should think they might go together Hand in Hand or leave them to dispute the Priority out among Themselves But if I were press'd and must deliver my Sense freely and particularly sure it is equal in Honour to These or at least the very next after them Now as Sciences differ from each other according to the Subjects of which they treat and the Matters they are employed about and also in the Manner of acquiring and attaining to a Mastery in them so do they likewise in the Usefulness the Reputableness the Necessity the Decency the Fame and the Gain of them Some are purely Speculative and aim at nothing farther than merely Contemplation the entertaining informing improving brightening our Intellectual Faculties Others are Practical and lead us directly on to Action Some again are Real and Conversant in Things they bring us acquainted with Matters that are without us either Natural or Supernatural Objects Others are Nominal They concern Discourse only teach us Languages explain Terms of Arts help us to express our selves properly and to reason regularly and closely Now from this short Account we may boldly say That upon a Review of the foregoing Distinctions Those Sciences which are most Manly and Reputable most Useful most Necessary and have least of Glory and Vanity and sordid mercenary Profit attending them are infinitely Preferable to the rest By the same reason then it follows beyond all Contradiction that the Practical Sciences are of all others the most excellent such as propose the Good and Happiness of Man for their End and direct all their Instructions thither that teach us to live and to die well to command and govern to submit and obey as becomes us and therefore These are worthy our most Serious Application Who ever pretends to Wisdom must lay out his Study and his Time here and of such this Book is design'd to be a Compendious Summary and Abridgment that is of Morals Oeconomicks and Politicks the First for governing our Selves well the Second for mannaging our domestick Affairs and presiding over our Families well and the Third for discharging our publick Offices well if we be call'd to any part in the Administration of the Government or if we be private and subordinate only in both the last Capacities then to consider and make good the Duties incumbent upon any the meanest and most inferior Character Next to these Practical Sciences the Natural are to be regarded and esteemed which let us into the Knowledge of this System and Fabrick of the Universe and the infinite Variety of Creatures contained in it and that both for our own Use and Benefit so far as they can be serviceable to us and also to excite our Wonder and Praise and most Humble Adoration of His incomprehensible Majesty and Goodness and Wisdom and Power who is the Great Master-Builder the constant Preserver and Governour of All and every Part of it As for all the rest they are empty and frothy Things in Comparison and though we may call in upon them by the by and for a little while yet ought we not to set up our Rest there nor make them the Business of our Lives because the Use and Effect of them is of no great Consideration and they contribute nothing at all towards the making us one whit better Men. To what purpose then is all that Time and Trouble and Expence and how can we think it otherwise than lost or misemploy'd which we see Studious Men sometimes lay out so liberally upon them It is true they may serve to get Money or to raise something of a Reputation among the People but it is where Men are Ignorant or ill-governed only For otherwise they will seek and encourage such Studies as bring solid Comforts and Advantages and are built upon a firm Bottom CHAP. LXII Of Riches and Poverty THese are the two Foundations and Beginnings the Root and Source of all the Troubles and Calamities the Disorders and Disturbances that confound and put the World out of Course For excess of Plenty and Riches exalts and puffs up the Possessors renders them haughty and insolent swells them with Pride and Disdain prompts them to Luxury and Extravagance to Sensuality and all manner of unlawful Pleasures encourages them to use their Inferiours contemptuously and to insult over their Wants and their Miseries makes them bold and daring and in conâ—idence of their Power puts them upon seditious and dangerous Attempts The extreme Poverty of Others subdues and dejects their Spirits poysons them with Envy and restless Jealousie with Indignation and Spight Discontent and Despair and since Matters they think cannot be worse provokes them to try their Fortunes and make a desperate Push in hopes they may be better Plato calls the Poor the Bane and Flâ—gne of a Commonwealth So that both these sorts of Men are very dangerous but whether of the Two is more so Considering People have not agreed Aristotle is of Opinion that Abundance is more formidable to the Publick than Want for the State hath not much to fear from Them who desire no more than a bare Subsistence but it hath reason to be jealous of Those whose Wealth makes them Ambitious and Aspiring and whose Interest and Authority upon the account of that Wealth gives them Power and Opportunities to be very troublesome Plato thinks Poverty the worse for when Poor People are grown desperate they are furious and terrible Creatures when they are irritated and enrag'd with want of Bread and cannot live upon their Work when Trading is dead and they are overburden'd with Taxe then Necessity which is a great Mistress and finds her Scholars very apt teaches them That which they would never have ventur'd upon in better and more easie Circumstances and this makes them bold as Lions For tho' each of them single can do little or no hurt yet their Numbers are always great and these give them Confidence But whatever the Disease be 't is certain the Remedy is more ready at hand and the Cure easier for the Poor than for the Rich this Mischief is quickly restrain'd and may be timely prevented For so long as they have Necessaries so long as they can carry on their Trades and maintain their Families by them they are generally contented And therefore it highly concerns all Governours to preserve and encourage Trade because in so doing they are sure to keep good Order among the laborious and hardy and most necessitous which to be sure are generally the most numerous part of their Subjects In the mean while we may observe this very remarkable Difference between them that the Rich have the Temptation within Themselves and are formidable upon the account of their own Personal Vices and the Circumstances they are in but the Poor are not so from Themselves nor their Condition but if ever They minâ—ster just cause of Fear it is commonly thro' the Indiscretion or the Cruelty of their Governours who suffer them to be driven to the last
to such popular and mean Methods And accordingly there wants a great deal of that Freedom and Gaiety and if I may so say Cheerfulness and good Humour in this which you are to expect in Philosophy which yet must be so tempered as not to degenerate into Triste and Meanness but still continue to be truly Generous and Brave It must be allow'd that Philosophers have acquitted themselves admirably well in this particular not only in the Instructive but the Moving and Persuasive Part setting off all their Vntues to the best Advantage and taking Care that all the Heroick Excellence of them shall appear in its just Dignity and Proportions Vnder which Title of Philosophers I comprehend not only such as the World have thought sit to Dignify with the Fame of Wisdom as Thales Solon and those that were of the same Strain about the time of Cyrus Croesin and Pisistratus Nor them only of the next in Succession who taught and profest Wisdom publickly as Pythagoras Socrates Plato Aristotle Aristippus Zeno Antisthenes who are all of them Heads and Masters in their Art nor their Disciples and Followers who afterwards divided into particular Sects but I include likewise all those great Men who rendred themselves exemplary for Virtue and Wisdom as Phocion Aristides Pericles Alexander whom I 〈◊〉 dignifies with the Character of Philosopher as well as King Epaminondas and the rest of the brave Greeks The Fabricii Fabrii Camilli the Cato's the Torquati Reguli Lelii and Scipio's among the Romans most of them Military Men and Commanders of Armies Vpon this Account though I do not refuse or disregard the Authorities of Divines yet I have more frequent recourse to those of Humanists and Philosophers in the following Treatise Had I design'd to prepare Men for a Cloister or a Life of such Perfection as aspires above the Precepts and aims at the Perfection of Evangelical Counsels then indeed my Subject would have obliged me to keep close to those Authors But since I am training a Man up for the World and forming him for Business and mixt Conversation Humane and not Divine Wisdom is the proper Accomplishment for me to recommend and the Method of answering my Purpose Speaking therefore in general Terms and according to the Nature of the Thing We must in Agreement with Philosophers and Divines acknowledge that this Humane Wisdom consists in a Rectitude of the Man when every part within and without his Thoughts and Words and Actions and every Motion is Graceful and Noble and what is for the Honour of his Nature For this is the Excellence of a Man considered as a Man so that as we call That Piece of Workmanship Perfect which hath all its Parts entire and is finisht according to the niâ—est Rules of Art He is in like manner said to be a wise Man who understands upon all Occasions how to shew himself a Man by acting in perfect Conformity to the Fundamental and First Rules of Humane Nature Or to speak more Particularly He that is well acquainted with himself in particular and Mankind in general that preserves himself from all the Vices the Errors the Passions the Defects incident to him as well from the inward Causes of his own Mind as the outward proceeding from Custom and Common Opinion that asserts the Native Freedom of his Mind and hath a large universal Soul that considers and judges every thing without enslaving himself to any that directs all his Aims and Actions so as that they shall agree with Nature that is Pure uncorrupted Reason the Primitive Law and Light inspired by God and which shines still in every Breast The Model by which the wise Man squares his own private Judgment That in his outward Behaviour complies with the Laws and Customs and Ceremonies of the Country where he dwells that demeans himself toward others with Discretion and Prudence is always firm and consistent with himself pleased and contented without any discomposure of Mind expecting and entertaining any Accident whatsoever and especially Death the last and most terrible of them all All these Strokes or Lines which go to the making up this Idea may be reduced to Four that are the principal and most commanding of all the rest The Knowledge of a Man's self Free and Generous Largeness of Mind The acting in Conformity with Nature which is of an Extent so large as when rightly understood to be singly and by it self a Rule sufficient and true Content and evenness of Temper For these are Qualifications which never meet except only in the wise Man He that is defective in any one of them does not come up to the Character He that either mistakes his own Condition or whose Mind is in any sort of Bondage either to his own Passions or to the Common Vogue that is partial and ty'd up to any particular Notions cramps up his Thoughts and cuts himself out from his Native Right of examining and judging every Thing He that lives in Contradiction to Nature that is Right Reason upon what Pretence soever he forsake it whether he be seduced by Passion or Opinion He that trips and staggers through Trouble or Terror or Discontent and lives in dread of Death This Man is not cannot be Wise Thus you have in little the Piece which this following Treatise designs to draw in its full Proportions Particularly the Second Book which consists of the General Rules and a Description of Wisdom in the gross and this indeed is more properly mine than either of the others so peculiarly such and so full to my purpose that I once had Thoughts of sending it into the World alone And what I have here described in Words the Graver hath done with his Style in the Frontis-Piece of this Book which the Reader will find an Explanation of immediately after this Preface Now there are two Things which principally conduce to this Wisdom and help Men forwards in the Attainment of it The First of These is a Good Constitution or Temperament of the Brain which makes us capable of such Improvements as our own Care and Industry shall be able to acquire Of how very great Consequence this is and how far it falls under the Power of Men to contribute to it you will find at large in the XIII Chap. of the First and the XIV Chap. of the Third Book The Second is the Study of Philosophy not all the Branches of it equally but the Moral Part chiefly yet so as that the Natural be not wholly neglected 〈…〉 this is our Candle to enlighten our 〈◊〉 to arreâ—t our Rule to chalk out the Way for us It explains and gives us true Idea's of the Law of Nature and by this means furnishes a Man for every part of his Duty as a Man whether it concern him in Publick or in Private in Company or Alone as a Member of a Family or of a State it sweetens and takes off all the Beast in us makes us tame and gentle and good-natured fashions
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
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
such order that each Advantage of the Mind hath one belonging to the Body joined and so joined as to be correspondent to it for as Nature hath united Body and Soul together so she seems to have given each of them Accomplishments extremely agreeable and alike Thus Health is to the Body what Probity is to the Mind it is the Probity or good Disposition of the Body as Probity is the Health of the Soul These should be the Sum of our Wishes * Mens sana in Corpore sano Forgive the Gods the rest and stand confin'd To Health of Body and a Virtuous Mind Says the Poet. Beauty is commensurate to Wisdom the Just Measure exact Proportion and Comeliness is the Wisdom of the Body and Wisdom is the Regularity the Decency the Beauty of the Soul Quality and Good Birth is a wonderful Capacity a mighty Disposition to Virtue and these Spiritual Abilities again and Good Parts are the Nobility of the Mind Learning is the Wealth of the Soul and Riches the acquired Advantage of the Body Others I know will differ from me in the Method and Order of ranging these Qualifications for some put all the Advantages of the Mind first and are of opinion that the least of These is more valuable than the best and highest of Those that belong to the Body and others who go not so far yet may not agree in the Preference due to each Particular Every Man in this Case follows his own Sense and from that we cannot but expect great Variety of Judgments will ensue In the next place succeeds a Third Qualification which indeed naturally springs out of the former For Wise Choice from the Sufficiency of passing a just Estimate upon things is derived an Ability of making a Wise Choice and this is not only a matter of Duty and Conscience but very often an Eminent Instance of Wisdom and good Conduct There are indeed some Cases extremely plain and easy as when Difficulty and Vice Honesty and Profit Duty and Inrest stand in competition For the Preeminence in this Comparison is so visible and so vast on one side above the other that whenever these things encounter each other the Advantage lies and the Balance should always fall to the side of Duty though attended with never so great Difficulty and Inconvenience In the Case of Private Persons I mean for possibly there may sometimes be room for an Exception but then this does not often happen and if it do 't is generally in the Administration of Publick Affairs and then too it must be managed with great Tenderness and Circumspection But of This I shall have a more proper season to speak when my Third Book brings us to treat of Prudence in particular But sometimes there is such a Conjuncture of Circumstances that a Man is driven to a very hard Choice As for Instance When we stand inclos'd as it were with Two Vices and there is no getting clear of both Thus History describes that Eminent Father Origen who had it left to him Whether he would commit Idolatry or suffer his Body to be carnally abused by a Moor The first was the Thing he chose and some say he chose amiss Now when we are unhappily involved in such Perplexities and at a loss which way we should incline in the choice of Matters not morally evil the best Rule we can be guided by is to go over to that side where there is the greatest Appearance of Justice and Honesty For though every thing should not afterwards succeed according to our Wish or Expectation yet there will result so pleasing an Applause such Glory and Self-gratulations from within for our having taken the better Part as will make us ample Compensation for our Misfortunes and abundantly support us under them And besides all this If the Worse but seemingly Safer Side had been chosen what Security can we have that the Event would have proved more favourable and why may we not reasonably suppose that the Governour and Lord of Us and all our Fortunes would have been provoked to punish and disappoint us that way too When Matters seem to be so equal that we cannot distinguish which is the better and shorter course we should take that which is the plainest and straightest And in Things manifestly Immoral of which properly speaking there cannot be any Choice we must avoid that which is most detestable and hath more of Villany and Horror in it For this indeed is a Point of Conscience and is more truly a part of Probity than of Prudence But it is very often exceeding hard to satisfy one's self which of Two things of the same kind is the more agreeable to Justice or to Decency or which is preferable in point of Advantage And so likewise of Two Ill Things which is the more Unjust more Indecent and Dishonest or attended with worse Consequences Upon the whole matter then though the Act of chusing is an Act of Probity and Conscience yet the Ability of making this Choice aright is a part of Prudence and sound Judgment I am apt to believe that in such Straights as these the best and safest way will be to follow Nature and to determine that those Things which are most agreeable to Nature are the more just and becoming and that what is most distant from or contrary to Nature is more especially to be avoided and abhorred by us This agrees well with what was formerly delivered in our description of Probity That we ought to be Good Men by the Dictates and Impulse of Nature Before I go off from this Point of Choice give me leave to say one word or two for the resolving a Doubt which some People have started with regard to the Determination of our Wills in these Cases The Question is When Two Things are proposed so Equal and Indifferent that we can give no reason why One should be valued more than the Other what it is that disposes the Soul to take the One and leave the Other The Stoicks pretend that it is a rash Operation of the Soul somewhat Foreign and Extraordinary and beside its proper course But let Them say what they will We may be bold to affirm That there is no g round for the Question and that no Two Things ever do or can present themselves to our Consideration so as to be perfectly Equal and Indifferent to us It frequently happens indeed that the Difference is very small and inconsiderable but still some difference there is something we apprehend in One and not in the Other which casts the Scale and draws us on to a Choice though the Motion be so gentle that we scarce feel it and the Motive so slender that we know not how to express and can very hardly give our selves any account of it But still certain it is that were a Man evenly poized between Two Desires he would never chuse at all For all Choice implies Inclination of the Mind and all Inclination
make the best of Life and all its Advantages slipt through your Fingers what Loss do you sustain in parting with it What would you do with it any longer If you could be trusted on still the Talent would lye unimproved Observe to this purpose the Reasoning of the Poet. * Denique si vocem Rerum Natura repente Mittat hoc aliquoi nostrûm sic increpet ipsa Quid tibi tantopere est Mortalis quòd nimis aegris Luctibus indulges quid mortem congemis ac sles Nam si grata fuit tibi Vita anteacta priorque Et non omnia pertusum congesta quasi in vas Commoda persluxere atque ingrata interiere Cur non ut plenus Vitae conviva recedis Aequo animoque capis securam Stulte quietem Sin ea quae fructus cunque es periêre profusa Vitaque in offensu ' est cur amplius addere quaeris Rursum quod pereat male ingratum accidat omne Nec potius Vitae finem facis atque laboris Lucretius Lib. III. If Nature should begin to speak And thus with loud Complaints our Folly check Fond Mortal what 's the matter thou dost sigh Why all these Fears because thou once must dye And once submit to strong Mortality For if the Race thou hast already run Was pleasant if with Joy thou saw'st the Sun If all thy Pleasures did not pass thy Mind As through a Sieve but left some Sweets behind Why dost thou not then like a Thankful Guest Rise chearfully from Life's abundant Feast And with a Quiet Mind go take thy Rest But if all those Delights are lost and gone Spilt idly all and Life a Burthen grown Then why fond Mortal dost thou ask for more Why still desire t' increase thy wretched Store And wish for what must waste like those before Nor rather free thy self from Pains and Fear And end thy Life and necessary Care Creech Lucret. But besides that we are accountable for the Use of Life while we have it and our Profuseness does but inflame the Reckoning the longer time we have allowed us to Mispend it in we must remember that according to what was urged a little before Life it self is a debt This is as the Principal Sum put into our Hands to Traffick with but such as we should always be ready to pay down upon the Nail whenever it shall be called in again and He who is the Owner and Giver may Demand it the very next Hour How then can you Argue against the Condition of Your own Obligation How can You falsify Your Trust and Act against Your Engagement and Your Duty It is most unreasonable to Shuffle and Flinch and Kick against these Pricks because by Death you ease your self of a mighty Charge and Trouble You make up your great Account and pay in that vast Sum for which you stood responsible and which while in your Custody was liable to great Loss and Hazard Dying is a general thing Every Body does it And can You take it Ill not to be Exempted Do You expect to be the Single Instance the Sole Reserve from Universal Nature to Enjoy a Privilege by your self a Privilege never yet seen nor heard of in the World What unparallel'd Folly and Presumptuous Madness is This Or why should You be afraid to go where all the World goes where you will find innumerable Millions of Men who have taken up their Residence before you come and whither you will be followed by as great a Number afterwards How singular an Affectation is this Death is equally certain to All and therefore it cannot be Unreasonable nor Unjust with respect to You for Equality is the first constituent part of Equity and no Man will be forgotten or overlook'd in this Distribution * Omnes eodem cogimur Omnium Versatur Urna Seriùs ocyus Sors exitura c. Horat. Od. 3. Lib. 11. In the same Road All travel on By All alike the same dark Journey must be gone Our Blended Lots together lye Mingled in one common Urn Sooner or Later out they fly c. IIId Miscell The Third Resentment I mentioned upon this occasion is the Contempt of Death Contempt of Death Good if upon a Good Account and This is a Mark of a Brave and Generous Mind This frequently proceeds from exalted Judgment and strength of Reason and is more peculiarly the Virtue of a Publick Character Elevated Fortune and a Life full of Difficult and Weighty Affairs For to Persons in such Circumstances many Accidents may happen for which no Man ought to scruple Dying and several Prospects present themselves of Things so valuable that they deserve to be preferred even before Life it self Let Other matters succeed how they will This at least is a constant Rule That a Man ought always to be fonder and have a greater Regard for Himself than for a Life led in hurry and publick Business which shews him as it were always in a full Theatre and exposes him to the View and Censure of all the World He must consisider himself not only as a Spectacle but as a Pattern to Mankind and remember That One of the Incumbrances of Honour and Dignity is a necessary Obligation to shine brighter than Common Men to render his Virtue more conspicuous to those below him and to do Things exemplarily Good and Great though it happen to be at the Expence of All that the World calls Dear To such Persons many times the same Methods of safety are denied which private Men might make use of without any reflection upon their Prudence or their Duty They must by no means suffer any diminution of their Honour but when driven to a pinch must Risque and Sacrifice their Lives and trust the Event to Fate The Great Man who cannot command himself so far as to Despise Death is not only made thereby incapable of doing any Gallant and eminently Good Action but he lays himself open to more than ordinary Dangers by this Timorous Spirit and Behaviour and Those too such Dangers as threaten most what requires his best care to preserve For while his great Concern is to preserve his Person and see that Life be under Covert his Duty his Honour Virtue and Probity lie naked and exposed and run a mighty hazard for want of Courage to Protect and Stand by them The Contempt of Death is in effect the very Principle to which the Boldest and most Renowned Exploits are owing the most daring Attempts whether in Good or Ill Designs He that hath Conquered the Fear of Death hath nothing more left to terrify him He hath it in his Power to do what he pleases and may at any time make himself Master of Another Man's Life because he is already Master of his Own And as this Contempt is the true Source of Generosity and undaunted Firmness in Action so is it likewise the very Spirit and Life that quickens and supports that Resolution from whence they proceed Hence Calmness and Constancy
Expedient and that which is most advisable in Cases of great Extremity where the danger is so evident and inevitable that a Man hath nothing left him to do but to stand the Shock is to stoop a little under the Blow and give place to Necessity For by shewing a Man's self obstinate in such a Case and resolving not to yield in any Point the Violence is but the greater and the Treatment we meet with so much the rougher it being the Nature of Opposition to provoke and our Passions in such Cases like Torrents which no Dams are strong enough to stemm rage the more for being pent up and at last swell the higher and bear down all before them In such Cases therefore a Man must be content to see himself over-rul'd and whatever Rules he hath fix'd to his Behaviour in ordinary Circumstances they must be dealt with as wise Politicians do by the Laws of the Land who when they fall short and cannot do what they would have them alter their Measures and make them do what they can It hath been by Many esteem'd a Reproach upon Cato and a considerable Blemith in his Character that he was so very stiff and nice in the Civil Wars which happen'd in his Time and rather suffer'd the Commonwealth to be driven to the last Extremities than he would contribute to its Relief at the Expence of some I aws which the present Necessity and Distress made it very reasonable to have dispensed with On the other hand Epaminondas had so great a regard to the Publick Good that he continu'd in his Office beyond the Term prefixed tho' the Law prohibited the doing so upon pain of Death so just a Sense had he of the End and Nature of Laws that they are design'd for the Service and Advantage of the State and cannot in any equitable Construction be supposed to bind where the Exigence of Affairs is such that by observing the Letter of the Law a Man destroys the End of it Accordingly we find this Commendation of Philopaemon that he was a Person born to Command For he was not only Master of the Art of Governing according to Law but had the Skill of Governing the Law it self when any Publick Necessity requir'd that it should be set aside and left no other Refuge but the Discretion of the Magistrate For it often happens That Those at Helm are put out of their common Road by some difficult and extraordinary Emergencies and in such Cases it is their Duty as well as Wisdom to ply to Windward and steer what Course they can And indeed in all Extremities Private as well as Publick a Prudent Man will be content to bend a little to yield and comply as far as he may and by all honest Stratagems to save the main Chance For in these Matters there is a Latitude and Privilege of Relaxation allowed some Moderation and Abatement which those who are unacquainted with the present Circumstances can be no competent Judges of And therefore we should be very tender how we condemn a Proceeding which is so far from being contrary to Reason and Justice that it is highly agreeable to both and not only so but a Master-piece of Prudence in those who manage it skilfully SECT III. Affairs Intricate and Vncertain BY this Intricacy and Uncertainty of Affairs I understand such a Juncture as hath great Appearance of Reason and strong Arguments on both sides so that the Man is at a loss and does not discern nor know how to choose what is best and most convenient for him This creates distraction and perplexity of Thought and till some other Consideration fall in to turn the Scale the best thing we can do is to consider where there are the greatest Odds of Justice and Honour and Decency and by all means fall in with that side For altho' the Event should prove contrary to our Expectation or Desire yet still there will be a secret Satisfaction the Complacency and Testimony of our own Breasts to support us within and the Reputation and Praise of Men without for having chosen the better tho' not the more fortunate Course Nor ought any Miscarriage in such a Case to provoke the least Remorse because no Man can tell what Providence hath to do or how that will dispose of Him and his Endeavours and consequently he cannot be secure that his Disappointment or his Calamity would have been less tho' he had taken quite different Measures And therefore when a Man cannot resolve himself which is the easiest and the shortest way to his Journey 's End the best Determination he can come to is to keep the streightest Road. SECT IV. Difficult and Dangerous Cases IT is often Men's Fate in Matters of Difficulty to succeed as They that are over-nice and cautious commonly do in Bargaining and Articles of Agreement where an excessive Care to make all fast and prevent all manner of Danger is but a means of increasing the Danger and ruining All. For by this mighty Circumspection so much more Time is spent so many mere People are employ'd so many more Clauses and Proviso's inserted that the Differences and Squabbles arising upon it are multiply'd in proportion to the Clutter made for avoiding them To all which we may add that this is the way to provoke Fortune who is jealous of her Honour and will not bear the Presumption of any Man 's pretending to exempt himself from Her Jurisdiction Which after all is a vain Attempt and what the most provident Man alive can never compass For there is One Above who hath a Power Paramount * Vim suam ingruentem refringi non vnlt and will not suffer his Dominion to be encroach'd upon And therefore the best way seems to be the dispatching them with all the Expedition and Easiness we can and rather to run the Risque of some little Danger than create a great deal of Dissatisfaction and Torment to our selves by our extraordinary Nicety and Caution In Cases of manifest Danger it is necessary a Man should have both Wisdom and Courage He should look before him and see Dangers at a distance and make a right Judgment and Estimate of them For Men are very apt to see these things in salse Proportions and to look upon them thro' the Glass of Passion rather than calm and undisturb'd Reason This is one account why such things are generally apprehended otherwise than in reality they are because the Affection predominant at that time represents them greater or less and imposes upon the Judgment by such Idea's But then tho' it may become a wise Man to foresee all Hazards that are in any degree probable yet it is no way unworthy of him to consider them as Contingencies that they may not as well as that they may happen that it is great odds all of them will not happen That of those which do All will not have the Consequences and Effects which it is sit for one to sorm in
purpose For had This been a Thing against his Duty and such as the Authority of a Father could in no case extend to he would not they tell you ever have consented to it nor have believed that this Command had proceeded from God but rather have imputed it to some Delusion upon his own Mind if it had been no way reconcilable with Nature the Laws of which God had established in the Beginning and could not be thought so to contradict Himself as by any particular Order to appoint a thing altogether inconsistent with his own General Institution before And accordingly it is observable that Isaac never went about to make any Resistance nor pleaded his own Innocency in Bar to what his Father went about to do as knowing that he only exerted the rightful Power he had over him What Force there is in this Argument I shall not take upon me to determine It is sufficient for my present Purpose to observe That allowing all this yet it does not in any degree take off from the Commendation due to Abraham's Faith for he does not pretend to Sacrifice his Son by Vertue of any such Inherent Right over him nor upon any Provocation or Misdemeanour which Isaac had given him occasion to resent or punish but purely in obedience to the Command of Almighty God The Case does not seem to differ much under the Law of Moses allowing only for some Circumstances as to the manner of exercising this Authority which will be taken notice of by and by Of This and no less Extent the Paternal Power seems to have been formerly in the greatest part of the World and so to have continu'd till the Time of the Roman Emperours Among the Greeks indeed and the Aegyptians Diodor. it does not seem to have been altogether so absolute but even There if a Father happened to kill his Son unjustly and without Provocation the Punishment inflicted for such Barbarity was no other than being shut up with the Dead Body for Three Days together Now the Reasons The Reasons and Effects of it and the Effects of so great and unlimited a Power being allow'd to Fathers over their Children which no doubt was a great advantage for the Advancement of Virtue the Improvement of Manners and Education the restraining preventing and chastising Extravagance and Vice and of great good Consequence to the Publick too seem to have been such as These First The containing Children in their Duty begetting and preserving a due Awe and Reverence in their Minds Then a Regard to several Vices and Enormities which though very grievous in Themselves would yet pass unpunish'd to the great Prejudice of the Publick if they could be taken cognizance of and animadverted upon by no other Ways and Persons but Legal Process and the Sentence of the Magistrate For abundance of These must needs escape such Censure partly because they would be Domestick and Private and partly because there would be no body to inform and prosecute The Parents Themselves were not likely to be so Officious the Nearness of the Relation would render it odious and the Interest of their own Family would restrain them from publishing their own Shame Or if they could be suppos'd to bring all they knew of this kind upon the Open Stage yet we know there are many Vices and Insolencies and Disorders which the Laws and Justice of Nations are not provided with Punishments for To all which we may add that there are many Family-Quarrels between Fathers and Children Brothers and Sisters upon the account of dividing Estates and Goods or several other Things which tho' sit to be canvass'd and corrected within a Man 's own Walls would by no means do well to be ript up and exposed to the World and for These as the Paternal Authority is necessary so it is sufficient to compose and quiet all Parties and put an End to Differences that concern single Families only And it was reasonable for the Law to suppose that no Father would make ill use of this Power that Men might very safely be entrusted with it because of that very tender Affection which Nature inspires all Parents with such as seems altogether inconsistent with Cruelty toward their own Off-spring And this we see the effect of Daily in the frequent Intercessions made by Fathers for the Releasing or Mitigating those publick Punishments which they cannot but be sensible are most justly inflicted there being no greater Torment to any Parent than to see his Children under Pain or Disgrace And where These absolute Prerogatives were allow'd we meet with very few Instances of the exerting their Power and going to the Extremity of it without Offences very heinous indeed so that in truth if we regard the Practice and compare That with the Power it self we shall have reason to look upon it as a useful Terrour a Bugbear to keep Children in Awe and fright them into Obedience rather than any Stretch of Rigour that was actual and in good earnest Now this Paternal Authority was gradually lost and fell to the Ground as it were of it self It s Decay for the Decay of it is in truth to be attributed to Disuse more than to any Law expresly Repealing it or Enacting the contrary and it began most remarkably to decline when the Roman Emperours came to the Government For from the time of Augustus or quickly after it sunk apace and lost all its Vigour And upon this Decay Children grew so stubborn and insolent against their Parents that Seneca in his Address to Nero Lib. 1. de Clem. says their Own Eyes had seen more Parricides punish'd in Five Years then last past than there had been for the space of Seven Hundred Years before that is from the first Foundation of Rome till That time Till then if a Father at any time killed his Children he was called to no Account nor had any Punishment inflicted upon him for the Fact as we may gather evidently by the Examples of Febvins the Senator Salust in Bell. Catalin Valer. Maxim who slew his Son for being engaged in Catiline's Conspiracy and several other Senators who proceeded against their Sons and condemn'd them to Death by virtue of their own Domestick Power such as Cassius Tratius or sentenced them to perpetual Banishment as Manlins Torquatus did his Son Syllanus There were indeed some Laws afterwards which appointed that the Father should bring Informations against the Children that offended L. inauditum ad leg Corn. F. I. in suis de I. posth I. 3. Cod. de pa. potest and deliver them over to publick Justice And the Judge in such Cases was oblig'd to pronounce Sentence as the Father should direct in which there are some Footsteeps of Antiquity And these Laws in abridging the Power of the Fathers proceeded very tenderly and did not take it away entirely and openly but with great Moderation and by halves only These later Ordinances have some Affinity to the
passes at Home and in our ordinary Course of Affairs The Third is Publick and respects what is exposed to the common View of the World In the First of these there is no manner of Restraint in the Second no Pains or Study to recommend one's Behaviour as being not accountable for our Own Management to Them that live under our Own Roof and Government but all the Reserve and Artifice and Dissimulation is in a manner appropriated to the last of These Now it is much more difficult to be regular and exact in the first of these Degrees than in either of the other and the Examples of Persons that are or have been so have been infinitely fewer and so in proportion the Case stands with the Second too in comparison of the Third sort The Reason is obvious and evident For where there is no body to judge or controul or countermand nay where there is not so much as a Spectator to observe our Actions where we have no apprehension of Punishment for doing amiss no expectation of Reward for doing well we are much more remiss and careless in our Behaviour Reason and Conscience are here the only Guides we have to follow and although These may be some Check yet that is not comparable to the Restraints we feel when placed in open View and made the common Mark of All who must needs see and will take a Freedom of censuring our Actions Applause and Glory fear of Scandal and Reproach or some other Passion of the like Nature are much more powerful Motives these carry and manage us after a very different manner And indeed the greatest part of Mankind are more govern'd by Passions of this Nature than by any strict Sense of Duty and regard to Virtue These put us upon our Guard and teach us Prudence upon force And from the Influence of These it is that many People have the Reputation of Holy and Excellent Persons and behave Themselves as such in the Eye of the World who yet in reality and at the bottom are mere Hypocrites stark nought and rotten at the Core and have not one commendable Quality belonging to them What passes before Men is all Farce and Counterfeit we put it on for Convenience and are concern'd to appear thus to the Spectators but the Truth of us is conceal'd and the Man can have no true Judgment made of him but from what he does in private and alone We must see him in his constant and every-day's Dress and strip him of those Ornaments that set him off when he comes abroad We must know his Temper and his usual Deportment for all the rest is Fiction and Constraint * Universus mundus exercet histrioniam All the World are Actors and play their Parts to please the Audience And it was well observ'd by a Wise Man That none are good except such as are so inwardly and by Themselves And that Virtue is always the same as cautious as prudent upon the account of Conscience as it is in Obedience to the publick Laws and Customs of the World as fearful of offending one's own Self and as careful to avoid the Condemnation of one 's own Breast when no Eye sees us as it is of the Observation and Reproaches of all Mankind Publick Actions such as Exploits in War delivering an Opinion in Senate or Council discharging an Embassy governing a Nation or the like are bright and loud every body sees every body hears of them and therefore These are perform'd with all possible Diligence and Circumspection but such Private and Domestick ones as Chiding Laughing Selling and Buying Borrowing and Paying and Conversing with our own Families and most intimate Acquaintance are silent and dark they make no Noise fear no Discovery and are therefore thought worthy very little or not any Attention or Consideration at all Nay we are sometimes scarce so much as sensible of them when we do them And if in These Men be so unthinking a little Reflection will soon convince us that they are infinitely more so in Those yet more secret and merely internal such as Loving Hating Desiring of which none is or can be conscious but their own Minds There is one Thing more fit to be observed upon this Occasion and a very sad and wicked Thing it is viz. That Men being depraved by a kind of Hypocrisie natural to them have taught Themselves and Others to make a greater Conscience and be infinitely more Scrupulous and concern'd for their outward Behaviour which consists in Shew and Form and is perfectly free and at their own Disposal of no Consequence in the World but all over Set-Countenance and Ceremony Things of no real Difficulty and as little Substance and Effect than they are for inward Miscarriages or private Actions such as are buried in Secrecy and make no Figure but yet are highly Expedient and Necessary very Valuable in Themselves and therefore very Difficult For upon these Last the Reforming of our Souls the Moderating of our Passions and the Regulating our whole Life and Conversation depends And yet the Former are not only preferred before them in our Care and Concern but the Matter is so ordered that even They who find themselves well disposed will by constant Study and Sollicitude to discharge those outward Actions punctually degenerate into Formality of course and by insensible Degrees grow Cold and Negligent in their Regard for the others Now of all these Sorts it is plain that the Men as Hermits for Instance who live in perfect Solitude and have but One of these Three That of the Internal and most private Life only to take Care of are upon better Terms and have an easier Task to discharge than Those that have Two and so likewise he that hath the Domestick Care added to the former and so lies under a Duty in Two Capacities is exposed to less Difficulty than the Persons of a Publick Life and Character upon whom the Care of all the Three Degrees is incumbent CHAP. LIV. A Life of Company and Business compar'd with one of Retirement and Solitude THey that upon all Occasions recommend and cry up a Solitary Life are so far certainly in the Right that it is an Excellent Means of Ease and Quiet a sure Retreat from the Hurry and Troubles of the World a very proper and effectual Defence against the Vices and Extravagances of a profligate Age which are commonly propagated by Infection and Example and are very likely to Spread and Reign where much the greater Part of those we converse with are already tainted with the Disease For not One in a Thousand is Vertuous and Good the Number of Fools is Infinite and the thicker the Crowd the greater the Danger Thus far I say they have Reason on their Side for ill Company is certainly one of the most fatal and ensnaring Things in the World and that not only in Regard of the Corruption but of the Punishment and Vengeance it exposes Men to Accordingly
destroy Charity and common Sense is abominable and not to be endured And Men should by all means think themselves obliged to proceed with Equity and Candor to see and to acknowledge Goodness whereever it is to be found though in the worst and most mistaken Enemies and not to palliate or overlook much less to defend and applaud the Vices and Follies of our Friends and Followers but to lay aside all private Considerations and frankly to express our Detestation of these things let the persons guilty of them be who or what they will The contrary wicked practice for a very wicked one it is seems to proceed in great measure from want to considering and distinguishing aright what the Points in difference are and how far they extend For it is most certain that where the Controversy is no way concerned we ought to behave our selves with all manner of Indifference and pass fair and equitable Judgments as we would do supposing no Dispute or Disagreement at all And Resentments should never be carried beyond that particular Subject which provokes them nor Anger of all Passions suffered to grow general and unlimited And These are some of the many Evils which too great Eagerness and Intention of Mind naturally brings upon Men let the Matter we set our hearts so much upon be what it will for this Disposition is capable of Excess and liable to Inconveniences when fixed upon the very best Object and a Man may suffer by being too vehement and hot in the pursuit even of Goodness and Wisdom it self Now in order to moderate this Affectionate Earnestness and reduce the Mind to due Temper every Man ought to remember that the most important thing given us in charge by God and Nature that to which we have the strongest Obligations and consequently such as ought to be first satisfied is That Every Man should look well to his conduct This good management of our selves is the very business upon which we were sent into the World at first and are continued in it still And this Duty we do by no means discharge faithfully except the Peace and Tranquility and Liberty of our Minds be consulted and preserved And preserved these cannot be unless we make it our Principle and Rule to Lend our selves to a Friend but to Give our selves up to none but our selves to take business in hand but not to lay it to heart to bear it as a burden and be content with sustaining the weight of it upon our shoulders but not to incorporate and unite with it by making it inseparable and a part of our selves to bestow all possible Diligence but not to misplace and throw away our Affections upon it to fasten eagerly upon very few things and to stick to them only so as still to continue at our own pleasure This is the true the sovereign Remedy against all the Inconveniences and Uneasinesses formerly mentioned and this is not any such selfish or narrow-spirited advice as some may imagine It does not condemn or exclude any of those Duties or good Offices required from us it does not prejudice to the Publick our Friends or our Neighbours so far from That that it is most certain We are bound by all the Tyes of Honour and Religion to be courteous and kind assisting and serviceable to one another to comply with the Customs and Occasions of the World and apply our selves to the observance of the one and the Supply of the other as our Circumstances will permit and in order hereunto every man is obliged to contribute to the Common Good and conscientiously to perform all those Duties and mutual Offices which any way concern him as a Member of the Body Politick and may conduce to the Benefit of Human Society * Qui sibi amious est hunc omnibus seito esse amicum He that is a Friend to himself is a Friend to all Mankind for the Love and Care of one's self is so far from engrossing and confining all we can do to our own single persons that it implies and puts us upon the being as universally beneficial and dissusing our Powers as far and wide as we can But still I must insist upon it that the most generous Inclinations and Endeavours of this kind ought to be tempered with Moderation and Prudence and no Man is publick-spirited as he should be unless he be discreet withal and That in these Two respects particularly First Not to apply or lay himself out upon every occasion that offers indifferently but first to sit down and consider well the Justice the Reasonableness and the Necessity of the thing whether it will answer his design and be worth his pains And if this were done a world of trouble might be spared Then Secondly That even those occasions which have the best Title to his Application may be followed without Violence and Vexation of Mind A Man should contract his Desires and bring them within as small a Compass as he can The Little he does desire should be pursued with Temper and be desired moderately His application should be free from Anxiety and Distraction And in any the most Important Matters that we undertake we may be allowed to employ our Hands our Feet our Tongue the Attention of our Thoughts the Sweat of our Brows all proper means in order to the effecting them nay to spend our Blood and hazard our Lives if the occasion require it but still all this is to be done with a Reserve calmly and considerately without Passion and Torment without Fretfulness and Impatience A Man must always preserve the Government and Command of himself the Health of his Body the Soundness of his Mind the Tranquility and Ease of both so far as is possible For Success does by no means depend upon Heat and Forwardness and an Impetuous Eagerness of the Will but is much oftner and better attained without it and the Cooler our proceedings are the greater Expectations we may entertain from them It is a vulgar and a very gross Mistake that no Affair is undertaken heartily and to purpose without a great deal of Noise and Hurry and Bustle For as I have already shewed these only disorder and perplex the Cause put Men beside their Byass and are so many fresh Obstructions How common a thing is it to observe vast numbers of Men who venture their persons in the Wars and are in daily hourly peril of their Lives without any anxious Concern at all they march up to the Cannon's mouth when their Post requires it and push on to Action and yet neither the Hazard nor the Loss of the Battels they fight ever breaks them one Night's rest They consider This is their Duty and upon that Consideration they discharge it chearfully And yet at the same time that you see the Camp and the Field so easy and void of Care a Splenetick Politician who never had the Courage to look Danger in the Face shall sit you at home and teaze and afflict
himself with the Event of this Engagement and be a thousand times more perplexed and mortified with any ill Success than those very Soldiers who spend their Blood and stake down their Lives in the Service In a word We must learn to understand our selves and our Condition and distinguish aright between our private and personal and our publick Capacities For every one of us is under a double Character and hath two parts to play The one external and visible but somewhat foreign and distant the other domestick and proper and essential to us Now though our Shirt be next to our Skin yet according to the Proverb we should always remember that how near soever our Shirt may be our Skin is still nearer to us A Judicious person will discharge his Duty to the Publick and fill an Office well and yet at the same time will discern the Folly and Wickedness and Cheat which a Publick Station exposes him to the practice of He will not decline the thing because it is agreeable to the Custom and Constitution of his Countrey it is necessary and useful to the Publick and perhaps advantagious to himself He will submit in many things to do as the World does because the Rest of Mankind live at the same rate and since he cannot mend the World it is to no purpose to disturb it by being singular But still he will look upon this as a matter somewhat foreign and consider this Character as adventitious and accidental not natural to him it is what he is obliged to put on and appear in but he was not born with it nor is it a part of him And therefore he will always exercise it with all due Limitations and Reservations and not so embark in Business as to be quite swallowed up in it but manage Matters so that he may still enjoy himself and be free and easy with a particular Friend or at least within his own Breast not so serve the World as to neglect and be out of a Condition to serve himself nor endeavour the Benefit of others at the Expence or Loss of a Good that is truly and properly his own CHAP. III. True and Substantial Integrity of Mind the first and fundamental part of Wisdom THE Directions laid down in the two foregoing Chapters being such Preparations as were thought necessary for disposing aright the person who aspires after Wisdom and qualifying him to make successful progress in it That is By removing the Obstructions and cleaning his Mind of Prejudices and setting it at large from the Slavery and Confinement of Popular Opinions and private Passions and also by advancing to that noble and happy Freedom of Thought and Will already described that from hence as from some advantagious rising ground he may take a full prospect and arrive at a clear and distinct Knowledge and attain to an absolute Mastery over all the Objects and Things that occur to him here below which is the peculiar Character and Privilege of an exalted and resined Soul It may now be seasonable to advance in the Method proposed at our Entrance into this Book by giving some fit Instructions and general Rules of Wisdom The Two First whereof are still in the nature of Prefaces to the Main Work necessary to be laid in the Quality of Foundations upon which to raise this Glorious Superstructure And the Former and Principal of these two designed for the Subject of This Chapter is Probity and Sincerity That true Honesty and Integrity of Heart and Life is the First the Chief the Fundamental Point of True Wisdom is an Assertion which it may perhaps be thought needless for me to give my self any great trouble in proving For in truth all Mankind agree in highly extolling and zealously pretending to it though it is but too manifest that what some do in this kind seriously and out of Conscientious regard to their Duty and the real Worth of this Virtue others put on only to set the best face upon the matter and are compelled to dissemble from Shame and Fear and the Ill-consequences of avowing the contrary Thus far then the whole World is agreed that Honesty is recommended and respected and at least complimented every Man professes to be passionately in love with it and subscribes himself its most Faithful most Affectionate and most Devoted Servant So that I may spare my self the pains of arguing in behalf of the Thing in general but I am afraid notwithstanding it will prove no such easy matter to make Men agree with the Notions of that which in my esteem is the True and Essential Honesty and to persuade the as universal Love but especially the universal practice of That which I think necessary upon this occasion For as to That which is in common vogue and usually reputed such though the World I know are generally satisfied and trouble themselves so little about understanding or attaining to any thing better that except a very few Wise Men they have no Ideas no Wishes beyond this yet I make no difficulty to affirm that it is all but a spurious and counterfeit Virtue Sham and Trick and the product of Art and Study Falshood and Disguise Now first of all We cannot but be sensible False Appcarances of it that Men are very often drawn on and pusht forward to good Actions by several sorts of Motives Sometimes such as are by no means commendable As Natural Defects and Infirmities Passion and Fancy nay sometimes by Vice and Things in their own Nature Sinful Thus Chastity and Sobriety and Temperance of all sorts may be and often are owing to a weak Body and tender Constitution which cannot support Excess Contempt of Death to Peevishness and Discontent Patience under Misfortunes Resolution and Presence of Thought in Dangers to Want of Apprehension and Judgment and a due sense how great or imminent the Danger is Valour and Liberality and Justice are often inspired and practised by Ambition and Vain-glory the Effects of good Conduct discreet Management of Fear and Shame and Avarice And what a World of renowned and noble Exploits have been owing to Presumption and Foolhardiness Rashness and Inconsideration Thus what we commonly call Actions and Instances of Virtue are in reality no better than Masks and counterfeit Appearances of it They have the Air and the Complexion but by no means the Substance of it So much resemblance there is that the Vulgar who are no Criticks in Faces may easily mistake the one for the other and so much of good there is in the Effects and Consequences of such Actions that other people may be allowed to call them Virtuous but it is impossible the person himself who does them should esteem them such or that any considering Man can either allow them this Character when nicely examined or think one jot the better of the Man that does them For Interest or Honour or Reputation or Custom and Compliance or some other Causes altogether foreign to Virtue will be found
And this they are obliged in Duty and Conscience to do upon the account of the Reasons laid down by me at large in the first and last Chapters of my Third Truth which places alone are sufficient to satisfy those Readers who either have not the opportunity or will not give themselves the trouble of perusing the whole Book One necessary Caution there is yet behind Piety and Probity must go together and he who makes any pretensions to Wisdom must by all means attend to it which is That he do not separate the Piety spoken of in this Chapter from that Probity and Integrity treated of before and so imagining that One of these is sufficient for his purpose be at no pains to qualify himself with the Other and as careful must he be too not to confound and jumble these two together as if they were but two names for one and the same thing For in truth Piety and Probity Devotion and Conscience are distinct in their very nature are derived from different Causes and proceed upon different Motives and Respects I desire indeed that they may go hand in hand and be both united in the Person whom at present I am forming into Wisdom and most certain it is that Either of them without the Other is not cannot be perfect But still they must both meet and both continue distinct and though we would join yet we must take care not to confound them And These are two Precipices which must be diligently avoided and few indeed keep clear of them for either they separate Religion and common Honesty so as to satisfy themselves with one of them alone or else they jumble Godliness and Morality together so as to make them all one or at least to represent them as exactly of the same Species and effects of the same Common Principle The Persons under the former Error Piety without Probity which separate these Two and content themselves with One of them singly are of two sorts For some devote themselves entirely to the Worship and Service of God spend all their time and pains in Praying and Hearing and other holy Ordinances and place all Religion in These but as for Virtue and strict Honesty in their Dealings Sincerity and Charity and the like and in a word living in agreement to their Prayers and practising what they hear and read they have no relish or regard for These things nor make any account of them at all This is a Vice taken notice of as Epidemical and in a manner Natural to the People of the Jews who were above all Mankind addicted to Superstition and upon that account scandalous and detestable to all the World besides and among them the Scribes and Pharisees in a yet more infamous degree The Prophets exclaim against it loudly and afterwards their own Messiah reproaches them with it perpetually He exposes that villanous Hypocrisy Matt. xxi which made their Temple a Den of Thieves which exalted their Ceremonies and outward Observances to the prejudice of inward and substantial Holiness which made a Conscience of Traditions that they might xv under that pretence get a convenient Cloak and Excuse for the most unnatural Barbarities which Tithed Mint and Anise and Cummin xxiii but overlook'd Judgment and Righteousness and Fidelity In one word They were so overrun so extravagantly conceited in the matter of external Devotion and ceremonious Observances that provided they were punctual in These they fancied themselves discharged of all Other Duties nay they took occasion from thence to harden their hearts and thought This would atone for other Faults and give them a Privilege of being wicked This is a sort of Female and Vulgar Piety and vast numbers are tainted with it every where at this very day they lay out all their Diligence and Care upon those little Exercises of outward Devotion for Little sure they are as They use them who never carry the Effects of them home to their Lives and Consciences but Pray and Read and frequent the Church and Ordinances and are not one whit the better Men for doing so This gave occasion to that Proverb A Saint at Church and a Devil at Home They lend their hand and their outside to God pay Him all the demonstrations of Reverence and Respect And a fair outside it is but all This as our Lord told the Pharisees is but a whited Wall and a whited Sepulchre This people honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me Nay they do not only neglect the Practice of other Duties and take no pains to be all of a piece but their very Holiness it self is from a wicked Design they make this Piety a Cover for greater Impieties alledge and depend upon their Devotions first to give them Credit in the World and greater Opportunities to deceive under the Mask of so much Sanctity and then for the extenuating or making a compensation for their Vices and sinful Liberties Others there are who run into a distant and quite contrary Extreme They lay so great Stress upon Virtue and Moral Honesty as to value nothing else and make Religion and Piety strictly so called no part of their Concern This is a Fault observable in some of the Philosophers and may be observed very commonly in people of Atheistical Principles And surely it is the proper Fruit of such a Corrupt Tree for that Men should believe God and his Revelations that they should call Themselves Christians and yet be of opinion that we are excused from all the Acknowledgments and Marks of Homage due and paid to God in our Faith and Worship and That Branch of our Duty which is properly distinguished by the Title of Godliness is very inconsistent and unaccountable These are the two Vicious Extremes whether of the Two is the more or less so I shall not at present take upon me to determine nor will I dispute whether Religion or Morality will stand a Man in greater stead Thus much only give me leave to add by way of Comparison as to Three Considerations which is that the Former as described in the last Paragraph and practised by the Jews is without dispute by much the easier the more pompous and more incident to weak and vulgar Souls The Latter must be allowed infinitely more difficult and laborious it makes less Noise and Ostentation in the World and is more proper to Brave Resolute and Generous Minds for the former reasons as being more substantial and of a larger compass meeting with great opposition and having less to feed Mens Vanity with My business is next with a Second Sort of Men Against them that confound these two who confound and spoil all for want of a just Distinction but perplex these Two and the Grace of God and jumble all together These in truth are defective in all Three When you come to examine the matter strictly they will be found to have neither true Religion nor true Moral Honesty nor true
this Little or to express the thing in terms every whit as true though more acceptable A moderate Proportion and Sufficiency of Mind is the thing that brings Wisdom and Satisfaction This is what will content a Wise Man and keep him always in a State of Ease and Tranquillity Upon the full Conviction of this Truth it is that I have chosen for my Motto those two significant words Paix Peu Quiet and a Little A Fool thinks nothing enough he is sickle and irresolute knows not what he would have nor when to have done and consequently can never be contented because he never knows what would satisfy him Such a Man is well enough represented by the Story Plutarch tells of the Moon which came to her Mother and begged she would give her some New Cloaths that would sit her but received this Answer That such a Garment was impossible to be made for she was sometimes very Big and at other times very Little and continually Increasing or Decreasing and how then could she expect to be sitted with a Garment which must always be the same when her own Body was so changeable that its Bulk was never two days together the same 2. The next Point is That our Desires and Pleasures be Natural and this in truth carries great Affinity and Resemblance to the former For we cannot but observe that there are Two sorts of Pleasures Some of which are Natural and These are Just and Lawful They have a foundation in our very Temper and Frame and are imparted not to Men only but are exactly the same in Brutes These Appetites and the Gratifications of them are short and bounded in a narrow compass it is an easy matter to see to the End of them Now with regard to such no Man is or can be poor because all Circumstances and all Places furnish enough to satisfy these Inclinations For Nature is Regular and Abstemious a very little contents her and not only so but she is very well provided too and puts into every Man's hand as much as will suffice to support him Thus Seneca observes * Parabile est quod Natura desiderat expositum Ad manum est quod sat est That the Sustenance Nature requires is always ready and any-where to be had and it is very easy to come at enough for the supply of our Necessities For that which Nature requires for the preservation of its Being is in reality as much as we need and sure we ought to acknowledge it a particular Happiness and a special Favour that Those things which we stand in need of for the support of Life as they must be had or we perish so they are easy to be had and no body need perish for want of them and that the matter is so contrived that whatever is hard to be obtained we can be without it and suffer no great Prejudice If we lay aside Fancy and Passion and follow Nature and Necessity we are always rich and always safe for these will direct us to such pursuits as all the malice of Fortune cannot defeat To this sort of Desires we may add too those others which regard the Customs of the Age and Place we live in and the Circumstances and Quality of our Persons and Fortunes For I can easily allow that They should be comprehended under this Head too though it must be confess'd that they do not come up to the same degree of Necessity with the former If we will speak strictly and consider things according to their utmost rigour These are neither Natural nor Necessary but if they be not absolutely so yet they follow close in order and are next to Those that are They do indeed exceed the bounds of Nature which hath done her part when she maintains us in Any Condition but yet we are not tied to all that Exactness but are permitted to enlarge our Desires farther and may without any breach of Virtue desire a Competency in proportion to the Rank Providence hath placed us in We may I say desire and endeavour this fairly and reasonably but yet with this Reserve that it is against Justice and Reason both to murmur and be discontented if we be disappointed in our Hopes or deprived of the Possession of it For These are Additional Advantages and the Effect of Bounty all that Nature hath bound her self to is the Subsistence of our Persons and we have no Right to depend upon more But we must not omit to observe that there are as I hinted before another sort of Pleasures and Desires which we may truly call Unnatural because they are quite beside and beyond the Bounds already mentioned With These Nature hath nothing at all to do she knows them not They are of a Bastard Race Fancy and Opinion give them birth Art and Industry Cherish and Improve them They are superfluous and studied Follies and must not be allowed so mild a Term as Appetites but are most truly and in the worst sense of the word Passions I know not well indeed what Title to distinguish them by they are so fantastical that it is not easy to find a Name for them but call them if you will Lustings Longings Any thing that expresses the Whimsy and Impatience of a wild and wanton Mind These we have therefore spoken to already when in the First Book we treated of the Passions at large all that is necessary to be added here concerning them is only That the Greatest part of what Men call Desires are such as These and that They are the proper source of that Misery and Fretfulness we see Mankind so generally disquieted by and That a Wise man will think himself concerned to distinguish his Virtue in no one Instance more than in keeping himself absolutely and entirely clear from any Vanities of this kind 3. See Book III. Ch. 40. The Third Qualification requisite upon these Occasions is That all our Pleasures and Desires be Moderate by which I mean that they should be guilty of no Excess in any respect whatsoever Now This is a Rule of a very large Extent and capable of being parcelled out into a great many subdivisions but I think All of them may be reduced to these Two That neither first our Neighbour nor secondly our Selves suffer by them When I mention other People's Sufferings I design by it that we should indulge our Selves in nothing that may any way give any person disquiet by scandalizing him or ministring just cause of Resentment nothing that may contribute to his loss or prejudice by hurting his Person Estate or Reputation By Our Own suffering I mean that we should have all due regard to our Health our Leisure our Business and particularly the Offices of our Calling and Capacity our Honour and above all our Duty And He that is content with being subject to these Restraints and takes care not to break in upon any of the forementioned Boundaries I admit to be such a one as exercises what
Stones and Brands in rattling Vollies fly And all the Rustick Arms that Fury can supply If then some Grave and Pious Man appear They hush their Noise and lend a listning Ear He sooths with sober Words their angry Mood And quenches their innate Desire of Blood Mr. Dryden The greatest thing this World can shew is Authority This is the Image of the Divine Power a Messenger and Deputy from Heaven If this Deputation as to Men be Sovereign and immediately under God we call it Majesty if it be subordinate to any Human Power we then call it in a more peculiar and restrained Sense of the word Authority And this is supported upon two Bases Admiration and Fear both which must go together and jointly contribute to the keeping it up Now this Majesty and Authority is principally and properly in the Person of the Supreme Governor the Prince and Lawgiver and in him it lives and moves and acts in its utmost Vigor The next Degree of it is when lodged in his Commands Orders and Decrees that is in the Law which is a Prince's Master-piece and the Noblest Copy of that Incommunicable Majesty whereof himself is the Original And by this Law it is that Fools are reduced from Evil informed in Good governed and led to know and do what is convenient for their own and necessary for the Publick Interest Thus you see in short of what Weight and Efficacy Authority and Laws are to the World how necessary and how beneficial to the present Circumstances and the greatest part of Mankind This Authority is stated fix'd and agreed upon but there is Another Custom which comes nearest of any up to it commonly called Custom a very Powerful but withal a very Positive and Imperious Mistress This Power is all gained by Encroachment and Usurpation by Treachery and Force it get footing by Inches and steals in upon the World insensibly The Beginnings of it are small and imperceptible gentle and humble and frequently owing to Men's Tameness or Neglect their Laziness and Yielding the Influenc of Example and the Blindness of Inconsideration but when it hath once taken Root and is fix'd by Time it puts on a stern domineering Look issues out its Orders plays the Tyrant and will be observed It is to no purpose then to argue for Liberty and Right no Man is suffered to speak to move to look in contradiction to such an Establishment It stops your Mouth with Possession and Precedent which indeed are its proper and only Pleas of Title grows great and more eminent the farther it goes and like Rivers enlarges its Name and Channel by rowling insomuch that even when the Mischiefs and Inconvenience of its still prevailing are manifest yet is it not safe to reduce it to its first Infant-State and Men are oftentimes better advised in suffering under it than in attempting to disuse or reverse it If now we compare these Two together it will be found Law and Custom compared that Law and Custom establish their Authority by very different Methods Custom creeps upon us by little and little by length of Time by gentle and acceptable Means by the Favour and general Consent or at least with the Approbation of the Majority and its Beginning Growth Establishment are all from the People The Law admits none of these flow Proceedings it is Born at once and in full Perfection comes to Vigor and Maturity in a Moment it marches out with Authority and Power and receives its Efficacy from the Supreme Commander it depends not always upon the good liking of the Subjects but is frequently full sore against their Wills and yet prevails and takes place though burdensome and ungrateful to them This last Consideration is the Reason why Some have compared Law to a Tyrant and Custom to a King Again Custom though otherwise never so engaging yet never proposes Rewards or Penalties But the Law propounds both and to be sure threatens Penalties upon the Disobedient at least Yet notwithstanding these Differences the matter is so order'd that these Two are frequently capable either of strengthning and mutually assisting or of destroying and overthrowing each other For Cudestroying and overthrowing each other For Custom though in strictness it be only upon Sufferance yet when countenanc'd and publickly allowed by the Prince will be still more firm and secure and the Law likewise gets ground upon the People and stands the faster by means of Possession and long Usage On the Contrary Custom will be quashed by a Law prohibiting the Continuance of it and a Law will go down the stream and be lost to all the purposes and effects of it if a contrary Custom be connived at Thus I say they may interfere to the Prejudice of each other but usually they go hand in hand and are in reality almost the same thing considered under different respects The wiser and more discerning Men considering That as a Law which the Ignorant and Vulgar who have little Notions of a Legislative Power or its Sanctions observe purely as a thing Customary and because it hath been in use without attending how it came to be so The strange Variety of Laws and Customs which have obtained in the World Different and odd Customs and the Extravagance of some of them is really prodigious It is scarce possible to think of any Imagination so whimsical and odd but some Country or other hath received it as a Custom or established it by a Law I will give my self the trouble of instancing in several upon this occasion to convince Those who perhaps cannot easily suffer themselves to be persuaded how much Truth there is in this Observation And here not to instance in Religion which in the Idolatrous and less civiliz'd Countries especially hath had grosser Deceits more abominable Absurdities and more amazing Variety of these than any other Subject whatsoever yet because it does not fall so directly within the Compass of our present Argument I shall pas it over at present and confine my self to the Head of Civil Commerce in which alone Customs properly so called are used to take place and where the Matter being exceeding obvious to every Understanding it is so much the more astonishing that Men should be carried into such Extravagances Now Those which I think most remarkable and sit to be mentioned are such as follow The Reputing it an Instance of Affection and Duty when Parents live to a certain term of Years for their Children to Kill and to Eat them In Inns and other Publick Houses of Accommodation instead of discharging the Reckoning with Money to lend their Wives and Daughters to the Host for Payment The having Wives in common The setting up Publick Stews for Young Men The esteeming it honurable for Women to be Common and wearing Tufts of Fringe at their Garments by way of Boast and Glory to signify the Number of their Gallants The suffering Single Women to abandon themselves to all manner of Filthiness and
and restores our Souls to perfect Liberty and true Enjoyment Instead of locking us up in the dark it sets us in the clearest and brightest Light and serves us as we use to deal by the best Fruits when we take off the Skin or Shell or other Covering that so we may see and use them and taste their Natural Excellence It removes us out of a streight inconvenient Dwelling from a Dark and Rheumatick and Diseased Place where we can see but a very little Spot of Heaven and only receive Light by Reflection and at a vast distance through Two little Holes of our Eyes into a Region of absolute Liberty confirmed and uninterrupted Health perpetual and incessant Light a Sun that never sets and Endless Day without any gloomy Intervals * Aequaliter tibi splendebit omne Coeli latus Totam lucem suo loco prope totus aspicies quam nunc per angustissimas ocuâ—orum Vias procul intueris miraris A Place where our Faculties shall be enlarged and all Heaven will display it self to us where we shall not only see Light but dwell with it in its own proper Sphere In a word It delivers us from the very Thing we dread most by making us Immortal and putting a sinal and full Conclusion to that Death which took place from the Instant we came into the World and was finished at our Passage into Eternity †Dies iste quem tanquam extremum reformidas aeterni natalis est For the Day we have such dreadful Apprehensions of as if it were to be our Last is really our First the joyful Birthday into a Life which can never have an End We come now to consider the Second Sort of Resentment which Men are affected with upon the account of Death which is Waiting for and entertaining it with contented and chearful Minds when it comes This is indeed the Quality of a Good a Gentle and well-governed Spirit and the Practice of it is peculiar to a plain easy way of living and to Persons who as they make the best of Life and enjoy the Quiet of it so know very well how to esteem it as it deserves but still they make Reason the Standard of all their Affections and Actions and as they are well satisfied to stay here so they readily obey when Providence thinks fit to call them out of the World This is a Medium very justly tempered a Masterly Greatness of Soul and such an Indifference to all here below as a Life of Retirement and Peace seems best qualified for and the Two Extremes between which it lies are Desiring and Dreading Courting and Running away from Death accoring to that of the Poet * Summum nec metuas diem nec optes With Courage firm and Soul sedate Attend the Motions of thy Fate And whether Death be far or near Live free from eager Wish and anxious Fear Now these Extremes except there be some very particular and uncommon Reason to give them countenance are both of them Vicious and exceeding blameable and when I come hereafter to speak of this Matter in its proper place you will see that nothing less than a very extraordinary Cause can render them so much as excusable To desire and pursue Death is very criminal for it is very unjust to throw away one's Life without a sufficient Reason it is spightful to the World and injurious to our Friends to grudge them the longer Use and Continuance of a thing which may be serviceable to them It is the blackest Ingratitude to God and Nature thus to slight and throw back again the best and most valuable Present they can make us as if it were a Trifle or a Burden not worth our keeping It savours too much of Peevishness and Pride and shews us humoursome and difficult when we cannot be easy and bear the Lot that falls to our share but will needs quit our hands of the Station God hath called us to when there is nothing extraordinary to render it cumbersome And on the other hand to fear and flee Death when summoned to it is an Offence against Nature Justice Reason and every Branch of our Duty since Dying is Natural Necessary and Unavoidable Reasonable and Just First It is Natural Dying is Natural it is a part of that Great Scheme by which the Order of the Universe is established and maintained and the whole World lives and subsists And who are We that all this Regularity should be broken and a new System contrived in Our Favour Death is really one of the Principal and most Material Articles in the Constitution and Administration of this vast Republick and of infinite Use and Advantage it is for determining the Continuance and promoting a Constant Succession of the Works of Nature The Failure of Life in One Instance propagates it afresh in a Thousand others * Sic Rerum Summa novatur Thus Life and Death successive keep their round Things dye to live and by decays abound But which comes nearer home Death is not only a part of this Great Complex and Universal Nature but of thy Own Nature in particular and That every whit as essential a part as that Birth which gave Thee Life So that in cherishing an Aversion and running away from This thou attemptest to flee from thy own self Thy Being is divided equally between Death and Life These are the Two Proprietors and each claims a share and hath an indefeasible Right in every one of us These are the Terms upon which Thou wer't created and Life was given with a Purpose and upon Condition of being taken away rather indeed it was only lent and like all other Trusts or Debts must be demanded back and may be called in at pleasure If then the Thoughts of Dying discontent Thee consider that the Hardship does not lye here but carry thy Reflections higher and be concerned that ever thou wast born For either there is no cause of Repining in either case or else the Ground of all the Complaint lies in having lived at all You had Neighbours Fare and purchased Life at the Market Price which is The laying it down again no body hath it cheaper and therefore they who do not like the Bargain and are loth to go out again should have refused at first and never come into the World at all But this is what Men were they capable of such a Choice would never do if their Fondness of Life be so excessively great The First Breath you drew bound you fast and all the Advances you made toward a more perfect Life were so many Steps toward Death at the same time †Nascentes morimur finisque ab origine pendet Asson as born we dye and our Live's End Upon its first Beginning does depend Manil. Ast 4. To be concerned then that we must Dye is to be concerned that we are Men for every one that is so is Mortal And upon the strength of this Impression it
Satisfaction and breaking Prison So far therefore as this Desire is consistent with Patience and Resignation to the Divine Will so far it is truly Magnanimous and Commendable and no farther To that Question What Law does this offend against it is easy to answer Against the Laws of God and of Nature against the Condition of Mankind against our Duty to the Publick against the Sixth Commandment in particular which no more argues us Guiltless when we Kill our Selves because chiefly designed to restrain us from Killing Others than it can be proved from the Seventh that we do not Sin against our own Bodies when we Invade another's Bed The Love of our selves is proposed as the standard of our Love to others and the Rule must be supposed as perfect at least as the thing to be regulated by it If there be no Prohibition against this in express words it was because none was thought needful and sure it is no excuse to say That no Law is violated in Terms When the Case was such as needed no Law As to the other part of the Argument That Men may dispose of themselves as they please and a willing Person can receive no Injury it supposes an Absolute Right to dispose of our selves such as no Creature hath with respect to God and Providence and no Man can have with regard to the several Relations and Dependencies in which he is engaged And if so little can be said for this Horrid Fact when the most favourable Cases are put How detestable and impious must it needs be when Disgrace or Poverty Disappointments and Crosses Raging Passions and Repining at Providence prevail with Men to commit it For these are such Motives as no body ever undertook to justify and the Stoicks themselves who went the farthest in this matter yet stopp'd short of these and to speak the Truth even wavered in all the rest A more full account whereof I refer my Reader for to Lipsii Manuduc ad Stoic Philosoph Lib. III. Cap. XXIII XXIV and for a larger discussion of this whole matter to Spanhem Disput Theolog. De Lib. Apocryph Authoritate Disp XIII XIV and Bishop Taylor 1. De Civ Cap XXVI Ductor Dubitant Book III. Chap. 2. Rule 3. From all which compared St. Augustin's determination I doubt not will seem most reasonable His exceptis quos vel Lex justa vel ipse Fons Justitiae Deus jubet occidi quisquis Hominem vel seipsum vel quemlibet occiderit Homicidij crimine innectitur Those only excepted whom either a just Law or God himself who is the Fountain of all Justice shall command to put to Death whosoever shall kill any Person be it himself or any other Man he becomes thereby guilty of Murther and is Answerable for his Blood Of WISDOM The Third BOOK In which Particular Rules are laid down and Directions for the several Parts and Offices of Wisdom branched out under Four General Heads as they have relation and are reducible to the Four Cardinal Virtues The PREFACE OVR Design in this Last Part of the present Treatise being to give the Reader the most particular Instructions we can possibly and so to follow and compleat the General Rules of Wisdom touched upon in the Book foregoing the most Convenient and Methodical way of proceeding seemed to me to range all I have to say under the Four great Moral Virtues of Prudence Justice Fortitude and Temperance Since these are of a comprehension so large that it is almost impossible to instance in any Duty of Morality or Practical Religion which is not directly contained or may very fairly be reduced within the compass of them Prudence supplies the place of a Director and Governor it instructs Vs in other Virtues and is the Guide of our Life and all the Actions of it though indeed it be more peculiarly concerned in matters of Dealing and good Conduct and its strict proper Notion is Dexterity in the Management of Business Now as This regards Actions so Justice which is the next is chiefly concerned about Persons for the Province of Justice is to render to every Man his due Fortitude and Temperance have respect to the Events of Human Life the Prosperous and Adverse such as move our Passions and are matter of Joy or Grief of Pleasure or Pain to us Now it is plain that these Three Persons and Actions and Contingencies extend to all the parts of Human Life and our Condition and Dealings in the World cannot possibly oblige us to be conversant with or employ'd about any thing whatsoever which is not comprehended under One or Other of these Considerations CHAP. I. Of Prudence in general THere is great Reason It s Excellence why Prudence should have the first and most honourable place alotted to it because it is really the Queen of Virtues the general Superintendent that presides over and gives directions to all the Rest Where this is wanting there can be no such thing as Goodness or Beauty Propriety or Decency It is the very Salt of Life the Lustre and Ornament of all our Actions That which recommends them to the Eye and gives them that Seasoning and Relish which is necessary 'T is the Square and Rule by which all our Affairs ought to be measured and adjusted and in one Word This is the Art of Acting and Living as the Science of Physick is the Art of Health Prudence consists in the Knowledge and the Choice of those things Definition which it concerns us to desire or to decline It is a just and true Valuation first and then a picking and culling out the best It is the Eye that sees every thing and conducts our Motions and Steps accordingly The Parts or Offices of it are Three and these all naturally consequent and in order after one another The First is Consulting and Deliberating well the Second Judging and Resolving well the Third Managing and Executing those Resolutions well It is very deservedly esteemed an Universal Virtue 'T is Universal because of a Comprehension so general so vast that all manner of Actions and Accidents belonging to Humane Life are within its Extent and Jurisdiction and This not only considering them in the gross but each of them singly and in particular So that This is as infinite as all those Individuals put together You cannot wonder if the next Property I assign to it be that of Difficult Difficult the infinite Compass I have already mentioned must needs make it so For Particulars as they cannot be positively numbred so they cannot be fully understood It is a standing Rule * Si quae siniri non possâ—nt extra sapiâ—ntiam sunt That whatever is infinite exceeds the Bounds of Wisdom But that which adds yet more to the Hardship is the great Uncertainty and Inconstancy of Human Affairs which is still rendred more intricate and unaccountable by the inexpressible Variety of Accidents Circumstances Appurtenances Dependencies and Consequences the Difference of Times and
the Persons and Business we are engaged with Secondly Estimating things according to their real worth Thirdly The choosing in consequence of such Valuation Fourthly Asking Advice upon every Undertaking Fifthly A just Temper between the two Vicious Extremes of Confidence and Making sure of all on the one hand and Fear and Despondency on the other Sixthly Taking things in their due season and laying hold on Opportunities when they offer Seventhly Managing one's self rightly between Industry and Fortune ascribing to each the Efficacy that belongs to it and discharging Our part accordingly The Eighth and Last is Discretion in the practice and ordering of all the rest for this must go quite through and no one part can be what it ought without it These were sufficient for my purpose at that time but now I am engaged in another Method and the design of this Third Part cannot be answer'd without descending to Particulars Here therefore I shall treat of Prudence according to the Distinctions just now specified and First of All of that which is Publick or Policy as it relates to Persons and then as it concerns the Affairs that come under its Care Of the Policy fit for a Sovereign Prince in the Administration of Government The Preface THE Instructions I am bere about to give are design'd it be useful to Sovereign Princes and Governors of States Their Transactions and Methods are indeed in their own Nature Vncertain Vnlimited Difficult to be known and practised and the Rules necessary for their high Station next to impossible to be cast into any certain Form or prescribed and determined in particular Precepts But however we must try if we can a little clear this matter and make it in any degree more easie and practicable What is proper to be said upon this Subject may be reduc'd to two General Heads wherein the two Great Duties of a Sovereign consist The First comprehends under it all those principal Pillars by which the State is supported and treats of Parts of Governments so essential to the Publick that they are the very Nerves and Bones of this Body Politick its Sense its Motion its Form is lost with and preserved by them and these the Prince is in a special manner concerned to take care that Himself and the State be constantly well furnished with The Chief of them I think are these Seven 1. A true Vnderstanding of his Government the People and their Constitution 2. Personal Virtue 3. Behaviour and Address 4. Counsellors 5. Publick Treasures 6. Men and Arms. And 7. Alliances The Three first are in his own Person the Next in himself and those near his Person and the Three last are more at a distance from him The Second General Head consists in Action in carefully employing and making the best Advantage of the foremention'd Means that is in one Word but that a very comprehensive one in Governing well and keeping up his Honour and Authority yet so as at the same time to secure the Affection and good Vnderstanding both of his own Subjects and strangers But to speak more distinctly and particularly this Part is Twofold Civil and Military Thus you have in a very summary and general way the whole Scheme of Government laid before you at once Thus is the Work cut out and the first rude Lines drawn of what the following Chapters must attempt to finish and fill up For the better Convenience then of the Reader and my self I will according to what hath been here propos'd divide this Subject of Policy or Prudence in Government into Two parts The First shal be the Provisionary Part or the Care of being furnish'd with these seven Necessary Advantages The Second and That which presupposes the former already to be done shall be the Administration or Management of the Prince This Subject hath indeed had great Right done to it by Lipsius already who wrote an excellent Treatise in a method peculiar to himself but the Substance of it you will find all transplanted hither I have not at all bound my self to his Order as appears by this general Division already laid down and will more plainly be seen in the following parts of this Discourse nor have I taken the whole of him but have left part of what was his behind and added to it what I thought fit besides CHAP. II. The First Branch of Policy or Prudence in Government which is the Provisionary Part. THE First thing requisite upon this occasion Knowledge and That which must lead the way to all the rest is a due Knowledge of the State or Government For in all manner of Prudence the leading Rule is Knowledge and he who is defective in this Qualification is thereby rendred utterly incapable of all besides as hath already been intimated in the Second Book For whoever undertakes any sort of Action or Management must begin with informing himself what his Business is and with whom it lies And therefore this Prudence which undertakes to order and dispose whole Nations and Kingdoms and whose peculiar Excellence and Commendation lies in the dexterity and skill of Governing and Administring the Affairs of the Publick to the best advantage is manifestly a Relative Virtue and the Terms of this Relation whose Concern in this case is reciprocal are the Sovereign and his Subjects The first step then toward discharging this Duty is a right understanding of the Parties that is of the People and their Subjection on the one hand and the Supreme Authority of the Prince on the other for both these I include in the Knowledge of the Government First then A Man in that elevated Post should apply himself to Study and understand the Humour and Complexion of the People For this Knowledge will be a very great direction and model the Person to whose Governance they are committed What the Disposition of the Common People is in general hath been at large explain'd in the First Book and their Picture drawn at full length There we observ'd that their Reigning Qualities are Fickleness and Inconstancy A Spirit of Faction and Discontent of Impertinence and Folly Love of Vanity and Change Insolence and insupportable Pride in Prosperity Cowardice and Dejection of Mind in Adversity But besides these Characters which are common to Persons of that Condition every where a Man must be still more particularly instructed in the Temper and Complexion of that Country and those Subjects where himself is concern'd For the Dispositions of Men differ extremely and are almost as various as the Towns wherein they dwell or the Persons that inhabit them Some Nations are in a peculiar and distinguishing manner Passionate or Cholerick Bold and Warlike Cowardly or Luxurious addicted to Extravagance to Wine to Women Laborious or Slothful Frugal or Expensive And of those who agree in these Qualities there is a difference in the measure in Some they are more and in Others less predominant So necessary is that Rule * Noscenda Natura Vulgi
Prince to accept what Relief they are capable of contributing toward it at least it is fit that these extraordinary Taxes should be limited to a certain Term that they do not pass into constant Payments things of Course and Continuance and that the Subjects never be prescribed to in these Cases without their own Approbation and Consent A Third Course to qualifie these Impositions would be to lay them not upon Persons but Estates that Men may pay for what they have and not for what they are For a Poll-tax hath every where been looked upon as the most odious of any it being indeed by no means just that all should be levelled where Fortune hath made so vast a difference and while the Men of Wealth and Honour and Noble birth pay little or nothing that the greatest part of the Duty should rise upon poor Country People who work hard for their Living But especially should all possible care be taken in the Fourth place that such Subsidies should be levy'd fairly and equally For the being rack't and screw'd above one's proportion is a very grating and intolerable thing and breeds more murmuring and Contention than the Charge it self Now in order to bring every body in to bear a part in this common Burden it will be convenient to tax such Provisions with it as all Mankind have occasion for and must make use of Such as Salt and Drink and the like for thus the Excise will be universal and every Member of the Publick Body will be inexcusably obliged to contribute something to the Publick Necessity Besides these indeed there may and it is but reasonable there should be constant and heavy Incumbrances laid upon such Commodities whether Foreign or Domestick as are vicious in their use and tend only to debauch the Subject and thus all those things manifestly do which serve only for Luxury and vain Pomp such as are purchased at dear Rates merely out of extravagant Humour or useless Curiosity all superfluous State in Diet Clothes Equipage the Instruments of Pleasure Corrupters of Manners and whatever contributes to a Licentious way of Living And the loading such things with such Impositions as shall make them yet more expensive may possibly prove the best Method to discourage the use of them For Men in the midst of Luxury will sometimes be content to save their Purses and abstain upon a Consideration of Tenderness in that respect when their Consciences would be so far from being restrain'd by Laws that a positive Prohibition would rather set a sharper Edge upon their Appetite and make them but so much more impatient and eager to come at these things The Second Branch of this Science relating to the Publick Treasures is the taking good Care that they be well employ'd The using the Treasure well And to this Purpose I will here lay down a short account of the several Heads of Expence upon which a Prince must necessarily and ought in Duty to make use of them Such are There Subsistence and honourable Salaries of the Houshold the Pay of the Soldiers the Wages of Officers of all sorts the just Rewards of such as by their good Services have merited of the Publick The Pensions and charitable Relief extended to those who come well recommended and are proper Objects of his Royal Bounty and Compassion These Five are constant and unavoidable Occasions But then there are others too very useful and fitting tho' not so absolutely and always necessary such as the Reparation of old decay'd Towns strengthening the Frontiers of his Country amending the High-ways and making Roads as direct and convenient as the Condition of the Place will bear keeping up Bridges and all other necessary Accommodations for Travellers founding Colleges for the study and improvement of Learning and Religion and Virtue Building and Endowing Hospitals for distressed and disabled People and erecting Publick Halls and other Structures that are for the Honour and Service of the State These sorts of Repairs and Fortifications and Foundations are of excellent use and advantage besides the Profit which immediately redounds to the State in general by their means For by promoting such Designs Art is encouraged and improved Workmen are kept in Employment the People are highly contented and pleased and a great part of that Grudging and Repining usual to the Commonalty is prevented and cured when they see their Taxes converted to so good uses and The Benefit comes back to them again But especially these two great Banes of any Commonwealth are by this means utterly banished the Plague of Idleness and the Scandal of Poverty and Beggery Whereas on the contrary the consuming the Publick Wealth in extravagant Gifts to some particular Favourites in stately but unnecessary Buildings or in other vain Expences for which there is no need and whereof there can be no use draws a general Odium and Indignation For the Subjects cannot bear to think that so many Thousand should be stripped to clothe and make one Man sine that another should strut and look big with their Money and that the great Houses should be built with their Blood and the Sweat of their Brows For such as these are the grumbling Terms in which the Vulgar when provoked to discontent murmur out their Resentments and nothing touches them so near as Money and a Notion of Extravagance and Wastfulness in the Disposal of their Taxes The Third and Last Part of this Advice consists in taking care to have a good Supply in reserve for any extraordinary Exigence that may happen Saving That so in Cases of necessity a Prince may not be driven to sudden and unjust Remedies nor use Violence upon others to help himself This Store thus laid up and frugally managed for the Prince to draw out as he sees sit is the common Notion of the Exchequer Now in the management of this Article there are two Extremes which must be both avoided because each of them is of very dangerous Consequence to the Person that falls into it The One is That of immoderate Greediness in amassing prodigious Summs for such Treasures tho' got by Methods never so just and honourable are not always the most for a Prince's Security when they are out of measure They really very often involve him in Wars either by putting him upon Oppressing and invading his weaker Neighbours in confidence of hisown Strength and tha the longest Purse will be sure to carry it at last or else they are a Bait to some Enemy to fall upon Him And threfore it is much more for the Safety and Advantage as well as for the Honour of a King to convert them to such uses as have been already mentioned than to let them grow exorbitantly great upon hishands and so either tempt the Owner to Insolence or expose him for a Prey to those who want such Prize The Other Extreme is spending all and keeping nothing to help at a Pinch and This is worse than the Former for such a
account of these Three things it is scarce possible to avoid the being frequently at a loss and making a great many false Steps And accordingly we find that Princes of the justest Renown and most celebrated in Story for their Wisdom and Policy have constantly taken this Method and felt the Convenience of it as Augustus and Tiberius for instance Vespasian and Trajan Adrian and the Antonines A Third Rule may be This That in regard One of the most material Parts of the Royal Character consists in distinguishing the deserts of Men and assigning Rewards and Punishments accordingly and in consideration That the One of these is extraordinary graceful and recommends him to their Affection The Other naturally disgusting and what will be sure to draw a great Odium upon the Instrument of it Therefore the Distribution of Rewards thou'd be reserved to himself Honours and Estates Offices and Preferments Privileges and Pensions Exemptions and Immunities Restitutions and Pardons and in a word every thing of Grace and Favour should come immediately from his own Hand But every thing that is grievous and grating should be turn'd over to some other Hand And therefore inferior Officers are more properly made use of for pronouncing Sentences of Condemnation imposing Fines levying of Forfeitures making Distresses and executing all manner of Penalties For tho' it be true that all Matters of this Nature depend upon the same Authority and it is virtually the Prince that does them yet it is certain from Experience and the common Sense of Mankind that This is not so duly consider'd but that it leaves a particular Grudge behind and creates angry Resentments against that very Person who is the next and immediate Actor tho' he be in reality never so passive in the thing In the Distribution of Rewards and Gratuities and other Marks of Favour of the like Nature this farther Intimation may not be unseasonable That a Prince upon such Occasions should shew himself forward and free he should if it be possible even prevent the Receiver's Expectations and give unasked and not defer the matter so long till he bring himself under a necessity of denying any Applications made to him for them He should likewise give in Person when that can be done conveniently or order them to be given in his Presence and with some particular Expressions of his Favour and Esteem For all these Circumstances are wonderfully engaging they add to the intrinsick value of the Gift make it more welcome and more effectual to all the purposes it can be capable of serving Besides that in observing this Method Two mighty Inconveniences will be avoided which do really diminish in a great measure if not quite defeat absolutely the Acknowledgments due to Persons of Honour and Desert One is that of a tedious Attendance the Difficulty and intollerable Expence they are forced to be at in obtaining the Advantages which are really intended them and thought to be very justly conferred and This to Men of Eminence and Spirit is a great Grievance and grates very hard The Other is That after the Prince hath actually bestowed the Gift and declared his Pleasure in it the Forms of the Grant and the Delays and indirect Dealings of the Officers thro' whose Hands it must pass do so inflame the Reckoning that before a Man can be dispatched and come into actual Possession of his own it costs him at least half what the thing is worth nay sometimes the full value or more and when all Charges come to be computed he hath the Name only but receives nothing or something he had better have been without than have spent his Interest and Money and Time for that which turns to so very poor Account We come now to that part of the Administration which is Military and This every Man easily sees to be necessary for the Defence and support both of Prince and People and preserving the Order and Honour of any Government And therefore I shall treat of it with all the Brevity that the Subject will bear Now the whole of what is Proper to be said upon it may be reduc'd to Three Heads The engaging in a War at first the Carrying it on when begun and the Putting an End to it 1. For the engaging in a War Two Preliminaries are Necessary Of Military Affairs Justice and Prudence and consequently the Two Vices opposite to These by all Means to be avoided which are Injustice and Rashness First of all It is necessary that the War be Just for Justice ought to march in the Head and lead Courage on to Actions as Counsel and Deliberation ought to go before the Execution of the Design And therefore such Maxims as these though common in every Bodies Mouth are yet most Wicked and Abominable That Right is always on the strongest Side That the Success will determine the Cause That the longest Sword will carry it For certainly the Goodness of any Cause is not to be measur'd by the Event but by the Equity and the Reasonableness that is at the Bottom of it And though War be a Thing of Violence and Force and the Decisions of it very distant from the Method of determining civil Controversies yet even War it self is not utterly Lawless but hath its Rules and Measures to be observed as well as Peace Almighty God who calls himself the Lord of Hosts and God of Battles does favour just Wars in a peculiar Manner it is He who disposes of Victories and casts the Scale as he in his infinite Wisdom sees fit But it is the Duty of every Prince to qualifie himself for that Favour and as much as may be to engage Providence on his Side and the first of those Qualifications is the Justice of the Undertaking To pick Quarrels therefore and * Non ex omni occasione quaerere triumphum commence a War upon every Occasion is what can never be answered The Itch of Honour and Triumph will bear no Monarch out in it And therefore such ought to take good Heed that Ambition and Avarice and Passion be not too busie upon these Occasions which yet if a Man may be allowed to speak the Truth freely are it is to be feared the great Incendiaries of the World and generally at the Bottom of such Undertakings †Una ea vetus causa bellandi est profunda cupido Imperii divitiarum maximam gloriam in maximo Imperio putant Rupere foedus impius lucri furor ira praeceps One and that indeed the unusual and ancient Cause of War is the insatiable Thirst of Riches and Dominion That Abyss of Avarice and Ambition which measures the Greatness of a Prince's Glory by the Extent of his Territories and Enlargement of his Conquest The Raging Desire of Gain and the Rash Heat of Anger are the Disturbers of Peace and Violaters of Leagues and Treaties Now to make a War just and in all Points what it ought to be A just War what Three Things
Passions in their Conversation but carry themselves Modestly and Decently and reserve their Warmth for times of Action or 'till some very just Occasion happens to call for it They should not be Pert nor Forward nor Officiously thrust themselves upon Business till they are required and in some measure importuned nay compelled to it For in such Circumstances no Man can be active without Odium and therefore it is sufficient that we obey our Call and follow Duty without being so eager as to run before it and start of our own accord But when we are called and must act then we should take Care to render the Execution of our Duty as little invidious as may be to do all with such Temper and Tenderness that the Storm may fly over our Heads and no angry Resentments or infamous Reflections remain behind never inflaming or in any Degree encouraging much less allowing our selves in the Commission of those abominable Outrages and Insolences usual upon such Occasions but employing our utmost endeavour to mollisie and sweeten Men to divert them from Injurious and Disorderly Methods and by all imaginable Arts trying to elude and break all Designs of this Nature Those who have not declared themselves openly by actually engaging in any Party whose Circumstances with regard to the Easiness and Tranquility of them are without doubt much to be preferred before the former Those I say who have given the World no visible and authentick Testimony of their Affections to one or other Party though at the same time they may in their Own Breasts be much more inclined and wish better to the one than the other ought not to continue in a State of absolute Neutrality My Meaning is that they should not express a perfect Indifference how Matters go and have no Sollicitude beyond their own private Affairs for This is to sit like Spectators at a Play-House and entertain themselves with the Tragical Misfortunes of other People which is a Coldness highly Criminal where the Peace and Welfare of our Country lie at Stake Such regardless Men as these are justly detested by all Sides and if their own Personal Safety be what they aim at the Imagination is very vain for no sort of People run a greater Risque nor are worse treated than They. We see what was the Fate of Thebes in the War with Xerxes Judg. 21.8 and of the Inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead in the time of the Israclitish Judges Livy hath observed very justly to this Purpose that * Neutralitas nec Amicos parit nec Inimicos tollit Neutrality never makes one Friend the more nor one Enemy the less It is indeed neither just nor becoming and can never look well or be so except with Allowance of the Parties concerned We see therefore what different Measures the Two great Roman Generals took in this Respect Caesar declared that he took it for granted all that stood Neuter were His Friends Pompey declared he looked upon all such as His Enemies In a Stranger indeed this is very allowable for he is under no Obligation to meddle in the Concerns of a Country that is none of his own and so it is likewise in Persons whose Eminent Character and Quality may make it beneath them to become Parties in such Differences which they ought rather to be adressed to us Umpires and Mediators to determine Nor may Men much less indeed may they shew themselves sickle and inconstant sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other changing their Shape like Proteus and in the worst Sense of the Words becoming All things to all Men. These are Mungrels and as such an odious and despicable Breed worse than the former who continue in a State of Neutrality and more offensive to All while they make it their Business to please and be more agreeable to All. For every man ought to act upon Principles and to stick to something But though Men ought to incline to one side in their Wishes and Affections because Wishes and Affections are entirely our own yet in their Actions and Deportment the Case is otherwise these are what others have some Right and Interest in and therefore so far as relates to Conversation these ought to be extended to all Parties in Common There is a Title antecedent to all these accidental Differences and Divisions which they cannot disannul and therefore we are bound to be offensive injurious rude and unconversable to none but to do Offices of Kindness and Courtesie and common Humanity to every Body notwithstanding any Contrariety of Interests and Opinions And thus far at least all should agree to lament and as much as in them lies to heal the publick Breaches and Misfortunes Such Persons secure themselves from all the Inconveniences mentioned before they create no new Enemies and they lose none of their old Friends These are Persons of a Temper fit to be employed as Mediators and the most likely of any to succeed in bringing Matters to a fair and amicable Composition which Those who endeavour do yet better and are more serviceable than They who content themselves with Expressions of Courtesie and common Friendship to Men of all Parties indifferently So then It appears upon the whole Matter that there may be Four sorts of Persons who are not actually engag'd in any Party Two of which are Blameable and these are the Neuters or Indifferent and the Veering or Unsteady the other Two are useful and commendable and These are the Conversable or Courteous to All without Distinction and the Mediators in Order to Agreement But still in each of these Kinds One exceeds the other the Inconstant Man exceeds in Blame above the Neuter and the Mediator in Merit and Commendation above the Common Friend Of those that declare and act openly there are likewise Two sorts with the same Differences the Eager and Violent and the Moderate and Well-Temper'd SECT XIII Of Private Differences and Disorders IT may very reasonably be expected that I should not dismiss this Head of Prudence without speaking to one very frequent Difficulty more which is How Men ought to behave themselves in the Quarrels or Misunderstandings of private Persons and particular Families And here One is to consider both what is most convenient for his own Affairs and what can in reason be expected from him If the Persons thus at Enmity be such as have no indispensable Tie upon him he may very fairly keep in with them both and tho' perhaps he cannot love or approve of both alike yet he may and will do well to be obliging and kind to both and give just Offence to neither It is great Imprudence in these Cases to engage so far with One Side that they shall expect to have us entirely to themselves and think us bound in Honour and Friendship to espouse all their Interests and make all their Resentments our own And therefore the better way will be to keep upon the Reserve to be content with a moderate Share
to her former Circumstances Whether she did or did not bring a Fortune That alters not the Case one whit such Considerations are quite out of Doors and nothing now lies before him but the present Relation between them He is indeed to be governed by his own Abilities and will do well to secure the main Chance but then all the Frugality upon this Account must extend to the retrenching his own Expences too For whatever Figure he allows himself to make his Wife ought to be supported Suitably and in Proportion to it 3. The providing her with Clothes which is a Right so undoubted that all Laws concur in giving a Wife this Privilege and that in so Solemn and Incommunicable a manner that they have denied the Husband a Power of disposing any thing of this Kind away from her and have not left them liable to the Payment of his just Debts 4. The Rights of the Bed 5. The Loving Cherishing and Protecting her Those Two Extremes which the World are apt to run into are Vicious and Abominable The keeping them under and treating them like Servants and the submitting to them as if they were absolute Mistresses These I take to be the principal and constant Duties Others there are Accidental and Occasional Duties secondary to and consequent upon the former Such as Taking Care of her if she be sick Ransoming her if she be taken Captive Burying her Honourably and according to her Quality if she happen to die and Making Provision by his last Will for her decent Support in her Widowhood and the comfortable Subsistence of the Children she hath brought him The Duties of the Wife are to pay all becoming Honour and Reverence and Respect to her Husband Wive's Duty looking upon him as a kind and Affectionate Master Accordingly the Scripture takes Notice that Women eminent for their Conjugal Virtues used to call their Husbands Lord and it is observable that the same Word in the Hebrew Tongue signifies Lord and Husband both The Imagination that a Woman lessens her self by this respectful and submissive Behaviour is most Frivolous and Foolish for she that discharges this part of her Duty well consults her own more than her Husband's Honour and she that is Insolent and Imperious Humoursome and Perverse does the greatest Injury to her self A Second Duty is Obedience to all his lawful and just Command's complying with his Humours and bringing over her own Inclinations to His For a good and a prudent Wife is like a true Glass which makes an exact Reflection of the Face that looks in it She should have no Design no Passion no Thought particular to her self but to be sure none in Opposition to His. Like Dimensions and Accidents which have no Motion no separate Existence of their own but constantly move with and subsist in the Body whereunto they belong so Wives should always keep close and be from the very Heart and even Affections of their Souls entirely and inseparably united to their Husbands A Third is Service That part especially which relates to the providing him seasonable and Necessary Refreshments over-looking the Kitchin ordering the Table and not disdaining to do any Offices or give him any kind of Assistance about his Person a Duty so fit to be condescended to that the Antients were wont to reckon Washing the Feet in particular among the Instances of Service due from the Wife to her Husband Fourthly Keeping much at Home upon which Account a Wife is compar'd to a Tortoise that carries her House upon her Back and used heretofore to be painted with her Feet Naked an Emblem of her not being provided for stirring abroad This is a modest and decent Reserve requisite at all Times but more especially in the Absence of her Husband For a good Wife is the exact Reverse of the Moon she shines abroad and in full Lustre when near her Sun but disappears and is totally invisible when at a Distance from him A Fifth is Silence for she should never give her self the Liberty of talking much except with her Husband or for him Here indeed her Tongue may take a Loose and is subject to no other Restraint than the speaking no more than is convenient This I confess is a very difficult Point hard of Digestion in this lavish Age where Multitude of Words sets up for a Female Virtue and so rare in all Ages Ecclus xxvi 14. that the Wise Son of Sirach calls a silent Woman a Precious and Particular Gift of God The Sixth is applying her self to Houswifery and good Management Prov. xxxi for though Solomon's Description of a wise and good Woman may be thought too Mean and Mechanical for this refined Generation yet certain it is that the Business of a Family is the most Profitable nay the most Honourable Study they can employ themselves in This is the Reigning Accomplishment That which so far as Fortune is concerned ought to be 〈◊〉 esteemed and regarded in the Choice of a Wife To 〈◊〉 the Truth This is a Fortune singly and by it self the Observation or the Neglect of it without the Addition of any Casualties is sufficient to ruine or to preserve nay to make a Family But This hath the Fate of all other Excellencies too which is to be exceeding rare and scarce There are I confess a great many sordid and scraping Wives but very few good Managers But alas there is a vast deal of Difference between Avarice and Parsimony and provident Care and good Houswifery As to the Enjoyments indulged in a Married State Men should always remember that this is a Chast a Pure and a Religious Union Consecrated to Excellent Mysteries and Holy Purposes and therefore that all the Pleasures of it should be used with Moderation and Sobriety In such Measures only as Prudence and Conscience would direct when consulted seriously and without any Byass from gross and carnal Affections And sure it would very ill become a Society instituted for mutual Comfort and the Advancement of Religion and the preservation of Purity to throw off all Restraint and convert their Privilege of Lawful Delights into an Occasion of abandoning themselves to Sensuality and Licentiousness This is One of those Cases where no certain Bounds can be prescribed but it will highly concern all Persons engaged in this State to consider the Dignity and the Design of it and to keep themselves under such Reserves as may neither profane the one nor evacuate the other CHAP. XIII Good Management THis is a very becoming and necessary Care An Employment not hard to be attained to every Man of common Discretion is capable of it But though the Art be easily learned the constant Exercise of it is Intricate and Laborious by Reason of that Great Variety of Business in which it engages us and though many Matters about which it is managed be small and inconsiderable in themselves yet the constant Succession of them is very troublesome Domestick Cares give great Uneasiness because
they allow of no Intermission but if the Difficulties are occasion'd by the principal Persons in the Family they fret and gall and wrankle inward and scarce admit of any Rest or Remedy The Best Method of rendring this Care easie and effectual is To procure some faithful Servants in whose Honesty we can have entire Confidence and Security To buy in Provisions in their proper Seasons and wait for the best Markets To prevent all unnecessary Waste which is the Province proper to the Mistress of the House To make Necessity and Cleanliness and Order our first Care and when These are served if our Circumstances will extend farther then to provide for Plenty and Shew and Niceness a gentile Appearance and every Thing fashionable in it's Kind To regulate our Expences by cutting off our Superfluous Charge yet so as to have a Regard to Decency and Convenience and grudge Nothing which either Necessity or Duty call for from us One Shilling saved with these Limitations will do us more Credit than Ten idly squandered away But to the avoiding Profuseness we should also add the other commendable Quality of good Contrivance for it is a Mark of great Address when we can make our Peny go a great Way and appear Handsomely with little Charge But above all things a Man must be sure to keep within Compass and sute his way of Living to his present Circumstances For the most probable Prospects are still but Futurities and as such they must needs be uncertain so that there cannot be a more ridiculous Folly than to spend high in Confidence of Reversions and distant Expectations A Master's Eye must be every where and if either He or the Mistress be ignorant and unexperienced in Business they must take Care to conceal this Infirmity and pretend at least to understand all that belongs to them But especially they must never appear Negligent or Remiss but put on an Air of Diligence and Concern however For if once the Servants get a Notion of their being Careless how their Affairs are managed they will not fail to take their Advantage and in a short Time leave them little or nothing to take Care of CHAP. XIV The Duty of Parents and Children THE Duty of Parents and Children is Reciprocal and Natural on both sides Thus far they both agree But if the Obligation be somewhat stricter on the Child's Part that Difference is compensated by being more Ancient on the Parents side For Parents are the Authors and first Cause and of the Two of much greater Consequence to the Publick The Peopling the World with Good Men and Good Patriots is their Work the Educacation and Instruction of Youth is the only Method of effecting it so that here the first Seeds of Political Societies and Institutions are first laid And of the Two Inconveniencies That is much less which the State suffers from the Disobedience and Ingratitude of Children toward their Parents than from the Remisness and Neglect Parents are guilty of toward their Children Hence in the Lacedoemonian and some other very wise Governments there were Mulcts and other Penalties inflicted upon Parents when their Children prov'd Perverse and Ill-tempered And Plato declared he knew no one Instance that needed a Man's Care more or deserved it better than the endeavouring to make a good Son And Crates in great Wrath expostulated thus with his Country-men To what Purpose is all this Pains to heap up great Estates while it is no part of your Concern what manner of Heirs you leave them to This is like a Man's being Nice of his Shooe and Negligent of his Foot What should a Man do with Riches who hath not the Sense nor the Hert to make a good Use of them This is like an embroidered Saddle and sumptuous Furniture upon a Jaded Horse Parents indeed are doubly obliged to the Performance of this Duty In Kindness to themselves as they are their own Offspring and in Regard to the Publick because these young Suckers are the Hopes of the Tree the promising Shoots upon the thriving and kindly cultivating whereof the Strength and Succession of the Body Politick depends So that this is killing Two Birds with One Stone serving one 's own private Interest and promoting the Welfare and Honour of one's Country at the same time Now this Duty consists of Four Parts each of which succeed in order to the other and these are proportion'd to the Four Advantages which Children ought to receive from their Parents in their proper Seasons Life and Nourishment Instruction and partaking of the Advantages of Life with them The First respects the Time of a Child's Existence till his Birth inclusively The Second his Infancy The Third his Youth and the Last his riper Age. Concerning the First of These I shall only say that though it be very little attended to yet is it of mighty Consequence and of strict Obligation For no Man who hath any the least Insight into Nature can be ignorant how hereditary Constitutions and Complexions are And therefore we may be good or ill Parents even before our Children are born And I am sure among other Inducements to the care of Health and a regular Way of living This ought not to be the least that Those who derive their Being from us do depend upon this Care for a great part of their Happiness For by what hath been largely discoursed in the first Book it may plainly appear that the Capacity and Turn of Men's Minds and the Soundness and Vigour of their Bodies are in great Measure owing to a Parents good Constitution And certainly To Men of any Conscience it should be an Eternal Sting and Reproach to reflect what Rottenness and Diseases they entail upon their Posterity by abandoning themselves to Lewdness and Debauchery how dearly those Innocents pay for their Ancestor's Excesses and what a Barbarity it is to send poor Wretches into the World to languith out a Life of Misery and Pain and suffer for Sins which they never committed So Necessary so Important a Virtue is Temperance to Successions and Families as well as to Mens own Persons So Mischievous is Vice and so Subtilly does it propagate its dismal Effects even to those that are yet unborn The Second of these Heads I leave to Physicians and Nurses and having thus briefly dispatch'd the Two First because somewhat foreign to our present Design and necessary to be mention'd only for the rendring this Division compleat I shall proceed to the Third which concerns the Instructing of them and is a Subject more worthy our serious Consideration So soon as the Child begins to move his Soul and the Faculties of That as well as the Organs of his Body shew that he is a Rational and not only a Living Creature Great Application should be used to form him well at first And this Care may be allowed to take Place about Four or Five Years Old for by that time The Memory and Imagination and some little Strokes
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
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
is a great deal of good as well as hurt in the thing For thus much may undoubtedly be alledged in its behalf that it is of very great advantage to the State since as the World now goes the generous and publick spirited Actions are most of them owing to it This pushes Men on to hazardous Attempts and thus we find it hath ever done for even among the Ancients it is not to be supposed that all their so much celebrated Heroes were acted by a truly Philosophical Spirit There were indeed your Socrates and Phocion and Aristides and Epaminondas your Cato's and Scipio's who seem to have been Charmed by the bright Ideas of Virtue without any the least mixture of additional and mercenary Considerations but then there were a great many more who were manifestly moved by other Springs such as Themistocles and Alexander and Caesar who courted Fame and were led on by the prospect of Greatness and Renown And though it be very true that the Gallant Exploits of such Persons when nicely examined and considered with regard to their proper Motives and the principles their Authors went upon be not strictly speaking the product of Virtue but of Ambition only yet still they must be acknowledged of general use and benefit and the consequences of them to the publick in all respects the very same as if the inducements had been the most refined and perfect that Humane nature is in any Case capable of Now besides the force of this Consideration to commend it the Philosophers have allowed it to be excusable at least upon two occasions the one is when the Actions it excites Men to are profitable and good but not in a degree of perfection eminent enough to pretend to the title of Virtuous because they lie in common to all Mankind and the good or ill dispositions of our minds incapacitate no person from excelling in them Of this kind particularly are Arts and Sciences Humane Inventions Military Courage and all manner of Industry in general The other is when we find it necessary to preserve the favour and good Opinion of some person upon whom our interest depends for though it be a standing rule in Philosophy never to make the Opinion of others the measure of our Behaviour yet there is this reserve and allowed Exception that we may govern our selves upon such principles to avoid the inconveniences which either the want or Contempt of other Men's approbation may happen to involve us in But indeed for a Man to practice Virtue merely upon this account and aim at Honour and Reputation as if this were the proper wages and recompence of doing well is not only a very vain and erroneous but a most dangerous and destructive principle This were a horrible disparagement indeed that Virtue should be rendered so precarious as to derive all its value from hence and to engage our Affections upon no better Considerations than what are drawn from the judgment of the World Every body must needs discern the courseness of this Alloy and that such payment ought not to pass upon us Virtue certainly is not yet so debased as to go a begging and desiring testimonials for a subsistance This reward is much below her seeking and therefore we should so fix our minds with true and noble Ideas of her and settle our affections so firmly upon the thing it self that this accidental lustre of the honours attending her may not dazle the Eyes of Reason but leave us still the Discretion to make a difference between receiving these as acknowledgments due for our good Actions and propounding them to our minds as the end and adequate Reward of them So shall we be established upon a true bottom and proceed upon resolutions sincere and immovable such as will stand like so many Barriers about the Soul and guard it against the vain assaults of vanity and Ambition and every mean and selfish inducement A Man should be thoroughly perswaded of the sufficiency and self-satisfaction of Virtue that it asks no Nobler a Theatre to represent its excellency in than one 's own Gonscience this is spectator and audience enough and if this applaud the Action the matter is not great who discommends it The higher the Sun is above the Horizon the less shadow it casts and the more Sublime any Man's Virtue is the less affectation of Honour and Fame it is attended with Nor is the similitude improper if we consider the nature of the thing For Glory is in earnest a very shadow it follows those that flie from it and runs away from those that pursue it We should always remember who sent us hither and what we are doing That Life is a Play where the parts are infinitely various but no Man chooses what he will act he acquits himself well who studies the humour of the part assigned him and performs it agreeably to its Character or as Epictetus says upon another occasion that we live in this World as People sit at an Entertainment where every well mannered Man will be content to feed upon that Dish which the Master of the Feast helps him to without reaching over the Table and scrambling and snatching from other People's Plates If then a Preferment or some Office of Honour and Trust be offered to us if we are capable of discharging it let us accept it gladly but modestly too and let us do the duty of it faithfully and sincerely assuring our selves that God hath set us our Post and that by committing to us a publick Trust he expects we should stand Centry and be continually upon the Guard that by our vigilant care those who are committed to our charge may sleep securely And for all this Laborious Attendance let us propose no other Recompence or Commendation than that only of our own Consciences and the sweet satisfactions of doing what becomes us or if others do as without question they will see and approve our Good works let us desire that the Testimony of our having done well may be graven in the Hearts of our Countrey rather than published by Statues and pompous Frontispieces and long flattering Inscriptions In a word let this be a Principle with us that the Fruit of noble generous Actions cannot possibly be lost that the glory of having done them is an ample Compensation And that when Virtue descends to go out of her self and look abroad for a Reward she undervalues her own worth and must take up with things beneath her To despise Greatness and expose the vanity of setting our Hearts upon it is no such mighty matter He that loves himself and can make any tolerable Judgment of Happiness will be content with a moderate and easie Fortune the Stations that are at the top of Mankind as they excell in Dignity so they exceed in Harms and Difficulty and Trouble and those that are at the very bottom tormented with Poverty and anxious uncertainties of Subsistence are equally to be declined Here is too much Business or too
hath disposed and as it were out out sor Virtue this Man is well born indeed For the Man wants nothing else to make him Noble who hath a Mind so generous that be can rise above and triumph over Fortune let his Condition of Life be what it will But these Two kinds dwell most amieably together and often meet in the same Person Both together as indeed there seems a great Aptitude and Disposition for them to do and when they center thus in one Person then the Nobility is perfect and complete The Natural is an Introduction an Occation a Spur to the Personal for all things have a strong tendency and very easily revere to their first and natural Principle And as the Natural first took its Origine and Existence from the Personal so it inclines and leads the Persons so descended to imitate nay to emulate the Glories of their Noble Progenitors The Seeds of Virtue and Honour are in them already * Fortes creantur Fortibus Bonis c. Horat. Ode 4. Lib. 4. In Sons Their Father's Virtues shine And Souls as well as Faces keep the Line This one Advantage is observable in being Nobly born that it makes Men sensible they are ally'd to Virtue and lays strong Obligations upon them not to degenerate from the Excellencies of their Ancestors And sure there cannot be a more forcible Motive to spur and quicken Men in the pursuit of Glory and the attempting Great and Noble Actions than the being conscious to Themselves that they are come out of the Loins of those very Persons who have behaved themselves gallantly served their King and Country and been eminent and useful in their Generations Is it possible Men can please Themselves with these Reflections to feed their Vanity as it is manifest they do and not think at the same time how vile and reproachful it is in Them to bastardize and bely their Race to serve only as a Foil to their Forefather's Virtues and cast back Darkness and Disgrace upon the Lustre of their Memories Nobility granted by the particular Patent and partial Favour of a Prince without any Merit to give a Title to it and neither personal Accomplishments nor an Antient Family to support and set it off is rather a Blemish and Mark of Shame than of Honour It is a poor pitiful Parchment-Nobility bought to supply a needy King or to feed a hungry Courtier the Price of Silver and Gold or the effect of Countenance and Access not the purchase of Blood and Sweat as such Honours ought to be But if it be granted for any singular Desert and signal good Services then it falls not within the compass of this Notion but is to be reputed personal and acquired and hath a Right to all those Privileges and Commendations which were said to belong to that sort of Nobility before CHAP. LX. Of Honour IT is the Notion of some but a very mistaken Notion sure it is That Honour is the proper Price and Recompense of Virtue Others have a little corrected this Notion by calling it the Acknowledgment of Virtue in the Persons to whom we pay it or the Prerogative of a good Opinion first and then of those outward Respects whereby we testisie that good Opinion for it is most certainly a Privilege that derives its Essence and Nature Principally from Virtue Others call it Virtue 's Shadow which follows or goes before it as the Shadow does the Substance and Body from whence it is reflected But to speak more properly it is the Splendor or Fame of brave and virtuous Actions darted out from the Soul upon the Eyes of the World and then rebounding back again upon our selves by that Demonstration it gives of what others think of us and the mighty Satisfaction of the Mind resulting from this Sense of their Good Esteem Now Honour is so very highly esteemed so very eagerly sought that we generally balk no Difficulty to come at it We endure any thing for its sake despise every thing in Comparison of it even Life it self is not thought a Purchase too Dear to compass it And yet after All This is but a thin airy Business uncertain and sickle foreign and at some distance from the Person receiving it and the things for which it is paid It is not only not Essential to him not any part or Appurtenance of his Person and Substance but it searce ever comes home to him For generally speaking this Deference is given to Persons either Absent or Dead and if Living it is not accounted good Manners to praise them to their Faces so that it waits without and belongs to a Man's Name only which bears all his Commendations and Disgraces his Scandal and his Respects from whence one is said to bear a Good or Wicked Name Now the Name is no part of the Nature of the Thing but only the Image which gives us a Representation of it A Mark of Distinction to know it from other Things by In a Word somewhat that goes between the Essence of the Thing and the Honour or Dishonour belonging to it For it is applied to the Substance and whatever is said of it Good or Fad falls upon This and is born by it Now Honour before it rests upon the Name fetches a kind of Circular Flight and makes some stay upon the Action the Heart and the Tongue Whatever gallant commendable Action is Atchieved is as it were the Root the Source the Parent which gives birth and Being to Honour for iâ— truth Honour is nothing else but the Lustre and Resplendence of 〈◊〉 Gâ—rious or Benesicial or otherwise Noble Explâ—â—t Whatever Perfection a Thing hath in it self with Regard to its own Intrinsick Worth yet if it do not produce some Effect which is Excellent it is not capable of Honour but to all Intents and Purposes of this kind as if it had never been at all The next Advance is made into the Mind where it first begins to live and is form'd into good Opinions and Venerable Esteem Then it comes abroad in the last Place and rides Triumphant upon Men's Tongues and Pens and so reflects and returns back again upon the Name of the Person who did that Celebrated Action from whence it first set out As the Sun returns Daily to the Point from whence his Motion began and when it hath finish'd this Course it from thenceforch carries the Name of Honour Praise Glory Renown or the like But to what Sorts of Performances this Recompence is due hath been a Question much disputed Some Persons have delivered their Opinion that Honour does not only nor properly consist in a Man's behaving himself well where great and difficult Posts are to be filled and managed by him for every Man's Circumstances will not furnish him with Opportunities of weighty Administraions but in the faithful Discharge of the Duties of each Person 's particular Profession be the Capacity of the Man what it will For all Commendation is the Effect and
Reward of a Man's performing commendably that which is his proper Business to do Thus we find Reason and Common Sense determine us in publick Theatres which are but so many Images in little of this Great Theatre of the Universe The Condition and Splendor of the Character is not enquired into nor weighs at all with our Judgments but He who upon the Stage plays the Part of a Servant or Bussoon if he do it well and to the Life meets with as much Applause as if he had represented a General or an Emperour And he that cannot work in Gold if he shew the Perfection of his Art and carve the Postures and Proportions well in Copper or in Plaister is reputed a good Statuary because this Excellence depends not upon the Fineness or Value of the Materials but in the Skill shewed upon them But yet it seems more reasonable to think that Honour is an Advantage for something more Noble and Sublime than Ordinary and that no Actions but such only which have Difficulty or Danger in them can make just Pretensions to it Those that are but just what they ought to be such as our respective Stations require and proceeding from a Sense of Obligation and Duty cannot aspire to so great Worth nor put in for so ample a Reward a Reward which is disparaged by being made Common or Ordinary and not suited to all Degrees of Persons and Performances Thus every virtuous and chaste Wife and every Man of Integrity and good Conduct is not therefore a Person of Honour For there must go more than Probity to the denominating them so there must be Pains and Difficulty and Danger nay and some will tell you there must be somewhat of general Good and Advantage to the Publick to justifie that Character in its full and true Extent Let a Man's Actions be never so Good never so Useful if they be private and the Advantage redound to himself alone another sort of Payment belongs to them They will have the Approbation of his own Conscience they will procure the Love and Favour and good Word of his Neighbours and Acquaintance they will ensure his Safety and put him under the Protection of the Law but except the Influence and Advantage of them be large and diffusive they cannot come up to Honour for Honour is a publick Thing and implyes more of Dignity and comprehends Splendor and Noise Admiration and Common Fame in the Nature and Notion of it Others add farther that an Honourable Action must not be a part of our Duty but perfectly free and supererogating for if Men were obliged to it all â—retension to Honour is lost The Desire of Honour and Glory and a Sollicitous seeking the Approbation and good Opinion of Others is a very vicious violent and powerful Passion The Inordinacy whereof hath been sufficiently explained and proved already in the Chapter concerning Ambition Chap. xxii But as Bad as it is in it self it does great Service to the Publick For it restrains Mens Extravangancies and keeps them within the Bounds of Decency and Duty it awakens their sleeping Powers shakes off Sloth and kindles in them generous Desires inspires great Thoughts and Glorious Actions Not that it is much for their Credit to be acted and invigorated by so corrupt a Principle but rather a Testimony and strong Evidence of the Weakness and Poverty of our Nature and Condition who are thus forced to use and accept clipt and counterfeit Money in Payment when Standard and true Sterling cannot be had But for the Determining precisely in what Cases and how far this Passion is excusable and where it is to blame and must be rejected and disallow'd and for the making it manifest Book III. In the Virtue of Temperance Ch. XLII that Honour is not the proper Recompence of Virtue I must refer you to those Distinctions and Discourses upon it which will occur hereafter Of the Marks of Honour there is great Variety but the most desirable and charming are Those where there are no Mixtures of private Gain and Interest such as nothing can be drawn out of nor any Share lie in Common for the Advantage of a Vicious Man or of such low and inferiour People as shall pretend to serve the Publick by mean and dishonourable Offices The less of Advantage they bring with them the more Valuable they are And accordingly we find the Ancients infinitely fond of and with all their Industry and Pains aspiring after those which had nothing else to recommend them but purely their being Marks of Distinction and Characteristical Notes of Honour and Virtue Of this Nature in the several Republicks of old were the Garlands of Laurel and Oaken-Leaves and so are the particular Bearings in Coats of Arms at this Day added to the former Charges of the Field upon some special piece of Service distinct Habits and Robes the Prerogative of some Sirname as Africanus to Scipio and the like Precedence and Place in publick Assemblies and Orders of Knighthood It may also fall out that when a Man's Deserts are Notorious and Celebrated it shall be more for his Honour not to have these Ensigns and Marks than to have them And therefore Cato said well that it would make more for the Glory of his Name and Virtues that People should ask why the City had not erected a Statue to his Memory in the Forum than that they should enquire why they had done it CHAP. LXI Of Learning LEarning is without all Dispute a Noble and Beautiful Ornament an Instrument of exceeding use when in the Hands of one that hath the Skill to use it aright But what Place and Proportion it deserves in our Esteem is a Matter not so generally agreed upon And here as in all Cases of the like Nature Men fall into Extremes and are to blame in both Some in overvaluing and Others in disparaging and undervaluing it Some run it up to that Extravagant Height that they will not allow any other Advantage to come near or be thought comparable to it They look upon it as the Supreme Happiness a Ray and Efflux of the Divinity they hunt after it with Eagerness and insatiable Appetite with vast expence and indefatigable Labour and Pains and are content to part with Ease and Health and every Thing in exchange for it Others as much diminish and despise it treat Those with Scorn who make it their Business and Profession And when we have observed this of either side I suppose my Reader will make no Difficulty to allow that a Moderation between both is best most safe most just and reasonable I for my own part were I to execute the Herald's Office in this Dispute should think that Place is without all question due to Integrity and Prudence to Health and Wisdom and Virtue nay See Book III. ch 14. I should not scruple to give precedence to Skill and Dexterity in Business But then for Dignity and Noble Descent and Military Valour I