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1、A Theologico Political Treatise Part 2 1 A Theologico Political Treatise Part 2 Chapters VI to X Baruch Spinoza A Theologico Political Treatise Part 2 2 CHAPTER VI OF MIRACLES 1 As men are accustomed to call Divine the knowledge which transcends human understanding so also do they style Divine or th
2、e work of God anything of which the cause is not generally known for the masses think that the power and providence of God are most clearly displayed by events that are extraordinary and contrary to the conception they have formed of nature especially if such events bring them any profit or convenie
3、nce they think that the clearest possible proof of God s existence is afforded when nature as they suppose breaks her accustomed order and consequently they believe that those who explain or endeavour to understand phenomena or miracles through their natural causes are doing away with God and His pr
4、ovidence 2 They suppose forsooth that God is inactive so long as nature works in her accustomed order and vice versa that the power of nature and natural causes are idle so long as God is acting thus they imagine two powers distinct one from the other the power of God and the power of nature though
5、the latter is in a sense determined by God or as most people believe now created by Him 3 What they mean by either and what they understand by God and nature they do not know except that they imagine the power of God to be like that of some royal potentate and nature s power to consist in force and
6、energy 4 The masses then style unusual phenomena miracles and partly from piety partly for the sake of opposing the students of science prefer to remain in ignorance of natural causes and only to hear of those things which they know least and consequently admire most 5 In fact the common people can
7、only adore God and refer all things to His power by removing natural causes and conceiving things happening out of their due course and only admires the power of God when the power of nature is conceived of as in subjection to it 6 This idea seems to have taken its rise among the early Jews who saw
8、the Gentiles round them worshipping visible gods such as the sun the A Theologico Political Treatise Part 2 3 moon the earth water air hence as it follows necessarily from the Divine nature and perfection that God understands a thing as it is it follows no less necessarily that He wills it as it is
9、16 Now as nothing is necessarily true save only by Divine decree it is plain that the universal laws of nature are decrees of God following from the necessity and perfection of the Divine nature 17 Hence any event happening in nature which contravened nature s universal laws would necessarily also c
10、ontravene the Divine decree nature and understanding or if anyone asserted that God acts in contravention to the laws of nature he ipso facto would be compelled to assert that God acted against His own nature an evident absurdity 18 One might easily show from the same premises that the power and eff
11、iciency of nature are in themselves the Divine power and efficiency and that the Divine power is the very essence of God but this I gladly pass over for the present 19 Nothing then comes to pass in nature N B I do not mean here by nature merely matter and its modifications but infinite other things
12、besides matter in contravention to her universal laws nay everything agrees with them and follows from them for whatsoever comes to pass comes to pass by the will and eternal decree of God that is as we have just pointed out whatever comes to pass comes to pass according to laws and rules which invo
13、lve eternal necessity and truth nature therefore always observes laws and rules which involve eternal necessity and truth although they may not all be known to us and therefore she keeps a fixed and mutable order 20 Nor is there any sound reason for limiting the power and efficacy of nature and asse
14、rting that her laws are fit for certain purposes but not for all for as the efficacy and power of nature are the very efficacy and power of God and as the laws and rules of nature are the decrees of God it is in every way to be believed that the power of nature is infinite and that her laws are broa
15、d enough to embrace everything conceived by the Divine intellect the only alternative is to assert that God has created nature so weak and has ordained for her laws so barren that He is repeatedly compelled to come afresh to her aid if He wishes that she should be preserved and that things should ha
16、ppen as He desires a conclusion in My opinion very far removed from reason 21 A Theologico Political Treatise Part 2 5 Further as nothing happens in nature which does not follow from her laws and as her laws embrace everything conceived by the Divine intellect and lastly as nature preserves a fixed and immutable order it most clearly follows that miracles are only intelligible as in relation to human opinions and merely mean events of which the natural cause cannot be explained by a reference to
