mistake, err, go astray, lose the sight of truth and the love of
virtue, I corrupt, I diminish. On the other hand, I improve and
increase by acquiring wisdom and good-will, which I never had. This
intimate experience convinces me that my soul is not a being
existing by itself and independent; that is necessary, and immutable
in all it possesses and enjoys. Now, whence proceeds this
augmentation and improvement of myself? Who is it that can enlarge
and perfect my being by making me better, and, consequently, greater
than I was?


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


The will or faculty of willing is undoubtedly a degree of being, and
of good, or perfection; but good-will, benevolence, or desire of
good, is another degree of superior good. For one may misuse will
in order to wish ill, cheat, hurt, or do injustice; whereas good-
will is the good or right use of will itself, which cannot but be
good. Good-will is therefore what is most precious in man. It is
that which sets a value upon all the rest. It is, as it were, "The
whole man:" Hoc enim omnis homo.

I have already shown that my will is not by itself, since it is
liable to lose and receive degrees of good or perfection; and
likewise that it is a good inferior to good-will, because it is
better to will good than barely to have a will susceptible both of
good and evil. How could I be brought to believe that I, a weak,
imperfect, borrowed, precarious, and dependent being, bestow on
myself the highest degree of perfection, while it is visible and