can this shorten the long state of Death For tho' thy Life shall numerous Ages fill The State of Death shall be Eternal still And he that dies to day shall be no more As long as those who perish'd long before If Nature saith he again should in anger speak to us in this manner What Cause hast thou O Mortal to Weep and to Complain of Death If thy former Life hath been easie and pleasant and if thou hast known how to make use of the good things and delights that I have afforded thee why dost thou not as a Guest depart when thou art full and satisfied with Life and why dost thou not accept fond Creature of the agreeable Repose that is offered thee But if otherwise thy Life hath been to thee a burthen and if thou hast suffered my Bounties to perish why desirst thou more to mispend them after the same manner for I can give thee no new thing And if thou shouldst live thousands of years thou wilt but still see the same things repeated over again If Nature should speak to us in this Language should we not have reason to approve of this Discourse and own that it hath cause to Reproach us in this manner Fond Mortal what 's the matter thou dost sigh Why all these Tears because thou once must die And once submit to strong Necessity For if the Race thou hast already run Was pleasant if with joy thou saws't the Sun If all thy Pleasures did not pass thy Mind As thro' a Sieve but left some Sweets behind Why dost thou not then like a thankful Guest Rise cheerfully from Life's abundant Feast And with a quiet Mind go take thy Rest But if all those Delights are lost and gone Spent idly all and Life a burthen grown Then why fond Mortal dost thou ask for more Why still desire t' increase thy wretched store And wish for what must wast like those before Not rather free thy self from Pains and Fear And end thy Life and necessary care My Pleasures always in a Circle run The same returning with the yearly Sun And thus tho' thou dost still enjoy thy Prime And tho' thy Limbs feel not the rage of Time Yet I can find no new no fresh Delight The same dull Joys must vex thy Appetite Altho' thou coud'st prolong thy wretched Breath For numerous Years much more if free from Death At least we must acknowledge that a Wise Man who hath lived long enough to consider the World ought of his own accord to submit himself to the Course of Nature when he perceives that his time is come and cannot but suppose that his Race is Run and that the Circle that he hath finish'd is compleat and if this Circle is not to be compared to Eternity it is however with the continuance of the World As to what relates to the whole Prospect of Nature he hath often beheld the Heavens the Earth and other things included in the World He hath often seen the rising and the setting of the Coelestial Bodies He hath taken notice of several Eclipses and many other Phaenomenas or unusual Appearances in the Skye the constant succession of the Seasons and in a word many particular Generations many Corruptions and Transmutations And as to those things which relate to Mankind he hath seen or at least hath heard and understood from History the Transactions that have happen'd from the beginning of Peace and of War of Faith kept and violated of a Polite Life and of a rude and barbarous Behaviour of Laws Establish'd and Abolish'd of Kingdoms and Commonwealths in their first Birth and Declension and generally all other things that he hath any knowledge of or which have been told him and with which he is in any wise acquainted as if he had been present when they first happen'd So that he ought to consider that all the time that is gone before him relates to him as if his Life were begun with the things themselves And because we must judge of the future by the time past he ought also to think that all the subsequent time relates to him in the same manner and that there shall be nothing hereafter but what hath been already that there is nothing but the Circumstances of things that alter and that all things in general steer the same common Course and make the like appearances so that Holy Writ hath reason to say The thing that hath been it is that which shall be and that which is done is that which shall be done again and there is no new thing under the Sun Is there any thing whereof it may be said see this is new From whence we may conclude that a Wise Man ought not to fancy his Life short for by casting his eye upon the time past and foreseeing the time to come he may extend it to as great a length as the duration of the Universe Moreover tho' Epicurus had cause to say That it is ridiculous to assert that there is no evil in Death when it is present and yet to dread it and be troubled when it must come as if there were any reason to be disturbed for that which is absent which when present never gives us the least sorrow Nevertheless because other Considerations represent Death dreadful as the Evils and Pains that Usher it and those that we think will be its necessary Attendants Seneca therefore makes it his business to recommend divers Considerations wherein he shews that tho' Death in it self is no Evil yet it appears so much in that Notion that it ought not to be lookt upon as an indifferent thing for as he expresseth himself Death is not indifferent in the same manner as it is indifferent whether the Hairs of my head be of one length or not for Death is to be reckon'd amongst those things which tho' they be no real Evils yet they appear to be so for we love our selves and naturally desire to subsist and preserve our selves and we have an innate aversion from a dissolution because it seems to deprive us of many advantages and draws us away from that plenty of Enjoyments unto which we are accustomed There is yet one thing more which causeth us to dread Death We know the things present but we are altogether Strangers to those unto which we are a going and therefore we fear that which is unknown Besides we have a natural dread of Darkness into which we imagin that Death is leading us So that tho' Death is indifferent yet it is not of the number of those things that are easily to be despised we ought to inure and harden our Minds by a long accustomed Habit to enable us the more willingly to undergo and encounter with the dismal approaches of Death The Third Particular relates to the abominable Opinion of the Stoicks who were perswaded that in some Cases Men had the liberty to kill themselves for thus you see Seneca represents them arguing It is certainly a great
affliction to live in want but there is nothing that obliges us absolutely to continue in it for which way soever we glance our eyes we may see the end of our Sufferings and our Deliverance either in a Precipice in a River by a Dagger by a Tree by opening a Vein or by Abstinence We ought to give God thanks that none of us is detained against his Will in this present Life The Eternal Decree hath admirably well appointed that there should be but one kind of entrance into the World but many out of it Death say they is to be met with in every place God hath very wisely contrived that there is none but may take away our Life but no Man can take away our Death tho' it hath a thousand Passages open to it Ubique Mors est optime hoc cavit Deus Eripere vitam nemo non homini potest At nemo mortem mille ad hanc exitus patent He that knows how to die can free himself and he hath always the Door of his Prison open True it is there is a Chain that holds us fast namely the Love of Life and this Love though we ought not absolutely to reject it yet we should at least mitigate it that if sometimes Accidents require it may not keep us back nor hinder us from being ready to perform at present that which we must one day do or suffer These following Tenets proceed from the same School The Wise Man lives as long as he ought tho' not so long as he may He knows where he ought to live with whom and how and what he ought to do He considers the manner of his Life and not the length If he meets with Crosses and Misfortunes he frees himself and don 't stay for the last necessity to set him at liberty but as soon as Fortune begins to frown upon him he seriously considers if he ought not at that time to end his days He believes that if he himself hastens his end or expects it from another hand it is the same thing or whether it be brought to pass sooner or later it grieves him not Nevertheless sometimes though his Death is certain and appointed and that he knows himself set apart for Execution yet he won't lend his helping hand nor will he be overwhelm'd with Sorrow It is a folly to die for fear of Death If he that is to kill thee is coming wait for him Why wilt thou prevent him and why wilt thou undertake to execute upon thy self another's Cruelty Dost thou covet the Office of an Executioner or wilt thou save him the labour Socrates ought to have ended his Days by Abstinence and die by Hunger rather than by Poison yet he continued thirty days in Prison in expectation of Death not because during this time he had hopes of a Reprieve but to shew himself Obedient to the Laws and to give his Friends the Pleasure of enjoying the Conversation of Socrates when he was ready to Die When therefore an outward Violence threatens us with Death we can't give any general or absolute Directions whether we are to prevent it or to expect it with Patience for there are many Circumstances to be considered But if there be two kinds of Death the one full of grievous Torments the other sudden and easie why may not we chuse the latter This was the Opinion of Hyeronimus of all the Stoicks and namely of Pliny who stiles the Earth a good Mother because it hath compassion of us and hath appointed the Poisons for our use It seems to be likewise the Opinion of Plato for tho' Cicero makes him say That we ought to preserve the Soul inclosed in the Body and without the command of him who gave it we must not depart out of this Life that we might not thereby seem to despise this gift that God hath bestowed upon Man Yet in his Book of Laws he declares That he who kills himself is not to be blamed but when he doth the act without being thereunto forced by the Sentence of the Judge or by some unsufferable and unavoidable accident of Fortune or by Misery and Publick shame Not to mention Cicero who in a certain place commends the Opinion of Pythagoras because he forbids to depart out of our Fortress or to quit our Station of Life without the appointment of the General that is to say of God Yet elsewhere he teaches That in our Life we ought to observe the same Rule that is in the Banquetings of the Greeks that is to say either to Drink or to Depart so that if we can't bear the injuries and affronts of Fortune we must undergo them by flying from them To speak nothing of Cato who seems not to have sought Death so much to avoid the sight of Caesar as to obey the Decrees and follow the Dictates of the Stoicks esteeming it his Glory to observe them and to leave his Name Famous to Posterity by some Great and Notable Action for Lactantius saith Cato was during his Life a Follower of the Vanity of the Stoicks What relates to Democritus Truly his Opinion as the same Lactantius informs us was different from that of the Stoicks yet he suffered himself to die by abstinence when he found in his very great Age that the strength of his Body and the abilities of his Mind began to fail Sponte sua letho Caput obvius obtulit ipse Which we may say is altogether Criminal for if a Murderer is an Offender because he kills a Man he that murders himself is guilty of the same Crime because he also kills a Man It is very probable that this is the greatest Crime whereof the Vengeance is reserved to God alone for as we do not enter upon Life of our own accord so neither are we to depart out of it of our own heads but by his Order who hath placed us in the Body to inhabit there And if any violence or injury be done us we must bear it patiently because the Life of a guitless Person that is destroyed cannot be unrevenged for we have a Powerful God unto whom Vengeance always belongs Finally As for Epicurus it is thought that he was not of the same Judgment with the Stoicks not only because he saith That the Wise Man is easie under his Torments but also because that he himself being grievously tormented with the Stone and Gravel he never hasten'd his Death but waited for it patiently Besides Seneca assures us that Epicurus does as much blame those that desire Death as those that fear it and that there is a great indiscretion nay folly in advancing our Death for fear of Death Yet this happens very often as Lucretius tells us not only because that the extraordinary fear that Death begets in us casts us sometimes into a dismal Melancholy which renders all things uneasie to us and proceeds so far as to make Life it self to become a troublesome incommodious and an intolerable thing and at last to seek
well examin'd will settle the Mind and procure to it a real and solid Happiness Some Particulars needful to be examin'd and consider'd which will contribute very much to the Repose and Happiness of the Mind THE First Particular is the Knowledge and Fear of God And certainly this Philosopher had good Reason to recommend to us in the first place the right Ideas that we are to entertain of this Sovereign Being because he that hath a right Notion of him is so much inflamed with Love and Affection for God that he constantly endeavours to please him by an honest and a vertuous Life always trusting in his infinite Goodness and expecting all things from him who is the Fountain of all good By this means he spends his Life sweetly peaceably and pleasantly We shall not concern our selves here to shew the Existence of this Being seeing we have already done it elsewhere But shall only take notice that tho' Epicurus delivers some Notions that are very just and reasonable yet he hath others that are not to be entertained by pious Men tho' he interprets 'em after his own Fashion such are to be look'd upon as impious for he believes That God hath a Being as Lucretius makes him acknowledge in his first Book For whatsoe'er's Divine must live in Peace In undisturb'd and everlasting Ease Not care for us from Fears and Dangers free Sufficient to it 's own Felicity Nought here below nought in our Power it needs Ne'er smiles at good ne'er frowns at wicked deeds Now I say to believe such a supreme Being that exists to all Eternity is immortal and infinitely happy in it's own Nature enjoying all things within it self and stands in no need of us nor hath any Cause to fear that is not subject to Pain Anger nor other Passions are undeniable Truths and an Opinion that is Praise-worthy especially in a Heathen Philosopher but when he denies Providence as these Verses do intimate and when he thinks that it is not consisting with the highest Felicity as if God had no particular Care of Men That the Just are to expect nothing from his Goodness nor the Wicked are not to dread his Justice are such Opinions that our Reason and Religion will not permit us to entertain The second Particular relates to Death For as Aristotle observes Death is look'd upon as the most dreadful Evil because none is exempted being unavoidable Therefore Epicurus judges That we ought to accustom our selves to think upon it that we might learn by that means as much as is possible to free our selves from such Fears of Death as might disturb our Tranquility and consequently the Happiness of our Life and for that Reason he endeavours to perswade us that it is so far from being the most dreadful of all Evils that in it self it is no Evil at all And thus he argues Death saith he don't affect us and by consequence in respect of us is not to be judged an Evil for what affects us is attended by some but now Death is the privation of Sense He tells us also with Anaxagoras That as before we were capable of Sense it was not grievous to us to have no Sense so likewise when we shall have lost it we shall not be troubled at the want of it As when we are asleep we are not concerned because we are not awake So when we shall be dead it will not trouble us that we are not living He concludes with Archesilas That Death which is said to be an Evil hath this belonging to it that when it hath been present it hath never troubled any body And that it is through the Weakness of the Mind and the dismal Apprehensions that we have of Death that makes it seem so terrible to us when absent insomuch that some are struck dead with the very Fear of dying We may very well acknowledge That Death is the Privation of our External Sense or of Sense properly so called And Epicurus hath very good Reason to say That in Death there is nothing to be feared that may injure the Sight the Hearing the Smell the Tast or the Sense of Feeling for all these Senses cannot be without the Body and then the Body ceases to be or is dissolved But that which we are not to allow is what he affirms elsewhere That Death is also the Privation or Extinction of the Spirit or Understanding which is an internal Sense a Sense according to his Notion Therefore that we may not be hindred by this Impiety which has been sufficiently refuted in treating of the Immortality of the Soul let us proceed to give a Check to the extraordinary Apprehensions of Death and to those Fears that frequently disturb all the Peace and Quiet of our Life and with a sullen Blackness infect and poison all our most innocent Pleasures as Lucretius saith Those idle Fears That spoil our Lives with Jealousies and Cares Disturb our Joys with dread of Pains beneath And sully them with the black Fears of Death Let us therefore in the first place remember to give a Check to that fond Desire of prolonging our days without bounds Let us I say so remember this frail and infirm Condition of our Nature as not to desire any thing above it's Reach and Capacity Let us calmly and quietly without repining enjoy this Gift of Life whether it be bestowed upon us for a longer or a shorter time It is certain that our Maker may deprive us of it without doing us any wrong Let us thankfully acknowledge his Liberality from whom we have received it and add this to the number of those Benefits which we daily draw from his Bounty Nature favours us for a while with the use of the Prospect of those Enjoyments Be not angry that we must withdraw when the time is expired for we were admitted upon no other Terms but to yield our places to others as our Ancestors have done to us Our Bodies are naturally inclinable to Corruption and the manner of our Nativity renders our Death unavoidable If to be Born is pleasant let not our Dissolution be grievous to us to make use of Seneca's Words If the striving against this Fatality could any ways advantage us we should then perhaps approve of the Endeavours that are made but all our Strugglings are to no purpose we do but add to our pain The number of our Days is so appointed that the time of our Life slides away and is not to be recovered and we run our Race in such a manner that whether we will or not we are brought at last to the end As many Days as we pass over so many are cut off from that Life that Nature hath alotted to us So that Death being the Privation of Life we are dying continually as long as we live and that by a Death that carries not all at once but by degrees one step after another tho' the last is that unto which the Name of Death is assigned So true
it is that the end of our Life depends upon the first Moment Let us therefore moderate our Desires according to the Rule that Nature hath prescribed and if the Destinies to speak according to the ancient Poets cannot be prevail'd upon so that against our Wills we are hurried away let us at least alleviate our Trouble by suffering our selves to be carried off willingly The best and only Remedy to pass our Life free and void of Trouble is to suit our selves to our Nature to desire nothing but what it requires and to esteem the last Moment of our Life as a free Gift of Providence and to dispose and prepare our selves in such a manner that when Death approaches we may say I have lived and I have finished the Race that Nature hath appointed me Vixi quem dederas cursum Natura peregi She calls away but I come of mine own accord Nature requires of me what I am intrusted with I yield it willingly I am commanded to die I expire without Regret We might also very well make use of the Advice of Lucretius and speak thus to our selves The greatest and most mighty Monarchs of the World are dead and Scipio that Thunderbolt of War and Terror of Carthage hath left his Bones in the Earth like as the vilest Slave Anchises the most Religious of all men and Homer the Prince of the Poets are dead and shall we murmur to die But more to comfort thee Consider Ancus perish'd long ago Ancus a better Man by much than thou Consider mighty Kings in pamper'd State Fall and ingloriously submit to Fate Scipio that Scourge of Carthage now the Grave Keeps Prisoner like the meanest common Slave Nay the great Wits and Poets too that give Eternity to others cease to live Homer their Prince the Darling of the Nine What Troy would at a second fall repine To be thus sung is nothing now but Fame A lasting far diffus'd but empty Name Let us say moreover Gassendus himself is dead and that great Man hath finished his Course like other Mortals he who in profound Learning and Wisdom excell'd the rest of Mankind and who rising like a Sun darkned the Light of all the Stars Nay Great Gassendi's Race of Life is run That Man of Wit who other Men out-shone As far as meaner Stars the mid-day Sun And can'st not thou O Wretch resolve to die Then how dar'st thou repine to die and grieve Thou meaner Soul thou dead ev'n whilst alive That sleep'st and dream'st the most of Life away Thy Night is full as rational as thy Day Still vext with Cares who never understood The Principles of ill nor use of good Nor whence thy Cares proceed but reel'st about In vain unsettled Thoughts condemn'd to doubt Thou whose Life is as half dead thou who spendest above half thy time in Sleep who snorest as I may say waking and feedest upon Fancies and who livest in the midst of Fears and continual Troubles It is what our famous Malherbe had in his Thoughts when he bewails the unhappy Fate of great Men who are subject to the same Laws of Death as the meanest Beggars Yet these are turn'd to Dust and Fate Rules with such Arbitrary Sway So binds its Laws on every State That all their Equal's Doom Obey With none e'er yet Impartial Destiny Of all it's num'rous Subjects wou'd dispense Hear this ye Vulgar Souls and hence Vnrepining Learn to Die But here some will object we shall be depriv'd of all the Blessings of Life as Lucretius Elegantly Expresses it Lib. 3. Ay but he now is snatcht from all his Joys No more shall his Chast Wife and Pratling Boys Run to their Dad with eager hast and strive Which shall have the first Kiss as when alive Ay but he now no more from Wars shall come Bring Peace and Safety to his Friends at home Wretched O Wretched Man one Fatal Day Has snatch'd the vast Delights of Life away It is true that this is commonly objected but they seldom Consider that this supposed Unhappy Man shall then have no desire at all for such things and that when he shall be really Dead he shall not see any like himself standing near his Tomb beating the Breast and languishing with Grief as the same Author Describes Thus they bewail but go no further on And add that his Desires and Wants are gone But the fond Fool n'er thinks that when kind Death Shall close his Eyes in Night and stop his Breath Then nothing of this thinking thing remains To mourn his Fate and feel sharp Grief and Pains May not we likewise thus Argue as Plutarch Observes and which often occurs in our Thoughts If our Life which we esteem very long when it extends to an Hundred Years were naturally but of one Days continuance as some Animals mention'd by Aristotle in the Kingdom of Pontus are And if like them in the Morning we were in our Youth at Noon in our Strength and full Growth and at Night in our Old Age It is certain in this Case we should be as well pleas'd to live one Day till Night as we are now to live an hundred years And on the contrary if our Life did now extend to a thousand years as did that of our first Fathers in that Case it would grieve us as much to Die at the end of six hundred years as to depart now at the expiration of threescore It is the same in respect of those who first came into the World if they had continued till this present time it would trouble them as much to Die now as it does us These Considerations therefore ought to teach us that our Life of what sort soever is to be computed not by its length but by the good Qualifications and Pleasures that attend it In the same manner saith Seneca As the Perfection of a Circle ought to be computed not by the Greatness but by the exact Roundness of the Figure O Vain and Indiscreet Diligence saith Pliny Men compute the number of their Days where they should only seek their true Worth Heu vana imprudens diligentia numerus dierum Computatur ubi quaeritur pondus We don't Consider that as the Mass of this Earth and all the World beside and a thousand other such Worlds if you please are but as a Point if compared with the vast extended space of the Heavens Thus the longest Life of Man were it as long as that of the Hamadryades or a thousand thousand times more is but a Moment if compared with Eternity This Life saith Seneca is but a Point How can we extend this Point In hoc punctum conjectus es Quod ut extendas quousque extendes Know saith Lucretius That by the prolonging of our Days we diminish nothing from the time and long continuance of Death and that he who dies to day shall not be dead a less time than he who died a thousand years ago What tho' a thousand years prolong thy breath How
out the strangest means to deliver our selves from it and to procure our Death Et saepe usque adeo mortis formidine vitae Percipit ingratos odium lucisque videnda Vt sibi conciscant moerenti pectore lethum But this extraordinary Fear causeth by degrees a certain kind of Melancholy which depresseth the Heart enfeebles the Spirits and obstructs all the operations of Life It stops Digestion and draws upon us many Diseases that are the immediate Causes of Death However the Opinion of the Stoicks is not only contrary to the Sacred Precepts of our Religion but is also contrary to Nature and right Reason We must except some certain Persons who being directed by a Particular and Divine Instinct have been instrumental in procuring their own Deaths as Samson and others in the Old-Testament and Sophronia and Pelagia since the New for Nature furnishes all sorts of Animals with a Natural love of Life and there is none besides Man let them be tormented with never so grievous pain but labours to preserve Life as much as they can and to avoid Death This is a sign that none but Man doth by his mistaken Opinions corrupt the Institution of Nature when he refuseth the benefit of Life and advanceth his Death he acts then by a wickedness peculiar to himself for the true state of Nature is to be consider'd in the general body of the Creatures and not in some few individuals of one single Species that hasten their own destruction and cast away themselves before the time appointed by Nature From hence we may conclude that such are injurious to God and Nature who being design'd and order'd to perform a certain Race stop in the middle of their Course of their own accord and who being appointed to watch forsake and abandon their Post without waiting for Orders from their Superiors Besides Reason forbids us to be Cruel against the Innocent who never did us any harm and by consequence it don't allow that we should act inhumanly upon our selves from whom we never experienced any Hatred but rather too much Love Moreover upon what occasion can our Vertue appear more conspicuous than in suffering Courageously the Evils that our hard Fortune imposes upon us To die saith Aristotle because of our Poverty or for Love or for some other mischievous accident is not the act of a Man of Spirit and Courage but of a mean and timorous Soul for it is the part of a weak Mind to shun and flye from things hard to be endured Stout Men saith Curtius are wont to despise Death rather than to hate Life 'T is the trouble and impatience of Suffering that carries the Cowards to base Actions that makes them despised and scorned Vertue leaves nothing unattempted and Death is the last thing with which we must Encounter but not as timerous lazy and unwilling Souls I shall not here stay to examin the Opinion of those who imagining saith Lactantius that the Souls are Eternal have therefore kill'd themselves as Cleanthes Chrysippus and Zeno expecting to be transported at the same time to Heaven or as Empedocles who cast himself in the Night into the Flames of Mount-Aetna that by disappearing so suddenly the World might think that he was gone to the Gods or as Cato who was during his Life-time a Follower of the vanity of the Stoicks who before he kill'd himself as it is Reported had read Plato 's Book of the Eternity of the Soul or finally as Cleombrotus who after he had read the same Book cast himself down a Precipice This is a Cursed and Abominable Doctrin that drives Men out of their Lives Neither shall I trouble my self with that Cyrenaick of Hegesius who Disputed so Elegantly concerning the Miseries of Life and the Blessed Place of the Souls after Death that King Ptolomy was forced to forbid him to speak in Publick because so many of his Disciples after they had heard him destroyed themselves as Cicero Reports and some others For the Evils that we indure in this Life may happen to be so great and increase in such a manner that when the time of Death is come the loss of Life may not be unpleasant and that in such a Case Death may be esteem'd as the Haven that shelters us from the Miseries and Torments of Life But to aggravate our Afflictions so far as to beget in us a scorn and hatred of Life is to be injurious and unthankful to Nature as if the Gift of Life that hath been bestowed upon us for our use were to be rashly cast away or as if we were not to accept of it any longer nor honestly and quietly to enjoy it as long as is possible 'T is true what Theognis said formerly That it were much better for Men not to be Born or to Die as soon as they are Born is a Celebrated Saying Non nasci res est mortalibus optima longe Nec Solis radiis acre videre Jubar Aut natum Ditis quamprimum lumen adire This is confirmed by the Example of Cleobis of Biton of Agamedes of Pindarus and of some others who having Petitioned the Gods to grant to them the thing which was best and most desirable were admitted to this great favour To die in a short time Answerable to this is the Custom of the Thracians who wept at the Birth of their Children but Congratulated the Happiness of such as Died. Not to mention Menander who wish'd a young Man dead because he was well beloved by the Gods Quem diligunt Dii Juvenis ipse interit Nor to say any thing of that Famous Sentence Vitam nemo acciperet si daretur scientibus That no body would accept of Life willingly if it were given to them that knew what it were But pray who will believe that Theognis and the rest have spoken seriously and without any Restriction I say without any Restriction for if they would have it that it is better for such only who are to be miserable all their Lives that they had not been Born or to have Died at the very moment of their Birth the Saying might be tolerable and allowable but to speak this in relation to all Men is to affront Nature the Mistriss both of our Life and Death that hath ordered and appointed our Birth and our Dissolution as she hath all other things for the preservation of the Universe It were to expose our selves to be contradicted if not by all yet by the most part of Men who are not weary of Life but seek to preserve it as carefully as they can For Life as we have already observed hath something in it very pleasing and lovely therefore he that speaks in this manner shall feel himself bound and held fast and I am apt to believe that he may be like the Old Man in Aesop who sent Death back again tho' he had often called for it before or like another who refused to make use of the Dagger that he had desired to be
which is easily contented Mea quidem sententia invitis hoc nostris popularibus dicam Sancta Epicurum recta praecipere si propius accesseris tristia Voluptatibus enim illa ad parvum exile revocatur quam nos Virtuti Legem dicimus eam ille dicit Voluptati Jubet illam parere Naturae Parum autem est Luxuriae quod Naturae satis est Will you then understand what it is He that saith that the Happiness of Life consists in Idleness in Good Cheer in Ease and Wanton Pleasures and calls that Happiness seeks a good Excuse to an evil Cause and when he comes flattering himself with the softness of the Name he follows not that Pleasure which he hears Praised but that which he brings with him and when once he begins to believe his Vices to be consistent with the Doctrines professed he freely adheres to them no longer disguising and acting them in secret but boldly and openly proclaiming them to the World Thus he concludes I don't say what many don't scruple to affirm That the Sect of Epicurus is the encourager of infamous Crimes and lewd Debaucheries But this is what I say it is ill spoken of I confess but without Cause and this cannot easily be discovered but by more narrowly prying into the very first grounds of their Opinions The meer name of Pleasure occasions the mistake and casts an odium upon it Itaque non dico quod plerique nostrum Sectam Epicuri flagitiorum Magistram esse sed illud dico male audit infamis est immerito neque hoc scire quisquam potest nisi interius fuerit admissus Frons ipsa dat locum Fabulae ad malam spem invitat We may after the Testimony of Seneca bring that of Plutarch who tho' he was an Enemy of Epicurus yet he hath done him so much right as to say That the things that were objected against him rather proceeded from vulgar Mistakes than from the Truth of the matter Besides in another place he merrily cries out upon the Pleasure of Epicurus and his Disciples O the vast Pleasure and Felicity that there is in being insensible either of Sorrow or Pain Elsewhere he saith Tho' Epicurus placeth the Sovereign Happiness in a perfect Rest and as it were in a Center of Quiet c. And in another place That young Persons will learn from Epicurus that Death doth not so much affect us that the Riches of Nature are limited that Felicity and a happy-Happy-Life don't consist in abundance of Silver or in Large Possessions in Dominion or in Power but in a freedom from Pain in the Government of our Passions and in that Disposition of the Mind which confines all things within the limits of Nature From hence it is evident that the chief Happiness of Epicurus is not that Pleasure which is in Motion or in the pleasing of our Senses but rather that which is and appears in Rest in a freedom from trouble We might here farther add the Testimonies of Tertullian of St. Gregory Nazianzen of Ammonius of Stobeus of Suidas of Lactantius and of many others amongst the Ancients who tho' being no entire Friends of Epicurus yet some of them have declared that the Pleasure that Epicurus recommends was nothing else but a peaceable State agreeing with Nature and not a mean and sordid Pleasure Others have said That between Epicurus and Aristippus there was this difference that Aristippus placed the chief Happiness in the Pleasure of the Body but Epicurus in that of the Mind Others That the Pleasure which the Disciples of Epicurus propose to themselves for their End certainly is not a sensual and a Bodily Pleasure but a quiet Temper of the Soul which is inseparable from a Vertuous and an Honest Life Others as Lactantius after he had abated of the warmth of his Stile he saith That Epicurus maintains the chief Happiness to be in the Pleasures of the Mind and Aristippus in that of the Body I speak of the Ancients within these two hundred years that is to say towards the end of the ignorant Ages we have amongst others John Gerson and Gemistus Pletho that speak and verifie the same The first having mentioned divers Opinions concerning Happiness declares that some are of Opinion that Man's Happiness consists in the Pleasures of the Mind or in a peaceable Tranquility of Spirit such as was that of Epicurus mentioned often by Seneca in his Epistles with very much respect But as to the other Epicurus quoth he Aristippus Sardanapalus and Mahomet who placed it in the Pleasures of the Body they were no Philosophers Here we must pardon the ignorance of that Age and the common vogue if he hath imagined that there have been two of that Name The second Named Gemistus Pletho Treating of the Delight of Contemplation shews That Aristotle never taught any other Doctrin than that of Epicurus who placed the Chief Happiness in the Pleasures of the Mind Now it is not without Reason that I have insinuated that since these Men there hath sprung up an Happier and a more Learned Age that have revived Learning that lay almost Languishing for since that time an infinite number of knowing Men are risen up who have entertained better thoughts of that Philosopher as Philelphus Alexander ab Alexandro Volateranus Johannes Franciscus Picus and many more What shall we say then to those who Charge him with a contrary Opinion Nothing else but what hath been spoken in the Apology of his Life namely that the Stoicks who very much hated him for Reasons there expressed at large have not only misunderstood his Opinion but they have also forged and publish'd in his Name scandalous Books whereof they themselves were the Authors that they might the more easily gain credit to their Malicious Insinuations and fasten upon him their Calumnies without suspicion Now one of the Causes of their hatred against him was that Zenon their Principal Leader was naturally melancholy austere rude and severe and his Disciples following their Guide affected the same Air and a severe Meen This hath caused the Vertue of the Stoicks or their Wisdom to be represented as some very austere and reserved thing and in regard that caused them to be admired and respected by the Common-People and that we suffer our selves willingly to be carried away to vain-glory and to be puft up with Pride if we don't take great heed to prevent it they fancied themselves to be the only possessors of Wisdom and therefore they boasted that he alone was the Wiseman whose Soul was strengthned and fortified with the Vertue of the Stoicks that he alone was fit to be a King a Captain a Magistrate a Citizen for such were their Expressions an Orator a Friend Beautiful Noble and Rich. And that such a one never repents is not touch'd with Remorse cannot receive Affronts is ignorant of nothing never doubts of any thing is free from Passion is always at Liberty full of Joy and Content
lest by shunning of these they might fall into greater From hence we may learn that Debauchery is not to be shunn'd for its own sake nor Sobriety to be desired because it declines some Pleasures but because it procureth greater and more substantial ones We shall find the same Arguments for Fortitude for it is neither Labour nor Pain nor Patience nor Constancy nor Industry nor Courage nor Watchfulness that draw us of themselves but we are perswaded by these actions that we may live without Trouble or Fear and that we might free our selves as much as is possible from that which incommodes either the Mind or the Body for oftentimes the Calm of our Life is disturb'd with the extraordinary fear of Death and it is a miserable thing to be oppress'd with Pain and to bear it with a mean and feeble Courage insomuch that by this weakness of Spirit many have lost their Parents many their Friends and many their Native Country nay have altogether lost themselves But a generous stout and couragious Spirit is free from such Cares and Troubles because it despiseth Death and is so provided to receive Grief and Pain that it knows the greatest are cur'd by Death and the least have divers intervals of Rest and that as for moderate Griefs we are Masters of them Besides a noble Spirit considers that if the Pains be not extraordinary they are easily suffered but if they be very grievous we shall then willingly surrender and quit our Life which in such a case becomes unpleasant to us so that we leave it in the same manner as we go off a Theatre From hence we may conclude that Fear and Cowardise are not in themselves blame-worthy neither do Courage and Patience of themselves merit Praise But the first are slighted because they increase Pain and Sorrow and the other are desired because they procure real Pleasure There remains nothing else to be examin'd but Justice of which we may almost say the same For as I have already demonstrated that Wisdom Temperance and Fortitude are so joyned with Pleasure that they cannot be separated from it we ought to say the same of Justice which is not only inoffensive to all Men but does also constantly bring with it such advantages as by the strength of its own nature does quiet and settle the Thoughts by affording continual hopes of never wanting those things which an honest Mind may desire And as Timerousness Covetousness and Cowardise do perpetually torment the Mind and are continually vexing and disturbing its quiet So where Injustice bears sway in the Soul it begets much Trouble and Vexation and if it hath committed any evil action tho' never so secretly yet it can never be assured that it shall always remain undiscover'd Jealousy and fear of being found out do commonly attend evil Actions and we suppose every one to be our Accuser and ready to Inform against us Nay some out of fear of being Discovered have been their own Accusers If some think their Riches a sufficient shelter and capable of quieting their Conscience yet they have such a dread of the Justice of God in punishing their Crimes that upon a due resentment of this their Thoughts labour under a perpetual Agony and Disturbance Now their wicked Actions can never be able so much to lessen the anxiety of their Life as the gripings of a Wounded Conscience or the Laws of the Country and the hatred of their Acquaintance have to increase it Nevertheless such is the unsatiable desire of some Men after Riches Luxury Honour Dominion c. that in the obtaining of them they will stick at no indirect Means so that nothing but a severe Punishment inflicted on them by the Laws is able to stop their Career True Reason therefore directs all Men of sound Judgment to observe the Rules of Justice Equity and Fidelity which are the best means to procure to our selves the good Esteem and Love of others and which is absolutely necessary to render our Lives Pleasant and Sedate And the rather because hereby we have no temptation to do what is ill because that the desires which proceed from Nature may easily be appeased without doing wrong to any Person and as for other vain Desires we are not to regard them for they prompt us to nothing that is really worthy seeking after and Injustice it self brings a greater damage to us than the recompence it can be able to make us by the seeming good things it brings along with it Therefore we cannot say That Justice is of it self desirable but only because it is attended with a great deal of Pleasure and Content for we are not a little pleased with the esteem and good will of others which renders our Life Comfortable and Pleasant Thus we don't believe that we ought to shun Vice only because of the inconveniencies that fall upon the Wicked but chiefly because it never suffers the Mind to be at rest where it hath once taken possession I might here mention the Objections that are brought against this Opinion but they relate to nothing but sensual and dishonest Pleasures which Epicurus abhors in express words I will only take notice that the Pleasure that is here understood is such true real and natural Pleasure in which our Happiness consists We therefore say That Vertue is inseparably accompanied with it being the real and genuine cause of it for where that is supposed Happiness immediately attends and when that is removed Pleasure it self must needs decay In the same manner as the Sun is said to be inseparable from the Day because it alone is the true and necessary cause thereof for as soon as the Sun appears over our Horizon the Day must needs be and when it withdraws the Day dis-appears Now the reason why Epicurus supposes Vertue to be the efficient cause of Happiness is because he thinks that Prudence doth as it were contain all other Vertues for all the rest proceed from this and have in a great measure a dependence upon her CHAP. III. Wherein an Happy Life doth consist WHat we have already discours'd of tends to little else than to make a plain discovery of Epicurus's Opinion But now we must come closer to the Matter and strictly examin whether he had sufficient ground to say That Pleasure is the main End Here we must weigh two of his chief Maxims First That all Pleasure is of it self and of its own nature a real Good and on the contrary That all Grief and Pain is an Evil. The Second is That notwithstanding sometimes we must prefer some sort of Pains before some sort of Pleasures Whether all Pleasure be good of it self IN respect of the first Maxim It is not without ground that Epicurus asserts That all Pleasure is of it self good tho' by accident it happens sometimes otherwise for all Creatures are of themselves so inclinable to Pleasure and Delight that it is the first and chief thing that they naturally covet nor
which excites and animates them when they think that the Actions which they are going about shall procure Liberty to their Relations Friends or Country-men or perpetuate their Memory and make their Generations Famous in after Ages It is I say the thoughts of being rendered Famous to Posterity that thus Animates and Transports them This is to be understood of him who goes to a certain Death for when there remains any hopes of Escaping we need but see what Torquatus relates of one of his Predecessors It is true saith he that he wrested the Lance out of his Enemies hands but he endeavour'd as much as was able to secure himself from being Kill'd He run a great hazard but it was in the view of the whole Army What Advantage did he receive The Praises and Love of all the World which are very strong Supports to us to bear our Dangers without fear See likewise what Seneca saith Vpon the performance of any great and glorious Action there immediately arises an extraordinary Joy and Delight and tho' we reap no Advantage after Death yet the very thoughts of the Action that we are about to commit please us for when a generous Man represents to himself the reward of his Death namely the Liberty of his Country the deliverance of those for whom he sacrifices his Life he receives from thence a great deal of Pleasure and enjoys the recompence of the Hazard And he who feels that Joy which happens at the last moment of the Action runs on to Death without any Demur content and satisfied in the Goodness Piety and Holiness of the Action The same may be said of those severe Fathers who have punished with Death their own Children tho' they seem to deprive themselves of great Pleasures 'T is what Cicero continues to object to the same Torquatus who by giving a blow with his Ax to his Son prefer'd the Right of the Empire to that of Nature and Fatherly Affection for those who proceed to that Extremity understand the temper of their Children to be such that it is better for themselves and for their Children rather to Die than Live because they are likely to receive nothing from them but continual Sorrows and that their perpetual Shame would retort upon them Therefore when they consider that it is more grateful and desirable to them to prevent their future dissatisfaction and infamy by a present Grief and to expiate if I may so say that Disgrace that hath been committed by some Noble and illustrious Action rather than to sink themselves by a mean Baseness and a deceitful Weakness into an Abyss of Calamity This is the Pleasure which such relish who desire to free themselves from this Abyss Take notice also what the same Torquatus Answers He condemned his Son to Death but if it be without Cause I would not desire to be the Son of such an unnatural Father If he did it to secure and establish the Military Discipline to keep the Army within the bounds of their Duty by the fear of punishment during a moct dangerous War had an eye to the Preservation of his Country-men in whose Safety his own was included and comprehended Of Self-Love BUt that which is generally spoken of Vertue may be also said of Piety towards God seeing that it is not likely that there can be any sincere Piety if God be not purely and intirely lov'd for himself or because he is infinitely Good or because he is infinitely Excellent So that he who loves and honours God hath no respect to himself neither doth he consider his own Profit or Pleasure For my part God forbid that I should undervalue the Piety of any Person As there are some who don 't only persuade that we ought to love God in this manner and consequently don't only suppose that this is possible but to give Authority to this Doctrin and prevent the Objection boast and believe they perform all this Truly I don't envy nor shall I contradict them but far from that I approve and applaud their Happiness and that special favour of Heaven granted to them for we must believe that it is a Gift of God and Supernatural that any Man can prevail upon himself to love and honour God in such a manner But we are treating here of Piety and generally of Vertue which is sutable to Nature according to which Man performs all that he doth with some respect to himself May not we therefore say that God hath in such a manner complied with the infirmity of our Nature That as there is scarce any Passage in Holy Writ that allows or expresseth their Doctrin there are a great many that approve of loving God greatly because he hath pardoned them their many Sins or because he hath granted them many Favours or of loving him for the hopes of the promises of Heaven and who perform divers offices of Charity suffer Persecution keep the Faith c. because of that Kingdom prepared for them from the beginning of the World because of the extraordinary Rewards that wait for them in Heaven because of the Crown of Righteousness which God hath promised to them that love him May we not I say be of this Opinion and conclude from these Passages That there is nothing to hinder us from having in view those everlasting Delights which such are to enjoy who have loved and honoured God I will not appeal to the Consciences of any Person nor do I ask what they would do if after God had been Honoured and Loved if he took no care of those who had loved and honoured him and if in such a case he neither granted them any Advantage nor gave them hopes of any to be expected to all Eternity I do not ask them I say What they would do Whether they would Love or Honour him less I only desire them to take in good part this Question Whether they don't Love and Honour him because it is very pleasant to Love and serve him in this manner And whether they believe it not consequently very Pleasant and very Grateful to be thus disposed towards God purely and absolutely for his sake and without any regard to our selves Seeing he tells us That his Yoak is easie whereby to encline us to love him with all our Heart with all our Soul with all our Understanding and all our Strength certainly he excludes not this Sweetness and Pleasure But let this be hinted by the by the better to strengthen and confirm the Reason by which we prove according to the Judgment of Epicurus That Pleasure is the chief Good or the last End being desired in such a manner for it self that all other things are desirable for its sake Let us now say something of that other Reason which is deriv'd from a Comparison between Pleasure and Pain which is its contrary Let us suppose saith Torquatus a Man enjoying many great and continued Pleasures both of Body and Mind without any interruption or disturbance by
Rash and Proud Man he chose rather to return to Carthage and prefer'd an apparent Danger tho' he thought it not to be so great because of the Carthaginian Prisoners in the hands of the Romans to an undoubted Infamy and to a Life which he saw was Languishing and very short because of the Poison which the Carthaginians had given him However when Regulus had done nothing at Rome but having return'd back to Carthage that he kept his Word doubtless he cannot be too much esteem'd and applauded But when he dissuaded the Senate from what he had promised to persuade them to How can that be judg'd as a commendable thing seeing it was a manifest Perjury If he had contented himself with the plain delivery of his Message without persuading or dissuading any thing his proceeding might then admit of some colourable Excuse But thus openly to violate the Sacred Laws of Oaths how can this be Palliated And when he did it in Secret for fear saith Appian lest the Ambassadors that came along with him might come to understand it that also increaseth the Suspicion and aggravates the Crime Pretend not the Welfare and Glory of his Country to excuse him Truly our Country is to be secured by good Advice by Strength and Courage but not by wicked Artifices and by perfidious Dealing And we ought not to approve our selves Citizens whereby to become good Men. You may perhaps alledge what we find in Euripides That he swore with the Tongue but not with the Heart Illum jurasse Lingua Mentem gessisse injuratam But this is only to seek a Cloak for Perjury for as Cicero saith 'T is not Perjury to Swear falsly but not to perform what the Oath signifies according to the common intention of the Words Truly if it were lawful without wounding the Conscience to mean one thing and speak another it were to permit Lying in reality and to deceive him who hears us speak and with whom we converse This would cause the Faith of every one to be suspected and consequently would introduce a great Confusion in the Transactions and Affairs of Mankind You may also say that this was lawful because the Carthaginians themselves had broke the Faith they had given him But if you be a Wicked Person I ought not therefore to be less Honest otherwise What difference would there be between you and me We ought to deal with perfidious Persons either with a great deal of Precaution or with open Force but it is not lawful upon any account whatever to violate our Faith It is an old Maxim That either we ought not to Promise at all or else to keep it But it seems the Carthaginians put him to grievous Tortures for no other end but because contrary to the Faith he had given them he had dissuaded the Romans from concluding a Peace and the Exchange of the Prisoners It is true as Tubero saith That the Noblest Prisoners were delivered into the hands of Regulus 's Children who put 'em to Death with the same Torments that Regulus suffered But pray consider whether Regulus had any reason to prefer the Destruction of those Prisoners to the Lives of five Hundred Roman Soldiers who had been taken with him and who for the sake of his Vertue cruelly perished in the same manner with him at Carthage But to return to our present purpose in relation to Happiness I would fain be resolved how the Happiness of Regulus was greater than that of Thorius when he was Tortured in the manner that the forementioned Tubero relates They kept him a long time says he in dismal dark Dungeons then they cut off his Eye-lids and when the Sun shone brightest they brought him forth and exposed him to the Sun-beams forcing him to hold his Eyes that way knowing it was not possible for him to shut them Cicero informs us that he was bound in an Engin and that after they had cut off his Eye-lids they destroyed him by Watching Seneca terms this Engin a Tub stuck through with Nails in which he was Inclosed Sylvius presents us with this Description With desp'rate Rows they arm'd the sloping Wood And tor'tring Nails at equal distance stood Thus robb'd of Sleep by never sleeping pain He grows his own Tormentor and in vain Attempts his Limbs by turning to relieve While only varied Wounds the varied Postures give But possibly you 'll say That Thorius embrac'd Pleasure in an Effminate manner whereas Regulus for the good of his Country prefer'd these Tortures and suffer'd them Courageously First Thorius was not so soft and Effeminate but that when the Well-fare of his Country required he did not decline the Wars but at last died fighting in defence of it as Cicero himself testifies And tho' it be a great support in the midst of our Sufferings to preserve our Conscience Pure and Unstained considering that we suffer in an honest Cause and for the Well-fare of many yet it don't thereby appear that we are therefore more Happy than we should be by living Vertuously Wronging no body but endeavouring to do all the good we can and every way discharging the Duty of a good Man and an honest Subject spending our lives in this manner in a great deal of Pleasure and little Pain In short suppose a Man of the greatest Resolution and Courage who would not upon a good account be daunted at the greatest Difficulties or Dangers I say if it were offered to such a one without any prejudice either to his Duty or Reputation to take his choice of the two kinds of Life mentioned by Torquatus Where is the Man I beseech you among all those that thus exclaim against Pleasure and extol Vertue and Sufferings that would give the preference to the latter and willingly embrace it But to confirm what hath been said before That Pain is the greatest Evil for that hath been as the Antecedent from whence we may conclude by the Rule of Contraries That Pleasure is the chief Good By the same Reason by which we have proved That Pleasure is the sovereign Good which Naturally we seek Primum familiare seu accommodatum And consequently the chief Good By the same Reason it hath been proved That Pain is the chief Evil which Naturally we avoid Primum alienum se incommodans And consequently the chief Evil. For Nature hath not only given to all Creatures a natural love for Pleasure but hath also fix'd in 'em a natural hatred of Pain Let us now take notice of two or three Particulars First By the word Pain we are not to understand only those that we call the Pains of the Body but also those which we term the Pains or Inquietudes of the Mind and which are far more anxious and insupportable than those of the Body as we have already said Secondly That as we have before observ'd Vertue and Goodness have something within them which naturally afford Pleasure and Delight so likewise we may now affirm that Vice or that which is
that which provokes Appetite and makes it become greater than it would be naturally Therefore wise Men have fancied that it makes for our Health to give a check to our Appetite and stop betime And because some might object that other Animals that follow Nature and consequently never do ought in prejudice of their Health Eat and Drink till they be fully satisfied They answer That the Animals live upon Food purely natural and which never stirs up Hunger nor Thirst as that doth which Men make use of This is plain in Drink the most natural which is Water and that we drink with great Pleasure but as soon as the Thirst is allayed we have no more Inclination to it However 't is certain that no Person repents to have risen from Table without being fully satisfied but we have often been sorry to have filled our Stomachs so full that we were able to eat no more And doubtless it is not without Cause that Diogenes wonders that Men will eat for Pleasure and that they will not forbear Eating for the same Reason seeing there is so much Pleasure in being Healthy and free from Diseases and by this means will be ready the sooner to repeat the same Pleasure with the more delight and Satisfaction In relation to the Quality it seems also that then we have a regard to our Health when we shall nourish our selves with plain Food easy to be digested and which we know to be proper and convenient For this reason we see some Country-people who live upon nothing but Bread Fruits and Water and yet enjoy a perfect Health without any need of a Physitian Whereas those who feed at plentiful Tables have but a weak Body and are often forced to seek the assistance of the Physitian Therefore there have always been some Sects of wise Men such as Pythagoras who abstained from Eating the Flesh of living Creatures and contented themselves with the plain Products of Nature and have spent their Life in Health and Pleasure I shall not here repeat what we have said elsewhere that Flesh seems to be no natural Food for Mankind but as Custom hath made it so we should consider at least that the use of Flesh is so much the more Healthy the more plainly 't is prepared And that the Arts of Cooks of Confectioners and others who by their different Mixtures and Sauces do as it were change our very Food seem to have been intended for the destruction of the Health of Mankind Therefore we cannot but wonder why we should with so much earnestness prosecute such as Poison and yet hire and entertain the Contrivers of our dainty Dishes who by a deceitful Art destroy no less their Life and Health But how few are there that are not carried away by the deceitful Charms of a liquorish Tast and being bewitched with the present Pleasure never take heed nor apprehend the Mischiefs that follow What great Reason had Democritus to Laugh at those who make Vows to the Gods for their Health and yet by their debaucht and disorderly living undertake to ruin it daily 'T is a wonderful thing saith Diogenes That Men have so much care to cause their Bodies to be Embalmed after their Death and yet all their endeavours during Life is to become rotten Of Chastity in particular FInally in relation to Chastity I will only observe that whereas this Virtue is to struggle with the most violent of all the Passions unto which there is scarce any Body but submits I shall here mention Two or Three principal means that may serve as Bulworks to defend us from danger The First is a great Sobriety for it will be in vain to attempt to give a check to this unruly and imperious Appetite unless you carefully cherish this Virtue which tho encourged it you will still have great difficulty to overcome this Lust Long before Terence was heard of it hath been said That without Wine and good Cheer Love grows Cold. Which is easily to be made out for that which encourages Love and stirs up Lust is the increase of natural Seed which swells and moves in the Vessels excites Nature and obliges it to free it self from that which is troublesome to it Now as this increase proceeds from the quantity or quality of the Food if any Person be very temperate in his living and if he takes care to use no Meats that are too hot or fit to augment the Seed he will take away the Fewel and the Oil as I may so say which serves to increase and add Flame to this Fire Therefore those who profess a chast and continent Life ought not fully to satisfy themselves but as we have said before retain always a Stomach for more Citra satietatem vesci Their Virtue will not want a sufficient Reward for they will become stronger and more lusty because the ejection of the Seed diminishes the Strength and Spirits which is the cause why other Animals and even the very Trees the more fruitful they are the sooner they grow Old The Second Means is some honest Employ which may entertain and spend some of the Spirits that make the Seed to boil up and so give a diversion to the Thoughts For the Imagination which fixes upon the beloved Object and is not otherwise diverted is easily heated and from a little Spark kindles and becomes a great Flame Therefore we ought to take a strong Resolution to resist all base and dishonest Thoughts to avoid all occasions which might cause them to rise whether by the Sight or too intimate and private Discourses or by Reading or Touching or otherwise and if casually any doth arise not to give it time to take any deep root but to banish it at first and in so doing we discover our Manhood for the more you give way the greater will be the difficulty to stop your self in so slippery a Path So that there is nothing can be a greater Truth than what is commonly said That it is a kind of Combat where the Victory is not to be obtained but by flying away The Third is the custom of resisting and overcoming for as we become so much the more inclinable to Love the more easy and the more often we yield and submit to it so we become so much the more Continent the more courageously we resist and the less we are overcome by it I confess the violence of this Passion is great but it often happens that the weakness of our Spirit is such that at the first Assault we suffer our selves to be overcome You yield upon the first Assault without making any effort or exercising your Resolution in trying whether you might not have Strength enough to withstand the Temptation and so no wonder that the Passion triumphs and gets the Victory over your Reason But perhaps you will say I have already contracted an Habit. Well Why don't you endeavour by forbearance to destroy this Habit and to bring in a contrary For the thing
is Profitable and that which is Good to be but one and the same thing and therefore to the making up of what is Just and Right two things are prerequisite The First That it be Useful or that it hath Usefulness on its side The Second That it be prescribed and ordained by the common Consent of the Society for there is nothing perfectly Just but what the Society by common Agreement or Approbation hath thought fit to be observed 'T is true some are of Opinion That what things are Just are of their own Nature and unchangably so and that the Laws do not make 'em Just but that they only declare 'em and ordain 'em to be according to what they were naturally before Nevertheless 't is not so but herein 't is as in other things which are useful such as are those that concern our Health and a great many more such like wich are useful to some and hurtful to others and consequently vary from the End both in general and particular And truly as every thing ought always every where and to every one appear such as 't is by Nature because Nature never changes and is unalterable in all Occurrences pray tell me if the things that some name Just be every where at all times and in respect of all Persons really Just Are we not to consider that what is ordained and established by Laws and what is consequently Lawful and Just is not ordained nor admitted among all Nations but that some look upon 'em as indifferent and others reject 'em as prejudicial and unjust Are there not some who hold generally for useful that which nevertheless is not so and thus receive things which are not generally convenient only because that they seem so to them or to their Society and appear to have some general Utility or Advantage belonging to ' em We may then say for the most part that that is universally Just or agreeable with the Nature of Just which is useful or conformable to the Notion of Just that we have now given For to speak more particularly as Utility is otherwise and differing among the several Nations so likewise what is Just differs in the same manner so that what we fancy to be Just others look upon it as Unjust This being so when we enquire whether Just and Right is the same among all Nations I answer that universally 't is so that is something that is useful in the mutual Society but if we look to Particulars and consider the several sorts of People and the diversity of Circumstances we shall find that 't is not the same every where In a word a thing is and ought to be reputed Just or to have the Qualities of Just in a Society if its Usefulness respects all the Individuals associated but if it be not so 't is not properly to be called Just nor deserves to be so esteemed So that if a Thing or an Action having been useful in a Society if by any Accident or by any Alteration this Usefulness begins to cease that thing will also cease from being Just it being no longer so than only while it continues useful and profitable to Society And thus I suppose every one will judge who suffers not himself to be misled and blinded by vain and frivolous Discourses but has a general Respect to all things Of the Origin of Right and of Justice BUt to begin the Matter a little higher and trace it from its first Source Right Equity or Justice seem to be as ancient among Men even as mutual Societies are For in the beginning when Men were Vagabonds wandering up and down like Brutes and suffered many Inconveniences from those salvage Creatures and the Rigour of the Seasons some natural Inclination which they had for one another by reason of the similitude and mutual Resemblance of Bodies as well as Souls or Manners inclined 'em to unite together in small Societies the better to prevent in some measure such like Inconveniences by Building Cottages and so thereby strengthning themselves against the Cruelty of wild Beasts and the Severity of the Weather But because every one more regarded his own private Benefit than that of another this begot many Quarrels in reference to Eating and Drinking and upon the account of Women and other Conveniences of Life which they daily robb'd and forcibly depriv'd one another of until such time as they began to consider that they could not subsist quietly or live securely and conveniently unless they made some Contracts and agreed among themselves to do no Injury one to another so that if any wrong'd his Neighbours the rest were to punish him for it This then was the first Knot or Tie of Societies which as it supposed that every Person might have something belonging to him or what he might call his own either because he was the first possessor of it or because it was given him or because he had it by way of exchange or because he acquir'd it by his Industry I say this was the first Knot which confirmed to every private Person the possession of that which he thus challeng'd as his own Now this Knot or Agreement was nothing else but a common Law which all were bound to observe and which was to secure to every one his Right or Power to make use of that which thus appertained to him And thus upon this account the Law became the common Right of Societies I shall not here mention how a whole Society at length transfer'd their power of punishing to a certain select number of the wisest and honestest Men or it may be to one Person who was look'd upon as the wisest of all the rest I shall observe only two or three Things First That such in the Society were esteemed Just or observers of Justice who contenting themselves with their own Rights never invaded the Goods of others and by this means wronged no Body And such were deemed Unjust or doers of Wrong who being not satisfied with what was their own usurp'd the Rights of others and thus wronged 'em either by Robbing of 'em Beating or by Killing 'em or the like The Second relates to the preservation of Life as the thing that was the dearest to 'em of all and the strong confirmation of their Agreements or of their common Laws for the wise Legislators taking a particular Care of what best secur'd their Lives and minding also what usually happen'd among Societies declared That it was an horrible and abominable Crime to kill a Man and that a Murderer should be look'd upon as a most infamous Person and be shamefully put to Death for there was nothing more unreasonable than to kill his Fellow Creature for which Act we ought to have the greatest aversion and the rather because thereby accrued no advantage to Life and that this Deed could not proceed but from a Wickedness in Nature Thirdly That those who at first took care to promote the Utility of the Laws had truly no
hurts wilfully that is to say knowing to whom in what manner and how he injures From whence it follows that because 't is one thing to suffer an unjust Act or to receive Damage and another to suffer an injury a Man may willingly suffer an unjust Act but not suffer an injury For that Reason Aristotle observes that we define a Man who doth an injury He who hurts knowing to whom in what manner and how he hurts yet that is not sufficient but we must add this particular Against the Will of him whom he hurts This being supposed in the first place 't is impossible that we should do injury to our selves or that a Man should receive an injury from himself for a Man may do a damage to himself and act against his own advantage but not do an injury because the same Person is both Agent and Patient he acts and suffers willingly But we must nevertheless remember what we have already said and shall have occasion to mention again hereafter That he who wishes Evil to himself as he who desires his own death or kills himself wishes for it not as an Evil he desires not death as it is the destruction of Life but as it is some Advantage that is to say as 't is the end of the Evils from which he desires to be delivered and so he looks upon it as a considerable Benefit It is likewise certain according to that kind of Maxim Volenti non fit injuria that no injury can be done to him who consents and approves of it For as we have already said no man can suffer an injury but against his Will because as the injury is in it self an Evil it cannot be look'd upon as Good or the cause of any Good 'T is true it may be a Crime in him who takes the Goods of another though this other by mistake may seem to be consenting to it as for Example If he be frightned into a Consent under some pretence if he be deluded into it by fair Promises if he be flatter'd into it by Craft if he works upon his Weakness or the easiness of his Temper or if he conceals from him the true Value of the thing without afterward informing him of his Error and so of the rest but as for him who knowingly and willingly gives away his Goods consents that they may be taken this Man cannot be judged to receive an injury but a damage But since both doing and suffering injury is an Evil if you inquire which of the two is the worst Aristotle will readily resolve you that it is in doing an injury for that cannot be done without Injustice Therefore Plato gives us this Advice That we should be more careful to avoid doing an injury than suffering it Besides tho' he who receives any damage tho' he receives it not against his Will he who doth the mischief or wrong if he designs to do an injury is not in such a case excusable because it was not for want of his Will that the damage did not prove an injury Seneca explains this matter very well It may happen saith he that a Man may offer me an injury and that I may not receive it as if any one should put into my House what he had taken out of my Farm he had been guilty of a Theft and yet I may have lost nothing thereby If any one lies with his own Wife and believes her to be the Wife of another he is an Adulterer though the Woman be not Some body hath given me Poison but as it happens to be mixed with other Ingredients it hath lost its Operation he who hath administred the Poison is a Murderer though no mischief is done by it All designed Crimes are in respect of the Sin done and effected before the act is accomplished CHAP. IX Of the Virtues which accompany Justice namely of Religion of Piety of Observance Love Bounty Liberality Gratitude And first of Religion THere are two main Causes or Reasons why God ought to be Worship'd and Ador'd the First is the supreme excellency of his Nature the Second his Bounty to us First they who stile him most Good and most Great Optimum Maximum had doubtless these two Reasons in view because as he is most Good he is the most liberal and sovereign Benefactor and as he is most Great he is supremly Excellent So that we may very well approve of Epicurus's Maxim and say That God ought to be Honoured purely for himself without any further Expectation but only because of his supreme Majesty and of his sovereign Nature for that that is most Excellent deserves to be Reverenced and Honoured But yet with him to acknowledge no other Cause and notwithstanding to disown his Bounty is what cannot be too much blamed for as Seneca tells him very well Thou dost not acknowledge the Favours and Blessings of God but supposest that as it were at a far Distance and out of the noise of the Affairs of the World he enjoys a profound Rest and interrupted Felicity without being concerned for the good Deeds of Men any more than for the evil He who teacheth this Doctrin does not consider the Sighs and ardent Desires of those who pray from all parts of the World and with Hands lifted up towards Heaven make Vows either publick or private which certainly would not easily be nor is it easily to be suppos'd that the generality of Mankind would of their own accord fall into such a stupid Madness as to address themselves to deaf and senseless Divinities to no purpose They ought to have understood that the Gods sometimes deny and sometimes grant our Requests out of their bountiful Goodness and that often they assist us so powerfully and so seasonably that they divert the great Mischiefs and Calamities that threatned us Where is that Man so miserable so forsaken and under such unhappy Circumstances who hath not at some time experienced this great Bounty and Liberality of the Gods If you look upon them who lament and grieve for their ill Fortune and tire themselves in complaining you will meet with none but Heaven hath bestowed upon him some Favours some Drops of that large Fountain of Goodness have fallen upon him Ay but God saith he does us no Good From whence then comes all those things that thou possessest that thou bestowest that thou refusest that thou keepest and that thou receivest From whence proceed that vast number of grateful Objects that delight thine Eyes thine Ears and thy Mind He hath not only provided things needful his Love hath proceeded farther to furnish us with things Pleasant and Delightful with many pleasant Fruits wholesome Herbs and nourishing Meats for Food which succeed one another according to their Seasons The most careless ever and anon stumble upon some of 'em without labour or toil 'T is God who hath created for us all the several sorts of Creatures either upon the Earth or in the Waters or in the Air that
all parts of the Creation might yield and pay to us a Tribute 'T is by his Appointment that Rivers like Serpents do sometimes wind and turn about the fruitful Vallies for the more easie Transportation of things necessary for our Life and that others by an unaccountable wonder swell suddenly but regularly in the height of Summer to water the Grounds which otherwise would be subject to be parch'd up by the scorching Beams of the Sun What shall we say of all those Medicinal Springs both Hot and Cold which issue from out of the Bowels of the Earth in such a manner that the Hot seem sometimes to proceed from the very Bosom of Coldness it self If any Friend should bestow upon you some Parcel of Land or a Sum of Mony you would presently call this a liberal Act and think your self oblig'd And cannot you acknowledge that these vast extents of Earth and all the Mines of Gold and Silver are also Liberalities and good Deeds O ungrateful Wretch From whence comes to thee this Air that thou breathest in this Light which serves to guide thee this Blood which runs in thy Veins and contains the vital and animal Spirits these exquisite Favours and this Rest without which thou would'st perish If thou had'st the least sense of Gratitude would'st thou not say That 't is God who is the Author of this thy Rest and Ease Deus nobis haec otia fecit We have within us the Seeds of all Ages and of all Arts and God the Sovereign Lord draws them out secretly and produceth them as he pleaseth You 'll pretend 't is Nature that gives you all these things alas don't you perceive that this is only changing of Names viz. that of God into that of Nature For what can you imagin this Nature to be if not God himself and the divine Understanding which is infused and spread over all the World and in every Part You may give him what other Name you please Jupiter most Good Jupiter most Great Thundering Lightning c. You may if you please give him the Name of Destiny or Fortune seeing that Destiny is nothing else but a Concatenation of Causes that succeed one another and that God is the first cause upon which all the other depend You get nothing thefore by saying That you are not indebted to God for any thing but to Nature seeing that Nature cannot be without God nor God without Nature and that God and Nature are the same thing the very same Being for these different Names are only different Titles of the same God who exerts his Power after several manners But here let us leave Epicurus and withal let us suppose the Existence of God his Providence and all his Attributes which are the Foundation of the highest Acts of religious Worship here it seems to be proper and seasonable to demonstrate that the Holy Religion that we profess is the only true and lawful Religion But as this is a particular Subject which ought to be handled solidly and to the purpose we shall leave it to the Divines who are best able to manage it in its due Circumstances suitable to the Dignity that it requires It shall suffice here to mention only what the Light of Nature discovers God saith Lactantius hath made the Nature of Man to be such that he hath an Inclination and a Love for two things which are Religion and Wisdom But Men are deceiv'd either because they embrace Religion leaving Wisdom or because they study Wisdom alone and leave Religion Whereas the one cannot be true without the other They follow divers Religions but which are false because they have forsaken Wisdom which might direct and teach them that 't is impossible that there should be many Gods or they apply themselves to Wisdom which is false and mistaken because they have left the Religion of the Sovereign God which would have instructed 'em in true Wisdom Thus they who embrace one or t'other simply err from the right way and run on in that which is full of grievous Errors because the Duty of Man and all Truth is inseparably shut up in these two Heads After that Lactantius hath thus explained himself and afterwards taught in what manner and with what Sacrifices we must honour God he continues to tell us This Holy and Sovereign Majesty requires from Man nothing else but Innocency he who who presents it to God offers a Sacrifice Pious and Religious enough And after he hath disapproved of divers superstitious Ceremonies he adds The Celestial Religion consists not in things corruptible but in the Virtues of the Mind which proceed from Heaven The true Worship is that in which a clean Soul without blemish offers it self in Sacrifice whosoever is obedient to his heavenly Precepts he honours God truly whose Sacrifices are Meekness Innocency and good Works And as often as he does good and pious Acts so often does he perform his Sacrifices to God for God requires no Offerings of Beasts their Death and Blood but he will have the Heart and Life of Man for an Offering This Sacrifice is to be performed without Herbs without the Fat and Sinews of Beasts vain and foolish things but with Expressions that proceed from a sincere Heart God's Altar is not to be adorn'd with Man's Blood but the Heart of Man is to be adorned with Justice Patience Faith Innocency Chastity and Abstinence This is the true Worship this is the Law of God as Cicero hath said that excellent and divine Law which never Commands any thing but Just and Honest and Prohibits what-ever is Wicked and Dishonest The chief Worship of God is the Praise that is offered to him by the Mouth of a just Man but that this Praise may be pleasing to him it ought to be accompanied with Humility with Fear and with a great Devotion lest Man should rely upon his own Integrity and Innocency and fall by that means into Vain-glory and Pride and so lose the Reward of Virtue If he will be favoured of God he must have a Conscience clear from all Guilt he must implore continually his Mercy and must ask of him nothing but the pardon of his Sins If any Good befals him let him return God thanks if any Evil let him bear it patiently acknowledging that it happens because of his Sins In Calamities let him not fail to be thankful and in Prosperity humble and contented that so he may have always the same settled and unshaken Mind Neither is it sufficient to perform this in the Church let him remember to do it in his House in his Chamber in his most secret Retirements By this means he will always have God consecrated in his Heart for he himself is the Temple of God If in this manner he serves God his Father and Sovereign Lord constantly and devoutly he will attain to an entire and compleat Perfection of Justice for he who remains unshaken in Justice hath obeyed God and followed the Rules of Religion
' em What Pleasure can there be in Life when Friendship is banished and what Friendship can there be among the Ungrateful This being granted we must consequently suppose Gratitude to be our chief Duty For tho he who gives pretends to nothing else than giving nevertheless he seems to expect that he who is thereby obliged should acknowledge the Favour and if he don't he will be unjust In Truth tho the Donor expects no reward yet he who receives the Kindness is not therefore free from the Ingagement that lies upon him to recompense his Benefactor by all good Offices Certainly if Hesiod will have us return as we say with Usury the Things that have only been lent us for a time With how much greater Reason saith Cicero ought we to be thankful when we have received more signal Obligations Ought we not to imitate those fruitful Fields that return much more than they receive And if we are Officious to them from whom we expect good Deeds how much more ought we to be to them who have already been kind to us and obliged us There are two sorts of Liberality the one is to give the other to restore 't is in our Power to give or not to give but not to restore is a thing not to be allowed of in an honest Man But suppose a Person is incapable you 'l say Seneca answers That he who is willing to return a good Deed does in effect do it for his good Will is a sufficient discharge of his Obligation He saith moreover That they who are obliged may not only equal but also surpass in good Will and Generosity those who give we may reward also the greatest Princes Lords and Kings either by affording to them faithful Counsel or by a constant attendance and by a pleasing Converse free from Flattery and yet delightful or by a serious Attention to what they propose when they consult about difficult Affairs or by a constant Fidelity when they intrust any Secret Propose the richest and the happiest Man in the World I will tell you what he wants viz. a cordial Friend to whom he may impart his most secret Thoughts Don't you perceive how great Men by confining the liberty of those who attend 'em and limiting their Trust to certain slavish Offices lose and cast themselves away because no Body about 'em dares freely impart their Thoughts either to incline them to what is for their advantage or to persuade them from what tends to their hurt There is no Mischief nor Calamity but they are liable to from the very Moment that they are barr'd from hearing the Truth You may ask What good you can do to a prosperous Person Persuade him not to trust to his Prosperity Will it not be a good Office that you do him when you shall cause him to quit this foolish Confidence and let him see that this Power that he has may not always continue the same And that the Things that Fortune bestows are flitting and inconstant oftner flying away faster than they come You don't understand the value and true worth of Friendship if you don't perceive that in bestowing a Friend you bestow the most excellent Gift the World can afford and who is never more useful and necessary than where all Things are in great plenty and abundance But not to insist longer upon this Aristotle offers two or three Questions upon this Point First Whether Beneficence is to be esteemed or valued according to the advantage of him who receives or according to the Liberality of him who bestows it He Answers That in the Kindnesses that are done for advantage and which are grounded upon Profit these are to be valued by the advantage of him who receives 'em because he is in want and he who does them performs 'em but upon Condition to have the same returned But in Friendships and Kindnesses that are established upon Virtue we must measure or compute the good Deed by the good Will of the Donor because where Virtue is concerned the intention is chiefly to be considered therefore whether any gives much or little the Gift or Kindness is to be esteem'd great for the great Affection or extraordinary good Will of the Party giving The Second Question Why those who give have a greater affection for the Party they give to than the other hath for the giver To this he Answers That the cause is not as some suppose for that the Donor is as the Creditor and the other as the Debtor and because the Debtor wishes for the Death of the Creditor but the Creditor the Life and Health of the Debtor but because the Benefactor is as the Artificer who loves more his own Works than they should be otherwise beloved again if they were alive which is to be seen among Poets who love the Offspring of their Brain as tenderly as the Offspring of their Body And they who receive a good Deed are as it were the handy Work of him who gives The Third Why there is no Law to indite an ungrateful Person This Crime says he which is universal is truly punished by none tho disapproved by all But as the valuation of an uncertain Thing would be very difficult we have only condemned it to an universal dislike and hatred leaving it among those Things which we have referred to the Justice and Vengeance of the Gods Besides 't is not convenient that all ungrateful Persons should be known lest the vast number of those who are stained with this Vice should lessen the Shame of the Crime and lastly 't is no small Punishment that an ungrateful Person dares not desire a good turn from another whom he has disobliged and that he is taken notice of and condemn'd by all the World As to what remains to be treated of here concerning Affability sweetness of Temper Civility and such like Virtues they may be sufficiently understood by what hath been mentioned already about Gentleness and Mildness We shall finish this Treatise with a Passage out of Seneca which contains the Sum of all moral Duties What do we do saith he what Precepts do we enjoyn What a small matter is this not to hurt him whom we ought to serve This is a worthy business indeed for a Man to be kind and loving to his Fellow-Creature Shall we make Laws for a Man to hold out his helping Hand to one Shipwreckt and ready to sink or to direct him that is wandring and hath lost his Way or to divide our Bread to him that perisheth for Hunger To what purpose is it to reckon at large what is to be done seeing I can comprehend the whole Duties of Mankind in few Words This great All which thou seest and which contains all Things divine and human is but One we are the Members of this great Body Nature hath made us all Related and a Kin by bringing us forth from the same Principles and of the same Elements 'T is Nature hath given us a mutual Affection