Law of Moses Deut. xxi which ordered the stubborn and Rebellious Son to be stoned upon the Complaint of the Parents without requiring any farther Proof of the Charge than their single Deposition and provided the Presence and Concurrence of the Magistrate not so much for Examination and Tryal of the Cause as to prevent the Privacy and Passion which might attend Domestick Punishments and so to render the thing more publick and the Vengeance more exemplary and full of Terrour to others And thus even according to the Mosaick Institution the Paternal Authority was more arbitrary and extensive than it came to be since the Time of the Roman Emperours But if we descend a little Lower and observe its Decrease under Constantine the Great then under Theodosius and at last under Justinian we shall find it almost totally extinct Hence it came to pass that Children took upon them to decline and peremptorily deny Obedience to their Parents to refuse them a Part in their Possessions nay not to allow them so much as convenient Maintenance and Relief in their Necessities Hence they had considence to enter Actions against them and implead them in Courts of Judicature and an indecent a most scandalous Thing in truth it is to observe how frequent such Suits have been Some have been so wicked or so mistaken as to excuse Themselves from Duty upon pretence of Religion and dedicate That to God which their Parents had a Right to as we find Our Blessed Saviour reproaches the Jews for doing Matt. xv and the manner he mentions it in shews plainly that this impious kind of Devotion was a Practice customary among them before his Time Since that some have acted after their Examples even in the Profession of Christianity and many have held it lawful to kill a Father in one's own Defence or in case he became a Publick Enemy to the State But sure if such Relations deserve Death it ought to be inflicted by some other Hand and heretofore it was receiv'd as a general Maxim and admits of scarce any Exception * Nullum tantum scelus admitti potest à patre quod parricidio sit vindicandum nullum scelus rationem habet That no Wickedness could be committed by a Father the Heinousness whereof would justifie Parricide to kill a Father is wicked and no Wickedness can be reasonable Now the Generality of the World doe not seem duly sensible of how mischievous Consequence to Mankind this Abatement and Abolition of the Paternal Authority hath prov'd The Governments under which it was kept up and vigorously exerted have flourish'd and contain'd their Subjects in strict Duty If upon any Occasion it had been found by Experience too sharp and exorbitant prudent Care might have been taken to regulate and bring it under convenient Restraints But utterly to disannul and destroy it is by no means agreeable to Decency or Virtue and least of all to the Advantage of the Publick For when once the Reins are let loose and Countenance is given to Disobedience in private Families it quickly grows to a general Spirit of Faction and Disorder and Ungovernable Insolence and the casting off the Yoke of the Natural Parents is a bold and dangerous Step toward Rebellion against the Civil The Effect whereof hath been abundantly seen in the many Inconveniences which Governments have suffer'd upon the Relaxation or utter Rescinding of this Authority whereby in the Event they only clipt their own Wings and encourag'd Enemies and Insurrections against Themselves as was said just now The Reciprocal Duties of Parents and Children will be treated of Book III. Chap. 14. CHAP. XLVIII Of Lords and their Slaves Masters and Servants THE making use of Slaves and the Power of Lords or Masters over them The use of Slaves universal but unnatural tho' it hath been a thing receiv'd and practis'd in all Places and all Ages of the World excepting that it was considerably abated for about Four Hundred Years but now it hath since revived and obtain'd again Yet I cannot forbear looking upon it as a Monstrous Custom and highly reproachful to Humane Nature Since Brutes have nothing of this Kind among Them nor do They either compel their Fellows by Violence and Fraud or voluntarily submit themselves to Captivity This seems rather then to have been dispens'd with than approv'd by the Law of Moses But even this Indulgence accommodated to the Necessities of that People and the Hardness of their Hearts was not so rigorous as the Practice of other Places for neither was the Power so absolute nor the Slavery perpetual but the One confin'd to Rules and the Other terminated with the Seventh or Sabbatical Year Christianity finding the Usage Universal did not see fit to break in upon this Constitution but left its Proselytes at liberty in this Particular as it did in a Permission of serving and dwelling under Heathen and Idolatrous Princes and Masters For This and many other Things could not be abolish'd and set aside at once but by giving some little Discountenance to them Time hath worn them off gently and by degrees Slaves may be distinguished into Four several Kinds Several sorts of Slavery 1. Such as are Natural or born of Parents in that Condition 2. Such as are Slaves upon Force made so by Conquest and the Rights of War 3. Adjudged Slaves such as are made and awarded to be such either by way of Punishment for some Crime or for the Satisfaction of some Debt which gives the Creditors a Right to their Persons and of employing them to their own Benefit and Service This Slavery was limited among the Jews only to a certain Season Seven Years at the most the Sabbatical Year put an End to it all but in other Countries it continu'd till the Debt was discharged 4. Voluntary Slaves or such as are of their own making as Those who throw Dice for it or who sell their Liberty for a Summ of Money as it hath been the Custom to do in Germany Tacit. de mor. Ger. and is still in some Parts even of the Christian World or else such as freely surrender up Themselves to the Service of another and devote their Persons to perpetual Slavery And thus we read in the Law the Antient Jews did Exod xxi Deut. xv whose Ears were appointed to be bored with an Awl to the Door of the House in token of perpetual Servitude and that they rather chose this Condition of Life than to go free when it was in their Power This last sort of voluntary and chosen Captivity is I confess to Me the most asTonishing of all the rest and tho' all manner of Slavery seems to be an Incroachment and Violence upon Nature yet sure no Kind of it can be so unnatural as that which a Man covets and brings upon Himself That Thing which makes Men Slaves upon Constraint is Avarice The Cause of it and that which makes Men choose to be Slaves is
immoderate Love of Riches Book I. Chap. 23. and the peevish and humoursom Hatred of them have been spoken to in the former parts of this Treatise And therefore all I have now left me to do is to lay down that Golden Rule which consists in the Mean between these two Extremes and that I think will be done in these Five Particulars First It consists in preferring and being pleas'd with them but not setting our Affections upon them Thus the Philosopher describes his Wise Man * Sapiens non amat divitias sed mavult One that is not fond of Riches but yet had rather have them than not A Man may be sensible of the Convenience of a Thing and know how to value it as it deserves without placing his Heart and his Happiness in it Thus for Instance a Person of low Stature and weak Limbs would be glad and well pleas'd to be taller and better built and yet it never breaks his Rest nor makes him reflect upon himself as miserable for not being so He that seeks what Nature desires without Passion and Uneasiness puts himself out of the Power of Fortune and he that is content with what Fortune cannot take away from him is the Man agreeable to this first part of the Character But Secondly If Passion and Anxiety be a Fault even in those who seek to enrich themselves by fair and honest Means only much less can we be allow'd to endeavour our own Profit by the Loss and Detriment of others For this is to feed and grow fat at their Expence No nor yet may we pursue Riches by base and pitiful and sordid Arts but should take care that all our Increase be so honourable and becoming that no Man shall have any Temptation but his own Wickedness and Ill-nature to complain of our Proceedings or grudge us our good Fortune or once to say That it is pity such Blessings should be bestowed upon us Thirdly When the good Providence of God puts these Opportunities and Advantages into our Hands and Wealth comes in upon us in an honest and creditable Way we are not to reject and disdain it but receive it with Thankfulness and Satisfaction and let it in but not let it in too far Riches should be admitted into our Houses but not into our Hearts we may take them into our Possession but not into our Affections For this is going too deep and doing them an Honour much greater than they can ever deserve Fourthly When we have them we should employ them honourably virtuously discreetly and convert them into Instruments of doing good Offices and being obliging to others That the manner of their Going out may be at least as innocent and as creditable as that of their Coming in Lastly Whenever they take their Flight and forsake us we are not to be dejected nor melancholy at the Loss but thould consider that tho' they took themselves away they did not deprive us of any thing which was properly and truly our own And therefore * Si Divitiae effluxerint non auferent nisi semetipfas if they give us the slip there is no Robbery or Wrong in the Case for we had no indeseasible Right in them before In one Word That Man ill deserves the Love and Favour of God and ought to quit all his Pretensions to Virtue and Philosophy and Religion who cannot support himself with these Comforts but allows the Enjoyments of this World the principal Place in his Esteem †Aude Hospes contemnere opes Te quoque dignum Finge Deo Dare to be Poor accept of homely Food Be more than Man and emulate a God Mr. Dryden Of Justice between Man and Man Or The Duty towards our Neighbour ADVERTISEMENT THis Duty is very comprehensive and shoots out into a great many Branches For the convenience of treating it more methodically we will make our first Division into two general Parts The First of these shall contain all such Duties as are Common and Vniversal requir'd from All and every Man to All and every Man And that whether they regard Thought Word or Deed And these are Love Fidelity Truth Freedom in Advising and Admonishing Beneficence Humanity Liberality and Gratitude The Second extends it self to all special Duties such I mean as depend upon particular Reasons and express Obligations which concern some certain Persons and Relations and not others As Those between Husband and Wife Parents and Children Masters and Servants Princes and Subjects Magistrates and Private Persons the Great and the Mean Man CHAP. VII The First Part of Justice or Those Universal Duties due from All to All in Common And first of Love LOVE is a Pure a Holy and a Generous Fire What it is kindled in our Breasts by Nature It s Primitive and Original Warmths were first discern'd in the mutual Affection of Husband and Wife Parents and Children Brothers and Sisters But then cooling by degrees as it dilated it self Art and Human Invention found means to blow it up again and supply fresh Fewel by the Institution of Alliances Societies Fraternities Colleges and other Incorporations by which the parts of Mankind are cemented and united Now in regard that These Artificial Flames underwent the same Fate with those Natural and burnt more feeble and dim as they were expanded and subdivided as also that their Heat is much allay'd by the Mixture of Profit Convenience Delight and such other Selfish Considerations therefore to cherish and recruit this Fire again Choice hath contriv'd to unite its scatter'd Forces and contract them into the narrowest compass that can be by the ferventest and tenderest of all Affections that between true Friends And This indeed is Love in Perfection as much more ardent and endearing and refin'd than any other as the Vital Heat in the Heart is more intense than than of the Liver or the Blood in the Veins Love is the very Life and Soul of the World more necessary to its Subsistence and Well-being say the Philosophers than those two Servants which we cannot want Fire and Water The Latins therefore have given a good Intimation of This in terming Friendship Necessitudo and Friends Necessarii This is the Sun the Staff the Salt of Life all is dark and comfortless without the Light of this cheering Fire all seeble and tottering without this firm Support all flat and insipid till this Seasons and gives it a grateful Relish Ecclus vi 14 16. To this purpose that Wise Man * A Faithful Friend is a strong Defence the Medicine of Lise and He that findeth him sindeth a great Treasure Nor may we suppose this Virtue serviceable and necessary to private Persons only It s Usefulness or that the Pleasures and Charms of it are confin'd to small Numbers and secret Retirements Its Joys and its Beauties are equally nay more ravishing and delightful more useful and seasonable to larger Bodies and publick Communities of Men. For This is the true Mother
thy Native Light is shed abroad And every Breast is fill'd with a Domestick God And yet notwithstanding this general Consent in the Speculative part The Rarity of it Men differ extremely and in practice contradict themselves For the World is full of Treachery and Falshood and very few shall we be able to find who are truly and entirely True and Just in their Dealings Nay even those who make a Conscience of being so yet are frequently guilty of Breach of Faith such as not only the World does not easily discover but such as they themselves who commit it are not sensible of For if they can but six upon any colourable Pretence to varnish over such an Action and give it a tolerable good Face they presently persuade themselves that all is well and they have done nothing amiss Others there are eternally upon the Hunt for Niceties and subtle Evasions by which to justifie their Proceedings and here they retreat and shelter themselves If the World take upon them to censure their Doings or their own Conscience be either Scrupulous before or Clamorous afterward they cast up an Intrenchment of Distinctions round about them and under this Covert go on without boggling or being asham'd of any thing Now in order to the clearing all the Difficulties that may arise upon this Occasion I shall endeavour to set this whole Matter in its true Light and direct Men how to behave themselves And the whole I think of what needs to be said may conveniently enough be reduc'd to Four Considerations The Person that engages his Faith the Party to whom that Engagement is made the Subject-Matter or the Thing covenanted for and the Manner or Form of entring into that Engagement First As as to the Person engaging his Faith it is one necessary Qualification to the rendring that Promise valid and legal that he have Power to promise and to make it Good If he be under the Direction and at the Disposal of an other he is in no Condition to engage at all nor is there any Force in such a Covenant till it be ratified and confirmed by the Person under whose Authority the Promiser is Thus God himself hath determined and stated the Matter at large under the Levitical Law Num. ch xxx where the Vows of Wives and Children and others in a State of Pupillage and Subjection are declared of none Effect till known and approved by their Husbands or Parents or Guardians And the Reason of this is plain because Nature and Duty have vested these Persons with an Original and Antecedent Right in those under their Care which no After-act of such without Their Consent can convey away or disannul They have nothing to give and therefore they promise what is none of their own Thus in the Roman Story the Tribune Saturninus and his Accomplices are esteemed to have been justly put to Death notwithstanding they quitted the Capitol which they had rebelliously invaded and possest themselves of upon the Consuls Word of Honour For these very Consuls were Subjects to the Common-wealth and Ministers of Publick Justice only and therefore they had no Right to promise Indemnity for Crimes against the State and People of Rome in general But when a Man is entirely at his own Disposal and covenants for such Things as he hath an indisputable Right to make Good he is obliged to keep his Word punctually let him be otherwise never so Great never so Absolute The rather indeed upon these Considerations because the more Absolute he is the more Free he is to Promise and the better Able to Perform And therefore that common Maxim is a very Just and True One That the bare Word of a Prince ought to be as Sacred and Obligatory as the solemnest Oath of a Private Man As to the Person to whom the Engagement is made This is a Consideration which makes but little Difference in the Case for let him be Who or What he will it ought to be discharged There are but Two Exceptions which are sufficient to dissolve this Obligation according to the Judgment of Those who have discuss'd this Point The One is if he did not accept of this Engagement so as to rest satisfied in or place his Dependence upon it but required some other Security and rested his Faith upon That For as the Giving of Faith ought to be look'd upon as Sacred so should the Receiving it be too and Distrust in the one Party is no less a Disparagement to it than Fallacy and Trick in the other If it be not relied upon for the Sake of its own binding Force the Confidence is lost and broke and it ceases to be mutual Faith any longer The demanding of Hostages and keeping Men under Guard and so entring into Caution and requiring Pledges of any sort is not trusting to Men's Truth but to their Security and it is Ridiculous and Senseless to call This trusting to Men's Honesty He that is confined either by a Keeper or a Prison hath been false to no Engagement if he make his Escape nor can he be said to have deceived those who never repos'd any Confidence in him Had such an one been left at large upon his Parole or had he prevail'd with others to stand bound for his Appearance Honour and Conscience would have obliged him to suffer any Inconvenience rather than falsify his Word or give up his Bail or any manner of way disappoint the Expectations and betray the Trust of those who depended upon him And therefore the Reason of that Roman seems to carry a great deal of Force * Vult sibi quisque credi habita Fides ipsam sibi obligat Fidem Fides requirit Fiduciam relativa sunt Every Man is desirous to find Credit and a Promise is then binding indeed when an entire Dependence is repos'd in it For Faith is mutual it implies and requires Trust and Belief in the Person to whom it is given These two are Relatives and as such stand and fall together The other Exception is If the Promise were conditional and mutual and the Person to whom it was made broke Articles first For in this Case say some old Authors Men are to be paid in their own Coin and †Fragenti fidem fides frangatur eidem Quando Tu me non habes pro Senatore nec ego Te pro Consule He that breaks his Word gives those he deals with a Priviledge of doing so too according to that Declaration of the Roman Senator When you cease to treat me as a Member of the Senate I shall think my self dispensed with from paying you the Respect due to a Consul The false and perfidious Man hath forfeited all his Natural Right to Truth and Fair-dealing For the Obligations of this kind so far as they are founded in Nature are Reciprocal and Universal and therefore whatever such an one can challenge must be from some Supervening Title But whatever is indented for by Positive Agreement
destroy'd or profan'd by the Receiver's Fault If another will needs be wicked and act otherwise than becomes him this can never justifie my ceasing to be good But further The generous and noble Spirit distinguishes it self by Perseverance and triumphs in the Conquest of Ingratitude and Ill-nature when invincible Beneficence hath heaped Coals of Fire upon their Heads melted them down and softned them into good Temper and a better Sense of Things So says the Moralist * Optimi ingentis animi est tamdiu ferre ingratum donec feceris gratum vincit malos pertinax Bonitas A Great Soul bears the ingrateful Man so long till at last he makes him grateful for obstinate and resolute Goodness will conquer the worst of Men. The Last Direction I shall lay down upon this Occasion is That when a thing is given we should let a Man use and enjoy it quietly and not be troublesome and unseasonable with him like some who when they have put one into any Office or Preferment will needs be thrusting in their Oar and execute it for him Or else procure a Man some considerable Advantage and then make over what proportion of the Profits they see sit to themselves Receivers in such Cases ought not to endure the being thus imposed upon and any Resentments or Refusals made upon this Account are by no means the Marks of Ingratitude but a preservation of their own Rights And whatever the Benefactor may have contributed to our Preferment he wipes out the whole Score and acquits us of all our Obligations by these imperious and busie Interpositions The Story is not amiss concerning one of the Popes who being press'd hard by one of the Cardinals to do somewhat inconvenient or perhaps unjust in his Favour and as a Motive which was thought irresistible or at least a Resentment which he look'd upon as reasonable in case of refusal the Cardinal re-minding him that His Interest had been formerly at his Service and his Popedom was owing to it His Holiness very pertinently reply'd If You made me Pope pray let me be so and do not take back again the Authority you gave me After these several Rules for the directing Men in the Exercise of Beneficence it may be seasonable to observe Several sorts of Kindnesses that there are Benefits of several sorts some of them much more acceptable than others and thus some more and others less engaging Those are most welcome that come from the Hand of a Friend and one whom we are strongly dispos'd to love without any such Inducement As on the contrary it is very grievous and grating to be oblig'd by one of whom we have no Opinion and desire of all things not to be indebted to Those are likewise so which proceed from a Person whom we have formerly oblig'd our selves because This is not so much Gratuity as Justice and Payment of Arrears and so draws very little or no new Debt upon us Such again are those done in a time of Necessity and when our Occasions were very urgent These have a mighty Influence they utterly deface all past Injuries and Misunderstandings if any such there were and leave a strong Tie upon a Man's Honour as on the other Hand the denying our Assistance in Cases of Extremity is extremely unkind and wipes out all Remembrances of any former Benefits Such once more are Those that can be easily acknowledged and admit of a suitable Return as on the contrary such as the Receiver is out of all Capacity to requite commonly breed Hatred and a secret Dislike For there is a Pride in most Men that makes them uneasie to be always behind-hand and hence he who is sensible that he can never make amends for all he hath receiv'd every time that he sees his Benefactor fancies himself dogg'd by a Creditor upbraided by a living Witness of his Insufficiency or Ingratitude and these secret Reproaches of his own Mind give great Uneasiness and Discontent for no Bankrupt can bear being twitted with his Poverty Some again there are which the more free and honourable and respectful they are the more burdensom and weighty they are provided the Receiver be a Person of Honour and Principle Such I mean as bind the Consciences and the Wills of Men for they tie a Man up faster keep him more tight and render him more cautious and fearful of failing or forgetfulness A Man is Ten times more a Prisoner when confin'd by his own Word than if he were under Lock and Key It is easier to be bound by Legal and publick Restraints and Forms of Engagements than by the Laws of Honour and Conscience and Two Notaries in this Case are better than One. When a Man says I desire nothing but your Word I depend upon your Honesty such a one indeed shews greater respect But if he be sure of his Man he puts him upon a stricter Obligation and himself upon better Security than Bonds and Judgments A Man who engages nothing but his Word is always in Fear and Constraint and upon his Guard lest he should forfeit or forget it Your Mortgagee and he that is under the power of Legal Forms is deliver'd from that Anxiety and depends upon his Creditor's Instruments which will not sail to refresh his Memory when the Bonds become due Where there is any external Force the Will is always less intent and where the Constraint is less there in proportion the Application of the Will is greater * Quod me Jus cogit vix à Voluntate impetrem What the Law compels me to is very haâ—dly my own Choice for I do not properly choose but submit to it Benefits produce Obligations Of the Obligation and from Obligations again fresh Benefits spring up So that Beneficence is reciprocally the Child and the Parent the Effect and the Cause and there is a twofold Obligation which we may distinguish by an Active and a Passive Obligation Parents and Princes and all Superiours are bound in Duty and by virtue of their Station to procure the Benefit and Advantage of Those whom either the Laws and Order of Nature or the political Constitutions of Government or any other Law relating to their Post have committed to their Inspection and Care And not only so but All in general whether their Character be Publick or not if they have Wealth and Power are by the Law of Nature oblig'd to extend their Help and Bounty towards the Necessitous and Distress'd And this is the first sort of Obligation But then from good Offices thus done whether they be in some regard owing to us as flowing from the Duty incumbent upon the Benefactor by virtue of this former Engagement Or whether they be the effect of pure Choice entirely Grace and nothing of Debt there arises the Second sort of Obligation whereby the Receivers are bound to acknowledge the Kindness and to be thankful for it All this mutual Exchange and propagation of Engagements and good
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
Horace takes notice of him as a Person so debonnaire and well-fashion'd that every thing he did became him and he was never at a Loss * Omnis Aristippum decuit color status res c. Hor. Ep. xvii All Fortune sitted Aristippus well Aiming at Greater pleas'd with what befel Creech Let your young Charge be so much a Master of Conversation as to be capable of keeping all manner of Company but let him choose and frequent none but such as are virtuous and good Let him abstain from Vice not upon Compulsion only out of Fear or Ignorance but out of Inclination and Choice For †Multum interest utrum peccare quis nolit aut nesciat There is a great deal of difference between refusing to be Wicked and not daring or not knowing how to be so The Fourth Virtue I desire to have early ingrafted into the Minds of young People is Modesty Book II. Chap. 9. This will preserve them from that Forwardness which puts them upon Contradiction and Dispute and attacking all they come hear With some Persons it is never proper for us to engage at all as those particularly whose Quality is much above or very much below our own whether the Difference lie in Birth or Riches or Honour or Parts or Characters These can never be a fit Match for us at any time But indeed Those that are so shou'd not be encounter'd at All Times nor upon All Occasions not for a trifling Circumstance an improper Expression in short What is of little Moment in it self or little or no Concern to Us will not justifie our wrangling for it To let nothing go without putting in an Exception to it is ill-manner'd impertinent and troublesome Bur even in those things that are worth a Dispute to be opinionative and peremptory warm and violent clamorous and loud is as much a Breach of this Virtue for Modesty teaches Men to be Meek and Gentle Moderate and Condescending it cannot be reconcil'd with a positive dogmatical way of Talk with an abounding in our own Sense and a Resolution not to be convinc'd But it yields the Point when it is no longer defensible and As it never disputes for Ostentation or Disputing's sake so it hath a just Deference to the Person and his contrary Opinion it preserves Decency and good Manners allows all that can possibly be granted and takes Care to soften the Opposition of that which Judgment will not suffer it to allow But of This I have spoken in another Part of this Treatise already and therefore shall dismiss the Subject at present and with it Three parts of that Duty which Parents owe to their Children The Fourth and Last part of this Duty concerns the Affection they ought to bear towards their Children Paternal Affection and the manner of treating and conversing with them when they are grown up and the former Rules have had their desir'd Effect Now we need not be told that the Affection between Parents and Children is natural and reciprocal But it is stronger and more natural on the Parent 's side because This is the streight Course of Nature carrying on the Life and promoting the Succession of Mankind by the Descent of a right Line whereas That of Children is only by way of Rebound and Reflection and consequently cannot move so vigorously back again as the former does forward This indeed seems rather to be the Paying of a Debt and the Sense and Return of Kindnesses receiv'd than free and natural and pure Love Besides He that first does the Kindness loves more than the Person who is passive and receives it And therefore the Parent who is the first Mover loves more vehemently than he is belov'd again Of this Assertion there are many Arguments to assure us Every Thing is fond of Existence and Existence proves it self by Exercise and Action Now whoever does Good to another does after some sort exist in that Person and he who gives Being manifestly lives and acts in That Being which is propagated by him He that does a Kindness does a noble and generous Thing but he who receives it hath not the same to alledg For the Virtue is the proper Quality of the First but the Prosit and Advantage is peculiar to the Second Now Virtue we know is rooted in the Nature of the Thing and consequently is a more worthy and amiable a more firm and permanent Quality than that of Advantage can possibly be for This is additional occasional and accidental only it may quickly vanish into nothing and take it self away Again We are fond of those Things that are obtain'd with Difficulty and Expence That is dear to us which costs us dear says the Provetb But the Bringing Children into the World the Cherishing Maintaining and Educating them are infinitely more troublesome for Parents to bestow than it is possible to be to Children to receive these Advantages But this Love of Parents is capable of a very just Distinction and tho' there be two different sorts of it Of two kinds yet thus far they agree that both are Natural The First is purely and entirely so little if at all remov'd from that which we commonly call Instinct in Brutes for they partake of it as well as we This disposes Parents to a strange Tenderness for their Children even at the Breast and in the Cradle and gives the first Infant-Cries and Complaints a wondrous Power of moving Compassion and piercing their very Souls This likewise inspires an unaccountable Fondness and Delight in them while as yet they are only capable of diverting us and as meer Play-things as those Wax and Plaister-Babies which themselves are shortly to be entertain'd withal Now This Affection is not strictly and properly Humane Nor ought a Man enrich'd with an Endowment so noble as Reason to suffer himself to be thus enslav'd to Nature after the manner of Beasts that know no better but rather he shou'd be led by these Motions of the Soul and follow them freely with all that Temper and Evenness which Judgment and Consideration shou'd inspire For these shou'd preside over Nature and moderate its Affections reducing all to the Measures and Guidance of Reason But now the other sort is more agreeable to These and consequently more Humane and worthy of us This inclines us to love our Children more or less as they are more or less attractive and deserving our Affection to rise in This as these tender Plants of ours Blossom and Bud and in proportion to the early Dawnings and brighter and stronger Shinings of Wit and good Sense Virtue and Goodness in them Some Parents there are who seem wonderfully transported with the first Appearances of this kind but lose the Satisfaction soon after because the Charge of maintaining them at first is no great Matter but That of the Education which must improve and finish them and bring Credit to their Natural Gifts is grievous and insupportable This looks as
if they grudg'd their Children the Honour and Happiness of growing wiser and better and were sorry that they answer the End of their Creation A Folly so absurd so infinitely unreasonable that we may justly call them brutish and inhumane Fathers who are guilty of it Now in pursuance of this Second and properly Paternal Affection Parents shou'd by all means admit their Children so soon as they are capable of it to keep them Company They shou'd make them a competent Allowance fit for the Rank and Condition of them and their Family shou'd enter them into Business and let them see the World confer and consult with them about their own Private Affairs communicate their Designs their Opinions to them not only as their Companions but their Friends and not keep them in Darkness and Strangers to things which they have so great an Interest in These shou'd consent to and even condescend to assist in their becoming and innocent Diversions as Occasions shall offer and so far as any of these things can conveniently be done but still so as to preserve all due regard to their own Authority and the Character of a Parent For certainly such prudent Reserves may be us'd in this Case as wou'd in no degree diminish That and yet abundantly condemn that stern and austere that magisterial and imperious Countenance and Carriage which never lets a Child hear one mild Word nor see one pleasant Look Men think it now below them to hear of the Relation and disdain to be call'd Fathers when yet God himself does not only condescend to but delight in that Title above all others whatsoever They make it no part of their Endeavour or Concern to win the Love of their Children but prefer Fear and Awe and respectful Expressions of Distance before all the Endearments and Testimonies of a dutiful and tender Affection And to contain them in these Sentiments the better and to confirm them the more they shew their Power by holding their Hands and denying the Supplies that are necessary and sit for them make them as the Term is bite of the Bridle and not only live like Beggars or Scoundrels at present but threaten to keep them so by leaving their Estates from them when they die Now what Stuff is all this how sottish and ridiculous a Farce do such People act What is this but to distrust the Efficacy of that Authority which is real and natural and of right belongs to the Relation they stand in that so they may usurp a foreign and unjust Jurisdiction and frame an artificial and imaginary Authority to themselves An Authority which all serious and good Men do but pity or contemn nay which crosses and contradicts the very End of all this foolish Project for they destroy that very Reverence they would maintain and render themselves despicable in their own Families a Jest and Scorn even to those Children But if it have not this Effect which it too often hath of drawing such Contempt upon them yet is it a mighty Temptation to young People thus us'd to take to Tricks and little dishonest Shifts and without the least Remorse to cheat and impose upon such Parents Whose Business indeed shou'd have been to regulate and inform their Minds and shew them the Equity and Reasonableness of their Duty but by no means to have Recourse to such kind of Treatment as is much more agreeable to the Arbitrary Violence of a Tyrant than the Affectionate Regards and kind Care of a Father What says the wise Comedian to this purpose * Errat longè meâ quidem Sententiâ Qui imperium credit esse gravius aut stabilius Vi quod fit quam illud quod amicitiâ adjungitur Truly in my Mind that Man thinks much amiss Who believes that Government purely by Force Shou'd have more Authority and a better Foundation Than when 't is accompany'd with Tenderness and Respect As to the final Disposal of the Estate The best and wisest way all notable and extraordinary Accidents excepted will be to take our Measures from the Laws and Customs of the Country where we dwell For it ought to be presum'd that the Laws are wiser than We and that the Makers of them consider'd things more maturely than private Men are likely to do And if any Inconvenience shou'd afterwards happen from such a Distribution it will be much more excusable to Posterity that we have err'd in going by the common Road than if it had been by any particular Whimsie of our own But sure there cannot be a greater abuse of the Trust repos'd in us and the Liberty we have to dispose of our Fortunes as we please than to let little foolish Fancies and frivolous Quarrels or private Resentments weigh down the Obligations of a higher Nature and either endite or alter Articles in our Will And yet how many Instances do we see of Men who suffer themselves to be transported by a most unreasonable Partiality and are wrought upon either by some little officious Diligence or the Presence of one Child when the rest are Absent to make a mighty Difference where Blood and Duty have never made any at all who play with their Wills as if it were a jesting-matter and gratifie or chastise such Actions as do not deserve such an Animadversion for it ought to be something much more than common which excludes those who have a just Pretence to share in what we leave or that disposes us to a Division so unequal as should very much affect the Fortunes of our Children in prejudice to one another and leave no Mark whereby to know that they were Brothers and Sifters And if the Acting thus be a Fault the Threatning at a distance or promising such an Inequality is highly Wicked and Foolish and of most pernicious Influence in the Family And therefore I say still in despight of any supportable Defects in our Children the Flatteries and Officiousness of some or the pardonable Provocations of others let us sit down and consider that This as it is one of the last so it is one of the most important and serious Actions of our Lives and therefore Reason and Law and common Usage ought to take place in it For these are the wisest Guides we can follow and in conforming to Them we take the surest Gourse to answer the Obligations of our Character to vindicate our Proceedings to the World and to quiet and satisfie our own Consciences We are now come to that other general Division of this Chapter The Duty of Children toward their Parents Duty of Children than which there is not any more plainly and visibly writ in the Book of Nature or more expresly and positively enjoyn'd by Religion A Duty which ought to be paid them not as mere and common Men but as a sort of Demy-Gods earthly and visible Deities in this Mortal Flesh Upon this Account Philo the Jew tells us that the Fifth Commandment was written half of it in the First and
rigorous Carriage to him These Five Duties at first Sight may perhaps seem too Rigid but there is no Child who would not allow them to be very reasonable and becoming him to pay did he but give himself the Trouble of considering seriously how much he hath stood his Parents in What Pain and Anxiety what Tender Care and Concern what Trouble and Expence and what a World of Affection went to the bringing of him up But This in Truth is a Computation which no Man is capable of making justly till he come to have Children of his own Then Matters will appear to him quite otherwise than now they do And therefore as the Philosopher who was found riding upon a Hobby-Horse with his little Boy desired that his Friend would forbear to expose that Levity of his till he was a Father himself So in the Case before us whoever shall imagine that the Duty to Parents is carried beyond Equity and Reason or Their Merits to their Children over-rated here we must beg that he will be content to suspend his Final Determination of this Matter till that Time come which alone can make him a competent Judge of it CHAP. XV. Duties of Masters and Servants THere remains now only the Third and Last Part of Private and Domestick Justice to be spoken to which consists of the mutual Duties of that lowest Relation between Masters and Servants Now in Order to a right Understanding of this Matter we must remember that there are different Sorts of Servants and more especially these Three that follow The First are what we call Slaves in which all the World abounded heretofore and the greatest Part of it does so still for except one Quarter of Europe they are still reckoned as part of their Masters Riches and Estate And accordingly they have no Right in any Thing not so much as in their Goods their Children or their own Bodies but their Patron hath an absolute Power to buy and sell them to give them or barter them away and to deal by them in as Arbitrary and Uncontrouled a Manner as We do with our Horses or Cattel or any Beasts of Service Of these we have delivered our Opinion at large in the first Book The Next are Book I. Chap. 43. what we commonly call Servants or Attendants These are Free-Men and have a Right Inviolable in their own Persons and Possessions nay they have such an indefeasible Liberty that it cannot be taken away from them by any Voluntary Compact of their own or any other Means used in Prejudice of it But they are bound to Pay Honor and Respect Obedience and Service for so long a Time and upon such Conditions as have been covenanted for and their Masters accordingly have a Power of commanding correcting and punishing them within the Bounds of Moderation and Discretion The Third Sort are what we may term Hirelings or Workmen which are still less in Subjection than the Former For they are not obliged to Attendance nor Obedience in general but only to the Performance of that Particular Work we take them for and so they only make an Exchange of their Labour and Industry for so much of our Money for those that Hire them have no Authority either to correct them for doing amiss or to command them at large in any other Thing Now The Duty of Masters towards their Servants whether in the Quality of Slaves or of Attendants is Not to use them Barbarously but always to remember that These too are Men of the very same Species withthemselves made up of the same Materials cast in the same Mould descended from the same Ancestors That it is not Nature which hath put any Difference but only Fortune and Fortune is a very Humorsom and changeable Thing for the seems to make her self great Diversion with her Wheel and to triumph in turning those that were at the Bottom up to the Top and tumbling those that sat at the Top down to the Bottom Consequently that the Distinction is not so great as they are willing to imagine nor what can bear them out in keeping their Fellows at so vast a distance and expecting such wonderful Submissions from them For * Sunt homines contubernales humiles amici conservi aequè Fâ—rtunae subjecti these says Seneca are Men and our poor Friends and humble Companions but withall our Fellow-Servants for we are all equally at the Disposal of the same Providence Our Servants then should be treated with Courtesie and Condescension not with proud Disdain and impious Contempt we should rather make it our Business that they may love us than that they may be afraid of us But to deal Roughly and use them Hardly discovers great Inhumanity and Cruelty of Disposition and plainly declares that we should use all Mankind just so if we had them as much at our Mercy and that it is not want of Will but want of Power which hinders us from the Execution of our Barbarous Inclinations We are also obliged to have Regard to their Health to be Kind and Tender of them in Sickness and sad Accidents to Provide for their Instruction and take special Care that they be taught their Duty especially such Things as are Necessary to be known for the Good of their Souls and which their everlasting Salvation may be promoted by The Duty of Servants is to Honour and fear their Masters with regard to this Relation between them whatsoever they may be or how little soever they may deserve such Deference in any other respects To obey them Faithfully and Diligently to be true to their Trust to serve not only in Appearance and while the Master's Eye is upon them but Sincerely Seriously and Cordially out of a Principle of Conscience and without the least mixture of Hypocrisie and Dissimulation To sow no Discord or foment Jealousies and Discontents in the Family to keep Secrets not to turn Whisperers or Hearkeners or busie Bodies not divulging what is done at Home to the Prejudice of their Master but advancing his Interest and vindicating his Reputation as well as assisting and defending his Person so far as lies in their Power And indeed there are several very Noble and Generous and Brave Instances upon Record of eminent Things done by Servants for their Masters nay some of them have gone so far as to hazard their own for the saving their Masters Life or the doing Right to their Honour CHAP. XVI Duty of Princes and Subjects COncerning Princes and their Dignity the Different Measures of their Power the Humors to which this Elevation disposes them the Miseries and Inconveniences of so important a Trust we have had Occasion to speak already in the Forty Sixth Chapter of the First Book as we likewise have done very largely in the Second and Third of this Book concerning their Duty and how they ought to Govern But all this notwithstanding we will just touch upon the main Strokes and general Heads of their Business in this Place
Sun and Moon for their Excellencies and the good influences they shed When we enjoy this Beauty and have made it our own property by fair and honest means let us even then remember that this is a very low and mean satisfaction so far from being peculiar to the dignity of Humane nature that Brutes all partake and are most of them supposed to exceed us in it That the immoderate use of Pleasure wastes the Body softens and effeminates the Soul enfeebles and darkens the understanding That a world of people have fallen miserable Sacrifices to their inordinate Lusts some in the loss of their Lives others of their Fortunes and others of their Senses but the Reputations murdered by it are innumerable Consider again that there is more honour nay I will add more pleasure too in vanquishing these desires than in complying with them And all the transports of fruition are flat and dull nauseous and insipid in comparison of those ravishing satisfactions which overflow in our Souls when we have gained a virtuous and noble Conquest over our selves And this is the general Sense of Sober Mankind for there is no one Action in the Life of Alexander or Scipio in which their Historians so justly glory as that of the treatment they gave to their beautiful Captives and the tenderness for their Honour which the Fortune of War was generally thought a privilege to violate This Continency and Conquest of themselves is more highly commended than all their successes and hath more engaging Charms than the fairest of their Prisoners could ever boast of These I say are Considerations pertinent and proper enough but it cannot be expected they should have a constant efficacy For this Vice abounds with Sophistry and cunning and as it will not be reasoned with sometimes so at other times it will not be safe to go about it And therefore in cases of violent Assaults the best course will be to betake our selves to our heels and get loose from the Temptation And it is very observable that the Holy Ghost which bids us in all ordinary cases Resist the Devil Jam. 4.7 with a promise that he shall flee from us yet when he mentions Youthful Lusts the advice is that we would flee from them 2 Tim. 11.22 Debates as well as delays are dangerous here the Cause must be referred to a Judge under shrewd suspicions of Corruption and therefore the safest Issue we can make is to throw it out and never give it the hearing Business Recreation Company any thing to divert this stream of our Thoughts and Affections into another Channel There can be no difficulty in the Choice for in such cases the worst Company a Man can possibly be in is to have none but his own Now we are to observe that both the Virtue of Continency and its contrary Vice is of several kinds and different degrees The chief and that which I shall speak to at present is the Conjugal sort that mutual and inviolable Fidelity between Man and Wife which as it was the first and highest Obligation so is it the most sacred the most important and that which both Publick Society and Private Persons are deeply and inevitably interested in And therefore this ought to be held in the most Profound Veneration and Esteem and not suffered to become the Jest and common scorn of profligate Lewdness the Diversion of a Theatre or the boasted Triumph of a Man of the Town The Parties concerned in these holy Engagements must have no Affections nor cherish any desires beyond the Chast Embraces of each other but utterly Abandon the very wishes of stollen and unlawful delights and be content to Drink the Waters of their own Cistern Prov. 5.15 and the running Waters of their own Well that is pure and innocent unpolluted and untroubled delights of a faithful and lawful Marriage as the Wise Man expresses it according to the usual significancy and extraordinary decency of the Scripture Stile They that allow themselves in other liberties fall into the blackest and most complicated guilt imaginable they violate and Sin against their own Bodies by making them Vessels and Instruments of Uncleanness and Dishonour they transgress against all manner of Laws which any Man can be bound by The Laws of Revealed Religion which forbid us to prostitute our selves to silthiness and shame and have commanded the strictest purity of Conversation the Law of Nature which forbids the invading another Man's property and the tenderer the right is to him the more detestable is the injustice the Law of Reason and Equity which enjoyns fidelity and stedfastness to promises and mutual Contracts the Laws of the Land which have Established Marriages as the only conveyance of Right and giving a Title and Propriety in such cases the undoubted Rights of Families by grafting in a foreign growth upon the natural Stock injuring the other Children and transferring the fruit of a Man's Industry his Acquisition or his Inheritance to Strangers and Interlopers the Laws of Justice and Charity by starting difficulties and Disputes among Friends and Relations alienating the Affections of Parents from their Children and dissolving in great measure the Duty of Children to their Parents when there are these Jealousies among them and leaving a lasting and indelible stain upon the Unfortunate though innocent Posterity of so suspected a Race As to the other parts of this Vice I add only in one word that though Adultery be the highest yet it is not the only Violation of it Men would therefore do well to see how many Aggravations of this kind just now mentioned concur in any of those allowances they make to themselves to lay aside the byass of their present Passion and even in cases of simple Fornication ask their own Consciences how they should like to have the honour of a Sister or a Daughter so injured by another person and if they think but scurvily of such a blemish in a near Relation this at least makes the gratification an offence against Reason and Equity and natural Justice nor is it in such circumstances for a Man to alledge that the partner of the crime is no other Man's it is enough to Condemn him that She is not his own CHAP. XLII Of Ambition and Temperance with regard to the Desire of Honour and Fame THat this is a Desire which stands in great need of being tempered and restrained no Man can suffer himself to doubt who at all considers the inordinacy of the Affection the injurious courses it pushes the Patient upon and the infinite mischief it does to society when the Reins are let loose and we give it its head But though the free Range of this Affection be so pernicious yet we ought to take notice that according to what hath been formerly delivered upon the same occasion all Ambition all thirst either of Honour or of Reputation is not to be condemned without any distinction but that as it may be ordered and managed there
Man from any Virtuous or Honourable Designs palls and flats his Relish of Goodness extinguishes the Desire of Reputation and takes away the Disposition of doing Worthily either for himself or for any body else Nay it does not only unqualify him for the doing but for the receiving Good from any other Hand For even the most Prosperous Occurrences are grown insipid or unpleasant to him and every Thing turns Sour upon his Mind as all kinds of Meat do upon distempered Stomachs In short Grief embitters a Man's whole Life and poysons all his Actions It may be considered with respect to the Degrees of it Distinguished and a Difference ought to be made between the Greatness and the Extremity of it as there should also between That which runs into Excess and grows ungovernable altogether from it self and That which is pushed on and aggravated by the Suddenness of an Accident In such a Case Surprise and Consternation alarms seises transports the Man takes away all Motion and Sense stupifies and turns him into a Stone like that wretched Mother Niobe * Diriguit visu in medio calor ossa reliquit Labitur longo vix tandem tempore fatur Her curdled Blood ran backward at the Sight And pale numb'd Limbs a shivering Horror took She stiffens into Statue with the Fright At last her faltering Tongue long Silence broke And in these Cases great Allowance is to be made for Natural Affection upon which account that Painter is admitted to have understood his Business well who when he was to draw Iphigenia going to be Sacrificed represented the several Postures and Countenances of her Mourning Friends and more distant Relations with great Curiosity and Artifice but when he came at last to her Father he cast a Veil over His Face Thus wisely covering that Sorrow which no Pencil could sufficiently express But Grief as it often exceeds the Power of Art and Representation in the Copy so sometimes it is too strong for the Original too grievous to be born and kills the Man outright This finds no Vent But that which is Moderate or indeed that which is very Great wears off by Tract of Time by Diversion and Business and other Avocations of the Mind And that which helps This forward is that it expresses and cases it self by Tears and Sobs and Sighs and sad Complaints all which are some Mitigation to the suffering Party and much more Comfortable than Insensibility and Silence * Curae leves lequuntur ingentes stupent Slight Sorrows find a Vent and Words command The Fierce boil inward Dumb and Stupid stand Directions and Helps against this Evil are given Book III. Chap. 29. CHAP. XXXII Compassion WE mingle Sighs and Tears with those that are in Affliction we feel in some Degree their Misfortunes and take Part in their Pains Whether it be from some secret Sympathies in Nature whereby the Sentiments of one Man are conveyed to and produce the like in another or whether it be from sad Presages by which we are apt to fear that whatever our Neighbours suffer now may happen to be our own Case another Day Now This so far as it is Vicious is the Passion of a Weak Mind A Foolish Pity that proceeds from too much Tenderness and from an Indisposition in the Soul whereby it is apt to be vehemently disordered and fall into great Troubles upon slight Occasions Hence Women and Children are most affected with it and so are the Cruel and Spightful too who as was said before are always Cowardly and fearful For these tho' they know nothing of that Noble and Generous Compassion which is a Virtue yet of this Vicious One they have their Share Such for Instance as express mighty Concern for Villains and Malefactors when they endure the Punishment of the Law and smart for their Faults Now the Effects of such a Pity are very Unjust and so are the Causes of it too for to spare the Guilty is to injure and endanger the Innocent and all that Tenderness proceeds only from superficial Appearances and want of Thought which looks no farther than just the present Circumstances of the Suffering Party without any Regard at all had to the Merits of the Cause and how Reasonable it is that such Punishment should be inflicted upon him Concerning This See more Book III. Chap. 30. Where you have likewise the just Distinction between the Virtuous and Vicious Compassion omitted here to avoid Repetitions CHAP. XXXIII Fear FEAR is the Apprehension of some Evil to come Description of it which stands over us and keeps us perpetually in Awe it fills us full of Anxious Thought and very Officiously runs before to give Notice of the Calamities which Fortune threatens us with We are not speaking at present concerning that Fear of God so highly recommended in Holy Scripture so exceeding Useful and Necessary a Check upon Men's Minds in Order to a Good Life Nor is this Chapter to be understood as if it related at all to that anxious and tender Concern which proceeds from Affection and Duty or such as makes a Part of that Obedience and Respect due from Inferiours of all Sorts to their Superiours But only of that troublesome and tormenting Passion which is the Spawn of Sin and Shame and a disordered Mind For these Terrours entred the World at the same Instant with Guilt and Reproach and are the wretched Off-Spring of the Corruption of our Souls and a secret Familiarity with the Devil It was upon yielding to his wicked Suggestions that our General Ancestor first discovered these misgiving Horrours upon his Conscience I was afraid because I was naked and I hid my self Gen. iii. 10. It is a Passion full of Fraud and Malice and The Malice and Tyranny of it indeed can never hurt or gain Advantage over us except when we are cheated and seduced by it It makes use of the Time to come which we can have no manner of Insight into so throwing us into a Place of Darkness and making the same Use of Futurity which Thieves do of the Night which is to compass their Designs undiscover'd and to scare and terrify us much more than the Occasion requires When it hath got us there it puts on a Thousand several Vizors and represents our Misfortunes under the most frightful and gastly Forms imaginable Thus we are cheated again as Children are with Fancies and Bugbears and dread those Evils in variety of Shapes which can have in reality but one Face Evils which have nothing in their own Nature capable of doing us any Hurt and such as would not be Evils to us if we did not call and believe them so It is nothing else but merely the Apprehension we have of things which renders those Accidents Evils that in themselves are no such Matter And This is so Powerful and so Pernicious that it turns our very Good into Evil and from our Prosperity takes Occasion to afflict and make us Miserable How
Sense with Regard to these Matters That God hath chosen the weak things of this World 1 Cor. I. He did not appoint such as were Noblest and most Excellent in their own Nature but condescended to consider the Circumstances of the Patients and hath accommodated his Applications to Our Capacities So that the Goodness these Things have is not so much inherent in their own Nature as it is Relative and derived from the Uses they serve and the Ends to which they are directed They are Good as Medicines are because they check Evil and prevent that which is Worse They kill the Cause and Occasion of themselves for they sprung from Sin and their Business is to extirpate and restrain Sin They are Good as publick Executions are in Common-Wealths as Sneezing and Vomiting and other such violent Exacuations in our Bodies whereby the noxious Humours which oppress Nature are discharged such as are at once the Sign and the Remedy of a Distemper In short It is well for us that we have them but it had been abundantly better for us if we had never had any Occasion to make use of them and That Occasion we never should have had if Man had continued as God made him and preserved his Original Wisdom and Integrity And accordingly we may take Notice that These are Things fitted to this frail and mortal State only and not any of Those more Noble Parts of Religion which shall be the Eternal Exercise of our Souls hereafter when we are released from this Bondage of Flesh and Corruption When our Imperfections and our Sins cease These cease with them whereas our Praises our Love of God and other Duties of Intrinsick Goodness and of Eternal Use and Obligation so far from dying with our Sins and Bodies that they will be the more Constant the more Delightful Employment of our Sinless and Exalted State and make a considerable Part of the Heavenly and Divine Life The former Remarks have shewn Man's Imbecillity in Goodness and Truth what follows may perhaps surprise you more because it undertakes to represent him no less impotent in Evil too For They who do their utmost Endeavour to be Wicked cannot be entirely so but are always forced to leave somewhat unfinished There is constantly some Secret Remorse some Consideration of Honour or Fear that checks and pulls them back slackens and enervates the Will and keeps them from part of the Villany they intended And this Restraint hath been the Ruine of many a One who hath proposed to save himself by venturing no farther Which sort of Folly and the Miscarriages that have been owing to it gave Occasion to that Proverb That a Man must never play the Fool by halves This Rule is Judicious enough but deserves a little Illustration because as it hath a Good so is it likewise capable of a very Bad Sense To understand it as if a Man ought to abandon all Conscience and might in any Circumstances do Well and Wisely to be Wicked without Reserve is a very perverse Interpretation and would render it a most pernicious Maxim In this Respect that Contrary Proverb is most True that The shortest Follies are the Best But it is True too that in some Cases Mildness and Moderation are of Dangerous Consequence as particularly when we have a desperate and formidable Enemy to deal with and as we commonly say Hold a Wolf by the Ears A Man then hath no safe Middle-Way left no Course to take but either the winning him over entirely by Courtesie or absolutely to subdue and put him out of a Capacity to do us farther Mischief This was the constant Method of the Romans and a very prudent One no doubt it is Thus Camillus remonstrated to the Senate in the Case of the Latines after several Revolts suing for Terms of Reconciliation That they must either be admitted into Friendship or not suffered to be a People any longer and * Dii immortales ita vos potentes hujus consilii fecerunt ut sit Latium deinde aut non sit in vestrâ manu posuerint Itaque pacem vobis quod ad Latinos Attinet parare in perpetuum vel saeviendo vel ignoscendo potestis T. Liv. Lib. VIII Cap. 13. That there was no other Way left to secure a lasting Peace but either Extremity of Rigour or a Generous Pardon In such an Exigence of Affairs to do Things by Halves is to ruine All Herennius as the Samnites found by woful Experience who for want of following the Advice of a †Vide Tit. Liv. Lib. IX Cap. 3. Wise Old Senator who when they had hemm'd in the Romans and had them at their Mercy gave his Opinion either for obliging them by Honourable Treatment or for cutting them all off paid very dear That of Courtesie is the Nobler Conquest and ought to be a Man's First Choice The Second is only for Cases of Extremity and such Enemies as Kindness will do no Good upon Now from all these Instances the Infirmity of Humane Nature appears very evidently both with Regard to Good and Evil. A Man can neither perform nor avoid either entirely and without reserve and what he does or so much as he declines of it is neither the One nor the Other absolutely and without mixture There is some Allay some Abatement in both Extremes and thus Man hath it not in his Power to be exquisitely Good or exquisitely Wicked but finds himself checked and confined on either Hand Let us proceed to observe some other Effects and plain Indications of Humane Infirmity In Reproofs and Denyals It is a Littleness of Soul which makes Men that they neither dare nor can reprove others when they have done amiss nor can bear being reproved Themselves when they deserve it And this farther Remark is likewise True That Men as they have or want Courage for One of These so do they constantly for the Other of them too Now This is a very Foolish Niceness to deprive our Selves or our Friend of so Beneficial and Necessary a Kindness merely for a slight Scratch which at the most does but pinch our Ears and make them tingle a little And near of Kin to This is that other Folly of not daring to deny what we are sensible is not fit for us to grant and not being able to receive a Repulse with any manner of Temper When Men are falsely suspected and wrongfully accused they are liable to a Two-fold Nicety False Suspâ—ons and Accusations and each of These is chargeable with Weakness In such Accusations I mean as common Report lays and not Those which fall upon them in the Methods of Law and Justice One of these Extremes is the Being too easily moved and over-industrious to excuse or to justifie Themselves and this sometimes most Impertinently and Officiously * Mendax infamia terret Quem nisi mendosum mendacem Hor. Ep. XVI Lib. â—1 False Reports disgrace And trouble Whom The Vicious and the Base
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
as if it were ordained to be its own Executioner Hence those Observations * Prima est haec ultio quòd se Judice nemo nocens absolvitur Juv. Sat. xiii Paena autem vehemens ac multo saevior illis Quas aut Caeditius gravis invenit aut Rhadamanthus Nocte dieque suum gestare in pectore testem Ibid. None quits himself his own impartial Thought Will damn and Conscience will record the Fault And again Not sharp Revenge nor Hell it self can find A fiercer Torment than a Guilty Mind Hence †Malitia ipsa maximam partem veneni sui bibit Malum consilium consultori pessimum Wickedness is said to drink the greatest part of its own Poyson the bitterness and the dregs fall to its own share Evil Counsel turns most to the prejudice of the person that gives it As the Wasp though she may hurt and occasion some smart to the person stung by her yet does it self the greatest harm and suffers more by the loss of its Sting and being disabled for ever after It is true Vice is attended with some Pleasure for were there not this to recommend it Wickedness would never find any entertainment in the World No Man ever was or can be vitious merely for the sake or satisfaction of being so But still when we have allowed this Advantage of a short and sensible Satisfaction yet we must not forget what follows and how poor a business this is in comparison of that lasting Displeasure and Dissatisfaction it begets afterwards So that as Plato says truly The Punishment constantly follows the Sin or rather indeed as Hesiod yet more nicely observes They are Twin-Children and come into the World together Now the Case of Virtue is just the Reverse of This It gratifies and sooths us leaves sweet and pleasing Remembrances behind Fills us with inward Complacencies secret Congratulations of our own Happiness and inexpressible Satisfaction in having done what becomes us This is the true Reward of a virtuous Mind a Happiness inherent and Essential to it And the Applauses and Joys and Transports of a Good Conscience as they are sure to us and cannot be withheld by any who envy our Virtue or our Fame so are they likewise so large and full so generous and noble and sufficient as may very well encourage and satisfy us during our continuance in this present World That Vice is above all things in the world to be hated Whether it be ever allowable to do a fault abominated and avoided no body that I know of ever pretended to dispute But some Question may be made whether we are obliged to be so general and irreconcilable in our Hatred that it should be impossible for any Pleasure or Advantage so desirable to offer it self for the prospect of which the committing of any Vice might not be allowable at least excusable in us Many people indeed are but too apt to think that there are several such reserved Cases wherein the common Rules of Morality may be very fairly dispensed with And if we allow the Advantage to be publick the Writers of Politicks make no doubt of it provided the proceedings be so qualified as I shall have occasion to advise when I come to treat of the Virtue of Prudence in point of Government But some have not been content to restrain this Liberty to the necessities of State but have enlarged its bounds beyond their just extent and given the same Allowance to the Private Pleasure and Profit of single Men. Now This is a thing not possible to be determined in favour of their Assertion without the Case were stated in all its Circumstances and both the Person the Quality of the Fact and the Nature of the Advantage proposed particularly specified But otherwise while we treat of the Matter simply and abstractedly it is a general Rule not only in Religion but in mere Morality too That the prospect of no Advantage or Pleasure whatsoever will justify a Man in doing any thing Ill in it self or which is contrary to his Duty and Conscience Again It is past a doubt Whether all Sin beget Repentance that Sin and Wickedness hath it not in its power to furnish out Pleasures and Satisfactions so solid and agreeable as Virtue and the Consciousness of one 's own Sincerity is able and wont to do nay it is most certain that Vices are their own Tormentors and execute severe Vengeance upon the Authors But yet this is not universally and in all Cases true and therefore it is necessary to make some distinction of Persons and Circumstances Now Wickedness and Wicked Men may be distributed into three sorts Some first are perfectly incorporated with Evil they Reason themselves into it their Resolutions and the whole Bent of their Wills are fixed entirely in its Interests or else long Custom hath got such a perfect Mastery over them that they cannot Disengage themselves These miserable Wretches are utterly abandoned their very Understanding is vitiated sees consents to and approves the Evil And This usually is the Case when Vice and Debauchery meets with a Strong and Vigorous Mind and hath taken such deep root in it that it comes at last to be naturalized and of a piece with it all the Faculties are tinctured it is corrupted throughout and Vice so closely interwoven as to become a part of its Temper and Constitution Others secondly have their Intervals of Folly only They are wicked now and then by fits just as any violent Gush of a Temptation disturbs or puts them out of their Course or some impetuous Passion drives them headlong upon the Rocks so that these Men are surprized and carried away forcibly by a Current too strong for them to stem The Third sort are betwixt these two Extremes They have a right Notion of Vice consider'd in it self and when they reflect upon their Fault abstractedly do severely accuse and condemn themselves for it and thus they differ from the First Sort who are advanced even to the desperate degree of a good liking of Wickedness But then they have not the violence or surprize of Passions or Temptations to qualify and extenuate their Crime and in this respect they differ from the Second sort too But these Men go to work in cold blood and with great deliberation they weigh Circumstances and drive a Bargain as it were observe well the Heinousness of the Sin and then put the Pleasure or Profit it brings into the contrary Scale and thus they barter away their Souls and are content to be wicked at a certain Price and for such as they think a valuable Consideration They lend themselves to the Devil for so much Interest to be paid for the use of their Persons and are so foolish to think that there is a great deal to be said in excuse for such a Commerce as this Of this kind we may reckon Extortion and Oppression and Covetousness for Gain and the Excesses and Debaucheries of Wine
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 Declarations of their Readiness to assist us And that our Memory upon this occasion may never want Refreshing it will be Decent to mention the Advantage we have receiv'd by the Title of his Gifts who conferred it upon us The Fourth and Last is to make a Return and Restitution wherein we may govern our selves according to these Four Rules First That This be not done too hastily We should not be extremely Eager and Anxious in the Thing for this hath a very ill Savour It looks like Pride as if we were loath and scorned to be obliged and for that Reason were impatient to get out of their Debt This ministers a very just cause of Jealousie to our Benefactor that his Kindness was not well taken when we shew our selves so very uneasie under the Engagements it lays upon us A convenient time therefore is necessary to be taken and a favourable Opportunity waited for Though this ought not to be very distant neither nor be put off to too long a Day For the Graces are painted Young to hint that Favours should not grow old upon our Hands I add farther that this Opportunity should be one that offers it self of its own Accord or if of Our seeking yet so contrived that it may be void of all Suspicion of Vanity and Ostentation Secondly We should pay back with Interest and exceed the Proportion of what we receive like a good Soil which cannot maintain the Character if it only produce the Seed again So a grateful Man * Ingratus est qui Beneficium reddit sine usurâ will forfeit that Title if he restore no more than the Principal But the least we must do is to return as much as we received and that with all possible Demonstrations that we thought our selves under an Obligation and wished it in our Power to do more That what we have done in the mean while is not look'd upon as full Satisfaction but only as an Acknowledgment of the Debt and a Testimony of our Sincerity and Respect Thirdly That these Returns be made willingly and chearfully for †Ingratus est qui metu gratus est Eodem animo beneficium debetur quo datur Errat siquis Beneficium libentiùs accipit quà m reddit he is not Grateful whom Fear or Force make desirous to appear so Especially too if the Kindness was done Frankly and generously For we should pay back in the same Coin and with all the commendable Qualities the Favour brought along to recommend it And that Man is much to blame who is more ready and cheerful when he is to receive a Kindness than when it is expected he should requite one Fourthly If a Man's Circumstances be such as render him Incapable of actual Restitution at least he ought to take Care that he be not wanting in Will and this Grateful Disposition is the First and Principal Part of the Thing the very Life and Soul both of the Benefit and of the Acknowledgment in return for it This indeed can have no Witness but it self to testifie for it But as the Thanks of the Heart ought to be well accepted where People are in no Condition to pay more so the Desires and Offers of obliging us either when our Friends could not compass their Desires or when we had no need or did not think fit to accept their Services must be acknowledged as if we had actually received them For here was the Will though not the Deed and this as I said is the Chief and of it self a sufficient Ground of Obligation to Gratitude THE Second PART OF JUSTICE CONSISTING Of Duties owing to and from certain Persons and arising from Special and Personal Obligations The PREFACE MY Design is in the next Place to treat of such Duties as are peculiar to some Men and not to others And These differ according as the Persons concern'd in them and their respective Conditions differ Some of them are unequal as Superiours and Inferiours Others are equal and upon the same Level I shall begin with married Persons because This is a Relation mixt and compounded of both They being in some Respects Equal and in Others Vnequal Besides it will be convenient to set out with such Instances of Justice as are Private and Domestick These being in the very Nature and Order of Things antecedent to those that are Publick and Political For Families are the Foundation and first Matter of Common-wealths and Kingdoms And therefore the Justice exercised here is the Scurce and Model and first Draught of Publick Administrations Now these Domestick Relations are Three Husband and Wife Parents-and Children Masters and Servants These are the Principal Parts of a Family but that of Husband and Wife is the Ground-work and beginning of all the rest And therefore That hath a right to be first considered CHAP. XII The Duties of a Married State IN Regard the Persons under this Condition may be considered in different Respects according to that Mixture of Equality and Inequality which I have observed to be in their Circumstances it must needs follow that the Duties peculiar to such a State are of Two Sorts Some common to both and Others appropriated to each of the Parties Now of those that are reciprocal the Obligation is entirely the same and the Consciences of both are equally violated by the Breach of them though according to the Customs of the World the Penalty and Reproach and Inconvenience fall more Heavy on one side than they do on the other By these reciprocal Duties I understand an Entire Affection steady Loyalty uncorrupted Fidelity and unreserved Communication of all things whatsoever so that Neither of them have any thing they can call their own exclusive to the Right and Claim of the Other To these we may add a prudent and provident Care and the Exercise of a just Authority over their Family a diligent Inspection into their Manners and consulting the Advantage of all that belong to them Book I. Chap. 42. Of this Subject we have spoken more at large in the first First Part of this Treatise The Other sort are Duties Peculiar to each of the Parties and These differ Husband's Duty according to the Terms of that unequal Relation in which they stand For those of the Husband considered as Superiour are 1. Instructing his Wife conferring with and directing her in every Particular that may any way contribute to their Honour and Advantage taking Care that she may be Ignorant in no Part of the Duty expected from her Character nor defective in any useful and necessary Accomplishments which she is capable of attaining to and all this to be done not in a Rough and Magisterial Way but with all possible Gentleness and Sweetness in the softest and most engaging manner with the Tenderness of a Parent and the respectful Affection of a Friend 2. The maintaining her as his Wife as befits One whom he hath made the same with himself and therefore without any Regard
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
treat of mean and tristing frivolous and idle Subjects but Great and Serious and Noble such as may help to enrich his Understanding to direct his Opinions to regulate his Manners and Affections Such particularly as set before him Human Nature as it really is descry the secret Springs and inward Movements of the Soul that so he may not mistake the World but be well acquainted with him self and other People Such as may teach him which are the proper Objects of his Fear and Love and Desire how he ought to be affected with Regard to all external Things What Passion what Virtue is And how he shall discern the Difference between Ambition and Avarice between Servitude and Subjection between Liberty and Licentiousness And suffer not your self to be diverted from such early Attempts by a ridiculous Pretence of the Child's Incapacity for Matters of so important a Nature for assure your self he will swallow and digest these as easily as those of another and more ludicrous Kind There is not one jot more of Capacity or Apprehension required to the Understanding all the illustrious Examples of Valerius Maximus than there is to the knowing the Fears of Guy of Wurwick or Amadis of Gaul The Greek and Roman History which is the Noblest and most Useful Dearning in the World is every whit as entertaining as easie to be comprehended as any Romance of the same Bulk A Child that can tell how many Cocks and Hens run about his Mother's Yard and can count and distinguish his Uncles and Cousins what should hinder him from remembring with the same ease the seven Kings of Rome and the Twelve Caesars There is indeed a great Difference between several Sciences And the Faculties of Children have their proper Seasons but then this makes no Difference between the different Parts of the same Science and Exercises of the same Faculty and no Man will ever be able to prove that one Matter of Fact is easie and another difficult or impossible to be attained but especially that the False and Fictitious Inventions are accommodated to the Capacity of Children and that True and Serious Narratives are above and unfit for them This looks as if God had made our Minds only capable of being deceived and given them a strange Alacrity in Lyes and Fables But the Matter is much otherwise For the main Business is to manage the Capacity of a Child well and if this be done the Improvement will quickly shew the Vanity of trifling with Children and distrusting their Abilities for greater and better Things The Third Admonition to this purpose is that these Tutors and Governors would behave themselves as becomes them towards their Charge Not putting on always solemn and austere Looks or treating them with Harshness and Severity but with Methods that are gentle and engaging good Humour and a cheerful Countenance I cannot here but condemn without more ado that general Custom of beating whipping scolding and storming at Children and keeping them in all that Terror and Subjection which is usual in some great Schools For This is really a most unreasonable Thing of pernicious Consequence and as indecent as it would be in a Judge to fall into violent Passions with Criminals at the Bar or a Physician to fall foul upon his Patients and call them all to naught How Prejudicial must this needs be in the Effect how contrary to the Design of Education which is to make them in love with Virtue betimes to sweeten their Tempers and train them in Virtue and Knowledge and Decency of Behaviour Now this Imperious and rough Treatment gives them a Prejudice to Instruction makes them hate and be afraid of it fills them with Horrour and Indignation and Rage tempts them to be Desperate and Head-strong damps their Spirits and depresses their Courage Till at last by being used like Slaves they degenerate entirely into cowardly and slavish Dispositions The Holy Ghost himself hath given us fair Warning of this Mischievous Consequence when he commands by St. Paul Coloss iii. 21. that Parents should not provoke their Children to Wrath lest they be discouraged This is the ready way to make them good for Nothing they curse their Teacher and hate the Government they are under If they do what they are bidden it is only because Your Eye is upon them and they dare not do otherwise not with any Cheerfulness or Satisfaction or because they are acted by any Noble and Generous Principle If they have been tardy in their Duty they take Sanctuary in the vilest Methods to save themselves from Punishment Lyes and Equivocations and shuffling Excuses Trembling and Tears of Madness and Despair Playing Truant and Running away from School all which are Refuges infinitely worse than the Fault they were guilty of before * Dum id rescitum iri credit tantisper cavet Si sperat fore clam rursum ad ingenium redit Ille quem Beneficio adjungas ex animo facit Studet par referre praesens absensque idem erit Terent. Adelph He that 's compell'd by Threats to do his Duty Will be wary no longer than you 've an Eye over him But when he sees he shan't be found out He 'll even follow his own Inclinations But he that 's govern'd by Love obeys most cheerfully Strives to make due returns and is the same Present or Absent Now I would have Children used with greater Easiness and Freedom bred as becomes Men and Gentlemen argued into their Duty by fair and mild Remonstrances and possest with Principles of Honour and Modesty and Shame to do amiss The Former of these Affections would prove a Spur and mighty Incitement to Goodness and the Latter a Curb and powerful Restraint to disengage them from Vice and work in them a just Abhorrence and Detestation of Evil. There seems to me to be somwhat so mean and servile in Severity and rigorous Constraint that it can never be reconciled with Honour and true Freedom of Mind We should therefore exalt rather and ennoble their Affections with Ingenuity of Temper and Behaviour and the Love of Virtue winning upon their Minds with setting before them it's Desirableness and displaying all it's Charms and attracting Beauties * Pudore Liberalitate Liberos retinere Satius esse credo quà m metu Hoc Patrium est potius consuefacere filium Suâ Sponte rectè facere quà m alieno metu Hoc Pater ac Dominus interest hoc qui nequit Fateatur se nescire imperare Liberis 'T was always my Opinion that 't is much better To keep Children in Order by Shame and Generosity Of Inclination than by Fear This is a Father's part to use his Child So as his own Choice rather than Constraint Should put him upon doing well Here lies the Difference between a Father and a Master And he that acts otherwise let him confess That he understands not at all the Art Of managing Children Blows are for Beasts which are incapable of hearing Reason and Rage
the other half in the Second Table of the Decalogue Because it in part regards the Duty we owe to God and in part That which we owe to our Neighbour This is likewise so self-evident and acknowledg'd a Duty so strictly and indispensably requir'd at our Hands that No other Duty no other Affection can supersede it even tho' our Affection to other Persons may and is allow'd to be more intimate and tender For put the Case that a Man hath a Father and a Son both involv'd in the same Distress and that he have it in his Power to relieve but one of them it hath been the Opinion of very wise Men that he is bound to assist his Father notwithstanding his Affection to the Son according to what hath been lately urg'd upon that Occasion be the greater and stronger The Reason of which Resolution seems to be That the Son's Debt to the Father is of longer standing and the Obligation bore Date and was in Force before that to his own Son and that therefore it is in this as in other Cases of like Nature where no antecedent Tie can be cancell'd by any Engagement or Debt contracted afterwards Now this Duty principally consists in Five Particulars All of which are comprehended under that significant Expression of Honouring our Father and Mother The First is Reverence by which we are to understand not only those External Respects of the Looks or Gestures or Behaviour but the Inward and Respectful Sense of the Mind and This indeed chiefly as the Source and Foundation of the other Now This consists in a high Esteem and prosound Veneration for them looking upon them as the Authors and Original of our Being and all the Comforts of it The Instruments and Immediate Causes which the Universal Father of all things was pleas'd to make choice of for the bringing us out of Nothing and making us what we are and therefore in that Quality bearing a very great Resemblance to God himself The Second is Obedience Which provided the Matter of the Command be lawful cannot be dispens'd with upon the Pretence of any Rigour or Hardship that it is encumber'd with And thus we find the Rechabites commended by God himself for complying with the Severities of Life Jer. xxxv imposed upon Them and their Posterity by Jonadab their Ancestor The Third is Succouring them in all their Exigencies and Distresses maintaining and cherishing them in their Wants and Weaknesses Old Age and Sickness Infirmities and Poverty must be so far from Provoking our Scorn and Contempt that they are but so many louder Calls and more engaging Ties to Love and Duty to Assistance and Respect aiding and advising them in their Business and exerting our utmost Power to do them Service Of This we have some wonderful Examples in the other Parts of Nature and Brutes themselves have set us a noble and almost inimitable Pattern particularly the Stork which St. Basil so elegantly extols upon this account For the young Storks are said to nourish and feed the old ones to cover them with their Feathers when the Shedding of their own exposes them to the Injuries of Cold and Weather to fly in couples and join Wings to carry them on their Backs Nature it seems inspiring them with this Artificial Contrivance of shewing this Piety and Affection This Example is so lively so very moving that the Duty of Parents to their Children hath been express'd in some Translations by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is acting the Part of a Stork And the Hebrews in cohsideration of this eminent Quality call this Bird Chasida which signifies Kind Charitable Good-Natur'd Some very remarkable Instances of this kind among Men we read in ancient History Tymon Son to the Great Miltiades when his Father was dead in Prison and so poor that he had not wherewith to bury him tho' some say it was for the Payment of his Debts for failure whereof his Corpse was arrested and kept above-ground sold himself and sacrific'd his Liberty for a Summ of Money to be expended in defraying the Charges of the Funeral This Man did not contribute to his Father's Necessities out of his own Abundance or his actual Possessions but parted with his Freedom a Juying dearer to him and esteem'd more valuable than either Fortune or Life it self for his Father's Sake He did not relieve him alive and in distress but when he was dead no longer his Father no longer a Man What a Brave what an Heroick Act was this What may we reasonably imagine so gallant a Son would have done what indeed would he not have done for a living and a necessitous Father One that had asked or that had needed his Assistance This is a generous and a glorious Instance of the Duty now under Consideration We are likewise told of Two Examples in the weaker Sex Women who suckled the One her Father and the Other her Mother when they were Prisoners under Sentence of Condemnation and to be famished to Death which is said to have been heretofore a Punishment very commonly inflicted in Capital Cases It looks a little Unnatural for a Mother to Subsist upon her Daughter's Milk This is turning the Stream back again up to the Fountain-Head but sure it deserves to be considered by the Ladies of Our Age how very Natural indeed how Fundamental and Primitive a Law of Nature it is for Mothers to suckle and give that Sustenance which Nature hath provided on purpose to their own Children The Fourth Duty is To be governed and directed by them in all Matters of Moment to attempt no considerable Thing without taking their Advice and asking their Consent and being confirmed in our Intentions and Designs by the Parents Approbation and good Liking This is a general Rule extending to all the important Affairs of Humane Life All that are fit to trouble and consult them about but it hath a special Regard to the Disposing of themselves in Marriage which is of all others the most Weighty and Serious and such as Parents have a particular right to be well informed of and perfectly satisfied in The Fifth is Covering their Vices and Imperfections submitting to their Humors and Passions their Severity and hard Usage and bearing all their most unreasonable Peevishness and angry Rebukes with Patience and Temper Of This we have a notable Instance in Manlius Pomponius The Tribune had accused the Father of this Manlius to the People of several grievous Crimes among the rest of horrible Barbarity to his Son and among other Indignities that he forc'd him to dig and drive the Plough This Son went to this Tribune's House found him in Bed and putting a Knife to his Throat made him swear that he would withdraw the Indictment and prosecute his Father 10 farther declaring that he had rather submit to the most Slavish Drudgery his Father could impose upon him and toil at it all the Days of his Life than see him prosecuted and exposed for any