Ideas would doubtless have imagined that the first man had no sentiment of Objects and that to eat and nourish himself he studied to know the consiguration of the parts of the fruits of Paradise the relation they might have with those of his Body thereby to judge whether they would have been proper for his nourishment In all probality they would have believed that to walk Adam had thought on the Nerves which answered to his Legs and that he had continually conveyed to them such a quantity of Animal spirits to remove them and thus they would have judged of other Functions by which Mans life is preserved We very near do the same thing as to the manner in which J. C. forms his Church We will needs judge thereof according to our Ideas and yet perhaps we understand nothing thereof God united the Soul to the Body of the first Man after a much more wise and real manner than the Angels themselves could imagine For God advertised him by sentiments after a short and undoubted manner of what he ought to do and this without dividing as little as might be the capacity which he had of thinking upon his Sovereign good For then his Senses kept silence whensoever he desired it Man may still walk and meditate both together but the first man upon all occasions might and also ought without withdrawing himself from the presence of God to give unto his Body all that which was necessary for it Why may not God at present therefore give unto J. C. certain kinds of compendious knowledge whereof we have no Idea that he may thereby better facilitate the construction of his Church so that the relation which he has to us may not divide the capacity which he has of seeing God and enjoying his happiness God appointed certain general Laws of the union of Soul and Body that the first Man might preserve his Life without applying himself over-much to particular Objects Why may not God by making his Son the Head of the Church have established such like general Laws It may be this ought to have been so that God might act in such a manner as agrees best with the divine attributes and perhaps that apparent irregularity with which Grace is given unto men is in part a consequence of this marvelous invention of eternal wisdom Assuredly it may be the first Adam was even in this a figure of the second and that J.C. besides his knowledge and desires which we cannot deny to him without impiety hath still compendious ways worthy of an infinite wisdom by which as we by our sentiments and passions he acts in his mystical body without being diverted from his Sovereign good which he loves too much to lose the sight of or remove himself from its presence There are several passages in Scripture may countenance this opinion but I might well be accounted rash should I pretend to establish it as a point which ought to be believed That which I say may be true but I ought not to assert it as true before I am well convinced of it my self If this be not it may be or some such like thing as for my part I have not justified the Wisdom and Goodness of God but by leaving to J. C. as Architect of the Eternal Temple that we cannot take from him without offering violence to Reason and good Sense But I am glad to know that there are several ways of answering those who oppose the Quality which I give to J. C. of an occasional cause which determines the efficacy of the good will of God in respect to men and that all the Objections which can be made against me in this can upon no other account be hard to be resolved but because we are ignorant of a great many things which it would be necessary to know for the clearing them up XVII The divers desires of the Soul of J. C. giving Grace hence we clearly apprehend whence it is that it is not equally given to all men and that it falls upon certain persons at one time more than at another Since the Soul of J. C. does not think at the same time of sanctifying all men it has not at the same time all the desires of which it is capable Thus J. C. does not act upon his Members after a particular manner but by successive influences like as our Soul does not at the same time remove all the Muscles of our Bodies For the Animal Spirits go equally and successively into our Members according to the different impressions of Objects the divers motions of our passions and different Desires which we freely form in our selves XVIII It is true that all the just continually receive the influence of the Head that gives them life and that when they act by the Spirit of J. C. they merit and receive new graces tho it be not necessary that the Soul of J. C. has any particular desires which may be the occasional causes of them for the order which requires that all Merit be rewarded is not in God an Arbitrary Law it is a Necessary Law which depends not upon any occasional cause But tho he that has done a Meritorious Action may be rewarded for it and yet the soul of J. C. have actually no desires in respect of him nevertheless it is certain that he has not merited Grace but by the dignity and holiness which the Spirit of J. C. communicated to him For men are not acceptable to God and do nothing that is good John 15.4 but so far as they are united to his Son by Charity Additions Altho I say order requires that the Just Merit Grace it must not be understood of all Graces but only of those which are absolutely necessary for the vanquishing unavoidable temptations But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able says St. Paul Now Order requires that God should be faithful Quis autem dicat eum qui jam coepit credere ab illo in quem credit non mereri says St. Augustine de Praedest Sanct. Ch. 2. The just therefore may merit Grace by the assistance of Grace but he cannot in strictness merit those Graces which are not absolutely necessary for him This depends upon the good will of J. C. as he is the occasional cause of the order of Grace And in strictness good works perhaps merit only the reward of happiness But it is not necessary that I should stand to explain the different ways of understanding merit XIX Moreover it must be confest that they who observe the councels of J. C. by the esteem which they have for them and by the fear they have of future Punishments do solicite as I may say by their obedience the love of J. C. to think of them tho as yet they should act only by self-love But all their actions are not occasional causes neither of Grace since they are not infallibly attended therewith nor even of the
God hath made the occasional causes of the efficacy of the general Laws of Grace For Faith teaches us that God hath given to his Son an absolute power over Men by making him the Head of his Church and this cannot be conceived if the different wills of J. C. be not followed by their effects For it is visible I should have no power over mine arm if it should move it self whether I would or no and if when I desire to move it it should remain as if it was dead and without motion XI J. C. has merited his Sovereign power over men and this quality of Head of the Church by the Sacrifice he offered upon Earth and after his Resurrection he took full possession of this right Ioh. VII 39. 'T is upon this account that he is now Sovereign Priest of future good things and that by his many intercessions he continually prays unto the Father in the behalf of men Heb. 7.25 Rom. 8.34 1 Joh. II. 1. Joh. XI 42. And seeing his desires are occasional causes his prayers are always heard his Father denies him nothing as the Scripture teaches us Nevertheless he must pray and desire that he may obtain For the occasional physical natural causes for all these words signifie the same thing have no power of themselves to do any thing and all creatures even J. C. himself considered as man are in themselves nothing but weakness and impotence Additions I don't think that hitherto there is any difficulty if it be not in this last Article where I say that J. C. prayeth unto his Father for there are some Persons whom this very much offends For I speak as St. Paul to the Romans and to the Hebrews and as Jesus Christ himself I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter which is to be understood of J. C. after his resurrection according to these words of St. John The spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified For the Spirit fell not upon the Apostles till Ten days after J. C. was entered into the Holy of Holies a Sovereign Priest of true good things In all these Articles I speak only of J. C. as to his humanity according to which he received all power in Heaven and Earth because all his prayers or his desires which certainly are in his power or otherwise he has no power are executed in consequence of his qualities as Sovereign Priest of the House of God King of Israel Architect of the Eternal Temple Mediator betwixt God and men Head of the Church or to speak like the Philosophers for whom I chiefly write this Treatise the occasional natural or distributive cause of Grace The cause which Determines the Efficacy of the general Law by which God wou'd save all men in his Son XII J. C. having then successively divers thoughts in relation to the divers dispositions whereof Souls in general are capable these divers thoughts are accompanyed with certain desires in relation to the Sanctification of these Souls Now these desires being the occasional causes of Grace they must pour it down upon those persons in particular whose dispositions resemble that upon which the Soul of J. C. actually thinks And this Grace must be so much the stronger and more abundant as these desires of J. C. are greater and more lasting XIII When a person considers any part of his body which is not form'd as it ought to be he has naturally certain desires in relation to this part and the use he desires to make of it in common life and these desires are followed by certain insensible motions of the animal Spirits which tend to give that proportion or disposition to this part which we desire it shou'd have When the Body is altogether form'd and the flesh firm the motions change nothing in the construction of the parts they can only give them certain dispositions which are called Corporeal habits But when the body is not altogether form'd and the flesh is very soft and tender these motions which accompany the desires of the Soul do not only give the body certain particular dispositions but may also change the construction thereof This sufficiently appears by Children in the Womb for they are not only moved with the same passions as there Mothers but they also receive the marks of these passions in their bodies from which yet the Mothers are always free XIV The Mystical body of J. C. is not yet a perfect man Eph. IV. 13. it will not be so till the end of the world J. C. forms it continually for it is from the Head the whole body joyned together receives nourishment by the efficacy of his influence according to the measure which is proper to every one to the end it may be form'd and edified in love These are the truths which St Paul teaches us Now since the soul of J. C. has no other action but the divers motions of its heart 't is necessary that these desires be succeeded by the influence of grace which only can form J. C. in his Members and give them that beauty and proportion which must be the eternal object of the divine Love XV. The divers motions of the soul of J. C. being the occasional causes of Grace we ought not to be surprised if it be sometimes given to great sinners or those who make no use of it For the soul of J. C. designing to raise a Temple of vast extent and infinite beauty may desire that Grace may be given to the greatest sinners and if in this moment J. C. thinks actually for example upon Covetous persons the Covetous shall receive Grace Or else J. C. having need of Spirits of a certain merit for the construction of his Church which is not ordinarily acquired but by those who suffer certain persecutions of which the passions of men are the natural principle In a word J. C. having need of Spirits of a certain character for bringing to pass certain effects in his Church may in general apply himself to them by this application bestow upon them the Grace which sanctifies In like manner as the mind of an Architect thinks in general upon square stones for example when these sort of stones are actually necessary for his building XVI But as the soul of J. C. is not a general cause there is reason to think that it often has particular desires in respect of certain particular persons When we pretend to speak exactly of God we ought not to consult our selves and make him act as we do we ought to consult the Idea of a Being infinitely perfect and make him act according to this Idea but when we speak of the action of the soul of Jesus we may consult our selves we may suppose it to act as particular causes would act which yet are joyned to eternal wisdom We have reason for example to believe that the calling of St. Paul was the effect of the efficacy of a particular
motions of the Soul of J. C. in their behalf since these same motions never fail of giving it Thus the desires of J. C. alone have infallibly their effect as occasional causes because God having made J. C. Head of the Church it is only by him that the Grace which sanctifies the Elect ought to be given XX. Now we may consider in the Soul of J. C. two sorts of desires actual transient and particular desires the efficacy of which continue but a little time constant and permanent desires which consist in a firm and lasting disposition of the soul of J. C. in relation to certain effects which tend to the execution of his design in general If our soul by its different motions did communicate to our bodies all that which is necessary to form and make it grow we might distinguish therein two kinds of desires for it would send into the Muscles of the Body the Spirits that give it certain dispositions in respect of the present Objects or actual thoughts of the mind by actual and transient desires But it would give to the Heart and the Lungs the natural motions which serve for respiration and circulation of the Blood by stable and permanent desires It would also by such like desires digest its nourishment and distribute it to all the parts which have need thereof because this sort of action is at all times necessary for the preservation of the body XXI By these actual transient and particular desires of the soul of J. C. Grace is given to persons who are not prepared and after a manner which hath something singular and extraordinary in it But it is given regularly by permanent desires to those who worthily receive the Sacraments For the Grace which we receive by the Sacraments is not given meerly by the Merit of our Action tho we receive with fit dispositions it is because of the merits of J.C. which are freely applyed to us in consequence of his permanent desires We receive by the Sacraments much more Grace than our preparation can deserve and it is even sufficient for the receiving some influence thereby that we do not put any impediment But it is also to abuse that which is most holy in Religion to receive them unworthily Additions Since J. C. as man does not act but by his desires and the Grace of the Sacraments is permanent it is evident that the Grace which he communicates to those who receives them worthily comes not from J. C. as the occasional cause If there be not in J. C. a permanent desire or a constant will to do good unto those who come unto the Sacraments there would be no great mistery in them XXII Among the actual and transient desires of the Soul of Jesus there are certainly some which are more lasting and frequent than others and the knowledge of the desires is of very great use in morality Doubtless J. C. thinks oftner upon them who observe his councels than on other men The motions of love which he has for the Faithful are more frequent and lasting than those which he hath for the Libertine and the Wicked And since all the Faithful are not equally disposed to enter into the Church of the predestinated the desires of the Soul of J. C. are not in respect of them all equally lively frequent abiding Man more earnestly desires those fruits which are more proper to nourish his Body he thinks oftner upon Bread and Wine than on those Meats which are difficultly digested J. C. having a design to form his Church ought therefore to concern himself more for those who may easily enter therein than for those who are very far from it Thus the H. Scripture teaches us that the humble the poor the penitent receive greater Graces than other men because they who dispise Honours Riches and Pleasures are much fitter for the Kingdom of God They who according to the example of J. C. have learnt to be meek and humble in heart shall find rest to their souls The yoak of J. C. which the Proud can't bear will become easie and light by the assistance of Grace For God hears the Prayers of the Humble he will comfort them he will justifie them he will save them he will heap Blessings upon them but he will bring down the Haughtiness of the Proud Blessed are the Poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven But Cursed are the Rich for they have received their Consolation in this World How hard is it says J C. for the Rich to enter into the Kingdom of GOD It is easier for a Camel to pass thro' the eye of a Needle Which cannot be without a Miracle As for them who like David humble their souls with Fasting put on Sack-cloath In a word afflict themselves at the sight of their Sins and the Holiness of God will become fit objects for the compassion of J. C. for God never will dispise an humble and a contrite Heart We always disarm his wrath when we prefer the interests of God before our own and take vengeance upon our selves XXIII Since the will of J. C. is altogether agreeable to Order of which all men have naturally some Idea it may further be discern'd by Reason that the soul of J. C. has more thoughts and desires in respect of some Persons than others For Order requires that J. C. should bestow more Graces for example upon those who are called to H. Orders than those whose vocation necessarily engages them in the business of the World In a word upon those who make the principal parts of the body of the Church Militant than they who have not the oversight of any or are engaged in the Ecclesiastical Function and raise themselves above others by ambition or interest For if it be fit that J. C. give Graces unto these in respect of the Persons whom they govern yet they don't deserve such as may sanctify them in that state which they have chosen by self-love They may have the gift of Prophecy without having that of Charity as Scripture teaches us XXIV We have proved that the different desires of the soul of J. C. are the occasional causes of Grace and we have endeavoured to discover something of these desires Let us now see of what kind of Grace they are the occasional causes For tho J. C. be the Meritorious cause of all graces it is not necessary he should be the occasional cause of the graces of knowledge and certain outward Graces which prepare the heart for conversion but cannot effect it for J. C. is always the occasional or necessary cause according to the order established by God in respect of all Graces which conduce to men salvation XXV Distinctly to understand what is the grace which J. C. as Head of his Church bestows upon his Members we must know what is the concupiscence which the first man has communicated to all his Posterity For the second Adam came to cure the disorders which
as 't is written in the book of wisdom of a Saint dying in his Infancy Let every one seek after the best reasons of this and if he shall find any other besides this which I have given which renders a reason that is probable and according to the Analogy of Faith let him embrace it and if it shall be imparted to me I shall embrace it with him The Author of the calling of the Gentiles Lib. 1. c. 13. seq observes the same way of proceeding that St. Augustine doth He every where says that the Judgments of God are unsearchable because he opposes the same errors and that Faith doth not suffer us to give a reason of Gods choice of Men from the difference of their natural Merits * Lib. 2. c. 23. If for example he asks himself whence it is that all Children are not Baptized He is not afraid to say that if this came from any ill use of the general Grace given to the Parents that * C. 24. if all received Baptism the Parents were too negligent not fearing lest their Children should be surprized with Death He says that such answers would give some ground to believe that the grace of Baptism was due to the innocence of age and to deny original sin When the question is about excluding natural merits he cries out that the Judgments of God are unsearchable but yet he nevertheless doth not fail to give some general Reasons thereof upon other occasions * Lib. 2. c. 30. His principle is that a Reason of all the Designs and Works of God cannot be given Tertia Definitio temperanter sobrie protestatur non omnem voluntatis Dei comprehendi posse rationem multas divinorum operum causas ab humana intelligentia esse subductas An undeniable principle But neither he nor St. Augustine nor I believe any of the Fathers ever maintain'd that the Judgments of God were so unsearchable as that it should be a crime to seek and give some general Reasons of them They never forbad Men to represent God Amiable and Adorable by justifying his Conduct by that Idea which we have of a Being infinitely Perfect and by the Truths Faith teach us That which I have endeavoured in The Treatise of Nature and Grace The Last Explication The frequent Miracles of the Old Law do by no means shew That God often acted by particular Wills I Do not well understand how Persons who grant that God does all and that therefore he communicates not his power to Creatures but by making them the occasional causes of producing certain effects can Imagine that the Conduct which he observed in respect of the Jews should be contrary to that which I think I have demonstrated several ways viz. That God acts not by particular wills but when the necessity of Order requires him They are always saying as a thing extraordinary that the Old Testament is full of Miracles that God had promised to the Jews Plenty and Prosperity proportionably to their sidelity and obedience and that it was not possible that nature and morality should be so exactly combin'd together that the Holy-Land should abound in fruits proportionably as its Inhabitants did in virtue and good works For my part I willingly grant all this But I do not yet see how this opposes my sentiments if it be not supposed that I acknowledge no other general Laws by which God executes his designs but those of the communication of motions How troublesome is it for a Man not to be able to explain his thoughts but by words which popular use has introduced and which every one interprets according to his prejucices and temper and above all to have for ones judges such Persons who tho they are nimble and quick yet often want equity and penetration of mind Certainly they do not do me justice who say that I think Manna fell every day of the Week among the Israelites except Saturday by a necessary consequence of the Laws of the communication of motions He who is of this opinion must needs be very foolish and impious I am perswaded that the greatest part of the miraculous effects of the Ancient Law was done in consequence of some general Laws since the general cause ought not to execute his purpose by particular wills and for many more Reasons which I might add to those already mentioned But I am far from believing that these extraordinary effects were only the consequences of the natural Laws of the communication of motions I grant that they may be looked upon as Miracles and that there are more such in the World than we imagine But I must explain my self after what manner that I may not be thought to have changed J. C. as Man received all Power in Heaven and in Earth because God executes all the desires of his holy Soul by the general Law of Grace by which he would save all Men in his Son The Father has given to the Son after this manner all the Nations of the World as Materials which he is to employ in the Building of his Church as I have said elsewhere Supposing then that J. C. for the executing of his designs desires a certain degree of Grace for one of his Members or rather that he desired that the fire which sacrificed St. Lawrance should lose its heat it is certain this would be what we call a Miracle nevertheless God would not work this Miracle by a particular will but in consequence of the general Law the efficacy of which is determined by the actual desires of the Soul of J. C. According to the general Laws of the communications of motions heavy bodys fall towards the Earth my arm is heavy yet nevertheless I lift it up to Heaven whensoever I desire it Certainly God who determines the motion of the Animal spirits for the lifting up my arm according to my desires does not then act but in consequence of the general Law of the union of the Soul and Body by which Law I have power to move my arm nevertheless this motion wou'd be accounted miraculous if we did not own some other natural Laws than those of the communication of motions Now I think I am able to demonstrate by the Authority of the Holy Scripture that the Angels have received from God Power over the present World and that thus God executes their desires and by them his own designs according to certain general Laws so that all which appears miraculous in the Old Testament does no wise prove that God may often act by particular wills St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews intending to exalt J. C. above Angels says that God had not subjected the World to come to them as he had to J. C. He believed then as a thing whereof those to whom he wrote had no doubt that God had subjected the present World to Angels If the Angels had had power over nothing it would have been much more easy for
proper seasons all these grains are not increased thereby Or if they be the Hail or some other unlucky accident which is a necessary consequence of the same Laws of Nature hinders them from nourishing their Ear. Now because it is God who has established these Laws it might be said that he would that some certain seeds should be fruitful rather than others if we did not know otherwise that the general cause ought not to act by particular wills nor an infinitely wise Being by compounded ways God ought not to take other Measures than those which he has taken to govern the rains according to the seasons and places and desires of the Husbandmen We need to say no more of the order of Nature Let us explain a little more largely that of Grace and above all things let us observe that it is the same wisdom and the same will in a word the same God who has established both the one and the other of these Orders Additions Above all let us observe that it is the same wisdom and the same will in a word the same God who has established both the one and the other of these orders that is to say that of Grace and that of Nature This is of the greatest consequence For God cannot be false to himself or not follow his wisdom in the establishment of the order of Grace It is therefore necessary to the end that Gods conduct may bear the Character of his divine attributes that his ways be simple general uniform and constant Thus we may already see that it will not be impossible to justifie the wisdom and goodness of God tho Grace often falls without effect and tho there be more men who are damned than those who are saved God will appear wise tho Grace should not be always proportioned to our weakness He will be good and love men tho all be not saved because we cannot take it ill that God has greater love for his wisdom which is consubstantial to him than for his work which is only an imperfect Image of his substance THE SECOND PART Of the Necessity of the general Laws of Grace XXIV GOD loving himself by the necessity of his Being and resolving to procure an infinite glory to himself and honour perfectly worthy of him consulted his wisdom about the accomplishment of his desires This divine wisdom filled with love for him from whom he received a Being by an Eternal and ineffable generation seeing nothing in all possible creatures the intelligible Ideas of which he contains that might be worthy of the Majesty of his Father offered himself that he might establish to his Honour an Eternal Worship and as Sovereign Priest offer unto him a victim which by the dignity of his Person might be capable to please him He rerepresented unto him an infinite number of designs for the Temple which he intended to raise to his glory and at the same time all possible ways of performing them That design which at first sight seems Greatest and most Magnificent the justest and most easily understood is that which has most relation to the Person unto whom all the Glory and Holiness thereof must refer and the wisest manner of performing this design is to Establish certain very simple and fruitful Laws to bring it to its perfection This is that which Reason seems to answer to all those who consult it with attention and according to the principles which Faith teaches us Let us examine the circumstances of this Great design and afterwards endeavour to find out the ways of performing it Additions The proof of all this is because God does nothing without his Wisdom or without his Son which Scripture teaches us as well as Reason Joh. I. 3. Heb. I. 2. c. That Jesus Christ is the principle design of God see the first Article and the following That he is the Model of the Elect Rom. VIII 29. And above all that his ways do more than any other bear the Character of the divine Attributes that which I have already proved and which you may see further manifested in the third explication I shall not hereafter stop in the Explication of what is clear enough in its self and of little consequence XXV The Holy Scripture teaches us that it is Jesus Christ who makes all the Beauty the Holyness the Greatness and Magnificence of this Great Work For if it be compared therein to a City it is Jesus Christ who makes all the Splendor thereof The Sun and the Moon does not enlighten it Apocal. XXI 23. but the Brightness of God and the Light of the Lamb. If it be represented as a living body all whose parts have a marvelous relation to one another Col. I. 18. II. 19. Eph. I. 22 23. it is Jesus Christ who is the head thereof it is from him that Spirit and Life is communicated to all the Members that compose it If it be spoken of as a Temple it is Jesus Christ who is the Corner-stone Eph. II. 20 c. upon which all the building is founded it is he who is the Sovereign Priest It is he who is the Sacrifice thereof Heb. IV. V c. X c. None of the Faithful are Priests but because they partake of his Priesthood They are not Sacrifices but because they partake of his Holiness It is only in him and by him that they continually offer themselves to the Majesty of God To conclude it is only by the Relation which they have to him Phil. III. 9 10 11 c. that they contribute to the beauty of this august Temple which always has been and for ever will be the delightful Object of God himself XXVI Reason also teaches us these Truths For what relation is there betwixt creatures how perfect so ever they are supposed to be and the Action by which they are made Every Creature being limited how can it be worth the Action of a God whose price is infinite Can God receive any thing from a pure Creature which may incline him to act But let it be that God hath made man in hopes of being honoured by him Whence is it that the number of those who dishonour him is much the greater Doth not God hereby sufficiently declare that he very much neglects the glory pretended to be received by his work if separated from his well beloved Son that it is only in Jesus Christ that he resolved to produce it and that without him it should not subsist a moment XXVII A man resolves to do somthing because he hath need thereof or because he wou'd see what wou'd be the effect of his work or lastly because he learns by trying his strength what he is able to do But God has no need of his creatures He is not like men who receive new impression from the presence of objects His Ideas are eternal immutable he saw the world before it was form'd as he sees it at present In short being
conscious that his will is efficacious he perfectly knows without making any tryal of his strength whatsoever he is able to do Thus Scripture and Reason teach us that it is by Jesus Christ that the world subsists and that it is by the dignity of this divine person that it receives a beauty which renders it agreeable in the sight of God XXVIII It follows in my opinion from this principle that Jesus Christ is the Model or Pattern by which we are made that we are form'd according to his Image and likeness and that we have nothing beautiful but so far as we are his representations and figures that he is the end of the Law and the finishing of the Jewish Ceremonies and Sacrifices that till this succession of generations which preceded his birth had an end it was necessary they shou'd have had certain relations to him by which they were made more agreeable to God than any others That since Jesus Christ was to be the Head and Spouse of the Church to represent him all men were to proceed from one and their propagation to begin after that manner which Moses relates and St. Paul explains In a word it follows from this principle that the present world ought to be the figure of the future and that as far as the simplicity of the general Laws will permit it all they who have or shall dwell therein have been or shall be figures and resemblances of Gods only Son from Abel in whom he was sacrificed to the last Member that shall be of his Church XXIX We may judge of the perfection of a Work by the conformity there is betwixt this work and the Idea which the eternal wisdom gives us of it For there is nothing Beautiful nothing Amiable but by relation to the essential necessary and independent beauty Now this intelligible beauty being made sensible became also in this estate the rule of beauty and perfection Thus all Corporeal Creatures must still receive from him their Beauty and Splendor All minds must have the same thoughts and the same inclinations with the soul of Jesus if they would be agreeable to those who see nothing Beautiful nothing Amiable but that which is conformable to Wisdom and Truth Since then we are obliged to believe that the work of God has a perfect conformity with the eternal Wisdom we have all reason to believe that the same work has infinite relations to him who is the Head the principle the model and the end thereof But who can explain all these relations XXX That which makes the Beauty of a Temple is the order and variety of the Ornaments which are there to be seen Thus to render the living Temple of the Majesty of God worthy of him who is to inhabit it proportion'd to the infinite wisdom love of its Author all Beauties ought to be found therein But it is not with the Glory and Magnificence of this Spiritual Temple as it is with the gross and sensible Ornaments of Material Temples That which makes the Beauty of the Spiritual Edifice of the Church is the infinite diversity of the Graces which he who is the Head thereof communnicates to all the parts that compose it it is the order and the admirable relations they have by him to one another it is the divers degrees of Glory which shine on all sides XXXI It follows from this principle that to establish this variety of rewards which compose the beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem it is necessary that men upon Earth shou'd be subject not only to afflictions which purisie them but also to the motions of Concupiscence which gives them opportunity of gaining so many Victories by engaging them in so great a number of different Combats XXXII The Blessed in Heaven will doubtless have an Holiness and variety of gifts which will perfectly answer the diversity of their good works These continual sacrifices by which the Old Man is destroyed and annihelated will Adorn and Beautifie the Spiritual substance of the New Man Luke XXIV 26. And if it became Jesus Christ himself to suffer all sorts of afflictions before he entred into his glory the sin of the first Man which brought the evils into the World which accompany Life and Death which follows it was necessary that men having been tryed upon Earth might justly be rewarded with that Glory the variety and order of which will make the beauty of the future World Additions The sin of the first Man was not necessary in it self God might without this sin have found a Thousand means to make the future Church as Beautiful as it shall be but since God acts always as wisely as is possible and according to the character of the divine attributes since he invincibly loves his Wisdom There cou'd be no such means for Men to Merit the Glory which one day they shall possess as that which suffers them to be ingulf'd in sin that mercy might be shewn to them all in Jesus Christ For the Glory which the Elect shall obtain by the Grace of Jesus Christ in resisting their Concupiscence will be greater and also more worthy of God than any other See the 34 and 35. Articles St. Aug. de cor grat C. 10. XXXIII If I had a clear Idea of the Blessed Spirits which have no body perhaps I might clearly answer a difficulty which arises in respect of them For it may be objected either that there is little variety in the merits and recompences of Angels or else that it was adviseable that God should unite Spirits to bodys on which they do at present so much depend I confess that I do not see any great diversity of rewards which ought to answer the merits of substances purely intelligible especially if they have merited their reward by one single act of Love They not being united to a body which might occasion God to give them according to certain most simple and general Laws a succession of different sentiments or thoughts I can see no diversity in their combats nor in their victories But perhaps there may be an order established which to me is unknown And upon this account I ought not to speak of it It is enough for me to have setled a principle whence we may conclude that it became God to create Bodys and to unite Spirits unto them that by the most simple Laws of the Union of these two substances he might in a general constant and uniform way give us that great variety of sentiments and motions which is the principle of our different Merits and Rewards XXXIV To conclude God ought to have all the Glory of the Beauty and Perfection of the future World This Work which infinitely surpasses all others must be a work of pure mercy The Creatures ought not to boast of having any other part therein but that which the grace of Jesus Christ hath given them In a word Rom. XI 32. Gal. III. 22. it was adviseable that God shou'd
passages of Scripture which agree with this Idea we correct the sence of some other places which ascribe unto God members or passions like unto ours So when we wou'd speak exactly of the manner of Gods acting in the order of Nature or grace we ought to explain the passages which make him act as a man or a particular cause by that Idea which we have of his wisdom and his goodness and by other places of Scripture which are agreable to this Idea For in conclusion if the Idea which we have of God permits nay obliges to say that he does not cause every drop of rain to fall by particular wills tho this sentiment is authorized by the natural sence of some places of Scripture there is the like necessity to think that notwithstanding certain authorities of the same Scripture God does not give to some sinners by particular wills all those good motions which are of no effect to them and yet to several others wou'd be effectual because otherwise it seems impossible to me to make the Holy Scripture agree either with reason or with its self as I think I have proved LIX If I thought that what I have already said was not sufficient to convince considering persons that God acts not by particular wills as particular causes or limited understandings do I should proceed to shew that there are few truths whereof more proofs may be given supposing it granted that God governs the World and that the Nature of HEATHEN PHILOSOPHERS is but a Chimaera For in truth nothing is done in the World which doth not prove this sentiment Miracles only excepted which nevertheless wou'd not be Miracles different from the effects which are called natural if it was true that God ordinarily acts by particular wills since Miracles are not such but because they happen not according to general Laws Thus do Miracles suppose these Laws and prove the sentiment which I have laid down but as for ordinary effects they clearly and directly demonstrate general Laws or Wills For example if a stone be let fall upon the head of one that passes by the stone will always fall with equal swiftness without distinguishing either the piety or the quality the good or evil dispositions of the passenger If any other effect be examined we shall see the same constancy in the action of the cause which produces it But no effect proves that God acts by particular wills tho men often imagine that God works Miracles every moment for their sakes Since the way by which they wou'd have God to act is agreable to ours since it flatters self-love which refers all things to its self since it comports well with the ignorance we are in of the combination of occasional causes which produce extraordinary effects it naturally enters into the mind when we do not sufficiently study Nature and consult with attention enough the abstracted Idea of an infinite Wisdom of an Universal Cause of a Being infinitely perfect Additions Let me be permitted to desire of the Reader that he do meditate some time upon this first Discourse before he reads that which follows The Second Discourse Of the Laws of Grace in particular and of the Occasional Causes which Govern and Determin their Efficacy First Part. Of the Grace of Jesus Christ Additions Before this 2d Dis read 3d. C. of 2d P. of Search after Truth and the Expli of the same C. where the Author opposes the Efficacy of pretended second causes I Have proved in the First Discourse the necessity of Occasional Causes in the Order of Grace as well as in that of Nature and I don't think that which I have written can be distinctly understood but it must be granted But now I am about to prove by those arguments which Faith supplies that Jesus Christ is this cause Since this is of the greatest consequence clearly to understand the principles of Religion and to make us draw near with confidence to the true Propitiatory or the occasional cause which never fails to determine the efficacy of the general Law of Grace I think I may require the Reader to Meditate upon this Second Discourse with all diligence and without prejudice I. Since there is none but God who acts immediately and by himself upon Spirits who produces in them all the different Modifications whereof they are capable it is he alone who enlightens our minds and inspires us with certain sentiments which determine our divers wills Thus there is none but God who can as the * By the true cause I understand the Cause which Acts by its own strength true cause produce grace in our Souls For the principle of all the regular motions of our love is necessarily either knowledge which teaches us or a sentiment which convinces us that God is our happiness since we never begin to love any object if we do not either clearly see by the light of Reason or confusedly feel by the taste of pleasure that the object is good I mean capable of rendring us more happy than we are II. But seeing all men are engaged in Original sin and all even by their nature infinitely below God it is only J. Christ who by the dignity of his Person and the holiness of his Sacrifice could have access to his Father reconcile us to him and merit his favours for us Thus it is J. C. only who cou'd be the Meritorous cause of Grace These truths are agreed on But we do not seek after the cause which Produces Grace by its proper efficacy nor that which merits it by his sacrifice and good works we seek after that which regulates and determines the efficacy of the general cause that which may be called the second particular and occasional III. For that the general cause may act by general Laws or Wills and that his action may be regular constant and uniform it is absolutely necessary that there be an occasional cause which determines the efficacy of these Laws and serves to establish them If the percussion of bodies or some such thing did not determine the EFFICACY of general LAWS of the Communication of motions it would be necessary that God should move bodies by particular wills The Laws of the union of the Soul and Body are made efficacious only by the changes which happen in each of these substances For if God should make the Soul feel a pungent pain tho the body was not pricked or if the brain shou'd not be moved as if the body was pricked he wou'd not act by the general Laws of the union between Soul and body but by a particular will If it shou'd rain upon the Earth any other ways but by the necessary consequence of the general Laws of the communication of motions the rain and the fall of each drop that composes it would be the effect of a particular will Insomuch that if order did not require that it should rain this will would be altogether unworthy of God It is therefore
necessary that in the order of Grace there be some occasional cause which establishes these Laws and determines the efficacy of them and this is that cause which we must endeavour to find out IV. Tho we never so little consult the Idea of Intelligible order or consider the sensible order which appears in the works of God we clearly discover that the occasional causes which determine the efficacy of the general Laws and establish them must necessarily have relation to the design for which God appoints these Laws For example we see by experience that God has not and Reason convinces us that he ought not to have made the motions of the Planets the occasional causes of the union of soul and body He could not have willed that our Arm shou'd be moved after such and such a manner nor the soul suffer the pain of the Tooth-ach at the time of the Moons conjunction with the Sun if this conjunction does not act upon the body The design of God being to unite the Soul to the Body he cou'd not give to the Soul the sentiments of grief but when some changes happen in the body which are contrary to it Thus we ought not to seek any where else but in the Soul and in the Body the occasional causes of their union V. Hence it follows that God having a design to form his Church by J. C. could not according to this design seek any where else but in J. C. and the Creatures united by reason to J. C. the occasional causes which serve to establish the general Laws of Grace by which the spirit of J. C. is shed upon his Members and communicates unto them his Life and Holiness Thus Grace is not showered down upon our hearts according to the divers scituation of the Stars nor according to the meeting of several bodies nor even according to the different motion of the animal spirits which give unto us motion and life No bodies can excite in us any motions and sentiments but what are purely natural for all that comes to the soul by the body is only for the body The Angels themselves are not made occasional causes of inward grace They are as well as we Members of that body of which J. C. alone is the Head they are Ministers of J. C. for the salvation of the Saints I grant that they may produce some change in the bodies which surround us and even in that which we animate and that thus they may remove some impediments of the efficacy of Grace But certainly they cannot distribute to men such a precious gift they have not immediate power over the minds of men which by their nature are equal to them To conclude St Paul teaches us Heb. 11.5 to believe that God has not subjected to them the future World or the Church of J. C. Thus the occasional cause of Grace cannot be found but in J. C. or in man VI. But seeing it is certain that grace is not granted to all those that desire it nor as soon as they desire it and it is often given to those who do not ask it it follows that even our desires are not the occasional cause of Grace For this kind of causes always have readily their effect and without them the effect is never produced For example the striking of bodies upon one another being the occasional cause of the change which happens in their motion if two bodies do not meet one another their motions are not changed and if they be changed we may be assured that they did The general Laws by which Grace is poured into our hearts do find nothing in our wills which may determine their efficacy like as the general Laws which govern the rains are not founded upon the dispositions of the places where it rains For whither Lands lye Fallow or whither they be cultivated it rains indifferently in all places even upon Sands and in the Sea VII We are then brought to maintain that since none but J. C. cou'd merit grace there is likewise none but he who cou'd give the occasions of the general Laws according to which it is given to men For the principle of the foundation of general Laws or that which determines their efficacy being necessarily either in us or in J. C. since it is certain it is not in us for the reasons above mentioned it must needs be found in J. C. Thus it was necessary that God after sin should have no regard to our wills Being all in disorder we cou'd no more be the occasion of Gods giving us Grace A Mediator therefore was necessary not only to give us access to God but also to be the natural or occasional cause of those favours we hope to receive from him VIII Since God designed to make his Son the Head of his Church it was convenient he should make him the natural or occasional cause of Grace which sanctifies it for it is from the Head that Life and motion ought to be given to the members And it was even with this foresight that God permitted sin for if man had continued in his Innocence without being assisted by the Grace of J. C. seeing his wills wou'd have merited Grace and even Glory God should have established in man the occasional cause of his perfection and happiness The inviolable Law of order requires this so that J. C. wou'd not have been the Head of his Church or such an Head whose influences the Members wou'd have had no need of IX If our soul had been in our body before it was form'd and all the parts which compose it disposed of according to our different wills with how many divers sentiments and motions wou'd she have been affected by all the effects which she would have known ought to have followed from her wills especially if she had had an extream desire to have made a more Vigorous and better form'd body Eph. I. 22 23. IV. 16. Col. 11.19 Act. IX 5. Col I. 24. 1 Cor. XII 27. c. Now the Holy Scripture does not only say that J. C. is the Head of the Church but it also teaches us that he begot it that he form'd it that he nourishes it that he suffered in it that he merits in it that he acts and influences it without ceasing The zeal which J. C. has for the glory of his Father and the love he bears to his Church inspires him continually with a desire of making it the most ample the most magnisicent and the most perfect he can possibly Thus seeing the soul of J. C. has not an infinite capacity and yet desires to give infinite beauties and ornaments to his Church we have all the reason to believe that there is a continual succession of thoughts and desires in his Soul in respect of his Mystical body which he continually forms X. Now these continual desires of the Soul of Jesus which sanctifie the Church and render it worthy of the Majesty of his Father
wherein he finds the Work he is to build according to the designs he continually forms according to the beauty wherewith he intends to Adorn his Church Now this way after which I suppose J.C. might act wou'd be sufficient to justifie Gods Conduct and make it in general comprehended whence it is that the rain of Grace is sent down without effect upon hardned hearts at such unseasonable times after such an unequal manner and almost always so little answerable unto the concupiscence of those who receive it For this reason I ought not to enter particularly upon the fall of the Just under an Head who has so much love for sinners Nevertheless I shall at present endeavour to explain it to satisfie the most difficult Whilst J.C. acts as Architect he only regulates his desires according to his designs It is indifferent to him to have in his Temple Paul or John if both the one and the other resemble the Idea which determines his desires As it is indifferent to an Architect who needs only a square stone or a pillar to have that which is on the right hand or on the left if they be altogether alike Thus the desire of J. C. bestowing Grace which moves men to come unto him and cast themselves in his hands those who come first and are most watchful are they whom he employs in his building But men having once followed the motion of Grace I think it is certain that J. C. is advertised of their dispositions and that when he has plac'c them in his Temple or made them parts of his Body no need no temptation happens to them which he has not notice of and which he doth not provide for When Bread is once become part of our flesh it cannot be touched without hurting us When a stone is wrought and laid in the building it cannot be broken without offending the Architect J. C. considered as Head of the Church is therefore advertised of all our necessities even before he particularly desires to know them Herein his Father prevents his Charity It seems to me that order requires this Perhaps he may even actually know the effect which the assistance he gives us will have even before it be given and this is that which makes all the difficulty For J. C. loves the just he tenderly cherishes those who are united unto him by Charity Now he has notice of a Temptation which solicits one of his Members and he may give him Victorious Graces If therefore he foresaw that with such assistance the Just tho he might have overcome would nevertheless be vanquished Why did he not augment this assistance He desires the just should be Victorious Why therefore doth he not proportion the means to the end if he actually knew the relation of the means to the end For my part I had rather believe that J. C. as man or the occasional cause of Grace doth not actually know the future determination of the will of the just to whom he gives assistance than think that he in any sense wants Goodness and Charity for his Members I grant that J.C. as man may know all the future determination of our wills as I know that two and two are four But I doubt whether he actually thinks thereon and I do not believe that he always thinks thereon that he may regulate the distribution of Graces according to this knowledge These are my Reasons J. C. does not see in the Word precisely as the Word whether the just will follow or will not follow the motion of his Grace He cannot know it unless God discover it to him by a sort of revelation as I have already said Now it seems to me that he ought not always to demand what effect his Grace will have because it seems clear to me that Order which is his Rule and his Law doth not require that he shou'd proportion his gifts to mens future negligence but only to their necessities for his own proper designs J.C. must act as man or as the occasional cause that God may build up his Church by the most simple ways Now none but God can dive in mens hearts and see the free determinations of their wills J. C. therefore before he acts ought not to desire of his Father to reveal to him whether the just being tempted will or will not be vanquished by such or such a degree of Grace For thus his action would not bear the Character of an occasional cause If God should by himself give unto the just Grace to vanquish Temptations being by nature Searcher of Hearts his Conduct ought to comport with this Character and if the just should be vanquished it might be believed that God designed to forsake him But Order requiring that J. C. as Man should act as Man his action is not to bear the Character of Searcher of Hearts For God intending to make his wisdom his fore-sight the infinite extension of his knowledge to appear in the construction of his great work he was obliged to form it by the most simple ways For in conclusion what marvel would it be if J. C. should make a beautiful work and save even all men if on the one side he acted by particular wills and on the other his action did not carry in it the character of an Occasional cause but of an infinite Wisdom certainly GOD ought not to appoint an Occasional Cause if this Occasional cause must act as God and not as man He ought to do all immediately by himself But how shou'd we have justified his wisdom and goodness seeing so many Monsters among Bodies so many irregularrities among Spirits so much disproportion in his action in relation to his Attributes so much rain upon the Sand and in the Sea so many Graces given to hardned Hearts Graces which serve only to make them more culpable and more criminal Ezek. 33.2 Eccles. 15.12 which yet cou'd not have been given with a design so unworthy of Gods goodness who desires the Conversion of sinners and to whom the wicked were never necessary If that which I have said of the fall of the just and the manner after which Jesus Christ forms his Church be clearly understood perhaps it would be found to be probable enough But I think I ought to say that this is no ways necessary in order to defend my principles and the manner by which I have justified the wisdom and goodness of God For it may be that God has given to J. C. as man a particular kind of knowledge and power in relation to his design by establishing him the occasional cause of the general Law of Grace To make my thought understood by a comparison let us imagine that as soon as Adam was formed God acquainted the Angels that he had united a Spirit to a Body to the end that it might take care thereof without informing them any thing of the Laws of this union According to this supposition the Angels reasoning according to their
suffers us not to doubt of this truth when he assures us that we are made of the Bone and Flesh of J. C. and that we are his Members and that the Marriage of Adam and Eve was the Figure of J. C. and his Church LVI God might have form'd Men and Animals by ways as simple as the ordinary Generation is But seeing this way figured J. C. and his Church since it bore the Character of the Chief of God's Designs since it represented as I may say the well-beloved Son of his Father that Son by whom the whole Creation subsists God was obliged to prefer it before all others whereby to teach us that as intelligible Beauties consist only in the relation they have to eternal Wisdom so sensible Beauties must in some manner much unknown to us have some relation to the Truth incarnate LVII Doubtless there are many relations between the principal Creatures and J. C. who is their model and end For all is full of J. C. all expresses and figures him as far as the simplicity of the Laws of Nature will permit them but I dare not enter into the particulars of this For besides that I am afraid of deceiving my self and that I don 't sufficiently know either Nature or Grace the present or the future World to discover the relations thereof I am sensible that Mens Imaginations are so witty and delicate that one cannot by Reason lead them to God much less to J. C. without tyring them and exciting their railery The greatest part of Christians are accustom'd to a Philosophy which rather loves to shelter its self in fictions as extravagant as those of the Poets than have recourse to God and some are so little acquainted with J. C. that a Man shou'd pass with them for a visionary if he shou'd say the same things with S. Paul and not quote his words For 't is rather this great Name than the Sight of the Truth which engages them The Authority of the Scripture hinders them from blaspheming against that which they are ignorant of but seeing they think but little of it they can't thereby be much enlightned LVIII It is certain the Jews were a figure of the Church and the most holy and famous amongst the Kings Prophets and Patriarchs of this People did represent the true Messias our Saviour J. C. This truth can't be denied without undermining the Foundations of Christian Religion and making the most learned of the Apostles pass for the most ignorant of Men. J. C. not being yet come it was necessary he shou'd at least be prefigured He ought to be expected he ought to be desired he ought to disperse by his Figures some sort of Beauty in the World to make it pleasing to his Father Thus it was necessary he shou'd have been in some sense as ancient as the World it was necessary he shou'd die presently after Sin in the person of Abel Agnus occisus ab origine Mundi principium finis Alpha Omega heri hodie est erat venturus est These are the Qualifications which S. John gives to the Saviour of Men. LIX Now supposing that J. C. ought to be presigured it was expedient he shou'd chiefly be so by his Ancestors and that their History dictated by the H. Spirit shou'd in all times be preserv'd to the end that J. C. may still be compar'd with his Figures and acknowledg'd as the true Messias Of all the Nations of the Earth God loving that best which had most relation with his Son the Jews were to have been the Ancestors of J. C. according to the flesh and to have received this favour of God since they were the most lively and most express Representations of his Son LX. But if this Difficulty be further urg'd so as to demand a reason of the choice which God made of the Jews to be the principal Figures of J. C. I think I may and ought to affirm first That God always acting by the most simple ways and discovering in the infinite Treasures of his Wisdom all the possible Combinations of Nature with Grace chose that which wou'd make the Church most ample most perfect and most worthy of his Majesty and Holiness as I have already said In the second place I think I ought to answer That God foreseeing what wou'd happen to the Jews by a necessary consequence of natural Laws had more relation to the design which he had of representing J. C. and his Church than any thing which cou'd happen to any other Nation it was expedient that he shou'd chuse this People rather than any other For in conclusion the predestination to the Law is not like the predestination to Grace and tho' there is nothing in Nature which may oblige God to dispense his Grace equally to all People it seems to me that Nature might merit the Law in the sence wherein I here understand it LXI It is true that all that happen'd to the Jews who represented J. C. was not a necessary consequence of the order of Nature Miracles were necessary to render them the lively and express Images of the Church but Nature must have furnish'd the Fund and the Matter and perhaps the principal Stroaks in several things Miracles finish'd the rest But no other Nation wou'd have been so proper for so just and high a Design LXII It appears to me that we are oblig'd to think that God's Wisdom foreseeing all the Consequences of all the possible Orders and all their Combinations never works Miracles when Nature suffices and that thus he was oblig'd to chuse the Combination of Natural Effects which saving him as I may say the expence of Miracles might nevertheless very faithfully execute his Intentions For example 'T is necessary that all Sins shou'd be punish'd but not always in this World Supposing nevertheless that it was expedient for the glory of J. C. and the establishment of Religion that the Jews shou'd be punish'd in the face of the whole Earth for putting to death the Saviour of the World it was convenient that J. C. came into the World towards the end of Herod's Reign supposing that according to the necessary consequence of the Order of Nature that People shou'd be divided amongst themselves about that time that Civil Wars and continual Seditions shou'd weaken them and that lastly the Romans shou'd destroy and scatter them abroad after the total destruction of their City and Temple It is true there seems to have been something extraordinary in the desolation of the Jews But since it argues more Wisdom in God to produce such surprising Effects by the most simple and general Laws of Nature than by particular Wills I know not whether on this occasion we ought to have recourse to a Miracle For my part I don't dispute of it here this is a thing which is not easie nor indeed very necessary to be cleared I give this Example for to make some application of my Principles and to make them the
goods and when it is tasted by a sentiment which does not fill all the capacity of the Soul she must still further desire the sight and enjoyment of some other good she may suspend the judgment of her love she need not to rest in the actual enjoyment but may by her desires seek after some new object And seeing her desires are the occasional cause of her knowledge she may by the natural and necessary union of all Spirits with him who contains the ideas of all goods discover the true good and in the true good a great many other particular goods different from what she saw and tasted before Thus being acquainted with the vacuity and vanity of sensible goods attending to the secret reproaches of reason and to the remorse of her conscience to the complaints and threatnings of the true good who will not that we should sacrifice him to apparent and imaginary goods she may by the motion which God imprints continually upon her after good in general or the soveraign good that is towards himself stop her carrier after any good whatsoever She may resist all sensible perswasives seek and find other objects compare them betwixt themselves and with the indeleble idea of the soveraign good and love none of them with a determined love And if this soveraign good makes it self to be tasted she may prefer it to all particular goods tho the sweetness which they seem to transfer into the Soul be very great and very agreeable These Truths must be further explain'd VII The Soul is carried towards good in general she desires to possess all goods and would never confine her love there is no good which appears so to her that she refuses to love Therefore while she actually enjoys any particular good she has yet a motion to go further she still desires some other thing by the natural and invincible impression God puts into her and to change or divide her love it is sufficient to present unto her another good than that which she enjoys and to make her taste the sweetness of it Now the Soul may ordinarily seek and discover new goods she may also come near and enjoy them For in short these desires are the natural or occasional causes of her knowledge Objects discover themselves to her and approach unto her proportionally as she desires to know them An ambitious person who considers the splendour of some dignity may also think of the slavery of the constraint of the real ills which accompany humane greatness He may calculate weigh and compare all things together if his passion does not blind him For I confess there are times when the passions entirely rob the mind of its liberty and they always do diminish it Thus seeing any dignity how great so ever it may appear is not accounted by a Man free and reasonable as the universal and infinite good and since the will generally reaches to all goods this Man who is perfectly free and reasonable may seek and find others seeing he may desire them for 't is his desires which discover and present them unto him He may examine and compare them with that which he enjoys But because he can meet with none but particular goods upon earth he may and ought here below continually and without intermission seek and enquire or rather that he may not change every moment he ought generally to neglect all these transient goods and desire only those which are immutable and eternal VIII Nevertheless seeing Men do not love to search but to enjoy seeing the labour of examination is at present very troublesome but rest and enjoyment always very pleasant the Soul ordinarily stops as soon as she has found any good she fixes upon it that she may enjoy it She deceives her self because by deceiving her self and judging that she has found that she seeks her desire is chang'd into pleasure and pleasure renders her more happy than desire But her happiness cannot last long Her pleasure being ill grounded unjust and deceitful it presently troubles and disquiets her because she would be truly and solidly happy Thus the natural love of good awakens and produces new desires in her These confused desires represent new objects Seeing the Soul loves pleasure she runs after those which communicate it or seems to communicate it and because she loves repose she takes up with them She does not at first examine the defects of the present good whilst it prevents her by its sweetness she considers it rather on the fair side she applies her self to that which charms her thinks of nothing but enjoying it And the more she enjoys it the more she loves it the nearer she approaches to it the more she considers it But now the more she considers it the more defects she discovers in it and since she desires to be invincibly happy she cannot for ever be deceived When she is hungry thirsty and tired with seeking she presently satiates and fills her self with the first good she meets but she presently disgusts the nourishment for which Man was not made Thus the love of the true good still excites in her new desires after new objects and being in continual change all her life and all her happiness upon earth consists only in a continual circulation of thoughts desires and pleasures Such is the condition of a Soul which makes no use of its liberty which suffers its self to be lead at all adventures by the motion which transports her and by the fortuitous impression of objects which determine her This is the condition of one whose mind is so weak that he always takes false goods for the true and a heart so corrupted that he sells and blindly gives himself up to all that affects him or the good which makes him actually feel the most sweet and agreeable pleasures IX But a Man perfectly free such as we conceive Adam immediately after his creation clearly knows that God only is his good or the true cause of the pleasures which he enjoys Tho he feels sweetness by the approach of objects which are about him he does not love them he only loves God and if God forbids him to unite himself to bodies he is ready to forsake what pleasure so ever he finds therein He will not take up but in the enjoyment of the soveraign good to him he will sacrifice all others and how much so ever he desires to be happy or to enjoy pleasures no pleasure is too strong for his knowledge Not but that pleasures may blind him and disturb his reason and fill the capacity which he has of thinking for the mind being finite all pleasure may distract and divide it But the reason is because tho pleasures be under the Command of his Will he was not cautious to keep himself from being intoxicated therewith because the only invincible pleasure is that of the blessed or that which the first Man would have found in God if God would have prevented or hindred
his fall not only because this pleasure fills all the faculties of the Soul without troubling Reason or engaging it in the love of false goods but also nothing opposes the enjoyment of this pleasure neither the desire of perfection nor that of happiness For whilst we love God we are perfect whilst we love him we are happy and when we love him with pleasure we are perfect and happy both together Thus the most perfect liberty is that of minds to which no motion towards particular goods is ever invincible it is that of Man before sin before concupiscence had disturbed his understanding and corrupted his heart And the most imperfect liberty is that of a mind to which every motion after any particular good how little so ever it appears is always and in all circumstances invincible X. Now betwixt these two sorts of liberty there are infinite degrees more or less perfect which is not commonly observed Men ordinarily imagine that liberty is equal in all Men and that it is a faculty essential to their minds the nature of which continues always the same tho its action varies according to the different objects Men who don't reflect suppose a perfect equality in all things where they do not sensibly observe an inequality They comfort and excuse themselves from all application by giving to all things an abstracted form whose essence consists in a kind of indivisibility But they deceive themselves liberty is not such a faculty as they imagine There are no two persons equally free in respect of the same objects Children are less than Men who have the full use of their reason and there are no two Men who have their reason equally firm and assured in respect of the same objects They who have violent passions and are not accustomed to resist them are less free than they who have generously opposed them and are naturally moderate There are no two Men equally moderate equally sensible as to the same objects and who have equally contended for the preservation of their liberty There are also persons so enslav'd to sin that they do less resist and less think of resisting whilst they are awake than good Men do whilst they sleep for according to the Word of Truth He that commits sin is the servant of sin XI It is true according to the institution of nature all Men are equally free for God does not invincibly engage minds to love any particular good But concupiscence corrupts the heart and reason and Man having lost the power of obliterating the traces of sensible pleasures and stopping the motions of his concupiscence this liberty equal in all Men if they had not sinned is become unequal according to the different degrees of their knowledge and their concupiscence which differently acts in them For even concupiscence its self which is equal in all Men as they have lost the power which they had over their bodies is unequal a thousand ways by reason of the diversity which is to be found in the conformation of their bodies in the multitude and motion of the animal spirits and in the almost infinite relations and connexions which are made by their concerns in the World XII Still further to discern more distinctly the inequality which is to be found in different persons it must be observed that any Man who is perfectly reasonable and free and who would be truly happy may and ought when any pleasant object presents its self suspend his love and carefully examine whether this object be the true good or whether the motion which carries him after it do exactly agree with that which carries after the true good Otherwise he would love by instinct and not by reason and if he could not suspend the judgment of his love before he had examined it he would not be perfectly free But if he should clearly see that this pleasant object should be truly good for him and if this evidence joyn'd to the sentiment be such that he could not suspend his judgment then tho perfectly free yet he is not so in respect of this good he invincibly loves it because pleasure and knowledge do agree in recommending it But since there is none but God who can act in us or be our good since the motion which thrusts us forward towards the creatures does not agree with that which carries us towards God any Man who is perfectly reasonable and free may hinder himself from judging that sensible objects are goods he may and ought to suspend the judgment which governs or ought to govern his love for he can never evidently see that sensible goods are true goods because he can never evidently see that which is not XIII This power of suspending the judgment which actually governs the love this power which is the principle of our liberty and by which it is that pleasures are not invincible is much lessened since sin tho not altogether annihilated And that we may have this power when any object tempts us it is necessary besides some love of order to have presence of mind or be sensible of remorse of conscience for a Child or a Man asleep has not actually this power But all Men are not equally inlightned the minds of sinners are full of darkness Consciences are not equally tender the heart of sinners is hardened The love of order and actual graces are unequal in all Men. Therefore all Men are not equally free they have not an equal power of suspending their judgment pleasure determines and carries them towards some objects rather than others Such an one can suspend his judgment or stop his consent tho the present object may make him feel a very lively and sensible pleasure And another has so little a mind and a heart so corrupted that to him the least pleasure is invincible the least affliction insupportable Not being accustomed to withstand sensible invitations his disposition is such that he 'll not so much as think of resisting them So that at this time he has no power of suspending his consent seeing he has not so much as the power of reflecting thereon In respect of this object he 's like a Man that is asleep or one who has lost his mind XIV The weaker reason is the more sensible the Soul becomes and judges more rashly and falsly of sensible goods or evils When a Man is in a slumber if a straw or feather doth but tickle him he instantly awakes as much affrighted as if a serpent had bitten him He looks upon this little uneasiness and judges of it as one of the greatest afflictions to him it seems insupportable His reason being weakened by his slumber he cannot suspend his judgment the least goods or evils are almost always invincible to him The senses act in him and they always judge rashly This must be so for many reasons When reason is not so weak little pleasures are not invincible nor little evils insupportable we do not always pursue after that wherein we find
or to produce its effect contains something infinite This Combination is not like the springs and machines whose effects are always infallible and necessary Thus no spirit can discover what passes in the heart of man but God being infinitely wise it is plain that he clearly knows all the effects which may result from the mixture and combination of all things and that diving into the heart of man he insallibly discovers even the effects which depends upon the free act or rather consent of our wills Nevertheless I confess that I cannot conceive how God can discover the Consequences of those Actions which have not their infallibility from his absolute degrees But I cannot prevail with my self to engage in Metaphysicks at the expence of morality and to maintain Opinions contrary to my inward sentiment as undeniable Truths or to speak to the ear a certain Language which in my Opinion says nothing clearly to the mind I know very well that Objections may be made which I may not be able clearly and evidently to Answer but this perhaps may be because even these Objections themselves may be full of obscurity and darkness Because they are grounded upon our ignorance of the properties of the Soul because as I have * Expli of the 7. Ch. lib. 2 part 3. elsewhere proved we have not a clear Idaea of what we are and because that which is in us which suffers its self to be overcome by those determinations which are not invincible is altogether unknown to us To Conclude if I cannot clearly Answer these Objections * First Explicat I can Answer them by other which yet seem more difficult to resolve I can from the principles opposite to mine draw more hard and invidious Consequences than those which are pretended to follow from that Liberty which I suppose to be in us But I will not enter particularly upon this because I take no pleasure in walking in the dark and leading others into precipices The First Explication OF THE TREATISE OF Nature and Grace What it is to Act by General Wills and what by Particular I. I Say that God acts by General Wills when he acts in consequence of the General Laws he has established For Example I say that God acts in me by General Wills when he makes me feel pain by the prick of a pin because in consequence of the general and efficacious Laws of the Union of Soul and Body which he hath established he makes me feel grief or pain when my body is indisposed In like manner when one bowl strikes upon a second I say God moves this last by a General Will because he moves it in consequence of the general and efficacious Laws of the communication of motions God having in general appointed that whensoever two bodies strike upon one another the motion should be divided betwixt them in certain proportions and 't is by the efficacy of this General Will that bodies should move one another II. On the contrary I say that God acts by particular wills when the efficacy of his will is not determined by any general law to produce the effect Thus supposing that God makes me feel the pain of the pricking of a pin tho there happens not in my body or in any other Creature any change which determines him to act in me according to general Laws I say that then God acts by particular wills Likewise supposing that a body begins to move without being struck upon by another or without any change happening in the will of any Spirits or any other Creature which determines the efficacy of any general Laws I say then that God moves this body by a particular will III. According to these definitions it appears that I am so far from denying providence that on the contrary I suppose that it is God who acts all in all that the nature of the Pagan Philosophers is a Chimaera and that properly speaking that which is called Nature is nothing else but the general Laws which God has establish'd for the making or preserving his Work after the most simple ways by an action always uniform constant perfectly worthy of infinite wisdom and the universal cause That which I here suppose tho certain for reasons which I have elsewhere given is not absolutely necessary to prove what I intend For if it be suppos'd that God has communicated his power to Creatures and that bodies which are about us have a real and true force by which they may act upon our soul and render it happy or miserable by pleasure or grief and that bodies in motion have in themselves a certain entity which is called a Quality imprinted which they give to those they meet and give it with that readiness and uniformity which they suppose it will be equally easie for me to prove that which I design for then the efficacy of the action of the Concourse of the general cause will be necessarily determined by the action of the particular cause God for example will be oblig'd according to these principles to afford his concourse to a body at the moment wherein it strikes upon others But this body may communicate motion to them and this is certainly to act by vertue of a general Law Nevertheless I don't reason according to this supposition because I believe it altogether false as I have shewed in the Third Chapter of the Second Part of the Sixth Book of The Search after Truth in the Explication of the same Chapter and elsewhere These Truths supposed I here subjoyn the Marks by which it may be known whether an effect be produc'd by a general will or by a particular Marks by which it may be judged whether an effect is produced by a General or by a Particular Will IV. When we see an effect immediately follow the action of an occasional cause we ought to judge that this effect is produced by the efficacy of a general will A Body is immediately moved after it is struck the striking of bodies upon one another is the occasional cause therefore this body is mov'd by a general will A Stone falls upon the head of a Man and kills him and this stone falls as others do I mean that its motion is continued almost according to Arithmetical Proportion 1 3 5 7 9 c. This supposed I say that it is moved by the efficacy of a general will or according to the Laws of the communication of motion as it is easie to demonstrate V. When we see an effect produc'd and yet the occasional cause which is known to us is not concern'd therein we have reason to think that this effect is produc'd by a paticular will supposing that this effect be not visibly unworthy of its cause as I shall shew hereafter For example when a body is mov'd without being struck upon by another it is very probable that this body is moved by a particular will nevertheless we are not altogether assur'd thereof For supposing there should
distributes to his Members those Graces which by his sacrifice he hath merited for his Church For my part I cannot comprehend how any one can doubt of these Reasons nor upon what foundation a Truth so very edifying and as ancient as the Religion of J. C. can be treated as a dangerous Novelty I grant my Expressions may be new but this is because they appear'd to me very proper distinctly to explain a truth which I could only have confusedly demonstrated by too general terms The words Occasional Causes and General Laws appear to me necessary to make those Philosophers for whom I wrote the Treatise of Nature and Grace distinctly comprehend that which the generality of Men are content to know only confusedly Since new Expressions are not dangerous but when they cover something which is equivocal or may occasion some thought contrary to Religion to arise in the mind I do not think that any candid persons and who are skill'd in St. Paul's Divinity will be offended because I explain my self after a particular manner since it tends only to make us adore the Wisdom of God and to unite us strictly unto J. C. Objection I. XIII It is objected against what I have said That neither Angels nor Saints of the Old Testament received Grace in consequence of the desires of the Soul of Jesus since this Holy Soul was not as yet and thus tho J. C. be the meritorious cause of all Graces he is not the occasional which distributes them to Men. Answer In respect of Angels I answer That there is some probability that Grace was given to them once only So that if we consider things in this respect I confess that nothing oblig'd the Wisdom of God to establish an occasional cause for the sanctification of Angels But if these blessed Spirits be considered as Members of the Body whereof J. C. is Head or if it be supposed that they were unequally assisted I believe there is reason to think that the diversity of their Graces came from him who-is Head of Angels as well as Men and that in this capacity he by his sacrifice not only merited all Graces which God gave to his Creatures but also diversly applied these same Graces to them by his different desires Since it cannot be denied that J. C. along time before he was born or could merit was the meritorious cause of Graces which were given to the Angels and Saints of the Old Testament it must in my opinion be granted that by his Prayers he might have been the occasional cause of the same Graces a long time before they were ask'd For there is no necessary relation between occasional causes and the time of their producing their effects and tho ordinarily these sorts of causes do produce their effects at the very time of their action nevertheless since their action is not efficacious in its self seeing its efficacy depends upon the will of the universal cause it is not necessary that it should actually exist that they may produce their effects Suppose for example That J. C. to day asks of his Father that such an one may receive such an assistance at certain times of his life the Prayer of J. C. will infallibly determine the efficacy of the general Will of God which is to save all Men in his Son This person shall receive these assistances tho the Soul of J. C. actually thinks of quite another thing and tho it should never more think of that which it desired for him Now the Prayer of J. C. which is already pass'd is not more present to his Father than the future for whatsoever happens in all times is equally present to God Thus since God loves his Son and knows that his Son will have such desires in respect of his Ancestors and the People of his own Nation and also in respect of Angels who were to enter into the Spiritual Edifice of his Church and compose the Body of which he is the Head he seems to have been obliged to accomplish the desires of his Son before they were made to the end that the Elect who were before his birth and whom he purchased by the merit of his sacrifice should as particularly belong to him as others and he should be their Head as truly as he is ours I confess it is convenient that meritorious and occasional causes should go before their effects rather than follow them and even order its self requires that these causes and their effects do exist at the same time For 't is clear that all merit should be presently rewarded and that every occasional cause should actually produce its effect provided that nothing hinder but that this may and ought to be so But since Grace was absolutely necessary to the Angels and to the Patriarchs it could not be differ'd As for the Glory and Reward of the Saints of the Old Testament seeing it might be delay'd it was expedient that God should suspend its accomplishment till J. C. was ascended into Heaven and made an High-Priest over the House of God and began to use the soveraign power of an occasional cause of all Graces which he had merited by his Labours upon Earth Thus we believe that the Patriarchs did not enter into Heaven till J. C. himself their Head their Mediator and their Fore-runner was therein entred Nevertheless tho it should be granted that God should not have appointed an occasional cause for all Graces given to the Angels and the Patriarchs I do not see how it can be concluded that at present J. C. does not dispense to the Body of the Church that Spirit which gives it increase and nourishment that he prays not for it or that his Desires or Prayers do not infallibly obtain their effect or in a word that he is not the occasional cause which applies those Graces to to Men which he has merited for them Before J. C. God gave Grace by particular Wills This I grant if it be desired the necessity of Order requires it the occasional Cause could not regularly be so soon establish'd the Elect were but very few But at present when the rain of Grace is generally sent upon all the World when it falls not as heretofore upon a very few Men of one chosen Nation when J. C. may or ought to be establish'd the occasional cause of the goods which he has merited for his Church what reason is there to believe that God should still work Miracles as often as he gives good Sentiments For certainly all that God does by particular Wills is a Miracle since it happens not by the general Laws which he has established and whose efficacy is determin'd by occasional causes But how can we think that to save Men he should work all those Miracles which are useless to their salvation I mean that he should give all those Graces which they resist because they are not proportioned to the actual strength of their concupiscence St. John teaches us that Christians receive
of J. C. John 1.17 abundant Graces because says he the Law was given by Moses but true Grace by Jesus Christ. For in truth the Graces which were before J. C. ought not to be compared to those which he distributed after his triumph If they were miraculous it must be thought they were very rare Even the Grace of the Apostles before the Holy Spirit was given to them was not to be compared with those which they received when the Soveraign Priest of good things to come being entred by his Blood into the Holy of Holies by the strength of his Prayers obtain'd and by the dignity of his Person sent the Holy Spirit to animate and sanctifie his Church The strange Blindness of the Jews their gross and carnal Sentiments their frequent relapses into Idolatry after so many Miracles do sufficiently shew they had scarce any love for true goods and the fearfulness of the Apostles before they received the Holy Spirit is a sensible mark of their weakness Thus Grace in this time was very rare because as yet our Nature was not made in J. C. the occasional cause of our Graces as yet J. C. was not fully consecrated a Priest according to the Order of Melchisedech and his Father had not yet given him that immortal and glorious Life Heb. 5.5 10. Heb. 7.16 17. which is the particular character of his Priesthood For it was necessary that J. C. should enter into the Heavens and receive the glory and power of being the occasional cause of all goods before he sent the Spirit according to the words of St. John John 7.39 John 16.7 The Spirit was not yet given because J. C. was not yet glorified And according to these words of Christ himself It is expedient for you that I go For if I go not the Comforter will not come But if I go I will send him unto you Now it is not to be imagined that J. C. considered as God is the Head of the Church He has obtain'd this honour as Man the Head and the Members ought to be of the same nature It is as Man that J. C. interceeds for Men it is as Man that he has received of God soveraign power over his Church For since God does not interceed at all he as God has not received that Name which is above every Name he is equal to the Father and absolute Master of all things by right of his birth These Truths are evident and J. C. himself assures us of them John 5.22 to 27. since he says that his Father gave him power to judge Men because he was the Son of Man Thus we must not think that those Expressions of Scripture which teach us that J. C. is the Author of Grace ought to be understood of J. C. considered according to his Divine Person For if this was so I confess I should not have demonstrated that he is the occasional cause of it he would have been only the true cause thereof But since it is certain that the three Persons of the Trinity are equally the true causes of Grace seeing all the outward Operations of God are common to the three Persons my Arguments cannot be denied since the Holy Scripture says of the Son and not of the Father nor of the Spirit that he is the Head of the Church and that under this character he communicates Life to all the Members which compose it Object II. XIV It is God who gives to the Soul of J. C. all Thoughts and Motions which it has in the formation of his Mystical Body So that if on one hand the Wills of J. C. as natural and occasional Causes determine the efficacy of God's general Will on the other hand it is God himself who determines the divers Wills of J. C. Thus it comes to the same thing for assuredly the Wills of J. C. are always conformable to those of his Father Answer I confess that the particular wills of J. C. are always conformable to those of the Father but this is not because the Father has particular wills which answer to those of the Son and determine them This is only because the wills of the Son are always conformable to Order in general which is necessarily the rule of the divine wills and of those which love God For to love Order is is to love God it is to will what God wills it is to be Just Wise Regular in his love The Soul of J. C. would form to the Glory of his Father the most Sacred Magnificent and Perfect Temple that can be Order requires this for nothing can be made too great for God All the divers desires of this Soul ever intent upon the Execution of its design come also to it from God or the Word to which it is united But the occasional causes of all these thoughts most certainly are its divers desires for it thinks on what it will Now these divers desires are sometimes altogether free probably the thoughts which excite these desires do not always invincibly determine the Soul of J. C. to form and resolve to execute them It is equally advantagious to the design of Jesus Christ whether it be Peter or John who does that which the regularity of his work requires It is true that the soul of Jesus Christ is not indifferent as to what respects the glory of his Father or that which Order necessarily requires but it is altogether free in every thing else nothing out of God invincibly determines its love Thus it ought not to be wonder'd if it have particular wills tho there are no such wills in God which determine those of the soul of Jesus Christ But I grant that the wills of Jesus Christ are not free I grant that his knowledge determines him to will and always to will after a certain manner in the construction of his Church But it must be Eternal Wisdom to which his soul is united which determines these wills if it is not necessary for this end to suppose particular wills in God It must be observ'd that the wills of the soul of J. C. are particular or have not any occasional cause which determines their efficacy no not the will of God For the soul of J. C. not having an infinite capacity of thinking his knowledge and consequently his wills are limited Thus 't is necessary that his wills be particular since they change according to his divers thoughts and applications For it seems to me that the soul of J. C. otherwise employ'd in contemplating the beauties and tasting the infinite sweetness of the true good ought not according to the rule of Order to think at the same time upon all the Ornaments which it designs to bestow upon his Church and the different means of executing each of his intentions J. C. desiting to render the Church worthy of the infinite Majesty of his Father he desires also to adorn it with infinite beauties and that by such means as are most