Thus the Soul not knowing her own Good, either by a clear View, or by Senfation, without the Grace of Jefus Cbrift^ fhe takes the Good of the Body for her own; me loves it, and clofes to 12 F. Malebranche Concerning Book V: to it with a ftricter Adhefion by her Will, than ever fhe did by the firft inftiiution of Nature. For Corporeal Good being now the only one left that is fenfible, mull needs operate upon Man with more Violence, ftrike his Biain livelier, and confequently be felt and imagined by "the Soul in a more fenfible manner: And the Animal Spirits receiving a more vehement Agitation, the Will by conlequence mutt love it with a greater Ardency and Pleafure.
The Soul might before Sin blot out of her Brain the too lively Image of Corporeal Good, and difiipate the fenfible Pleafure this Image was attended with. The Body being fiibject to the Mind^ the Soul might on a fudden ftop the quavering Concuffion of the Fibres of the Brain, and the Com- motion of the Spirits, by the meer Confideration of her Duty: But fhe loft that Power by Sin. Thofe Traces of the Imagination, and thofe Motions of the Spirits, depend no more upon her ^ whence it neceifarily follows, that the Pleafure, which by the Inttitution of Nature is corrjoin'd * Sec Dial, to tliofe Motions and Traces, mutt ufurp the whole PolTeffion of the Heart. • * Man cannot long 5. of chri- refill that Pleafure by his own Strength •, 'tis Grace that mult obtain a perfect Victory; Reafon [nan Con- a\one can neyer doe it: None but God, as the Author of Grace, can overcome himfelf as the Au- about'tiie tnor °f ^ature, or rather exorate himfelf as the Revenger of Adam's Rebellion, end: The Stoicks, who had but a confufed Knowledge of the Diforders of Original Sin, could not anfwer the Epicures. Their Felicity was but Idea/, fince there is no Happinefs without Pleafure, and no Pleafure to be fenfibly perceiv'd by them in Vertuous Actions. They might feel indeed fome Joy in following the Rules of their. phantaftick Vertue j becaufe Joy is a natural Confe- quence of the Confcioufnefs our Soul has of being in the molt convenient State. That Spiritual Joy might bear up their Spirits for a while, but was not ftrong enough to withftand Pain, and over- come Pleafure. Secret Pride, and not Joy, made them keep their Countenance; for when no body was prefent, ail their Wifdom and Strength vanifhed, juft as Kings of. the Stage lofe all their Grandeur in a Moment.
It is not fo with thofe Chriftians that exactly follow the Rules of the Gofpel. Their Joy is folid, becaufe they certainly know, that they are in the molt convenient State: Their Joy is great, becaufe the Good they poffefs through Faith and Hope is Infinite ^ for the Hope of a great Good is always attended with a great Joy •, and that Joy is fo much livelier, as the Hope is ftronger^ becaufe a ftrong Hope reprefenting the Good as prefent, neceffarily produces Joy, as alfo that fen- fible Pleafure which ever attends the Prefence of Good. Their Joy is not reltlefs and uneafie, becaufe grounded on the Promifes of God, confirm'd by the Blood of his Son, and cherifhed by that inward Peace and unutterable Sweetnefs of Charity, which the Holy Ghoft fheds into their Hearts. Nothing can feparate them from their true Good, which they relifh and take Compla- cency in by the Delectation of Grace. The Pleafures of Corporeal Good are not fo great as thofe they feel in the Love of God. They love Contempt and Pain: They feed upon Difgraces, and the Pleafure they find in their Sufferings, or rather the Pleafure they find in God, for whom they defpife all the reft, to unite themfelves to him, is fo ravifhing and tranfporting, as to make them fpeak a new Language, and even boaft ^ as the Apoftles did of their Miferies and Abufes-, Aft <; when they departed from the prefence of the Council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to " 4 ' fHffer fhame for the Name of fESUS. Such is the Difpofition of Mind in true Chriftians', when they are molt bafely affronted for the Defence of Truth.
CHRIST being come to reftore the Order which Sin had overthrown, and that Order re- quiring that the greateft Goods be accompanied with the molt folid Pleafures •, it is plain, that things ought to be in the manner we have laid. But we may farther confirm and ftrengthen Rea- fon by Experience •, for 'tis known, that as foon as any Perfon has formed but the bare Refolution to defpife all for God, he is commonly affected with a Pleafure or internal Joy, that makes him as fenfibly and lively perceive that God is his Good, as he knew it evidently before.
The true Chriitians allure us every Day, that the Joy they feel in an unmixt loving and ferving God, is inexpreflible; and 'tis but reafonable to believe the Relation they make of what happens within them. On the contrary, the Impious are perpetually vexed with horrible Difquietudes; and thofe that are fhar'd betwixt God and the World, partake of the Joys of the Juft, and of the Vexations of the Impious: They complain of their Miferies, and 'tis reafonable to believe that their Complaints are not groundlefs. God ftrikes Men to the Quick, and through the very Heart, when they love any thing befides him; and 'tis this Stroke that caufes a real Mifery. He pours an exceeding Joy into their Minds, when all their Adherencies are to him only, and that Joy is the Spring of true Felicity. The Abundance of Riches and Elevation to Honours being without us, cannot cure us of the Wound God makes ■, and Poverty and Contempt, that are likewife without us, cannot hurt us under the Almighty's Protection.
By what we have faid, 'tis plain, That the Objects of the Paflions are not our Good, that we mult not follow their Motions, unlefs it be for the Prefervation of Life -, that fenfible Pleafure bears the like Proportion to Good, as Seniations to Truth -, and that as our Senfes deceive us in Matters of Truth, fo do likewife our PafTions in point of our Good h that we ought to yield to the Delectation of Grace, becaufe it evidently moves us to the Love of a true Good, is not fol- lowed with the fecret Reproaches of Realbn, as the blind Inftinct and confufed Pleafure of the Pailions:, but is always attended with a fecret Joy, fuitable to the good State we are in. Laft of ail, fince. God alone can operate upon the Mind of Man, he cannot find any Happinefs out of God, unlefs we would fuppofe that God rewards Difobedience, or that he commands to love *svre\ what liej} delerves to be loved. • CHAP, Chap. V. The Search after Truth. 1 3 CHAP. V.
That the Perfection of the Mind confifs in its %)nion with God, by the Know- ledge of Truth, and the Love of eVeYtne\ and contrariwise, that its Im- perje&ion proceeds only from its Dependency on the Body, caufed by the DiJ order of the Senfes and Pajpons.
THE fhorteft Reflection is fufficient to let Us know, that the Good of the M,ind muft needs be fomething of a Spiritual Nature, for our Bodies are much inferiour to our Mind $ they are unable to act upon it by their own ftrength ^ they cannot immediately unite themfelves to it 5 laftiy, they are not intelligible of themfelves, and therefore cannot be its Good: whereas Spiri- tual things being intelligible of their own Nature, can be united to the Mind, and confequently be its Good, provided they be Superiour to it. For that a thing may be the Good of the Mind, it muft not only be Spiritual as it felf -, but it muft alfo be Superiour to it, that it may aft up- on it, enlighten it^ and reward it •, fince otherwife it cannot make it perfe£ler and happier, nor by. confeqnence be its Good. Now, of all Intelligible or Spiritual things, God alone is thus Supe- riour to the Mind ^ whence it follows, That nothing but God alone, either is, or can be, our true Gool^ and that we cannot become either more happy or more perfeCt, but by enjoying, him.
Every one is perfuaded that the Knowledge of Truth, and the Love of Vertue, make the Mind more perfect; and that the Blindnefs of the Mind, and the Depravation of the Heart, leffens its natural Perfection. The Knowledge of Truth, and the Love of Vertue, cannot then be any thing elfe but the Union of the Mind to God j or, if I may fo fpeak, a FolTeflion of him: and, oil the contrary, the Blindnefs of the Mind, and the Depravation of the Heart, can be nothing elfe but a feparation of the Mind from God, and its Union with fomething Inferiour to it, viz. with the Boay •, fince that is the only Union that can make it imperfeCt and unhappy. And therefore to know the Truth, or to know things as far as they are agreeable to the Rules of Truth, is rcUy to know Gcd. And to love Vertue, or to love things as far as they are amiable, or accord- ing to the Rules of Vertue, is to love him.
The Mind is fituate, as.it were, betwixt God and Bodies, betwixt Good and Evil, between that which enlightens, and that which blinds it; that which rules, and that which mifrules it; that which can make it perfect and happy, and that which can. render it imperfeCt and miferable. When it dif covers feme Truth, or fees things as they are in their own Nature -, it fees them in the Ideas of God, that is, difcovers them by a clear and diftinCt view of what is in God reprefenting them. F01, as I have obferved elfewhere, the Mind of Man contains not in it felf the Perfections or Ideas of all the Beings it is capable of perceiving: 'tis not the univerfal Being, and therefore cannot fee in it felf fuch things as are diftinguim'd from it felf. It does not inftruCt or enlighten it felf\ fcy conluking with it felf, as being neither Perfection nor Light to it felf-, it ftands in need to be enlightned by the immenfe Light of Eternal Truth. Thus the Mind, by knowing Truth, is united to God, and in fome manner knows and poffeffes him. - We may not only fay, That a Mind perceiving the Truth, partly knows God, who compre- hends it •, we may add alfo, That in fome fort it knows things as God himfelf knows them* For the Mind knows their true Relations, and fo does God -, the Mind fees them in viewing the Perfections of God that reprefent them •, God perceives them the fame way: for God neither per- ceives by Senfe, nor Imagination; but fees in himfelf, as being the Intellectual World, the Cor- poreal and Senfible World, which he has created. 'Tis the fame with the Mind in its Knowledge of Truth: it comes not to it by Senfation or Imagination; for Senfations and Pantafms ofter but falfe Reprefentations of things to the Mind h fo that whofoever difcovers the Truth, fees it in the Intelle&ual World, to which'tis united, and in which Good fees it; for this material and fenfible World, is not intelligible of it felf: fo that the Mind fees in the Light of God as does God himfelf, all the things which it plainly fees, though it fees them very imperfectly and fo ve- ry differently from God in that refpeCt. Thus when the Mind fees Truth, it not only is united to God, poffefTes and beholds God, but alfo fees Truth in one fenfe as God himfelf fees it.
So when we love according to the Rules of Vertue, we love God; for by regulating our Love according tq thefe Rules, the Impreffion of Love towards him, which he continually produces in our Heart, is not turn'd off by free Will, nor changed into Self-Love. The Mind at that time freely follows the Impreffion which God gives: and God never giving any Impreffion which does' not tend towards him-, fince he only aCts for himfelf* it is plain, That to love according to the Rules of Vertue, is to love God.
But 'tis not only to love God; 'tis likewife to love as God loves: He loves himfelf only, and his Works but becaufe they relate to his Perfections, and proportionably to the degrees of Con- formity they have with them ^ It being the fame Love by which God loves himfelf, and what-, ever he has made or done. To love according to the Rules of Vertue, is to love God only, to love him in all things, and to love things proportionably as they partake of his Goodnefe and Perfections -, fince this is to love them according to the degree they are lovely, In fhort, 'tis to D love i,i F. Malebranche Concerning BookV.
iove by tlie Impreflion of the fame Love by which God loves himfelf-, for 'tis the Love by which God loves himfelf, and whatever elfe with relation to him, that animates us, when we love as we ought: whence I conclude, That we then love, as God loves.
. It is therefore evident, That the Knowledge of Truth, and the regular Love of Vertue, conftitute all our Perfe&ion, fince they are the coftomary Attendants on our Union with God; which alio affords us the Enjoyment of him, as far as we are capable of it, in this Life: whereas the Blindnefs of the Mind, and the Depravation of the Heart, make our Imperfection -, and are the Refults of the Union of our Soul and Body, as I have proved in feveral Places j mewing that we never know the Truth, nor love the real Good, when we follow the Imprefnons of our Series, Imaginations, and Paihons.
All this is evident •, and yet Men, who all paflionately defire the Perfection of their Being, care but little to increafe the Union which they have with God; nay, they are continually at work to ftrengthen and enlarge that which they have with fenfible things. The Cauie of that fur- prizing Diforder cannot be too much explain'd: The Poffefuon of Good mull naturally produce two Effects in the Pofleflbur •, at once muft render him more perfect, and more happy: however it does not always fall out lb. 'Tis im- pofiible indeed that the Mind mould actually enjoy a Good, without being actually more perfect; but it may happen that it actually enjoys it, without being actually happier. Thofe that know Truth belt, and love raoft the moft lovely Goods, are always actually more perfect,. than thofe that live in blind Ignorancej and difbrderly Practice; but they are not always actually happier. It is even fo with Evil; it ought at onee to make both imperfect and unhappy ^ but though it always makes Men more imperfect, yet it does not always make them more unhappy; or at leaft makes them not unhappy proportionably to its making them imperfect. Vertue is often bitter and diftaftful, whereas Vice is fweet and pleafant; fo that it is efpecially by Faith and Hope, that pious Men are truly happy; whilft the wicked have the actual Enjoyments of Pleafures and Delights. It ought not to be fo indeed, but however it is fo •, Sin has brought forth that Diforder, as I faid in the foregoing Chapter, and that Diforder is the principal Caufe, not only of the Corruption of our Morals, but alfo of the Ignorance and Darknefs of our Mind.
By that Diforder it is that our Imagination perfuades it felf, that Bodies may be the Good of the Mind: For Pleafure, as I have often faid, is the fenfible Character, or Mark, of Good. But now of all the Pleafures we enjoy upon Earth, the moft fenfible are thofe which we imagine to receive by the Body. We judge, though too inconfiderately without doubt, that Bodies can be, and are, effectually our Good. And 'tis fo hard to oppofe the Inftinct of Nature, and to withftand the Arguments of the Senfes, that the defign of it does not fo much as come into our Mind. We think not on the Diforders introduc'd by Sin. We confider not that Bodies can act . upon the Mind but as occafional Caufes: that the Mind cannot immediately, or by it felf, enjoy any Corporeal thing, and that all the ways it has of uniting to an Object are by its Knowledge and Love -, that God only is fuperiour to it, can reward or punifh it, by Senfations of Pleafure or Pain, that can enlighten and move it, in a word, act upon it. Thofe Truths, though moft evi- dent to attentive Minds, are not however fo powerful to convince us, as is the deceiving Ex- perience of a fenfible Impreffton.
When we confider fomething as part of our felves, or look on our felves as a part of that thing, we judge it our Good to be united to it j we love it, and this love is fb much the greater, as the thing, whereunto we think our felves united, feems to be a more considerable part of the whole we make up together with it. Now there are two forts of Proofs, which perfuade us that a thing is part of our felf, viz. the Inftinct of Senfation, and the Evidence of Reafon.
By the Inftinct of Senfation I am perfuaded that my Soul is united to my Body, or that my Body makes part of my Being; but I have no full Evidence of it, fince I know it not by the light of Reafon, but by the Pain or Pleafure I feel at the pretence and impreffion of Objects. My Hand is prick d, I fuffer Pain •, thence I conclude, that my Hand makes part of my felf: my Cloaths are rent, and I endure nothing •, therefore, I fay, my Cloaths are not my felf: my Hair is cut with- out Pain, but cannot be pluck'd up without fmart; that puzzles the Philofopher, and he knows not what to determine. In the mean while this perplexity fhows, that even the wifeft rather judge by the inftinct of Senfation than by the light of Reafon, that fuch or fuch things belong or belong not to themfelves. For fhould they determine them by Evidence, and the light of Reafon, they would quickly know, that the Mind and the Body are two forts of Beings, altogether oppofite; that the Mind cannot be united to the Body by it felf, and that the Soul is wounded when the Body is ftruck, only becaufe of her Union with God. "lis then only by the Inftinct of the Senfa- tion that we look on our Body, and all the fenfible things to which we are united, as part of our felves, that is, as belonging to that which thinks and feels in us: For what is not, cannot be known by evident Reafon, fince Evidence difcovers Truth alone.
But on the contrary, 'tis by the light of Reafon that we know the Relation we have with In- tellectual things. We difcover, by a clear View of the Mind, that we are united to God in a more ftrict and eflential manner than to our Body ^ that without him we are nothing, and neither can doe, nor know, neither will, nor be fenfible of any thing: that he is our All, or if we may fo f peak, that we make up a whole with him, of which we are but an infinitely fmall part. The light of Reafon difcovers us a thoufand Motives to love God only, and to difpife Bodies, as un- worthy of our Love. But we are not naturally fenfible of our Union to God, nor perfuaded that he is our All, by the Inftinct of fenfe; 'tis only the Grace of our Lord which produces in fdme Men Chap. V. The Search after Truth., |-| Men that fpiritual fenfe to help them to overcome the contrary Senfations, by which they are united to their Body. For God, as the Author of Nature, inclines Minds to the love of him by a Know- ledge of Illumination, and not of InftincT:; and in all probability, 'tis but fince the Fall that God, as the Author of Grace, has fuperadded Inftintt to Illumination; becaufe our light is at prefent lb mightily impair'd, as to be incapable of bringing us to God, being befides continually weakif d by contrary pleafure or inftinfr, and rendred ineffectual.
We therefore difcover by the light of the Mind, that we are united to God, and to the intel- lectual World which he contains ^ and are convinced by Senfation, that we are united to our Body, and by it to the material and fenfible World God has Created. But as our Sedations are more lively, moving, frequent and lafting than our Illuminations, fo 'tis not ftrange that our Senfa- tions Ihould agitate us, and quicken our love for fenfible things:, whereas our Light dilTipates and vanifhes, without producing any zeal and ardency for Truth.
'Tis true that feveral Men are perfuaded that God is their real Good, love him as their All, and earneftly defire to ftrengthen and increafe their Union With him. But few evidently know, that by meditating on the Truth we unite our felves to God, as far as natural ftrength can attain; that it is a fort of Enjoyment of him, to contemplate the true Ideas of things; and that that ab- ftra&ed view of fome general and immutable Truths, on which all the particulars depend, are flights of a Mind that fequefters it felf from the Body to unite it felf to God. Metaphyficks, ipeculative Mathematicks, and all thofe univerfai Sciences, which regulate and contain the par- ticular, as the Univerfal Being comprehends all particular Beings, feem to be Chimerical to molt Men, as well to the pious as to thofe that do not love God. So that I dare hardly make bold to fay, that the ftudy of thole Sciences is the moft pure and perfecf Application to God, that the Mind may be naturally capable of-, and that it is by the fight of the Intellectual World, which is their Object, that God has produced and frill" knows this fenfible World, from which Bodies re- ceive their Life, as Spirits live from the other.
Thofe that purely follow the Impreffions of their Senfes, and motions of their Paffions, are not capable of relifhing the Truth, becaufe it flatters them not. And even the Vertuous, who conftaht- ly oppofe their Paffions when they proffer them falfe Goods, do not always refift them when they conceal from them the Truth, and make it defpicable; becaufe one may be pious without be- ing a Man of parts. To pleafe God we need not exa£tly know, that our Senfes, Imagination, and Paffions, always reprefent things otherwife than they are; fince it appears not that our Lord and his Apoftles ever intended to undeceive us of feveral Errours upon this matter, which Def car- tes has difcover'd to us There is a great difference betwixt Faith and Underftanding, the Gofpel and Philofophy: the greateft Clowns are capable of Faith, but few can attain to the pure Knowledge of Evident Truth. Faith reprefents to vulgar Men God as the Creator of Heaven and Earth, which is a fufficientmo- tive-of Love and Duty towards him -y whereas Reafon, knowing that God was God before he was Creator, not only confiders him in his Works, butalfo endeavours to contemplate him in himfelf; or in that immenfe Idea of the infinitely" perfe£t Being, which is included in him. The Son of God, who is the Wifdom of his Father, or the Eternal Truth, made himfelf Man, and became ienfible, that he might be known by Men of Flefh and Blood, by grofs material Men -, that he might inftrucl: them by that which was the Caufe of their Blindnefs, and draw them to the love of him, and dife-ngage them from fenfible goods* by the fame things that had enflav'd them; for having to doe with Fools,, he thought fit to take upon him a fort of Polly whereby to make them wife: So-that the moft pious Men, and trueft Believers, have not always the greateft Underftanding. They may know God by Faith, and dove him by the help of his Grace, without underftanding, that he is their- All, in- the fenfe Philofophers underftand him* and without thinking, that the abftra&ed Knowledge of Truth is a fort of a Union with him. We ought not therefore to be furprized^ if fb few Perfons labour to ftrengthen their natural Union with God by the Knowledge of Truth, fince to this there is required a continual oppofirion of the Impreffions of the Senfes and Paffions,. in' a very different way from that which is ufual with the Vertuous, who are not always perfuaded* that the Senfes.and Paffions abufe them in the mariner that has been explain'd in the foregoing Books.
The Senfations and Thoughts, in which the Body has a fhare, are the fole and immediate Caufe of the Paffions,. as proceeding from the Coneuffion of the Fibres of the Brain, railing fome parti- cular Commotion in the Animal Spirits-: And therefore Senfations are the only fenfible proofs of our- dependence on fome things*; which they excite us to love: but we feel not our Natural Uni- on with God, when we know the Truth, and do not fo much as think upon him, becaufe he is, and operates in us fo privately and infenfibly, as to be imperceptible to our felves: And this is the Reafon that our natural Union with God raifes not our Love for him. But it goes quite otherwife with our Union to fenfible things. All our Senfations prove it, and Bodies appear be- fore our Eyes* when they a£t in us. Their Action is vifible and manifeft. Our Body is even more prefent to us than our Mind, and we confider the former as the beft part of our Selves. So that our Union to -our Body, and by it to fenfible Objects, excites in us a violent Love, which increafesthat Union,, and makes us depend on things that are infinitely below us.
CHAP, i6 F. Malebranche Concerning BookV.
CHAP. VI.
Of the more general Errours of the Pajponsy with fome '-particular Infances.
TI S the part of Moral Philofophy to difcover the particular Errours concerning Good, in which our Paflions engage us, to oppofe irregular affections, to reftore the Integrity of \he Heart, and to rule the Courfe of our Life. But here we chiefly aim at giving Rules to the Mind, and finding out the Caufesof our Errours, in reference to Truth-, fo that wef hall not proceed far- ther in thofe Matters that relate to the Love of true Good. We are tending to the Inftruction of v the Mind, and only take the Heart in the way, in as much as the Heart is its Mafter. We fearch into Truth it felf, without a fpecial Refpeft to our felves-, and we confider its Relation with us only becaufe that Relation is the Spring of Self-love's diiguifing and concealing it from us: for we judge of all things by our Paflions, whence it is that we miftake in all things, the Judgments of Paflions never agreeing with the Judgments of Truth.
* Amor ficut nee Odium, ventatis Judi- JTJS whf $U*| V" ^^ Words, of cum nefcit. Vts Judicium Ventatis audire? J Be™<"~d * Either Love nor Hatred know bozo Joan.^0. Sicut audio, fie judico: non ficut odi, non *° maket a >**"» f'ft? t0?™f WtU yo* ficut amo, non ficut timeo. Eli Judicium h/arf true Judgment i As I hear,1 judge, fays our Joan.19.7.M utUlud, Nos Legem Habemus, & \ord-, be Jays not as I bate, as 1 love or as If ear.
fecundum legem noftram debet mori. Eft?en M hfe « >&*'*' of Hatred: We have a Joan. ii. & Timor n, ut illud\ Si dimittimus eum J?w» $ the l™** and %**** \™ h<: ™&t to cum & gentem. Judicium verUmoris, ut lo"e' fi the ^rfees, the Romans mail come, 2Sam.i8. David de filio parncida, Parcite, inauit, pu- and Seaway oui.Place:and.Nation. Hereanotber 5 ero Abfalom. & Bern, degrad. bumilitatis. f^J't °fD^ 4^ °fhs Fmade 6 oon, Spare the young Man Abfalom.
Our Love, Hatred, and Fear caufe us to make falfe Judgments only. Nothing but the pure Light of Truth can illuminate our Mind; nothing but the diftinct Voice of our common Mafter can caufe us to make true Judgments, provided we only judge of what he fays, and as he fays, in Imitation only of our Lord, as I bear I judge: But let's fee how it is that our Paflions feduce us, that we may the eafier refill them.
The Paflions are fo nearly related to the Senfes, that, remembring what hath been faid in the fir ft Book, it will not be difficult to explain, how they lead us into ErroUr; becaufe the general Caufes of the Errours of the Paflions are altogether like to thofe of the Errours of the Senfes.