or Predestination, we shall frame insensibly a true rule for our actions, which will be follow'd by that of our opinions.
If we come to a reconciliation of wills upon the good conduct of Life, it will soon produce a good understanding in Doctrine. Let us but join in Good Works, and we shall not long be of separate Faiths.
I conclude from this short Discourse, that it is an ill method of converting men, to attack them by affronting their Judgments. A man defends his notions either as true, or as his own[1]; and however it be, he raises a hundred objections against the person that wou'd convince him. Nature has given to every one his proper sense, and seems to have engag'd him to it by a secret fond indulgence. He can submit to the will of another, tho he be free: he can own himself inferiour in Courage and Virtue; but he is asham'd to confess a submission to another man's Sense: his most natural reluctance is to acknowledge a superiority of Reason in any one whomsoever.
Our chief advantage is to be born reasonable: Our greatest jealousy is to find that others pretend to be so, more than our selves. If we consult the Conversions of antient times, we shall find that the Souls were mov'd, but the Understandings very little convinc'd. The first disposition to receive the truths of Christianity is form'd in the Heart. In things purely natural, 'tis the mind's part to conceive, and its knowledge goes before the affection for the objects: in things supernatural, the Soul is taken, it is affected, it adheres, and unites it self, without ever comprehending them.
Heaven has better prepar'd our Hearts for the impressions of God's Grace, than our Understand-
- ↑ This is one of Montaigne's reflexions.
