A treatise of morality in two parts / written in French by F. Malbranch, author of The search after truth ; and translated into English, by James Shipton, M.A.

CHAP. XI. What kind of death we must die to see God, to be united to Reason, and to deliver our selves from Concupiscence. It is the Grace of Faith that gives us this happy death. Christians are dead to Sin by Baptism, and alive in Christ by his Resurrection. Of the Mortification of the Senses, and the use we should make of it. We should unite our selves to corporeal Objects, or separate our selves from them without loving or fearing them. But the surest way is to break off all Correspondence with them, as far as is possible.

I. DEath is a compendious way to be deliver'd from Concupiscence, and to break off at once, that unhappy Union which hinders us from being re∣united to our Head. But it is needless to prove here that to procure our own Death, is a Crime, which will be so far from reuniting us to God, that it will for ever separate us from him. It is lawful to despise Life, and even to wish for Death, that we may be with Christ, as St. Paul does: Having a desire to be dissolv'd, and to be with Christ. But we are oblig'd to preserve our Health and Life; and it is the Grace of Christ that must deliver us from Concupiscence, or that Body of Death, which joyns us to the Creatures. The same Apostle cries our, O wretched Man that I am! who shall deliver me from this Body of Death? The Grace of God through Jesus Christ.

II. It is certain, that we must die before we can see God and be united to him; for no Man can see him, and live, saith the Scripture. But we truly die, so far as we quit the Body, as we separate our selves from the

World, and silence our Senses, Imagination and Passions, by which we are united to our Body, and by that to all those that surround us. We die to the Body and to the World, when we retire into our selves, when we consult the inward Truth, when we unite our selves and are obedient to Order. The eternal Wisdom is hid from the Eyes of all Living. But those who are Dead to the World and to Themselves, who have cru∣cified the Flesh with its disorder'd Lusts, who are cru∣cified with Christ, and to whom the World is cru∣cified; in a word, those who have a clean Heart, a pure Mind, and an unspotted Imagination, are capa∣ble of beholding Truth. Now they see God but con∣fusedly and imperfectly, in Part, through a Glass, in a Riddle; but they see him truly, they are closely and immediately united to him, and shall one day see him Face to Face; for we must know and love God in this Life, to enjoy him in the next.

III. But those who live not only the Life of the Body, but also the Life of the World; who live in the enjoyment of Pleasures, and spread themselves as it were over all the Objects that are about them, can ne∣ver find out Truth. For, as the Scripture saith, Wis∣dom doth not dwell with those that live Voluptuously; Non invenitur in terra suaviter viventium. We must then procure our selves not that Death which kills the Bo∣dy, and puts an end to Life, but that which brings the Body under, and weakens Life; I mean the Union of the Soul with the Body, or its dependence on it. We must begin and continue our Sacrifice, and expect from God the Consummation and Reward of it. For the Life of a Christian here on-Earth is a constant Sacri∣fice, by which he continually offers up his Body, his Concupiscence and Self-love, to the Love of Order; and his Death, which is precious in the Sight of God, is the day of his Victories and Triumphs in Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, the forerunner of our Glory, and the model of our eternal Reformation.

IV. St. Paul tells us, That our old Man is already crucified with Christ; for by the Sacrifice which Christ hath offer'd on the Cross, he hath merited for us, for us, I say, particularly who have been washed in his Blood by Baptism, all the Graces necessary to balance,

and even to diminish, by degrees, the weight of Con∣cupiscence; so that Sin no longer reigns in us but by our own Fault. Let us not therefore think to excuse our Slothfulness by imagining that we are not able to resist the Law of the Flesh, which continually rebels against the Law of the Mind. The Law of Sin would have an absolute Dominion over the Motions of our Heart, if Christ had not destroy'd it by his Cross. But we who are dead and buried to Sin, by Baptism; who are justified and rais'd to life again in Jesus Christ glorified; who are animated by the influence of our Head, by the Spirit of Christ, and by a Power wholly Divine; we, I say, ought not to believe that Heaven forsakes us in our Combats; and that if we are over∣come, it is for want of Succours. Christ never neg∣lects those that call upon him; 'tis impious to believe it; for all the Scriptures say, That whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be sav'd.

V. It is certain, that we could never be glorified and seated in Heaven with Jesus Christ, we could not have eternal Life abiding in us, we could not be Heirs of God, and Joint-heirs with Christ, Citizens of the holy City, and adopted Children of God himself, all which things the Apostles say of Christians, if God were not faithful in his Promises, if he suffer'd us to be tempted above our Strength; which St. Paul also forbids us to believe. But we may truly say, That we are already glorified in Christ, &c. because in effect it depends only on our selves, to preserve by Grace, the Right which the same Grace gives us to future Bles∣sings; and it is a kind of brutish stupidity in a Man, which one would think should astonish a rational and spiritual Being, to lose infinite Happiness by his own Fault, and incurr eternal Damnation through his own Negligence.

VI. This Truth being suppos'd, as undeniable, let us awaken our Faith and Hope, let us search after the Means to secure our Salvation; and let us Act in such sort, that the Grace which God cannot infuse into us, with any other design but to sanctify and save us, may effectually sanctify us, and make us worthy to enjoy the true Good. Ye are dead, saith St. Paul, and your life is hid with Christ in God, Mortify therefore your

Members which are upon the Earth. We are dead to Sin, because living in Christ our Head, we should, and by his influence may kill the old Man; it lies in our own power to do it. But to put this Design in execution, according to the Advice which St. Paul here gives, we must labour all our life in the Mortification of our Senses, we must endeavour with the utmost Diligence to keep our Imagination pure and undefil'd, we must regulate all the Motions of our Passions by Order; in a word, we must diminish the weight of Sin, which by the actual Efforts of Concupiscence provok'd and stir'd up, is able to balance the strongest Graces, and to separate us from God. Mortify therefore your Members which are upon the Earth. If we do what depends on us, Grace will work in our Heart with its full Efficacy, we shall die in the sense of St. Paul, and our life being hid with Christ in God, shall appear with Glory, when Christ himself shall appear cloth'd with Majesty and Honour. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in Glory.

VII. Of all the Exercises proper to promote the Ef∣ficacy of Grace, there is no one more necessary than that of the Mortification of the Senses; for it is our own Body alone that unites us to all other Bodies. It is chiefly by the Senses that the Soul stretches it self, as I may say, to all the parts of the Body, and by the Ima∣gination and Passions it is carried abroad, and extends it self to all the Creatures. But as Objects are pre∣sented to the Mind by the Senses, the Imagination and Passions suppose and depend on them. For it is cer∣tain, that the corporeal Image of a sensible Object (I do not here speak of Mathematical Figures) is nothing but the Impression and Motion which that Object hath made in the Brain by means of the Senses; which Im∣pression is renewed by the Action of the Imagination, or the Course of the Spirits. And as for the Passions, they cannot be excited but by the Motion of the animal Spirits, which always supposes that the Brain, the Maga∣zene of these Spirits, is shaken either by the Senses or the Imagination: So that he who mortifies his Senses, attacks the very Foundation of the Union of the Soul with the Body, or rather of its dependence on it; he weakens the animal Life, and diminishes the weight of

Sin, Concupiscence; he promotes the Efficacy of Grace, which alone can reunite us to our first Principle: Fi∣nally, he procures himself that kind of Death, without which, as the Scripture speaks, it is not possible to see God.

VIII. The most capacious of all the Senses, that which ministers to all the rest, and without which, the Imagination and Passions would be but faint and languishing, is the Sight. We need but reflect a little on our selves, and on the use we may make of our Eyes, to be convinc'd that they expose us daily to a thousand Dangers. One indiscreet look is certainly suf∣ficient to throw us into Hell. It made David fall into an Adultery, which afterwards engag'd him in a Mur∣der: Eve suffer'd her self to be seduc'd by the Devil, because she ventur'd to look fixedly on the forbidden Fruit, and found it pleasant to the Eyes. If they had distrusted their Senses, as fallacious, and rejected their Testimony, they had, both of them, preserv'd their Innocence. I think it not much to my present purpose, to enlarge on the mischievous effects of the Sight, and from thence to prove the necessity of shutting our Eyes in many Cases. I rather choose to examine Things in their first Principles, and to shew the use we may law∣fully make of all our Senses in general, which I shall confine within the straitest Bounds that can possibly be set to it.

IX. One of the Principles which I think I have de∣monstrated several ways in the First Book of the Search of Truth, is this; That our Senses are given us only for the preservation of our sensible Being: In relation to this end, they are perfectly well regulated; but with respect to the use which the World makes of them, there is nothing more false, deceitful and irregular. To prove this, we must consider that we are compos'd of a Soul and a Body, and that we have two sorts of Good to look after, that of the Soul and that of the Body. The Good of the Soul is found out by the Light; for it is the true Good: That of the Body is discover'd by Sense, for it is a false Good; or rather no Good at all. If Men knew sensible Objects only as they are in themselves, and without a sensible per∣ception of that which is not really in them, they could

not possibly seek after them and fill themselves with them, without regret and a kind of detestation; and if they had a sense of the true Good, different from what it really is, and without knowing the true Nature of it, they would love it sensually and not meritoriously. For the Soul neither can, nor ought to live but by the intellectual Substance of Reason; and the Body can∣not receive Nourishment and Growth but from Bodies. Intellectual Goods do not suit with the mechanical Frame of the Body, and sensible Goods disorder the Soul: Thus Light and Evidence are to the Goods of the Soul, what Sense and Instinct are to those of the Body. This, I think, cannot be denied.

X. The reason of all this is, that God created the Soul only for himself: He did not make it that it should employ it self about sensible Objects, nor that it should preserve and govern by Reason the Body which it Informs. If we would know distinctly and rationally, the infinite Relations that are between the Bodies which surround us, and that which we animate; if we would know, for instance, when we ought to eat, how much, and what kind of Food is precisely neces∣sary to preserve our Health and Life, we must do no∣thing else but study Physicks; and certainly we should not live very long, at least Children would not, be∣cause they want Experience. But Hunger informs us of the necessity of Food, and thereby regulates the quantity of it pretty near the matter. Once it did it truly and exactly, and would do so still, if we would eat the Fruits of the Earth just as God provides them for us. The Taste is a short and unquestionable Tryal, whether such and such Bodies are proper for Nourish∣ment or not. Without knowing the Texture of a Stone or a strange Fruit, we need only present it to the Tongue, the faithful Door-keeper, at least before Sin, of all that ought to enter into the House, to be assur'd whether it will make any disturbance within. The same may be said of all the other Organs of our Senses. Nothing is quicker than the Touch, to inform us that we are burnt, when we touch a hot Iron without our Know∣ledge. Thus the Soul leaving the Government of the Body to the Senses, may apply it self to the search of the true Good, contemplate the Perfections and

works of its Maker, study the Law of God, and govern all its motions by that. The Senses should only inform it with respect, and cease to interrupt it, when it im∣poses Silence on them. Thus it was once, but the Sin of our first Parent hath chang'd that admirable Order; and the union of the Soul and Body remaining still the same, the Soul is reduc'd to a dependence on the Senses, and is check'd and controul'd by them, because, as I have often said, it hath lost the power to command them.

XI. The Senses then were ordain'd to furnish us with short and certain ways to distinguish Bodies with respect to the preservation of our Health and Life. Therefore we may make use of them to unite our selves by the Body to sensible Objects, or to separate our selves from them; this is agreable to Order. I say, to unite or separate our selves: Not to love or fear them. For Love and Hatred are Motions of the Soul which should never be determin'd by confus'd Sensations; they ought to be guided by Reason, and not by Instinct. It is in∣different to the Body whether the Soul loves Bread or not. If we Eat it without loving it, the Body will nevertheless be nourish'd by it; and if we love it with∣out eating it, the Body will be never the stronger; but the Soul will thereby be corrupted and disorder'd. For every motion of the Soul, which instead of tending towards him who continually imprints this Motion on it, that it may love him alone, tends toward Bodies, dead, inferiour and impotent Substances; is blind, ir∣regular and sensual. These are not abstracted Chimeras, but necessary Truths, immutable Laws and indispensa∣ble Obligations.

XII. But what! Can we unite our selves to Bodies without loving them? Can we fly from our Enemy without fearing him? Yes without doubt we may: For I speak principally of free and voluntary Motions, which certainly we may hinder from following the natural Motions. But supposing we could not: What then must we conclude from thence, but that the Heart of Man is so Corrupted, that his Disease is incurable, and that he cannot make use of his Senses, without inflaming and renewing his Wounds; and consequently that the mortification of the Senses is the most necessary thing in

the World in that condition to which Man is reduc'd? For after all, can it be doubted that God acts only for himself, that he imprints no motion on the Soul but for himself alone, that all love of corporeal Objects is Vi∣tious and Irregular, in a Word, that we are indispensa∣bly oblig'd to love God with all our Heart, with all our Soul and with all our Strength?

XIII. When the Soul is penetrated with the presence of God, and beholds him Working continually in the Objects which strike the Senses; when the Mind is actually convinc'd of the impotence of the Creatures in general, and applies it self to govern the Heart ac∣cording to the Light it hath receiv'd; without doubt it may at that instant unite it self to Bodies, or separate it self from them, without loving or fearing them. Indeed this time of Reflection cannot last long. The Mind is soon tir'd with attention to its Duty; and when the Senses come to be touc'h with any Object that pleases them, the Soul being struck with the first appearance of Good and contented with it, constantly follows by its own Motion, that of the Humours and Blood. All Pleasure excites and determines the natu∣ral motion of the Soul; and because Man would al∣ways be happy, the free motion of the Will readily conforms it self to the natural Motion which is excited by the Senses. We must resist, if we would not follow that Motion: But we are soon tir'd with resisting, we lose our beloved ease and become Miserable, when we cease to follow the attraction of Pleasure, which makes us happy.

XIV. It is better to get out of a Stream which carries us away with it, if we cease but one Moment to strive against it, than to remain there in continual action; at least this is the surest way. It is better to break off, as far as we can, the correspondence which we maintain by the Senses with sensible Objects, than to expose our selves to innumerable Dangers, by relying on our own Strength which is vain and deceitful. The Imagination may magnify it, the Pride of Man may de∣fend it; but Experience overthrows it, Faith condemns it, and makes it weak and despicable. At least let us take the safest course: The thing in question is Eternity, the dreadful alternative of the Felicity of the Saints,

or the punishments of the Devils for infinite Ages. We may successfully stop the Passages by which this dange∣rous Correspondence between the Senses and false Goods is maintain'd. The motion of our Hands and Feet is subject to our Will. It is in our own Power to bend our Eyes downward, to turn our Head, and Fly. Thus we may avoid the Blow level'd at us by a murtherous Object. But if we stand to receive it, it wounds the Brain, it defiles the Imagination, it penetrates and cor∣rupts the Heart. Whatever effects the force of that Blow produces in the Brain, and in the Nerves which excite the Passions, they are in no wise subject to our Will. So that we may without much difficulty pre∣vent the Mischief by the mortification of our Senses, but we cannot cure it without infinite Conflicts. How happy should we be, if we would learn so much Wis∣dom by costly Experience, as to hinder it from spreading, and throwing us headlong into Hell!

XV. Let us endeavour then to convince our selves throughly, that our Senses are false Witnesses, which constantly give their Testimony against us in fa∣vour of our Passions: That if we are permitted to hearken to them for the good of the Body, nothing is more dangerous than to consult them for the good of the Soul: That if it be very ridiculous to go to prove by Reason, that Gold, for instance, or precious Stones are not proper for Nourishment; it is also contrary to Or∣der and good Sense, to examine by the Tast, whether Wine be an Object worthy of our Love and Applica∣tion: That the motions of the Soul should be govern'd by Light, and the motions and position of the Body by Pleasure and Instinct: That Light never deceives, and that it leaves the Mind at liberty, without driving it forcibly toward the Good which it presents, that so the Mind may love it with Freedom and Reason; that Pleasure on the contrary is always deceitful, that it takes away or abridges the liberty of the Mind, and carries it naturally not toward God the true Author of that Pleasure, but toward the sensible Object which seems to be the cause of it. Let us remember these Principles, and draw this consequence from them, that the mor∣tification of the Senses is the most necessary exercise for him that designs to live by Reason to follow Order, to

labour for Perfection, and to secure to himself a solid Happiness, and an eternal Felicity.

XVI. Having prov'd at large in the first Book of the Search of Truth, that our Senses generally speaking deceive us in every thing, I think I need not insist any longer on demonstrating what I have here laid down. I rather fear that those who have read and con∣sider'd my other Writings, will find Fault with me for repeating the same things over and over. But this Trea∣tise being design'd for all sorts of People, it could not be avoided: For all these Truths have a connexion and relation to one another. We must know the Nature of Man and his Diseases, at least in some measure, be∣fore we can comprehend the Remedies of them, and understand Morality by Principles. If I should lay down as known all those Truths which I have else∣where prov'd, every Reader would not understand what I meant by them, many perhaps would be afraid of them as dangerous, and this Book would in all pro∣bability have the same Fate with the unfortunate Trea∣tise of Nature and Grace, which, tho' it were written only for those who had a distinct conception of the Truths which I had before sufficiently explain'd, as I then declar'd; underwent so furious a Censure, that those very Heresies were charg'd upon me, which I had there overthrown in their first Principles.

Notes

• Phil. 1.23.
• Rom. 7.24.
• Exod 33.20.
• Job 28.21.
• Blessed are the pure in Heart, for they shall see God, Mat. 5.8. 1 Cor. 13.12.
• Job 28.13.
• Rom. 6.6.
• Rom. 6.4, v. 11.
• Act. 2.••1. Rom 10.13. Joel 2.34.
• 1 Cor. 10.13.
• 〈…〉〈…〉
• Col. 3.4.
• Gen. 3.6.