vis abdita quaedam Obterit pulchros fasces saevasque secures Proculcare ac ludibrio sibi haberi videtur Lucret. Lib. 5. And hence we fancy unseen Powers in Things Whose Force and Will such strange Confusion brings And spurns and overthrows our greatest Kings Creech To summ up all in a Word The Condition of Sovereign Princes is above all Others incumbred with Difficulties and exposed to Dangers Their Life provided it be Innocent and Virtuous is infinitely laborious and full of Cares If it be Wicked it is then the Plague and Scourge of the World hated and cursed by all Mankind and whether it be the One or the Other it is beset with inexpressible Hazards For the greater any Governour is the less he can be secure the less he can trust to Himself and yet the more need he hath to be secure and not to trust Others but Himself And this may satisfie us how it comes to pass that the being betray'd and abus'd is a thing very natural and easie to happen a common and almost inseparable Consequence of Government and Sovereign Power Of the Duty of Princes see Book III. Chap. 16. CHAP. L. Of Magistrates THere are great Differences and several Degrees of Magistrates with regard both to the Honour and the Power that belongs to them For These are the two considerable Points to be observ'd in distinguishing them and they are entirely independent upon one another They may be and often are each of them single and alone Sometimes Those Persons who are in the most honourable Posts have yet no great Matter of Authority or Power lodg'd in their Hands as the King's Council Privy-Counsellors in some Governments and Secretaries of State Some have but One of these two Qualifications others have Both and all have them in different Degrees but those are properly and in strict speaking Magistrates in whom both Honour and Power meet together Magistrates are in a middle Station and stand between the Prince and Private Men subordinate to the One but superiour to the Other They carry Justice home and hand it down from above but of this they being only the Ministers and Instruments can have no manner of Power inherent in Themselves when the Prince Himself who is the Fountain of Law and Justice is present As Rivers lose their Name and their Force when they have emptied and incorporated their Waters into the Sea and as Stars disappear at the Approach of the Sun so all the Authority of Magistrates in the Presence of the Sovereign whose Deputies and Vicegerents They are is either totally suspended or upon sufferance only And the Case is the same if we descend a little lower and compare the Commissions of Subalterns and inferiour Officers with Those in a higher and more general Jurisdiction Those that are in the same Commission are all upon the Level there is no Power or Superiority There over one another all that they can do is to consult together and be assisting to each other by concurrence or else to obstruct and restrain each other by opposing what is doing and preventing its being done All Magistrates judge condemn and command either according to the Form and express Letter of the Law and then the Decisions they give and the Sentences they pronounce are nothing else but a putting the Law in execution or else they proceed upon Rules of Equity and reasonable Consideration and then this is call'd the Duty of the Magistrate Magistrates cannot alter their own Decrees nor correct the Judgment they have given without express Permission of the Sovereign upon Penalty of being adjudged Falsifiers of the Publick Records They may indeed revoke their own Orders or they may suspend the Execution of them for some time as they shall see Occasion But when once a Cause is brought to an Issue and Sentence given upon a full and fair Hearing they have no Power to retract that Judgment nor to mend or try it over again without fresh Matter require it Of the Duty of Magistrates See Book III. Chap. 17. CHAP. LI. Lawgivers and Teachers IT is a Practice very usual with some Philosophers and Teachers to prescribe such Laws and Rules as are above the Proportions of Virtue and what the Condition of Humane Nature will suffer very few if any at all to come up to They draw the Images much bigger and more beautiful than the Life or else set us such Patterns of Difficult and Austere Virtue as are impossible for us to equal and so discourage many and render the Attempt it self Dangeous and of ill Consequence to some These are merely the Painter's Fancy like Plato's Republick Sir Thomas More 's Utopia Cicero's Orator or Horace his Poet. Noble Characters indeed and a Collection of acknowledged Excellencies in Speculation but such as the World wants living Instances of The Best and most perfect Law-giver who in marvelous Condescension was pleased himself to be sensible of our Infirmities hath shewed great Tenderness and Compassion for them and wisely consider'd what Humane Nature would bear He hath suited all Things so well to the Capacities of Mankind that those Words of His are True even in this Respect also My Yoke is easie and my Burden is light Now where these Powers are not duly consulted the Laws are first of all Unjust for some Proportion ought to be observ'd between the Command and the Obedience the Duty imposed and the Ability to discharge it I do not say These Commands should not exceed what is usually done but what is possible to be done for what Vanity and Folly is it to oblige People to be always in a Fault and to cut out more Work than can ever be finished Accordingly we may frequently observe that these rigid Stretchers of Laws are the First that expose them to publick Scorn by their own Neglect and like the Pharisees of old lay heavy Burdens upon others which they themselves will not so much as touch with one of their Fingers These Examples are but too obvious in all Professions This is the Way of the World Men direct one Thing and practise another and That not always through Defect or Corruption of Manners but sometimes even out of Judgment and Principle too Another Fault too frequent is That many Persons are exceeding Scrupulous and Nice in Matters which are merely Circumstantial or free and indifferent in their own Nature even above what they express themselves in some of the most necessary and substantial Branches of their Duty such as the Laws of God or the Light of Nature have bound upon them This is much such another Extravagance as lending to other People while we neglect to pay our own Debts A Pharisaical Ostentation which our Heavenly Master so severely exposes the Jewish Elders for and is at the Bottom no better than Hypocrise a mocking of God and Miserable deluding of their own Souls Seneca indeed hath said something concerning the Impracticableness of some Duties which if rightly observ'd is of
destroy'd or profan'd by the Receiver's Fault If another will needs be wicked and act otherwise than becomes him this can never justifie my ceasing to be good But further The generous and noble Spirit distinguishes it self by Perseverance and triumphs in the Conquest of Ingratitude and Ill-nature when invincible Beneficence hath heaped Coals of Fire upon their Heads melted them down and softned them into good Temper and a better Sense of Things So says the Moralist * Optimi ingentis animi est tamdiu ferre ingratum donec feceris gratum vincit malos pertinax Bonitas A Great Soul bears the ingrateful Man so long till at last he makes him grateful for obstinate and resolute Goodness will conquer the worst of Men. The Last Direction I shall lay down upon this Occasion is That when a thing is given we should let a Man use and enjoy it quietly and not be troublesome and unseasonable with him like some who when they have put one into any Office or Preferment will needs be thrusting in their Oar and execute it for him Or else procure a Man some considerable Advantage and then make over what proportion of the Profits they see sit to themselves Receivers in such Cases ought not to endure the being thus imposed upon and any Resentments or Refusals made upon this Account are by no means the Marks of Ingratitude but a preservation of their own Rights And whatever the Benefactor may have contributed to our Preferment he wipes out the whole Score and acquits us of all our Obligations by these imperious and busie Interpositions The Story is not amiss concerning one of the Popes who being press'd hard by one of the Cardinals to do somewhat inconvenient or perhaps unjust in his Favour and as a Motive which was thought irresistible or at least a Resentment which he look'd upon as reasonable in case of refusal the Cardinal re-minding him that His Interest had been formerly at his Service and his Popedom was owing to it His Holiness very pertinently reply'd If You made me Pope pray let me be so and do not take back again the Authority you gave me After these several Rules for the directing Men in the Exercise of Beneficence it may be seasonable to observe Several sorts of Kindnesses that there are Benefits of several sorts some of them much more acceptable than others and thus some more and others less engaging Those are most welcome that come from the Hand of a Friend and one whom we are strongly dispos'd to love without any such Inducement As on the contrary it is very grievous and grating to be oblig'd by one of whom we have no Opinion and desire of all things not to be indebted to Those are likewise so which proceed from a Person whom we have formerly oblig'd our selves because This is not so much Gratuity as Justice and Payment of Arrears and so draws very little or no new Debt upon us Such again are those done in a time of Necessity and when our Occasions were very urgent These have a mighty Influence they utterly deface all past Injuries and Misunderstandings if any such there were and leave a strong Tie upon a Man's Honour as on the other Hand the denying our Assistance in Cases of Extremity is extremely unkind and wipes out all Remembrances of any former Benefits Such once more are Those that can be easily acknowledged and admit of a suitable Return as on the contrary such as the Receiver is out of all Capacity to requite commonly breed Hatred and a secret Dislike For there is a Pride in most Men that makes them uneasie to be always behind-hand and hence he who is sensible that he can never make amends for all he hath receiv'd every time that he sees his Benefactor fancies himself dogg'd by a Creditor upbraided by a living Witness of his Insufficiency or Ingratitude and these secret Reproaches of his own Mind give great Uneasiness and Discontent for no Bankrupt can bear being twitted with his Poverty Some again there are which the more free and honourable and respectful they are the more burdensom and weighty they are provided the Receiver be a Person of Honour and Principle Such I mean as bind the Consciences and the Wills of Men for they tie a Man up faster keep him more tight and render him more cautious and fearful of failing or forgetfulness A Man is Ten times more a Prisoner when confin'd by his own Word than if he were under Lock and Key It is easier to be bound by Legal and publick Restraints and Forms of Engagements than by the Laws of Honour and Conscience and Two Notaries in this Case are better than One. When a Man says I desire nothing but your Word I depend upon your Honesty such a one indeed shews greater respect But if he be sure of his Man he puts him upon a stricter Obligation and himself upon better Security than Bonds and Judgments A Man who engages nothing but his Word is always in Fear and Constraint and upon his Guard lest he should forfeit or forget it Your Mortgagee and he that is under the power of Legal Forms is deliver'd from that Anxiety and depends upon his Creditor's Instruments which will not sail to refresh his Memory when the Bonds become due Where there is any external Force the Will is always less intent and where the Constraint is less there in proportion the Application of the Will is greater * Quod me Jus cogit vix à Voluntate impetrem What the Law compels me to is very haâ—dly my own Choice for I do not properly choose but submit to it Benefits produce Obligations Of the Obligation and from Obligations again fresh Benefits spring up So that Beneficence is reciprocally the Child and the Parent the Effect and the Cause and there is a twofold Obligation which we may distinguish by an Active and a Passive Obligation Parents and Princes and all Superiours are bound in Duty and by virtue of their Station to procure the Benefit and Advantage of Those whom either the Laws and Order of Nature or the political Constitutions of Government or any other Law relating to their Post have committed to their Inspection and Care And not only so but All in general whether their Character be Publick or not if they have Wealth and Power are by the Law of Nature oblig'd to extend their Help and Bounty towards the Necessitous and Distress'd And this is the first sort of Obligation But then from good Offices thus done whether they be in some regard owing to us as flowing from the Duty incumbent upon the Benefactor by virtue of this former Engagement Or whether they be the effect of pure Choice entirely Grace and nothing of Debt there arises the Second sort of Obligation whereby the Receivers are bound to acknowledge the Kindness and to be thankful for it All this mutual Exchange and propagation of Engagements and good
good Use but then it must not be over-strain'd nor applyed to all Occasions indifferently * Quoties parum fiduciae est in his in quibus imperas amplius exigendum est quam satis est ut praestetur quantum satis est In hoc omnis Hyperbole excedit ut ad Verum Mendacio veniat When ever says he you have Reason to distrust the due performance of the Precepts or Laws you establish it is necessary to require something more than will just serve the Turn to the intent That which is sufficient may be sure not to be neglected For all Hyperboles and Excesses of this kind are useful to this purpose that Men by having something expressed which is not true may be brought to just Ideas of that which is true With this Quotation our Author ends his Chapter in the older Edition which I thought convenient to add here and not only so but in regard I am sensible what perverse Use Licentious Men may make of the former Objection to the Prejudice of Religion and in particular Vindication of their own Neglects and Vicious Lives and also what Occasions of Scruple and Disquiet it may minister to some well meaning Persons when they compare their own Defects with the Perfection of the Divine Laws I beg the Reader 's Leave to insert at large what a Learned and Excellent Writer of our own hath delivered to this purpose And this I hope if well consider'd may both confute the Licentious and quiet the Doubting and Dissatisfied in the Point before us Laws says he must not be depressed to our Imperfection Dr. Barrow Vol. I. Serm. xxvi nor Rules bent to our Obliquity but we must ascend towards the Perfection of Them and strive to conform our Practice to Their Exactness If what is prescribed be according to the Reason of Things Just and Fit it is enough although our Practice will not reach it For what remaineth may be supply'd by Repentance and Humility in him that should obey by Mercy and Pardon in him that doth command In the Prescription of Duty it is just that what may be required even in Rigour should be precisely determined though in Execution of Justice or Dispensation of Recompence Consideration may be had of our Weakness Whereby both the Authority of our Governour may be maintain'd and his Clemency glorify'd It is of great Use that by comparing the Law with our Practice and in the Perfection of the One discerning the Defect of the Other we may be humbled may be sensible of our Impotency may thence be forced to seek the Helps of Grace and the Benefit of Mercy Were the Rule never so low our Practice would come below it it is therefore expedient that it should be high that at least we may rise higher in Performance than otherwise we should do For the higher we aim the nearer we shall go to the due Pitch as He that aimeth at Heaven although he cannot reach it will yet shoot higher than He that aimeth only at the House Top. The Height of Duty doth prevent Sloth and Decay in Virtue keeping us in wholesom Exercise and in continual Improvement while we are always climbing towards the Top and straining unto farther Attaintment The sincere Prosecution of which Course as it will be more Profitable to Us so it will be no less Acceptable to God than if we could thoroughly fulfill the Law For in Judgment God will only reckon upon the Sincerity and Earnestness of our Endeavour so that if we have done our Best it will be taken as if we had done All. Our Labour will not be lost in the Lord for the Degrees of performance will be considered and he that hath done his Duty in part shall be proportionably recompensed according to that of St. Paul Every Man shall receive his own reward according to his own Work Hence sometimes we are enjoyned to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect and to be Holy as God is Holy otherwhile to go on to Perfection and to press toward the Mark which Precepts in Effect do import the same Thing but the latter implieth the former although in Attainment impossible yet in Attempt very profitable And surely he is likely to write best who proposeth to himself the fairest Copy for his Imitation In fine if we do act what is possible or as we can do conform to the Rule of Duty we may be sure that no Impossibility of any Sublime Law can prejudice us I say of any Law for many perhaps every one Evangelical Law are alike repugnant to corrupt Nature and seem to surmount our Ability Thus far that Reverend Person whose Argument I know not whether I ought to ask pardon for representing so largely but I was willing to give it entire for the greater Satisfaction of Them who think themselves concern'd to consider it And likewise that it might be of more Use when apply'd as very appliable it is to other Laws and Precepts wherein Religion is not immediately concerned In short a Law-Giver and a Judge are two very different Characters and such as require very different Methods and Principles for it is one Thing to Establish and Another to Execute the Law And the want of observing this Distinction occasions all the Complaints and Declamatory Strains we hear against Moral and Revealed Religion as if they imposed Things merely Romantick and Imaginary To all which I add too that though we none of us can attain to Perfection yet most of us might go much greater Lengths towards it than we do And that This is often made an unnecessary Pretence a Cloak to our Folly or Sloth or indulged Vices which when they have all of them been wilful and affected we palliate and excuse by taking Sanctuary very improperly in the Infirmities of Humane Nature the Imperfections and Failings of the best Men and the Impossibility and Impracticableness of the Duties imposed upon us CHAP. LII Of the Common People BY the Common People here we are not to understand all that have no Part in the Government and whose only Business is to Obey but I mean the Rout and vulgar Croud the Dregs and Rubbish of the Common-Wealth Men of a Mean Slavish and Mechanical Spirit and Condition let them cover or call or set Themselves off how they will Now This is a many-headed Monster such as cannot be described in a little Compass Inconstant and Changeable Restless and Rolling like the Waves of the Sea They are ruffled and calmed They approve and disapprove the self-same Thing in a Moment of Time Nothing in the World can be more casie than to manage and turn this Bawble which Way and into what Form you please they Laugh or Cry are Angry or Pleas'd or in any other Passion just as one would have them They love not War for the Sake of its End nor Peace for the Sake of the Quiet it brings but they are fond both of the One and the Other because each is New
every Place every Emergency will find him the same For this Law of Nature is perpetual the Obligation of it is lasting and inviolable the Equity and Reason of it are Eternal written in large and indelible Characters no Accident can deface them no length of time waste or wear them out even Wickedness it self by the Customary Habits whereof the positive and additional Improvements of this Law are corrupted yet cannot debauch or exterminate these first and Natural Notions no Place no Time can alter or disguise them but they continue every where the same The Collections inferred from them differ infinitely but these first Principles themselves which are the Ground of all Moral Institutions admit of no Change no Increase no Abatement no Fits and Starts no Ebbings and Flowings but as they are a part of our Substance so do they agree with what the Schools say of all Substances in general * Substantia non recipit magis minùs that it is contrary to their nature to be more or less than they are Why then Vain Man dost thou trouble thy self to seek abroad for some Law and Rule to Mankind What can Books or Masters tell thee which thou mightest not tell thy self What can Study or Travel shew which at the expence of much less pains thou might'st not see at home by descending into thy own Conscience and hearkning attentively to its Admonitions When Ignorance of this kind is pretended the same Reply is fit for Thee which would be given to a shuffling Debtor who when Payment is demanded professes not to know how the Money became due when all the while he hath the Bill about him For thou carriest the Bond and the particulars of thy Debt in thy own Bosom and what thou seekest Information of from others canst not but know if thou consult thy Self To what purpose is all this Labour and Cost the toilsome tumbling over of Codes and Institutes of Precedents and Reports of Statutes and Records when all these are contained in one small portable Volume The Two Tables of Moses the Twelve Tables of the Greeks Rom. 2.12 the Law written in the hearts of Them who had no Law and in short all the Rules of Equity and Good Laws that have any where been enacted and obtained in the World are nothing else but Copies and Transcripts produced in open Court and published from that Original which thou keepest close within thee and yet all the while pretendest to know nothing of the matter stifling and suppressing as much as in thee lies the Brightness of that Light which shines within and so falling under the Condemnation of those mentioned by the Apostle Rom. 1.18 who hold or detain the Truth of God in Unrighteousness If This have not been sufficiently published and promulged as loud as clear as intelligibly as other humane Laws the only Reason is that that Light which is really All-heavenly and Divine hath been put under a Bushel that is too much neglected and industriously forgotten All other Institutions are but so many Rivulets and Streams derived from this common Source And although they be more visible and obvious and express yet is not the Water they carry so copious nor so lively and pure as that of the unseen Spring within thy own Breast if thy own Negligence did not suffer it to waste and dry up It is not I say so Copious for as one well observes * Quà m multa Pietas Humanitas Liberalitas Fides exigunt quae extra Tabulas sunt What a world of Good Offices are there which Prety Humanity Liberality and Fidelity require from a Man and yet no written or positive Law ever prescribed Alas how poor and scanty a thing is that Honesty of your Formal and Hypocritical Pretenders who stick to the Letter of the Law and think when That is satisfied they have fully discharged their Duty whereas there are infinite Obligations incumbent upon a Man which no human Law ever binds upon him †Quà m angusta Innocentia ad Legem bonum esse latiùs Officiorum quà m Juris patet Regula He that is honest only in the Eye of the Law hath but a very slender sort of Innocence to boast for the Measure of our Duty is of a much larger extent than the Law can pretend to There are infinite Cases unforeseen sudden Emergencies and extraordinary Conjunctures the Occasions and Circumstances whereof are too many and too intricate for any human Wisdom to foresee and much more impossible for it to make any competent Provision for so that a Man must often be left to his own Judgment and Discretion and even where he is not a Good Man will sometimes think the Rule too narrow and disdain to consine or cramp up his Virtue within the Compass of that which was thought necessary to be imposed upon every Common Man And as this invisible Fountain within is more exuberant and plenteous so is it more lively and pure and strong than any of those Streams derived from it Of which we need but this single Testimony That whenever any Disputes arise about the Interpretation and right Execution of a positive Law the constant and best Method of Understanding the Equity and true Intent of it is by running it back to its first Head and observing what is most agreeable to the Law of Nature in the Case This is the Test and Touch This the Level and the Truth by which all the rest are to be judged For as we commonly say * Anima Legis Ratio Reason is the Soul and Life of the Law here we find things clear and limpid in their Source which when drawn out into Rivulets grow foul and sullied by all that Faction and Interest Ambition and serving of Parties which corrupt all human Sanctions and Establishments And thus I have described to you a Real Substantial Radical Fundamental Honesty born with us rooted in us springing from the Seed of Universal Reason This in the Soul is like the Spring and Balance in a Clock it regulates all its motions like the Natural Warmth in the Body which sustains and preserves it self and is both its own Strength and Safety and the Person 's to whom it belongs The Man that proceeds according to This acts in conformity to the Will of God in consistence and agreement with himself in compliance with Nature and obedience to those Rules upon which all Government and Civil Constitutions are founded he proceeds smoothly gently silently His Virtue draws little Observation perhaps as it makes no Noise but slides on and keeps its Course like a Boat carried down by the Course of the Water in a Calm day Whereas all other sorts of Virtue are the Products of Art and Accident grafted into us by Discipline and not of our own natural growth fickle and out of Temper like the Intermitting Heat and Cold of a Fever they are acquired at first and drawn out into exercise afterwards by Chance and
truckle and submit not only to the Fickleness and Variety of infinite several Judgments but to the Changeable and Humoursome Sentiments of one and the same Person That which binds the Law upon Men's Consciences is the Authority of the Legislative Power and the Sanction it receives from thence the Reasonableness of the Duty contained in it is only an additional and collateral Obligation How many Laws have there been in the World so far from any appearance of Piety or Justice that they have really been exceeding trifling extravagant and sensless such as no Man's Reason knew what to make of And yet Mankind have submitted nay and enjoyed as much Peace and good Order and been as regularly governed as highly contented as if they had been the Justest and most reasonable that ever Human Wisdom and Policy enacted Now he that should have gone about to create a Dissatisfaction and Dislike to such Laws or attempted to repeal or to amend them would have deserved to be suspected as an Enemy to the Publick and not to be endured or harken'd to in a wise Government There are very few things but Human Nature may in process of Time reconcile it self to and when once the Difficulty is overcome and things sit easy upon People it is no better in effect than an Act of Hostility to offer at the dissetling them again We should always be content to let the World jog on in its own beaten Path for it is but too often seen that your Removers of Ancient Land-marks and busy Politicians under their plausible Pretences of Reforming spoil and ruin All. There is seldom or never any considerable Alteration made in established Laws received Opinions acknowledged Customs and ancient Ordinances and Discipline but it is of very pernicious Consequence The Attempt is always extremely hazardous there is commonly more Hurt than Good done by it at least this deserves to be duly weighed That the Mischief if less in it self is yet sooner felt for the Disorders every Change creates are certain and present but the Advantages it produces are distant and doubtful so that we exchange a Good in Possession for one in Expectation only and where we submit to That there ought to be very great Odds in value to justify the Prudence of our Proceeding This is certain that Men are but too fond of Novelties before they have tried them and Innovators never want some very fair and plausible Pretences to catch and feed their Fancies with but the more of this kind they pretend the more ought we to suspect and be aware of them For how indeed can we forbear detesting the vain and ambitious Presumption of Persons who undertake to see farther and be wiser than all Mankind besides What an intolerable Arrogance is it in such Turbulent and Factious Spirits to persuade Men into Compliance with their Humours at the Expence of the Publick Peace and to think it worth while that the Government should run the Risque of its own Ruin merely for the sake of establishing a fresh Scheme and passing a private Opinion into an Universal Law I have already hinted and do repeat it here again That we are not by any means obliged to obey all Laws and Constitutions whatsoever which our Superiors shall think fit to impose without any Distinction or Reserve For where we find them evidently to contradict the Laws of God and Nature in such case we must neither comply on the one hand nor disturb the Publick Peace by our refusing to do so on the other How Men ought to behave themselves in such Critical Junctures will fall more properly under Consideration when we come in the next Book to treat of our Duty to Princes And indeed this Inconvenience is much more frequent upon Subjects with regard to Their Arbitrary Commands than the Established Laws Nor is it sufficient that we submit to Laws and Governors upon the account of their Justice and particular Worth but this must not be done servilely and cowardly upon Motives of Fear and Force This is a Principle sit only for the Meanest and most Ignorant it is part of a Wise Man's Character to do nothing unwillingly and upon Compulsion but to delight in his Duty and find a sensible Pleasure in a reasonable Obedience He keeps the Laws for his own sake because he is jealous and tender of doing any thing he ought not and a rigid Master over himself He needs no Laws to constrain him in what is decent and good This distinguishes Him from the Common Populace who have no other Sense or Direction of their Duty but what Positive Laws can give In strictness according to the old Stoical Notions the Wise Man is above the Laws and a Law to himself But however he pays all outward Deference to them and a free voluntary Obedience This is due from him as a Member of Society as the inward Freedom of his Mind is owing to the Prerogative of a Philosopher In the Third Place I affirm it to be the Effect of extreme Levity a Presumption vain in it self and injurious to others nay a Mark of great Weakness and Insufficiency of Judgment to Condemn all those Laws and Customs abroad which are not conformable to those of our own Native Countrey This indeed is owing either to want of Leisure and Opportunity or to want of Ability and Largeness of Mind for the considering the Reasons and Grounds impartially upon which Foreign Establishments are founded It is a great Wrong done to our own Judgment to pronounce a Rash Sentence which when we come to a more perfect understanding of the Cause we shall in many Instances find our selves obliged to retract and be ashamed of And it is an Argument that we forget the Extent and Condition of Human Nature how many and how different things it is susceptible of It is a shutting the Eyes of our Mind and suffering them to be laid asleep and deluded with the often repeated Impressions of the same thing the daily Dream of Long Use and to submit so far to Precedent and Prescription that These should overbear the plainest Reason and give Example the Ascendent over Judgment Lastly It is the Business and the Character of a generous Mind and such a Wise Man as I am here drawing the Idea of to examine all things First To take each apart and consider it by it self Then to lay them one over against another and compare them together that so the several Laws and Customs of the whole World so far as they shall come to his Knowledge may have a full and a fair Trial and that not for the directing his Obedience but to assert his Right and execute his Office When This is done he ought to pass an honest and impartial Judgment upon them as he shall find them upon this enquiry to be agreeable or otherwise with Truth and Reason and Universal Justice For This is the Rule This the Standard which all of them are to be Tried and Measured
unbecoming their Character and if They do a thing it must needs be excellent and good And on the other hand Governours are so sensible of the Force of this Motive too that they think their Subjects indispensably obliged to those Rules which they are content to be governed by themselves and that their own doing what they would have done by others is singly a sufficient Inducement to bring it into Practice and common Vogue without the Formality of a Command to enforce it From all which it is abundantly manifest that Virtue is exceeding necessary and advantageous to a Prince both in point of Interest and in point of Honour and Reputation All Virtue is so in truth without Exception though not All equally neither for there are four Species of it Four Principal Virtues which seem to have greater and more commanding Influence than the rest and those are Piety Justice Valour and Clemency These are more properly Princely Qualities and shine brightest of all the Jewels that adorn a Crown of the Excellencies I mean that even a Prince's Mind can be possibly endued with This gave occasion to that most Illustrious of all Princes Augustus Caesar to say That Piety and Justice exalt Kings and translate them into Gods And Seneca observes that Clemency is a Virtue more suitable to the Character of a Prince than to persons of any other Quality whatsoever Now the Piety of a Prince consists and must exert it self in the Care and Application which he ought to use for the Preservation and Advancement of Religion of which every Sovereign ought to consider himself as the Guardian and Protector And thus indeed he should do for his own sake for this Zeal and pious Care will contribute very much to his own Honour and Safety For they that have any regard for God will not dare to attempt no not so much as to contrive or imagine any Mischief against that Prince who is God's Image upon Earth and who plainly approves himself to be such by his zealous and tender Concern for the Glory and the Institution of his great Original And in effect this tends no the Security of the People too and the Quiet of the Government in general For as Lactantius frequently urges Religion is the common Band that links Communities together Society could not be supported without it Take off this Restraint and the World would immediately be overrun with all manner of Wickedness Barbarity and Brutality So great an Interest hath every Government in Religion so strong so necessary a Curb is the Sense and Fear and Reverence of it to unruly Mankind Thus on the other hand even Cicero who does not appear to have been any mighty Devote makes it his Observation That the Romans owed the Rise and Growth and flourishing Condition of their Commonwealth to their Exemplary Respect for Religion more than to any other Cause whatsoever Upon this account every Sovereign is very highly concerned and strictly oblig'd to see that Religion be preserv'd entire and that no Breaches be made upon it That it be encourag'd and supported according to the establish'd Laws in all its Rights Ceremonies Usages and Local Constitutions Great Diligence should be used to prevent Quarrels Divisions and Innovations and severe Punishments inflicted upon all who go about to alter or disturb or infringe it For without all Controversie every Injury done to Religion and all rash and bold Alterations in it draw after them a very considerable damage to the Civil State weaken the Government Dion and have a general ill Influence upon Prince and People both as Moecenas very excellently argues in his Oration to Augustus Next after Piety Justice is of greatest Consequence and Necessity Justice and Fidelity without which Governments are but so many Sets of Banditi Robbers and Invaders of the Rights of their Brethren This therefore a Prince ought by all means to preserve and maintain in due Honour and Regard both in his own Person and Conversation and in the Observance of those under his Jurisdiction 1. It is necessary to be strictly observed by the Sovereign Himself For nothing but Detestation and the utmost Abhorrence is due to those Barbarous and Tyrannical Maxims which pretend to set a Prince above all Laws and to complement him with a Power of Dispensing at Pleasure with Reason and Equity and all manner of Obligation and Conscience which tell Kings that they are not bound by any Engagements and that their Will and Pleasure is the only Measure of their Duty That Laws were made for common Men and not for such as They That every thing is Good and Just which they find most practicable and convenient In short that their Equity is their Strength and whatever they can do that they may do * Principi Leges nemo scripsit Licet si libet In summâ fortunà id requius quod validius nihil injustum quod fructuosum Sanctitas â—ietas Fides privata bona sunt quà juvâ—t Reges eant No Man ever presumes to prescribe to Princes or include them within the Verge of any Laws but their own Inclinations In the highest Post Justice is always on the stronger side That which is most profitable can never be unlawful Holiness and Piety Faith and Truth and common Honesty are the Virtues of private Men Princes may take their own Course and are above these vulgar Dispensations So say Pliny and Tacitus But against this false Doctrine too apt to be liked by Persons in Power I entreat my wise Prince to oppose the really Excellent and Pious Sentences and Directions of Grave and Good Philosophers They tell you That the greater Power any Man is invested with the more regular and modest he should be in the Exercise of it That this is one of those Things which must always be used with a Reserve and the more one could do the less it will become him to do That the more absolute and unbounded any Man's Authority is the greater Check and more effectual Restraint he hath upon him That every Man's Ability should be measured by his Duty and what he may not that he cannot do †Minimum decet libere cui nimium licet Non â—as potentes posse sieri quod nefas He that can do what he will must take care to will but a very little And Great Men should never think they have a Liberty of doing what ought not to be done The Prince then ought to lead the way and be first and most eminent for Justice and Equity and particularly he must be sure to be very punctual to his Word and to keep his Faith and his Promise most inviolably because Fidelity and Truth is the Foundation of all manner of Justice whatsoever whether to all his Subjects in general or to each Person in particular How mean soever the Party or how slight soever the Occasion be still this Word must be Sacred When he hath thus provided for his own Behaviour
die Like foolish Chapmen who put off their Bargains till the Shops are shut and then complain of an ill Market What say they shall I never get an Opportunity of retreating from the World and living to some Purpose Alas * Quam serum est incipere vivere cum desinendum est quam stulta mortalitatis oblivio Dum differtur vita transcurrit How unseasonable is it to begin to live when we can live no longer What strange Infatuation makes us thus forget that we are Mortal While we put off to a farther Day and intend to take up hereafter that very Life which should have been employ'd is lost and gone So good reason had all the Wise Men of Old to call upon us so often and so loudly to make the best of our Time and lose no Opportunities so just is That Warning That of all the Necessaries of Life Time is the greatest the most indispensable what they who want and are prodigal of undo themselves to all Intents and Purposes The shortness of Life and the length of Art is not more properly apply'd to the Study of Physick and the Art of Healing than it is to the Art of Living For this is an Art too and such as cannot be master'd without long Study and great Application of Mind This is the true the only Wisdom and therefore this present Direction is the first and most concerning those that follow are but so many Deductions from and Helps to it 2. The Next is That we would learn to dwell alone to be easie when by our selves and if Occasion so require well content to be deprived of the Company and Comfort of all the World It is an extraordinary Attainment to know how to enjoy one's self and a Virtue as well as Advantage to take Satisfaction and perfect Content in that Enjoyment Let us therefore set about it in good Earnest and never rest 'till we have gain'd this Point upon our selves The conquering all our Fondnesses and uneasie Hankerings after the Conversation of others and the taking Delight in conversing with our own Souls That so our Contentment may depend upon our selves alone and not upon other People nor upon any thing without us But though we should not seek Conversation as our Happiness and what we cannot want yet must not this Self-satisfaction degenerate into a cynical Moroseness or a proud affected Solicitude It is a Fault to refuse or to disdain the Company of our Friends This is what we ought not only to accept but to be glad of and good Humoured in allowing and practising all those Diversions which pleasant Discourse and innocent Mirth are able to give us My Meaning is only to keep Men from being Slaves to those Diversions and unable to relish any Pleasure without them and such are a great part of the World almost quite lost and sadly to seek what to do with themselves when they are alone Now every Man ought to be sufficiently provided at Home for his own Entertainment and he is very poorly supplied who cannot subsist upon his private Stock for one Day at least But the Man who hath brought himself to do so every Day and needs be beholding to no body for his Sustenance and Satisfaction of this kind is sure to be always Happy always pleas'd 'T is true In the midst of all this he ought to be Civil and Complaisant to put on an Air of Gaiety or Business comply with the Company and do as they do submit to the Necessity of Affairs and follow when that calls in a Word it will be his Prudence to accommodate his Temper and Behaviour to any Thing that may happen but howsoever those Considerations may alter his outward Appearance and oblige him to make different Figures in the Eye of the World to put on all Humours and shift his Manner as oft as the Scene changes yet still at Home and within himself he must be always the same This is the Effect of Meditation and serious Thought which is indeed the Food the Life the Essence of the Soul And it is a remarkable Instance how kind Nature hath been to us that what we thus live upon is the most frequent the most lasting the most easie and natural Employment of our Souls for Thought is always with us and most truly our own But though all Men's Minds are employed yet is not the Employment easie to all alike nor the Matter they are employed upon the same In some this Entertainment of themselves is mere Impotence and Childishness the Dosings of Idleness and Sloth the want of Business and merely the Effect of having nothing else to do But Great Souls make it their Choice they court and covet the Opportunities for it look upon it as their main Business and most improving Study And therefore they ply it close with their utmost Application and Intenseness of Thought their Faculties are all at Work and as was said of Scipio they are never less alone than when they are by themselves never more full of Business than when retreated from the World and sequestred from all that Men commonly call such This so far as Humane Nature can aspire to the Resemblance of so bright an Excellence is to imitate Almighty God for He lives and feeds upon the Eternal Reflections of his own Mind And Aristotle guessed right when he laid down this constant Employment as the Foundation of the Happiness both of the Divine and Humane Nature For Self-sufficiency and Self-satisfaction are but other Words for Happiness and These are never to be had never to be tasted but by learning to employ and to entertain our selves well with our own Thoughts 3. But then in order hereunto great regard must be had to the Choice of sit Subjects for the Mind to dwell upon For some People make so very ill Use of this solitary Retreat into themselves that they are their own worst Tempters and Company is their best Preservation To the Intent therefore that this Meditation may be an Employment indeed and this Entertainment delightful like His whose Image our Souls are we must take Care not to trifle away our Time in vain Thoughts and much more still not to mispend it in Vice The First is sure to do us no manner of Good the Second a great deal of Harm Some grave severe Study some useful profound Knowledge some Contrivance how to improve and exalt our Minds and make our selves better Men should be our great Employment and Concern God hath given us Reason and Comprehension and a large Possession a Rich Soil it is but the manuring and cultivating and making it fruitful is our Duty the principal Task incumbent upon every Man what the Laws of Nature and Religion have covenanted for and what each of us must expect to give an Account of It highly concerns us therefore to be serious and vigilant to look narrowly into our selves and see how Matters stand with us to call in our Cares and Endeavours
and faithful Transcript from the Original an Interpreter and Executor of his Master's Will to see that this be duly declared and diligently observed By this Will I mean the Law for this is the Authentick Will of the Prince and the only Declaration of it which Subjects are bound to take notice of Of this the Magistrate is to exact a faithful Account and punctual Observance for which reason we often find him termed by Authors The Living and the Speaking Law Now though it be the Duty of a Magistrate and an excellent Qualification in him to temper Justice with Prudence and Severity with Gentleness and Forbearance yet it must be confessed much more for the common Advantage to have such Magistrates as incline to the excess of Sharpness and Rigour than those who are dispos'd to Mildness and Easiness and Compassion For even God himself who so highly recommends so strictly enjoyns all those humane and soft Dispositions upon other Occasions yet positively forbids a Judge to be moved with Pity The Strict and Harsh Magistrate is the better Restraint the stronger Curb He contains People in Bounds and preserves a due Awe and Obedience of the Laws The Mild and Merciful One exposes the Laws to Contempt makes Magistracy cheap and lessens the Prince who made both the Law and the Magistrate in the Eyes and Esteem of his People In one word There must go two Qualifications to the Capacitating a Man for the discharging this Office compleatly Integrity and Courage The first cannot subsist alone but stands in need of the second to support and back it The former will be sure to keep the Magistrate's Hands clean from Avarice and Partiality and Respect of Persons from Bribery and Gifts which are the Bane and utter Exterminators of Truth and from any other violation of Justice which Plato calls what indeed it ought to be a Pure Unblemished Virgin This will also be a Guard to him against his Passions the Aversions or the Affection he may bear to the Parties concerned and indeed all other Resentments which are but so many Enemies and Underminers of Right and Equity But then he will find great occasion for Courage too to stand his ground against the Menaces and Imperious Sollicitations of Great Men the Requests and Importunities of Friends who fansie they have a sort of Right to dispose of him and will not take a reasonable Resusal To harden him against the Prayers and Tears the loud Cries and bitter Complaints of the Miserable and Afflicted for all these are very moving and forcible inducements a great Violence upon Reason and Duty and yet so committed that there is a plausible appearance of both in the very Diversion they labour to give us from both And the truth is this firmness and inflexible Constancy of Mind is the most masterly Virtue and particular Excellence of a Magistrate that he neither be terrified and subdued by Greatness and Power nor melted by Miseries and deplorable Circumstances These are what very brave Men are often transported by and therefore it is the greater Praise to continue Proof against them For though being softned by the latter have an Air of Good-nature and is more likely to prevail upon the Better sort of Men yer either of the Extreams is sinful and both forreign to the merits of the Cause which is the only thing that lies upon the Judge The Motives to Pity then are very dangerous Temptations and what a Man in Authority ought as much to stop his Ears against as Promises or Threatnings for even that God himself who is Love and Mercy in Persection hath discountenanced this unseasonable Compassion And the same Legislator who said Thou shalt not receive a Gift to blind thine Eyes therewith neither shalt thou accept the Person of the Mighty found it no less necessary for the Good of Mankind and the equal Distribution of Justice no less agreeable to his own Goodness to add that other Command Thou shalt not favour a Poor Man in his Cause CHAP. XVIII The Duty of Great and of Mean Men. THE Duty of Persons of Honour and Quality consists principally in these two Points The lending a strong and powerful Assistance to the Publick employing their Wealth their Interest their Blood in the Maintenance and Preservation of Piety and Justice of the Prince and the Government and in general of the common safety and advantage For they are the Pillars and Supporters upon which these noble Structures stand and by which they must be sustained The other Branch consists in being a mighty Defence and Protection to the Poor and Needy the Injured and Oppressed by interposing their Power on the behalf of such standing between Them and Ruin and giving a Check and Diversion to the Violence of wicked and unreasonable Men. Persons of Honour in a State should be like the Spirits and good Blood in our Bodies which always run to the wounded and the ailing part It was this that rendered Moses so proper to be made the Captain of the Israelitish Nation and the Scripture takes express notice of his Zeal in revenging the Injuries of one of his Brethren who suffered Wrong Act. 7. and slaying the insolent Aegrptian as a Sign that God had Marked him out for a Deliverer of his People Thus Hercules was Deisted among the Heathens for being a Scourge to the Cruelty of Tyrants and a Refuge to those that were Oppress'd and opprobriously Treated by them And those other renouned Names in Antiquity who followed his Example have always been looked upon as Heroes and something more than Men. Particular Honours and distinguishing Rewards were heretofore awarded to all such as to Persons who deserved exceeding well of the Publick and for an Intimation That no Character is more glorious none more attractive of Universal Admiration and profound Respect than that of being a Succour to the Afflicted and Abused and helping those who were in no condition of helping themselves It is by no means true Greatness to appear formidable to any part of Mankind except one's Enemies only The affectation to have others stand in Awe and Dread and to Tremble before one is a mean and pitiful Temper and at the same time that it renders the Man a Terrour it renders him an Odium too a publick Nuisance and a common Enemy Love in this case is more desirable than even Adoration could be without it Such imperious Men betray a fierce and haughty a proud and assuming Disposition This is it which makes them so Contumelious and Disdainful scorning their Inseriours as if they were no better than the Dross and Dung of the World and not Men of the same Nature with their own Great Selves From hence by degrees they degenerate into Barbarity and Insolence abusing all beneath them without the least Pity or Remorse enslaving their Persons invading their Properties and Possessions as if Humanity and Justice were intended only for the Benefit of them who need it least and as if they
divided or else we must suppose the Accident only to be transported and born away and the Substance to remain fixed in its proper place and therefore we have reason to admit any other Solution of the Case rather than that of an Actual Separation As to the Third and Last sort which was term'd Humane the Thing is clear beyond a Doubt that there is no real Separation in it since all that can be pretended to in this Case amounts to no more than some present Stupefaction and Disorder by means whereof such of the Soul 's Operations as are Visible and External cease in appearance and are suspended for some time What becomes of this Soul and in what State or Condition she continues after that Real and Natural Separation made by Death Wise Men have not been able to agree nor does this Point fall properly within the Compass and Design of the present Treatise The Transmigration of Souls advanced by Pythagoras hath found in some parts of the Notion especially tolerable good acceptance with the Stoicks the Academicks the Aegyptian Philosophers and some others Not that they all admitted it in the same Sense and Extent or to all the Purposes he intended it shou'd serve Some allowed it only so far as it might contribute to the Punishment of Wicked Men who might suffer by being turn'd into Brutes in a manner like that miraculous Infliction upon Nebuchadnezzar Dan. iv as a Scourge from God for his Vanity and Atheistical Pride Some again and those of considerable Eminence and Authority have imagin'd that Pure and Pious Souls upon their quitting this Body are translated into Angels and the Black and Guilty ones transform'd into Fiends and Devils Methinks it were more prudent to soften the former Branch of this Notion as our Blessed Saviour hath done already by saying Luke xx That they neither marry nor die any more but are as the Angels and are the Children of God Some again have fancied that the Souls of the wickedest and most profligate Wretches after a very long Term of Time and Punishment utterly perish and are reduc'd to their First Nothing But Humane Reason is and must needs be for ever in the Dark about all such Matters And therefore these Disquisitions shou'd be constantly referr'd to their proper Topick of Instruction For as nothing but Revelation and Religion can inform us truly in what concerns a Future State so they have not been wanting to declare what is full and sufficient for our purpose and therefore it is our Duty as well as our Wisdom to receive this without more ado and stedfastly to rest in it ADVERTISEMENT IN the Second Particular which concerns the Essence and Nature of the Soul the Author makes a very odd Distinction between Matter and Body and tries to reconcile the Opinion of Those who say the Soul is Immaterial with Theirs who affirm it to be Corporeal The Result of which is That the Souls of Men do not consist of gross and palpable Matter but of a Body thin and subtle even beyond all Imagination And therefore in the Sequel of this Discourse he continues to make a Difference between the Souls of Men and those of Brutes even in this very Point of Materiality it self But now Since Body and Matter strictly and Philosophically taken come all to one and since No Subtlety or Fineness of Composition makes any Body the less a Material Substance Since again the Humane and Intellectual Soul hath evidently several Faculties and performs several Operations such as Cogitation Volition nay even Sensation it self which are neither inherent Qualities of Matter as such nor what any Motion or Modification whatsoever can render it capable of Monsieur Charron's Subtlety of the Body will not help the Cause at all For Aethereal or Coelestial Bodies are as truly Matter as any of the Coursest and Grossest whatsoever And the Notion of Matter is not to be taken from its Purity or Foeculency its Palpability or its Fineness but from its Essential Properties such as Extension and quantity Divisibility Being purely Passive and Acting only as it is acted upon It s being subject to the Laws of Motion and the like These now are the inseparable Properties of every thing that is Body and from hence it must needs follow that all Bodies whatsoever are equally distant from equally unqualify'd for Thought and Perception and all other Operations and Faculties which are the proper and distinguishing Characters of a Reasonable Soul Concerning which if my Reader desire farther Satisfaction than the Nature of a single Advertisement allows me room for I referr him to Dr. Bentley's Second Sermon against Atheism where he will find this Argument handled at large When once such an Absurdity as This hath been shewn to attend that Notion which maintains the Soul's Corporeity it is to very little Purpose to urge us with the Difficulties concerning the mutual Intercourse of our Souls and Bodies or what the Soul suffers either in her united or in her separate State Some of which are capable of the same Resolutions with those given in the Case of Brutes by those Philosophers who allow them Sense and are not the Actions or Affections of the Intelligent but of the Sensitive Powers And for Others which are superiour to Humane Discourse we acknowledge our Ignorance and resolve all into the sole Will and wonderful Wisdom of our Almighty Creator He hath not told us what is the Band of Union between these Two nor how this Communication and intimate Correspondence is kept up and carry'd on And we think it is impossible for any to acquaint us with this Process except Him only who contrived and constituted it But Ten Thousand such Objections weigh little when balanc'd against a Flaw in the very Foundation Every thing at this rate may be disputed and Universal Scepticism be advanced for we are able to trace nothing through all its Motions and Operations But an Argument ab Absurdo made evident in the First and most substantial Principles is allowed even in that Science which professes the greatest accuracy in Arguing to be a Just and Legitimate Demonstration against any thing which such Principles are alledged to establish See more concerning the Immateriality of the Soul and her Operations in the Advertisement at the End of the Tenth Chapter CHAP. VIII Of the Soul in Particular and First of the Vegetative Faculty HAving thus given a General Description of the Soul in the Ten Points already insisted on I come in the next Place to treat of it somewhat more distinctly by considering its respective Principal Faculties apart And the most convenient Order as I apprehend will be to begin with the Lowest first and so proceed from the Vegetative to the Sensitive from thence to that of Imagination and Appetite and last of all to the Intellectual which is the Supreme of all the Faculties and that which is the true and peculiar Character of the Humane Soul Under each of These
upon us It is a very dangerous Enemy destructive to our Quiet and Comfort and if good Care be not taken of it in time wastes and weakens the Soul deprives us of the Use of our Reason disables us from discharging our Duties and looking after her Business and in time spreads a Rust upon the Soul adulterates and deposes the whole Man binds up his Senses and lays his Virtues to sleep when there is most occasion for rowzing and arming them against the Calamity that subdues and oppresses him In order to beget in us a becoming Aversion to this Passion and employing our utmost Strength and Abilities to resist and repel it we shall do well to consider seriously the pernicious Effects of it and discover how foolish how unbecoming and deformed it is how extremely inconsistent with the Character of Wise Men as the Philosophy of the Stoicks most truly represents it But This as Matters are commonly order'd is no such easie Undertaking for it hath learnt to excuse and vindicate and set it self off under the specious Colours of Nature and Affection and Tenderness and Goodness nay the Generality of the World are so far mis-led that they keep it in Countenance pay it Honour and Respect and think it a Duty and a Virtue as if Wisdom and Conscience never appear'd more beautiful than in a Mourning-Dress Now in answer to these vain Pretences in its Favour T is Unnatural we may observe first of all that This is so far from being agreeable to Nature as it wou'd fain be thought that on the Contrary it is rather a Matter of Formality and directly contrary to Nature Which it is very easie to demonstrate if Men will lay aside the Prejudices of Custom and consider it impartially As for those publick and solemn Mournings I mean not this to the prejudice of a real decent and affectionate Concern but for the Mournings which are practis'd with so much Ceremony and Affectation and were so by the Ancients heretofore as well as by the Generality of Mankind at this Day Where I say can we find a greater Cheat a grosser Sham and Banter upon the World How many industrious Impostures and Hypocrisies What artificial Constraints in our Behaviour are sought and counterfeited both by the Persons themselves who are interested in the Occasion of them and of all the rest that are taken in and bear a Part in this melancholy Pomp And as if all this were not enough we refine and improve the Deceit we even Hire Men on purpose to put on this Folly to stand as Mutes or to make dreadful Lamentations to move and heighten a Passion which ought to be supprest to give Groans and Sighs for a Price such as we all know are feign'd and extorted to shed Tears for the Entertainment of the Spectatours such as fall only when they are seen to do so and are immediately dry'd up as soon as the Company retires And pray Where does Nature teach us any thing like This What can there be indeed more absurd and vain what does Nature condemn what does it detest more than such Insincerity This is nothing but Opinion and Fashion the Cause and Cherisher of almost all our Passions the Tyranny of Custom and Vulgar Errour that instructs Men to indulge their Grief in such a formal manner From hence it is that if a Man be not deeply enough affected in his own Person and cannot furnish a sufficient proportion of Tears and hanging Looks out of his own Stock he is thought oblig'd to hire and purchase a Supply from others who make a Trade of it So that for the satisfying what the World calls Decency we put our selves to vast Expence which Nature if we wou'd take Her Judgment is so far from prescribing that She most freely acquits us of nay condemns us for it Is not this in truth a publick and study'd Assront upon Reason and Common Sense a Constraint and a Corrupting of Nature a Prostituting and Debauching of the Manhood in us a Mocking the World and making a Jest of our selves and that for no other purpose but merely to comply with the Notions of the absurd Vulgar which abound in nothing so much as Falshood and Mistake and admire nothing so much as Counterfeit and Disguise Nor are our Private Sorrows much better Private For These whatever they may seem are no more Natural than the former Did Nature inspire or dictate them they wou'd be common to all Mankind they wou'd affect all Mankind almost equally since All partake of the same Nature and differ only in some few some small Circumstances But here we find very different Resentments The same Objects which afflict and grieve some are Matter of Joy and Satisfaction to others and what draws Tears and bitter Cries from one Person and one Country is receiv'd with great Cheerfulness by another What One does Another disapproves and the Friends of Mourners think it their Duty to exhort to comfort to chide them to beg that they wou'd recollect themselves call in Reason and Religion to their Assistance be Men again and dry up their Tears Observe the greatest part of Them who take pains to afflict themselves hear what they say when you have given them this good Counsel They will make no difficulty to acknowledge that it is a Folly and a Weakness to be guilty of excessive Passions they will commend and call those happy who can stand the Shock of Adversity and have so much Goverment of Temper and such Presence of Mind as to meet an Affliction bravely and bear it steadily and set a gallant and Masculine Spirit in array against it Thus they excuse but they dare not justifie their own Concern They say they cannot help it and by that Apology lament if not condemn themselves for this implies they Wish and think it were better if they cou'd overcome their Grief And in truth the thing is very plain in these private Mournings too that Men do not so much sute their Sorrows to their Sufferings as to the receiv'd Notions of those among whom they dwell and converse And if we take a close and nicer View this will discover to us that Opinion is at the bottom of all our immoderate Melancholy That our Torment and Vexation proceeds from the false Representations of Things and that we grieve either sooner than we ought by Anticipation and Fear and sollicitous Apprehensions of what will come hereafter Which like so many false Perspectives set the Object nearer our Sight or else magnifie the Bulk of it to our Eye and so make us grieve more than we ought upon a Supposal of the Calamity being much greater than really it is But still all This is contrary to Nature Unnatural For Grief defarms and defoces all those Excellencies which are most Beautiful and Lovely in us These all are blunted and melted down by this corroding Passion like the Lustre of a Pearl dissolv'd in Vineger And really we are
Affliction and Pain is very Different from that which preserves a Man's Temper in Prosperity and Plenty and the Patience and Thankfulness of the Receiving Beggar from the Liberality of the Giver And as This holds in Virtues so does it much more in Vices several of which are not only very far Distant but Diametrically opposite to each other It is no less observable Secondly That many Times our Matters are so ordered as not to permit the Performance of such Actions as relate to One Virtue without encroaching upon some Other and doing what is inconsistent with or offensive to That very Virtue we are practising because things often interfere and obstruct us so that we cannot satisfie One Duty but at the Expence of Another This is like what our Proverb calls Robbing Peter to pay Paul and yet thus it is not from any Deficiency in Virtue it self but from the Impotence and Insufficiency of Humane Nature which is too short too narrow to give or receive any certain constant universal Rule of acting Virtuously and Man cannot so contrive his Methods and provide himself with Helps and Occasions of doing Good but that they will frequently cross and interrupt one another Thus Charity and Justice are sometimes impracticable at once If I engage against my Relation or my Friend in a Battle Justice requires me to take his Life and Treat him as an Adversary Charity and Affection bid me spare and preserve him as a Friend Suppose a Man mortally wounded and that he hath nothing to expect but the languishing out the miserable Remains of Life in extreme Torture it were certainly an Act of Charity to put this wretched Creature out of his Pain by killing him out-right as the Person who kill'd Saul alledged for himself and yet this is such a Mercy as Justice would call one to an Account for and David punished it accordingly Nay the being found near such a Person in a lonely Place when Search is made for the Murderer though one be there with Intentions of Kindness is exceeding Dangerous and the least that can come of it is the being made to undergo the Course of the Law and brought upon Tryal for a Misfortune which one had no Hand in And this last Instance shews how Justice does not only offend against Charity but also how it intangles and obstructs it self according to that most true Observation * Summum Jus summa Injuria The Extremity of Right is the Extremity of Wrong The Third Case and indeed the most remarkable of all is The Necessity Men are sometimes under of using Evil Means to deliver themseves from some greater Evil or for the compassing some Good End So that Things in themselves not Good nay much otherwise are sometimes legitimated and have Credit and Authority given to them for the Sake of the Purposes they serve As if Men might nay as if they must be wicked in some Degree in Order to becoming Good in a greater And this not only Policy and Justice but Religion too furnishes Examples of In Politicks How many indirect Practices are allow'd II Politicks and daily made use of And this not merely upon Permission and Connivence but even by express Direction and Approbation of the Laws †Ex Senatus consultis plebiscitis scelera exercentur Crimes are Established by Publick Edicts as we shall have Occasion to observe more at large in another Place Book III. Chap. 2. When a State is full and overgrown like a replete Body whose Humours are either too Noxious or too many to be endured the Method of discharging this Oppression is to send off its Superfluities of Men or those among them who are of the hottest and warlike Dispositions to be knock'd on the Head abroad Thus a Vein is breath'd but the Ease it gives is at the infinite Expence and Trouble of some other Countrey And this we know hath been the Practice of Franks and Lombards Goths and Vandales Turks and Tartars So again a Foreign War is often begun and maintained abroad on purpose to keep busie Spirits employ'd and to prevent Insurrections and Civil Dissentions at Home Lycurgus as a Lesson of Temperance used to make Slaves Drunk that Men of Quality from Their Extravagances might learn to detest this Vice The Romans to harden their People and make Dangers and Death familiar and contemptible instituted those Inhumane Sights of their Gladiators and entertained them with Blood and Slaughter every Day This at first indeed was consin'd to condemned Malefactors only then it came to Innocent Slaves and at last Free-Men and People of Condition practised and valued themselves upon it The Stews in some great Cities are of the same Kind and so are the Usury the Divorces of the Law of Moses and among other People and Persuasions Whose only Recommendation is This That they are allowed for a present Necessity and to put a Stop to greater Mischiefs So likewise in Justice which cannot subsist nor be put in practice III. Justice without some mixture of Injustice Nor is this the Case of Communtative Justice only This were no strange Matter for here it is in some sort necessary Men could not live by their Trades nor maintain Commerce with one another without some reciprocal Injuries and Ossences every Man must sell a thing for more than it is strictly worth and therefore some Laws have allow'd Men to Cheat provided it be not above half the Price of the Goods But Distributive Justice which consists in dealing Rewards and Punishments does the like so she her self confesses * Sammum Jus summa Injuria Et Omne magnum Exemplum habet aliquid ex iniquo quod contra singulos Utilitate public◠rependitur Extreme Right is extreme Wrong And All eminent exemplary Cases have some Allay of Injustice in them wherein however the Hardships which private Men suffer are well paid with the Advantages that accrue to the Publick from them Plato allows in several places that Publick Ministers should draw Criminals to a full Discovery by false Hopes and Promises of Pardon and Favour which they never intend to make good Which is to make a way to Justice thro' Impudence and Cozenage and Falshood And what shall we say of that cursed Invention of Racks which are a Tryal of Patience indeed but none at all of Truth For you shall never be able to get the Truth out of Them that can nor out of Them that cannot endure them Why shou'd we think extremity of Pain can more dispose a Man to tell what is than to tell what is not If an Innocent Man be supposed endu'd with Patience enough to bear the Torture why should the Concern for saving his Life inspire a guilty Person with the same degree of Resolution I know it is commonly reply'd in excuse of this Barbarity That the Pain astonishes and enfeebles the Guilty and extorts a Confession of his Treachery from him whereas it hath the quite contrary
Comparisons arising from hence CHAP. XLI Of the Differnce and Inequality of Men in general THere is not any One thing in all this lower World wherein so great Variety is observable as in Mankind not any general Head or Species of Beings whose Individuals differ in so many and so distant Particulars from one another If Pliny and Herodotus and Plutarch may be credited There are Men in some places whose Form and Figure bears but very little Resemblance to this of Ours and several Mongrels and Medleys between the Man and the Beast Some Countries are inhabited by Men without any Head whose Eyes and Mouth are placed in their Breasts some by Hermaphrodites some where they go upon all Four some where they have but One Eye and That in the middle of their Forehead and a Head shaped more like a Dog than such as we see Men usually have Some Places where the lower part is all Fish and they live in the Water where their Women bring Children at Five Years old and live no longer than Eight where their Skull and Forehead is so hard that no Iron can break or enter it but rebounds back again where they are transformed into Wolves and Sheep and Oxen and at last return to the Humane Form again where they have no Mouth and all the Nourishment they are sustained by is from the Smell of certain Scents And to go no farther This very last Age hath discovered and many now living have seen and felt Men that have no Beards at all that live without the use of Fire or Corn or Wine and Countries where what We abominate as the most odious Deformity is lookt upon and valu'd as the most exquisite Beauty as hath been hinted before As for the Diversity of Customs and Manners That will be the Business of another Head What hath been related here may possibly seem incredible but if it do our Point will be prov'd without it For go no farther than our own Knowledge and what infinite Disserences are there in Faces insomuch that Two are no where to be found exactly and in all Particulars alike 'T is true sometimes there happen Mistakes of one Person for another because of a very great Likeness between them but then These always happen when One of the Parties is not by For when we meet them Both together the Errour vanishes and we easily discern a Difference which serves for a sufficient Mark of Distinction to us tho' perhaps it is such a one as we cannot readily tell what to call it The Souls of Men are yet more various and full of distinguishing Characters than their Bodies For there is in this respect not only a greater Difference between Man and Man than any that can be discover'd between Beast and Beast But which is but a bad Business and not much for our Honour the distance is more between Some Men and Others than it seems to be between some Men and Beasts For one of the most excellent and apprehensive Animals seems to make much nearer approaches to the Understanding and Sagacity of Men of the lowest Form than Those Men to some of the most capable and accomplish'd Persons Now this mighty Difference between Men proceeds from inward and unseen Causes from the Mind which consists of such variety of Parts and it is brought about by such intricate Springs and Principles of Motion that the Contemplation of them would be infinite and the Degrees depending upon them without Number Now the Last part of our Undertaking for attaining to a right Knowledge of Man must consist of the Distinctions and Differences observable in Him And These are of several sorts according to the different Parts of which Humane Nature is compounded and the different Methods and Capacities in which Men may be consider'd and compar'd with one another At present we will instance in Five which seem to be the Principal and of so large Extent that all the rest may be reduc'd to them For generally speaking all that is in Man is either Body or Spirit Natural or Acquired Publick or Private Apparent or Secret and accordingly this Fifth and Last Consideration shall branch it self into Five Particulars which shall be so many Capital Distinctions between Man and Man The First of these is Natural Essential and Universal in which the whole Man both Body and Mind are concern'd The Second is principally Natural and Essential but in some measure Artificial and acquir'd too and this concerns the Strength and Capacity of the Mind The Third is Accidental and depends upon Men's Conditions and their Duties respectively the Ground of all which is taken from the Circumstance of Superiour or Inferiour The Fourth is likewise Accidental and relates to Men's particular Professions and different ways of Living The Fifth and Last considers them with regard to the Advantages and Disadvantages by which either Nature or Fortune hath distinguished them CHAP. XLII The First Difference whereby Men are distinguish'd which is Natural and Essential and derived from the several Climates of the World THE First most remarkable and universal Distinction between Some Men and Others is That which regards the whole Person the Mind and Body both and all the Parts whereof Man consists And This is deriv'd from the different Situation of Countries and Divisions of the World In proportion to which there necessarily follows a Difference in the Aspects and Influences of the Heavens the Distance of the Sun the Temperament of the Air and the Nature of the Soil And from hence Men receive different Complexions and Statures and Countenances nay different Manners and Dispositions and differnt Faculties of the Soul too * Plaga Coeli non solum ad robur Corporum sed animorum faeit Athenis tenue coelum ex quo etiam acutiores Attici crassum Thebis ideo pingues Thebani valentes The Climate does not only contribute very much to the Strength of the Body but also to the Vigour of the Mind At Athens the Air is thin and fine from whence the Athenians are generally sharp and of quick Parts At Thebes it is thick and foggy and this makes the Inhabitants and Natives of that Country stupid and dull gross and robust This Consideration mov'd Plato to thank God that he was a Native of Athens and not of Thebes †Tales sunt hominum mentes quali pater ipse Jupiter auctiferà lustravit lampade terras Prolifick Rays shed by the Partial Sun Are not confin'd to Seeds and Plants alone Souls too the differing Genial Influence know And relish of the Soil in which they grow As the Nature of the Fruits and of other Animals is very different according to the Regions where they spring and are bred so Men likewise owe their Temper to their Country and upon this account bring into the World with them Dispositions Greater or Less to War Courage Justice Temperance Docility Religion Chastity Wit Goodness Obedience Beauty Health and Strength Upon this account
Rome for a considerable time after the Founding of that City It is therefore most foolish and unjust to asperse Religion and charge That with the Vices of Men which allows and teaches nothing but exquisite Purity and strict Continence This Liberty taken in Polygamy Polygamy differently practised which hath so great an Appearance of Nature to alledge in its behalf hath yet been very differently managed according to the several Nations and the Laws of those Communities where it was allow'd and practis'd In Some Places All that are Wives to the same Man live alike and in common Their Degree and Quality the Respect and Authority is equal and so is the Condition and Title of their Children too In Other Places there is one particular Wife who is the Principal and a sort of Mistress above the rest the Right of Inheritance is limited to the Children by Her They engross all the Honours and Possessions and Pre-eminences of the Husband after his Death As for the Others they are lodg'd and maintain'd apart treated very differently from the former In some Places they are reputed Lawful Wives in some they are only stiled Concubines and their Children have no Pretension to Titles or Estates but are provided for by such annual Pensions or other precarious ways of Subsisting as the Master of the Family thinks fit to allow them As various have the Practice and the Customs of Men been with regard to Divorce Divorce differently practised For with some as particularly the Hebrews and Greeks and Armenians they never oblige Themselves to alledge the particular Cause of Separation nor are they allow'd to take a Wife to them a Second time which they have once divorc'd So far from it that they are permitted to Marry again to others But now in the Mahometan Law Separation must be appointed by a Judge and after Legal Process except it be done by the free Consent of both Parties and the Crimes alledg'd against the Woman must be some of so high a Nature as strike directly at the Root of this Institution and are destructive and inconsistent with the State of Marriage or some of the principal Ends of it such as Adultery Barrenness Incongruity of Humours Attempts upon the Life of the other Party and after such Separation made it is lawful for them to be reconcil'd and cohabit again as oft as they think sit The Former of these Methods seems much more prudent and convenient that so there may be a closer Restraint both upon the Pride and Insolence of Wives when they lie at Mercy and may be cast off at Pleasure and also upon the Humoursome and Peevish Husbands who will be more apt to check and moderate their Resentments when there is no Return nothing to be got by repenting after once Matters have flown so high as to provoke and effect a Separation The Second which proceeds in a Method of Justice brings the Parties upon the Publick Stage exposes their Faults and Follies to the World cuts them out from Second Marriages and discovers a great many things which were much better kept conceal'd And in case the Allegation be not fully prov'd and so they continue oblig'd to cohabit still after all this mutual Complaining and Disgrace What a Temptation is here to Poysoning or Murder to get rid that way of a Partner of the Bed which in Course of Law cannot be remov'd And many of these Villanies no doubt have been committed of which the World never had the least Knowledge or Suspicion As at Rome particularly before Divorce came in use a Woman who was apprehended for Poysoning her Husband impeached other Wives whom she knew to have been guilty of the same Fact and They again others till at last Threescore and Ten were all Attainted and Executed for the same Fault of whom People had not the least Jealousie till this Discovery was made But that which seems the worst of all in the Laws relating to a Married Life is that Adultery is scarce any where punish'd with Death and all that can be done in that Case is only Divorce and ceasing to cohabit Which was an Ordinance introduc'd by Justinian One whom his Wife had in perfect Subjection And no wonder if She made use of that Dominion as she really did to get such Laws enacted as made most for the Advantage of her own Sex Now this leaves Men in perpetual danger of Adultery tempts them to malicious Desires of one another's Death the Offender that does the Injury is not made a sufficient Example and the Innocent Person that receives the Wrong hath no Reparation made for it Of the Duty of Married Persons See Book III. Chap. 12. CHAP. XLVII Of Parents and Children THere are several Sorts and several Degrees of Authority and Power among Men Paternal Authority Some Publick and others Private but not any of them more agreeable to Nature not Any more absolute and extensive than that of a Father over his Children I choose to instance in the Father rather than the Mother because she being herself in a State of Subjection to her Husband cannot so properly be said to have her Children under her Jurisdiction But even this Paternal Authority hath not been at all Times and in all Parts of the World equal and alike In some Ages and Places and indeed of Old almost every where it was universal Dion Halicar lib. 2. Antiq. and without restraint The Life and Death Estates and Goods the Liberty and Honour the Actions and Behaviour of Children was entirely at Their Will They sued and were sued for them They disposed of them in Marriage the Labours of the Children redounded to the Parents Profit nay They themselves were a kind of Commodity for among the Romans we sind this Article Rom. 1. in Suis ff de lib. posth in that which was call'd Romulus his Law * Parentum in Liberos omne Jus esto relegandi vendendi occidendi The Right of Parents over Children shall be entire and unlimited they shall have Power to abdicate and banish to sell and to put them to death Only it is to be observ'd That all Children under Three Years old were excepted out of this Condition because they could not be capable of offending in Word or Deed Aul. Gel. lib. 20. Aristot Ethic. lib. 8. Caesar lib. 6. de Bell. Gall. Prosper Aquit in Epist Sigism nor to give any just Provocation for such hard Usage This Law was afterwards confirm'd and renew'd by the Law of the Twelve Tables which allow'd Parents to sell their Children Three times And the Persians as Aristotle tells us the Antient Gauls as Caesar and Prosper agree the Muscovites and Tartars might do it Four times There want not some probable Reasons to persuade us that this Power had some Foundation or Countenance at least in the Law of Nature and that Instance of Abraham undertaking to slay his Son hath been made use of as an Argument to this
Cowardice and base Degeneracy of Spirit for Lords made Men Slaves because when they had them in their Power and Possession there was more Profit to be got by keeping than there could be by killing them And it is observable that heretofore one of the most valuable sorts of Wealth and that which the Owners took greatest Pride in consisted in the Multitude and the Quality of Slaves In this respect it was that Crassus grew rich above all other Romans for besides Those that continually waited upon him he had Five Hundred Slaves kept constantly at hard Work and all the Gain of their several Arts and Labours was daily brought and converted to his Advantage And this tho' very great was not all the Profit neither for after that they had made a vast Account of their Drudgery and kept them a great while thus in Work and Service their very Persons were a Marketable Commodity and some farther Gain was made in the Sale of Them to other Masters It would really amaze one to read and consider well the Cruelties that have been exercis'd upon Slaves The Cruel Usage of Slaves and Those not only such as the Tyranny of an inhumane Lord might put him upon but such as even the Publick Laws have permitted and approv'd They us'd to Chain and Yoke them together and so make them Till the Ground like Oxen and they do so to this Day in Barbary lodge them in Ditches or Bogs or Pits and deep Caves and when they were worn and wasted with Age and Toil and so could bring in no more Gain by their Service the poor impotent Wretches were either sold at a low Price or drown'd and thrown into Ponds to feed their Lord's Fish They killed them not only for the slightest and most insignificant Offence as the Breaking of a Glass or the like but upon the least Suspicions and most unaccountable Jealousies Nay sometimes merely to give Themselves Diversion as Flaminius did who yet was a Person of more than ordinary Character and reputed a very Good Man in his Time It is notorious that they were forc'd to enter the Lists and combat and kill one another upon the Publick Theatres for the Entertainment of the People If the Master of the House were Murdered under his own Roof let who would be the Doer of it yet all the Slaves tho' perfectly innocent of the Thing were sure to go to Pot. And accordingly we find that when Pedanius a Roman was killed notwithstanding they had certain Intelligence of the Murderer yet by express Decree of the Senate Four Hundred poor Wretches that were his Slaves were put to Death for no other reason but their being so Nor is it much less surprizing on the other hand to take notice of the Rebellions Insurrections and Barbarities of Slaves when they have made Head against their Lords and gotten them into their Power And That not only in Cases of Treachery and Surprize as we read of one Tragical Night in the City of Tyre but sometimes in open Field in regular Forces and form'd Battles by Sea and Land all which gave Occasion for the use of that Proverb That a Man hath as many Enemies as he hath Slaves Now in proportion as the Christian Religion first How they came to lesson and afterwards the Mahometan got ground and increas'd the Number of Slaves decreas'd and the Terms of Servitude grew more easie and gentle For the Christians first and afterwards the Mahometans who affected to follow the Christians Examples made it a constant Practice and Rule to give all those Persons their Freedom who became Proselytes to their Religion And this prov'd a very great Invitation and powerful Inducement to convert and win Men over Insomuch that about the Year Twelve Hundred there was scarce any such thing as a Slave left in the World except in such places only where neither of these Two Persuasions had gain'd any Footing or Credit But then it is very remarkable withal that in the same Proportions And the Poor to increase as the Number of Slaves fell away and abated that of Poor People and Beggars and Vagabonds multiply'd upon us And the Reason is very obvious for Those Persons who during the State of Slavery wrought for their Patrons and were maintain'd at Their Expence when they were dismist Their Families lost their Table at the same time they receiv'd their Liberty and when they were thus turn'd loose into the World to shift for Themselves it was not easie for them to find Means of supporting their Families which by reason of the great Fruitfulness of People in low Condition generally were very numerous in Children and thus they grew overstockt themselves and filled the World with Poor Want and extreme Necessity presently began to pinch these kind of People Return to Servitude and compelled them to return back again to Servitude in their own Defence Thus they were content to enslave Themselves to truck and barter away their Liberty to set their Labours to Sale and let out their Persons for Hire meerly that they might secure to Themselves convenient Sustenance and a quiet Retreat and lighten the Burden which the Increase of Children brought upon them Besides this pressing Occasion and the Servitude chosen upon it the World hath pretty much relapsed into the Using of Slaves again by means of those continual Wars which both Christians and Mahometans are eternally engag'd in both against each other and against the Pagans in the East and Western Countries particularly And though the Example of the Jews be so far allow'd as a good Precedent that they have no Slaves of their own Brethren and Countrymen yet of Strangers and Foreigners they have and These are still kept in Slavery and under Constraint notwithstanding they do come over to the Profession of their Master's Religion The Power and Authority of common Masters over their Servants is not at all domineering or extravagant nor such as can in any degree be prejudicial to the Natural Liberty of Them who live under it The utmost they can pretend to is the chastizing and correcting them when they do amiss and in This they are oblig'd to proceed with Discretion and not suffer their Severities to be unreasonable and out of all Measure But over those who are hired in as Workmen and Days-men this Authority is still less There is only a Covenant for Labour and Wages in Exchange but no Power nor any Right of Correction or Corporal Punishment lies against These from their Masters The Duty of Masters and Servants is treated of Book III. Chap. 15. CHAP. XLIX Of Publick Government Sovereign Power and Princes AFter the Account already given of Private Power The Nature and Necessity of Pub-blick Government the next thing that falls under our Consideration is the Publick or that of the State Now the State that is to say Government or a Determinate Order and Establishment for Commanding and Obeying is the very Pillar
indeed the Seat of Trade and private Gain and therefore fit to be the Darling of Merchants and Artificers And it is the Place accommodated to Publick Administrations but this latter but a very small part of Mankind are call'd to or capable of And History tells us that heretofore excellent Persons were fetch'd out of the Country to undertake Affairs of the greatest Importance and assoon as they had finish'd these they retir'd again with wonderful Delight and made the Town not a Matter of Choice but Necessity and Constraint This was the short Scene of Labour and Business to them but the Country was the Seat of their Pleasure and more constant Residence CHAP. LVII Of a Military Life THE Profession and Employment of a Soldier if we respect the Cause and Original Design of it is very worthy and honourable for it pretends to protect the Safety and promote the Grandeur of one's native Country to preserve it in Peace and guard it from the Insults of Enemies abroad and turbulent Spirits at home than which nothing can be more just nothing more universally beneficial It is also noble and great in the Execution of this Design For Courage which is its proper Quality and Character is the bravest most generous most Heroick of all Virtues And of all Humane Actions and Exploits Those of War are the most celebrated and pompous insomuch that the Titles and Ensigns of Honour borrow their Names from and are assign'd as Rewards to Them It hath also many Pleasures peculiar to it the Conversation of Men of the first Quality in heat of Youth and full of Fire and Activity the being familiarly acquainted with strange Accidents and wonderful entertaining Sights freedom of Behaviour and Converse without Trick or Art a Masculine and hardy way of living above Ceremony or Form Variety of Attempts and Successes The moving Harmony of warlike Musick which entertains the Ears charms all the Senses warms the Soul and inspires it with Valour the Gracefulness of Motion and Discipline that transport and delight us with a pleasing Horrour that Storm of Shouts and Alarms which the louder it grows the more ravishing and animating it is and the roaring Ordinance of so many Thousand Men that fall on with incredible fury and eagerness But when all These and as many more Excellencies as its most zealous Patrons can attribute to this Calling have been allow'd every reasonable Man must acknowledge on the other hand that the Plundering Undoing Murdering one another and especially the making These a Matter of Art and Study a Science and a Commendation seems highly unnatural and the effect of Barbarity and Madness Nothing is a stronger Evidence against Mankind of their Weakness and Imperfection and foul Degeneracy for it sets us below the very Brutes themselves in the most savage of which the Original Impressions of Nature are not defac'd to this scandalous Degree What an infinite Folly what an execrable Rage is it to create all this Disturbance and turn the World upside-down to encounter and run thro' so many Hazards by Sea and Land for a Prize so very doubtful and full of Chance as the event of a Battle Why should we make Campaigns abroad and turn Volunteers to foreign Princes to run with so much eagerness and appetite after Death which may be found nay which of its own accord meets us at home and offers it self every where and that without proposing to our selves so much as decent Burial To fall on and kill Men that we have no Spite no Resentment against nay Men that are absolute Strangers and whom we never saw in all our Lives Why this mighty Heat and Fury to one that hath done thee no hurt given thee no provocation What a Madness is it to venture Loss of Limbs and Blood Wounds and Bruises which when they do not take Life quite away make it subject to Remedies and Pains a Thousand times more grievous and insupportable than Death Had you Obligations of Duty and Conscience it were another Matter but to do this for Breeding and Fame to sacrifice and destroy one's self for a Man that you never saw who hath no manner of Tenderness or Concern for you and only striveâ— to mount upon the dead or maim'd Body that he may stand a little higher and enlarge his own Prospect Nothing but very weighty Reasons and the necessary Defence of all that is dear to us can make such an Undertaking prudent and commendable And in such Cases all personal Considerations ought to be despised as much as otherwise they are fit to be valu'd And I hope too the Reader takes notice all along that I speak of those who choose the Trade for Mercenary Ends or out of false Notions of Gallantry and not with any intention to discourage the Duty of Subjects to their Prince whose just Quarrels they ought always to account their Own The Fifth and Last Difference between Some Men and Others taken from the Advantages and Disadvantages by which Nature or Fortune hath distinguished them PREFACE THis Last Distinction is abundantly notorious and visible to every Eye It hath indeed several Branches and Considerations included under it but all I think may be conveniently enough reduced to Two General Heads which according to the vulgar way of Expression may be termed Happiness and Unhappiness being High or Low in the World To that of Happiness or Greatness belong Health Beauty and other Qualifications and Advantages of Body and Person Liberty Nobility Honour Authority Learning Riches Reputation Friends In Unhappiness or Meanness of Condition are comprehended the Contraries of all These which without naming particularly we easily understand to be the privation or want of the foremention'd Advantages Now these Particulars are the occasion of infinite variety in Men's Circumstances and Conditions of Life for a Man may be happy in the Enjoyment of One or Two or Three of these Qualities and yet not so in the rest and even in Those he hath he may be happy in a greater or less Degree and those Degrees are capable of being so many that it is not easie if at all possible to express or conceive them But upon the whole Matter in the Distribution and Disposal of our Fortunes and Affairs Providence hath so ordered it that Few or None should be either happy or unhappy in every one of these Respects He then that partakes of most and particularly those Three Advantages of Nobility Dignity or Authority and Riches is esteem'd Great and he that hath none of those Three is reckoned among the mean Men. But several Persons have only One or Two of the Three and so they stand in a sort of middle Capacity between the two Extremes and are neither High nor Low We will speak very briefly to each of them As for Health and Beauty Chap. VI Chap. X and other Advantages that relate to the Body and Persons of Men enough hath been said of them already and so likewise of Sickness and Pain
be gratified in a Desire which he cannot but entertain and indulge Where Providence confers the External Advantages of Life only the Greater and most valuable part is still behind Very few are more than half-blest and of Them who are or call themselves unhappy the Generality are miserable not from real Want of what they need but from an Incapacity of enjoying what they have Hence it is still accounted a Moot-point in Philosophy whether Prosperity or Adversity Plenty or Penury require greater management and address * Crates One of some Name we know among those Sages durst not so much as trust himself with the Temptation of Riches You Sir very justly reproach his behaviour with Rashness and Folly by shewing that not the Sea but a Soul large and diffusive as the Sea rather is necessary to deliver a man from the danger of a plentiful Fortune This does not only secure but render Him and It a publick Blessing by Acts of Goodness Munificence Hospitality By cultivating those Social Virtues whereby Mankind are sustained cemented endeared to one another and all those important and beneficial Ends accomplished to which the Giver of these Good Gifts designs they should be serviceable The Difficulties under which most Men miscarry are not avoided by abandoning the World but by using it in so masterly a manner as always to keep above it Ambition and Avarice sometimes inhabit the most retired Cloisters and are no doubt sometimes too absolute Strangers to Quality and Business and Fortune Every one is valuable in proportion as he is Useful but Useful They can be but very little who industriously decline the occasions of being so The Man of Conversation and Civil Society is therefore that Pattern of Wisdom designed and drawn by this Author And to the same purpose all perfect Systems of Morality enlarge upon the different Capacities of Men because the Offices resulting from thence make the chief part of Christian as well as Human Prudence These are the Talents peculiar to each person and his proper Business distinct from the rest of the World Now Sir when Charron accordingly treats of The true and genuine Use of Riches of a Mind capable of Stemming a full tide of Plenty of the Integrity of Magistrates in Distribution of Justice of the Fidelity and Vigilance of Wise and Worthy Patriots in the Service of their Country and Defence of its just Rights of the Tenderness and Prudence of Parents and the affectionate Deference and Duty of Children when I say These and other Descriptions passed through my hands there needed but little reflection to bring to a Relation's remembrance a very eminent Instance of these several Civil and Domestick Virtues Be pleased therefore Sir to assert your own Excellencies And what Your Example already recommends to the World proceed yet more to enforce by accepting a Treatise intended to draw Men to these Resemblances of Your self as an Argument of that respect with which I am SIR Your most Obedient Humble Servant George Stanhope THE PREFACE HAVING in the former Book explained and insisted upon the several Methods by which Man may be let into a competent knowledge of Himself and the Condition of Humane Nature which is the first part of our Undertaking and a very proper Introduction to Wisdom The next thing in order is to enter upon the Doctrines and Precepts of Wisdom it self Now That shall be done in this Second Book by laying down some General Rules and Directions reserving for the business of our Third and Last those that are more Particular and appropriated to special Persons and Circumstances according to which their Duties vary in proportion to their respective Conditions It was a very necessary Preamble in the mean while to call Mens thoughts home and fix them upon themselves to exhort and instruct them to handle probe and nicely to examine their Nature that so being thus brought to a tolerable knowledge and sense of their Infirmities and Defects and sadly convinced of the miserable Condition they are by nature in they may be put into a better Capacity of having those healing and wholsome Remedies applied which are necessary in order to their Recovery and Amendment And these Remedies are no other than the Instructions and Exhortations proper for the attaining true Wisdom But alas It is a prodigious and a melancholy thing to consider how stupid and regardless Mankind are of their Happiness and Amendment What a strange Temper is it for a Man not to be at all sollicitous to have the very Errand and Business he was sent into the World about well done Every body is infinitely fond and covetous of Living but scarce any body is concerned or takes any manner of Thought for Living as becomes him This is the very Art which should be our Chief our only Study and yet it is that which we are least Masters of least disposed to learn Our Inclinations and Designs our Studies and Endeavours are as Experience daily shews vastly different even from our very Cradles or as soon as we began to be capable of any They vary according to the Temper and Constitution of our Bodies the Company we keep the Education we are instituted by the infinite Accidents and Occasions of our Lives but still none of us casts his Eyes that way none makes it his Endeavour to manage these to the best Advantage none attempts heartily to improve in Wisdom nay we do not at all lay this most necessary Matter to heart we scarce allow it so much as a single Thought Or if at any time it comes in our way accidentally and by the by we hear and attend to it just as we would to a Tale that is told or a piece of News that in no degree concerns us The Discourse perhaps is pleasant and entertaining to some and but to some neither for many will not endure nor give it a patient hearing but even those who are contented nay delighted to hear it yet hear to very little purpose The words and sound tickle their Senses and that 's all they do For as to the thing it self That makes no impression gains no esteem kindles no desires at least in this so universally Corrupt and Degenerate Age of ours In order to the being made duly sensible of the true worth of Wisdom and how much it deserves from us there seems to be some particular Turn in our first Frame some Original Aptitude and Air in our Nature and Complexion If Men must take pains they will much more willingly employ their time and exert their Strength and Parts in the pursuit of Things whose Effects are gay and glittering external and sensible such as Ambition and Avarice and Passion propose to them But as for Wisdom whose Fruits are silent and gentle internal and unseen it hath no Attractives at all for them O wretched Men what false Measures do we take and how fatally are we deluded We prefer Winds and Storms for the sake of their Noise where
that whereas the Concurrent Advice of all Wise men hath been to follow Nature the Generality of Mankind run away from it We let it sleep and rust upon our hands play Truant while we may learn at home and chuse to beg our Improvement abroad to have recourse to Study and Art which are comparatively sordid and despicable ways of attaining Knowledge rather than content our selves with an Independent and noble Wisdom which is generous and of our own Growth We have all of us a busy turbulent Spirit that affects to be ever managing and governing and will have a hand in every thing this is variable and humorsome perpetually bustling and restless fond of Novelty and Disguise inventing adding altering never pleased long with the same thing nor ever content with pure Nature and unaffected Simplicity but a Contemner and Vilifier of Plainness as if it were not possible for any thing to be Good which is void of Art and Cunning and nice Contrivance Thus * Simplex illa aperta Virtus in obscuram solertem Scientiam versa est Virtue which is genuine instead of the Frankness and Openness peculiar to it is corrupted and changed into dark and crafty Speculation And besides all this One Fault more we are tainted with which is The Disesteem of every thing in general which is the product of our own Soil What we can have for nothing is worth nothing it must be far fetched and dear bought to recommend it Foreign things only can please and in agreement with this Whimsey it is that we prefer Art before Nature which is in effect To shut out the Sun when shining in its Strength and to light up Candles at Mid-day All which Follies and Extravagant humours are owing to One more which is a Weakness in a manner entail'd upon the whole World That I mean of estimating things not according to their real and intrinsick Value but only according to the Shew and Figure and Noise they make which is to renounce our own Judgment and Experience and in effect to give our selves up to be determined by the Common Opinion of those who are least qualified to know or judge at all Nor does this Folly stop here but we proceed to yet higher degrees of Insolence we even trample Nature under foot disdain despise and are perfectly ashamed of it are nice in Positive and National Laws and disregard those that are Natural and Universal Nay for the sake of bringing Ceremony and Form into Reputation which is a most horrible Indignity and very Contemptuous Treatment We cancel and condemn a Law of God's making to advance Laws of Civility and Good Manners of our own forging Thus Art carries away Nature the Shadow is of greater Consideration with us than the Body and the Air and Face of things than the Solidity and Substance We take great care to cover and conceal some things that are natural that we may not give offence we blush at the very sound of some words in modesty and good breeding and yet we are under no Fears no restraint of doing things unlawful and unnatural To keep us at as great a distance from some sorts of Sins as is possible we are not allowed so much as to name the parts employed in them and yet after all this scrupulous shyness How many are there who never boggle in the least at abandoning themselves to all manner of Debauchery and Lasciviousness It was an old Complaint of the Stoicks that though some very natural and innocent Actions of Life were industriously concealed yet Many others were named without a blush which yet were in their own nature wicked and abominable and what both Nature and Reason detest such as Perjury Treachery Cheating Lying Murther and the like We may improve the Complaint by adding that in Our days Men pretend to more nicety in Conversation but these really wicked things they do not only mention without Shame but act without Fear Nay even in Treasons and Assassinations those blackest of all Villains make pretensions to Ceremony and think themselves obliged to Murther in point of Honour and Duty and when this is done that it be done with some sort of Decency Prodigious Impudence and Folly That Injustice should complain of Incivility and Malice think it self wronged by Indiscretion Does not the Art of Ceremony then plainly prevail over Nature and shew that its Influence is much stronger upon corrupt Mankind Ceremony forbids us to express some things which Nature allows and justifies and we submit contentedly Nature and Reason would restrain us from wicked and mischievous actions and no body obeys or at all regards them This is manifestly to Prostitute our Consciences and abandon all distinctions all common sense of Good and Evil and yet at the same time think our selves obliged to put on a modest Face and look grave and demure As if it mattered not what we are within so nothing appear amiss in our Countenance and the setting our looks in Form were of more consequence than the Innocence of our Souls This Hypothesis is most Monstrous and Absurd and Nature cannot furnish us with an Incongruity like it in all the Creatures that ever God made My meaning is not here what some may maliciously represent it to find fault with that Decency and Ceremony which gives an Ornament and Beauty to our Actions and ought therefore to be strictly regarded But my Complaint is like that of our Saviour to the Pharisees Ye Hypocrites ye make clean the outside of the Cup and Platter Mat. xxiii These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone One very sad effect of this so general Alteration and Corruption of our first Notions and Principles is That we are now come to that miserable pass as to have no Footsteps of pure Nature left discernible among us Insomuch that we are wonderfully perplexed and at a loss What and How many those Laws are which she prescribes to us The peculiar Character by which the Law of Nature used to be distinguished from all others is that of Universal Approbation and Consent For it must needs be supposed that what this Common Mother and Mistress of us All had really enacted and appointed for our Rule would be readily obeyed by all her Children that in This there would be as it were One Heart and One Soul and not only every Nation and Countrey but every private Man would come in and live in perfect Agreement with it Now if we come to examine matter of Fact in this Case we shall scarce find any one thing in the world which is not somewhere or other disapproved and contradicted not by a few particular Persons only nor by one single Nation but in several entire Countries And on the other hand there is not any thing in Our Apprehension so prodigious and unnatural but some Countries have entertained it and given it not only the Countenance of a favourable Opinion but the Authority of Custom and
was a despicable thing because it was the Effect of Cowardice and Laziness so the Doing Well where it is without the expence of Trouble and Hazard is look'd upon by these persons as too vulgar and cheap a thing but the attempting and going through with it in despight of Hazards and Troublesome Oppositions and where these attack us in great number and labour hard to obstruct and deter us from our Duty This is the Commendation of a Good and a Virtuous Person indeed * Difficilia quae pulchra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato Whatever is excellent is Difficult was we know the usual Saying of the Noblest Philosopher But to deal plainly and speak the Truth of the matter the Difficulty of obtaining any thing does by no means alter the nature or add to the real and intrinsick value of the thing it self nor is it as I have taken occasion formerly to observe any just and warrantable Cause for raising it in our Esteem Nay it is beyond all Controversy certain on the other side that Natural Excellencies are much more desirable and better than those that are studied and acquired That it is much more Brave and Great and Divine to act by the motions and spontaneous Perfections of Nature than with the most exquisite Dexterity and nicest Improvements of Art in an easy free equal and uniform manner than with laborious Efforts uncertainly and with Doubt and Danger and Perplexity of Thought It is in the former of these two Senses that we term Almighty God Good His Excellencies are his Nature Essential to him and if They could cease he must cease to Be. And therefore to call not Him only but even the Blessed Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect Virtuous is a Diminution and Disparagement to them Theirs is properly Goodness too but Virtue is a Title too low for the Happiness of unsinning Perfection a State of Indefectibility and above the reach of all Temptation 'T is true indeed in the Condition we now live where Dangers surround and threaten and Frailties betray us perpetually Virtue makes somewhat of noise and clutter and is forced to act with some Vehemence and this gives it the Preference before Smooth and Still Goodness For the generality of people always measure the Excellence of a Thing by the Shew and the Difficulty and admire that most which costs dearest but this is a false method of judging and we are not much to wonder if They are wrong here who indeed are generally so in all their Estimations of Men and Things For these great Swelling Performances that look so big and seem to be all zeal and fire are not subsantial nor to the purpose They are no part of true Honesty nor the Products of that fix'd Principle we are speaking of but rather intemperate Heats and Feverish Fits very different from that Wisdom we are now in quest of which is healthful and moderate gentle and calm equal and uniform Thus much may suffice to be said of Honesty or Sincerity in general For as to the several parts of it and the particular Duties resulting from thence they will come under our Consideration in the Third Book and particularly when we shall treat of the Virtue of Justice And here I find my self under an Obligation of discharging my Promise Of Grace in the necessary Addition of what follows in this Paragraph To silence if it be possible the unjust Malice and disadvantagious Character cast upon me by some who find fault with my as they think them Extravagant Commendations of Nature as if This were able to do every thing and no other Assistances were required To these persons it might suffice to reply that by Nature I understand as was observed before the God of Nature and the Dictates of Eternal Reason written and engraved in every Heart by His Almighty Hand I might also alledge that the Subject of this Book is only Natural and Human and that the Author is not obliged by his Design to concern himself with any Virtues properly Divine or the Advantages above the power of Nature to confer But waving all this I readily acknowledge that to render the Virtue and Integrity I have been describing compleat and give it all the Perfections it is capable of one thing more is necessary The Grace of God I mean which must animate and invigorate this Goodness and Probity shew it in all its lustre give the finishing stroke refine and exalt it from a mere Moral to a Christian Virtue This renders it accepted at the Throne of Heaven approved of God capable of an Eternal Recompence and so crowns it both with Perfection here and a Reward hereafter It is not easy to find Apposite Resemblances for Things which cannot present themselves to us by any sensible Ideas But if you will pardon the meanness of the Comparison I should almost venture to compare the Probity here insisted on to a Skilful Master who touches the Keys of an Organ with absolute Accuracy and Art but all to no purpose the Instrument is dumb till the Wind express the Excellence of his Hand by giving Sound to the Instrument and making that Melody which all his Mastery in playing was not able to do without it Thus Moral Virtue is but a sort of Speculative Perfection till the Grace of God inspire and enable us to put it in Practice and produce the Fruits of it Now This is a Blessing which does not consist in refined Thought nice Notions and long or learned Discourses it is not to be acquired by Rule or the methods of Human Industry and Art nor can we attain to it by our own Labour and Toil the utmost we can do is to prepare and endeavour to qualify our selves duly for the receiving it for after All Receive it we must It is a Gift that comes down from on high and the very Name of Grace is designed to represent to us the Good Will of the Donor and that the Gift is entirely free Our part is to ask to seek to implore it with all imaginable Humility and the most fervent Desires we are capable of To prostrate our selves before the Throne of Grace and with the utmost Contention of Heart and Voice to say Vouchsafe O my God in thy Infinite Goodness to look down with an Eye of Mercy and Pity upon thy poor Servant Accept and grant my Desires assist my weak Endeavours and crown those good Inclinations which are originally derived from Thee The Law by which I stand obliged the Light by which I am instructed in my Duty are of thy Ordering thou hast stamped our Nature with these Impressions of Good and Evil and shined in our hearts by thy Precepts O give Success to thy own Institution and finish the work thou hast begun that so the Glory and the Fruit may redound to the Planters use and thou may'st be first and last in all my Actions and Designs my Thoughts and my Desires Water me abundantly
by To These we are Principally and Originally engaged nor may we so far falsify our Obligations as to depart from Them in favour of any Customs or to suffer our Judgments to be debauched with false Notions though our National Constitutions were Ten thousand times dearer to us than it is possible to suppose them For These can only claim a Secondary Obligation the Former was general and concerned us as Men This only binds us as Subjects or Natives of such a determinate place and so the Obligation is limited and particular and if we pay our outward Observance and submit in our Behaviour to these Municipal Injunctions this part of our Duty is discharged and all Parties have reason to be satisfied It is true Things may so fall out that in compliance with this Second this particular and Local Obligation that is in conformity to the Laws and Customs of the Place where we dwell we may do something that does not appear to Us in every point Agreeable to the Primitive and Universal one that is such as Nature and Reason do not dictate nor evince the Equity of but we still are true to this Obligation by reserving our Judgment for it acknowledging that what Nature suggests and Universal Equity dictates ought to be preferred and continuing firm in our Opinions that This is always best though it be the Unhappiness of our particular Constitution not to be regulated according to it For after all our Judgment is the only thing we can call our Own and all we have left to dispose of the World hath nothing to do with our Thoughts Our External Behaviour 't is true the Publick lays claim to This we ought to pay and must be accountable for it and therefore thus far our Laws and Usages take place We may very justly do what we cannot approve for any Justice or Goodness of its own and Obey Laws which have nothing of that intrinsick Excellence that had we been in Power or perfectly Free we should either have Enacted or made Choice of them A great deal must be foregone for the sake of Order and Quiet for in short there is no Remedy This is the Condition of the World and as matters stand Mankind could not subsist without it Next in order to the Two former Governesses Law and Custom succeeds a Third who with a great many is esteemed of equal Authority with Either of the Former and indeed Those that submit and enslave themselves to her she treats with a more tyrannical and unrelenting Severity than Either of the Former does And This is Ceremony which in plain English is for the most part no better than a set Form of Vanity But yet through Littleness of Soul and the spreading depravation of Mind and Manners so very general among Men it hath gained so undeserved Honour and Reputation and usurped such a Power and is so insolent in the Exercise of it that a great many People are possess'd with an Opinion That Wisdom consists in a nice Observance of it Under this Notion of the Thing they tamely come to the Yoke and list themselves its most willing Slaves insomuch that their Health their Convenience shall suffer and be lost Business be disappointed Liberty be sold or given up Conscience violated God and Religion neglected rather than they will suffer themselves to offend against one of the least and nicest Punctilio's This is manifestly the Case of Formal Courtiers and Others that affect the Character of Civility and good Breeding This Mint and Anise and Cummin is punctually paid when the weightier matters of the Law are passed over and the Idol Ceremony set up in the place and to the infinite prejudice of plain downright Honesty and sincere Friendship Now I am very desirous That the Wife Man of my Forming should by no means suffer himself to be thus Captivated and Imposed upon Not that I would have him Singular and Morose as if Wisdom consisted in Rudeness and acting in Desiance of Ceremony for some Allowance must be made to the way of the World and all the outward Conformity we can shew is sit to be paid to the Manners of it provided always That this Compliance do not thwart other more weighty Considerations For thus much I must needs insist upon That my Scholar never bind himself without reserve nor be so absolutely Devoted to these sorts of Respect but that when he shall sind it Necessary in point of Duty or otherwise shall see fit he may have the Courage to Dispense with and shew that he can Despise these little Niceties And This I would have done with so visible a Prudence and Gallantry of Soul that all the World may be satisfied it is not Humour and Affectation nor Ignorance or sordid Neglect which moves him to a Behaviour different from Theirs but that he is acted by a right Judgment and juster Notions of the matter which will not let him value these poor things more highly than they deserve that even where his outward Comportment is suited to the Practice his Will and Judgment are entire and uncorrupted and have not been perverted to a false Approbation and Esteem In short That however he may lend himself to the World when he sees occasion and not be Sullen and Restiff and Particular yet he will not nor can it ever become any Wise or Good Man to sell or give himself up to the World by being eternally Supple and Ceremonious and devoted entirely to the Rules and Modes of it CHAP. IX Modest and Obliging Behaviour in Conversation THIS Particular is properly reducible to the Topick of Justice a Branch of that Virtue which instructs us how to live and converse with all Mankind and to render to every Man what by any sort of Right becomes his due And the proper Place for Treating of This will be in the following Book where the different Rules and particular Directions will be laid down suitable to particular Persons and Occasions At present you must expect only general Advice That being agreeable to the Scheme at first Proposed and such as the Design and Matter of this Second Part of my Treatise is consined to Now this is a Subject which offers it self to us under a Twofold Consideration and consequently this Chapter which discourses of it must of necessity be divided into Two Parts according to the Two different sorts of Conversation which Men use and are engaged in with the World One of these is simple general at large and in common such as is made up of our ordinary Company and that Indifferency in Commerce and Acquaintance which some accidental Occasion or Business or Travelling together or Meeting in Third Places or frequent interviews at places of Publick Resort or the Civilities of Visits and Complemental Ceremonies do every day lead us into and so increase or lessen the number of our Acquaintance introduce new Familiarities or change our Old All or some of which happen not only with those we know but
will be sure to stand its ground Distress and Pain are so far from making it flinch that they feed and cherish and exalt it it lives it grows it triumphs by them There is certainly greater Firmness of Mind express'd in bearing and making an Advantage of one's Chain than in breaking it to pieces because it keeps us confined and ties us fast to some Uneasinesses And all considerate Men must allow that Regulus shew'd infinitely more Gallantry than Cato * Rebus in Adversis facile est contemnere Vitam Fortiter Ille facit qui Miser esse potest Martial Lib. xi Ep. 57. The Base when wretched dare to Dye but He Is Brave indeed who dares to Live in Misery †Si fractus illabatur orbis Impavidum ferient ruinae Horat. Od. 3. L. 3. If the Crack'd Orbs should split and fall Crush him they might but not Appall Sir R. Fanshaw Nay these Men ought to be accounted Infamous and treated as Deserters For no Man can answer quitting the Post he is order'd to without the express Leave and fresh Orders of the Superior Officer who placed hi there We are by no means put into the World upon our own account alone and therefore Personal Calamities must not put us upon an Act of so great Injustice as the squandring away That in which Others have a Right as well as We nor yet are we Masters of our selves but under the Disposal and Direction of a Lord who hath a Right Paramount Thus you see what Arguments are generally brought on either side but if we set the Considerations of Duty and Religion aside and take the Liberty to speak the Sense of mere Nature in the Case the Resolution she would come to seems to be This That Men ought not to enter upon this Last and Boldest Exploit without some very extraordinary and most pressing Reason to induce them that so it may be what They call making a Decent and Honourable Exit Every slight Occasion every little Pett or cross Accident will not justify Men's falling out with the World and therefore They are certainly in a great Error who pretend that a small Excuse will serve to quit Life since there are no very Weighty Arguments to persuade our keeping it This is highly ungrateful to God and Nature when so Rich a Present is so much slighted and undervalued It is an Argument of great Levity and betrays a great deal of Moroseness and Ill Humour when we quarrel and break Company upon every slender Provocation But indeed there is something to be said though that something is not enough for a very Urgent and Weighty Occasion such as renders Life a perpetual Torment and the Thoughts of continuing in it insupportable such for Instance as I mentioned formerly Long Acute Excessive Pain or the certain Prospect of a very Cruel and Ignominious Death And upon this account the several Persons that I am going to name how favourably soever Story hath represented their Behaviour do by no means seem to have a Plea sufficient to Justify no not so much as to Excuse a Voluntary Death Such are Pomponius Attiâ—us Marcellinus and Cleanthes who after they had begun the Process resolved to finish it merely because they would avoid the trouble of having the whole Course to begin and go through again For what Apology soever might be made for the delivering themselves from a Painful Distemper yet when that Pain and the Cause of it were removed they lay under no farther Temptation to be out of love with Life and a bare Possibility of the Disease returning was a Consideration much too remote The Wives of Paetus and Scaurus and Labeo and Fulvius the intimate Friend of Augustus of Seneca and a great many more were as fantastically fool-hardy when they killed Themselves either to bear their Husbands Company out of the World or to invite Them to go with them So likewise Cato and others who were discontented with the Event of their Undertakings and the Chance of War and chose rather to dye by their own hands than to fall into their Enemy's notwithstanding these Enemies were such as gave them no just ground to fear any barbarous or dishonourable Treatment from them neither The same Censure will fall upon Them who murder'd themselves rather than they would be beholding to one they hated for their Lives or lye at the Mercy of an Ill Man as Gravius Silvanus and Statius Proximus did after Nero had given them his Pardon Nor are They less to blame who run into the Shades of Death to hide themselves from Shame and cover the Reproach of some past Dishonour or Misfortune such as Lucretia after the Injury she had suffered from Tarquin and Spargopises Son to Tomyris the Seythian Queen and Boges Commander under Xerxes the former because he could not bear being Prisoner of War to Cyrus the other for the Loss of a Town taken by Cimon the Athenian General Nor They who could not endure to survive a Publick Calamity though nothing extraordinary had befallen Them in particular such as Nerva the Great Lawyer Vibius Virius at the Taking of Capua and Jubelliâ—s at the Death of the greatest part of their Senators inflicted by a Roman Officer And least of all can those Nice and Delicate People excuse themselves who chuse to dye because they are cloyed with Life and weary of repeating the Same Things over again Nay I must go farther yet For it is by no means sufficient that the Occasion be very Important and full of Difficulty unless it be Desperate and past all Remedy too for nothing less than Necessity ought to be pleaded here and This should be the last Reserve the Only Escape from Extremity of Misfortune Upon this Account Rashness and Despondency and anticipating one's Fate and Giving all for Lost is always exceeding blameable an Instance whereof we have in Brutus and Cassius who before there was any occasion for it put an End to their own Lives and with Them to all the languishing Remains of the Liberty of Rome which was committed to and depended entirely upon Their Protection For as Cleomenes truly said Men are under an Obligation to use Life frugally and to make it go as far as possibly they can nay not only to contrive that it may last as long as is possible but that it may be useful to the very last For a Man may discharge himself of this Trust at any time and when Things are at the very worst tht they can be This Remedy is what no Man can be at a loss for But we should wait for better Days and try whether the hand of our Fortune will not mend upon us * Aliquis Carnisici suo superstes fuit Many a Man as Seneca observes hath outliv'd his Executioner Josephus and a great many besides have followed this Advice to excellent good purpose and Matters when in all human probability desperate and lost have wheel'd about and taken a quite different Course
Conclusion is this That whatsoever Sacrifices were offered before that time they must necessarily be of Man 's own Devising since we have the Testimony of God declaring in very solemn manner that they were not of His Appointment The Texts insisted upon to this purpose are those two Isaiah I. 11 12. To what purpose is the Multitude of your Sacrifices unto me saith the Lord I am full of the Burnt-Offerings of Rams and the Fat of fed Beasts and I delight not in the Blood of Bullocks or of Lambs or of He-goats when ye come to appear before me who hath required this at your hands to tread my Courts The Other Jerem VII 21 22. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Put your Burnt-offerings unto your Sacrifices and eat Flesh For I spake not unto your Fathers nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning Burnt offerings or Sacrifices Now any One who considers the Occasion of these Passages will find that both of them are intended for a Reproof to the Hypocrisy of the Jews and a Check to that Confidence they reposed in those Ritual Performances though void of that real Devotion and inward Purity which alone was acceptable to God The Context in each place manifestly proves this to have been their design and the want of Comparative degrees in the Hebrew Language wâ—â— suffer no great stress to be laid upon the Negative Form of speech That known instance quoted by our Blessed Lord I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice Matth. IX 13. XII 7. from Hosea VI. 6. is Key sufficient to these before us and can warrant our concluding only thus much from them That God prefers substantial Holiness infinitely before these things that Obedience was That Thing he always required and Sacrifices being in reality but so many professions of That were not properly to be look'd upon as Essential Duties wherein the Israelites part of the Covenant consisted that These were by no means what he aimed at in admitting them to Covenant with himself and consequently when destitute of their Substance and End were empty and insignificant of no account with God and not a Worshipping him but to speak plainly and truly what he very emphatically and contemptuously calls a Treading his Courts I add too that this Text of Jeremiah cannot possibly be taken in a strict and literal Sense since it is manifest God did speak to their Fathers in the very day that he brought them out of Egypt concerning one Sacrifice the Passeover I mean Deut. XVI 1 5 6. 1 Cor. V. 8. which though a Feast yet is it frequently termed a Sacrifice too and therefore some Interpreters here have taken refuge in restraining that Text to Sin-Offerings and Peace Offerings and not extending it to Sacrifices at large 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zabach LoTizbach which yet will not answer their purpose since the very same Hebrew word which Jeremy makes use of is twice together applied to the Passover by Moses Deut XVI 5 6. II. A Second Argument is drawn from Cain and Abel Offering each the product of his own Labours respectively which makes it probable that such Oblations were the product of a grateful Mind dictating to them that God ought to have some acknowledgment and return made him for his Benefits Now that Nature might inform Men of a Duty incumbent upon them to Worship God and the Common Notions of Gratitude put them upon applying part of their Substance to the Honour and Service of Him who gave the whole Men find easy to apprehend But the difficulty is How Nature should inspire Men with a Thought that Burning this by Fire or otherwise ordering it as the Custom of Sacrificers was is a proper Method of expressing their Honour for and Gratitude to God Again Had Sacrifices been a dictate of Nature How came they ever to be Abolished since the Natural is part of that Law which our Saviour came not to destroy but to perfect and fulfill Mat. V. 17. This Inconvenience Dr. Outram was sensible of and therefore he makes a distinction between the First and Eternal Dictates and Laws of Nature and other Institutions and Ordinances in pursuance of and agreement with those Whether this be sufficient to clear the Difficulty I leave the Reader to judge and for that purpose I have presented him with the whole Passage in the * Id unum hoc in loco monere visum est hos qui suâ cujusque sponte primò Sacrificatum judicant etiamsi fortè quibusdam in locis incautius loqus videantur hunc tamen Sacrificandi ritum ad Natura Leges proprtè dictas aeternas utique immutabiles non referre sed ad ejusmodt Instituta quae Ratio Naturalis excogitaverit tanquam ad conspicuum Dei cultum apta satis idonea Prius illud si qui fecerint ex eo falsi arguuntur quòd Christus Sacrificandi ritus apud Veteres olun usitacos penitus apud Suos delevit qui idem tamen tantum abfuit ut ullas aboleret Naturae Leges ut has omnes Authoritate suâ ratas certas ac firmas fecerit Outram de Sacrif Lib. I. Cap. 1. Sect. IV. Margin One thing only I desire may be observed which is That this Argument of what force soever it may prove for Sacrifices of Thanks yet can give no Countenance at all to Those of any Other Sort and particularly not to the Expiatory which Monsieur Charron hath chiefly regard to if not to them alone in this place III. A Third Reason is taken from the great Design God seems to have had in the Legal Sacrifices That of containing the Israelites within the Worship of One God and in order to it condescending so far to their Infirmities and the Infection they had taken from the Idolatry of Egypt as to conform their Worship and Rites to those of the Heathen World Now it is not to be denied but this seem to have been the Case and probably the best account why such particular Rites were instituted but to make the Argument effectual we must enquire how those Heathen came by Their Sacrifices and Ceremonies For That may be a very good and rational Explanation of the Mosaic Institution which is not a sufficient account of the Patriarchal Religion And in the Sequel of this Discourse my Reader will find occasion to consider whether there were not another End to be served by the Sacrifices both Patriarchal and Levitical which mere Nature could not attain to and therefore a Positive Institution was necessary for the promoting it IV. It may be said Fourthly That as God left the first Ages of the World to the Dictates of Nature and right Reason in the Discovery and Practice of Moral Duties so it is most likely they were left to the same Guidance for the exercise of Religion too and if any Notions and Ceremonies grew common upon this occasion not so agreeable to
the Nature of true Religion and the Dignity of an Almighty Majesty these are capable of great Allowances and suit well enough with the Simplicity of the First Ages of the World To This I presume it may suffice to answer That the Case of Moral Duties and Religious Rites is very different The One are purely the result of a reasonable and thinking Mind The Other of a Nature which we must needs be much in the dark about For though Reason would convince me that God is to be worshipped yet He alone can tell me what Worship will be acceptable to him At least if I must beat out my own Track the Notions I entertain of God must direct me Now These might convince a Man that Purity and Sincerity Justice and Goodness and the like must needs please an Infinitely Perfect Being But which way could an Imagination so foreign enter into Mens heads as that God shold be pleased with the Blood and Fat of Beasts Admit These to have been the Chief of their Substance and devoted because as such fittest for them to express their Acknowledgments by that as devoted and entirely set apart to Holy Uses it could not without Sacrilege be partaken of by Men and that from hence the Custom of Burning the Sacrifice took its Original yet what shall we say to the Expiatory Oblations And how could Men by any Strength of Reason comprehend the Possibility of a Vicarious Punishment or hope that the Divine Justice should be appeased by Offerings of this kind and accept the Life of the Offender's Beast instead of the forfeit Life of the Offender himself These things seem to be far out of the Way and Reach of human Discourse it is scarce if at all possible to conceive what should lead the Generality of Mankind to such Consequences such Ideas of God as These And I think little needs be said to convince Men that the Difference is vastly great between such Religious Rites and those Moral Duties which have their foundation in the best Reason and are all of them so coherent so agreeable to sober and uncorrupted Nature that the more we attend and the closer we pursue them the greater Discoveries we shall be sure to make and the more consistent will be all our Actions with the first and most obvious Principles of the Mind So that no Parity of Argument can lye between these Two The Force of this Reason is sufficiently confess'd by the very Learned Asserter of that Other Opinion nor can he deny Spencer Lib. III. Cap. IV. Diss II. Sect. II. as some I think with a design to make short work of it have done that Expiatory Sacrifices were offer'd before the Law But then These are supposed to proceed not from any positive persuasion or good assurance of obtaining Pardon by that means but some Hope that God would have regard to the Pious Intention of the Person and consider and restore him upon that account Which Opinion Arnobius exposes in such a manner as plainly to shew that it generally prevailed and many Testimonies of Heathen Writers themselves confess that they looked upon God to be capable of being mollified and won over as Angry Men are by Submissions and Presents and other sweetning Methods All which Misapprehensions are conceived agreeable to the Darkness of Pagans and the Simplicity of Earlier Ages Now with all due Reverence to the Authority of those Great Men who urge it I can by no means satisfy my self with the Colour they give to these Arguments from the rude unpolished State of Men in the first Ages of the World This I know is a Notion very agreeable to the Heathen Philosophers and Poets and Their Accounts of the Original of this World the Progress of Knowledge and Improvement of Mankind And This might probably agree well enough with that Age when Abraham and his Seed were chosen out from the midst of a dark and degenerate Race But whether it agree with the Times of Abel and Noah and the Antediluvian Fathers will bear a great Dispute We fancy perhaps that before there was any Written Word all was dark but there is no Consequence in That nor will it follow because Arts and Prositable Inventions for the Affairs of this Life grew up with the World that Religion too was in its Infant Weakness and Ignorance in those early Days St. Chrysostom I am sure gives a very different account of the Matter Hom. 1. in Matth. He says the Communications of God's Will were more liberal and frequent then that Men lived in a sort of familiar Acquaintance with him and were personally instructed in Matters necessary and convenient much better enabled to worship and serve him acceptably and because they did not discharge their Duty and answer their Advantages that he withdrew from this Friendly way of conversing with Mankind and then to prevent the utter Loss of Truth by the Wickedness and Weakness of Men a Written Word was judged necessary and That put into Books which the Corruption of Manners had made unsafe and would not permit to continue clear and legible in Men's hearts In the mean while the Preference he manifestly gives both for Knowledge and Purity to the First Ages and compares the Patriarchs at the beginning of the World in this Point to the Apostles at the beginning of Christianity as Parallels in the Advantages of Revelation and Spiritual Wisdom infinitely superior to the succeeding Times of the Church And it is plain from Scripture it self that Enoch Noah and other Persons eminently pious signally rewarded for it and inspired with God's own Spirit were some of those early Sacrificers Persons to whose Character the pretended Simplicity and Ignorance of the first Ages of the World will very ill agree V. There is I must own a Great Prejudice against this Divine Institution of Sacrifices from the Book of Genesis being silent in the thing it being urged as a mighty Improbability that so considerable an Ordinance and One which grew so general should have no mention made of its first Command and Establishment especially when so many things of seemingly less moment are expresly taken notice of and by that means strengthen the Opinion which attributes a matter acknowledged on all hands to be of Consequence to some Original other than Immediately Divine Now if we consider the Design and Manner of the Book of Genesis it will by no means appear strange to us that many things should be omitted This being I conceive intended chiefly to give a short Account of the Creation and Fall of Man the Promise of a Redeemer and to draw down the Line of Descent to the Chosen Seed from whence our Saviour sprung and the People of the Jews the Figure of the Christian Church derived themselves So that Their History and Religion being the principal Subject of the Five Books of Moses we find very little Enlargement upon Particulars till after the Call of Abraham For if we consider the Three first
in the World not to be guilty of some Injustice Thus much however I presume to add that let these Actions of theirs find never so favourable Interpretations never so just Allowances yet for their own Justification and the softening asmuch as may be the Odium of such irregular Proceedings There is not only a Necessity that they should be reserved for the last Extremities but that when Princes are perfectly driven to make use of them they should go about it with a real unwillingness and great Regret They should look upon This necessity to which they are reduced as a very particular Misfortune and Mark of an angry Providence and all their Behaviour and Resentments upon such Occasions must be like those of tender Parents when sore against their Will a beloved Child is to have a Limb sear'd or cut off Methods which nothing but the hope of saving his Life by this only Remedy could ever prevail with them to submit to or as a Man in extremity of Pain goes about the drawing a Tooth when nothing else will ease or asswage the Anguish And now I have related the Opinions of very eminent Philosophers and Politicians and observed what Abatements they are content to make for Cases of necessity I must once more solemnly avow that as for any Passages or Politick Maxims which pretend to greater Liberties such as set a Prince above all Consideration of Law or Justice that make Profit and Greatness the only End worthy his prosecuting and either place Advantage upon the Level with Honesty or set it higher every Good Man must abominate them and every good Governour will be so far from taking his measures according to this Standard that he will reject them with Detestation and Disdain I have insisted so much the longer upon this Branch of a Prince's Virtue because of the many Difficulties and Doubts which arise upon this Point of Justice the regular Exercise and Administration whereof must needs be very much interrupted and perplexed by the infinite Emergencies the sudden and extraordinary Changes and the Necessities that the publick happens to be involv'd in And these oftentimes are so very intricate and pressing that they may very well be allowed to puzzle the Wisest and to stagger the bravest and most resolute Commanders After Justice follows Valour by which I mean particularly that Virtue which is Military The Courage the Conduct the Caacity Valour which go to the making a Compleat General For this is a Qualification absolutely necessary for a Prince for the Defence and Security of his own Person and the Publick both The Welfare of his Subjects the Peace and Quiet of the Kingdom the Rights and Liberties of a Nation All lie at His Charge He is their Conservator and they depend upon his Ability to assert and protect and maintain them All which Valour only can enable him to do and by the very little said already upon it That appears to be so essential a part of the Royal Character that a Man who hath it not scarce deserves the Name of a Prince Let us now proceed to the Fourth Princely Virtue which is Clemency Clemency By which I mean such a Habit and Disposition of Mind as inclines the Prince to Mildness and Gentleness to Gracious Allowances and large Abatements from the Rigour of the Law and Extremity of Justice and all this temper'd with Judgment and Discretion This moderates manages and sweetens all it spurs the Guilty relieves the Poor an dejected and rescues those that are ready to perish Clemency in the Ruler answers to Humanity in common Men it is contrary to Cruelty and excess of Rigour but not to Justice for with this it is very reconcilable and all its Care is to soften and to moderate its Determinations Nothing can be more necessary more seasonable considering the many Infirmities of Humane Nature how great a part of Mankind offend wilfully and do what they should not and how often do even the best intending Men fall short of what they should Extreme Rigour and * Severitas amittit assiduitate Authoritatem severe Usage without any intermission any Abatement spoils all it hardens Mens Tempers and brings Authority into Contempt Punishments lose their Force and their End when made common and executed every Day they provoke Mens Indignation and Malice for indeed Men are often Wicked out of mere Rage and Spight and many Rebellions have been rais'd by the Thirst of Revenge There is something in Fear which is even destructive of Duty if it be not tempered and kept within Bounds by Lenity and good Nature and if turn'd into Horrour by sharp Usage and too strong Impressions it grows Furious and Desperate Malicious and Bloody Thus the Author hath observ'd very truly ₠Temperatus Timor est qui cohibet Assiduus acer in vindictam excitat That Fear which secures Peace and good Order must be moderate if once it become continual and extreme it spurs Men en to Mutiny and Revenge Clemency is likewise of great Advantage both to the Prince and the Publick as it gains the Good-will of the Subjects and binds them in the straitest and the surest Ties to the Government even those of Affection and Kindness for these are always the strongest and most lasting Security and †Firmissimum Imperium quo obedientes gaudent Tit. Liv. A Prince never sits so fast as when his Subjects are easie and take a pleasure in their Obedience as I shall have Occasion to shew hereafter For in such a Case the People will look upon their Governour as a sort of Deity Incarnate They will honour and adore him as such they will respect and love him as their Guardian their Common Father their Friend and instead of any uneasie Fear of Him they will be in perpetual Fear for Him tender of his Life and his Person and in mighty Pain and Solicitude lest any Ill should happen to either consequently they will be Zealous in his Defence firm to all his Interests averse and implacable to his Enemies This then is the Lesson in which all Princes should be perfect To get themselves well inform'd of all that is done Not to prosecute every Crime they know Nay many times to act and manage themselves as if they knew it not To be better satisfied with the Character of having found their Subjects made Good to their Hands than that of having reform'd and made them so by any Rigours of their own Readily to extend their Grace to small Faults and where such easiness may be inconvenient to render heinous Offenders very exemplary and make them smart severely for their Insolence and bold Contempt of the Laws To consider that frequent Executions are an Aspersion to their Government and bring as great a Scandal upon their Reign as the Death of many Patients doth to the Practice of a Physician and therefore not to be fond of taking Men off upon every Provocation but to content themselves
is the Fruit of all this Suffering and Expence Why you escape the Severity of the Law A goodly Satisfaction indeed a Man is not punish'd that never deserv'd it But where is the Reparation for all the Trouble and Charge you have been at for This will stick by you and can never be wip'd off tho' the Suspicion and Scandal and all the Dirt that a false Accuser bespatter'd you with may The Plantiff or Informer in the mean while if he can but bring the least Colour of probability for what he depos'd against you comes off clear and a very easie thing it is to make any thing look so suspicious as shall suffice to prevent the recovering of Damages upon him So very niggardly so shamefully miserable is Justice in the Matter of Rewards and gratifying Men for having deserv'd well and so entirely addicted to Punishment Insomuch that now the Word is brought to signifie That by way of Eminence and doing Justice or being obnoxious to Justice is constantly understood in the rigorous Sense as if Justice had nothing else to do but to scourge and take Men off And any Man whose Disposition is litigious and his Malice and Conscience wicked enough to put him upon it may very easily give his Neighbours a great deal of Trouble and Charge and without any danger to himself run them into such Difficulties as will not be possible to get quit of again without considerable Detriment and Disquiet Now if we would consider Justice as to the several parts of our Duty and the Objects in which they terminate these are principally Three For every Man is by virtue of his Nature and Condition a Debtor to God to Himself and to his Neighbour So that One of his Creditors is above him Another is upon the level with him and the Third is Creditor and Debtor both in one Person The Duty to God is but another Phrase for Piety and Religion so that this Head of Justice hath been largely insisted upon already in the Second Part of this Treatise And therefore without troubling the Reader any more upon that Subject I shall betake my self to the other Two yet behind the Duty to our Selves and That to our Neighbour CHAP. VI. Of Justice as That regards a Man's Duty to Himself THis indeed is scatter'd throughout this whole Work and every Chapter is full of it For what else is the Design of the First Book which attempts to bring Men throughly acquainted with Themselves and the Condition of Human Life What else does the Second drive at in teaching Men Wisdom and laying down general Rules for their attaining to it What Lastly makes up this Third Book but especially that part of it which treats of Fortitude and Temperance which are both of them Virtues that have a more direct tendency and immediate Relation to this Matter So that any thing industriously apply'd to this Topick in particular might perhaps be well enough spar'd But however I will here lay down some Directions and give the Matter an express and solemn Consideration in the most compendious Method that conveniently I can 1. The First Advice I shall give upon this Occasion and that which in truth is the Foundation of all the rest is That Men would bethink themselves and take up a Resolution not to live Extempore and at Random from Hand to Mouth and without any Reflection of what they are what will become of them and why they are here and yet as extravagant as all this may seem at first hearing the greatest part of Mankind by far are guilty of it They fool away their Time and never live in good earnest but pass Day after Day without one serious Thought or troubling themselves to look at all before them They have no Relish no Enjoyment of Life nor make any other use of it but only to employ it in unnecessary Trifles and Things by the by Their mighty Projects and busie Cares are rather a Hindrance and Perplexity than any Furtherance to the great Ends of Living Such Men do every thing in earnest but live All their Actions and the little broken Parcels of Life are grave and full of Attention but the Bulk and Substance of Life goes off without any Regard or Consideration at all This is like a Self-evident Principle or a Truth taken for granted in Speculation upon which they never bestow a Second Thought That which is Accidental and Insignificant is made their principal Care and that which ought to be their main Business neglected as if it were only an Additional and Unnecessary thing They are exceeding diligent and importunately sollicitous in other Matters some in acquiring a vast compass of Learning some in aspiring to Honours and Preferments some in heaping up Riches Others are intent upon Pleasures and Diversions Hunting or Play or vain Contrivances to pass away their Time as if This were a Burden and hung upon their Hands Others are taken up in useless Speculations fanciful Notions pretty Inventions Others set up for Men of Business and spend all their Days in Hurry and Noise Others pursue Designs different from all these But amidst this vast Variety of Follies few or none apply themselves to the true Wisdom by studying how to live indeed They are Thoughtful and Anxious entirely given up to and eager of many Matters but Life slips through their Fingers insensibly and is turn'd to no Account This is only in the Nature of a Term a set Period of Time appointed to follow other Business in Now all this is extremely injurious and unreasonable the Source of our greatest Misery the falsest and basest way of betraying our selves and abandoning our true Interest It is perfectly losing and throwing away our Life and the most perfidious as well as the most fatal Breach of Duty we can possibly be guilty of For certainly every Man owes thus much to Himself Not to trisle and be wanting in his greatest Concern To make Life as easie as cheerful as desirable as good to himself as he can which is to be done no other way but by making the most of it in point of Usefulness and good Management For Living well and advisedly is the only Expedient in order to dying so and This is the great Task incumbent upon all Mortals We ought to look upon Life as a Matter of the last Consequence a precious Talent an important Trust of which we must render a strict and very particular Account and therefore are bound to husband it thristily and improve it to the utmost of our Power that we may be found faithful in our Stewardship and gain by the Increase This is our Great Concern All the rest are Toys and Geugaws in comparison inconsiderable and very superficial Advantages I cannot deny indeed but some there are who bestow some Thought of this kind and pretend to set about it with marvellous Application But then this Thoughtfulness comes too late and they begin to live when they are just going to
immoderate Love of Riches Book I. Chap. 23. and the peevish and humoursom Hatred of them have been spoken to in the former parts of this Treatise And therefore all I have now left me to do is to lay down that Golden Rule which consists in the Mean between these two Extremes and that I think will be done in these Five Particulars First It consists in preferring and being pleas'd with them but not setting our Affections upon them Thus the Philosopher describes his Wise Man * Sapiens non amat divitias sed mavult One that is not fond of Riches but yet had rather have them than not A Man may be sensible of the Convenience of a Thing and know how to value it as it deserves without placing his Heart and his Happiness in it Thus for Instance a Person of low Stature and weak Limbs would be glad and well pleas'd to be taller and better built and yet it never breaks his Rest nor makes him reflect upon himself as miserable for not being so He that seeks what Nature desires without Passion and Uneasiness puts himself out of the Power of Fortune and he that is content with what Fortune cannot take away from him is the Man agreeable to this first part of the Character But Secondly If Passion and Anxiety be a Fault even in those who seek to enrich themselves by fair and honest Means only much less can we be allow'd to endeavour our own Profit by the Loss and Detriment of others For this is to feed and grow fat at their Expence No nor yet may we pursue Riches by base and pitiful and sordid Arts but should take care that all our Increase be so honourable and becoming that no Man shall have any Temptation but his own Wickedness and Ill-nature to complain of our Proceedings or grudge us our good Fortune or once to say That it is pity such Blessings should be bestowed upon us Thirdly When the good Providence of God puts these Opportunities and Advantages into our Hands and Wealth comes in upon us in an honest and creditable Way we are not to reject and disdain it but receive it with Thankfulness and Satisfaction and let it in but not let it in too far Riches should be admitted into our Houses but not into our Hearts we may take them into our Possession but not into our Affections For this is going too deep and doing them an Honour much greater than they can ever deserve Fourthly When we have them we should employ them honourably virtuously discreetly and convert them into Instruments of doing good Offices and being obliging to others That the manner of their Going out may be at least as innocent and as creditable as that of their Coming in Lastly Whenever they take their Flight and forsake us we are not to be dejected nor melancholy at the Loss but thould consider that tho' they took themselves away they did not deprive us of any thing which was properly and truly our own And therefore * Si Divitiae effluxerint non auferent nisi semetipfas if they give us the slip there is no Robbery or Wrong in the Case for we had no indeseasible Right in them before In one Word That Man ill deserves the Love and Favour of God and ought to quit all his Pretensions to Virtue and Philosophy and Religion who cannot support himself with these Comforts but allows the Enjoyments of this World the principal Place in his Esteem †Aude Hospes contemnere opes Te quoque dignum Finge Deo Dare to be Poor accept of homely Food Be more than Man and emulate a God Mr. Dryden Of Justice between Man and Man Or The Duty towards our Neighbour ADVERTISEMENT THis Duty is very comprehensive and shoots out into a great many Branches For the convenience of treating it more methodically we will make our first Division into two general Parts The First of these shall contain all such Duties as are Common and Vniversal requir'd from All and every Man to All and every Man And that whether they regard Thought Word or Deed And these are Love Fidelity Truth Freedom in Advising and Admonishing Beneficence Humanity Liberality and Gratitude The Second extends it self to all special Duties such I mean as depend upon particular Reasons and express Obligations which concern some certain Persons and Relations and not others As Those between Husband and Wife Parents and Children Masters and Servants Princes and Subjects Magistrates and Private Persons the Great and the Mean Man CHAP. VII The First Part of Justice or Those Universal Duties due from All to All in Common And first of Love LOVE is a Pure a Holy and a Generous Fire What it is kindled in our Breasts by Nature It s Primitive and Original Warmths were first discern'd in the mutual Affection of Husband and Wife Parents and Children Brothers and Sisters But then cooling by degrees as it dilated it self Art and Human Invention found means to blow it up again and supply fresh Fewel by the Institution of Alliances Societies Fraternities Colleges and other Incorporations by which the parts of Mankind are cemented and united Now in regard that These Artificial Flames underwent the same Fate with those Natural and burnt more feeble and dim as they were expanded and subdivided as also that their Heat is much allay'd by the Mixture of Profit Convenience Delight and such other Selfish Considerations therefore to cherish and recruit this Fire again Choice hath contriv'd to unite its scatter'd Forces and contract them into the narrowest compass that can be by the ferventest and tenderest of all Affections that between true Friends And This indeed is Love in Perfection as much more ardent and endearing and refin'd than any other as the Vital Heat in the Heart is more intense than than of the Liver or the Blood in the Veins Love is the very Life and Soul of the World more necessary to its Subsistence and Well-being say the Philosophers than those two Servants which we cannot want Fire and Water The Latins therefore have given a good Intimation of This in terming Friendship Necessitudo and Friends Necessarii This is the Sun the Staff the Salt of Life all is dark and comfortless without the Light of this cheering Fire all seeble and tottering without this firm Support all flat and insipid till this Seasons and gives it a grateful Relish Ecclus vi 14 16. To this purpose that Wise Man * A Faithful Friend is a strong Defence the Medicine of Lise and He that findeth him sindeth a great Treasure Nor may we suppose this Virtue serviceable and necessary to private Persons only It s Usefulness or that the Pleasures and Charms of it are confin'd to small Numbers and secret Retirements Its Joys and its Beauties are equally nay more ravishing and delightful more useful and seasonable to larger Bodies and publick Communities of Men. For This is the true Mother
Turns Hesiod hath intimated to us by his Description of the Graces when he paints them Three in Number and all joyning Hands The First or Original Obligation is satisfy'd by the due Performance of those particular Offices The first Original Obligation which each Person 's respective Station requires from him And what these are we shall very shortly take occasion to explain at large when the Special Duties which make up the other Branch of Justice to our Neighbour come to be consider'd In the mean while I desire my Reader to observe that the Primitive Engagement we are treating of at present tho' it cannot be utterly dissolv'd yet it may be tied faster and closer or slacken and sit more loose upon us by several accidental Circumstances and particularly it may be mightily strengthened or diminished by the Conditions and Behaviour of those we have to deal with If the very Relation of a Subject or a Child bind us to them the Affectionate and Dutiful Carriage of good Subjects and good Children enforce the Obligations of Kindness yet more And so again Their Misdemeanours their Ingratitude their Insolence and Unworthy Behaviour do in a great Measure discharge us of that Tenderness and Care which they have otherwise a Right to expect from us And I cannot tell whether this Observation may not hold in some Degree with Regard to Natural Defects also A Man may perhaps indeed he cannot but have less Affection for a Child or a Kinsman or a Servant not only if he be Ill-tempered and Perverse but if he be deformed or crooked or unfortunate in his Person For God who made Beauty an attractive Excellence seems himself to have lowered the Natural Value such Persons are to be rated at But then whatever Influence this Consideration may have upon our Minds and Inclinations it must have none at all upon the outward Administration of our Office These unhappy Persons have the same Title to our Justice and Charity their Necessities put in the same common Claim to our Assistance and Relief and all the Good we are engaged to upon any publick and general Account is still to be Punctually performed towards them and indeed the less to be neglected because those Natural Defects are their Misfortunes only not their Faults and as such should excite our Pity to supply the Place of Inclination But that Obligation The Second Eligation which lies before us at present is the Second Sort such as arises from Benefits received And for our better Direction in this Matter we shall do well to observe First of all That the Laws of Acknowledgment and grateful Returns are Natural and Universal They are not confined to Humanity alone but even Brutes themselves have a Sense of and share in them Nay and those too not only tame and manageable and Domestick Animals which might tempt us to think this Disposition the Effect of Art or Custom but even the Wildest and most Savage Creatures For in them we meet with several notable Instances of Gratitude One Example whereof I have formerly mention'd in the Behaviour of a Lyon to that Roman Slave Book I. Chap. 8. Sect. 12. who was exposed in the Theatre to be devoured by him Secondly It is a Virtuous Act and a certain Indication of a good Mind for which Reason it is really more valuable than Beneficence it self For Liberality often proceeds from Plenty or Power Regard to one's own Interest or Reputation and not very often from pure Virtue But Gratitude cannot spring from any other Cause than an ingenuous Disposition And therefore though the doing of good Offices may be the more desirable yet the grateful Acknowledgment and studying to requite them when they are done is the more Commendable of the Two Thirdly Gratitude is likewise an easie and a pleasant Duty and yet such as no body can be excused from upon the Pretence of Disability or Want of Opportunity because it is always in our own Disposal always present with us Now nothing is so easie as to obey and follow the Dictates of Nature and nothing so Pleasant and Satisfactory as for a Man to acquit himself of Obligations to come out of Debt and set himself Free and upon the Level with his Neighbours From all that hath been said upon this Subject we cannot but discern how much of Baseness and Meanness of Spirit the Vices of Ingratitude and Neglect carry with them how deservedly Odious they are to all the World * Dixeris Maledicta cuncta cum ingratum hominem dixeris Ingratitudo grave vitium intolerabile quod dissociat homines To call a Man Ingrateful is the worst and blackest Accusation you can lay to his Charge It is an Offence against Nature and a certain Indication of an ill Temper a scandalous and reproachful Vice such as is not to be endured because it breaks all Society and good Correspondence The Revenge which follows upon an Injury and the Ingratitude which follows a Kindness are both Bad and Blameable but not equally so Revenge is indeed the stronger and more violent Passion but it hath less of Deformity and Degeneracy of Soul than Ingratitude The Evils and Diseases of our Minds are like those incident to our Bodies where those that are most Dangerous and Mortal are not always the most Painful and Acute And therefore Revenge may disorder a Man more but Ingratitude corrupts his Virtue more In the Former there is some Appearance of Justice Men are not ashamed to pursue and own that publickly but the latter is all over Infamy and Baseness and no Man was ever yet so abandoned or hardy to confess or glory in it Now Gratitude to render it compleat and in all Points what it ought to be must have these following Qualifications First A Man must receive the Kindnesses done to him cheerfully and friendly he must look and express himself well pleased with them †Qui gratù Beneficium accepit primam ejus Pensionem solvit He that gives a Favour kind Entertainment hath made the first Payment already Secondly He must never forget or be unmindful of it ₠Ingratissimus omnium qui oblitus nusquam enim gratus fieri potest cui totum Beneficium elapsum est He that forgets his Benefactor is of all others the farthest from Gratitude for how is it possible a Man should discharge this Duty who hath suffered the Foundation of it to slip quite from under him Thirdly He must not be sparing to own and publish it * Ingenui pudoris est fateri per quos profecerimus haec quasi merces Authoris It is an argument of Ingenuity and becoming Modesty frankly to confess who we have been the better for and this is a Reward due to the Maker of our Fortunes As we have found by comfortable Experience the Hearts and Hands of our Friends open to our Advantage so it is fit they should find our Mouths open too and our Tongues liberal in
if they grudg'd their Children the Honour and Happiness of growing wiser and better and were sorry that they answer the End of their Creation A Folly so absurd so infinitely unreasonable that we may justly call them brutish and inhumane Fathers who are guilty of it Now in pursuance of this Second and properly Paternal Affection Parents shou'd by all means admit their Children so soon as they are capable of it to keep them Company They shou'd make them a competent Allowance fit for the Rank and Condition of them and their Family shou'd enter them into Business and let them see the World confer and consult with them about their own Private Affairs communicate their Designs their Opinions to them not only as their Companions but their Friends and not keep them in Darkness and Strangers to things which they have so great an Interest in These shou'd consent to and even condescend to assist in their becoming and innocent Diversions as Occasions shall offer and so far as any of these things can conveniently be done but still so as to preserve all due regard to their own Authority and the Character of a Parent For certainly such prudent Reserves may be us'd in this Case as wou'd in no degree diminish That and yet abundantly condemn that stern and austere that magisterial and imperious Countenance and Carriage which never lets a Child hear one mild Word nor see one pleasant Look Men think it now below them to hear of the Relation and disdain to be call'd Fathers when yet God himself does not only condescend to but delight in that Title above all others whatsoever They make it no part of their Endeavour or Concern to win the Love of their Children but prefer Fear and Awe and respectful Expressions of Distance before all the Endearments and Testimonies of a dutiful and tender Affection And to contain them in these Sentiments the better and to confirm them the more they shew their Power by holding their Hands and denying the Supplies that are necessary and sit for them make them as the Term is bite of the Bridle and not only live like Beggars or Scoundrels at present but threaten to keep them so by leaving their Estates from them when they die Now what Stuff is all this how sottish and ridiculous a Farce do such People act What is this but to distrust the Efficacy of that Authority which is real and natural and of right belongs to the Relation they stand in that so they may usurp a foreign and unjust Jurisdiction and frame an artificial and imaginary Authority to themselves An Authority which all serious and good Men do but pity or contemn nay which crosses and contradicts the very End of all this foolish Project for they destroy that very Reverence they would maintain and render themselves despicable in their own Families a Jest and Scorn even to those Children But if it have not this Effect which it too often hath of drawing such Contempt upon them yet is it a mighty Temptation to young People thus us'd to take to Tricks and little dishonest Shifts and without the least Remorse to cheat and impose upon such Parents Whose Business indeed shou'd have been to regulate and inform their Minds and shew them the Equity and Reasonableness of their Duty but by no means to have Recourse to such kind of Treatment as is much more agreeable to the Arbitrary Violence of a Tyrant than the Affectionate Regards and kind Care of a Father What says the wise Comedian to this purpose * Errat longè meâ quidem Sententiâ Qui imperium credit esse gravius aut stabilius Vi quod fit quam illud quod amicitiâ adjungitur Truly in my Mind that Man thinks much amiss Who believes that Government purely by Force Shou'd have more Authority and a better Foundation Than when 't is accompany'd with Tenderness and Respect As to the final Disposal of the Estate The best and wisest way all notable and extraordinary Accidents excepted will be to take our Measures from the Laws and Customs of the Country where we dwell For it ought to be presum'd that the Laws are wiser than We and that the Makers of them consider'd things more maturely than private Men are likely to do And if any Inconvenience shou'd afterwards happen from such a Distribution it will be much more excusable to Posterity that we have err'd in going by the common Road than if it had been by any particular Whimsie of our own But sure there cannot be a greater abuse of the Trust repos'd in us and the Liberty we have to dispose of our Fortunes as we please than to let little foolish Fancies and frivolous Quarrels or private Resentments weigh down the Obligations of a higher Nature and either endite or alter Articles in our Will And yet how many Instances do we see of Men who suffer themselves to be transported by a most unreasonable Partiality and are wrought upon either by some little officious Diligence or the Presence of one Child when the rest are Absent to make a mighty Difference where Blood and Duty have never made any at all who play with their Wills as if it were a jesting-matter and gratifie or chastise such Actions as do not deserve such an Animadversion for it ought to be something much more than common which excludes those who have a just Pretence to share in what we leave or that disposes us to a Division so unequal as should very much affect the Fortunes of our Children in prejudice to one another and leave no Mark whereby to know that they were Brothers and Sifters And if the Acting thus be a Fault the Threatning at a distance or promising such an Inequality is highly Wicked and Foolish and of most pernicious Influence in the Family And therefore I say still in despight of any supportable Defects in our Children the Flatteries and Officiousness of some or the pardonable Provocations of others let us sit down and consider that This as it is one of the last so it is one of the most important and serious Actions of our Lives and therefore Reason and Law and common Usage ought to take place in it For these are the wisest Guides we can follow and in conforming to Them we take the surest Gourse to answer the Obligations of our Character to vindicate our Proceedings to the World and to quiet and satisfie our own Consciences We are now come to that other general Division of this Chapter The Duty of Children toward their Parents Duty of Children than which there is not any more plainly and visibly writ in the Book of Nature or more expresly and positively enjoyn'd by Religion A Duty which ought to be paid them not as mere and common Men but as a sort of Demy-Gods earthly and visible Deities in this Mortal Flesh Upon this Account Philo the Jew tells us that the Fifth Commandment was written half of it in the First and
the other half in the Second Table of the Decalogue Because it in part regards the Duty we owe to God and in part That which we owe to our Neighbour This is likewise so self-evident and acknowledg'd a Duty so strictly and indispensably requir'd at our Hands that No other Duty no other Affection can supersede it even tho' our Affection to other Persons may and is allow'd to be more intimate and tender For put the Case that a Man hath a Father and a Son both involv'd in the same Distress and that he have it in his Power to relieve but one of them it hath been the Opinion of very wise Men that he is bound to assist his Father notwithstanding his Affection to the Son according to what hath been lately urg'd upon that Occasion be the greater and stronger The Reason of which Resolution seems to be That the Son's Debt to the Father is of longer standing and the Obligation bore Date and was in Force before that to his own Son and that therefore it is in this as in other Cases of like Nature where no antecedent Tie can be cancell'd by any Engagement or Debt contracted afterwards Now this Duty principally consists in Five Particulars All of which are comprehended under that significant Expression of Honouring our Father and Mother The First is Reverence by which we are to understand not only those External Respects of the Looks or Gestures or Behaviour but the Inward and Respectful Sense of the Mind and This indeed chiefly as the Source and Foundation of the other Now This consists in a high Esteem and prosound Veneration for them looking upon them as the Authors and Original of our Being and all the Comforts of it The Instruments and Immediate Causes which the Universal Father of all things was pleas'd to make choice of for the bringing us out of Nothing and making us what we are and therefore in that Quality bearing a very great Resemblance to God himself The Second is Obedience Which provided the Matter of the Command be lawful cannot be dispens'd with upon the Pretence of any Rigour or Hardship that it is encumber'd with And thus we find the Rechabites commended by God himself for complying with the Severities of Life Jer. xxxv imposed upon Them and their Posterity by Jonadab their Ancestor The Third is Succouring them in all their Exigencies and Distresses maintaining and cherishing them in their Wants and Weaknesses Old Age and Sickness Infirmities and Poverty must be so far from Provoking our Scorn and Contempt that they are but so many louder Calls and more engaging Ties to Love and Duty to Assistance and Respect aiding and advising them in their Business and exerting our utmost Power to do them Service Of This we have some wonderful Examples in the other Parts of Nature and Brutes themselves have set us a noble and almost inimitable Pattern particularly the Stork which St. Basil so elegantly extols upon this account For the young Storks are said to nourish and feed the old ones to cover them with their Feathers when the Shedding of their own exposes them to the Injuries of Cold and Weather to fly in couples and join Wings to carry them on their Backs Nature it seems inspiring them with this Artificial Contrivance of shewing this Piety and Affection This Example is so lively so very moving that the Duty of Parents to their Children hath been express'd in some Translations by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is acting the Part of a Stork And the Hebrews in cohsideration of this eminent Quality call this Bird Chasida which signifies Kind Charitable Good-Natur'd Some very remarkable Instances of this kind among Men we read in ancient History Tymon Son to the Great Miltiades when his Father was dead in Prison and so poor that he had not wherewith to bury him tho' some say it was for the Payment of his Debts for failure whereof his Corpse was arrested and kept above-ground sold himself and sacrific'd his Liberty for a Summ of Money to be expended in defraying the Charges of the Funeral This Man did not contribute to his Father's Necessities out of his own Abundance or his actual Possessions but parted with his Freedom a Juying dearer to him and esteem'd more valuable than either Fortune or Life it self for his Father's Sake He did not relieve him alive and in distress but when he was dead no longer his Father no longer a Man What a Brave what an Heroick Act was this What may we reasonably imagine so gallant a Son would have done what indeed would he not have done for a living and a necessitous Father One that had asked or that had needed his Assistance This is a generous and a glorious Instance of the Duty now under Consideration We are likewise told of Two Examples in the weaker Sex Women who suckled the One her Father and the Other her Mother when they were Prisoners under Sentence of Condemnation and to be famished to Death which is said to have been heretofore a Punishment very commonly inflicted in Capital Cases It looks a little Unnatural for a Mother to Subsist upon her Daughter's Milk This is turning the Stream back again up to the Fountain-Head but sure it deserves to be considered by the Ladies of Our Age how very Natural indeed how Fundamental and Primitive a Law of Nature it is for Mothers to suckle and give that Sustenance which Nature hath provided on purpose to their own Children The Fourth Duty is To be governed and directed by them in all Matters of Moment to attempt no considerable Thing without taking their Advice and asking their Consent and being confirmed in our Intentions and Designs by the Parents Approbation and good Liking This is a general Rule extending to all the important Affairs of Humane Life All that are fit to trouble and consult them about but it hath a special Regard to the Disposing of themselves in Marriage which is of all others the most Weighty and Serious and such as Parents have a particular right to be well informed of and perfectly satisfied in The Fifth is Covering their Vices and Imperfections submitting to their Humors and Passions their Severity and hard Usage and bearing all their most unreasonable Peevishness and angry Rebukes with Patience and Temper Of This we have a notable Instance in Manlius Pomponius The Tribune had accused the Father of this Manlius to the People of several grievous Crimes among the rest of horrible Barbarity to his Son and among other Indignities that he forc'd him to dig and drive the Plough This Son went to this Tribune's House found him in Bed and putting a Knife to his Throat made him swear that he would withdraw the Indictment and prosecute his Father 10 farther declaring that he had rather submit to the most Slavish Drudgery his Father could impose upon him and toil at it all the Days of his Life than see him prosecuted and exposed for any
that there is no Distinction observ'd in our Respects to the Memory of the Good and the Bad. Kings are the Law 's Fellows if they be not their Masters And the Revenge which Justice will not permit to be taken upon their Persons it is but sitting that it shou'd take upon their Reputation and the Estates of their Successors We owe Subjection and Obedience to all Kings alike because This is an Obligation annex'd to their Offices and payable purely upon that Consideration but we cannot be accountable for our Affection and Esteem to all alike because These will depend upon their Qualities and are due only to their Merits and Virtue Let us then resolve patiently to endure even the worst and most unworthy while we have them let us endeavour to cover and conceal the Vices of the Living for this is what Respect to their Authority requires from us and besides the Weight and Difficulty of their Charge and the Preservation of Publick Peace and Order challenge our joint Endeavours and stand in need of the utmost we can possibly do to support them But when they are withdrawn and gone off the Stage it wou'd be hard to deny us a just Liberty of expressing our real Thoughts of them without all that Reserve Nay it is an honest and a commendable Pattern which these Proceedings set to Posterity who cannot but look upon it as a singular Commendation of our Obedience and Respect that we were content to pay these to a Master whose Imperfections we were very well acquainted with Those Writers who upon the Account of Personal Interest or Obligations espouse the Memory of a wicked Prince and set it off to the World do an Act of Private Justice at the Expence of the Publick For to serve or shew themselves grateful they defraud Mankind of the Truth This Reflection were an admirable Lesson for a Successor if it cou'd be well observ'd and a powerful Check it might be to the Exorbitancies of Power to think with one's self that the Time will thortly come when the World will make us as free with his Character as they do at present with his Predecessor's CHAP. XVII Duty of Magistrates THose few Wise and Good Men who are Members of the Common-wealth would doubtless be better pleased to retire into themselves and live at Ease full of that sweet Content which excellent and intelligent Persons know how to give themselves in the Contemplation of the Beauties of Nature and the works of Providence than to sacrifice all this satisfaction to Business and a publick Post were it not that they hope to do some good in being serviceable to their Country by their own Endeavours and in preventing the whole Administration of Affairs from falling into ill or unskilful hands This may and ought to prevail with Persons of this Character to consent to the trouble of being Magistrates But to cabal and make Parties and court Employments of Trust with Eagerness and Passion especially such as are judicial is a very base and scandalous Practice condemned as such by all good Laws even those of Pagan Republicks as the Julian Law among the Romans abundantly testisies unbecoming a Man of Honour and the shrewdest sign that can be that the Person is unsit for the Trust he seeks so vehemently To buy publick Offices is still more infamous and abominable the most sordid the most villainous way of Trading in the World For it is plain he that buys in the Piece must make himself whole by selling out again in Parcels Which was a good Reason for the Emperour Severus when he was declaring against a Fault of this nature to say That it was very hard to condemn a Man for making Money of that which he had given Moncy for before Just for all the World as a Man dresses and sets his Person in order and form putting on his best Face before he goes abroad that he may make a Figure and appear well in Company so is it sit that a Maâ— should learn to govern his own Passions and bring his Mind to good Habits before he presume to meddle with publick Business or take upon him the Charge of governing other People No Man is so weak to enter the Lasts with an unmanaged Horse or to hazard his Person with such a one in any Service of Consequence and Danger but trains and teaches him first breeds him to his hand and uses him to the Exercise he is designed for And is there not the same reason that this wild and restiff part of our Soul should be tamed and accustomed to bear the Bit Should be perfectly instructed in those Laws and Measures which are to be the Rules of our Actions and upon which the good or ill Conduct of our Lives will depend Is it not reasonable I say That a Man should be Master of his own private Behaviour and expert in making the best of every Accident and Occasion before he venture out upon the publick Stage and either give Laws to others or correct them for the neglect of those they have already And yet as Socrates observed very truly the manner of the World is quite otherwise For though no body undertakes to Exercise a Trade to which he hath not been Educated and served a long Apprenticeship and how Mean or Mechanical soever the Calling be several Years are bestowed upon the Learning of it Yet in the case of publick Administrations which is of all other Professions the most intricate and difficult so absurd so wretchedly careless are we that every body is admitted every body thinks himself abundantly qualified to undertake them These Commissions are made Complements and things of Course without any Consideration of Men's Abilities or regarding at all whether they know any thing of the matter as if a Man's Quality or the having an Estate in his Country could inform his Understanding or secure his Integrity or render him capable of discerning between Right and Wrong and a competent Judge of his Poorer but perhaps much honester and wiser Neighbours Magistrates have a mixt Quality and are placed in a middle Station between sovereign Princes and private Subjects These Subalterns therefore have a double Task incumbent upon them and must learn both how to Command and how to Obey To obey the Princes who trust and employ them to submit to and truckle under the Paramount Authority of their Superiour Officers to pay Respect to their Equals to Command those under their Jurisdiction to Protect and Defend the Poor and those that are unable to Contend for their own to stand in the Gap and oppose the powerful Oppressor and to distribute Right and Justice to all Sorts and Conditions of Men whatsoever And if this be the Business of a Magistrate well might it grow into a Proverb that the Office discovers the Man since no mean Abilities no common Address can suffice for the sustaining so many Characters at once and to Act each part so well as to merit a general
Painfulness and very obstinate Resolutions but in this before us especially because here the propensions to Vice seem to be strongest and the Sollicitations to it more frequent and importunate than in any other instance whatsoever But still the greater the difficulty of this Conquest is the greater is its Commendation and the more just and glorious its Triumph And very necessary it is that every Man should rally his Forces and engage manfully in this War with himself Continency is allowed no positive Virtue and imports no more than a Man's governing and restraining himself so far as not to act contrary to his Duty It produces no fruit but consists in privation and a forbearing to act and therefore Virginity must always imply Barrenness This is the case of Continency considered abstractedly and in its own nature which at this rate is of no higher a Class in the scale of Virtues than the abstaining from Gluttony and Drunkenness or any other sort of Vicious Excess But if we consider it in a Christian and more exalted Sense then it imports a great deal more for thus there are two concurring Qualifications which make it a very noble Virtue the one is a settled purpose to continue in it pure and unblemished with a Chast Mind and mortified Affections no less than a Body holy and undefiled The other that this be done for Religious and Excellent ends to gain greater advantages of becoming Singular and exemplary in Piety and all manner of goodness For as St. August in says It is not the Single State that we commend in Virgins but their Abandoning the World and Consecrating their Souls and Bodies entirely to God Witness the Vestals of Old and the Five Foolish Virgins in the Parable whose Celibacy stood them in no stead at all And here I observe by the way how Absurd a Vanity and Popular an Errour that is which in common speech calls the Ladies who have no blemish upon their Reputation and who either are Chast in the Single Life or Faithful in the Married one Women of great Virtues and great Honour Honour For what Is Honour sunk so low that the meer not doing evil and not violating one's Duty in the most Scandalous instance must pretend to that name Why do we not by the same Reason style those Men of Honour who are under the same Circumstances Nay there would indeed be more Reason for this than the other because the manner of the World puts more Opportunities of offending in these respects and exposes Men to stronger Temptations than Women are liable to But in truth Honour is so far from being a Recompence due to the abstaining from evil that it is not every sort of good which when punctually performed can lay claim to it but as was said before those kinds and degrees of good only which bring advantage to the World and which besides their being beneficial have cost great toil and trouble and been atchieved with considerable difficulty and danger But besides how few of these Continent persons arrive even at a common and very practicable Virtue How many of them do we find scandalously tainted with other Vices and making up for this self-denial by indulgences to some more darling Humour or Passion Particularly how exceeding few are there who escape the Temptations to Vanity and Presumption and Spiritual Pride and while they take marvellous Content in their own perfections are very liberal in their Censures and Condemnations of other People Does not experience frequently convince us how very dear some Husbands pay for the Fidelity of their Wives who while they dispossess the Devil in one part of their Souls and preserve their Honour entire do yet erect a Throne for him and let him reign Triumphant in another If then this Virtue beget insolence and Malice Censoriousness and Imperious Pride it is like to turn at last but to very poor account And thus clogged will very ill deserve the name of Virtue whatever it might be allowed otherwise Not that I am over scrupulous or would stand with the Sex for a Complement and therefore provided the flattering them with this title of Honour will contribute any thing to the making them more tender of it and encourage the Modesty and Decency becoming their Sex and Condition I shall be content to promote the discharge of their Duty at any rate though it be by straining a point to gratifie an useful Vanity But to return It is likewise observable that Incontinency when simply and strictly considered like other faults which are what we call Corporeal and tending to gratifie the Carnal inclinations of Humane nature hath no mighty Malignity in its own single self it being only an excess of what is natural and not contrary to Humane nature but then there is a train of vices so black and hideous attending it and some or more of them so inseparable from it that the danger of being entangled in those snares is infinite and the consequence very fatal For this is one of those sins that never go alone but is accompanied with other Devils more and more wicked than it self tainted with base and villainous circumstances of persons and places and times prohibited and unpardonable Intrigues carried on and beastly satisfactions contrived by the wickedest methods Lyes and Tricks and all manner of Deceit Subornation and Forswearing and Treachery to all which we may add that which is by no means inconsiderable the loss of Time the distraction of Thought the interruption of Business and other unbecoming Follies which draw very great and just Scandals and insupportable mischiefs after them Now because this Vice hath every Quality that can render an Enemy formidable since it is both violent and deceitful and attacks us at once with open force and secret stratagems our Care must likewise be double First to arm and prepare our selves for the Combat and then to watch diligently the approaches observe its Feints and be well aware of those baits and wheedling Insinuations which are laid on purpose to decoy us into Ambushments and Ruine And the more these inclinations sooth and cajole us the more suspicious we must be and turn the deaf Ear to their flattering importunities Among other Considerations therefore fit to be opposed to such Temptations these that follow may not be improper to reflect upon That another person's Beauty is nothing at all to us what we can never call or make our own That it is no certain happiness even to them who have it but turns as often to their prejudice and is at least equally disposed to do so as to their Advantage That in short it is a flower always withering and in decay a very small and fanciful thing little else but the outward skin nay less than that the Colour and Complection of it only And therefore if in this we would admire the delicacy and skill of nature let us prize it here as we are wont to do those much more astonishing Beauties of the