Augustine goes farther than St. Gregory his Faithful Disciple Propinquior nobis qui fecit quà m multa quae facta sunt In illo enim vivimus movemur sumus Istorum autem pleraque remota sunt a mente nostra propter dissimilitudinem sui generis For though he grants that we only know God at present after a very imperfect manner he nevertheless assures us in several places that God is more known to us than those things which we fancy we know best He that has made all things sayes he is nearer to us than those things he has made For 't is in him we have Life Motion and Being Most of the things he has made are not proportioned to our Mind because they are Corporeal and of a Species of Being distinct from him And a little lower Those who have known the Secrets of Nature are justly condemned in the Book of Wisdom Rectè culpantur in libro sapientiae inquisitores hujus saeculi for if they have been able to penetrate into these things which are most concealed from Men with how much more ease might they have discovered the Author and Soveraign of the Vniverse The Foundations of the Earth are concealed from our Eyes but he who has laid those Foundations is near to our Mind 'T is for that Reason that holy Doctor believes Si enim tantum inquit potuerunt valere ut possent aestimare saeculum quomodo ejus Dominum non faciliùs invenerunt Ignota enim sunt fundamenta oculis nostris qui fundavit terram propinquat mentibus nostris De Gen. ad litt l. 5. c. 16. De Trinitate l. 8. c. 8. even that he who has Charity knows God better than he knows his Brother Ecce sayes he jam potest notiorem Deum habere quà m fratrem Plane notiorem quia praesentiorem Notiorem quia interiorem Notiorem quia certiorem I bring no other Proofs of Saint Augustines Sentiment If any Man is desirous of them he may find them of all sorts in the Learned Collection Ambrose Victor has made of them in the Second Volume of Christian Philosophy But to return to the passage of St. John Deum nemo vidit unquam I believe the Evangelists design when he affirms that no Man has ever seen God is to make us believe the difference which is between the Old and New Testament between Jesus Christ and the Patriarchs and Prophets of whom it is written that they have seen God For Jacob Moses Isaiah and others have only seen God with their Bodily Eyes and under an unknown Form They have not seen him in himself Deum nemo vidit unquam But the only Son of the Father who is in his Bosom has acquainted us with what he has seen Vnigenitus qui est in sinu Patris ipse enarravit OBJECTION St. Paul Writing to Timothy sayes That God inhabits inaccessible Light that no Man has ever seen him and moreover that none can see him If the Light of God be inaccessible we cannot see all things in it ANSWER St. Paul cannot be contrary to St. John St. Cyril of Alexandria upon these words of St. John Erat Lux vera who assures us that Jesus Christ is the true Light which lightens all Men that come into this World For the Spirit of Man which several Fathers * In accessibilem dixit sed omni homini humana sapienti Scriptura quippe sacra omnes carnalium sectatoris humanitatis nomine notare solet St. Greg. in cap. 28. Job call Illuminated or Inlightned Light St. Aug. Tr. 14. upon St. John Lumen Illuminarum is only inlightened by the Light of Eternal Wisdom St. Greg. ch 27. of Job which the said Fathers for that Reason call the Light which inlightens Lumen Illuminans David exhorts us to draw near unto God to be inlightned by him Accedite ad eum illuminamini But how can we be inlightned by him if we cannot see the Light by which we are to be inlightned Therefore when St. Paul sayes that this Light is inaccessible he means that it is so to Carnal Men who never look within themselves to contemplate it Or if he speaks of all Men it is because they are all diverted from the Contemplation of Truth because our Body continually disturbs the attention of our Mind OBJECTION God answering Moses who was desirous to see him said Thou canst not see my Face for no Man can see me and live Non videbit me homo vivit ANSWER It is evident That the Literal Sense of this Passage is not contrary to what I have said hitherto For I pretend not that we can see God in this Life in the manner Moses desired it I Answer nevertheless that we must Dye to see God For the Soul unites it self to Truth proportionably as it forsakes the Body 'T is a Truth which we do not sufficiently think upon Those who follow the motions of their Passions whose Imagination is sullyed by the injoyment of Pleasures who have augmented the Union and Correspondence of their Mind with their Body in a word those who Live cannot see God For they cannot look within themselves there to consult Truth Sapientia non invenitur in terra suaviter viventium Job 18. Therefore happy are those who have a pure Heart whose Mind is free and whose Imagination is clean who are not tyed to the World and hardly to their Body in a word happy are those who are Dead for they shall see God Wisdom has declared it publickly upon the Mountain and it also sayes it secretly to those who consult it by looking within themselves Those who continually excite Concupiscence and Pride in themselves who perpetually form a thousand ambitious designs who not only unite but subject their Soul not only to their Body but to all things which are about them in a word those who live not only a Bodily Life but also the Life of this World cannot see God For Wisdom inhabits the most secret part of Reason but those perpetually incline towards external things Yet those who continually mortifie the Activity of their Senses who are careful to preserve the purity of their Imagination who couragiously resist the Motions of their Passions in a word those who break all the Tyes which make others Slaves to the Body and sensible Greatness may discover a World of Truths and see that Wisdom which is concealed from the Eyes of all Mortals Abscondita est ab Oculis omnium viventium Job 28.2 They do in some measure cease to live when they look within themselves They quiet the Body when they approach to Truth For the Mind of Man is situate after such a manner between God and Bodies that it cannot leave Bodies without drawing near unto God as it cannot run after them without removing from him But whereas we cannot quit the Body wholly before Death I own we cannot be perfectly united to God before that time We may now
that all the Passions which are excited in us at the sight of some external object does Mechanically imprint upon the face of those that are struck with it a suitable Air that is an Air that Mechanically disposes all those who see it to such Passions and Motions as are useful to the good of Society nay Admiration it self when it is only caused in us by the fight of something External and which others may consider as well as we diffuses through our Face an Air which Mechanically imprints Admiration in others and which even acts upon their Brain after so regulated a manner that the Spirits which are contained in it are impelled into the Muscles of their Face to form there an Air like ours This Communication of the Passions of the Soul and Motions of the Animal Spirits to unite Men together in relation to good and evil and to make 'em resemble each other not only by the disposition of their Minds but also by that of their Body is so much the greater and more observable as the Passions are more violent because then the Animal Spirits are agitated with more force Now this is necessary because the Evils being greater or more present we must apply our selves the more and be strongly united amongst our selves to shun or to discover them But when the Passions are very moderate as Admiration commonly is they don't sensibly communicate themselves nor produce such an Air by which they are accustomed to do it For since there 's no extraordinary occasion 't would be unnecessary to put any force upon the imagination of others or to divert them from their employments on which perhaps 't is more requisite they should be engag'd than in considering the Causes of these Passions There is nothing more surprising than this Oeconomy of our Passions and disposition of our Body in relation to those objects which encompass us Whatsoever is Machinally performed in us is most worthy the Wisdom of him who Created us And as God has made us capable Of all the Passions which act in us chiefly to unite us to all sensible things for the preservation of Society and of our own Bodies and his design is so faithfully executed by the construction of his work so we cannot but admire the Springs and curiosity thereof Yet our Passions and all these imperceptible Bands by which we are united to whatever is about us often prove through our faults very considerable Causes of our Errors and Irregularities For we make not that use we ought of our Passions we permit them every thing and do not so much as know the limits that should be prescribed to their Power Thus even these Passions which like Admiration are but weak and agitate us the least have yet power enough to lead us into Error Of which here follows some instances When Men and chiefly those who have a vigorous Imagination consider themselves on the best side they are commonly very well satisfied with themselves and their inward satisfaction never fails of encreasing when they compare themselves with such as are more dull and heavy than they Besides there is many Persons that admire 'em too and very few who oppose them with any success or applause for Reason is scarcely ever applauded in opposition to a strong and lively imagination and in short such a sensible Air of submission and respect is form'd upon the Face of all their Hearers who have likewise such lively traces of admiration at every new word they speak that they also admire themselves and their Imagination swells them up with all these advantages and makes 'em extreamly satisfied in their own Abilities For if we cannot see a Passionate Man without receiving some impression from his Passion or in some measure engaging our selves in his Sentiments how could it be possible for those who are surrounded with a great number of Admirers to give no reception to a Passion which so agreeably flatters Self-Love Now this high esteem that Persons of a strong and lively Imagination have of themselves and their good Qualities swell 'em up with Pride and makes them assume a Majestic and Decisive Air They hear others with Contempt answer 'em in Raillery and only think in relation to themselves Looking upon the attention of the Mind as a kind of Servitude even where 't is necessary to discover the Truth they become wholly Indocible Pride Ignorance and Blindness are always Companions The Mighty Wits or rather the Proud and Vain-glorious ones will never be Disciples of the Truth They never retire within themselves but to admire and applaud their own Acquirements So that he who resists the Proud shines in the midst of their darkness without dissipating it There is on the contrary a certain disposition in the Blood and Animal Spirits which gives us too mean an opinion of our selves Their scarcity heaviness and fineness joined to the grossness of the Fibres of the Brain make our Imagination weak and languishing And the Sight or rather confused Sensation of this weakness and languor of our Imaginations creates such a vicious humility in us as we may call meanness of Spirit All Men are capable of the Truth but do not apply themselves to him who is only able to teach them The Proud depend upon themselves and hearken to none else And these mistaken humble ones address themselves to the Proud and submit to all their Decisions Thus both listen only to Man The Mind of the Proud obeys the fermentation of their own Blood that is their own Imagination And that of the mean spirited submits to the commanding Air of the Proud so that both are subjected to Vanity and Lyes The Proud are like a rich and powerful Man who having a great Equipage measures his own greatness by the number of his Followers and his strength by that of his Horses which draw his Coach These mistaken humble ones having the same Spirit and same Principles resemble a poor miserable languishing wretch who imagines himself almost nothing because he possesses nothing Yet our Equipage is not our selves and so far is the abundance of the Blood and Spirits vigour and impetuosity of the Imagination from leading us to Truth that on the contrary there is nothing which diverts us more from it It is the dull if I may call them so the cold and sedate Minds which are most capable of discovering the most solid and intricate Troths In the silence of their Passions they may hearken to that Truth which teaches them in the most secret recesses of their Reason but unhappily they think not of applying themselves to its word because it speaks without a sensible lustre and in a low voice and nothing affects them but a noise Nothing convinces them but what seems sparkling great and magnificent to the Judgment of the Senses they are not pleased without they are dazled and choose rather to hearken to those Philosopbers who relate their Visions and Dreams to them and who with the false
simple and made them familiar to us When these things are become easie to us by Meditation the fifth Rule is To abridge our Idea's and afterwards dispose them in our Imagination or write them upon Paper that by that means they may no longer fill the Capacity of the Mind Although this Rule is always useful it is not absolutely necessary except in the most difficult Questions which require a great Capacity of Mind because we inlarge the Mind only by abridging our Idea's The Use of this Rule and of those which follow cannot be discovered by any other Method than Algebra The Idea's of all things which are absolutely necessary to be considered being clear familiar short and put in order by the Imagination or expressed upon Paper The sixth Rule is They must all be compared according to the Rules of Combination Alternately one with the other either by a simple View of the Mind or by the Motion of the Imagination accompanied with this Prospect of the Mind or else by the Calculation of the Pen joyned to the Attention of the Mind and Imagination If of all the Relations which result from all these Comparisons there shou'd not be found that which we seek We must anew separate from all these Relations those that are not useful in the Resolving the Question and make the rest easie short and dispose in the Imagination or express them upon Paper Compare them together according to the Rules of Combinations and examine whether the compounded Relation that we seek is any one of all those compounded Relations which result from these new Comparisons If none of these Relations which we have discovered include the Resolution of the Question Then all these Relations must be thrown by as useless and we must make others familiar c. And in continuing after this manner we shall discover the true Relation that we seek how compounded soever it be provided we can sufficiently extend the Capacity of the Mind by abridging its Idea's and through all these Operations bear in Mind the Term we look for 't is a continual View of the Question that must regulate all the Advances of the Mind since 't is necessary to know what we enquire after Above all we must take care that we do not rest satisfied with any false Appearance or Probability but so often begin the Comparisons we make use of to discover the Truth till we cannot refrain our assent to it without perceiving the secret Reproaches of the Master who answers to our Request I mean our Endeavours the Application of our Mind and our Desires and then this Truth may serve us for an infallible Principle to advance us in the Sciences All these Rules that we have given are not generally necessary in all Sorts of Questions for when Questions are very easie the first Rule is sufficient and in many we need only the first and second In a Word since we must make use of these Rules until we have discovered the Truth that we seek it is necessary to practise them so much the more as the Questions are more difficult These Rules are not very numerous They depend all upon one another They are natural and may be rendred so familiar that it will not be necessary to think much upon them when we have Occasion to use them In short they can so regulate the Attention of the Mind as not to divided it which is a great Part of what we desire But they appear so inconsiderable of themselves that to recommend them it is necessary to show that Philosophers are fallen into a great many Errors and Extravagances because they have not so much as observed the two first which are the easiest and cheifest and that 't is also by the Use that Mr. Descartes has made of them that he has discovered so many great and beneficial Truths in his Works CHAP. II. Of the general Rule which concerns the Subject of our Studies That the Philosophers have not observed it which has caused many Errors in Physicks THE first of these Rules and that which concers the Subject of our Studies teaches us that we ought only to reason upon clear Idea's from whence this Consequence may be drawn that to preserve a good Order in our Studies we must begin with things that are most simple and easie to be apprehended and continue a great while upon them before we undertake the Disquisition of the most compound and difficult Every one will agree about the Necessity of this general Rule for 't is plain enough that to reason upon obscure Idea's and uncertain Principles is to walk in the Dark but it may be wondered at if I said 't is obobserved but very seldom and that most of the Sciences which are still the Subject of the Pride of some falsely learned Men are only grounded upon either too confused or too general Idea's to be useful in the Disquisition of Truth Aristotle who justly deserves the Title of the Prince of these Philosophers which I speak of because he is the Father of that Philosophy which they cultivate with so much Care seldom reasons but upon confused Idea's which are received by the Senses and upon some other general and indeterminate Idea's which represent nothing that is particular to the Mind for the Terms common to this Philosopher can only serve confusedly to express to the Senses and Imagination the imperfect Sensations we have of sensible things or to make Men speak after so general and indeterminate a Manner that they express nothing distinctly Almost all his Works but especially his eight Books of Physicks of which there are as different Commentators as there are Professors in Philosophy are nothing but a mere Logick there are long Discourses in it without any thing at the Bottom 'T is not that he is prolix but because he has the Secret of being concise and of affording nothing but Words He does not make such a frequent Use of his general Terms in his other Works but those he uses only serve to stir up the confused Idea's of the Senses 'T is by those Idea's that he pretends in his Problems and elsewhere in two Words to resolve an infinite Number of Questions of which a Demonstration may be given that 't is impossible to resolve them But that my Meaning may the better be comprehended what I have proved elsewhere must be remembred viz That all Terms which only stir up sensible Idea's are equivocal but what is to be considered is they are equivocal through Error and Ignorance and consequently cause an infinite Number of Errors The Word Ram is equivocal it signifies both an Animal and a Constellation in which the Sun enters at the Spring but it is rare that we are deceived by it For he must be a mighty Astrologer who shou'd imagine any Relation between these two things And believe for instance that we are apt to vomit at that Time if we take Medicines because the Ram chews the Cud. But for the Terms
things of the same kind and is not easily contained in its own Limits but in that of others Water is a cold and moist Element which gathers things together both of the same and of a different Nature which is hot easily contained within its own Bounds but in that of others And in fine the Earth cold and dry and therefore collects things of the same and of a different Nature which is not easily contained in its own Bounds and very difficultly in that of others Here the Elements are explained according to the Sentiment of Aristotle or according to the Definitions he has given of their chief Qualities and because if we will believe him the Elements are simple Bodies whereof all others are compounded the Knowledge of these Element and their Qualities must be most clear and distinct since all Physicks or the Knowledge of Sensible Bodies which are composed of them ought to be deduced from thence Let us see then what is defective in these Principles First Aristotle joyns no distinct Idea to the Word Quality We know not whether by Quality he means a real Being distinct from Matter or only the Modification of Matter It seems sometimes as if he meant it in one Sense and sometimes in another It is true in the Eighth Chapter of Categories he defines Quality to be that which causes a thing to have such or such a Name but that will not satisfie our Demands Secondly the Definitions he gives of his four first Qualities Heat Cold Moist and Dry are all false or useless This is his Definition of Heat Heat is that which assembles things of a like Nature First we do not see that this Definition perfectly explains the Nature of Heat although it should be true that Heat collects all things of the same Nature But secondly it is false for Heat does not collect all things of the same Nature Heat does not assemble the Parts of Water it rather dissipates them into a Vapour Nor does it assemble the Particles of Wine or those of all other Liquors or fluid Bodies whatever Nor even those of Quicksilver On the contrary it resolves and separates all solid Bodies and even Fluids although of a different Nature And if there are any whose Parts Fire cannot dissipate 't is not because they are of the same Nature but because some are too gross and too solid to be raised by the Motion of the Parts of Fire In the third place Heat indeed can neither assemble nor dissipate the Parts of any Body whether Homogeneous or Heterogeneous For to assemble to separate or dissipate the Parts of any Body it must move them Now Heat can move nothing or at least 't is not evident that Heat can move Bodies For although we consider Heat with all the Attention possible we can only discover that it may communicate to Bodies a Motion which it has not in it self Yet we see that Fire moves and separates the Parts of Bodies that are exposed to it It is true but it may be it is not from its Heat for even it is not evident that it has any at all 'T is rather by the Action of its Parts which are visibly in a continual Motion It is plain that the Parts of Fire which strike against any Body must communicate a Part of their Motion to it whether there is Heat in Fire or not If the Parts of this Body are but a little solid and gross the Fire cannot move them and make them slip one upon another In short if they are a Mixture of subtle and gross ones the Fire can only dissipate those that it can push strong enough to separate intirely from the rest Thus Fire can only separate them and if it assembles them 't is merely by Accident But Aristotle pretends quite the contrary Separation says he which some attribute to Fire is only a resembling of things of the same kind De gen corr l. 2. c. 2. for 't is only by Accident that Fire dissipates things of a different kind If Aristotle had at first distinguished the Sentiment of Heat from the Motion of the Particles whereof the Bodies we call Heat are composed and had afterwards defined Heat taken for the Motion of the Parts by saying Heat is that which agitates and separates the invisible Parts whereof visible Bodies are composed he would have given a tollerable Definition of Heat Nevertheless it would not perfectly have contented us because it would not precisely have discovered to us the Nature of the Motion of hot Bodies Aristotle defines Coldness to be that which assembles Bodies of the same or of a different Nature This Definition is good for nothing For 't is false that Cold assembles Bodies To assemble them it must move them but if we consult Reason 't is evident Cold can move nothing In Effect by Cold he means either what we feel when we are cold or that which causes the Sensation of Cold. Now it is plain that the Sensation of Cold can move nothing since it can push nothing What it is that causes Sensation we cannot doubt when we examine things by our Reason for 't is only Rest or a Cessation from Motion So Cold in Bodies being only a Cessation from this Sort of Motion which accompanies Heat it is evident that if Heat separates yet Cold does not Thus Cold assembles neither things that are of a like or different Nature for what can push nothing can assemble nothing In a Word as it does nothing it collects nothing Aristotle judging of things by the Senses imagines Cold is also positive as well as Heat because the Sensations of Heat and Cold are both real and positive And he also thinks that these two Qualities are active And indeed if we follow the Impression of our Senses we have Reason to believe that Cold is a very active Quality since cold Water congeals reassembles and in a Moment hardens melted Gold or Lead after a little is poured upon them although the Heat of these Metals is great enough to separate the Parts of any Body they touch It is evident by what we have said of the Errors of the Senses in the first Book that if we rely only upon the Senses to judge of the Qualities of Sensible Bodies it is impossible to discover any certain and undoubted Truth which can serve as a Principle to assist us in the Knowledge of Nature For by this Method only we cannot discover what things are hot and what cold For of many Persons who should touch Water that is luke-warm some of them would think it hot and others cold Those that are of a hot Constitution would think it cold and those that are of a cold would think it hot And if we supposed Fish capable of Sensation 't is very probable they would think it hot when all Men think it cold It is the same with the Air it seems hot or cold according to the different Dispositions of the Bodies that are exposed
of But that we may the more easily discover them it is requisite to read Descartes's Principles carefully without receiving any thing he says except when the Force and Evidence of his Reasons permit us not to doubt of it As Morality is the most necessary of all Sciences we must also study it very carefully for 't is chiefly in that Science that 't is dangerous to follow the Opinions of Men But that we may not deceive our selves in it but preserve Evidence in our Perceptions we must only meditate upon undoubted Principles such as are confessed by all those whose Minds are not blinded with Pride for there is no undoubted Principle of Morality for Spirits of Flesh and Blood and such as aspire to the Quality of great Wits These sort of Men comprehend not the most simple Truths or if they comprehend them at least they always dispute them through a Spirit of Contradiction and to preserve such a Reputation Some of these most general Principles of Morality are That God having made all things for himself he has created our Minds to know and our Hearts to love him That being also as Just and Powerful as he is we cannot be Happy if we do not follow his Orders nor Unhappy if we do That our Nature is Corrupt that our Minds depend upon our Bodies our Reason upon our Senses and our Wills upon our Passions That we are uncapable to do what we see clearly to be our Duties and that we have need of a Saviour There are also many other Principles of Morality as That a retreat from the eager Pursuit of the World and Repentance are necessary to disunite us from Sensible Objects and to increase that which we have with intelligible and true Goods I mean those of the Mind That we cannot enjoy violent Pleasure without becoming Slaves to it That we must never undertake any thing through the Incitement of Passion Nor seek an Establishment in this Life c. But because these last Principles depend upon the precedent and on the Knowledge of Man they ought not immediately to pass for undoubted If we consider these Principles orderly and with as much Care and Application as the weight of the Subject requires and receive for true only the Conclusions consequently deduced from these Principles we shall have a certain Morality which perfectly agrees with that of the Gospel although it is not compleat and large It is true in Moral Reasonings it is not so easie to preserve Evidence and Exactness as in some other Sciences and the Knowledge of Man is absolutely necessary to those that would make any great Progress And this is the reason that the generality of Men do not succeed in it They will not consult themselves to know the Weakness of their own Nature They omit to enquire of the Master who inwardly teaches them his own Will which is the Immutable and Eternal Law and the true Principles of Morality They do not hear him with Pleasure who speaks not to their Senses who answers not according to their Desires nor Flatters their Secret Pride They have no respect for such words as do not dazle the Imagination which are pronounced without a Noise and are never clearly heard but in the Silence of the Creatures Yet with Pleasure and Deference they consult Aristotle Seneca and some new Philosophers who seduce them either by the Obscurity of their Words the Turn of their Expressions or Probability of their Reasons Since the Sin of Adam we esteem only what relates to the Preservation of the Body and Conveniency of Life And because we discover these sort of Goods only by the Means of our Senses we make use of them in all Occurrences The Eternal Wisdom who is our true Life and the only Light which can illuminate us often shines before the Blind and speaks only to the Deaf when it speaks in the Recesses of the Soul for we are almost always out of our selves As we continually interrogate all Creatures to learn some new Good which we enquire after it is requisite as I have already said that this Wisdom presents it self before us without our going out of our selves to teach us by sensible Words and convincing Examples the way to arrive at true Felicity God continually imprints a Natural Love in us for him that we may always Love him and by this same Motion of Love we continually Estrange our selves from him by running with all the Power he has given us after Sensible Goods which he has forbid us to do So that willing to be loved by us he renders himself Sensible and presents himself before us by the Delights of his Grace to fix all our Vain Agitatitions and to begin our Cure by Sensations or Delectations like to those which had been the Original of our Disease Therefore I do not pretend that Men may by the Power of their Minds so easily discover all the Rules of Morality which are necessary to Salvation and much less that they are able to act according to what they know for their Heart is yet more Corrupted than their Minds I only say that if they admit none but evident Principles and consequently reason upon these Principles they will discover even the very Truths that we learn in the Bible because 't is the same Wisdom which immediately speaks from it self to those who discover Truths from the Evidence of Reasoning and who speaks by the Holy Scriptures to those who learn it from their Senses We must then study Morality in the Gospel to spare our selves the Trouble of Meditation and Certainly to learn those Laws according to which we ought to regulate our Manners For those who are not contented with Certainty because it only convinces the Mind without enlightning it must carefully Meditate upon these Laws and deduce them from their Natural Principles that they may evidently discover by their Reason what they already know by Faith with an entire Certainty This way they will be convinced that the Gospel is the most Solid of all Books That JESVS CHRIST perfectly knew the Disorder and Distemper of Nature That he has procured a Remedy the most Useful for us and the most Worthy of himself But that the Light of Philosophers is only thick Darkness and their brightest Vertues only an insupportable Pride and in a word that Aristotle Seneca c. are only at best but Men to say no worse of them CHAP. VII Of the Vse of the first Rule which respects Particular Questions WE have sufficiently explained the General Rule for Method which chiefly regards the Subject of our Studies and to prove that Descartes has exactly followed it in his System of the World but that Aristotle and his Followers have not observed it It is now proper to descend to particular Rules which are necessary to resolve all sorts of Questions The Questions that may be formed upon all manner of Subjects are of diverse kinds of which it will not be easie to give a
they mean and all the Diffiulty there is to resolve this trifling Question proceeds from their not having conceived it clearly and not thinking that Fishermen as well as others sometimes look in their Cloaths for certain little Animals which they throw away as soon as they have taken them and still carry with them what they cannot catch Sometimes also there are not all the necessary Conditions in a Question for the answering it and that makes it at least as difficult as when unuseful ones are added For instance in this to make a Man immoveable without binding or hurting him or rather having put a Man's little Finger in his own Ear by this Posture to make him so immoveable that he cannot stir from the Place where he is put until his little Finger is taken from his Ear again This at first appears impossible and it is so indeed for we can walk very well although our little Finger be in our Ear. But here is a Condition wanting which would remove all Difficulty if it was expressed viz. That he must be made to embrace some Pillar or something like it with that Arm whereof the Finger is in his Ear for then he cannot get from the Place without taking his Finger from his Ear. It is not added as a Condition of a Question that there is yet some other thing to do on purpose that the Mind should not seek for it nor discover it But those who undertake to resolve these sort of Questions must make all necessary Demands to clear the Point wherein the Difficulty of the Question consists These Arbitrary Questions seem to be trifling and so indeed they are in one Sence for we learn nothing by resolving them Yet are they not so different from Natural Questions as perhaps we may think them to be we must do very nigh the same things to resolve both For if the Craft and Malice of Men make Arbitrary Questions perplexing and difficult to resolve Natural Effects are also in themselves incompassed with Obscurity and Darkness And these Darknesses must be dispersed by the Attention of the Mind and Experiments which are kind of Demands that we make to the Author of Nature even as we take away Equivocal and useless Circumstances from Arbitrary Questions by Attention of the Mind and by the proper Demands we make to those who propose them But let us explain these things Methodically and in a more Serious and Instructive Manner There is a great Number of Questions which seem very difficult because we understand them not and which therefore want an Explication Yet which ought rather to pass for Axioms than true Questions for it seems to me that we ought not to place in the Number of Questions certain undoubted Propositions whose Terms we conceive We demand for instance as a Question difficult to be resolved whether or no the Soul is immortal because those that make the Question or that pretend to resolve it do not clearly conceive the Terms of it As the Words Soul and Immortal signifie different things and know not how they are understood so they cannot resolve whether it is Immortal or not For they neither know precisely what they demand nor what they seek By this Word Soul we may understand a Substance which thinks wills feels c. we may take the Soul for the Circulation of the Blood and Configuration of the Parts of the Body or we may take it for the Blood and Animal Spirits So by this Word Immortal we mean what cannot perish by the ordinary Power of Nature or else what can never change or what can neither corrupt nor dissipate like a Vapour or Smoke Thus suppose we take the Words Soul and Immortal in some one of these Significations the least Attention of Mind will make us able to judge whether it is Immortal or not For first 't is plain that the Soul taken in the first Sense viz. for a Substance which thinks is Immortal if we also take Immortal in the first Sense for what cannot perish by the common Power of Nature for 't is not even conceivable that any Substance can become nothing we must have Recourse to the extraordinary Power of God to conceive it possible Secondly the Soul is immortal if we take Immortal in the third Sense for what cannot corrupt nor resolve into a Vapour or Smoke for 't is evident that what cannot be divided into an infinite Number of Parts cannot corrupt or be resolved into a Vapour Thirdly the Soul is not Immortal if we take Immortal in the second Sense for what cannot change For we have sufficient convincing Proofs of the Variations of our Soul That sometimes it feels Pain sometimes Pleasure sometimes it wills certain things and then again ceases to will them as being united to the Body it cannot be separated from them c. If we take the Word Soul in any other Signification 't will be very easie to see whether it is Immortal or not by taking the Word Immortal in a fixed and certain Sense so that what makes these Questions difficult is because we conceive them not distinctly and the Terms which express them are Equivocal so that they have rather need of Explanation than Proof It is true some Persons are stupid enough and others sufficiently Imaginative to take the Soul always for a certain Configuration of the Parts of the Brain arid Motion of the Spirits and it is certainly impossible to prove to these sort of Men that the Soul is Imortal and cannot perish For on the contrary 't is evident that the Soul taken in the Sense they understand it is Mortal so that 't is not a Question difficult to resolve but a Proposition difficult to make Men understand which have not the same Idea's of it as we have and who do all they can not to have them and to blind themselves When it is asked if the Soul is Immortal or any other Question whatever we must immediately take away the Equivocal Terms and know in what Sense they are taken that we may be able distinctly to conceive the Condition of the Question And if those that propose it know not what they mean we must require them to form some distinct Notions and determine them If we ask them and find their Idea's agree not with ours it will be useless to answer them For what Answer can we make to a Man who for instance imagines that a Desire is only the Motion of some Spirits and a Thought is nothing else but a Trace or an Image that Objects or Spirits have produced in the Brain and that all the reasoning of Men consist merely in the different Situation of some little Parts which are diversely disposed in the Head To answer him that the Soul taken in the Sense he means it is Immortal is to deceive him or make our selves ridiculous to him But to answer him it is Immortal would be in one Sense to confirm him in an Error of the greatest
distinction between Acting and Thinking they commonly are displeas'd that any body should oppose Prejudices They fancy that it is not sufficient to observe the Rules of Civil Society to conform outwardly to the Opinions and Customs of the Country they live in They think it a prece of Temerity to examine Common Opinions and that to consult Truth is a breach of Charity because it is not so much Truth which unites Civil Societies as Opinion and Custom Aristotle is receiv'd in Universities as the Rule of Truth he is Quoted as Infallible It is a Philosophical Heresie to deny what he advances In a word he is respected as the Genius of Natures and those who are best vers'd in his Physicks can give no reason for any thing and perhaps are convinc'd of nothing and Scholars that have read their course of Philosophy dare hardly say before Men of Sense what they have learnt of their Masters That perhaps may make those who reflect upon it sensible of what we are to think of those sorts of Studies for a Science which we must forget to become reasonable does not seem very solid Nevertheless those would be look'd upon as inconsiderate and rash who should attempt to discover the falsity of the Reasons which Authorise so extraordinary a Conduct and they should not fail of being troubled by those who receive advantage by them if they were so happy as to undeceive the Public Is is not evident that the way to learn what we do not know is to use what we do know And that it would be a Jest to give a Frenchman a German Grammar in Verse to teach High Dutch Yet it is customary to give Children the Latin Verses of Despauterius to teach them Latin obscure Verses in all respects to Children who have much ado to apprehend the easiest things Reason and Experience are visible against that Custom for Children are a long while a learning Latin ill Nevertheless 't is Impudence to find fault with it should a Chinese hear this Custom he could not forbear laughing at it whilst on this part of the World we Inhabit the Wisest and the most Learned cannot forbear approving it If such false and such absurd Prejudices and Customs that are so unreasonable and of such great consequence have a World of Protectors how is it to be expected that People should submit to Reasons which engage Prejudices that are purely Speculative A little attention is sufficient to discover that the Method which is used to teach Children is none of the best and yet it is not minded Opinion and Custom prevail over Reason and Experience How then could any body expect that Works which overthrow a great number of Prejudices should not be condemn'd in many things even by those who pass for the most Learned and for the Wisest It is observable that those who pass in the World fox the best Judges and the best Scholars are those who have study'd most Books both good and bad they are those who have the Memories and whose Imagination is more lively and more extended than others Now those Men commonly Judge of things rashly and without deliberation They consult their Memory in which they find immediately the Law or the Prejudice according to which they decide without much Reflection As they think themselves Wiser than others they give but little heed to what they read Therefore it happens often that Women and Children discover the falsity of certain Prejudices which have been controverted because they dare not pass their Judgments upon them without Examination but use all the attention they are capable of in what they read whereas on the contrary the Learned persist in their Opinions because they will not give themselves the trouble to examine those of others when they are directly opposite to what they think already As for those that live with great Men they depend on so many things that they cannot easily retire into themselves nor afford a sufficient attention to distinguish what is true from what is likely Nevertheless they are not much wedded to certain Prejudices for the best way to hold strongly with the World is neither to be wedded to Truth nor Probability As apparent humility or good breeding and external moderation are qualifications that please every body and which are absolutely necessary to maintain Society among those who have a great deal of Pride and Ambition the Men of the World affect not to affirm any thing or to believe any thing as undeniable It ever was and ever will be the fashion to look upon all things as Problematical and to speak at random even of the most holy Truths lest they shou'd seem wedded to any thing For as those I am speaking of apply themselves to nothing and mind nothing but their Fortune no disposition can seem so convenient and so reasonable to them as that which custom justifies Therefore those who attack Prejudices flattering on the one hand the Pride and Laziness of the Men of the World they are well receiv'd by them but when they pretend to affirm any thing as undeniable and to discover the Truth of Religion and of Christian Morality they look upon them as conceited Men and as Persons who to avoid one precipice leap into another What I have said in my Opinion is sufficient to show what I could answer to the different Judgments divers persons have given against the Book Intituled A Search after Truth and I will forbear making an application which every one may make usefully and easily I am sensible that every body will not do it but it would look perhaps as if I would do my self Justice in defending my self as much as I could therefore I abandon my Right to the Judicious Readers who are the Natural Judges of Books And I conjure them to remember my Request in the Preface to the Search after Truth and elsewhere Only to Judge of my Sentiments according to the clear and distinct Answers they shall receive from the only Master of all Mankind after having made their application to him by a serious attention For if they consult their Prejudices as the decisive Laws of what they are to believe of the Book Intituled A Search after Truth I own that it is a very ill Book since it is written oh purpose to discover the Falsity and Injustice of those Laws Advertisement BEcause the following Explanations were writ to satisfy some particular Persons who desired a more special Explication of some Material Truths I think fit to premise that what I shall say may be clearly understood it will be necessary for every one to have some knowledge of the Principles I 've explain'd in the Search after Truth Therefore 't will be best not to meddle with these Observations till we 've first carefully read the whole Work for which they were written and at the second reading only examine them as they are referr'd to in the Margent Yet is not this Caution absolutely necessary to
merited for us and in another place I call it absolutely the Grace of Jesus Christ it is not that there is no other Grace but that or that there is any which Christ has not purchased for us But I call it the Grace of Jesus Christ to distinguish it from the Grace that God gave to the first Man when he Created him which is commonly call'd the Creator's Grace For the Grace by which Adam might have preserved his Innocence was chiefly a Grace of Light as I have explained in the preceding Remark because that Adam having no concupiscence he stood in need of no Pre-ingaging Pleasures to oppose it But the Grace which we now stand in need of to keep us within the bounds of our Duty and to produce and maintain Charity in us is Pre-ingaging Delectation For as Pleasure produces and maintains the Love of those things which occasion it or seem to occasion it the Pre-ingaging Pleasures we receive in relation to our Bodies produce and maintain Cupidity in us So that being directly contrary to Charity unless God were pleased to produce and maintain Charity in us by Pre-ingaging Delectations it is plain that the Pre-ingaging Pleasures of Concupiscence would weaken it proportionably as Cupidity should be strengthned What I say here supposes that God permits our Concupiscence to Act in us and that he does not weaken it by inspiring us with horror against all sensible Objects which as a result of Sin must needs tempt us I speak of things as they commonly happen But supposing that God diminishes Concupiscence instead of increasing the Delectation of Grace that may produce the same Effects We are sensible that there are two ways of putting Scales in Equilibrio when one of them is over-charged not only in adding Weights to the other side to even it but also in removing some of the other weights which bear it down Neither do I pretend that Men can do no good Actions without Pre-ingaging Delectation I have sufficiently explained my self upon that subject in the 4th Chapter of the 3d Book And it appears so evident to me that a Man who has the Love of God in his Heart may by the force of his Love and without Pre-ingaging Delectation give for Example a Penny to the Poor or bear some small injury with patience that I can not apprehend how any body can question it In my opinion Delectation is only necessary when the Temptation is Strong or Love Weak If however it may be said that it is absolutely necessary to a righteous Man whose Faith I think may be firm enough and his Hopes strong enough to overcome great Temptations The joy or fore-tast of Eternal Happiness being capable to resist the sensible Charms of Transitory Pleasures It is true that Delectation or Actual Grace is necessary for all good Actions if by the Word Delectation or Grace is understood Charity as St. Austin commonly takes it for it is evident that what ever is not done for God is no wise good But removing the Equivocation and taking the Word Delectation in my sense I do not think any body can question what I have said But this is the Case It is supposed that Pleasure and Love are one and the same thing because the one seldom goes without the other and St. Augustin does not always distinguish them And this being supposed Men are in the right in saying what they say We may conclude with St. Austin Quod amplius nos delectat secundum id operemur necesse est for Men certainly Will that which they Love and we may also say that we can do nothing good or meritorious without Delectation or without Charity But I hope to shew in an Explanation I shall give upon the Treatise of the Passions that there is as much difference betwixt Pleasure and Deliberate or Indeliberate Love as there is betwixt our Knowledge and our Love or to express that difference sensibly as there is between the Figure of a Body and its Motion AN EXPLANATION OF What I have said at the beginning of the 10th Chapter of the First Book and in the 6th of the Second Book of Method That it is very difficult to prove that there are Bodies Which must be understood of the the Proofs that are alledged of their Existence IT is very usual among Men to be perfectly ignorant of what they think they understand best and to understand certain things pretty well which they fancy they have not so much as Ideas of When their Senses have some share in their Judgments they yield to what they do not apprehend or to things they have but a very imperfect knowledge of and when their Ideas are purely Intellectual I desire the like Expressions may be allowed me they unwilling receive Indisputable Demonstrations For Example What can the generality of Men think when the major part of Metaphysical Truths are proved to them When the Existence of God is demonstrated to them the Power of his Will the Immutability of his Decrees That there is but one God or one real Cause which does all in all things That there is but one soveraign Reason of which all Intelligences participate That there is but one necessary Love which is the Principle of all Created Wills They think Men speak Words absolutely void of Sense that they have no Ideas of the things they advance and that they would do well to hold their Tongues Metaphysical Truths and Proofs having nothing that is sensible in them Men are not moved and consequently not convinced by them Nevertheless it is most certain that abstracted things are the most distinct and Metaphysical Truths are the clearest and the most evident Men say sometimes that they have no Ideas of God and that they have no knowledge of his Will and moreover think often as they say but 't is only because they fancy they do not know that which perhaps they know best For where is the Man who hesitates to answer when he is ask'd Whether God is Wise Just Powerful whether he is or is not Triangular Divisible Moveable Lyable to any Alteration Nevertheless it is impossible to answer without fear of being deceived whether certain qualifications agree not to a subject if one has no Ideas of that subject So likewise Where is the Man who dares say that God does not Act by the Plainest Means That he is Irregular in his Designs That he makes Monsters by a positive direct and particular Will and not by a kind of necessity In a Word That his Will is or may be contrary to the Order of which there is no Man but has some knowledge But if we had no Idea of the Will of God we might at least question whether he acts according to certain Laws which we clearly conceive he must follow supposing he will Act. Therefore Men have Ideas of things that are purely Intelligible and these Ideas are much clearer than those of sensible Objects Men are more certain of the Existence of
really external for that is undeniable But is it not evident that there are external Places and Distances That there are intelligible Spaces in the intelligible World which is the immediate Object of our Mind The material Body which we animate let us observe this is not that which we see when we look upon it I mean when we turn our bodily Eyes towards it the Body which we see is an intelligible Body and there are intelligible Spaces between that intelligible Body and the intelligible Sun which we see as there are material Spaces between our Body and the Sun which we behold Certainly God sees that there are Spaces between the Bodies he has created but he does not see those Bodies or those Spaces by themselves he can only see them by intelligible Bodies and Spaces God draws his Light only from himself he only sees the material World in the intelligible World which he includes and in the knowledge he has of his own Will which actually gives Existence and Motion to all things Therefore there are intelligible Spaces between the intelligible Bodies which we see as there are material Spaces between the Bodies we behold Moreover we must observe That as there is none but God who of himself knows his own Will which produces all Beings it is impossible for us to know from any but himself whether there is really without us a material World like unto that which we see Because the material World is neither visible nor intelligible of it self Therefore to be fully convinc'd that there are Bodies we must not not only have Demonstrations that there is a God and that God is not deceiver but also that God has assur'd us that he has created such Which I do not find to be prov'd in Descartes's Works God only speaks to the Mind and obliges it to assent after two ways by Evidence and by Faith I own that Faith obliges us to believe that there are Bodies but as to the Evidence it seems to me not to be full nor are we invincibly induc'd to believe that there is any thing besides God and our Mind It is true we have a great Propension to believe that there are Bodies which surround us Sixth Meditation I grant it to Mr. Descartes But nevertheless as natural as it is it does not force us to it by Evidence it only inclines us to it by Impression Now we are only oblig'd in our free Judgments to follow Light and Evidence and if we suffer our selves to be guided by sensible Impression we shall for the most part be mistaken Why do we deceive our selves in the Judgments we form upon sensible Qualities upon the magnitude figure and motion of Bodies unless it be because we follow an Impression like unto that which induces us to believe that there are Bodies Do we not see that Fire is hot that Snow is white that the Sun is dazling with Light Do we not see that sensible Qualities as well as Bodies are external Nevertheless it is certain that these sensible Qualities which we see without us are not really out of us or rather there is no certainty in all this What reason have we to judge that beside the intelligible Bodies which we see there are others which we look upon What Evidence have we that an Impression which is deceitful not only in relation to sensible Qualities but also in relation to the magnitude figure and motion of Bodies should not be the same in relation to the actual Existence cf Bodies I ask what Evidence we have of it For as to Probabilities I grant that they are not wanting I know there is this difference between sensible Qualities and Bodies that Reason can much easier correct the Impression or Natural Judgments which have a relation to sensible Qualities than those which have a relation to the existence of Bodies And moreover that all the corrections of Reason in relation to sensible Qualities agree perfectly with Christian Religion and Morality and that the Existence of Bodies cannot be denied out of a principle of Religion It is easie to apprehend that Pleasure and Pain Heat and even Colours are no modifications of Bodies That sensible Qualities in general are not contain'd in the Idea we have of matter in a word that our Senses do not represent sensible objects to us as they are in themselves but as they relate to the preseruation of Health and Life This is not only Consonant to Reason but much more yet to the Christian Religion and Morality as have been shown in divers parts of this Work But it is not so easie to assure our selves positively that there are no Bodies without us as that Pain and Hear are not in Bodies which seem to cause them It is most certain at least that there may be external Bodies We have nothing to prove that there are none and on the contrary we have a strong inclination to believe that there are Therefore we have more reason to conclude that there are such than to believe that there are not For which Reason I am of Opinion that we ought to believe there are For we are naturally inclin'd to follow our natural Judgment when we cannot positively correct it by Knowledge and Evidence For all natural Judgment proceeding from God we may conform our free Judgments to it when we find no means to discover the falsity of them And should we deceive our selves on those occasions the Author of our Mind would seem in some measure to be the Author of our Errors and Faults This Argument perhaps is pretty just Nevertheless we must grant that it cannot pass for an evident demonstration of the existence of Bodies For in fine God does not force us invinsibly to submit to it If we consent to it 't is freely and we may chuse whether we will consent to it or not If my Argument is Just we ought to believe that it is altogether probable there are Bodies but we must not remain absolutely convinc'd of it by the said Argument Otherwise 't is we who act and not God in us 'T is by a free Act and consequently liable to Error we consent and not by an invinsible Impression For we believe because we will it freely and not because we see it evidently Certainly nothing but Faith can convince us that there are Bodies indeed We can receive no exact demonstration of the existence of any other Being but of that which is necessary And if we examine it strictly we shall find it is not even possible to know with an absolute evidence whether God is or is not really Creator of a material and sensible World for such an evidence is only met with in necessary relations and there is no necessary relation between God and such a World He might not have Created it and if he has done it 't is because it was his Will and his Free-Will too The Saints which are in Heaven are sensible by an evident Light that
show hereafter Now this immutable Order which has the force of a Law in respect to God himself has visibly the force of a Law in relation to us For this Order is known to us and our natural Love suits it self to it when we look into our selves and when our Senses and Passions leave us free In a word when our Self-love does not corrupt our natural Love Being made for God from whom we can never be absolutely separated we see this Order in him and are naturally inclined to love him For it is his Light which lightens us and his Love which animates us though our Senses and Passions obscure that Light and determine against Order the impression which we receive to love according to Order But though Concupiscence conceals Order from us and hinders us from following it yet it is still an Essential and Indispensible Law in respect to us And not only in respect of us but to all created Intelligences and even in respect of the Damned For I do not think they are so far remov'd from God but that they still preserve some small Idea of Order still find some Beauty in it nay more are still ready to conform to it in some particular occasions which do not oppose their Self-love The Corruption of the Heart consists in an opposition to Order Therefor the Malice or Corruption of the Will not being equal even among the Damned it is evident that they are not equally opposed to Order nor hate it in all things unless in Consequence of the hatred they bear to God For as no Man can hate Good considered barely as such so none can hate Order unless it proves contrary to their Inclinations But though it seems contrary to their Inclinations nevertheless it is a Law which condemns them and which even punishes them everlastingly We now see what Order is and how it has the force of a Law by the necessary Love God has for himself We conceive how this Law is General for all Spirits and even for God himself How it is necessary and absolutely indispensible In fine We either do or may easily conceive in general how it is the principle of all Divine and Humane Laws and that it is according to this Law all Intelligences are Judged and all Creatures disposed in their respective Classes that are proper for them I own it is no easie Task to explain all this in particular neither will I venture to undertake it For should I attempt to show the relation particular Laws have to the General Law and the Connection between certain Proceedings and Order I should be obliged to enter into such difficulties as perhaps I should not be able to solve and which would also lead me far from my Subject Nevertheless if we consider that God neither has nor can have any Law but his Wisdom and the necessary Love he has for it we shall easily conclude that all Divine Laws must be grounded on it And if we observe that he has only made the World in relation to that Wisdom and Love since he only Acts for himself we shall no longer doubt but that all Natural Laws must tend to the preservation and perfection of this World according to indispensable Order and by their dependance on necessary Love For all things are governed by the Wisdom and Will of God There is no necessity for me to inlarge any further on this Principle at this time What I have said is sufficient to draw this Consequence That in the first Institution of Nature it was impossible that Spirits should have been subjected to Bodies For as God can never Act without Knowledge and involuntarily so he has made the World according to his Wisdom and by the Morion of his Love He has made all things by his Son and in the Holy Ghost as the Scripture teaches us Now in the Wisdom of God Spirits are more perfect than Bodies and by the necessary Love which God has for himself he prefers the most perfect to the least perfect Therefore it is impossible that Spirits should have been subjected to Bodies in the first Institution of Nature Otherwise we should be obliged to say That when God made the World he followed not the Rules of his Eternal Wisdom nor the Motions of his natural and necessary Love Which is not to be conceived but rather implies a direct Contradiction It is true at present a created Mind is subject to a material and sensible Body but it is because Order considered as a necessary Law requires it It is because God loving himself by a necessary Love which is alwayes his inviolable Law cannot love Spirits which are contrary to him nor consequently prefer them to Bodies in which there is no ill nor any thing that God hates See the fifth Dialogue of The Christian Conversations For God loves not Sinners in themselves they only subsist in the Universe by Jesus Christ God only preserves and loves them that they may cease to be Sinners by Grace in Jesus Christ Or that if they remain Sinners eternally they may eternally be condemned by the immutable and necessary Order and by the Judgment of Jesus Christ through whose Power they subsist for the Glory of Divine Justice for were it not for Jesus Christ they would be annihilated I say this by the by to remove some difficulties which may remain about what I have said elsewhere concerning Original Sin or the general Corruption of Nature It is in my Opinion very useful to consider that the Mind only knows External Objects after two manners By Knowledge and by Sensations It sees things by Knowledge when it has a clear Idea of them and consulting this Idea can discover all the properties they are capable of It sees things by Sensation when it cannot thus discover the properties of them clearly When it only knows them by a confused Sensation without Light and Evidence It is by Knowledge and ' a clear Idea the Mind sees the Essences of Things Numbers and Extension It is by a confuted Idea or by Sensation it judges of the existence of Creatures and that it knows its own The Mind perceives those things perfectly which it perceives by Knowledge and a clear Idea and moreover it sees clearly that if there be any obscurity or imperfection in its Knowledge it proceeds from its weakness and limitation or from want of application on its part and not for want of perfection in the Idea which it perceives But what the Mind perceives by Sensation is never clearly known to it Not for want of application on its part for we alwayes apply our selves carefully to what we feel but by the defect of the Idea which is very obscure and confused From hence we may judge that it is in God or in an immutable Nature that we see whatever we know by Light and a clear Idea not only because by Knowledge we see Number Extension and the Essence of Beings which depend not on a first
disadvantageous Sentiments against their Neighbour This is against all Rules of Charity and Justice But the Cartesians say they receive Principles whose Consequences are dangerous I grant it since they will have it so but they own not these Consequences They are perhaps so gross and stupid that they see them not included in their Principles yet they imagine they can separate them and think other Philosophers ought not to be believed upon their word They are not uncharitable to those who maintain Principles full of dangerous Consequences and also contrary to Religion and good Sense For in fine we may easily judge by the mischievous Consequences which I have drawn from these very Principles upon which Peripatetics pretend to triumph over their Adversaries how many I might draw from others and even the most mischievous if I would give my self the trouble of choosing out of their Body of Philosophy the most exceptionable But what advantage soever there is in Theological Contestations as also in publick Disputations I had rather defend my self weakly than overcome and triumph as an Agressor For in fine I do not comprehend how these who submit to all the Decisions of the Church can be pleased in making any Men impious and heretical upon Consequences they disavow Victory seems to me to be fatal which spills the Blood of our own Country-men But I believe I have not advanced in the Search after Truth any Principle of Philosophy whose Consequences are dangerous But on the contrary if I forsake Monsieur Des Cartes in some places and Aristotle almost every where 't is because I cannot reconcile that with Truth or this either with Truth or Religion This I leave to Men of more Judgment and Invention than my self I have said the Essence of Matter consists in Extension because I believe its evident that I have demonstrated it and thereby given clear and incontestable Proofs that the Soul is immortal and distinct from the Body A Truth which is essential to Religion and which Philosophers are obliged to prove by the last Lateran * Sess 8. Council But I never thought this Principle which is so fruitful in Truths that are serviceable to Religion was contrary to the Council of Trent Monsieur de la Ville ought not to assert it This can do no good This is the Conduct of the Religionaries in Holland Vitichius * Theo. pac ch 4. Poiret †L. 3. ch 13. cog nat and many others I say not this to call his Faith in question but I am much afraid that his Conduct will give them occasion to assert that we own in France that to be a good Catholick it 's necessary to believe that the parts of Bodies may exist without any actual Extension because a Book dedicated to the Bishops Published in Form with Approbation and Priviledge treats the Cartesians as Hereticks upon this Point I fear lest by his Probabilities he may shake the Faith of many who know not precisely what is necessary to make an Article of Faith but I am yet more apprehensive lest Libertines should be fortified in their Sentiments That the Soul is Corporeal and consequently Immortal That the Subject which he thinks is the same with that which is extended because according to them and Monsieur de la Ville Extension being only a Manner of Being whose Essence is unknown to us we have no Argument from Reason that this Being is incapable of striking and we have many Arguments from Sense Arguments however false they are yet very convincing and even demonstrative to all persons that will not be at the pains of Reasoning Hence I believe I am obliged to assert with all the Confidence which a sight of Truth affords me that I have demonstrated Extension is not a * Search after Truth p. 2. ch Manner of Being but a Being a Thing a Substance in a word a Body And there are many Answers in the Search after Truth to these Proofs of Sense by which Libertines confound the two Substances whereof Man is composed I maintain moreover that Monsieur de la Ville has not shown that this Opinion of the Essence of Matter is contrary to Transubstantiation that he has objected only such Answers as are easie to be resolved that he might more easily triumph over his Adversaries that he has only impugned mine and probably not so much as understood them and that in the humour I now find him I don't think my self obliged to inform him Lastly That he has added to the * It is forbidden by this Bull under Pain of Excommunication to give any Explanation of the Decrees of the Council Ullum omnino interpretationis genus super ipsius Consilii decretis quocunque modo edere c. This Power is reserv'd to the Pope Council of Trent more Articles of Faith or more Explications than any private person has a right to do after the express prohibitions contained in the Bull which confirms the same Council As for what respects me I desire the Readers not to believe Monsieur de la Ville upon his word but examine him cautiously Even where he asserts with the greatest Confidence he boasts himself upon his Sincerity and Ingenuity and I don't desire to dispute those qualities with him which are indispensable to every honest Man but I cannot forbear saying in defence of Truth and for my own Justification that he has often forgot himself in his Book of which I will give one notorious Instance In the Frontispiece of his Work he has inserted an Advertisement which has an Air of Sincerity for 't is composed only to make me a kind of a Reparation 'T is in these terms That there came to his Hands a Copy of the Search after Truth of the Strasbourg Edition Anno 1677 which obliges him to advertise his dear Reader that I had retracted an Error in this Edition which I had advanced in the first But it 's so true that I either know little in Divinity or am so very presumptuous that I could not retract one Error without advancing two others His whole Advertisement is only to make me a Charitable Reparation However 't is false 1. That I retracted that pretended Error about Original Sin the same Proposition being in the same words in the Edition he cites * In the Edition of Strasbourgh p. 190. In the 1st Edition at Paris p. 172. In the 3d p. 107. In the 4th p. 95. and in all those made at Paris 2. This Proposition is not my particular Opinion since 't is commonly taught in the Schools But though it were not taught at present yet 't is certainly no Error much less †p. 90. a very pernicious one as he elsewhere calls it 3. The two Errors which he supposes me to substitute in the room of that pretended one are two things which I never said and which he puts upon me Those that read what he has written in relation to the Question
of which it is proper to change all the motions of the Passion suddenly determine the course of the Animal Spirits to the Nerves which encompass these Arteries that by their contraction they may shut up the passage whereby the Blood ascends into the Brain and by their dilating lay open that which disperses it self through all the other parts of the Body These Arteries which carry the Blood to the Brain being free and all those which disperse it through the rest of the Body being strongly tied by these Nerves the Head will be filled with Blood and the Face coloured with it But any circumstance changing the shaking of the Brain which caused this disposition in these Nerves the Arteries that were contracted are unloosed and the others on the contrary are strongly contracted Thus the Head is void of Blood a paleness diffused over the Face and the little Blood which goes out of the Heart and which the Nerves we spoke of admit into it to maintain life descend mostly into the lower part of the Body the Brain is defective of Animal Spirits and all the rest of the Body is seized with a weakness and trembling To explain and particularly prove what we have already said it would be necessary to give a general knowledge of Physics and a particular one of Human Bodies But these two Sciences are also too imperfect to be treated of with all the exactness I could wish besides if I should push this matter farther it would soon carry me from my subject and therefore I shall only give a general and gross Idea of the Passions and am satisfied provided this Idea be not false These Shakings of the Brain and Motions of the Blood and Spirits are the fourth thing that is found in each of our Passions and they produce the fifth which is the sensible Emotion of the Soul In the same time that the Animal Spirits are pushed from the Brain into the rest of the Body there to produce the Motions that 's proper to maintain the Passion the Soul is carried towards the good that it perceives and that so much the more violently as the Spirits go out of the Brain with the more force because it is the same shaking of the Brain which acts the Soul and Animal Spirits The Motion of the Soul towards good is so much the greater as the sight of good is more sensible and the Motion of the Spirits which proceed from the Brain to disperse themselves into the rest of the Body is so much the more violent as the shaking of the Fibres of the Brain caused by the impression of the Object or Imagination is stronger so this same shaking of the Brain rendring the sight of the good more sensible it is necessary that the Emotions of the Soul in the Passions should augment in the same proportion as the Motion of the Spirits do These Emotions of the Soul differ not from those which immediately follow the intellectual sight of the good we have spoke of They are only stronger and more lively because of the union of the Soul and Body and the sensibility of the sight which produces them The sixth thing which occurs is the Sensation of Passion the Sensation of Love Aversion Desire Joy Sorrow c. This Sensation is not different from that we have already spoke of it is only more quick because the Body hath a great share in it But it is always followed with a certain Sensation of Sweetness which renders all our Passions agreeable to us and is the last thing observed in every one of our Passions as has been already said The cause of this last Sensation is thus At the sight of the Object of the Passion or any new Circumstance some of the Animal Spirits are pushed from the Head to the extream parts of the Body to put it into the gesture the Passion requires and others forcibly descend into the Heart Lungs and Bowels from thence to draw necessary assistances which has already been explained Now it never happens that the Body is in the condition it ought to be but the Soul receives much satisfaction from it whereas if the Body is in an estate contrary to its good and preservation the Soul suffers much pain Thus when we follow the Motions of our Passions and stop not the course of the Spirits which the sight of the Object of the Passion causes in our Body to put it in the condition it ought to be in relation to this Object The Soul will by the Laws of Nature receive this Sensation of delight and inward satisfaction because the Body is in the state it ought to be in On the contrary when the Soul following the Rules of Reason stops the course of the Spirits and resists these Passions it suffers pain proportionably to the evil which might from thence happen to the Body For even as the reflexion that the Soul makes upon it self is necessarily accompanied with the Joy or Sorrow of the Mind and afterwards with the Joy or Sorrow of the Senses when doing its duty and submitting to the order of God it would discover that in a proper condition or abandoning it self to its Passions it is touched with remorse which teaches it that 't is in an ill disposition Thus the course of the Spirits excited by the good of the Body is accompanied with a sensible Joy or Sorrow and afterwards with a Spiritual one according as the course of the Animal spirits is hindered or favoured by the Will But there is this remarkable difference between the Intellectual Joy that accompanies the clear knowledge of the good estate of the Soul and the sensible Pleasure which accompanies the confused Sensation of the good disposition of the Body that the Intellectual Joy is solid without remorse and as immutable as the truth which causes it whereas sensible Joy is generally accompanied with Sorrow of the Mind or remorse of Conscience whence it is unquiet and as inconstant as the Passion or Agitation of the Blood which causes it In fine the first is almost always accompanied with a great Joy of the Senses when it is a consequence of the knowledge of a great good that the Soul possesses and the other is seldom accompanied with any Joy of the Mind although it be a consequence of a great good which only happens to the Body if it is contrary to the good of the Soul It is therefore true that without the Grace of JESVS CHRIST the satisfaction the Soul tastes in abandoning it self to its Passions is more agreeable than that it feels in following the Rules of Reason and it is this Satisfaction which is the cause of all the Disorders that have followed Original Sin and it would make us all Slaves to our Passions if the Son of God did not deliver us from their servitude by the delights of his Grace For indeed what I have said on the behalf of the Joy of the Mind against the Joy of the Senses is
only true amongst Christians and was absolutely false in the Mouth of Seneca and Epicurus and in short of all the Philosophers who appeared the most reasonable because the Yoke of JESVS CHRIST is only sweet to those that belong to him and his Burthen only seems light to us when his Grace supports us under it CHAP. IV. That the Pleasures and Motions of the Passions engage us in Errors at the sight of Good and therefore we ought continually to resist them With the manner how to oppose Libertinism WHatsoever we have already in general explained about the qualities and effect of the Passions shews them not to be free they take up their residence in our Breasts without our leave and there is nothing but the consent of our Will which absolutely depends upon us The prospect of Good is naturally followed with a Motion and Sensation of Love a Shaking of the Brain and Motion of the Spirits a new Emotion of the Soul which increases the first Motion of Love and a new Sensation of the Soul which augments the first Sensation of Love and in fine a Sensation of Complacency which recompences the Soul for the Bodies being in a state convenient for it All these things pass in the Soul and Body Naturally and Mechanically that is without their having any part in it since our consent only truly depends upon us This Consent must also be regulated preserved and kept free notwithstanding all the endeavours of our Passions to the contrary 'T is to God alone that it must submit its liberty yielding only to the Voice of the Author of Nature Internal Evidence and to the secret reproaches of Reason We should never consent but when we clearly see we should make an ill use of our liberty if we refused it And this is the chief Rule that must be observed to avoid Error 'T is God only who evidently shews us that we must submit to what ever he requires to him alone therefore we must wholly devote our selves There is no Evidence in the Alurements and Caresses the Frights and Menaces we receive from our Passions They are only confused and obscure Sensations to which we must never give ear We must stay till these false lights of the Passions are dissipated and wait for a purer light to guide us till God himself speaks to us We must enter into our selves and there enquire for him that never leaves us but continually instructs us He speaks low but his Voice is distinct he illuminates but little yet his light is pure Rather his Voice is as strong as 't is distinct and his Light as bright and active as 't is pure But our Passions keep us always out of our selves and by their noise and darkness hinder us from being instructed by his Voice and illuminated by his Light He even speaks to those who ask nothing of him and those whose Passions have put them at the greatest distance from him do nevertheless now and then hear some of his Words But they are such Words as are strong threatning and terrible and pierce more than a two edged Sword which penetrates the most secret Recesses of the Soul and discerns the thoughts and motions of the Heart Heb. 4.12 13. For all things are open before his Eyes and he cannot behold the irregularity of Sinners without making them inwardly to feel his severe Reproaches We ought therefore to enter into our selves to approach near him to desire him to inform us of what we would know to hearken to and obey him For if we always give ear to him we should never be deceiv'd and by continually Obeying him we should free our selves from the miseries and inconstancies of our Passions to which Sin has subjected us We must not think with some pretended Wits whom the pride of their Passions have reduced to the condition of Beasts and who having so long contemned the Law of God seem at last to know no other than that of their infamous Passions We ought not I say like those Men that are guided merely by Flesh and Blood to imagine that in following the motions of our Passions and secret desires of our own Hearts we shou'd follow God and obey the voice of the Author of Nature for this would be the utmost blindness and according to St. Paul Rom. 1. the temporal punishment for Impiety and Idolatry that is the punishment of the greatest Crimes Indeed this punishment is so much the greater as that instead of appeasing the wrath of God as all other temporal ones do it continually exasperates and encreases it until the terrible day wherein his just anger shall triumph over all Sinners Their Arguments however want not probability and seeming very agreeable to common Sense they are favoured by the Passions and could never be destroy'd by all the Philosophy of Zeno. We must love good say they and pleasure is the character that Nature has united to it and by this character we can never be deceived since it proceeds from God who has affixed it thereto that we might distinguish it from evil We must also fly evil continue they and pain is the character that Nature has united to that nor can we be deceiv'd by it since God has instituted it that thereby we might discern it from good We taste Pleasure when we abandon our selves to our Passions and feel Pain and Bitterness in resisting them Therefore the Author of Nature would have us give up our selves to our Passions and never resist them since the Pleasure and Pain he makes us feel in these occurrences are certain proofs of his Will in respect to them To follow God therefore is to persue the desires of our own Hearts and to obey him is to conform our selves to the instinct of Nature which enclines us to satisfie our Senses and Passions After this manner they confirm themselves in their impious Opinions and by this means endeavour to stifle the secret reproaches of their Reason and for the punishment of their Crimes God permits them to be dazled with these false lights which blind instead of enlightning them but with such a blindness as they are insensible of and wish not to be delivered from God gives them over to a reprobate Sense abandons them to the desires of their Hearts to shameful Passions and Actions unworthy of Man as the Scripture tells us that after being as it were fatned by their Debauches they may to all Eternity become the victims of his Wrath. But we will solve the difficulty they propose which the Sect of Zeno not being able to do have denied that Pleasure was good or Pain an evil But this was too rash an attempt and unbecoming Philosophers and I dont believe it ever made those change their Opinion who experimentally found that a great Pain was a great Misery Since therefore Zeno and all the Heathen Philosophy could not resolve this difficulty offered by the Epicureans therefore we must have recourse to a more solid and