_Of GOD, and that there is a God._
Now will I shut my eyes, I will stop my ears, and withdraw all my senses,
I will blot out the Images of _corporeal_ things clearly from my mind,
or (because that can scarce be accomplish’d) I will give no heed to
them, as being _vain_ and _false_, and by discoursing with my self, and
prying more rightly into my own Nature, will endeavour to make my self by
degrees more known and familiar to my self.
I am a _Thinking Thing_, that is to say, _doubting_, _affirming_,
_denying_, _understanding_ few things, _ignorant_ of many things,
_willing_, _nilling_, _imagining_ also, and _sensitive_. For (as before
I have noted) though perhaps whatever I _imagine_, or am sensible of,
as without me, _Is not_; yet that _manner_ of _thinking_ which I
call _sense_ and _imagination_ (as they are only certain _Modes_ of
_Thinking_) I am certain are in Me. So that in these few Words I have
mention’d whatever I _know_, or at least Whatever as yet I _perceive_ my
self to _know_.
Now will I look about me more carefully to see Whether there Be not some
other Thing in Me, of Which I have not yet taken Notice. I am sure That
I am a _Thinking Thing_, and therefore Do not I know what is Required to
make _certain_ of any Thing? I Answer, that in this My _first knowledge_
’tis Nothing but a _clear_, and _distinct perception_ of What I affirm,
Which would not be sufficient to make me _certain_ of the _Truth_ of
a Thing, if it were _Possible_ that any thing that I so _clearly_ and
_distinctly_ Perceive should be _false_. Wherefore I may lay this Down as
a _Principle_. _Whatever I Clearly and Distinctly perceive is certainly
True._
But I have formerly Admitted of many Things as very _Certain_ and
_manifest_, Which I afterwards found to be _doubtful_. Therefore What
sort of Things were they? _Viz._ Heaven, Earth, Stars, and all other
things which I perceived by my _Senses_. But What did I Perceive of
These _Clearly? Viz._ That I had the _Ideas_ or _Thoughts_ of these
things in my mind, and at Present I cannot deny that I have these _Ideas_
in Me. But there was some other thing Which I affirm’d, and Which (by
Reason of the common Way of Belief) I thought that I _Clearly_ Perceived;
Which nevertheless, I did not really Perceive; And that was, that there
were Certain Things _Without Me_ from whence these _Ideas Proceeded_, and
to which they were exactly like. And this it was, Wherein I was either
_Deceived_, or if by Chance I Judged _truly_, yet it Proceeded not from
the strength of my _Perception_.
But When I was exercised about any single and easie Proposition in
Arithmetick or Geometry, as that two and three added make five, Did not
I Perceive them _Clearly_ enough to make me affirm them True? Truly
concerning these I had no other Reason afterwards to _Doubt_, but That I
thought Perhaps there may be a _God_ who might have so created me, that
I should be _Deceived_ even in those things which seem’d most _Clear_ to
me. And as often as this Pre-conceived opinion of _Gods great Power_
comes into my Mind, I cannot but Confess that he may easily cause me to
Err even in those things which I Think I perceive most _Evidently_ with
my Mind; yet as often as I Consider the Things themselves, which I Judge
my self to perceive so _Clearly_, I am so fully Perswaded by them, that I
easily Break out into these Expressions, Let Who can Deceive Me, yet he
shall never Cause me _Not to Be_ whilst _I think that I Am_, or that it
shall ever be True, _that I never was_, Whilst at Present ’tis True _that
I am_, or Perhaps, that Two and Three added make More or Less then Five;
for in These things I Percieve a Manifest Repugnancy; And truely seeing
I have no reason to Think any _God_ a _Deceiver_, Nor as yet fully know
Whether there Be _any God_, or _Not_, ’Tis but a slight and (as I may
say) Metaphysical Reason of Doubt, which depends only on that opinion of
which I am not yet Perswaded.
Wherefore That this Hindrance may be taken away, When I have time I ought
to Enquire, Whether there _Be a God_, And if there be One, Whether he can
be a _Deceiver_, For whilst I am _Ignorant_ of this, I cannot possibly
be fully _Certain_ of any Other thing.
But now Method seems to Require Me to Rank all My Thoughts under certain
Heads, and to search in Which of them _Truth_ or _Falshood_ properly
Consists. Some of them are (as it were) the _Images_ of Things, and to
these alone the Name of an _Idea_ properly belongs, as When I think upon
a Man, A Chimera or Monster, Heaven, an Angel, or _God_. But there are
others of them, that have _superadded Forms_ to them, as when I Will,
when I Fear, when I Affirm, when I Deny. I know I have alwayes (when ever
I think) some certain Thing as the _subject_ or _object_ of my Thought,
but in this last sort of thoughts there is something _more_ which I Think
upon then Barely the likeness of the Thing. And of these Thoughts some
are called _Wills_ and _Affections_, and Others of them _Judgments_.
Now as touching _Ideas_, if they be Consider’d alone as they are in
themselves, without _Respect_ to any other Things, they cannot Properly
be _false_; for Whether I _Imagine_ a Goat or a Chimera, ’tis as
_Certain_ that I _Imagine_ one as t’other. Also in the _Will_ and
_Affections_ I need not Fear any _Falshood_, For tho I should _Wish_ for
_evil Things_, or Things that are Not, it is not therefore _Not true_
that I Wish for them.
Wherefore there onely Remains my _Judgments_ of Things, in which I
must take Care that I be not _deceived_. Now the Chief and most usual
_Error_ that I discover in them is, That I _Judge_ Those _Ideas_ that
are _within_ me to be _Conformable_ and like to certain things that are
_without_ Me; for truely if I Consider those Ideas as certain _Modes_ of
my _Thought_, without Respect to any other Thing, they will scarce afford
me an Occasion of _Erring_.
Of these _Ideas_ some are _Innate_, some _Adventitious_, and some Others
seem to Me as Created by my self; For that I understand what _A Thing_
Is, What is _Truth_, What a _Thought_, seems to Proceed meerly from my
own _Nature_. But that I now _hear_ a Noise, _see_ the Sun, or _feel_
heat, _I_ have alwayes _Judged_ to Proceed from Things _External_. But
Lastly, Mermaids, Griffins, and such like Monsters, are _made meerly_ by
_My self_. And yet _I_ may well think all of them either _Adventitious_,
or all of them _Innate_, or all of them _made by my self_, for I have not
as yet discover’d their true _Original_.
But _I_ ought cheifly to search after those of them which _I_ count
_Adventitious_, and which I consider as coming from _outward objects_,
that I may know what reason I have to think them _like_ the things
themselves, which they _represent_. Viz. _Nature so teaches Me_; and also
I know that they _depend_ not on my _Will_, and therefore _not on me_;
for they are often present with me against my inclinations, or (as they
say) in spite of my teeth, as now whether _I will_ or _no_ I feel heat,
and therefore I think that the _sense_ or _Idea_ of heat is propagated
to me by a _thing_ really _distinct_ from _my self_, and that is by the
_heat_ of the _Fire_ at which I sit; And nothing is more obvious then for
me to judge that That thing should transmit its own _Likeness_ into me,
rather then that any other thing should be transmitted by it. Which sort
of arguments whether firme enough or not I shall now Trie.
When I here say, that _nature so teaches me_, I understand only, that
I am as it were _willingly forced_ to beleive it, and not that ’tis
_discover’d_ to me to be _true_ by any _natural light_; for these two
differ very much. For whatever is discover’d to me by the _Light_
of _nature_ (as that it necessarily Follows _that I am_, because _I
think_) cannot possibly be _doubted_; Because I am endowed with no other
_Faculty_, in which I may put so great confidence, as I can in the
_Light_ of _nature_; or _which_ can possibly tell me, that those things
are _false_, which _natural light_ teaches me to be _true_; and as to
my _natural Inclinations_, I have heretofore often judged my self led
by them to the election of the _worst part_, when I was in the choosing
_one_ of two Goods; and therefore I see no reason why I should ever
_trust_ them in any other thing.
And then, tho these _Ideas depend not_ on my _will_, it does not
therefore follow that they _necessarily proceed_ from _things external_.
For as, Altho those _Inclinations_ (which I but now mention’d) are in me,
yet they seem _distinct_ and _different_ from my _will_; so perhaps there
may be in me some other _faculty_ (to me _unknown_) which may prove the
_Efficient cause_ of these _Ideas_, as hitherto I have observed them
to be formed in me whilst I _dream_, without the help of any _External
Object_.
And last of all, tho they should _proceed_ from things which are
_different_ from me, it does not therefore follow that they must be
_like_ those things. For often times I have found the _thing_ and the
_Idea differing_ much. As for example, I find in my self two divers
_Ideas_ of the Sun, _one_ as _received_ by my _senses_ (and which cheifly
I reckon among those I call adventitious) by which it appears to me very
_smal_, * _another_ as taken from the arguments of Astronomers (that is
to say, _consequentially collected_, or some other ways made by me from
certain _natural notions_) by which ’tis rendred something bigger then
the Globe of the Earth. Certainly both of these cannot be _like_ that sun
which is _without me_, and my reason perswades me, that that _Idea_ is
most _unlike_ the Sun, which seems to _proceed Immediately_ from it self.
All which things sufficiently prove, that I have hitherto (not from a
_true judgement_, but from a _blind impulse_) beleived that there are
certain things _different_ from my self, and which have sent their
_Ideas_ or _Images_ into me by the Organs of my _senses_, or some other
way.
But I have yet an other Way of inquiring, whether any of those Things
(whose _Ideas_ I have _within_ Me) are Really Existent _without_ Me;
And that is Thus: As those _Ideas_ are only _Modes_ of _Thinking_, I
acknowledge no _Inequality_ between them, and they all proceed from me
in the _same Manner_. But as _one_ Represents _one thing_, an _other_,
an _other Thing_, ’tis Evident there is a _Great difference_ between
them. * For without doubt, Those of them which Represent _Substances_
are something _More_, or (as I may say) have _More_ of _Objective
Reallity_ in them, then those that Represent only _Modes_ or _Accidents_;
and again, _That_ by Which I understand a _Mighty God_, _Eternal_,
_Infinite_, _Omniscient_, _Omnipotent Creatour_ of all things besides
himself, has certainly in it _more Objective Reallity_, then Those
_Ideas_ by which _Finite Substances_ are Exhibited.
But Now, it is evident by the _Light_ of _Nature_ that there must be
_as much_ at least in the _Total efficient Cause_, as there is in the
_Effect_ of _that Cause_; For from Whence can the _effect_ have its
_Reallity_, but from the _Cause_? and how can the _Cause_ give it that
_Reallity_, unless _it self have_ it?
And from hence it follows, that neither a _Thing_ can be made out of
_Nothing_, Neither a Thing which is _more Perfect_ (that is, Which has in
it self _more Reallity_) _proceed_ from That Which is _Less Perfect_.
And this is _Clearly_ True, not only in those _Effects_ whose _Actual_
or _Formal Reallity_ is Consider’d, But in Those _Ideas_ also, Whose
_Objective Reallity_ is only Respected; That is to say, for Example of
Illustration, it is not only impossible that a stone, Which _was not_,
should now begin _to Be_, unless it were produced by _something_, in
Which, Whatever goes to the Making a Stone, is either _Formally_ or
_Virtually_; neither can _heat_ be Produced in any Thing, which before
was _not hot_, but by a Thing which is at least of as equal a _degree_ of
_Perfection_ as _heat_ is; But also ’tis Impossible that I should have
an _Idea_ of Heat, or of a _Stone_, unless it were put into me by some
_Cause_, in which there is at Least as much _Reallity_, as I Conceive
there is in heat or a Stone. For tho that _Cause_ transfers none of its
own _Actual_ or _Formal Reality_ into my _Idea_, I must not from thence
conclude that ’tis _less real_; but I may think that the _nature_ of the
_Idea_ it self is such, that of it self it requires no other _formal
reality_, but what it has from my _thought_, of which ’tis a _mode_. But
that this Idea has _this_ or _that objective reallity_, rather then any
_other_, proceeds clearly from some _cause_, in which there ought to be
at least as much _formal reallity_, as there is of _objective reallity_
in the _Idea_ it self. For if we suppose any thing in the _Idea_, which
was not in its _cause_, it must of necessity have this from _nothing_;
but (tho it be a most _Imperfect manner_ of _existing_, by which the
thing is _objectively_ in the _Intellect_ by an _Idea_, yet) it is not
_altogether nothing_, and therefore cannot proceed from _nothing_.
Neither ought I to doubt, seeing the _reallity_ which I perceive in
my _Ideas_ is only an _objective reallity_, that therefore it must of
necessity follow, that the same _reallity_ should be in the _causes_
of these _Ideas formally_. But I may conclude, that ’tis sufficient
that this _reallity_ be in the very _causes_ only _objectively_. For as
that _objective manner_ of _being_ appertains to the very _nature_ of
an _Idea_, so that _formal manner_ of _being_ appertains to the very
_nature_ of a _cause_ of _Ideas_, at least to the _first_ and _chiefest
causes_ of them; For tho perhaps one _Idea_ may receive its birth from
an other, yet we cannot proceed in _Infinitum_, but at last we must
arrive at some _first Idea_, whose _cause_ is (as it were) an _Original
copy_, in which all the _objective reallity_ of the _Idea_ is _formally
contain’d_. So that I plainly discover by the _light_ of _nature_, that
the _Ideas_, which are in me, are (as it were) _Pictures_, which may
easily _come short_ of the _perfection_ of those things from whence they
are taken, but cannot _contain_ any thing _greater_ or _more perfect_
then them: And the _longer_ and _more diligently_ I pry into these
things, so much the more _clearly_ and _distinctly_ do I discover them to
be _true_.
But what shall I conclude from hence? Thus, that if the _objective
reallity_ of any of my _Ideas_ be _such_, that it cannot be in me either
_formally_ or _eminently_, and that therefore I cannot be the _cause_
of _that Idea_, from hence it necessarily Follows, that _I alone_ do
not only _exist_, but that some other thing, which is _cause_ of that
_Idea_, does _exist also_.
But if I can find no _such Idea_ in me, I have no argument to perswade
me of the _existence_ of any thing besides my self for I have diligently
enquired, and hitherto I could discover no other _perswasive_.
Some of these _Ideas_ there are (besides that which represents _my self_
to _my self_, of which in this place I cannot doubt) which represent
to me, one of them a _God_, others of them _Corporeal_ and _Inanimate_
things, some of them _Angels_, others _Animals_, and lastly some of them
which exhibite to me _men like my self_.
As touching those that represent _Men_ or _Angels_ or _Animals_, I easily
understand that they may be _made up_ of those _Ideas_ which I have of
_my self_, of _Corporeal_ things, and of _God_, tho there were neither
_man_ (but my self) nor _Angel_, nor _Animal_ in being.
And as to the _Ideas_ of _Corporeal_ things, I find nothing in them of
that _perfection_, but it may proceed from my self; for if I look into
them more narrowly, and examine them more particularly, as yesterday
(_in the second Medit._) I did the _Idea_ of Wax, I find there are but
few things which I perceive _clearly_ and _distinctly_ in them, viz.
_Magnitude_ or _extension_ in _Longitude_, _Latitude_, and _Profundity_,
the _Figure_ or _shape_ which arises from the _termination_ of that
_Extension_, the _Position_ or _place_ which divers _Figured Bodies_
have in _respect_ of each other, their _motion_ or _change of place_; to
which may be added, their _substance_, _continuance_, and _number_; as to
the other, such as are, _Light_, _Colours_, _Sounds_, _Smels_, _Tasts_,
_Heat_, and _Cold_, with the other _tactile qualities_, I have but very
_obscure_ and _confused thoughts_ of them, so that I know not, whether
they are _true_ or _false_, that is to say, whether the _Ideas_ I have of
them are the _Ideas_ of _things_ which _really are_, or _are not_. For
altho _falshood formally_ and _properly_ so called, consists only in the
_judgement_ (as before I have observed) yet there is an other sort of
_material falshood_ in _Ideas_, when they represent a _thing_ as _really
existent_, tho it does _not exist_; so, for example, the _Ideas_ I have
of _heat_ and _cold_ are so _obscure_ and _confused_, that I cannot
collect from them, whether _cold_ be a _privation_ of _heat_, or _heat_ a
_privation_ of _cold_, or whether either of them be a _real quality_, or
whether neither of them be _real_. And since every _Idea_ must be _like_
the thing it represents, if it be _true_ that _cold_ is nothing but the
_privation_ of _heat_, that _Idea_ which represents it to me as a thing
_real_ and _positive_ may deservedly be called _false_. The same may be
apply’d to other Ideas.
And now I see no necessity why I should assigne any other _Author_ of
these _Ideas_ but _my self_; for if they are _false_, that is, represent
things that _are not_, I know by the _light_ of _nature_ that they
proceed from _nothing_; that is to say, I harbour them upon no other
account, but because my _nature_ is _deficient_ in something, and
_imperfect_. But if they are _true_, yet seeing I discover so little
_reality_ in them, that that very _reality_ scarce _seems_ to _be realy_,
I see no reason why I my self should not be the _Author_ of them.
But also some of those very _Ideas_ of _Corporeal_ things which are
_clear_ and _distinct_, I may seem to have borrow’d from the _Idea_ I
have of _my self_, viz. _Substance_, _duration_, _number_, and the like;
For when I conceive a _stone_ to be a _substance_ (that is, _a thing
apt of it self to exist_) and also that I _my self_ am a _substance_,
tho I conceive _my self_ a _thinking substance_ and _not extended_, and
the _stone_ an _extended substance_ and _not thinking_, by which there
is a great _diversity_ between both the _conceptions_, yet they _agree_
in this, that they are _both substances_. So when I conceive my self as
_now_ in being, and also remember, that _heretofore_ I _have been_; and
since I have _divers_ thoughts, which I can _number_ or _count_; from
hence it is that I come by the notions of _duration_ and _number_; which
afterwards I apply to other things.
As to those other things, of which the _Idea_ of a _body_ is made up, as
_extension_, _figure_, _place_ and _motion_, they are not _formally_ in
me, seeing I am only a _thinking thing_; yet seeing they are only certain
_modes_ of _substance_, and I my self also am a _substance_, they may
seem to be in me _eminently_.
* Wherefore there only Remains the _Idea_ of a _God_, wherein I must
consider whether there be not something included, which cannot possibly
have its _original_ from me. By the word _God_, I mean a certain
_Infinite Substance_, _Independent_, _Omniscient_, _Almighty_, by whom
both _I my self_, and every thing else that _is_ (if any thing do
_Actualy exist_) was created. All which _Attributes_ are of such an _high
nature_, that the more attentively I consider them, the less I conceive
my self possible to be the _Author_ of these notions.
From what therefore has been said I must conclude that there is a _God_;
for tho the _Idea_ of _substance_ may arise in me, because that I my
self am a _substance_, yet I could not have the _Idea_ of an _Infinite
substance_ (seeing I my self am _finite_) unless it proceeded from a
_substance_ which is _really Infinite_. Neither ought I to think that
I have no _true Idea_ of _Infinity_, or that I perceive it only by the
_negation_ of what is _finite_, as I conceive _rest_ and _darkness_ by
the _negation_ or _absence_ of _motion_ or _light_. But on the contrary
I plainly understand, that there is _more reality_ in an _Infinite
substance_, then in a _Finite_; and that therefore the _perception_
of an _Infinite_ (as _God_) is _antecedent_ to the _notion_ I have of
a _finite_ (as _my self_). For how should I know that I _doubt_ or
_desire_, that is to say, that I _want_ something, and that I am _not
altogether perfect_, unless I had the _Idea_ of a _being more perfect_
then _my self_, by _comparing_ my self to which I may discover my own
_Imperfections_.
Neither can it be said that this _Idea_ of _God_ is _false Materialiter_,
and that therefore it _proceeds_ from _nothing_, as before I observed of
the _Ideas_ of _heat_ and _cold_, _&c._ For on the contrary, seeing this
_notion_ is most _clear_ and _distinct_, and contains in it self more
_objective reality_ then any other _Idea_, none can be more _true_ in
it self, nor in which less _suspition_ of _falshood_ can be found. This
_Idea_ (I say) of a _being infinitely perfect_ is most _true_, for tho
it may be supposed that such a _being_ does _not exist_, yet it cannot
be supposed that the _Idea_ of such a _being_ exhibites to me nothing
_real_, as before I have said of the _Idea_ of _cold_. This _Idea_
also is most _clear_ and _distinct_, for whatever I perceive _clearly_
and _distinctly_ to be _real_, and _true_, and _perfect_, is wholy
_contain’d_ in this _Idea_ of _God_.
Neither can it be objected, that I cannot _comprehend_ an _Infinite_, or
that there are innumerable other things in _God_, which I can neither
_conceive_, nor in the least _think upon_; for it is of the _very
nature_ of an _Infinite_ not to be _apprehendable_ by _me_ who am
_finite_. And ’tis sufficient to me to prove this my _Idea_ of _God_ to
be the most _true_, the most _clear_, and the most _distinct Idea_ of all
those _Ideas_ I have, upon this _account_, that I understand that _God_
is _not to be understood_, and that I judge that whatever I _clearly_
perceive and know _Implys_ any _perfection_, as also perhaps other
innumerable _perfections_, which I am ignorant of, are in _God_ either
_formally_ or _eminently_.
_Doubt._ But perhaps _I am_ something _more_ then I take my self to
_be_, and perhaps all these _perfections_ which I attribute to _God_,
are _potentially_ in me, tho at present they do not shew themselves, and
break into action. For I am now fully experienced that my _Knowledge_ may
be _encreased_, and I see nothing that hinders why it may not _encrease_
by degrees in _Infinitum_, nor why by my _knowledge_ so _encreased_ I
may not attain to the other _perfections_ of _God_; nor lastly, why the
_power_ or _aptitude_ of _having_ these perfections may not be sufficient
to produce the _Idea_ of them in _me_.
_Solution._ But none of these will do; for first, tho it be true that
my _Knowledge_ is capable of being _increased_, and that many things are
in me _potentially_, which _actually_ are not, yet none of these go to
the making an _Idea_ of _God_, in which I conceive nothing _potentially_,
for tis a certain argument of _imperfection_ that a thing _may be
encreased Gradually_. Moreover, tho my knowledge may be _more_ and _more
encreased_, yet I know that it can never be _actually Infinite_, for it
can never arrive to that _height_ of _perfection_, which admits not of
an _higher degree_. But I conceive God to be _actually_ so _Infinite_,
that nothing can be _added_ to his _perfections_. And lastly, I perceive
that the _objective being_ of an _Idea_ cannot be _produced_ only by the
_potential being_ of a _thing_ (which in proper speech is _nothing_) but
requires an _actual_ or _formal being_ to its _production_.
Of all which forementioned things there is nothing that is not _evident_
by the _light_ of _reason_ to any one that will diligently consider them.
Yet because that (when I am careless, and the _Images_ of _sensible_
things _blind_ my _understanding_) I do not so easily call to mind the
reasons, why the _Idea_ of a _being more perfect_ then _my self_ should
of necessity proceed from a _being_ which is _really more perfect_; It
will be requisite to enquire further, whether _I_, who have this _Idea_,
can possibly _be_, unless _such_ a _being_ did _exist_. To which end
let me aske, _from whence_ should I _be_? From _my self_? or from my
_Parents_? or from any other thing _less perfect_ then _God_? for nothing
can be thought or supposed _more perfect_, or _equally perfect_ with
_God_.
But first, If _I_ were from my self, I should neither _doubt_, nor
_desire_, nor _want_ any thing, for I should have given my self all those
_perfections_, of which I have any _Idea_, and consequently I my self
should be _God_; and I cannot think that those things I _want_, are to
be acquired with _greater difficulty_ then those things I _have_; but on
the contrary, ’tis manifest, that it were much more _difficult_ that _I_
(that is, _a substance_ that _thinks_) should _arise_ out of _nothing_,
then that I should _acquire_ the _knowledge_ of many things whereof I
am _Ignorant_, which is only the _accident_ of that _substance_. And
certainly if I had that _greater thing_ (viz _being_) from my self, I
should not have _denyed_ my self (not only, those things which may be
easier acquired, but also) All those things, which I perceived are
contain’d in the _Idea_ of a _God_; and the reason is, for that no other
things _seem_ to me to be _more difficultly_ done, and certainly if they
were _Really more difficult_, they would _seem_ more _difficult_ to me
(if whatever _I have_, I _have_ from my self) for in those things I
should find my _Power_ put to a stop.
Neither can I Evade the force of these Arguments by supposing my self to
_have alwaies Been, what now I am_, and that therefore I need not seek
for an _Author_ of my _Being_. For the _Duration_ or _Continuance_ of my
life may be _divided_ into _Innumerable Parts_, each of which does not
at all _depend_ on the _Other Parts_; Therefore it will not follow, that
because _a while ago, I was_, I must of necessity _now Be_. I say, this
will not follow, Unless, I suppose some _Cause_ to _Create me_ (as it
were) _anew_ for _this_ Moment (that is, _Conserve me_). For ’tis evident
to one that Considers the Nature of _Duration_, that the same _Power_
and _Action_ is requisite to the _Conservation_ of a Thing each _Moment_
of its _Being_, as there is to the _Creation_ of that Thing _anew_, if
it did _not exist_. So that ’tis one of those _Principles_ which are
_Evident_ by the _Light_ of _Nature_: that the _Act_ of _Conservation_
differs only _Ratione_ (as the Philosophers term it) from the _Act of
Creation_.
Wherefore I ought to ask my self this Question, whether _I_, who _now_
Am; have any _Power_ to _Cause_ my self to _Be hereafter_? (for had I any
such _power_, I should certainly _know_ of it, seeing I am nothing but
a _Thinking Thing_, or at least at present I onely treat of that part
of me, which is a _Thing_ that _Thinks_) to which, I answer, that I can
discover no such _Power_ in Me; And consequently, I evidently know that
_I depend_ on some _Other being distinct_ from _my self_.
But what if _I_ say that perhaps this _Being_ is not _God_, but that
_I_ am produced either by my _Parents_, or some other _Causes less
perfect_ then _God_? In answer to which let me consider (as _I_ have
said before) that ’tis _manifest_ that whatever is in the _effect, so
much_ at least ought to be in the _cause_; and therefore seeing _I_
am a thing that _thinks_, and have in me an _Idea_ of _God_, it will
confessedly follow, that whatever sort of _cause_ I assign of my _own
Being_, it also must be a _Thinking Thing_, and must have an _Idea_ of
all those _Perfections_, which I attribute to _God_; Of which _Cause_
it may be again Asked, whether it be _from it self_, or from any other
_Cause_? If _from it self_, ’tis evident (from what has been said) that
it must be _God_; For seeing it has the _Power_ of _Existing of it self_,
without doubt it has also the _power_ of _actually Possessing_ all those
_Perfections_ whereof it has an _Idea_ in it self, that is, all those
_Perfections_ which I conceive in _God_. But if it Be from an _other
Cause_, it may again be asked of that _Cause_ whether it be _of it self_,
or from an _other_; Till at length We arrive at the _Last Cause_ of All,
Which will Be _God_. For ’tis evident, that this _Enquiry_ will not admit
of _Progressus in Infinitum_, especially when at Present I treat not
only of that Cause which at _first made_ Me; But chiefly of that which
_conserves_ me in this _Instant_ time.
Neither can it be supposed that many _partial Causes_ have _concurred_
to the making Me, and that I received the _Idea_ of one of _Gods
perfections_ from _One_ of them, and from an _other_ of them the _Idea_
of an _other_; and that therefore all these Perfections are to be
found _scattered_ in the World, but not all of them _Joyn’d_ in any
one which may Be _God_. For on the contrary, _Unity_, _Simplicity_,
or the _inseparability_ of All Gods Attributes is one of the _chief
Perfections_ which I conceive in Him; and certainly the _Idea_ of the
_Unity_ of the _Divine Perfections_ could not be _created_ in me by any
other _cause_, then by _That_, from whence I have received the _Ideas_ of
his other _perfections_; For ’tis Impossible to make me conceive these
_perfections_, _conjunct_ and _inseparable_, unless he should also make
me know what _perfections_ these _are_.
Lastly as touching my _having_ my _Being_ from my _Parents_. Tho whatever
Thoughts I have heretofore harbour’d of Them were _True_, yet certainly
they _contribute_ nothing to my _conservation_, neither proceed I from
them as _I am_ a _Thing_ that _Thinks_, for they have onely _predisposed_
that _material Thing_, wherein _I_, that is, _my mind_ (_which_ only
at present I take for _my self_) _Inhabits_. Wherefore I cannot _now_
Question that I am sprung from them. But I must of necessity conclude
that because _I am_, and because I have an _Idea_ of a _Being most
perfect_, that is, of _God_, it evidently follows that _there is a God_.
* Now it only remains for me to examine, how I have received this _Idea_
of _God_. For I have neither received it by _means_ of _my Senses_,
neither comes it to me _without_ my _Forethought_, as the _Ideas_ of
_sensible_ things use to do, when such things _Work_ on the Organs of my
_Sense_, or at least _seem_ so to work; Neither is this _Idea_ framed
by _my self_, for I can neither _detract from_, nor _add_ any thing
_thereto_. Wherefore I have only to conclude that it is _Innate_, even as
the _Idea_ of me _my self_ is _Natural_ to my self.
And truly ’tis not to be Admired that _God_ in Creating me should
_Imprint_ this _Idea_ in me, that it may there remain as a _stamp
impressed_ by the _Workman God_ on _me_ his _Work_, neither is it
requisite that this _stamp_ should be a Thing _different_ from the _Work_
it self, but ’tis very Credible (from hence only that _God Created_ me)
that I am made as it were according to his _likeness_ and _Image_, and
that the same _likeness_, in which the _Idea_ of God is contain’d, is
_perceived_ by Me with the _same faculty_, with which I _perceive my
Self_; That is to say, whilst _I reflect_ upon my self, _I_ do not only
_perceive_ that I am an _Imperfect_ thing, having my _dependance_ upon
some other thing, and that I am a Thing that Desires _more_ and _better_
things _Indefinitely_; But also at the same time I understand, that _He_
on whom I _depend_ contains in him all those _wish’d for things_ (not
only _Indefinitely_ and _Potentially_, but) _Really_, _Indefinitely_;
and that therefore he is _God_. The whole stress of which * Argument
lies 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_ (that is, Having all those _perfections_, which I cannot
_comprehend_, but can as it were _think upon them_) and who is not
_subject_ to any _Defects_.
By which ’tis evident that _God_ is no _Deceiver_; for ’tis manifest by
the _Light_ of _Nature_, that all _fraud_ and _deceit_ depends on some
_defect_. But before I prosecute this any farther, or pry into other
_Truthes_ which may be deduced from this, I am willing here to stop, and
dwell upon the Contemplation of this _God_, to Consider with my self
His _Divine Attributes_, to behold, admire, and adore the Loveliness of
this _Immense light_, as much as possibly I am able to accomplish with my
_dark_ Understanding. For as by _Faith_ we _believe_ that the greatest
_happiness_ of the _next Life_ consists alone in the _Contemplation_ of
the _Divine Majesty_, so we _find_ by _Experience_ that now we receive
from thence the greatest _pleasure_, whereof we are capable in _this
Life_; Tho it be much more _Imperfect_ then that in the _Next_.