That the Motion of this Man's Will may acquire fome new determination, it is not abfolute- ly neceffary that he fhould receive, or imagine he receives any Affront; for 'tis fufficient that his Mind only fhould think on it, without his Body's being concern'd in it. However as this- new determination would not be the determination of a Paflion, but only a moft weak and languifhing Inclination: 'Tis better to fuppofe that fome- great -oppofition is actually made to this Man's Defigns, or that he ftrongly fancies that it will be fo •, than to make another Suppofition, where- in the Senfes and Imagination are little or not at all concern'd.
The fecond thing to be confider'd in this Man's Paflion, is an increafe of the Motion of his Will towards that'Good, of which his real or pretended Enemy endeavours to deprive him: the ftronger the oppofition is, or appears, the more considerable will be the increafe. He at firft hates his Adverfary, only becaufe he loves that Good, and his Hatred againft him grows in pro- portion to his Love for it; becaufe the Motion of the Will in the Paflion of Hatred is at bottom nothing elfe but a Motion of Love; that Motion of the Soul towards Good not differing from, that by which fhe avoids its Privation, as has been already obferv'd.
The third thing is a Senfation fuitable to that Paflion; in our Inftance 'tis a Senfation of Ha- tred. But though the Motion of Hatred be the fame with that of Love, yet the Senfation of Hatred is altogether different from that of Love, as any one may experience in himfelf. Motions are ACtions of the Will, but Senfations are Modifications of the Mind. The Motions of the Will are natural Caufes of the Senfations of the Mind ^ and thefe Senfations of the Mind reciprocally encourage and keep up the Motions of the Will in their Determination. The Senfation of Hatred is in the Man before us, the natural refult of the Motion of his Will, excited upon the view of Evil, and this Motion is afterwards maintained by the Senfation it hath produced.
What we have juft now faid of this Man might happen to him, though he had not a Body. But becaufe he's made up of two Subftances naturally united, the Motions of his Soul are com- municated to his Body, and thofe of his Body to his Soul$ fo that the new Determination, or. the increafe of the Motion of his Will, naturally caufes a new Determination in the Motion of the Animal Spirits, which is always different in all the Paflions, though the Motion of the Soul \>q ftill almoft the fame. '...The The 9 F. M alee ran che Concerning BookV.
The Spirits therefore are violently driven into the Arms, Legs and Face, to difpofe the Body in a manner adapted to the Paflion-, and to fhed over the Face the Look of" an injured Perfon, with reference to all the Circumftanees of the Injury received, and to the Quality and Capacity both of the Agent and Patient. That Expanfion of the Spirits is fo much the more ftrong, abundant and quick, as the Good is greater, the Oppofition more vehement, and the Brain livelyer affected.
And therefore if the Perfon whereof we fpeak only imagine himfelf injur'd, or if he receive a real but flight injury, that makes no confiderable concuflion in the Brain, the Expanfion of the Animal Spirits will prove weak and languiftiing, and perhaps inefficient to alter the natural and ordinary Difpofition of the Body. But if the Outrage be exceeding great, or the Imagination en- iiam'd, the Brain will be extraordinarily fliaken, and the Spirits ib violently difpers'd, that in a moment they will imprint on the Face and Body the Symptoms of the ruling Paflion. If he be llrong enough to obtain the Viftory, his Countenance will be fierce and threatning. If weak and unable to withftand the overwhelming Evil, he will appear humble and fubmiflive. His Moans and Tears naturally exciting in the Spectators, and even in his Enemy Motions of Pity, he will draw from thence thofe fuccours which he could not expect from his own ftrength. True it is, that if the Spirits and Fibres of the Brain, in the Spectators and Adverfary of that unhappy Wretch' be already agitated with a violent Motion, contrary to that which breeds Compaflion in the Soul, the bemoanings of the Diftrefs'd will but increafe their Fury; and fo would his undoing be inevitable, fhould Jie always keep the fame Countenance and Afpe£t. But Nature has provided for it, for at the light of the imminent lofs of a great good, there are naturally produced on the Face fuch Arrange and furprizing Characters of Rage and Deipair, as to difarm the moft Barbarous Ene- mies, and to make them as it were unmovable. That ffightfull and unexpected fight of the Li- neaments of Death, drawn by the Hand of Nature upon the Face of an unfortunate Perfon, flops in the very Enemy, ftricken therewith, the Motions of the Spirits and Blood, that carried him to Revenge; and in that favourable moment of Audience, Nature printing again an humble fubmif- five air upon the Face of the poor Wretch, that begins to entertain fome hopes, becaufe of the unmovablenefs, and alteration of the Countenance, of his Enemy, the Animal Spirits of that E- nemy receive a new determination, of which they were not capable a moment before •, and this Machinal Motion of Compaflion which he yields to, inclines the Soul to yield to the Pleas of Charity and Mercy.
Becaufe a Man taken up with a Paflion cannot, without a great plenty of Spirits, produce or preferve in his Brain an Image of his Mifery lively enough, nor a Concuflion fufficiently ftrong, to give his Body an extraordinary and conftraind Difpofition: the correlponding Nerves within- the Body receive upon his fight of the Evil, the Concuflions and Agitations that are neceffary to infufe, into all the Veflels that communicate with the Heart, fit Humours, to the producing fuch Spirits as the Paflion requires. For the Animal Spirits fpreading through the Nerves that go to the Liver, Spleen, Pancreas, and all the other Vifcera, agitate and (hake them, and by their Agi- tation force out fuch Humours as thofe parts keep in referve, for the Wants and Exigencies of the Machine.
But if thofe Humours always flowed in the fame manner into the Heart; if they received an equal Fermentation in different times, and the Spirits, that are made of them, regularly afcend-' ed into the Brain, we fhould not fee fuch hafty Changes in the Motions of the Paflions. For inftance, the fight of a Magiftrate would not flop, of a fudden, the extravagant Tranfports of an enraged Perfon, perfuing his Revenge; and his Face, all fiery with Blood and Spirits, would not in an inftant turn pale and wan for fear of Punifhment.
So, to hinder thofe Humours that are mixed with the Blood from entering the Heart conftant- ly in the lame manner, there are Nerves that furround all the Avenues thereof which being com- prefied or dilated by the Impreflion, that the fight of the Object, and the ftrength of the Imagk nation produce in the Spirits, fhut up or open the way to thofe Humours. And left the faid Hu- mours Ihould undergo the fame Agitation and Fermentation in the Heart in divers times; there are other Nerves that caufe the Beatings of it, which being not equally agitated in the different Motions of the Spirits, drive not the Blood with the Tame force into the Arteries. Other Nerves ipread through the Lungs, diflribute the Air to the Heart, by conftringing or relaxing feverai Branches of the Trachea ufed in Refpiration, and order the Fermentation of the Blood proportio- nably to the Circumftanees of the predominant Paflion.
Laft of all, to regulate with the greateft Accuracy and Readinefs the Courfe of the Spirits, there are Nerves f unrounding the Arteries, as well thofe that end in the Brain, as thofe that car- ry the Blood into the other parts of the Body; fo that the Concuflion of the Brain, which accom- panies the unexpected Sight of fome Circumfcnce, for which 'tis convenient that the Motions of the Paflion fhould be alter d, fuddenly determines the Courfe of the Spirits to the Nerves thus furrounding the Arteries; that by their Contraction they may fhut up the Paflage to the Blood that afcends into the Brain, and by their Dilatation lay it open to that which runs into all the other Pans of the Body.
When thofe Arteries that carry the Blood to the Brain are free and open; and on the contrary, thofe that difperfe it through the reft of the Body are ftrongly bound up by thefe Nerves, the. Head mull all be full of Blood, and the Face appear all fiery; but fome Circumftance altering the Commotion of the Brain, that cauled that Difpofition in the Nerves, the Arteries that were flrait bound are loofened, and on the contrary, the Arteries of the Brain ftrongly contracted. Then is the Head emptied of Bloud, the Face covered with Palenefs, and the imall quantity of Blood, which which Chap. III. the Search after Truth.
. -which i-flues from the Heart, and which the Nerves before mentioned admit into it, as the Fewel to keep in Life, defcends ffiofl or all into the lower parts of the Body * the Brain- wants Aaimal Spirits, and all the reft of the Body is feized with Weaknefs and Trembling.
To explain and prove the Particulars of what we have mentioned, it would be neceffary to giv» a general Knowledge of fbyficks. and a particular of the Humane Body •, but thole two Scieaqe,s are ltill too imperfect to be treated of with as much Accuracy as I could Willi: beiides ih i jhould I proceed farther in this Matter,, it would carry me too far from my Subject •, and there- fore I only defign here to give a grofs and general Idea of the Pallions, and am fatisfied, provided that this Idea be not falfe.
Thofe Concuffions of the Brain, and Motions of the Blood and Spirits, are the fourth thing to be found in every Paffion, and produce the fifth, namely the fenfible Commotions of the Soul.
At the very Inftant that the Animal Sprits are driven from the Brain into the reil of the Body, to produce fuch Motions as' are fit to keep up the Paffion 5 the Soul is carried towards the good perceived: and this more or lefs ftrongly, according as the Spirits come down from the Brain ■with more or lefs vehemence; for 'tis that Concuffioii of the Brain which agitates the Soul and the Animal Spirits.
The Motion of the Soul towards Good is fo much ftronger, as the View of Good is more fenfible and apparent -, and the Motion of the Spirits that proceed ftom the Brain, and flow into the other parts of the Body, is the more violent, as the Vibration of the Fibres of the Brain, caufed by the ImprelVion of the Object, or of the Imagination, is more forcible; becaufe that Concuffion of the Brain occafioning a more fenfible and lively View of Good, necelTarily makes the Commotion of the Soul in the Paffions to increafe proportionably to the Motion of the Spirits.
Thofe Commotions of the Soul are not different from thofe that immediately follow the In- tellectual View of Good, which we have mentioned before: only they are ftronger and livelyer, becaufe of the Union of the Soul and Body, and the fenfiblenefs of the View that produces them: The fixth thing to be met with is the Senfation of the Paffion 5 the Senfation of Love, Hatred, Defire, Joy or Sorrow. This Senfation is not at all different from that which has been fpoken of; omy 'tis livelyer, becaufe the Body has a greater mare in it: but 'tis always attended with confu- ied Senfation of Satisfaction, that makes all the Paffions grateful; which is the laft thing to be found in each of them, as has been already hinted.
The Caufe of this laft Senfation is fuch-, At the fight of the Object of a Paffion, or of any new Circumftance, part of the Animal Spirits are driven from the Head to the outward Parts of the Body, to put it in the Difpoiition that the Paffion requires; together with which fom'e other Spirits make a violent defcent into the Heart, Lungs, and other Vifcera, to draw from thence the necefTary Supplies, as has been already fufKclently explained. Now the Body is never in a convenient State, but the Soul relifhes it with great Satisfaction -y whereas it is never in a State contrary to its Good and Prefervation, but that fhe endures it with pain. And therefore when we follow the Motions of our Paffions, and ftop not the Courfe of the Spirits, which the View of the Object of the Paffion produces in the Body, to put in it the moft convenient State with rela- tion to that Object, the Soul by Nature's Law is affected with a Senfation of Satisfaction and De- light, becaufe her Body is in the Difpoiition it requires: whereas when, according to the Laws of Keafon, the Soul ftops the Current of the Spirits, and withftands thofe Paffions, fhe fufTers a Pain proportionable to the Evil that may from thence ariie to the Body.
For as the Reflection that the Soul makes upon her felf is necelTarily accompanied with the Joy or Sorrow of the Mind, and afterwards with the Joy or Sorrow of the Senfes; when doing her Duty, and fubmitting to the Orders of God, fhe is confeious that fhe is in a due and convenient itate; or when having given her felf up to her Paffions, fhe is afterwards affected with Remorfe, which teaches her that fhe is in a corrupt Difpoiition: So the Courfe of the Spirits raifed for the good of the Body, is firft attended with fenfible, and afterwards with Spiritual Joy or Sorrow, according as the Courfe of the Animal Spirits is retarded or promoted by the Will.
There is however this notable difference betwixt the Intellectual Joy that attends the clear Knowledge of the good Eftate of the Soul, and the fenfible Pleafure that accompanies the confu- fed Senfation of the good difpoiition of the Body; that the intellectual Joy is folid and fubftan- tial, without Remorfe, and as immutable as its Original Caufe, the Truth; whereas fenfible Joy/ is almoft ever followed with the Sorrow of the Mind, or the Remorfe of the Confidence, and is as reftlefs and fickle, as the Paffion or Agitation of the Blood from whence it proceeds. To con" elude, the firft is for the moft part attended with an exceeding Joy of the Senfes when it is derived from the Knowledge of the great good that the Soul polTefTes •, whereas the other is veiy rarely ac- companied with any great Joy of the Mind, though it proceeds from a Good^ confiderable for the Body, but contrary to the Good or Perfection of the Soul 'Tis neverthelefs true, That without the Grace of our Lord, the fatisfaction the Soul relifhes when fhe gives her felf up to her Paffions is more grateful, than that which fhe enjoys when fhe follows the Rules of Reafon; which fatisfaction is the Source of all the Diforders that have at- tended the Original Sin, and would have made us all Slaves to our Paffions, had not the Son of God rid us from their Tyranny, by the Delectation of his Grace. For what I have faid on behalf of the joy of the Mind in oppofition to the Joy of the Senfes, is only true amongft the Chriftians, and was altogether falfe in the Mouths of Seneca, Epicurus, and all the moft rational of the Hea- then Pbilofopbers, becaufe the To/ce of Cbriji is only fioeet to thofe that belong to him, and his Burthen only light, when his Grace helps us to fupport the Weight of it.
C CHAP.
io F. Male br an Che Concerning Book V» CHAP. IV.
that the Pleafure and Motion of the Paffions engage us in Erronrs, and falfe Judgments about Good; That we ought continually to refifl them. Horr to impugn Libertinifm; AL L thofe general Qualities and Effects of the Paffions, that we have hitherto treated of, are not free, they are in us without our Leave, and nothing buc the Confent of our Will is wholly in our Power. The View or Apprehenfion of Good is naturally followed with a Motion of Love, a Senfation of Love, a Concuffion of the Brain, a Motion of the Spirits, a new Com- motion of the Soul that encreafes the flrft Motion of Love, a new Senfation of the Soul, that likewife augments the firft Senfation of Love; and laftly, a Senfation of Satisfaction which re- compenfes the Soul for the Bodies being in a convenient State. All this happens to the Soul and Body naturally and mechanally; that is, without her having any part in it, nothing but her Con- fent being her own real Work. This Confent we mull regulate, preferve, and keep free, in fpite of all the Struggle and Attempts of the PafTions. We ought to fubmit our Liberty to none but God, and to yield to nothing but to the Voice of the Author of Nature, to inward Evidence, and Conviction, and to the fecret Reproaches of our Reafon. We ought never to confent, but when we plainly fee, we mould make an ill life of our Liberty, in withholding our Confent. This is the principal Rule to be obferv'd for the avoiding of Errour.
God only makes us evidently perceive, That we ought to yield to what he requires of us; to him alone therefore we ought to devote our Service?. Theje is no Evidence in the Allurements and CareiTes, in the Threats and Frightnings caufed in us of the Paffions -, they are only confu- ted and obfeure Senfations, to which we muft never yield up our felves. We muft wait till all thofe falfe Glimpfes of the Paffions vanifli, till a purer Light illuminates us, till God fpeaks in- wardly to us. We muft enter within our felves, and there feek him that never leaves us, that always enlightens us. He fpeaks low, but his Voice is diftinct; his Light is weak, but pure. But no, his Voice is as ftrong as 'tis diftinct, and his Light is as bright and active as 'tis pure. But our Paffions continually keep us from home, and by their Noife and Darknefs, hinder us from being inftructed by his Voice, and illuminated by his Light. He fpeaks even to thofe that ask him no Queftions-, and thofe, whom Paffions have carried fartheft from him, fail not yet many times Heb. iv. to hear fome of his Words, but loud, threatning, aftonifhing Words, Sharper than a two-edged 12, 13. Sword, piercing into the inmoft Recefles of the Soul, and difcerning the Thoughts and Defigns of the Heart. For all things are open to his Eyes, and he cannot fee the unruly Actions of Sinners, without ladling them inwardly with fmarting Reproofs. We muft then re-enter into our felves^ and approach near him •, we muft interrogate him, liften to him, and obey him; for by always liftning to him, we fhall never be deceived:, and always obeying him, we mail never be fubject- ed to the Inconftancy of the Paffions, and the Miferies due to Sin.
We muft not, like fome pretenders to Wit, whom the Violence of Paffion has reduced to the Condition of Beafts •, who, having a long time defpifed the Law of God, feem at laft to have retained no Knowledge of any other than that of their infamous Paffions: We muft not, I fay, imagine, as do thofe Men of Flefh and Blood, that it is following God, and obeying the Voice of the Author of Nature, to give up our felves to the Motions of Paffions, and to comply with the fecret Defires of our Heart: This is the utmoft poffible Blindnefs; 'tis, according to St. Paul, the temporal Punifhment of Impiety and Idolatry, that is to fay, the Defert of the moft enormous Crimes. And herein indeed the greatnefs of this terrible Punifhment confifts, that inftead of allaying the Anger of God, as do all the. others in this World, it continually exafperates and encreafes it, till that dreadful Day comes, wherein his juft Wrath fhall break out to the Con- fufion of Sinners.
Their Arguings however feem likely enough, as being agreeable to common Senfe, countenane'd by the Paffions, and fuch, I am fure, as all the Philofophy of Zeno could never overthrow. We muft love Good, fay they; Pleafure is the Sign which Nature has affix'd to it to make it known, and that Sign can never be fallacious, fince God has inftituted it to diftinguifh Good from Evil. We mult avoid Evil, fay they again •, Pain is the Character which Nature has annex'd to it, and ■a Token in which we cannot be miftaken; fince it was inftituted by God for the diftinguifhing ic from Good. We feel Pleafure in complying with our Paffions, Trouble and Pain in oppofing them^ and therefore the Author of Nature will have us to give up. our felves to our Paffions, and never to refift them, fince the Pleafure and Pain wherewith he affects us in thofe Cafes, are the infallible Criterion of his Will. And confequently, it is to follow God, to comply with the De- fire of our Hearts; and 'tis to obey his Voice, to yield to the Inftinct of Nature, which moves us to the fatisfying our Strifes and our Paffions. This is their way of Reafoning, whereby they confirm them felves in their infamous Opinions: And thus they think to fhun the fecret Reproofs of their Reafon -? and in Pun'rihment of their Crime God fuffers them to be dazzled by thofe falfe (ilimpfes-, delulive Glarings, which blind them inftead of inlightning them, and ftrike them with fuch an infenfible Blindneis, as they do not 16 muck as wifh to be cured of it, Qod delivers them Chap. IV. The Search after Truth. t i them to a reprobate Senfe, he gives them up to the Defiles of their corrupt Heart; to fhamefiil Poffibhs, to Actions unworthy or' Men, as the "Holy Scripture fpeaks, that having fatned them* felvej-by their Debauches, they may to all Eternity be the fit Sacrifice of his Vengeance.
Bat let us lblve this Difficulty which they offer. The Sect of Zeno^ not knowing how to un* tie the Knot, has cut it, by denying that Pleafure is a Good, and Pain an Evil: But that's too venturous a Stroke, and a Subterfuge unbecoming Philofophers, and very unlikely, I am lure, to convert thofe who are convine'd by Experience, That a great Pain is a great Evil. Since there- fore Zeno^ and all his Heathen Fhilofophy, cannot lblve the Difficulty of the Epicures^ we mult have recourfe to a more folid and inlightned Philofophy.
3Tis true, that Pleafure is Good, and Pain Evil ^ and that Pleafure and Pain have been join'd by the Author of Nature to the life of certain Things, by which we judge whether they are'Good or Evil, which make us perfue the Good and Hy from the Evil, and almoft ever follow the Mo- tions of the Paffions. All this is true, but relates only to the Body, which to preferve,and keep long a Life much like to that of Beafts, we muft fuffer our felves to be ruled by our Paffions and Delires. The Senfes and Paffions are only given us for the good of the Body j fenfible Pleafure is the indelible Character which Nature has affix'd to the Life of certain Things, that without putting our Reafon to the trouble of examining them, we might prefently imploy them for the preieivation of the Body ^ but not with intent that we fhould love them: For we ought only to love thole Things which Reafon undoubtedly manifefts to be our Good.
We are Reafonable Beings-, and God, who is our Sovereign Good, requires not of us a blind, an iniiinctive, a compell'd Love, as I may fay, but a Love of Choice, an enlightned Love, a Love that fubmits to him our whole Intellectual and Moral Powers. He inclines us to the Love of him, in (hewing us by the Light that attends the Delectation of his Grace, that he is our Chief Good -, but he moves us towards the Good of the Body only by Inftinct and a confufed Senfation of Pleafure, becaufe the Good of the Body is undeferving of either the Attention of our Mind, or the Exercife of our Reafon.
Moreover, our Body is not our felves; 'tis fomething that belongs to us, and, abfolutely fpeaking, we cannot fubfift without it: The Good of the Body therefore is not properly our Good •, lor Bodies can be but the Good of Bodies. We may make ufe of them for the Body, but we muft not be taken up with them. Our Soul has alfo her own Good, viz. the only Good that is fuperiour to her, the only one that preferves her, that alone produces in her Senfations of Plealute and Pain: For indeed none of the Objects of the Senfes can of themfelves give us any Senfation of them ^ it is only God who allures- us of their Prefence, by the Senfation he gives us or them; which is a Truth that was never underftood by the Heathen Philofophers.
We may and muft love that which is able to make us fenfible of Pleafure, I grant it: But by that very Reafon we ought only to love God, becaufe he only can act upon our Soul ^ and the utmoft thai lenfiob Objects can do, is to move the Organs of our Senfes. But what matters it, you'll fay, iiom whence thofe grateful Senfations come? I will tafte 'em. O thou ungrateful Wretch! know the Hand that fhowres down Good upon thee. You require of a juft God unjuit Rewards: You delire he fliould recompence you for the Crimes you commit againft him, and even at the very time of committing them •, you make ufe of his. immutable Will, which is the Order and Law of Nature, to wreft from him undeferved Favours j for with a guilty Managery you produce in your Body fuch Motions as oblige him to make you reiifh. all forts of Pleafures. But Death fhall dhTolve that Body -y and God, whom you have made fubfer- vient to your unjuft Defires, will make you fubfervient to his juft Anger, and mock at you in his. turn.
'Tis very hard, I confefs, that the Enjoyment of Corporeal Good mould be attended with Pleafure, and that the PolTeffion of the Good of the Soul fhould often be conjoin'd with Pain and Anguilh. We may indeed believe it to be a great Diforder, by this Reafon, that Pleafure being the Character of Good, and Pain of Evil, we ought to polTefs a Satisfaction infinitely great- er in loving God, than in making ufe of fenfible Things-, fince He is the true, or rather the only Good of the- Mind. So doubtlefs will it be one Day, and fb was it moft probably before Sin entred into the World: Atleaft, 'tis very certain, that before the Fall Man fuffered no Pain in difcharging his Duty* But God is withdrawn from us fince the Fall of Adam ^ he is no more our Good by Nature^ but only by Grace j we feel now no Delight and Satisfaction in the Love of him, and he rather thrufts us. from, than draws us to him. If we follow him, he gives us a Rebuff^ if we run afc ter him, he ftrikes us ^ and if we beobftinate in our Perfuit, he continues to handle us more ie- verely, by inflicting very lively and fenfible Pains upon us. And when, being weary of walking through the rough and ftony Ways of Vertue, without being fupported by the Repaft of Good, or itrengthned by any Nourifhment, we come to feed upon fenfible Things, he faftens us to them by the reiifh of Pleafure, as though he would reward us for turning back from him, to run after counterfeit Goods. In fnort, fince Men have finn'd, it feems, God is not pleas'd that they fhould love him, think upon him, or efteem him their only and fovereign Good. It is only by the de- tectable Grace of Cbriji our Mediator, that we fenfibly perceive that God is our proper Good. For Pleafure being the fenfible Mark of Good, we then perceive God to be our Good, when the Grace of our Redeemer makes us love him wfth Pleafure.