Part 9
And seeing we have made use of that _Idea_ of _God_ which is in us to demonstrate his existence, and seeing there is contain’d in this _Idea_ such an _Immense Power_, that we conceive it a contradiction for _God_ to _Exist_, and yet that any thing should _Be_ besides Him, which was not _Created_ by Him, it plainly follows that demonstrating His existence we demonstrate also that the whole world, or all things different from _God_, were _Created_ by God.
Lastly when we assert, that some _Ideas_ are _Innate_ or _natural_ to us, we do not mean that they are always present with us (for so no _Idea_ would be _Innate_) but only that we have in our selves a Faculty of producing them.
OBJECT. XI.
* _The whole stress of which Argument lyes thus; because I know it impossible for me to be of the same nature I am, ~viz~, having the Idea of a God in me, unless really there were a God, A God (I say) that very same God, whose Idea I have in my mind._
Wherefore seeing ’tis not _demonstrated_ that we have an _Idea_ of _God_, and the Christian Religion commands us to believe that _God_ is _Inconceivable_, that is, as I suppose, that we cannot have an _Idea_ of Him, it follows, that the _Existence_ of _God_ is not demonstrated, much less _the Creation_.
ANSWER.
When _God_ is said to be _Inconceiveable_ ’tis understood of an _Adequate full conception_. But I am ’een tired with often repeating, how notwithstanding we may have an _Idea_ of _God_. So that here is nothing brought that makes any thing against my _demonstration_.
OBJECT. XII.
_Against the Fourth Meditation, Of Truth and Falshood._
* _By Which I understand that Error (as it is Error) is not a Real Being, Dependent on God, but is only a Defect; and that therefore to make me Err there is not requisite a Faculty of Erring Given me by God._
’Tis Certain that _Ignorance_ is only a _Defect_, and that there is no Occasion of any _Positive Faculty_ to make us _Ignorant_. But this position is not so clear in Relation to _Error_, for Stones and Inanimate Creatures cannot _Err_, for this Reason only, because they have not the _Faculties_ of _Reasoning_ or _Imagination_; from whence ’tis Natural for us to Conclude, That to _Err_ there is requisite a _Faculty_ of _Judging_, or at least of _Imagining_, both which _Faculties_ are _Positive_, and given to all _Creatures_ subject to Error, and to Them only.
Moreover _Des-Cartes_ says thus, _I find_ (my Errors) _to Depend on two concurring Causes_, viz. _on my Faculty of Knowing, and on my Faculty of Choosing, or Freedom of my Will_. Which seems Contradictious to what he said before; And here also we may note, that _Freedom of Will_ is assumed without any Proof contrary to the Opinion of the Calvinists.
ANSWER.
Tho to make us _Err_ there is requisite a _Faculty_ of _Reasoning_ (or rather of _Judging_, that is, of _Affirming_ and _Denying_) because _Error_ is the _Defect_ thereof, yet it does not follow from thence that this _Defect_ is any thing _Real_, for neither is _Blindness_ a _Real_ Thing, tho stones cannot be said to be _Blind_, for this Reason only, That they are _incapable of sight_. And I much wonder that in all these _Objections_ I have not found one _Right Inference_.
I have not here assumed any thing concerning the _Freedom_ of _Mans Will_, unless what all Men do Experience in themselves, and is most evident by the Light of Nature. Neither see I any Reason, Why he should say that this is Contradictious to any former Position.
Perhaps there may be Many, who respecting _Gods predisposal_ of Things cannot Comprehend, How their _Freedom_ of _Will_ Consists there-with, but yet there is no Man who, respecting himself only, does not find by Experience, That ’tis one and the same Thing to be _Willing_, and to be _Free_. But ’tis no Place to Enquire what the Opinion of others may be in this Matter.
OBJECT. XIII.
* _As for Example, When lately I set my self to examine Whether any Thing Do Exist, and found, that from my setting my self to examine such a Thing, it evidently follows, That I my self Exist, I could not but Judge, what I so clearly understood, to be true, not that I was forced thereto by any outward Impulse, but because a strong Propension in my Will did follow this Great Light in my Understanding, so that I believed it so much the more Freely and Willingly, by how much the Less indifferent I was thereunto._
This expression, _Great Light in the Understanding_, is _Metaphorical_, and therefore not to be used in Argumentation; And every one, that Doubts not of his Opinion, Pretends such a _Light_, and has no less a _Propension_ in his _Will_ to Affirm what he doubts not, than He that _really_ and _truely_ knows a Thing. Wherefore this _Light_ may be the cause of _Defending_ and _Holding_ an Opinion _Obstinately_, but never of _knowing_ an Opinion _Truly_.
Moreover not only the _Knowledge_ of _Truth_, but _Belief_ or _Giving Assent_, are not the _Acts_ of the _Will_; for Whatever is _proved_ by _strong Arguments_, or _Credibly_ told, we Believe whether we will or no.
’Tis true, To _Affirm_ or _Deny_ Propositions, to _Defend_ or _Oppose_ Propositions, are the _Acts_ of the _Will_; but it does not from thence Follow that the _Internal Assent_ depends on the _Will_. Wherefore the following Conclusion (_so that in the abuse of our Freedom of Will that Privation consists which Constitutes Error_) is not fully Demonstrated.
ANSWER.
’Tis not much _matter_, Whether this expression, _Great Light_, be _Argumentative_ or not, so it be explicative, as really it is, For all men know, that by _light in the understanding_ is meant _clearness_ of _knowledge_, which every one has not, that _thinks_ he has; and this hinders not but this _light_ in the _Understanding_ may be very different from an _obstinate Opinion_ taken up without _clear perception_.
But when ’tis here said, _That we assent to things clearly perceived whether we will or no_, ’tis the same, as if it were said, _that willing or nilling, we desire Good clearly known_; whereas the word _Nilling_, finds no room in such Expressions, for it implies, that we will and nill the same thing.
OBJECT XIV.
_Against the Fifth Meditation. Of the Essence of material things._
* _As when for Example, I imagine a Triangle, tho perhaps such a Figure exists no where out of my thoughts, nor ever will exist, yet the Nature thereof is determinate, and its Essence or Form is immutable and eternal, which is neither made by me nor depends on my mind, as appears from this, that many propositions may be demonstrated of this Triangle._
If a Triangle be _no where_, I understand not how it can have _any Nature_, for what is _no where_, is not, and therefore has not a _Being_, or any _Nature_.
A Triangle in the _Mind_ arises from a Triangle _seen_, or from one made up of what has been _seen_, but when once we have given the name of a _Triangle_ to a thing (from which we think the _Idea_ of a _Triangle_ arises) tho the Triangle it self perish, yet the _name_ continues; In the like manner, when we have once conceived in our thought, _That all the Angles of a Triangle are equal to two right ones_, and when we have given this other name (viz. _Having its three Angles equal to two right ones_) to a Triangle, tho afterwards there were no such thing in the World, yet the _Name_ would still continue, and this Proposition, _A Triangle is a Figure having three Angles equal to two right Ones_, would be _eternally true_. But the Nature of a Triangle will not be eternal if all Triangles were destroy’d.
This Proposition likewise, _A Man is an Animal_, will be _true_ to _Eternity_, because the Word _Animal_ will eternally signifie what the Word _Man_ signifies; but certainly if _Mankind_ perish, _Humane Nature_ will be no longer.
From whence ’tis Manifest, That _Essence_ as ’tis distinguish’d from _Existence_ is nothing more than the _Copulation_ of _Names_ by this word _Is_, and therefore _Essence_ without _Existence_ is meerly a _Fiction_ of our own; and as the _Image_ of a _Man_ in the _Mind_ is to a _Man_, so it seems _Essence_ is to _Existence_. Or as this Proposition _Socrates is a Man_, is to this, _Socrates Is or Exists_, so is the _Essence_ of _Socrates_ to his Existence. Now this Proposition, _Socrates is a Man_, when _Socrates_ does not exist, signifies only the Connection of the Names, and the word _Is_ carries under it the _Image_ of the _unity_ of the thing, which is called by these _Two Names_.
ANSWER.
The Difference between _Essence_ and _Existence_ is known to all Men. And what is here said of _Eternal Names_ instead of _Eternal Truth_, has been long ago sufficiently rejected.
OBJECT. XV.
_Against the Sixth Meditation. Of the Existence of Material Beings._
* _And seeing God has given me no Faculty to know whether these Ideas proceed from Bodies or not, but rather a strong inclination to believe, that these Ideas are sent from Bodies, I see no reason, why God should not be counted a Deceiver, if these Ideas came from any where, but from Corporeal Beings, and therefore we must conclude that Corporeal Beings exist._
’Tis a received opinion, that Physicians who deceive their Patients for their Healths sake, and Fathers, who deceive their Children for their Good, are guilty thereby of no Crimes, for the _fault_ of _Deceit_ does not consist in the _falsity_ of _Words_; but in the _Injury_ done to the Person deceived.
Let _D. Cartes_ therefore consider whether this Proposition, _God can upon no account deceive us_, Universally taken be _true_; For if it be not _true_ so universally taken, that Conclusion, _Therefore Corporeal Beings exist_, will not follow.
ANSWER.
’Tis not requisite for the establishment of my Conclusion, _That we cannot be deceived on any account_ (for I willingly granted, that we may be _often_ deceived) but that we cannot be deceived, when that our _Error_ argues that in _God_ there is such a _Will_ to _Cheat_ us as would be _contradictious_ to his _Nature_. And here again we have a _wrong inference_ in this _Objection_.
The Last Objection.
* _For now I plainly discover a great difference between them (~that is sleep and waking~) for my Dreams are never conjoyn’d by my Memory, with the other Actions of my Life._
I desire to Know, whether it be certain, that a Man _dreaming_, that the _doubts_ whether he _dream or not_, may not _Dream_, that he joyns his _Dream_ to the _Ideas_ of things past long since; if he may, than those _Actions_ of his past life, may be thought as _true_ if he were awake.
Moreover because (as _D. Cartes_ affirms) the _Certainty_ and _truth_ of all _knowledge_ depends only on the _knowledge_ of the _True God_, either an Atheist cannot from the _Memory_ of his past life conclude that he is _awake_, or else ’tis possible for a man to know that he is _awake_ without the _Knowledge_ of the _True God_.
ANSWER.
A Man that _dreams_ cannot _really_ connect his _dreams_ with the _Ideas_ of past things, tho, I confess, he may _dream_ that he so connects them; for whoever deny’d That a man when he is _a sleep_ may be _Deceived_? But when he awakens he may easily discover his Error.
An Atheist from the memory of his past life may collect that he is awake, but he cannot know, that this _Sign_ is sufficient to make him _certain_, that he is not _deceived_, unless he know that he is _created_ by a _God_ that will not _deceive_ him.
FINIS.
_A Catalogue of some Books sold by ~Benjamin Took~ at the Ship in St. ~Pauls~ Church-yard._
_Herodoti Halicarnassei Historiarum libri novem ejusdem narratio de vita Homeri, Gr. Lat. & H. Stephani Apologia pro Herodoto accesserunt huic Edition Chronologia Historia, & Tabula Geographica Herodotææ, necnon variantes Lectiones & notæ ex pluribus M. S. S. Cod. & Antiquis scriptoribus collectæ._ fol.
_Francisci Suarez. Doct. Theol. Grau. Tractatus de Legibus ac Deo Legislatore in decem libros distributus._ fol.
_Thorndicius de Ratione ac Jure finiendi Controversias Ecclesiæ._ fol.
The Holy Court in five Tomes, written in French by _N. Causin_, translated by Sir _T. H._ the fourth Edition. _fol._
The Works of the most Reverend _John Bramhal_, D. D. late L. Archbishop of _Armagh_, some of which never before printed, with the life of the Author, _&c._ _fol._
The History and Vindication of the Irish Remonstrance against all Calumnies and Censures in several Treatises. _folio._
A Collection of all the Statutes now in use in the Kingdom of _Ireland_, with Notes in the Margin. And likewise the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, with the rest of the Acts, made in the Reign of his Majesty that now is, to the dissolution of the Parliament, _Aug. 7. 1666_.
Several Chyrurgical Treatises by _Rich. Wiseman_, Serjeant Chyrurgion. _folio._
The Primitive Origination of Mankind considered and examined, according to the light of Nature, written by Sir _M. Hale_, Kt. late Lord Chief Justice of the Kings Bench. _folio._
_Sir Rich. Baker_’s Chronicle of the Kings of _England_ from the Romans Government to this time.
Thirty five Sermons by the Right Reverend _R. Sanderson_ late Lord Bishop of _Lincoln_.
_Le Beau Pledeur_, a Book of Entries containing Declarations, Informations, and other select and approved Pleadings; with special Verdicts and Demurrers in most actions real, personal, and mixt, which have been argued and adjudged in the Courts of _Westminster_, with faithfull references to the most authentick Law Books, by Sir _Humphry Winch_, Kt. sometimes one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas, _fol._
_Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ; seu explicatio vocum Anglicarum Etymologica ex propriis fontibus. Omnia Alphabetico ordine in quinque distinctas Classes digesta. Authore Step. Skinner, M.D._ folio.
A large Dictionary in three Parts by _Tho. Holyoake_ D.D. _folio._
_Horæ Hebraicæ & Talmudicæ impensæ in Evangelium S. Johannis._ p. I. Lightfoot. quarto.
Doctor _Browns_ Travels in _Hungaria_, _Servia_, _Bulgaria_, _Macedonia_, &c. As also through a great part of _Germany_, with Observations on the Mines, Baths, and mineral Waters in those Parts, illustrated with the Figures of some habits and remarkable places. _quarto._
A Representation of the State of Christianity in _England_, and of its Decay and Danger from Sectaries as well as Papists.
The Controversial Letters, or the grand Controversie, concerning the pretended authority of Popes and true Soveraign of Kings, in 16 Letters. _quarto._
A True Widow, a Comedy written by _T. Shadwel_. _quarto._
A Vindication of the sincerity of the Protestant Religion in the point of Obedience to Sovereigns, opposed to the Doctrine of Rebellion authorised and practised by the Pope and the Jesuites, by _Peter Du Moulin_. _quarto._
_Phocæna_, or the Anatomy of a Porpess dissected at _Gresham_ Colledge, with a Preliminary discourse concerning Anatomy, and a Natural History of Animals. _quar._
_Dodwells_ separation of Churches from Episcopal Government, as practised by the present Nonconformists proved Schismatical from such principles as are least controverted, and do withal most popularly explain the sinfulness and mischief of Schism. _quarto._
—Two Letters of Advice. 1. For the susception of Holy Orders. 2. For Studies Theological, especially such as are rational; at the end of the former is inserted a Catalogue of the Christian Writers, and genuine works of the first three Centuries. _octavo._
—Some Considerations of present Concernment; how far Romanists may be trusted by Princes of another Perswasion. _octavo._
—Two short Discourses against the Romanists 1. An Account of the fundamental Principle of Popery. 2. An Answer to six Queries. _twelves._
Navigation and Commerce their Original and Progress, containing a succinct account of Traffick in general, by _John Evelin_, Esq; _octavo._
Of Gifts and Offices in the publick Worship of God, in three parts, endeavouring an impartial account, what was in the inspired Age of the Church, what succeeded in the more ordinary State; what reasonably may be allowed in Prayer, singing, and preaching, by _Edw. Wetenhal_, D.D. _octavo._
The Catechism of the Church of _England_ with marginal Notes, very plainly setting forth its meaning, and proving the same out of the Scriptures, for the use of Schools by _Edw. Wetenhal_, D.D.
Poems and Songs by _Tho. Flatman_. _octa._
Poems by _N. Tate_. _octavo._
The Degrees of Consanguinity affinity described and delineated, by _Robert Dixon_, D.D. in _octavo_.
The French Gardiner instructing how to cultivate all sorts of Fruit Trees and Herbs for the Garden, together with instructions to dry and conserve them, written in French, and Englished by _Jo. Evelin_, Esq; in _octavo_.
_Ataxiæ Obstaculum_; being an Answer to several Queries dispersed in several parts of _Glocestershire_ in _octavo_.
_S. Gardinerus S. T. P. de Trinitate contra Sandium_, in octavo.
_Deus Nobiscum._ A Narrative of a great Deliverance at Sea, by _W. Johnson_, D.D. _Phædri Augusti Cæsaris Liberti Fabularum Esopiarum Libri V. in usum scholarum Anglæ._ octavo.
A Short View of the chief points in Controversie between the Reformed Churches, and the Church of _Rome_, by Dr. _Peter Du Moulin_. in _octavo_.
The Country Parsons advice to his Parishioners in two Parts. 1. Containing a plain and serious Exhortation to a Religious Life. 2. General Directions how to live accordingly. in _octavo_.
FINIS.