the Passion which hath once reign'd in us for the Wounds which the Brain hath receiv'd from the Action of Objects and the Motion of the Spirits are not easily cur'd the animal Spirits flowing naturally to those parts of the Brain which are most open or lie most ready to receive them it is impossible to heal the Wounds of the Imagination but by continually turning the Course of the Spirits which renews them as it is impossible for a Wound in the Body to close up if you thrust the Sword which made it every moment into it or any thing which renews and enflames it XIII But the Spirits do not only of themselves and as it were fortuitously flow into the Wounds which the Brain hath receiv'd from the Action of sensible Objects they are determin'd also to pass thither continually by the Pleasure which the Soul receives from thence and especially by the admirable Construction of the Machine which goes on in its Motion without expecting the Orders of the Will and many times by reason of Sin contrary to them So that whenever we cease to resist and divert the Course of the Spirits the Passions renew and encrease their Strength Now the only way to make a Diversion and Revulsion in the Spirits is to set before our Minds those Objects and employ our selves in those Thoughts to which different courses of the animal Spirits are joyn'd by the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body For the Course of the Spirits doth not depend immediately on our Will but only because the Thoughts which determine the Motion of the Spirits depend on it as I have shewn in the Fifth Chapter It is impossible then to deliver our selves from our Passions if we do not carefully avoid the Objects which excite them and employ our Minds in such Thoughts as are proper to make them ridiculous and contemptible But I shall treat of this more particularly hereafter XIV To make Men reflect yet farther on the Truths which I have here set down I think my self oblig'd to add this in particular That neither the Prayer of Invocation nor good Works no nor the Grace of Jesus Christ doth heal the Wounds which the Brain receives from the violent and irregular Motion which the Passions excite in the animal Spirits No the most sublime Grace of Christ that of Baptism that which the Soul receives in the Holy Communion when it comes to it with the most sanctified Dispositions do not cure this kind of Distempers without a Miracle It is true indeed that the Grace of Justification gives us a Right to those Succours which are necessary to resist the actual Assault of the Passions but it doth not deliver us from their Attacks it doth not close the Wounds which the Brain hath receiv'd from the Action of sensible Objects God doth not work Miracles on our Body when he justifies us he still leaves us all our Weaknesses Baptism doth not free us from our Concupiscence and the new Christian who is tormented with the Gout or disquieted with any Passion doth not find himself cur'd of those troublesome Distempers he only receives the assistance necessary to make him bear patiently the Pain which afflicts him and uneasily tho bravely the Caresses of the Passion which Courts and Flatters him XV. The same thing almost may be said of Prayer and good Works they obtain of God the Succours necessary for the Fight but they do not deliver us from our Miseries unless it be that continual fighting and resisting naturally makes the Spirits take another Course and then the Wounds close up and heal of themselves for to cure the Wounds of the Brain as well as those of the other parts of the Body it is sufficient that there be nothing to hinder the separated parts from reuniting XVI Now the Reason why Grace doth not deliver us from our Passions nor Baptism from the continual Assaults of our Concupiscence is because the power of the Grace of Christ appears much more by the continual Victories which the Just obtain over their Domestick Enemies the Merit of the Saints by this means becomes more pure and illustrious and since Glory is proportion'd to Merit the holy City the eternal Temple the great work of Christ receives innumerable Beauties which it would not have if our Passions did not give us continual Assaults St. Paul was just but yet he found in his Flesh a Law opposite to that of the Spirit by which he was animated He often besought Christ that he would deliver him from that which he calls A Thorn in the Flesh But Christ answers him 2 Cor. 12. v. 8 9. My Grace is sufficient for thee for it is in Weakness that my Power appears and that Vertue purifies it self Therefore St. Paul gloried in Infirmities in Persecutions in Reproaches that the Power of Christ as he saith might rest upon him XVII Let us not wonder therefore if the Sacraments leave the Body in the same condition in which they found it and strengthen only the inward Man of which we have no perfect Knowledge nor let us despair because we see our selves still insulted and ill-us'd by sinful Passions if we always continue stedfast in our Faith contented with our Hope and thereby unshaken in our Resolution of Sacrificing all Things to God But if we would as indeed we ought for we ought always to avoid Dangers if we would I say deliver our selves from those troublesome Motions which the Passions excite in us we must absolutely make use of that Remedy which I have prescrib'd and fill our Minds with such Thoughts as may make a Diversion and Revulsion in the animal Spirits and render the Passions ridiculous and contemptible there is no other way But those who either upon Philosophical grounds or by motives of Self-love enlightned condemn the Passions as Criminal must not presently imagine that they are just in the sight of God nor too hastily esteem themselves above their Brethren We must as much as we can make Nature subservient to Grace but we must still remember that Nature doth not justify and that Grace many times operates in Mens Minds and converts them and yet they perceive no alteration in them CHAP. VIII The Means which Religion furnishes us with to gain and preserve the Love of Order Jesus Christ is the occasional Cause of Grace we must call upon him with confidence When we come to the Sacraments the actual Love of Order is chang'd in 〈◊〉 habitual in consequence of the permanent desires of â—rist The Proof of this Truth being essential to the Conversion of Sinners The fear of Hell is as good a motive as the desires of eternal Happiness We must not confound the Motive with the End The desire of being Happy or Self-love should make us conformable to Order or obedient to the Law of God I. WE cannot obtain nor preserve Vertue or the Love of Order but by actual resolutions of Sacrificing every Thing to it because
Man to the holy Trinity are but shadows and imperfect Draughts which can never come up to the Original of all Beings who by an incomprehensible property of Infinity communicates himself without Division and forms a Society of three different Persons in the unity of the same Substance But tho' the Image of God which we bear be very imperfect in respect of our Original yet there is nothing more great and noble for a mere created Being than this faint resemblance We labour for our Perfection only as we maintain and keep it up we secure our Happiness no further than we fashion our selves according to our Model All our true Judgments and regular Motions all the Duties which we pay to the Wisdom Power and Love of God are so as many Steps by which we advance toward the Fountain of all Good and an habitual Disposition to frame these Judgments and excite these Motions is the real Perfection of Man who essentially depends on the supreme Good and was made for no other End but to find his Perfection and Happiness in doing his Duty V. Now as the three Persons in the Trinity are but one God one and the same Substance so all those Duties which seem to relate particularly to any one of the Persons give equal Honour to the other two Every Regular Motion honours the Power of the Father as its Good the Wisdom of the Son as its Law and the mutual Love of the Father and the Son as its Principal and Original On the contrary every Sin or every Love of the Creatures dishonours the true Power opposes the universal Reason and resists the holy Spirit So that we cannot absolutely separate the Duties which we owe to the Power of God from those which we owe to his Wisdom and to the Substantial and Divine Love and therefore I have been forc'd in the three foregoing Chapters to repeat the same things after different manners VI. Tho' all the Duties which Spiritual Beings owe to God who is a pure Spirit and will be worship'd in Spirit and in Truth consist only in true Judgments and Motions of Love conformable to those Judgments yet Men being compos'd of a Soul and a Body living in Societies with one another educated in the same outward Religious Worship and thereby tied to certain Ceremonies they are oblig'd to an infinite number of particular Duties which have all of them a necessary Relation to those which I have already set down in general All these external Duties are arbitrary and indifferent at least in their first Foundation and Original but the spiritual Duties are in themselves absolutely necessary We may dispense with outward Duties but we can never dispense with the others they depend on an inviolable Law the immutable and necessary Order Outward Duties of themselves do not sanctify those that render them to God they receive their Worth and Value only from the spiritual Duties which accompany them but all the Motions of the Soul which are govern'd by true Judgments do immediately and of themselves honour the Divine Perfections VII Thus for instance it is a Duty indifferent in it self for a Man to pull off his Hat when he comes into a Church But to enter into the presence of God with respect and with some inward Motion of Religion is not an arbitrary but an essential Duty He that for some particular Reason cannot be uncover'd at Mass may be cover'd at the Celebration of it Women are excus'd from this Duty and provided it be known that it is not done out of contempt but upon necessity commonly their needs no dispensation for it None but those that have wrong Notions of things cenforious and weak People will find fault with it but no one that is present at that Sacrifice can be excus'd from offering up to God the Sacrifice of his Mind and Heart Praises and Motions which honour God He that prostrates himself before the Altar is so far from meriting and honouring God by that outward Duty that he commits a heinous Crime if he designs by that Action only to gain the Esteem of the World But he who tho' he be unmov'd outwardly is nevertheless inwardly agitated with Motions agreeable to the Knowledge which Faith and Reason give him of the Divine Attributes honours God draws near and unites himself to him He conforms himself to the immutable Law by Regular Motions which leave behind them a Habit or Disposition of Charity and thereby truly purifies and sanctifies himself But there are many People whose Religion is not spiritual they go no farther than the outside which makes an Impression on them and often determines them to do that by imitation which they had no design to do of themselves VIII Certainly it is a disrespect to the universal Reason to separate our selves from it by the use of Wine or to run away from our selves where Reason inhabits and where it gives its Oracles and suffer our selves to be carried by our Passions into a World where the Imagination reigns In a word to depart voluntarily and without any necessity from the presence of our Good and of our Reason is a Motion which dishonours the Divine Majesty it is Irreligious and Impious But the generality of People do not judge of things after this manner they judge of a Man's inward Sentiments by his outward Actions and Behaviour they imagine it a great Crime to do some Actions in a holy Place tho' perhaps they are not indecent in themselves and yet never consider that nothing is more indecent than to neglect the essential Duties of a rational Creature in any place whatsoever A Man that is Religious even to Superstition passes for a Saint with them but the Christian Philosopher is counted no better than a Heathen if he will not abandon Reason to agree with their Notions and religiously observe their Customs IX Indeed the Philosopher doth ill if he neglects the external Duties Mat. 18.6 and thereby offends the Weak and Simple It were better for him that a Mill-stone were hang'd about his Neck and that he were Drown'd in the depth of the Sea Every Man ought to testify his Faith by visible Actions and thereby incline other Men who are always affected with the outward Behahaviour to such Motions as give honour to God In every thing that relates to God we should with all Humility assume the air and posture of Adoration Any other is at least Foolish and Ridiculous But it is Impious to use such outward Actions as are superstitious and lead Men's Minds to Judgments and Motions which dishonour the divine Attributes They are excusable perhaps in such as have but a confus'd Idea of God But he that is better instructed in Religion and hath a more particular knowledge of the divine Perfections ought not to do any thing out of any humane Consideration that contradicts his own Light X. The greatest part of Christians have a Jewish Spirit Joh. 17.3 their Religion is not
it Thus there is a mutual Correspondence between certain Thoughts of the Soul and certain Modifications of the Body in consequence of those natural Laws which God hath establish'd and which he condantly observes Herein consists the Union of the Soul and Body The Imagination may raise other Ideas of all this But this Correspondence is undeniable and is sufficient for my purpose So that I neither do nor ought to build on uncertain Foundations XIV Secondly I suppose it to be known that the Soul is not join'd immediately to all the parts of the Body but only to one part which answers to all the rest and which I call without knowing what it is the Principal Part so that notwithstanding the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body a Man may have his Arm cut off and yet have no thought arise in his Soul Correspondent to it but it is not possible that the least change should happen in the Principal Part of the Brain without causing also some alteration in the Soul This is verified by Experience for sometimes parts of the Body are cut off without being felt because then the Motion of the Amputation doth not communicate it self to the Principal Part. As on the contrary those that have lost an Arm often feel a real pain in that very Arm which they have not because there is the same Motion in the Principal Part of the Brain as if the Arm was hurt XV. The first Man before his Sin had an absolute power over his Body at least he could when he pleas'd hinder the Motion or Action of Objects from communicating it self to the principal part of the Brain from the Organs of the Senses which might be touch'd by those Objects and this he did probably by a kind of revulsion somewhat like that which we make in our selves when we would fix our Attention on those Thoughts which disappear in the presence of sensible Objects XVI But I suppose in the Third place that we have not now that power and therefore to obtain some Liberty of Mind to think on what we will and love what we ought it is necessary that the principal part should be calm and without agitation or at least that we should still be able to stop and turn it which way we please Our Attention depends on our Will but it depends much more on our Senses and Passions It is a very difficult thing not to look upon that which touches not to love that which pleases that which touches I say and pleases the Heart The Soul is never sooner tir'd than when it fights against Pleasure and makes it self actually Miserable XVII Fourthly I suppose it to be known that the principal part is never touch'd or shaken in an agreeable or disagreeable manner but it excites in the animal Spirits some Motion proper to carry the Body toward the Object which acts upon it or to separate it from it by flight so that those Motions of the Fibres of the Brain which relate to Good or Evil are always follow'd by such a course of the Spirits as disposes the Body rightly with relation to the present Object and at the same time those sensations of the Soul which are correspondent to those agitations of the Brain are follow'd by such motions of the Soul as answer to this course of the Spirits For the impressions or motions of the Brain are in respect of the course of the Spirits what the sensations of the Soul are in respect of the Passions and these Impressions are to the Sensations what the motion of the Spirits is to the motion of the Passions XVIII Fifthly I suppose that Objects never strike the Brain without leaving some marks of their Action nor the animal Spirits without leaving some Tracks of their Course that these Tracks or Wounds are not easily clos'd up or effac'd when the Brain hath been often or forcibly struck and when the Course of the Spirits hath been violent or hath often begun again in the same manner That Memory and corporeal Habits consist in nothing else but those Tracks or Impressions which cause in the Brain and other parts of the Body a particular facility of obeying the Course of the Spirits and that by this means the Brain is hurt and the Imagination polluted when we have had the enjoyment of Pleasures without apprehending the danger of Familiarity with sensible Objects XIX Lastly I suppose that we conceive distinctly that when many of these Tracks have been made at the same time we cannot open any one of them without opening all the rest in some Measure whence it comes to pass that there are always many accessory Ideas which present themselves confusedly to the Mind having a Relation to the principal Ideas to which the Mind particularly applies it self There are also many confus'd Sensations and indirect Motions that accompany the principal Passion which moves the Soul and carries it toward some particular Object There is nothing more certain than this connection of Impressions with one another and with the Senses and Passions Any one that hath but the least Knowledge of the Nature of Man and will make but the least reflection on the inward Sense he hath of what passes within himself may discover more of these Truths in an Hour than I can tell him in a Month provided he doth not confound the Soul with the Body in making the Union betwixt them and carefully distinguishes the Properties of which the thinking Substance is capable from those which belong to the extended Substance And I think it necessary to Advertise the Reader That this kind of Truths is of very great importance not only for the distinct Conception of what I have hitherto said and shall hereafter say but generally for all the Sciences that have any Relation to Man Having handled this Subject at large in the Search of Truth particularly in the Second Book I thought not to have said any thing of it here and if these Suppositions seem obscure to the Reader and do not give him light enough to comprehend clearly what I shall say in the remaining part of this Treatise I must refer him to that Book for I cannot persuade my self to give a long Explication of the same thing over and over CHAP. XI What kind of death we must die to see God to be united to Reason and to deliver our selves from Concupiscence It is the Grace of Faith that gives us this happy death Christians are dead to Sin by Baptism and alive in Christ by his Resurrection Of the Mortification of the Senses and the use we should make of it We should unite our selves to corporeal Objects or separate our selves from them without loving or fearing them But the surest way is to break off all Correspondence with them as far as is possible I. DEath is a compendious way to be deliver'd from Concupiscence and to break off at once that unhappy Union which hinders us from being reunited to our Head
unfortunate Treatise of Nature and Grace which tho' it were written only for those who had a distinct conception of the Truths which I had before sufficiently explain'd as I then declar'd underwent so furious a Censure that those very Heresies were charg'd upon me which I had there overthrown in their first Principles CHAP. XII Of the Imagination This Term is obscure and confus'd What it is in general Several sorts of Imagination Its effects are dangerous Of that which the World calls Wit That quality is very opposite to the Grace of Christ It is fatal to those who possess it and to those who esteem and admire it in others tho' they have it not themselves I. THo' the Senses are the first original of our Disorders or the foundation of that union of the Soul and Body which now separates the Soul from God yet it is not sufficient to regulate the use of them that Grace may operate in us with its full Strength but we must also silence our Imagination and Passions The Imagination doth depend indeed on the Senses as well as the Passions but it hath its particular Malignity When it is stir'd up by the Senses it produces of it self extraordinary effects And many times tho' the Senses do not actually move it it acts by its own Strength Nay sometimes it disturbs all the Ideas of the Soul by the Phantoms which it produces and enrages the Passions by the violence of the Motions which it excites But for fear lest some Persons may not clearly comprehend these Truths I must give a more distinct explication of them II. This Term Imagination is very much us'd in the World But yet I can hardly believe that all those who pronounce the Word distinctly joyn a distinct Idea to it I have said already and say again for there is no harm in reflecting on it more than once that the commonest Words are the most confus'd and that Men's ordinary Discourse is many times nothing but an empty sound of Words without Sense which they hear and repeat like Echo's If a Conversation doth but entertain them agreably and serves them to communicate their Affections and to create a mutual esteem of one another they are satisfied with it They make the same use of Words as they do of a Man's Air and outward Behaviour They unite themselves to one another by the Senses and Passions and many times Reason hath no other share in the Society than to promote their unjust Designs For Truth is of no use in this World Those that employ themselves in the search of it are Enthusiasts singular and dangerous Persons who must be shun'd like an infectious Air. Thus Words whose chief use should be to represent the pure Ideas of the Mind generally serve only to express Ideas of Sense and those motions of the Soul which are but too apt to communicate themselves by the outward demeanour the Air of the Face the Tone of the Voice and the Posture and Motion of the Body III. Imagination is one of those Terms which Use hath made current without clearing the signification of it For common Use explains only those Words that excite sensible Ideas Those by which it expresses pure and intellectual Ideas are all of them either equivocal or confus'd Thus the Imagination not being sensible but only by its Effects and the nature of it being hard to understand every one makes use of the same Word without having the same Idea nay perhaps many People have no Idea of it at all IV. The Imagination may be consider'd in a twofold respect either as to the Body or as to the Soul In relation to the Body it consists of a Brain capable of Impressions and of animal Spirits fit to make these Impressions We may conceive the animal Spirits to be whatever we will Fancy them provided we understand them to be Bodies which by their motion are capable of acting in the substance of the principal part of the Brain In relation to the Soul the Imagination consists of Images that answer to the Impressions and of Attention capable of forming these Images or sensible Ideas For it is our Attention which as the occasional cause determines the course of the Spirits whereby the Impressions are form'd to which Impressions the Ideas are annex'd And all this in consequence of the Laws of the union of the Soul and Body V. These Images or Impressions which are form'd as well by the strength of the Imagination as by the action of Objects dispose the Brain the Store-house of the Spirits in such a manner that the course of these Spirits is determin'd toward certain Nerves some of which run to the Heart and other Viscera and cause there Fermentation or Refrigeration or in short produce different Motions according to the quality of the Object which is present to the Senses or the Imagination The rest of the Nerves answer to the external Parts and by them the Body is plac'd in such a Position and dispos'd to such a motion as the present Object requires VI. The course of the animal Spirits toward those Nerves which answer to the internal parts of the Body is accompanied with Passions on the part of the Soul Which Passions arising originally from the action of the Imagination do by the great abundance of Spirits which they send up to the Head fortify the Impression and Image of the Object which produc'd them For the Passions excite support and strengthen the Attention the occasional cause of that course of the Spirits whereby the Impression of the Brain is form'd which Impression determines another course of the Spirits toward the Heart and other parts of the Body to keep up the same Passions all this proceeds also from the admirable constitution of the Laws of the union of the Soul and Body This is sufficient to give a slight Idea of the Imagination and of the relation it hath to the Passions I have handled this matter more at large in another place But this I think is sufficient to make attentive Readers understand in some measure what I mean by Imagination in general VII In particular by a defil'd and corrupt Imagination I understand a Brain which hath receiv'd some Impressions so deep as to carry the Soul and thereby the Body to Objects unworthy of and unbecoming the dignity of Man's Nature and by purity of Imagination I mean a sound and entire Brain without any of those vitious Impressions which corrupt the Mind and Heart By a weak and tender Imagination I mean a Brain whose principal part on which the course of the Spirits depends is easy to be penetrated and shaken By a nice and curious Imagination I understand a Brain whose Fibres are of so fine and curious a Texture that they receive and preserve the least Impressions made between them by the course of the Spirits By a strong and lively Imagination I mean that the animal Spirits which form the Impressions are too much agitated in
For the fuller the Brain is of Spirits the more rebellious the Imagination is the Passions are the more violent the Body speaks in a higher Tone which never speaks but in favour of the Body to unite and subject the Soul to the Body and to separate it from him who alone is able to give it that perfection it is capable of We should therefore endeavour to silence our own Imagination and be upon our guard against those that please and excite it We should as much as is possible avoid the Conversation of the World For when the Lust either of Pride or Pleasure is actually provok'd Grace cannot operate in us with its full efficacy XXII Man is subject to Two sorts of Concupiscence one of Pleasure and the other of Grandeur This is a thing not sufficiently taken notice of When a Man enjoys sensual Pleasures his Imagination is polluted and carnal Concupiscence exerts and fortifies it self In like manner when he goes abroad into the World and seeks to advance himself in it when he procures Friends and gains Reputation the Idea which he hath of himself stretches and grows larger in his Imagination and the concupiscence of Pride gains new and greater Strength There are some impressions in the Brain naturally form'd for maintaining civil Society and advancing a Man 's private Fortune as there are others relating to the preservation of his Life and the propagation of his Species We are united to other Men by a thousand Relations as really as we are to our own Body and every union with the Creatures disunites us from God in the State we are now in because the impressions of the Brain are not subject to our Wills XXIII All Men are well enough convinc'd of the pravity of carnal Concupiscence they have some fear and abhorrence of it and in some measure avoid every thing that may provoke it But there are very few that seriously reflect on the concupiscence of Pride or apprehend the danger of raising and augmenting it Every one rashly throws himself into the Conversation of the World and embarks without fear on that tempestuous Sea as S. Augustine calls it We suffer our selves to be govern'd by the Spirit that reigns in the World we aspire to Greatness and pursue Honour For indeed how is it possible to remain unmov'd in the mid'st of that Torrent of People that surrounds us who insult and domineer over us if they leave us behind them In fine we get a Name but it is such a Name as makes a Man the more a Slave the more Pains he hath taken to deserve it a Name which straitly unites us to the Creatures and separates us from the Creator a Name illustrious in the esteem of Men but a Name of Pride which God will destroy CHAP. XIII Of the Passions What they are Their dangerous effects We must moderate them The conclusion of the first Part. I. THE Senses Imagination and Passions go always in company together We cannot examine and condemn them apart That which I have said of the Senses and Imagination naturally reaches the Passions also So that the Reader may easily judge what I am going to say by what I have already said For I shall only explain a little more at large what I have been already oblig'd to say in part by reason of the close union that is between all the parts of our Being II. By the Passions I do not mean the Senses which produce them nor the Imagination which excites and keeps them up But I mean those notions of the Soul and animal Spirits which are caus'd by the Senses and Imagination and act reciprocally on the cause which produc'd them For all this is nothing but a continual circulation of Sensations and Motions which mutually produce and fortify one another If the Senses produce the Passions the Passions in return by the Motion which they excite in the Body unite the Senses to sensible Objects If the Imagination stirs up the Passions the Passions by a Counter-motion of the Spirits raise the Imagination and each of them is reciprocally supported or produc'd anew by the effect of which it is the Cause so admirable is the oeconomy of Man's Body and the mutual Relation of all the parts which compose it But this matter deserves a fuller Explication in respect of the Consequences which we should draw from it III. The Passions are Motions of the Soul which accompany that of the Spirits and the Blood and produce in the Body by the mechanical Frame and Constitution of it all the dispositions necessary to support and keep up the Cause from whence they arise At the sight of any Object which moves the Soul we will suppose that Object to be some Good the animal Spirits which come from the Brain to the other parts of the Body divide themselves into two Branches or Courses One of these Courses runs or hath a tendency to run to the external parts the Legs and Arms or if they are unserviceable then to the Lungs and Organs of the Voice in order to dispose us and those that are with us to unite us to the Object The other part of the Spirits goes into the Nerves belonging to the Heart Lungs Liver and other Viscera to proportion the Fermentation and Course of the Blood and Humours to the quality of the present Good By this means the Impression which the presence of any Good or the Imagination forms in the Brain and which determines the two Courses of the Spirits is preserv'd and maintain'd by new Spirits with which the latter Course endeavours to supply the Brain by the repeated and violent Shocks wherewith it shakes the Nerves that encompass the Vessels containing the Humours and Blood the Matter of which the Spirits are continually made IV. The Nerves which are distributed into the Limbs being full of Spirits from their origine in the Brain even to their extremities and the Impression of the Object forcibly driving the Spirits into all the parts of the Body to give them a violent and extraordinary Motion or put them into a forc'd Position the Blood must of necessity ascend up to the Head speedily and in great abundance by the Action of the Nerves which surround and compress or dilate the Vessels wherein it is contain'd For if the Brain did not send a sufficient quantity of Spirits into the Members of the Body we could not long preserve the Air Posture and Motion necessary for the acquisition of Good and the avoidance of Evil. Nay we should fall into Swounings and Faintings for this constantly happens when the Brain wants Spirits and when the Communication which it hath by their means with the other parts of the Body is interrupted V. Thus the Body is an admirable Machine compos'd of an infinite number of Pipes and Cisterns which have all innumerable communications with one another The wonderful operation of this Machine depends wholly on the Course of the Spirits which is differently determin'd by the
to change his state and condition Perfection then or Vertue doth not consist in following the Order of Nature but in submitting wholly to the immutable and necessary Order the inviolable Law of all intelligent Beings CHAP. II. There is no other Vertue but the Love of Order and Reason Without this Love all Vertues are false We must not confound Duties with Vertues We may discharge our Duties without Vertue 'T is for want of consulting Reason that Men approve and follow damnable Customs Faith serves or conducts to Reason For Reason is the supreme Law of all intelligent Beings I. THE Love of Order is not only the chief of all moral Vertues but the only Vertue It is the Mother Vertue the fundamental universal Vertue the Vertue which alone makes the Habits or Dispositions of our Minds vertuous He that bestows his Goods on the Poor out of Vanity or natural Compassion is not liberal because it is not Reason that guides him nor Order that governs him it is nothing but Pride or Mechanism Officers that voluntarily expose themselves to Dangers are not brave if it is Ambition that animates them nor Soldiers if it is only an abundance of Spirits and the Fermentation of the Blood This imaginary noble Ardour is nothing but Vanity or Clock-work A little Wine oftentimes is sufficient to produce a great deal of it He that bears the Injuries that are offer'd him many times is neither moderate not patient 'T is his Slothfulness that makes him immoveable or his ridiculous and stoical Bravery that bears him up and in imagination sets him above his Enemies It may be nothing but the disposition of the Machine want of Spirits coldness of Blood Melancholy and perhaps above all some contagious Distemper of a strong Imagination The same may be said of all the other Vertues If the love of Order be not the foundation of them they are false and vain and altogether unbecoming a reasonable Nature which bears the Image of God himself and hath a communication with him They derive their Original from the Body only they are not form'd by the Holy Ghost and whoever makes them the Object of his Desires and the Foundation of his Glory hath a base and abject Mind a mean Spirit and a corrupted Heart But whatever a rebellious Imagination may think it is not mean nor servile to submit to the Law of God himself nothing is more just than to be conformable to Order nothing is more great and noble than to obey God nothing is more brave and generous than to follow the Party of Reason with an unshaken Constancy and inviolable Fidelity not only when one may follow it with Honour but then more especially when the circumstances of Times and Places are such that one cannot do it without the greatest Shame and Disgrace For he that passes for a Fool in following Reason loves Reasom more than himself But he that follows Order only when it shines and sparkles in the Eyes of the World seeks only Glory and though he may appear very Glorious in the Eyes of Men he is an Abomination in the Sight of God II. I know not whether I may be mistaken or no but I believe there are abundance of People that do not rightly know what true Vertue is and even those that have writ of Morality do not always speak very clearly and exactly of it It is certain that all those great Names which they give to Vertues and Vices produce rather confus'd Sensations in the Mind than clear Ideas But because these Sensations affect the Soul and abstracted Ideas tho' clear in themselves do not diffuse their Light but in attentive Minds Men most commonly rest satisfied with these words which please the Senses but leave the Mind in the dark They fancy that a Discourse the more briskly it strikes upon the Imagination the more Solid it is and look upon those exact Reasonings which disappear when Attention is wanting as Spectres and Illusions like Children who judging of Objects by the Impression they make on their Senses imagine that there is more Matter in Ice than in Water in Gold and heavy and hard Metals than in the Air which surrounds them almost without being felt III. Besides whatever is familiar to us doth not surprise us we never stand to examine it we think we conceive very well what we have said our selves or heard others say a great many times tho' we have never examin'd it But the most solid and evident Truths always create Distrust in us when they are new Thus a Word of an obscure and confus'd Signification seems clear and obvious how equivocal soever it be if common use hath made it current but a Term which contains nothing equivocal in it seems obscure and dangerous if we have never heard it us'd by those Persons whom we love and esteem This is the cause that the Terms of Morality are the most obscure and confus'd and especially those which we look upon as the most clear because they are the most common Every one for Example imagines he understands very well the Signification of these Terms Loving Fearing Honouring Charity Humility Generosity Pride Envy Self-love and if a Man should join clear Ideas to these Terms and to all the Names which are given to Vertues and Vices besides that this supposes more Knowledge than is generally believ'd he would certainly take the most confus'd and perplex'd way to treat of Morality For it will appear in the sequel of this Discourse that to define these Terms rightly he ought first clearly to comprehend the Principles of that Science and to be well vers'd in the Knowledge of Human Nature IV. One of the greatest Defects observable in the Moral Writings of some Philosophers is that they confound Duties with Vertues or that they give the name of Vertues to simple Duties So that tho' properly there be but one Vertue to wit the love of Order they make an infinite number of them This is it which causes such Confusion and so perplexes that Science that it is very hard to understand throughly what a Man must do to be perfectly Good and Vertuous V. It is evident that Vertue ought to render him Virtuous that possesses it and yet a Man may acquit himself of his Duty and with ease perform acts of Humility Generosity or Liberality without any of these Vertues So that a disposition or facility of performing such Duties is not properly Vertue without the love of Order When a Man discharges his Duty he is Vertuous in the Eyes of Men when he bestows part of his Goods on his Friend he appears Liberal and Generous But Men are not always such as they seem to be and he that never neglects the outward Offices of Friendship but when they are contrary to the inviolable Order tho' he may sometimes seem guilty of Infidelity is a truer and more faithful Friend at least he is a more Vertuous Man and more worthy of Love than those hot and
is because it leads to Understanding and without it we cannot deserve the Understanding of some necessary and essential Truths without which it is impossible to attain either to solid Vertue or everlasting Happiness Nevertheles Faith without Understanding I speak not here of Mysteries of which we can have no clear Idea Faith I say without any Light if that be possible cannot make a Man solidly Vertuous It is the Light which perfects the Mind and regulates the Heart and if Faith did not enlighten a Man and lead him to some Understanding of the Truth and some Knowledge of his Duty without doubt it would not have those Effects which are attributed to it But Faith is a Term as equivocal as that of Reason Philosophy and human Sciences XII I grant then that those who have not Light enough to guide themselves may attain to Vertue as well as those who can retire into themselves to consult Reason and contemplate the Beauty of Order because the Grace of Sense or preventing delectation may supply the want of Light and keep them firm and stedfast in their Duty But that which I maintain is First That supposing all other things equal he that enters farthest into himself and hearkens to the Truth within him in the greatest silence of his Senses Imagination and Passions is the most solidly Vertuous Secondly That such a Love of Order as hath for its Foundation more of Reason than of Faith that is more of Light than of Pleasure is more solid meritorious and valuable than another Love which I suppose equal For indeed the true good the good of the Soul should be lov'd by Reason and not by the instinct of Pleasure But the condition to which Sin hath reduc'd us makes the Grace of Delight necessary to counterpoise the continual endeavours of our Concupiscence Lastly I assert That if a Man should never I say never retire into himself his imaginary Faith would be wholly useless to him For the Word became sensible only to render Truth intelligible Reason was made incarnate for no other end but to guide Men to Reason by their Senses and he that should do and suffer all that Jesus Christ did and suffer'd would be neither reasonable nor a Christian if he did it not in the Spirit of Christ the Spirit of Order and Reason But there is no cause to fear this for it is absolutely impossible that any Man should be so far separated from Reason as never to retire into himself to consult it And tho' there are many People who perhaps know not what it is to retire into themselves yet it is impossible but that they must do it sometimes and must sometimes hear the Voice of Truth notwithstanding the continual Noise of their Senses and Passions It is impossible but that they must have some Idea of Order and some Love for it which without doubt they cannot have but from something which dwells in them and renders them so far just and reasonable for no Man is himself the ground of his Love nor the Spirit that inspires animates and guides it XIII Every Man pretends to Reason and yet every Man renounces it This may seem a Contradiction but there is nothing more true Every Man pretends to Reason because every Man hath this engraven on the very Foundation of his Being that it is an essential Right of human Nature to have a share of Reason But all Men renounce Reason because they cannot unite themselves to it and receive from it Light and Understanding without a sort of Labour which is very discouraging because it hath nothing that pleases the Senses And therefore since they invincibly desire to be happy they quit the Labour of Attention which renders them actually unhappy but yet when they quit it they commonly fancy they do it by Reason The voluptuous Man thinks he ought to prefer the actual Enjoyment of Pleasures before a barren and abstracted View of Truth which costs him nevertheless abundance of Pains The ambitious Man imagines that the object of his Passion is something real and that intellectual Enjoyments are nothing but Phantoms and Illusions for commonly Men judge of the Solidity of good things by the Impression they make on the Imagination and Senses Nay there are some Persons of Piety who prove by Reason That we ought to renounce Reason That we are not to be guided by Light but by Faith alone and that blind Obedience is the principal Vertue of a Christian The Laziness of Inferiours and their proness to Flatter is often satisfied with this fancied Vertue and the Pride of Superiours is always very well pleas'd with it So that perhaps there may be some Persons who will be offended with me for giving so great an Honour to Reason as to set it above all other Powers and think me a Rebel against lawful Authorities because I take the part of Reason and maintain that it belongs to Reason to decide and govern But let the Voluptuous follow their Senses let the Ambitious suffer themselves to be carried away by their Passions let the generality of Mankind live by Opinion or follow wherever their own Imaginations lead them But let us endeavour to still that confus'd Noise which sensible Objects cause in us let us retire into our selves and consult the inward Truth yet let us take great care not to confound its Answers with the malignant Influences of our corrupted Imagination For it is better infinitely better for a Man to obey the Passions of those who have a right to command and guide him than to be wholly his own Master to follow his own Passions and voluntarily to blind himself by assuming such an Air of Confidence in Error as only the discovery of Truth ought to give him I have elsewhere laid down the Rules which we ought to observe for avoiding this Miscarriage but I shall say something of it also in this Discourse for without this we cannot be solidly and rationally Vertuous CHAP. III. The Love of Order doth not differ from Charity Two sorts of Love one of Vnion and the other of Benevolence The former is due only to Power to God alone The latter ought to be proportion'd to personal Merit as our Duties to relative Merit Self-love enlightned is not contrary to the love of Vnion The love of Order is common to all Men. The Species of the love of Order natural and free actual and habitual Only that which is free habitual and ruling renders us just in the sight of God Vertue consists in nothing but a free habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order I. THO' I have not express'd the Principal or Mother Vertue by the authentick name of Charity I would not have any one imagine that I pretend to deliver to Men any other Vertue than that which Christ himself hath establish'd in these Words All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two Commandments Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Mat. 22.37 with all thy
addresses them to the Son she considers him as equal to the Father and consequently calls upon him not simply as he is Man but as he is God and Man This appears from the ordinary conclusions of our Prayers Through Christ our Lord or through Jesus Christ our Lord or who livest and reignest one God c. For since God alone is the true cause who by his own power can do all that we desire it is necessary that the greatest part of our Prayers and all our Worship should be refer'd to him But as he never acts but when the occasional causes which he hath appointed determine the efficacy of his Laws it is fit that the manner of our calling upon him should be conformable to this Notion of him III. If Jesus Christ as Man did not intercede for Sinners it would be in vain for them to call upon him For since Grace is not given to Merit the immutable Order of Justice doth not oblige God to grant it to Sinners who Pray for it It must therefore be the occasional cause which obliges him to do it in consequence of the Power given to this cause by the establishment of the general Laws of the Order of Grace Because as I said before God never acts but when the immutable Order requires it or when the occasional or particular Causes oblige him to it But tho' Christ alone as Man be the particular cause of the good Things which we receive yet if the Prayers of the Church were always Address'd directly to him this might give Men some occasion of Error and induce them it may be to Love him as he is Man with that kind of Love which is due only to the true Power and to Worship him even without regard to the divine Person in which his humane Nature subsists Now Adoration and Love of Union which are Honours belonging to Power are due to the Almighty alone For Christ himself challenges our Adoration and this kind of Love only as he is at the same time both God and Man IV. Therefore the Church hath very great reason to Address her Prayers to God the only true Cause but through Christ who is the occasional and distributive Cause of the good Things which we Pray for For tho' Sinners never receive Grace but when Christ Prays for them by his Desires either Actual or Habitual Transient or Permanent yet we must always remember that it is God alone who gives it as the true Cause that so our Love and Devotion may be ultimately refer'd to him alone Nevertheless when we apply our selves to the true and general Cause it is the same thing as if we did it to the particular and distributive Cause Because Christ as Man being the Saviour of Sinners Order requires that he should be acquainted with their Prayers and he is so far from being Jealous of the Honour which we give to God that he himself as Man always acknowledges his Impotence and Subordination and will never hear those who like the Eutychians look upon his humane Nature as transform'd into the Divine and so take from him the qualities of Advocate Mediator Head of the Church and High Priest of the true Goods Thus we see on one side that to make our Prayers effectual it is not absolutely necessary that we should know the Truths which I have here explain'd so precisely and distinctly and on the other that the Churches proceeding agrees perfectly with the fundamental Vertue of Religion and Morality namely that God alone is the final Cause of all Things and that we cannot have access to him but by Jesus Christ our Lord. This I think will easily be granted V. But the case of the Blessed Virgin Angels and Saints hath somewhat more difficulty in it Nevertheless the sense of the Church is that they know our Necessities when we call upon them and that being in favour with God and united to Christ their Head they may by their Prayers and Desires sollicite him to deliver us from our Miseries Nay it seems to be beyond Dispute from the example of S. Paul and all the Saints who constantly recommended themselves to one another's Prayers For if the Saints on Earth as yet full of Imperfection can by their Prayers be beneficial to their Friends I see no sufficient reason to deny the Saints in Heaven this Power Only we must observe That they are not occasional causes of inward Grace For this Power was given to Christ alone as the Architect of the eternal Temple the Head of the Church the necessary Mediator in a Word as the particular or distributive cause of the true Goods VI. So then we may Pray to the Blessed Virgin to Angels and Saints that they would move the love of Christ on our behalf And probably there are some certain times of Favour for each particular Saint such as are the Days on which the Church celebrates their Festivals It is possible also that as natural or occasional Causes they may have a Power of producing those effects which we call Miraculous because we do not know the Causes of them such as the curing of Diseases plentiful Harvests and other extraordinary changes in the position of Bodies which are Substances inferiour to Spirits and over which it should seem that Order requires or at least permits them to have some Power as a reward of their Vertue or rather as an inducement to other Men to admire and imitate it But tho' this be not altogether certain as to Saints yet I think it cannot be doubted as to Angels This Truth is of so great Importance on several Accounts that I think it necessary to give a brief explication of it from the manner of God's proceeding in the execution of his Designs VII God could not act but for his own Glory and not finding any Glory worthy of himself but in Jesus Christ he certainly made all Things with respect to his Son This is so evident a Truth that we cannot possibly doubt of it if we do but reflect a little on it For what â—elation is there between the Action of God and the product of that Action if we separate it from Christ by whom it is Sanctified What proportion is there between an unhallow'd World which hath nothing of Divinity in it and the Action of God which is wholly Divine in a Word between Finite and Infinite Is it possible to conceive that God who cannot act but by his own Will or the Love which he bears to himself should act so as to produce nothing worthy of himself to create a World which bears no proportion to him or which is not worth the Action whereby it is produc'd VIII It is probable then that the Angels immediately after their Creation being astonish'd to find themselves without a Head without Christ and not being able to justify God's design in Creating them the Wicked ones imagin'd some Worth in themselves with relation to God and so Pride ruin'd them Or supposing
Bodies and by their means in the Souls wihch are united to them certain effects which may promote the efficacy of Grace and keep Men from those Stumbling-blocks which the Devils continually lay in their way For as the Psalmist saith Psal 91.11 12. He hath given his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways They shall bear thee up in their Hands lest thou dash thy Foot against a Stone XIII So then we may pray to the Angels and desire their protection against that roaring Lion who as St. Peter saith walketh about seeking whom he may devour Eph. 6.12 Or to use St. Paul's words Against those Principalities and Powers against the Rulers of the Darkness of this World those Princes of the World full of Darkness and Error against spiritual Wickedness in high places those evil Spirits which are scatter'd through the Air For we wrestle not against Flesh and Blood only But we must not look upon the Angels as distributive Causes of Grace nor give them that Worship which is due to Christ alone Col. 2.18 19. Be not deceiv'd saith St. Paul by those who in a voluntary Humility pay a superstitious Worship to Angels who meddle with those things which they do not understand being dazled by the vain Imaginations of their fleshly Mind and not keeping themselves united to the Head from which the whole body of the Church receives the Spirit which gives it Growth and Life v. 15. even to Jesus Christ who having spoil'd Principalities and Powers which he had vanquish'd by his Cross made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it CHAP. X. Of the Occasional Causes of the Sensations and Motions of the Soul which resist the Efficacy of Grace either of Light or Sense The Vnion of the Soul with God is immediate not that of the Soul with the Body An Explication of some general Laws of the Vnion of the Soul and Body necessary for the right understanding the rest of this Treatise I. IN the Fifth Sixth and Seventh Chapters I have spoken at large of the occasional Cause of Light and in the two last I have endeavoured to shew what is the occasional Cause of the Grace of Sense and what we must do to obtain it And therefore seeing there is nothing beside Light and Sense which determines the Will or the tendency which the Soul hath toward Good in general all that now remains in relation to the Means of acquiring or preserving the habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order is to explain the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body or the occasional Causes of all those lively and confus'd Sensations and those indeliberate Motions which unite us to our Body and by that to all the Objects which are about us For to make us love Order and to acquire Vertue it is not sufficient to obtain the Grace of Sense which alone can stir the Soul and put it in Motion toward the true Good but we must also manage our selves so that this Grace may work in our Hearts with its full Efficacy For this end we must carefully avoid the occasional Causes of those Sensations and Motions which resist the Operation of Grace and sometimes render it altogether ineffectual This is the most general Principle of all that I shall say in the First Part of this Discourse II. The Soul of Man hath two essential and natural Relations one to God the true Cause of all that passes within him the other to his Body the occasional Cause of all those Thoughts which relate to sensible Objects When God speaks to the Soul it is to unite it to himself when the Body speaks to it it is only for the Body to unite the Soul to sensible Good God speaks to the Soul to enlighten and render it perfect the Body only to darken and corrupt it in favour of it self God by the Light conducts the Soul to its Happiness the Body by Pleasure involves the whole Man in its ruin and throws him headlong into Misery In a word tho' it is God that doth every thing and tho' the Body cannot act upon the Soul no more than the Soul can upon the Body but as an occasional Cause in consequence of the Laws of their Union and for the Punishment of Sin which without medling with those Laws hath chang'd the Union into a Dependence yet we may say that it is the Body which darkens the Mind and corrupts the Heart for the Relation which the Soul hath to the Body is the Cause of all our Errors and Disorders III. Notwithstanding we should be throughly convinc'd of this and never forget it that the Soul can have no immediate Relation but to God alone and that it cannot be united directly to any thing but to him for the Soul cannot be united to the Body but as it is united to God himself It is certain for very many Reasons that if I feel for instance the pain of a Scratch it is God that acts in me tho' in consequence of the Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body for those Laws derive their force from the Operation of the Divine Will which alone is capable of acting in me But the Body by it self cannot be united to the Soul nor the Soul to the Body They have no Relation to one another nor any one Creature to another I speak of Relations of Causality such are those which depend on the Union of the Soul and Body It is God that doth every thing his Will is the Union of all Unions the Modifications of Substances depend on him alone who gives and preserves their Being This is an essential Truth which I think I have sufficiently prov'd in another place IV. But tho' the Soul cannot be united immediately to any Thing but God yet it may be united to the Creatures by the Will of God who communicates his Power to them in making them occasional Causes for the production of certain Effects My Soul is united to my Body because on one side my Will is made the occasional Cause of some changes which God alone produces on it and in the other because the changes which happen in my Body are made occasional Causes of some of those which happen in my Soul V. Now God hath establish'd these Laws for many Reasons which are unknown to us But of those which we do know one is that God in following them acts in a uniform and constant manner by general Laws by the most simple and wisest ways in a word he Acts in such a manner as admirably bears the Character of his Attributes Another Reason is because the Body of Man is his proper Sacrifice for it seems to Sacrifice it self by Pain and to be Annihilated by Death The Soul is in a State of Probation in the Body and God who desires in some measure to be merited and to proportion Rewards to Merits doth by the Laws of the Union of the Soul and
elastick force of the several Springs and the opening and shutting of the Passages by the Action of Objects on the Senses and the Motion of the principal part of the Brain which Motion depends partly on the Will and partly on the Course of the Spirits excited by the Impressions of the Imagination and Memory VI. But that which I would have chiefly observ'd here is That the Course of the Spirits in the Nerves belonging to the Viscera which drives the Blood up into the Head for the production of Spirits necessary to dispose the outward parts of the Body with relation to the present Object acts with choice and furnishes the Brain only with such Humours as are proper for the preservation of that Impression by which the Passion is excited or which comes all to one the Blood and Humours which ascend up to the Head divide themselves in such a manner that so much of them as is fit for the production of Spirits agreable to the prevailing Passion remains there and the rest returns by the circulation to the places from whence it came These Spirits being made are presently determin'd toward the Impression which is the original Cause of all these Motions to preserve it and also to revive all the accessory Impressions which may any way fortify and confirm it From those Impressions both the Principal one and the Accessories the new Spirits do also receive their direction and are divided as the first were into two Branches one for the outward and the other for the inward parts of the Body For as long as the Passion lasts this admirable Circulation of the Spirits and Blood is continually made which sets the Machine a going according as the present Object requires with a wonderful Regularity and Order VII From hence it appears that the Passions which are most wisely ordain'd with relation to their proper end namely the preservation of Health and Life the conjunction of Man and Woman Society Commerce and the acquisition of sensible Goods are extremely opposite to the acquisition of the true and spiritual Goods the Goods due to Vertue and Merit VIII For 1. The Passions are not subject to our Wills Nothing is more difficult than to govern them because we have lost that Power by Sin which otherwise we should have had over our Bodies 2. They are so contrary to Vertue and Merit that a Man must sacrifice and destroy them if he would deserve the Name and Reward of a truly vertuous Man or a perfect Christian 3. Every Motion which they naturally excite in the Soul is only for the good of the Body according to this Maxim That whatever happens to the Soul by the Body is only for the Body 4. When they are rais'd they take up the whole content of the Mind and Heart The impressions and agitation of the Brain which they fortify by the Contributions they draw from the Intestines and send up speedily and abundantly into the Head disturb all our Ideas and the Shock and Motion they give the Will by that lively and agreeable Sensation which accompanies them corrupts our Hearts and throws us into innumerable disorders But 5. when their Agitation is ceas'd yet the Imagination remains polluted by the Impressions which they have made on the Brain whose Fibres have been bent or broken by the violence of the Spirits which they have put in Motion These Impressions often dissipate the attention of the Mind and generally revive the same Passions which produc'd them when the Blood is impregnated again with Particles fit to raise such a Fermentation as may produce abundance of Spirits agreeable to the nature of those Passions 6. The Passions by their rapid Course make a smooth and easy way for themselves into the Nerves which go to the Heart and other inward parts of the Body and there excite such Motions as are proper to revive them again so that the least thing that shakes the Brain is capable of renewing them 7. Lastly all the Passions justify themselves in such a manner that it is not possible at the time that they agitate the Mind to make a solid and impartial Judgment of the Objects which excite them for such is their malignant quality that they are not satisfied if Reason too doth not give Judgment in favour of them IX For I. They confirm the Judgment of the Senses tho' they are so far from being competent Judges in the Eye of Reason that they are false Witnesses II. They shew only the wrong side of Objects and always represent them in that deceitful Shape which suits best with their Interest III. They revive all those Impressions and accessory Ideas which side with them and suppress all the rest IV. They cover their irregular Proceedings and vitious Designs with the specious appearances of Reason Justice and Vertue The covetous Man for instance conceals from himself the Shamefulness Injustice and Cruelty of his Avarice He disguises his Passion with notions of Temperance Moderation Prudence Penance or it may be of Charity Liberality and Magnificence by forming imaginary Designs which he will never put in execution for the Passions are cunning enough to make even the Vertues opposite to them serve for their Justification V. Lastly the Passions are always accompanied with a certain pleasant Sensation which bribes their Judge and if he favours them pays him to his content whereas if he condemns them they handle him very cruelly For what Present can be offer'd more grateful and charming to one that irresistibly desires to be happy than Pleasure when it is actual Pleasure that gives actual Happiness And what Treatment can be more rough than that which the Soul receives from the Passions when it would Sacrifice them to the Love of Order We cannot strike them without wounding our selves for when they are upon their Guard the blow which we aim at them if it takes away their Life only for a little while recoils back upon our selves and mortally Wounds us or rather reduces us to such a condition as often seems worse than Death it self X. So then it is evident that those who are so far from moderating their Passions that they do all they can to gratify them who live by Humour and act by Inclination and judge of every thing by Fancy in a word those who follow all the motions of the Machine and suffer themselves to be led without knowing who it is that leads them or whither they go are continually departing from their true good and by degrees lose sight of it quite they blot out the very Remembrance of it and blindly run head-long into the Abyss where all Evils dwell and the eternal Privation of all Good XI It is true indeed that sometimes Grace is strong enough to stop in his full career one that abandons himself to the motions of his Passions and that God in goodness speaks to the Soul in Thunder and Lightning and with a terrible Voice which overthrows the Man and the Passion that
hurries him away But Christ very rarely bestows such Favours and that Man is very senseless who throws himself into a Precipice in expectation that God should work a Miracle to save him from death XII What then must we do to moderate our Passions I have already spoke of this in the Seventh Chapter and elsewhere but I shall sum it up here in few words I. We should avoid the Objects which excite them and mortify our Senses II. We should keep our Imagination within the bounds of that respect which it ows to Reason or makes a continual revulsion in the animal Spirits which by their Course keep up and fortify the sinful Impressions III. We should seek after the means to make our Passions appear ridiculous and contemptible we should examine them by the Light confront them with Order and use our utmost endeavours to discover the foulness injustice and irregularity of them and their fatal consequences as well in respect of this life as the other IV. We should form no Design when they are excited nor ever enter upon any Business by their direction or influence V. We should get a Habit and lay an Obligation on our selves of consulting Reason in every thing and whenever we have neglected to do it either by surprize or for any other reason we should change our manner of proceeding and at least take upon us the shame we deserve for having acted like Brutes by the construction and motion of the Machine much less should we justify the foolish step we have made by continuing in a vitious and sinful Course VI. We should labour to augment the strength and liberty of our Mind that we may be able to undergo the labour of Attention and to suspend our Assent till Evidence forces it from us Without these two Qualifications we cannot receive from Reason any certain Rules for the Government of our selves VII Lastly that we may be in a capacity to follow those Rules which destroy the Passions we should above all things have recourse to Prayer and with confidence and humility draw near to him who came to deliver us by the strength of his Grace from that Body of Death or that Law of the Flesh which rebels every moment against the Law of the Spirit For I have often said already and do not stick to repeat it here again because I think there is no fear of reflecting on it too much That neither Reason by it self nor all the helps which Philosophy affords us can without the influence of the second Adam deliver us from the malignity of the first XIII The sum of what hath been said relating to the First Part of this Moral Essay is this First I shew'd that Vertue consists precisely in an habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order Then I spoke of the two principal Qualities necessary for the acquisition of Vertue After that I laid open the occasional Causes of Light and inward Sense without which we cannot acquire or preserve the Love of Order And lastly I examin'd into the occasional Causes of certain Sensations which are contrary to those of Grace and abate the Force and Efficacy of them that we may avoid them So that I think I have omitted nothing necessary for the acquisition and conservation of Vertue in general I come now to the Second Part which treats not of Vertues but of the Duties of Vertue For I know of but one single Vertue which renders those that possess it truly and substantially Vertuous namely an habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order A TREATISE OF Morality PART II. Of DVTIES CHAP. I. Good Men often do wicked Actions The Love of Order must be enlightned to make it regular Three Conditions requir'd to make an Action perfectly Vertuous We should study the Duties of Man in general and take some time every day to examine the Order and Circumstances of them in particular I. THE Actions of those that have attain'd to the true and solid Vertue are not therefore all solidly and substantially Vertuous There is in a manner always some deficiency or imperfection in them nay many times they are really sinful The reason of this is because a Man doth not always Act by the influence of his predominant Habit but sometimes by the operation of the Passion which is actually excited in him For if the predominant Habit be asleep as I may say and the rest awake the Actions of a good Man may be many ways sinful But besides tho' the predominant Habit of the Love of Order be actually excited in a good Man yet at the same time his Actions may be defective and imperfect and even directly opposite to Order which he actually loves and designs to follow For beside the difficulty of paying an exact Obedience to the Order which we do know indiscreet and ill govern'd Zeal often makes us Act contrary to the Order which we do not know Wherefore that an Action may be compleatly Vertuous it is not sufficient that it proceed from a good Man nor from a Man actually mov'd by the Love of Order but it must also be conformable to Order in all its Circumstances and that too not by a kind of Chance luckily determining the actual Motion of the Soul but by the strength of Reason guiding and governing us in such a manner as to make us fulfill all our Duties II. So then tho' it be sufficient to make us just and acceptable to God that the Love of Order be our predominant Habit yet if we would be perfect and compleat we must be able to govern this Love by an exact Knowledge of our Duties Nay I may say that he who neglects or slights this Knowledge what Zeal soever he may find within himself for Order his Heart is by no means rightly dispos'd For Order would be lov'd by Reason and not altogether by the Heart and fervency of Instinct which often fills with indiscreet Zeal those whose Imagination is too brisk and lively who are not us'd to retire into themselves but are continually apt to mistake the secret inspirations of their Passions for the infallible Answers of the inward Truth III. Indeed those whose Mind is so weak and their Passions so strong that they are not capable of giving Counsel to themselves or rather of taking Counsel of him who enlightens all Men are excusable before God if they sincerely desire and follow the Advice of such as they believe to be the best and wisest Men. But those who have or pretend to have Wit and Sense are guilty in the sight of God if they undertake any Design without consulting him that is without consulting Reason how fervent soever the Zeal may be which transports them For we must distinguish the Answers of the inward Truth which illuminates the Mind by the Evidence of its Light from the Language and secret Inspirations of the Passions which confound and deceive it by such Sensations as are indeed lively and agreeable but always obscure and
Feast who disturbs the Table and interrupts the Musick Hinder not Musick verse 3. represents a Head who breaks the agreeable Harmony and Concert of all the Members of the Body which he ought to govern and maintain in a perfect Union and a mutual Correspondence The end of all Government is Peace and Charity and the means of attaining this end is to advance Reason to the sovereign sway for there is nothing but Reason that can unite Mens Minds put them in tune to one another and make them act in concert Reason is a natural and universal Law which few People observe in all Points but no one dares openly reject and which all Men pretend to follow even at the same time that they depart from it VII Wherefore a Magistrate a Father who is the natural Head of his Family a Master who hath Scholars or Servants under him in a word every Superiour ought to breath into his Inferiours a Spirit of Reason Justice and Charity as his and their inviolable Law He should assume to himself no other Right but the use of proper means to make them respect and submit to it But let him not doubt but that all those means are his true and natural Rights in proportion nevertheless to the Authority which he hath receiv'd from the Superiour Power For the Power which gives any Commission doth also give the same Right to the use of all lawful means for the execution of it which that Power it self hath if it self or Custom and especially Reason directs nothing in particular touching these Means Thus a Magistrate hath no power to punish Criminals but according to the Laws tho' he may by his own Authority make use of a thousand ways to prevent their Villanies where the Laws give no particular directions A Father may correct his Children with a Rod or a Cudgel and that severely but he must not kill or maim them and thereby render them unserviceable to the State on which he himself depends and to which they belong A Master may whip his Scholar but he can not use him cruelly and injuriously without injuring the Father who hath not given him this Authority any more than Custom or the Laws of the Community But excepting that which Custom Reason or a Superiour power prescribes those that are in Authority may challenge to themselves as their natural Right the use of all other fit means to reduce such as are under their command to the Obedience not of their own Will but of Reason of Reason I say not their own Will for neither a Father nor a Magistrate nor a Prince no nor God himself if this could be if the Word were not Consubstantial with him if it were possible for him not to beget and love it not God himself I say hath any Right to make use of his Power in obliging Men who were created for Reason to submit to a Will not conformable to Reason VIII Notwithstanding a Servant a Scholar or a Subject ought not to dispute the Will of his Superiours he should have so much Deference for them as to believe that they are rational Men as well as he and much more than he and when Evidence or the express Commandment of the Law of God prescribes nothing to the Contrary he is bound to obey instantly and without murmuring Nay he is not allow'd so much as to offer any Objections in order to be satisfied of his doubts but only when this kind of Liberty carries with it no signs of Contempt and cannot offend the Person in whom he ought to fear and respect the Power of God himself But Superiours on their part should have a great regard to the nicety and scrupulousness of other Men they must not imagine themselves to be infallible nor by their haughty and insolent manner of proceeding oblige those that are under them to fear them instead of fearing God in their Person The invisible God is not so terrible to weak Imaginations as the sensible and threatning Air of a cholerick Father or Master and many times a Superiour heated and disturb'd by Passion makes his Inferiours commit greater Crimes than he doth himself for the suddenness of his Passion having blinded him his Fault is less voluntary but the Offence of those that obey him contrary to Reason is the more hainous because for fear of displeasing and provoking him they deliberately offend against God IX Not that a Superior must never shew his Authority and make himself fear'd by those that are under his Command Reason requires that he should sometimes be angry that as this Passion mechanically produces something terrible in the Face his outward Air may strike a terrour into the Wicked and dispose them to Obedience If this will not do he must also add Threatnings and in the end proceed to Punishment and to a kind of Injury and Violence It is absolutely necessary that Power should make Men submit to Reason and force them to follow it when Reason it self tho' well enough known hath not Charms enough to attract them Men look upon Reason as impotent and unactive as unable to reward its followers and to punish those that side with its Adversaries But they must be deliver'd from this Error in which they are confirm'd by all the prejudices of their Senses and be convinc'd by their Senses and by a visible manner of proceeding that Reason and Power are not two different Deities that the Almighty is essentially Reason and the universal Reason Almighty Those that are powerful and reasonable amongst Men by the particular relation which they have to the divine Power and Reason should by force constrain unreasonable Minds to fear that Reason which they do not love as they should by Reason dispose such as love it to unite themselves to Power and to rejoyce in it in expectation of their Happiness which shall be given to them according to the ruses which the same Reason prescribes Wherefore those that despise Reason must be threatned punish'd and made miserable For since it is easier to obey Reason without Pleasure than to disobey it with Pain perhaps wicked Men being made sensible by the fear of Punishment of the greatness of those Miseries which they may avoid if they will conform themselves to Reason will be more easily dispos'd to follow the Motions of Grace without which no Man can pay to the eternal Law all the Obedience which is due to it X. The Passions are not evil in themselves Nothing is more wisely design'd nor more useful for the maintenance of Society than they provided they are rais'd and govern'd by Reason For sensual Men must be taught by their Senses and carried whether they ought to go by something which may impel and put them in motion A Scholar will not gain much ground under the conduct of a sober phlegmatick slow-pac'd Master without Spirit and without Passion Children and Servants whose Minds are not fashion'd according to Reason advance slowly toward Vertue if they
Spiritual and consequently not Rational This is Life eternal to know the true God and Jesus Christ his only Son To have Sentiments worthy of the divine Attributes and Motions agreable to those Sentiments To know Jesus Christ who alone gives us access to the Father and diffuses Charity in our Hearts To be fully convinc'd that he alone is the High-Priest of the true Goods or the occasional cause of Grace that so we may draw near to him with Confidence and by his assistance excite in our selves such Motions as are suitable to the knowledge he hath given us of the true Worship which honours the divine Majesty But instead of this every one frames to himself a Theology a Religion or at least a Devotion apart of which Self-love is the Motive Prejudice and Possession the Foundation and Beginning and sensual Goods the End The Worship of God consists many times only in outward Sacrifices in verbal Prayers in Ceremonies which were at first ordain'd to raise the Mind to God but now serve only by their splendor and magnificence to refresh the Imagination in most People when they are tir'd and out of relish with the performance of their Duties to God Custom human Considerations or Hypocrisy carry their Bodies into the Church But their Minds and Hearts never come there And while the Priest offers up Jesus Christ to God in their Presence or rather while Christ offers up himself to his Father for their Sins on our Altars they on their part Sacrifice to Ambition Avarice or Pleasure spiritual Sacrifices in all the places whither their Imagination carries them CHAP. VI. Of the Duties of Society in general Two sorts of Society Every thing should be refer'd to the eternal Society Different kinds of Love and Honour The general heads of our Duties toward Men. They must be External and Relative The danger of paying inward Duties to Men. The Conversation of the World very dangerous I. HAVING explain'd in general the Duties which we owe to God we must now examine those which we owe to other Men as God hath made us to live in Society with them under the same Law the universal Reason and in a dependance on the same Power that of the King of Kings and supreme Lord of all things II. We are capable of forming Two sorts of Society with other Men A Society for some Years and an eternal Society A Society of Commerce and a Society of Religion A Society maintain'd by the Passions and subsisting in a communion of particular and perishing Goods whose end is the preservation and welfare of the Body and a Society govern'd by Reason supported by Faith and subsisting in the communion of the true Goods whose end is a happy Life to all eternity III. The great or indeed the only design of God is the holy City the heavenly Jerusalem where Truth and Justice inhabit All other Societies shall Perish tho' God be immutable in his Designs But this spiritual Society shall continue for ever The Kingdom of Christ shall have no end His Temple shall be eternal His Priest-hood shall never the chang'd Psal 110.3 The Lord hath Sworn and will not Repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck The House of God is built on an unshaken Foundation on that belov'd Son in whom God is well-pleas'd and by whom all things shall subsist to the Glory of him who gives them their Being IV. When we procure any settlement here below for our selves or our Friends we build on the Sand we place our Friends in a tottering House it will sink under us at the Hour of Death to be sure But when we enter our selves as Workmen in the building of the Temple of the true Solomon and cause others to come in we then labour for Eternity This Work shall last to all Ages This then is the good which we ought to procure for our selves and other Men This is the chief end of all our Duties toward them This is that holy Society which we must begin here below by the love which we owe to one another For since the design of God in these temporary and perishing Societies is only to furnish Christ the Architect of the eternal Temple with fit Materials for the building of his Church we cannot fail of performing essential Duties when we engage in the designs of him who would have all Men to be sav'd and employ all our Faculties in hastning his great Work and in procuring to Men those good things for which they were created V. So when our Saviour bids us Love one another we must not imagine that he absolutely commands us any other thing than to procure one another the true and spiritual Goods What kind of Blessings were those which he showr'd on his Apostles and Disciples Did he give them the fading and perishing Goods such as the pretended Friends of this World give to those that gratify their Passions Did he constantly deliver them out of the Hands of their Persecutors No certainly-Therefore the principal Duties of our Charity do not consist in such things as these We must assist our Neighbour and preserve his Life as we are oblig'd to preserve our own but we must prefer the Salvation of our Neighbour before his and our own Life VI. To Love therefore is an equivocal Term. It signifies Three very different things which we must carefully distinguish To unite our selves by our Will to an Object as our Good or the cause of our Happiness To conform our selves to any thing as our pattern or the rule of our Perfection And to wish well to any Person or to desire that he may be happy and perfect The love of Union is due only to the power of God The love of Conformity is due only to the law of God the immutable Order No Creature is capable of acting on us No Person can be our living Law or our perfect Model Christ himself tho' he was without Sin tho' he was Reason incarnate did some things which we must not do because the circumstances not being the same the intellectual Reason the inviolable Law the indispensable Model of all intelligent Beings forbids us to do them VII So then we must not love our Neighbour with a love of Union nor with a love of Conformity But we may and ought to Love him with a love of Benevolence We must Love him in that sense of the Word which signifies to desire his Happiness and Perfection and as our practical desires are the occasional causes of certain effects which conduce to that end we must use all our endeavours to procure him solid Vertue that he may merit the true Goods which are the reward of it This is the obligation that truly and absolutely lies upon us from that Commandment which our Saviour hath given us in the Gospel to Love one another as ourselves and as he hath loved us VIII To Honour is also an equivocal Word It denotes a submission of the