Читать книгу The Existence of God - François de Salignac de La Mothe- Fénelon - Страница 2

INTRODUCTION

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

SECTION I. Metaphysical Proofs of the Existence of God are not within Everybody’s reach.

SECT. II. Moral Proofs of the Existence of God are fitted to every man’s capacity.

SECT. III. Why so few Persons are attentive to the Proofs Nature affords of the Existence of God.

SECT. IV. All Nature shows the Existence of its Maker.

SECT. V. Noble Comparisons proving that Nature shows the Existence of its Maker. First Comparison, drawn from Homer’s “Iliad.”

SECT. VI. Second Comparison, drawn from the Sound of Instruments.

SECT. VII. Third Comparison, drawn from a Statue.

SECT. VIII. Fourth Comparison, drawn from a Picture.

SECT. IX. A Particular Examination of Nature.

SECT. X. Of the General Structure of the Universe.

SECT. XI. Of the Earth.

SECT. XII. Of Plants.

SECT. XIII. Of Water.

SECT. XIV. Of the Air.

SECT. XV. Of Fire.

SECT. XVI. Of Heaven.

SECT. XVII. Of the Sun.

SECT. XVIII. Of the Stars.

SECT. XIX. Of Animals, Beasts, Fowl, Birds, Fishes, Reptiles, and Insects.

SECT. XX. Admirable Order in which all the Bodies that make up the Universe are ranged.

SECT. XXI. Wonders of the Infinitely Little.

SECT. XXII. Of the Structure or Frame of the Animal.

SECT. XXIII. Of the Instinct of the Animal.

SECT. XXIV. Of Food.

SECT. XXV. Of Sleep.

SECT. XXVI. Of Generation.

SECT. XXVII. Though Beasts commit some Mistakes, yet their Instinct is, in many cases, Infallible.

SECT. XXVIII. It is impossible Beasts should have Souls.

SECT. XXIX. Sentiments of some of the Ancients concerning the Soul and Knowledge of Beasts.

SECT. XXX. Of Man.

SECT. XXXI. Of the Structure of Man’s Body.

SECT. XXXII. Of the Skin.

SECT. XXXIII. Of Veins and Arteries.

SECT. XXXIV. Of the Bones, and their Jointing.

SECT. XXXV. Of the Organs.

SECT. XXXVI. Of the Inward Parts.

SECT. XXXVII. Of the Arms and their Use.

SECT. XXXVIII. Of the Neck and Head.

SECT. XXXIX. Of the Forehead and Other Parts of the Face.

SECT. XL. Of the Tongue and Teeth.

SECT. XLI. Of the Smell, Taste, and Hearing.

SECT. XLII. Of the Proportion of Man’s Body.

SECT. XLIII. Of the Soul, which alone, among all Creatures, Thinks and Knows.

SECT. XLIV. Matter Cannot Think.

SECT. XLV. Of the Union of the Soul and Body, of which God alone can be the Author.

SECT. XLVI. The Soul has an Absolute Command over the Body.

SECT. XLVII. The Power of the Soul over the Body is not only Supreme or Absolute, but Blind at the same time.

SECT. XLVIII. The Sovereignty of the Soul over the Body principally appears in the Images imprinted in the Brain.

SECT. XLIX. Two Wonders of the Memory and Brain.

SECT. L. The Mind of Man is mixed with Greatness and Weakness. Its Greatness consists in two things. First, the Mind has the Idea of the Infinite.

SECT. LI. The Mind knows the Finite only by the Idea of the Infinite.

SECT. LII. Secondly, the Ideas of the Mind are Universal, Eternal, and Immutable.

SECT. LIII. Weakness of Man’s Mind.

SECT. LIV. The Ideas of Man are the Immutable Rules of his Judgment.

SECT. LV. What Man’s Reason is.

SECT. LVI. Reason is the Same in all Men, of all Ages and Countries.

SECT. LVII. Reason in Man is Independent of and above Him.

SECT. LVIII. It is the Primitive Truth, that Lights all Minds, by communicating itself to them.

SECT. LIX. It is by the Light of Primitive Truth a Man Judges whether what one says to him be True or False.

SECT. LX. The Superior Reason that resides in Man is God Himself; and whatever has been above discovered to be in Man, are evident Footsteps of the Deity.

SECT. LXI. New sensible Notices of the Deity in Man, drawn from the Knowledge he has of Unity.

SECT. LXII. The Idea of the Unity proves that there are Immaterial Substances; and that there is a Being Perfectly One, who is God.

SECT. LXIII. Dependence and Independence of Man. His Dependence Proves the Existence of his Creator.

SECT. LXIV. Good Will cannot Proceed but from a Superior Being.

SECT. LXV. As a Superior Being is the Cause of All the Modifications of Creatures, so it is Impossible for Man’s Will to Will Good by Itself or of its own Accord.

SECT. LXVI. Of Man’s Liberty.

SECT. LXVII. Man’s Liberty Consists in that his Will by determining, Modifies Itself.

SECT. LXVIII. Will may Resist Grace, and Its Liberty is the Foundation of Merit and Demerit.

SECT. LXIX. A Character of the Deity, both in the Dependence and Independence of Man.

SECT. LXX. The Seal and Stamp of the Deity in His Works.

SECT. LXXI. Objection of the Epicureans, who Ascribe Everything to Chance, considered.

SECT. LXXII. Answer to the Objection of the Epicureans, who Ascribe all to Chance.

SECT. LXXIII. Comparison of the World with a Regular House. A Continuation of the Answer to the Objection of the Epicureans.

SECT. LXXIV. Another Objection of the Epicureans drawn from the Eternal Motion of Atoms.

SECT. LXXV. Answers to the Objection of the Epicureans drawn from the Eternal Motion of Atoms.

SECT. LXXVI. The Epicureans confound the Works of Art with those of Nature.

SECT. LXXVII. The Epicureans take whatever they please for granted, without any Proof.

SECT. LXXVIII. The Suppositions of the Epicureans are False and Chimerical.

SECT. LXXIX. It is Falsely supposed that Motion is Essential to Bodies.

SECT. LXXX. The Rules of Motion, which the Epicureans suppose do not render it essential to Bodies.

SECT. LXXXI. To give a satisfactory Account of Motion we must recur to the First Mover.

SECT. LXXXII. No Law of Motion has its Foundation in the Essence of the Body; and most of those Laws are Arbitrary.

SECT. LXXXIII. The Epicureans can draw no Consequence from all their Suppositions, although the same should be granted them.

SECT. LXXXIV. Atoms cannot make any Compound by the Motion the Epicureans assign them.

SECT. LXXXV. The Clinamen, Declination, or Sending of Atoms is a Chimerical Notion that throws the Epicureans into a gross Contradiction.

SECT. LXXXVI. Strange Absurdity of the Epicureans, who endeavour to account for the Nature of the Soul by the Declination of Atoms.

SECT. LXXXVII. The Epicureans cast a Mist before their own Eyes by endeavouring to explain the Liberty of Man by the Declination of Atoms.

SECT. LXXXVIII. We must necessarily acknowledge the Hand of a First Cause in the Universe without inquiring why that first Cause has left Defects in it.

SECT. LXXXIX. The Defects of the Universe compared with those of a Picture.

SECT. XC. We must necessarily conclude that there is a First Being that created the Universe.

SECT. XCI. Reasons why Men do not acknowledge God in the Universe, wherein He shows Himself to them, as in a faithful glass.

SECT. XCII. A Prayer to God.