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. V. The three Divine Persons imprint each their proper Cha∣racter on our Souls; and our Duties give equal Honour to them all three. Tho' our Duties consist only in in∣ward Judgments and Motions, yet we must shew them by outward Signs, in regard of our Society with other Men.

I. THe three Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity im∣print each their proper Character on the Spirits which they created after their own Image. The Fa∣ther, whose peculiar Attribute is Power, imparts his Power to them, by making them occasional Causes of all the Effects which are produc'd by them. The Son communicates his Wisdom, and discovers to them all Truth by closely uniting them to that intellectual Sub∣stance which he hath, as he is the universal Reason. The Holy Ghost inspires and sanctifies them, by the invincible Impression which they have for Good, and by Charity or the love of Order, which he sheds abroad in their Hearts. As the Father begets his Word, so the Mind of Man, by his desires, is the occasional Cause of his Knowledge. And as the Father with the Son is the Fountain and Original of the Substantial and Di∣vine Law; so our Knowledge occasion'd by our desires, which are the only Things that are truly in our Power, is with us the Principal and Original of all the Re∣gular Motions of our Love.

II. It is true, the Father begets his Word of his own Substance; because God alone is essentially and sub∣stantially his own Wisdom and his own Light. The mutual Love of the Father and the Son, proceeds from themselvees; because God alone is his own Good, and his own Law. But we are not our own Reason, and therefore Light and Understanding cannot be a natural Emanation of our own Substance, We are not our own Good, nor our own Law; and therefore all the Motion we have must proceed from, and carry us to something

without us, it must unite us to our Good, and make us conformable to our Pattern.

III. God made all Things by his Wisdom, and in the Motion of his Spirit or his Love: So also we never act but with Knowledge, and by the Motion of Love. The three Divine Persons have an equal share in the Production of all Things: So also that which we do without Knowledge, and without a full and entire Will, is not properly our own Work. The Father hath, as I may say, a Right of Mission over the Son: So it is in our power to think on what we will. The Son sends the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, in the unity of the same Nature; so also our Love is grounded on Light, it proceeds from, and is produc'd by it. Lastly, The Love which proceeds from a clear Perception or Knowledge, loves it self, the Ob∣ject of that Knowledge, and the Knowledge it self; as the substantial Love infinitely loves the Divine Sub∣stance in the Father begetting, in the Son begotten, and in the Holy Ghost himself, proceeding from the Father and the Son.

IV. All these Relations of the Mind of Man to the holy Trinity, are but shadows and imperfect Draughts, which can never come up to the Original of all Beings, who by an incomprehensible property of Infinity, com∣municates himself without Division, and forms a Socie∣ty of three different Persons in the unity of the same Substance. But tho' the Image of God which we bear, be very imperfect in respect of our Original; yet there is nothing more great and noble for a mere created Being, than this faint resemblance. We labour for our Perfection, only as we maintain and keep it up; we secure our Happiness no further, than we fashion our selves according to our Model. All our true Judgments and regular Motions, all the Duties which we pay to the Wisdom, Power and Love of God, are so as many Steps by which we advance toward the Fountain of all Good; and an habitual Disposition to frame these Judg∣ments and excite these Motions, is the real Perfection of Man, who essentially depends on the supreme Good, and was made for no other End, but to find his Perfe∣ction and Happiness in doing his Duty.

V. Now as the three Persons in the Trinity are but one God, one and the same Substance; so all those Du∣ties which seem to relate particularly to any one of the Persons, give equal Honour to the other two. Every Regular Motion honours the Power of the Father, as its Good; the Wisdom of the Son, as its Law; and the mutual Love of the Father and the Son, as its Prin∣cipal and Original. On the contrary, every Sin, or every Love of the Creatures dishonours the true Power, opposes the universal Reason, and resists the holy Spi∣rit: So that we cannot absolutely separate the Duties which we owe to the Power of God, from those which we owe to his Wisdom and to the Substantial and Di∣vine Love; and therefore I have been forc'd, in the three foregoing Chapters, to repeat the same things after different manners.

VI. Tho' all the Duties which Spiritual Beings owe to God, who is a pure Spirit, and will be worship'd in Spirit and in Truth, consist only in true Judgments, and Motions of Love conformable to those Judgments; yet Men being compos'd of a Soul and a Body, living in Societies with one another, educated in the same outward Religious Worship, and thereby tied to cer∣tain Ceremonies; they are oblig'd to an infinite num∣ber of particular Duties, which have all of them a ne∣cessary Relation to those which I have already set down in general. All these external Duties are arbitra∣ry and indifferent, at least in their first Foundation and Original; but the spiritual Duties are in themselves ab∣solutely necessary. We may dispense with outward Duties, but we can never dispense with the others; they depend on an inviolable Law, the immutable and necessary Order. Outward Duties of themselves do not sanctify those that render them to God; they re∣ceive their Worth and Value only from the spiritual Duties which accompany them; but all the Motions of the Soul which are govern'd by true Judgments, do immediately and of themselves, honour the Divine Per∣fections.

VII. Thus, for instance, it is a Duty indifferent in it self, for a Man to pull off his Hat when he comes into a Church. But to enter into the presence of God with respect, and with some inward Motion of Reli∣gion,

is not an arbitrary, but an essential Duty. He that for some particular Reason cannot be uncover'd at Mass, may be cover'd at the Celebration of it; Wo∣men are excus'd from this Duty; and provided it be known that it is not done out of contempt, but upon necessity, commonly their needs no dispensation for it. None but those that have wrong Notions of things, cen∣forious and weak People will find fault with it; but no one that is present at that Sacrifice can be excus'd from offering up to God the Sacrifice of his Mind and Heart, Praises and Motions which honour God. He that prostrates himself before the Altar, is so far from meriting, and honouring God by that outward Duty, that he commits a heinous Crime, if he designs by that Action only to gain the Esteem of the World. But he, who tho' he be unmov'd outwardly, is nevertheless inwardly agitated with Motions agreeable to the Know∣ledge which Faith and Reason give him of the Divine Attributes, honours God, draws near and unites him∣self to him. He conforms himself to the immutable Law by Regular Motions, which leave behind them a Habit or Disposition of Charity, and thereby truly pu∣rifies and sanctifies himself. But there are many People whose Religion is not spiritual; they go no farther than the outside which makes an Impression on them, and often determines them to do that by imitation, which they had no design to do of themselves.

VIII. Certainly it is a disrespect to the univer∣sal Reason, to separate our selves from it by the use of Wine; or to run away from our selves, where Rea∣son inhabits, and where it gives its Oracles, and suffer our selves to be carried by our Passions into a World where the Imagination reigns. In a word, to depart voluntarily, and without any necessity, from the pre∣sence of our Good and of our Reason, is a Motion which dishonours the Divine Majesty, it is Irreligious and Impious. But the generality of People do not judge of things after this manner; they judge of a Man's inward Sentiments by his outward Actions and Behaviour; they imagine it a great Crime to do some Actions in a holy Place, tho' perhaps they are not in∣decent in themselves; and yet never consider, that no∣thing is more indecent than to neglect the essential Du∣ties

of a rational Creature in any place whatsoever. A Man that is Religious even to Superstition passes for a Saint with them, but the Christian Philosopher is counted no better than a Heathen, if he will not aban∣don Reason to agree with their Notions, and religi∣ously observe their Customs.

IX. Indeed the Philosopher doth ill, if he neglects the external Duties, and thereby offends the Weak and Simple.

It were better for him that a Mill-stone were hang'd about his Neck, and that he were Drown'd in the depth of the Sea.

Every Man ought to testify his Faith by visible Actions, and thereby incline other Men, who are always affected with the outward Beha∣haviour, to such Motions as give honour to God. In every thing that relates to God, we should with all Humility assume the air and posture of Adoration. Any other is at least Foolish and Ridiculous. But it is Impi∣ous, to use such outward Actions as are superstitious and lead Men's Minds to Judgments and Motions which disho∣nour the divine Attributes. They are excusable perhaps in such as have but a confus'd Idea of God: But he that is better instructed in Religion, and hath a more particular knowledge of the divine Perfections, ought not to do any thing out of any humane Consideration, that contra∣dicts his own Light.

X. The greatest part of Christians have a Jewish Spirit; their Religion is not Spiritual, and consequently not Rational.

This is Life eternal, to know the true God, and Jesus Christ his only Son:

To have Senti∣ments worthy of the divine Attributes, and Motions agreable to those Sentiments: To know Jesus Christ, who alone gives us access to the Father, and diffuses Charity in our Hearts: To be fully convinc'd, that he alone is the High-Priest of the true Goods, or the oc∣casional cause of Grace, that so we may draw near to him with Confidence, and by his assistance excite in our selves such Motions as are suitable to the knowledge he hath given us of the true Worship, which honours the divine Majesty. But instead of this, every one frames to himself a Theology, a Religion, or at least a Devotion apart, of which Self-love is the Motive, Pre∣judice and Possession the Foundation and Beginning, and sensual Goods the End. The Worship of God con∣sists many times only in outward Sacrifices, in verbal

Prayers, in Ceremonies which were at first ordain'd to raise the Mind to God, but now serve only by their splendor and magnificence to refresh the Imagination in most People, when they are tir'd and out of relish with the performance of their Duties to God. Custom, hu∣man Considerations, or Hypocrisy carry their Bodies into the Church: But their Minds and Hearts never come there. And while the Priest offers up Jesus Christ to God in their Presence, or rather while Christ offers up himself to his Father for their Sins on our Altars, they on their part Sacrifice to Ambition, Avarice or Pleasure, spiritual Sacrifices in all the places whither their Imagination carries them.

Notes

• Mat. 18.6.
• Joh. 17.3.