of angels in his rule of mankind, without any detriment to the order of nature.  Nevertheless, it is easier to put forward theories on these matters than to explain them, unless one have recourse to my system of Harmony.  But the author goes somewhat further.  He believes that the mission of the Holy Spirit was a great miracle in the beginning, but that now his operations within us are natural.  I leave it to him to explain his opinion, and to settle the matter with other theologians.  Yet I observe that he finds the natural efficacy of prayer in the power it has of making the soul better, of overcoming the passions, and of winning for oneself a certain degree of new grace.  I can say almost the same things on my hypothesis, which represents the will as acting only in accordance with motives; and I am immune from the difficulties in which the author has become involved over his power of choosing without cause.  He is in great embarrassment also with regard to the foreknowledge of God.  For if the soul is perfectly indifferent in its choice how is it possible to foresee this choice? and what sufficient reason will one be able to find for the knowledge of a[440] thing, if there is no reason for its existence?  The author puts off to some other occasion the solution of this difficulty, which would require (according to him) an entire work.  For the rest, he sometimes speaks pertinently, and in conformity with my principles, on the subject of moral evil.  He says, for example (sub-sect. 6), that vices and crimes do not detract from the beauty of the universe, but rather add to it, just as certain dissonances would offend the ear by their harshness if they were heard quite alone, and yet in combination they render the harmony more pleasing.  He also points out divers goods involved in evils, for instance, the usefulness of prodigality in the rich and avarice in the poor; indeed it serves to make the arts flourish.  We must also bear in mind that we are not to judge the universe by the small size of our globe and of all that is known to us.  For the stains and defects in it may be found as useful for enhancing the beauty of the rest as patches, which have nothing beautiful in themselves, are by the fair sex found adapted to embellish the whole face, although they disfigure the part they cover.  Cotta, in Cicero’s book, had compared providence, in its granting of reason to men, to a physician who allows wine to a patient, notwithstanding that he foresees the misuse which will be made thereof by the patient, at the expense of his life.  The author replies that providence does what wisdom and goodness require, and that the good which accrues is greater than the evil.  If God had not given reason to man there would have been no man at all, and God would be like a physician who killed someone in order to prevent his falling ill.  One may add that it is not reason which is harmful in itself, but the absence of reason; and when reason is ill employed we reason well about means, but not