture has been appointed by God after his Resurrection to govern the Church which he had purchas'd by his Blood For Jesus Christ became the Meritorious Cause of all Graces by his Sacrifice But after his Resurrection he entred 〈◊〉 the Holy of Holies as High Priest of future Goods to appear in the Presence of God and to endue us with the Graces which he has merited for us Therefore he himself applies and distributes his Gifts as Occasional Cause he disposes of all things in the House of God as a well-beloved Son in the House of his Father I think I have demonstrated in the Search after Truth that there is none but God who is the true Cause and who acts by his own Efficacy and that he communicates his Power to Creatures only in establishing them Occasional Causes for the producing some Effects I have proved for Example That Men have no Power to produce any Motion in their Bodies but because God has establish'd their Wills the Occasional Causes of these Motions That Fire has no power to make me feel Pain but because God has establish'd the Collision of Bodies the Occasional Cause of the Communication of Motions and the violent Vibration of the Fibres of my Flesh the Occasional Cause of my Pain I may here suppose a Truth which I have proved at large in the Third Chapter of the Second Part of the Sixth Book and in the Illustration upon the same Chapter and which those for whom it was principally written don't contest Now Faith assures us that all Power is given to Jesus Christ to form his Church All Power is given unto me in Heaven and in Earth Which cannot be understood of Jesus Christ as to his Divinity for as God he has never received any thing And therefore it is certain that Jesus Christ as to his Humanity is the Occasional Cause of Grace supposing I have well proved that God only can act on Minds and that Second Causes have no Efficacy of their own Which those ought first to examine who would understand my Sentiments and give a Judgment of them XII I say farther that no one is sanctified but through the Efficacy of the Power which God has communicated to Jesus Christ in constituting him the Occasional Cause of Grace For if any Sinner were converted by a Grace whereof Jesus Christ was not the Occasional but only the Meritorious Cause that Sinner not receiving his New Life through the Efficacy of Jesus Christ would not be a Member of the Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head in that manner explain'd by St. Paul by these Words of the Epistle to the Ephesians That we may grow up into him in all things who is the Head even Christ from whom the whole Body fitly join'd together and compacted by that which every Joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every Part maketh increase of the Body unto the edifying it self in Love Which Words not only say Jesus Christ is the Meritorious Cause of all Graces but likewise distinctly signifie that Christians are the Members of the Body whereof Jesus Christ is the Head that 't is in him we increase and live with an entire new Life that 't is by his inward Operation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that his Church is form'd and that thus he has been constituted by God the sole Occasional Cause who by his several Desires and Applications distributes the Graces which God as the True Cause showers down on Men. 'T is on this Account St. Paul says Christians are united to Jesus Christ as their Root Rooted and built up in him 'T is for the same Reason that Jesus Christ compares himself to a Vine and his Disciples to the Branches that derive their Life from him I am the Vine ye are the Branches On the same Grounds St. Paul affirms that Jesus Christ lives in us and that we live in him that we are rais'd up in our Head that our Life is hidden with Jesus Christ in God in a word that we have already Life Eternal in Jesus Christ. All these and many other Expressions of like nature clearly manifest that Jesus Christ is not only the Meritorious but also the Occasional Physical or Natural Cause of Grace and that as the Soul informs animates and consummates the Body so Jesus Christ diffuses through his Members as Occasional Cause the Graces he has merited to his Church by his Sacrifice For my part I cannot see how these Reasons can be call'd in question or upon what Grounds a most edifying Truth and as ancient as the Religion of Jesus Christ can be treated as a dangerous Novelty I grant my Expressions are novel but that 's because they seem to me the fittest of all others distinctly to explain a Truth which can be but confusedly demonstrated by Terms very loose and general These words Occasional Causes and Natural Laws seem necessary to give the Philosophers for whom I wrote this Treatise of Nature and Grace a distinct Understanding of what most Men are content to know confusedly New Expressions being no farther dangerous than involving Ambiguity or breeding in the Mind some Notion contrary to Religion I do not believe that Equitable Persons and conversant in the Theology of St. Paul will blame me for explaining my self in a particular manner when it only tends to make us Adore the Wisdom of God and strictly to unite us with Jesus Christ. First OBJECTION XIII 'T is Objected against what I have establish'd That neither Angels nor Saints of the Old Testament receiv'd Grace pursuant to the Desires of the Soul of Jesus since that Holy Soul was not then in Being and therefore though Jesus Christ be the meritorious Cause of all Graces he is not the Occasional Cause which distributes them to Men. As to Angels I Answer That 't is very probable Grace was given them but once So that if we consider things on that side I grant there is nothing can oblige the Wisdom of God to constitute an Occasional Cause for the Sanctification of Angels But if we consider these blessed Spirits as Members of the Body whereof Jesus Christ is the Head or suppose them