Such is the ftrange variety of Opinions, though I have not produe'd thofe of the Ancient Philofo- phers, or that were born in very remote Gountries. But we have fufficient Reafon to conclude, that they are no more agreed upon the fubjed of fecond Caufes, than thofe before alledg'd. Avicenna, for inftance, is of Opinion that Corporeal Subftances cannot produce any thing but Acci- Biivio lib. dents: This, according to Ruvio, is his Hypothecs. He fnppofes that God produces immediately 2. Ph. a moji perfed Spiritual Subftance: That thvs produces another lefs perfetl, and thus a third, and fo on Traa. 4- to the loft, which produces all Corporeal Subftances; and Corporeal Subftances, Accidents: But ' Avi- ^u-2- cembrom not able to comprehend how Corporeal Subftances; which cannot penetrate. each other, See suarex fhould caufe alterations in them, fuppofes that there are Spirits which are capable of ading on Bo'-' Difp. 18. rfjffL becaufe they alone can penetrate them. For thefe Gentlemen not admitting the Vacuum, not Sect. 1. tjle _jtoms 0f Democritus, nor having fufficient knowledge of the fubtil matter of M. des Cartes, could not with the Gajfendi ft s and.Carteftans, think of Bodies which were little enough to infinuate into the pores of thofe that are hardeft, and molt folid.
Methinks this diverfity of Opinions juftifies this thought of ours, that Men often talk of things which they underftand not; and that the Power of Creatures, being a Ficlion of Mind, of which we have naturally no Idea, every Man makes it, and imagines it what he pleafes.
'Tis true, this Power has been acknowledg'd for a Real and True, by moft Men in all Ages; but it has never yet been prov'd, I fay not demonftratively, but in any wife fo, as to make an impreflion upon an Attentive, thinking Man. For the confus'd Proofs which are built only upon the fallaL cious Teftimony of the Senfes, and Paffions, are to be rejeded by thofe who know how to exercife their Reafon. Ch. 1. of Ariftotle, fpeaking of what they call Nature, fays it is Ridiculous to go about to prove that Na- the fecond tural Bodies have an inward Principle of Motion and Reft -, becaufe fays lie, it is a thing that's Self- Book of Evident. He likewife does not doubt but a Bowl which ftrikes another, has the force of putting ficks lt mMotion- This is witneffed by his Eyes, and that's enough for him, who feldom follows any other Teftimony than of the Senfes, (very rarely that of his Reafon) and is very indifferent whe- ther it be intelligible or not.
Thofe who impugn the Opinion of fome Divines, who have written againft Second Caufes, fay, ltke^ri/iwJe,that the Senfes convince us of their Efficacy: And this is their firft and principal Proof. 'Tis evident, fay they, that the Fire burns, that the Sun fhines, that Water cools, and he muft be See Fonfe- out of his Senfes who can doubt of it. The Authors of the other Opinion, fays the great Averroes, fa, suttrex, are out of their Wits. We muft, fay almoft all the Peripateticks, ufe fenfible Proofs for their Con- and o- vidion, who deny this Efficacy, and fo oblige them to confefs we are capable of ading on them, and foredted. wounding them. 'Tis a judgment which * Ariftotle has already pronoune'd againft them, and it * Book 1*. ought to be put in Execution.
of his To- But this pretended Demonftration cannot but create Pity: For it gives us to know the Weaknefs picks.C.i. of an Humane Mind: And that the Thilofophers themfelves are infinitely more fenfible than Rea- fonable. It evinces that thofe who glory in being the Inquirers of Truth, know not even whom they are to confult to hear anyNews of it: Whether Soveraign Reafon, which never deceives, but always fpeaks things as they are in themfelves, or the Body which fpeaks only out of Intereft, and with reference to the prefervation and convenience of Life. For in fine what prejudices will not be jufti- fied if we fet up our Senfes for Judges, to which moft of them owe their Birth? As I have mown in The Search after Truth.
When I fee a Bowl fhock another, my Eyes tell me, or feemtotell me, that it is the True Caufe ofthc motion it impreffes; for the true caufe that moves Bodies, is not vifible to my Eyes. But if I interrogate my Reafon, I evidently fee, that Bodies having no Power to move themfelves, and their moving force being nothing but the Will of God, which preferves them fucceflively in different places, they cannot communicate a Power which they have not, nor could communicate, if they had it. For 'tis plain that there muft be Wifdom, and that Infinite, to regulate the communica- tion The Search after Truth. \ t; j Hon of motions, with that exa&nefs, Proportion, and Uniformity which we tee. A Body can- not know that infinite multitude of impuls'd Bodies round about it; and though we mould fuppofe. it to have knowledge, yet it would not have enough fo proportionably to regulate and diftribute, at the inftant of protrufion, the moving force it felf is carried with.
When I open my Eyes, the Sun appears to me fplendidly glorious in Light: And it feems not only to be vtfible it felf, but to make all the World fo too. Methinks 'tis he that arrays the Earth with flowers, and enriches it with Fruits. That gives Life to Animals and ftriking by His Heat into the very Womb of the Earth, impregnates Her with Stones Marbles and Metalls. But in con- fulting my Reafon I fee nothing of all this: And if I faithfully confuk it, I plainly difcover the feducement of my Senfes, and find that God W orks all in all. For knowing that all the changes which accrue to Bodies, have no other principle than the different Communications of Motions which occur in viftble and invifible Bodies: 1 fee that God does all; fince 'tis his Will that caufes] and his Wiftiom that regulates all thefe Communications.
_ I fuppofe that Local Motion is the principle of Generations, Corruptions, Alterations, and U- niverfally of all the changes incident to the Corporeal World:, which is an Opinion fufficiently now receiv'd among Men of Letters. But let their Opinion about it be what it will, that matters not much; fince it feems much eafier to conceive, that a Body drives another when it Itrikes it, than to comprehend how Fire can produce Heat and Light, and educe from the power of matter a fubftance that was not in it before. And if it be neceffary to acknowledge that God is the True Caufe of the different Communications of Motion, by a much ftronger leafon wefhould conclude, that none but He can Create, and Annihilate real Qualities, and fubftantial Forms. I fay Create and Annihi- late: For it feems to me at lead as difficult to educe from matter a fubftance that was not in it, or to reauce it into it again, whilft yet there nothing remains of it, as to create it, or Annihilate it. But I flick not to the Terms: And I make ufe of thofe, becaufe there are no other that I know of, which exprefs without Obfcurity and Ambiguity, the changes fuppos'd by the Philofophers to ar- rive every moment by the force of fecond Caufes.
■ I had fome fcruple to fet down here, the other Arguments which are commonly urg'd, for the Force and Efficacy of natural Caufes; #For they appear fo weak and trifling to thofe who withftand Prejudices, and prefer their Reafon before their Senfes, that I can fcarce believe, methinks, that Reafonable Men could be perfwaded by them. However I produce, and anfwer them, fince there are many Philofophers who urge them.
ARGUMENT I.
If fecond Caufes did not Operate, fay * Suarez., -\- Fonfeca, and fome others, Animate things * In M* could not be diftinguifh'd from Inanimate, fince neither one, nor the other, would have an inward ^eftapho principle of their Adions, SeaP.'i.
Affert. i.
ANSWER. }*»»% I anfwer, that Men would have the fame fenfible proofs that have convinc'd them of the diflin&i- 2. on they make between things Animate and Inanimate. They would ftill fee Animals do the fame A&ions, as eat, grow, cry, run, bound, &c. and would difcern nothing like this in Stones: And See Book this one thing makes the vulgar Philofophers believe, that Beafts live, and that Stones do not. For 4-Ch. n. we are not to fancy that they know by a clear and diftindt. view of Mind, what is the Life of a Dog. j?w*r^ 'Tis their Senfes which regulate their Decifions upon this Queftion. and Book If it were neceffary, I could prove here that the principle of the Life of a Dog differs not from $. part 2. the principle of the Motion of a Watch. For the Life of Bodies whatever they be, can confift but Ch. 7, in the Motion of their Parts: And we may eafily judge that the fame fubtil matter, which caufes the Fermentation of the Blood, and Animal Spirits, in a Dog, and which is the principle of his Life, is no perfetter than that which gives Motion to the Spring of a Watch, or which caufes the Gravitation in r.he Weights of a Clock, which is the principle of their Life,ov to fpeak as others do, of their Motion.
It behoves the Peripateticks to give thofe whom they ftile Cartefians a clear Idea of what they call the Life of Bea/ls, Corporeal Soul, Body which Perceives, and Defires, Sees, Feels, Wills, and then we ihall clearly refolve their Difficulties, if after that they fhall perfift in railing them.
ARGUMENT II.
It were impoffible to difcover the Differences, or Powers of the Elements: So that Fire might refrigerate as Water, and nothing would be of a fettled and fix'd Nature.
ANSWER.
I anfwer, That whilft Nature remains as it is, that is to fay, whilft the Laws of the Communica- tion of Motions remain conftantly the fame; it is a Contradiction, that Fire mould not burn, or feparate the Parts of certain Bodies. Fire cannot refrigerate like Water, unlefs it becomes Wa- ter - for Ffre being only Fewel, whofe Parts have been violently agitated by an invifible furround- See«. 2, Rr ingwwlvjcg F. Maleb ranch e Concerning ing Matter, as is eafle to demonftrate; it is impoffible its Parts fhould not Communicate fome o£ their Motion to approaching Bodies: Now as thefe Laws are conftant, the Nature of Fire, its Vir- I tues and Qualities are unchangeable." But this Nature, and thefe Vertues, are only Confluences. of the General and Efficacious Will of G O D, who does all in all things. Therefore the Study of Na- ture, is in all refpefts falfe and vain, when we look for other true Caufes than the Wills of the ALMIGHTY..
I confefs that we are not to have recourfe to God, or the Univerfal Caufe, when we require the Reafon of particular Effeds. For we fhould be ridiculous to affert, for Inftance, That GOD dries the Ways, or Freezes the Water in the River. We muft fay, The Air dries the Earth, be- caufe it moves,and bears off the Water with it that dilutes it: Or that the Air,or the fubtil Matter Freezes the River in Winter, becaufe at that time it communicates not fufficient Motion to the Parts that conftitute the Water. In a Word, we muft, if we can, affign the Natural and particu- lar Gaufe of the Effeds propos'd, to Examination. But becaufe the Action of thefe Caufes confifts in the moving Force, which actuates them, which moving Force is the Will of G O D, (which create them), we ought not to fay they have in themfelves a Force or Power to produce any Effeds. And when in Reafoning we are at laft arriv'd to a general Effed, of which we feek the Caufe; 'tis no good Philofophy to imagine any other than the general. And to feign a certain Nature, afirft Moveable, and univerfal Soul, or fome fuch Chimera, whereof we have no clear and difrinti Idea, would be to argue like an Heathen Philofopher. For Example, when we are ask'd, whence it comes that- fome Bodies are in motion, or that the agitated Air communicates its Motion to the Water, or rather whence proceeds the mutual Protrufion of Bodies: Motion and its Communication be- ing a general Effed, on which all others depend; we cannot anfwer, I do'nt fay like Chriftians, but Philofophers, without afcending to God who is the Univerfal Caufe: Since, 'tis His Will that? is the moving Force of Bodies, and that regulates the Communication of their Motions. Had he will'd there fhould be no new Production in the World, he would not have put its Parts in motion: And if hereafter He fhall will the Incorruptibility of fome of the Beings he had made, he ihall ceafe to will the Communication of Motions in point of thofe Beings. - ARGUMENT- III.
'Tis needlefs to Flow, to Water, and give feveral preparatory Difpofitions to Bodies, to fit sun ib tliem for ' what we delire fr°m them* F°r G ° D has n0 need of PrePa«ng the Subjects on ANSWER.
I anfwer-, That GOD may do abfolutely all he pleafes, without finding any Difpofitions in the Subjeds he works upon. But he cannot do it without a Miracle, or by Natural ways; that is, by the General Laws of the Communication of Motions, which he has conftituted, and which he almoft always follows, in his Adings, GOD never multiplies his Wills without Reafon; but ads always by the fimpleft Ways •, and for that Reafon he makes ufe of the Collifion of Bodies, in giving them Motion. Not that this Collifion is abfolutely neceffary to it, as our Senfes tell us, but that being the Occafion of the Communication of Motions, there need be but very few* Natural Laws to produce all the admirable Effeds we fee. For by this means we may reduce all the Laws of the Cdmmunication of Motions to one: Viz.. That percutient Bodies being confidered as but one, See Chap, at the Moment of their Contad, or Collifion, the moving Force is divided between them at their the laft of Separation, according to the Proportion of their Magnitude. But whereas concurrent Bodies are The Search. furroundedwith infinite others, which ad upon them, by Virtue and Efficacy of this Law; how- ever conftant and uniform this Law be, it produces a World of quite different Communications, becaufe it ads upon infinite Bodies, which are all related to one another..
It is neceffary to Water a Plant to make it grow; becaufeby the Laws of the Communication of Motions, hardly any other than Watry Particles can by their Motion, and by reafon of their Fi- gure, infinuate and Wind up themfelves into the Fibres of Plants, and by varioufly faftning and combining together, take the Figure that's neceffary to their Nourifhment. The fubtil Matter which is conftantly flowing from the Sun, may, by its agitating the Water, lift it into the Plants; but it has not a competent Motion to raife grofs Earthy Particles. Yet Earth and Air too are ne- ceffary to the Growth of Plants- Earth topreferve the Water at their Root, and Air to give this Water a Moderate Fermentation. But the Adion of the Sun, the Air, and Water, confifting but in the Motion of their Parts, in proper fpeaking, G O D is the only Agent. For as I have faid, there is none but He that can by the efficacy of his Will, and by the Infinite Extent of his Know- ledge caufe and regulate thofe infinitely infinite Communications of Motions, which are made eve- ry moment, and in a Proportion infinitely exad, and regular.
ARGUMENT IV.
ARGUMENT IV.
Can God refift, and Fight againft Himfelf? Bodies juftle, ftrike, andrefiftone another, there- fore Gods Ads not in them, unlefs it be by his concourfe. For if it were he only that produe'd, and preferv'd Motion in Bodies, he would take care' to divert them before the Collifion, as know- ing well that they are impenetrable. To what purpofe are Bodies driven to be beaten back again, why The Search after Truth. iea why muft they proceed to recoil? Or what fignifies it to produce andPreferve ufelefs Motions; Is it not an Abfurdity to fay that God impugns himfelf, and that He deftroys his Works, when a' Bull fights with a Lyon, when a Wolf devours a Sheep, and a Sheep eats the Grafs which God makes to grow? Therefore there are Second Caufes.
_ Therefore Second Caufes do all, and God does nothing at all. For God cannot act againfl: him- felf, but Concourfe is AcJion. The concurring to contrary Actions is giving contrary Concourfe,and confequently doing contrary Actions. To concur with the Action of Creatures that refill each other, is to Act againfl: himfelf. To concur to ufelefs Motions, is to Act in vain. But God does nothing needlefs or in vain;, he does no contrary Actions, and therefore concurs not to the Action of Crea-. tures that often deftrOy one another,and makes ufelefs Actions and Motions. See where this proof of Second Caufes leads us. But let us fee what Reafon fays to it.
• God Works all in every thing, and nothing refifts him. He Works all in all things, in as much as his Will both makes, and regulates all Motions: And nothing refifts him, becaufe he does what e- ver he Wills. But let us fee how this is to be conceiv'd. Having refolv'd to produce by the fimpleft ways, as moft conformable to Order that infinite Variety of Creatures which we admire, he wilfd that Bodies (hould move in a right line, becaufe that is the mofkfimple. But Bodies being impene- trable, and their Motions tending in Lines that oppofe, or interfect one another, they muft ne- ceflarily fall foul together, and confequently ceafe moving in the fame manner. God forefaw this, yet notwithstanding pofitively will'd the Collifion, or ihock of Bodies; not that he's delighted in im- pugning himfelf, but becaufe he defign'd to make ufe of this Collifion as an Occafton for his efta- blifhing the General Law of the Communication of Motions; by which he forefaw he muft produce an infinite Variety of admirable Effects. For I am perfwaded that thefe two Natural Laws which are the fimplefl of all others: Namely, that All Motion tends to make itfelf in a right line - and that in the Collifion^ Motions are Communicated proportionably to. the magnitude of the Colliding Bodies; are,, fufficient to > produce fucb a World as we fee: That is, the Heaven and Stars, and Planets, and Co- mets, Earthy Water, Air, and Fire: In a Word, the Elements.,?nd all Unorganiz'd, and ina- nimate Bodies. For Organiz'd Bodies depend on many other Nilgai Laws, which are perfectly unknown. It may be hiring Bodies are not form'd like others by a determinate number of Natural Laws. For there is great probability, they were all form'd at the Creation of the World, and that Time only gives them a neceffary Growth, to make them Vifible to our Eyes; Neverthelefs, it is certain, they receive that Growth by the General Laws of Nature, whereby all other Bodies are form'd which is the Reafon, that their Increafe is not always Regular.
I fay then that God by the firft oi Natural Laws pofitively Wills, and confequently Caufes the Collifion of Bodies; and afterwards imploys this Cc'j'Son as an Occafion of eftablifhing the Second N '. I Law; which regulates the Communication vtvlotions •, and that thus the actual Collifion, is t ie Natural, or OccafionalCaufe of the Actual Communication of Motions.
It this be well confider'd, it will be evidently acknowledg'd that nothing can be better Order'd. But fuppofing that God had not ft> Ordain'd it, and that he had diverted Bodies, when ready to encounter, as if there were a Vacuum to receive them, Firft they would not be fubject to that per- petual Viciffitnde which makes the Beauty of the Univerfe ■ For the Generation of fome Bodies is perform'd by the Corruption of Others; and 'tis the contrariety of their Motion which produces their Variety. Secondly God would not act in the moft fimple manner: For if Bodies ready to meet (hould continue on their Motion, without touching, they muft needs defcribe Lines curv'd in a thoufand different Fafhions -, and confequently different Wills muft be admitted in God to deter- mine their Motions. Laftly, if there were no Uniformity in the Action of Natural Bodies, and that their Motion were not made in a right Line, we fhould have no certain Principle for our Rea- fonings in natural Philofophy, nor for our conduct in many Actions of our Life.
'Tis not a difprder that Lyons eat Wolves, and that Wolves eat Sheep, and Sheep grafs, of which God has had fo fpecial a -regard, as to give it all things neceffary to it's prefervation, and likewife a Seed for perpetuating it's kind. This proves fecond caufes no more, than the Plurality of Caufes, of contrary Principles of Good, and Evil, which the Manichees imagin'd to account for thefe effects: But 'tis a certain Sign of the Grandeur, Wifdom and Magnificence of God. For God does no works unbecoming an infinite Wifdom, and he does them with that profufion as is a manifeft proof of his Power, and Greatnefs. Whatever is deftroy'd, is repair'd again by the fame Law that de- itroy'd it: So great is the Wifdom, Power and Fecundity of that Law. God prevents not the deftrudtion of Beings by any new Will: not only becaufe the firft fuffices to reftore them; but efpeciaily becaufe his Wills are of much greater value than the Reparation of thefe Beings. They are far more valuable than all that they produce. And God had never made this World, fince not worthy of the Action by which it was produe'd, unlefs he had other profpeets than are known by the Philofophers, and knew how to honour himfelf in JESUS CHRIST, with an honour which the Creatures are not capable of giving him.
When a Houfe falls, and crufhes an Honeft Man to death: a greater Evil happens, than when one Beaft devours another, or when a Body is fore'd to rebound by the mock it receives from the Encounter of another. But God does not multiply his Wills, to redrefs either the true or appa- rent Diforders which are the neceffary Confequences of natural Laws. God ought not to correct. nor change thefe Laws, though they fometimes produce Monfters. He is not to confound the Or- der, 7° * See the Uluftrati- on upon theFourth Chapter of the fe- cond Part concern- ing Me- thod. + See the firft Illu- ftration upon the FifthCha> pter.
- F. Max. Tranche Concerning der, and fimplicity of his Ways. He mult neglect mean and little things: I would fay, he muft not have particular Wills to produce effects, which are not equivalent to, or worthy of the Action of the Producer. God works not Miracles fave when Order which he conftantly follows requires it: which Order requires that he fhould act hy the moft fimple ways -0 and make no exceptions to his general Wills, but when 'tis abfolutely necefTary to his defigns, or on particular occafions, which we are abfolutely ignorant of. Though we are all united to Order, or the Wifdom of God, yet we know not all the Rules of it. We fee in it what we ought to do, but we cannot difcover in it what God ought to Will,nor is it our bufmefs to be very follicitous to know it.
A great inftance of what I have faid, we have in the Damnation of an infinite number of Perfons, whom God fuffer'd to perifh in times of Ignorance, and Error: God is infinitely Good: He loves all his Works; He wills that all Men fhould be fav'd, and come to the Knowledge of the Truth, for he has made them to injoy him. And yet the greateft number are Damn'd. They live and die in blindnefs, and will remain in it to all Eternity. Conies not this from his acting by the fimpleffc means, and his following Order? * We have mown, that according to Order, God ought not to prevent by Indeliberate Pleafures the -f- will of the firft Man, whofe Fall has diforder'd Nature. It was requifite that all Men Ihould defcend from one, not only becaufe that is the molt fimple way, but for feveral too Theological and abftract Reafons to be here explained. In fine we ought to be- lieve this conformable to the Order which God follows, and to the Wifdom he always confults in the intention, and execution of his defigns. The firft Man's Sin has produc'd infinite Evils, I con- fefs, but certainly Order requir'd that God fhould permit it, and that he fhould inftate Man in a peccable condition.
God minded to repair his laps'd Work,, feldom gives Victorious Graces that prevail over the malice of the greateft Sinneis. Sometimes he gives Graces ufe-lefs to the converfion of the Recei- ver, though he forefees their inutility, and fometimes fheds them in great Plenty, yet with little effect: Commonly he acts as it were by degrees, giving Men fecret infpirations of Self-denial and Repentance, as formerly he gave them Counfels in his Gofpel. Thus he prepares them for the grace of Converfion, and laft of all beftows it. Why all thefe round-about Methods and ways in- direct? -Would it not have been enough for him to have pofitively WjU'd the Converfion of a Sin- ner, to have effected it in an efficacious and irrefiftible manner? But is not it vifible that this pro- ceeds from his acting by the fin ^left Methods, and Orders willing it, though we do not always fee it? For God muft neceffarily -'follow Order, and Wifdom in his actings, though thefe are Unfa- thomable Ahyffes to the Mind of Man. There are certain moft fimple Laws in the Order of Grace, by which God for the moft part acts: For this Order has its Rules as well as that of Nature, though we know them not-, aswe/eethofe of the Communications of Motions. Only let us follow the