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
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
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
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
Wise draws out his Artillery in Order sets his Philosophical Aphorisms and profitable Sentences in array applies his Similitudes and Examples pertinently and seasonably improves others by his Reading and renders the Histories of former Ages of present and publick Use enriches all he converses with out of his own inexhaustible Mine offers nothing but what issolid and substantial and try'd and is ready upon all occasions like the Wealthy and Prudent Housholder alluded to in the Gospel to bring forth out of his Treasures things new and old Mat. xiii Such beneficial Instructions as may be of use to regulate the Manners of private Persons and direct the Government and Administration of the Publick such as may be serviceable to all Circumstances all the Parts and Duties of Men and teach them both how to Live and how to Die well And when These are introduc'd at seasonable Times and manag'd with Discretion the Beauty and the Pleasure of them is exceeding great as well as the Benefit and Advantage A Word fitly spoken is like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver Prov. xxv 11. So the Wisest of Men hath express'd the Counsels or Reproofs or Comforts handsomly deliver'd and what can possibly be more grateful more valuable more ornamental The Mouth of a wicked Man quite contrary is a noisom stinking Pit his Breath is contagious and kills like a Pestilence Murders his Neighbour secretly Stabs and wounds his Reputation to Death and then insults over his mangled Honour with a barbarous Triumph It is Sword and Fire and Poyson and Death and Hell and Every thing that is mischievous and destructive The Holy Spirit it self hath allow'd it no better a Character Jam. iii. 6. for St. James hath call'd it a Fire a World of Iniquity a Defiler of the whole Body an Incendiary to the Course of Nature and this Firebrand it self kindled in Hell And the Son of Syrach hath enlarg'd upon the Subject so well Ecclus. xxviii 13-21 that the whole Passage ought to be inserted Curse the Whisperer and Double-Tongued for such have destroy'd many that were at Peace A Backbiting Tongue hath disquieted many and driven them from Nation to Nation strong Cities hath it pull'd down and overthrown the Houses of great Men. Whoso hearkeneth unto it shall never find rest nor dwell quietly The Stroke of the Whip maketh Marks in the Flesh but the Stroke of the Tongue breaketh the Bones Many have fallen by the Edge of the Sword but not so many as have fallen by the Tongue Well is He that is defended from it and hath not pass'd through the Venom thereof who hath not drawn the Yoke thereof nor hath been bound in her Bands For the Yoke thereof is a Yoke of Iron and the Bands thereof are Bands of Brass The Death thereof is an evil Death the Grave is better than it Now These Two Correspondence of Hearing and Speech Hearing and Speech answer and have a near and intimate Relation to one another Each of them single is of no Significance at all and therefore Nature to make Either of them useful found it necessary to supply us with Both. They are the Two Doors of the Soul whereby she sends in and out and holds a Correspondence all the World over nay she does not only send but go for by these two like Vessels with their Orifices joyn'd the Soul communicates and pours out her Thoughts and transfuses her very Self into another's Breast Where these Passages are shut and closed as they are in the Deaf and Dumb the Mind is in perpetual Misery and Solitude For Hearing is the Door for Entrance and Speech for going Abroad By the former of these the Soul receives the Conceptions of others by the latter she imparts and enriches them with her own The mutual Operation of these Two may be resembled to the Flint and the Steel from the Concussion and Strokes whereof Truth like a Sacred Fire is kindled For They agitating and polishing each other scour off the Rust of the Mind brighten and beautifie it and bring all Knowledge to Perfection Only we must observe that these Noble Effects have their first Beginning from the Hearing for Wisdom must needs have been put into the Mind before it can be drawn out from thence And accordingly we see that Persons born Deaf are constantly Dumb too The first thing to be done is to furnish this House within which is ordinarily done by Hearing and then follows the distributing our Stores by Conversation and Speech So that the Good and Evil of what we speak will depend upon the Good and Evil of what we hear For such as we are accustom'd to receive such of necessity we must give back again And therefore a Man should above all things keep his Ears chaste and unpolluted and stop them against Vice and Indecency for this sort of Communication is exceeding infectious Book III. Chap. 43. and taints the Mind presently The Advices that are proper for the Use and Government of our Speech will be insisted upon hereafter CHAP. XII Of the other Faculties viz. Imagination Memory and Appetite THE Fancy or Imaginative Faculty first collects the several Images receiv'd by the Senses forms Idea's out of them and lays them up for use This is done in so accurate and faithful a manner that though the Objects themselves be far distant nay though the Man be asleep and all his Senses lock'd up yet this Faculty represents them to the Mind and Thoughts in Images so strong so lively that the Imagination does the very same to the Understanding now which the Object it self did by the first and freshest Impressions heretofore The Memorative Faculty is the Register and Store-house of all the Idea's and Images first perceiv'd by the Senses and then collected and seal'd up by the Imagination The Appetite seeks and pursues and culls out of all these things so apprehended such of them as appear to be Good and most Agreeable CHAP. XIII Of the Intellectual Faculty which is peculiar to the Humane Soul BEfore we enter upon any other Discourse relating to this Subject it is necessary to observe the Seat or Instrument of this Faculty and then its Action or Method of Operating Now the Seat The Seat and Instrument of the Soul or rather the Throne of the Reasonable Soul where it sits and reigns Supreme is not the Heart as was generally supposed before Plato and Hippocrates but the Brain For the Heart is not capable of Wisdom but is properly the Seat and Source of Vegetation Now the Brain which in Man much exceeds the Quantity assign'd to any other Creature must be so contriv'd and dispos'd that the Reasonable Soul may act freely and in order hereunto the Figure of it must be almost like that of a Ship it must not be a perfect Round it must not be too Great nor too Little though of the Two Extremes the Excess is much less to be found fault with than
purpose For had This been a Thing against his Duty and such as the Authority of a Father could in no case extend to he would not they tell you ever have consented to it nor have believed that this Command had proceeded from God but rather have imputed it to some Delusion upon his own Mind if it had been no way reconcilable with Nature the Laws of which God had established in the Beginning and could not be thought so to contradict Himself as by any particular Order to appoint a thing altogether inconsistent with his own General Institution before And accordingly it is observable that Isaac never went about to make any Resistance nor pleaded his own Innocency in Bar to what his Father went about to do as knowing that he only exerted the rightful Power he had over him What Force there is in this Argument I shall not take upon me to determine It is sufficient for my present Purpose to observe That allowing all this yet it does not in any degree take off from the Commendation due to Abraham's Faith for he does not pretend to Sacrifice his Son by Vertue of any such Inherent Right over him nor upon any Provocation or Misdemeanour which Isaac had given him occasion to resent or punish but purely in obedience to the Command of Almighty God The Case does not seem to differ much under the Law of Moses allowing only for some Circumstances as to the manner of exercising this Authority which will be taken notice of by and by Of This and no less Extent the Paternal Power seems to have been formerly in the greatest part of the World and so to have continu'd till the Time of the Roman Emperours Among the Greeks indeed and the Aegyptians Diodor. it does not seem to have been altogether so absolute but even There if a Father happened to kill his Son unjustly and without Provocation the Punishment inflicted for such Barbarity was no other than being shut up with the Dead Body for Three Days together Now the Reasons The Reasons and Effects of it and the Effects of so great and unlimited a Power being allow'd to Fathers over their Children which no doubt was a great advantage for the Advancement of Virtue the Improvement of Manners and Education the restraining preventing and chastising Extravagance and Vice and of great good Consequence to the Publick too seem to have been such as These First The containing Children in their Duty begetting and preserving a due Awe and Reverence in their Minds Then a Regard to several Vices and Enormities which though very grievous in Themselves would yet pass unpunish'd to the great Prejudice of the Publick if they could be taken cognizance of and animadverted upon by no other Ways and Persons but Legal Process and the Sentence of the Magistrate For abundance of These must needs escape such Censure partly because they would be Domestick and Private and partly because there would be no body to inform and prosecute The Parents Themselves were not likely to be so Officious the Nearness of the Relation would render it odious and the Interest of their own Family would restrain them from publishing their own Shame Or if they could be suppos'd to bring all they knew of this kind upon the Open Stage yet we know there are many Vices and Insolencies and Disorders which the Laws and Justice of Nations are not provided with Punishments for To all which we may add that there are many Family-Quarrels between Fathers and Children Brothers and Sisters upon the account of dividing Estates and Goods or several other Things which tho' sit to be canvass'd and corrected within a Man 's own Walls would by no means do well to be ript up and exposed to the World and for These as the Paternal Authority is necessary so it is sufficient to compose and quiet all Parties and put an End to Differences that concern single Families only And it was reasonable for the Law to suppose that no Father would make ill use of this Power that Men might very safely be entrusted with it because of that very tender Affection which Nature inspires all Parents with such as seems altogether inconsistent with Cruelty toward their own Off-spring And this we see the effect of Daily in the frequent Intercessions made by Fathers for the Releasing or Mitigating those publick Punishments which they cannot but be sensible are most justly inflicted there being no greater Torment to any Parent than to see his Children under Pain or Disgrace And where These absolute Prerogatives were allow'd we meet with very few Instances of the exerting their Power and going to the Extremity of it without Offences very heinous indeed so that in truth if we regard the Practice and compare That with the Power it self we shall have reason to look upon it as a useful Terrour a Bugbear to keep Children in Awe and fright them into Obedience rather than any Stretch of Rigour that was actual and in good earnest Now this Paternal Authority was gradually lost and fell to the Ground as it were of it self It s Decay for the Decay of it is in truth to be attributed to Disuse more than to any Law expresly Repealing it or Enacting the contrary and it began most remarkably to decline when the Roman Emperours came to the Government For from the time of Augustus or quickly after it sunk apace and lost all its Vigour And upon this Decay Children grew so stubborn and insolent against their Parents that Seneca in his Address to Nero Lib. 1. de Clem. says their Own Eyes had seen more Parricides punish'd in Five Years then last past than there had been for the space of Seven Hundred Years before that is from the first Foundation of Rome till That time Till then if a Father at any time killed his Children he was called to no Account nor had any Punishment inflicted upon him for the Fact as we may gather evidently by the Examples of Febvins the Senator Salust in Bell. Catalin Valer. Maxim who slew his Son for being engaged in Catiline's Conspiracy and several other Senators who proceeded against their Sons and condemn'd them to Death by virtue of their own Domestick Power such as Cassius Tratius or sentenced them to perpetual Banishment as Manlins Torquatus did his Son Syllanus There were indeed some Laws afterwards which appointed that the Father should bring Informations against the Children that offended L. inauditum ad leg Corn. F. I. in suis de I. posth I. 3. Cod. de pa. potest and deliver them over to publick Justice And the Judge in such Cases was oblig'd to pronounce Sentence as the Father should direct in which there are some Footsteeps of Antiquity And these Laws in abridging the Power of the Fathers proceeded very tenderly and did not take it away entirely and openly but with great Moderation and by halves only These later Ordinances have some Affinity to the
passes at Home and in our ordinary Course of Affairs The Third is Publick and respects what is exposed to the common View of the World In the First of these there is no manner of Restraint in the Second no Pains or Study to recommend one's Behaviour as being not accountable for our Own Management to Them that live under our Own Roof and Government but all the Reserve and Artifice and Dissimulation is in a manner appropriated to the last of These Now it is much more difficult to be regular and exact in the first of these Degrees than in either of the other and the Examples of Persons that are or have been so have been infinitely fewer and so in proportion the Case stands with the Second too in comparison of the Third sort The Reason is obvious and evident For where there is no body to judge or controul or countermand nay where there is not so much as a Spectator to observe our Actions where we have no apprehension of Punishment for doing amiss no expectation of Reward for doing well we are much more remiss and careless in our Behaviour Reason and Conscience are here the only Guides we have to follow and although These may be some Check yet that is not comparable to the Restraints we feel when placed in open View and made the common Mark of All who must needs see and will take a Freedom of censuring our Actions Applause and Glory fear of Scandal and Reproach or some other Passion of the like Nature are much more powerful Motives these carry and manage us after a very different manner And indeed the greatest part of Mankind are more govern'd by Passions of this Nature than by any strict Sense of Duty and regard to Virtue These put us upon our Guard and teach us Prudence upon force And from the Influence of These it is that many People have the Reputation of Holy and Excellent Persons and behave Themselves as such in the Eye of the World who yet in reality and at the bottom are mere Hypocrites stark nought and rotten at the Core and have not one commendable Quality belonging to them What passes before Men is all Farce and Counterfeit we put it on for Convenience and are concern'd to appear thus to the Spectators but the Truth of us is conceal'd and the Man can have no true Judgment made of him but from what he does in private and alone We must see him in his constant and every-day's Dress and strip him of those Ornaments that set him off when he comes abroad We must know his Temper and his usual Deportment for all the rest is Fiction and Constraint * Universus mundus exercet histrioniam All the World are Actors and play their Parts to please the Audience And it was well observ'd by a Wise Man That none are good except such as are so inwardly and by Themselves And that Virtue is always the same as cautious as prudent upon the account of Conscience as it is in Obedience to the publick Laws and Customs of the World as fearful of offending one's own Self and as careful to avoid the Condemnation of one 's own Breast when no Eye sees us as it is of the Observation and Reproaches of all Mankind Publick Actions such as Exploits in War delivering an Opinion in Senate or Council discharging an Embassy governing a Nation or the like are bright and loud every body sees every body hears of them and therefore These are perform'd with all possible Diligence and Circumspection but such Private and Domestick ones as Chiding Laughing Selling and Buying Borrowing and Paying and Conversing with our own Families and most intimate Acquaintance are silent and dark they make no Noise fear no Discovery and are therefore thought worthy very little or not any Attention or Consideration at all Nay we are sometimes scarce so much as sensible of them when we do them And if in These Men be so unthinking a little Reflection will soon convince us that they are infinitely more so in Those yet more secret and merely internal such as Loving Hating Desiring of which none is or can be conscious but their own Minds There is one Thing more fit to be observed upon this Occasion and a very sad and wicked Thing it is viz. That Men being depraved by a kind of Hypocrisie natural to them have taught Themselves and Others to make a greater Conscience and be infinitely more Scrupulous and concern'd for their outward Behaviour which consists in Shew and Form and is perfectly free and at their own Disposal of no Consequence in the World but all over Set-Countenance and Ceremony Things of no real Difficulty and as little Substance and Effect than they are for inward Miscarriages or private Actions such as are buried in Secrecy and make no Figure but yet are highly Expedient and Necessary very Valuable in Themselves and therefore very Difficult For upon these Last the Reforming of our Souls the Moderating of our Passions and the Regulating our whole Life and Conversation depends And yet the Former are not only preferred before them in our Care and Concern but the Matter is so ordered that even They who find themselves well disposed will by constant Study and Sollicitude to discharge those outward Actions punctually degenerate into Formality of course and by insensible Degrees grow Cold and Negligent in their Regard for the others Now of all these Sorts it is plain that the Men as Hermits for Instance who live in perfect Solitude and have but One of these Three That of the Internal and most private Life only to take Care of are upon better Terms and have an easier Task to discharge than Those that have Two and so likewise he that hath the Domestick Care added to the former and so lies under a Duty in Two Capacities is exposed to less Difficulty than the Persons of a Publick Life and Character upon whom the Care of all the Three Degrees is incumbent CHAP. LIV. A Life of Company and Business compar'd with one of Retirement and Solitude THey that upon all Occasions recommend and cry up a Solitary Life are so far certainly in the Right that it is an Excellent Means of Ease and Quiet a sure Retreat from the Hurry and Troubles of the World a very proper and effectual Defence against the Vices and Extravagances of a profligate Age which are commonly propagated by Infection and Example and are very likely to Spread and Reign where much the greater Part of those we converse with are already tainted with the Disease For not One in a Thousand is Vertuous and Good the Number of Fools is Infinite and the thicker the Crowd the greater the Danger Thus far I say they have Reason on their Side for ill Company is certainly one of the most fatal and ensnaring Things in the World and that not only in Regard of the Corruption but of the Punishment and Vengeance it exposes Men to Accordingly
applicable to these Persons above any others For they have a notion that the best Use Life can possibly be put to is to let it slide over without observation to deceive the Time and steal from the World as if Living were a most miserable Hardship full of unavoidable Mischiefs and a Penance so burdensome and tedious that He only is happy who can make his escape from it Thus these great Sages dodge and run away from the World they do not only bring the common methods of Living into Suspicion and cast an Odium upon the Recreations and Entertainments and innocent Liberties in common use but they even proclaim War upon the Necessities of Nature and profess an Aversion to those very things which God in his Wisdom hath seasoned with Pleasure on purpose to recommend the Use of them to us They never come in the way of these but with Reluctance and are rather dragged than move willingly they keep their mind still in exercise and employment upon somewhat else and are absent in thought all the while In short If you will believe the mighty boasts they make and all the mortified account they give of themselves Their whole Life is a Toil and a Burthen Death is the only Ease and Solace they propose to themselves And that unnatural Sentence is ever in their mouths * Vitam habere in Patientiâ mortem in Desiderio That they do indeed bear and can be content to Live but if they might follow their own Inclinations the thing they wish and would much rather chuse is to Die But it will be no hard matter to take off all the seeming Virtue of this Opinion This Opininion disapproved and to blast the Glories and Commendations it pretends to For when we come to a close and impartial Consideration of the matter The Unreasonableness the great Wickedness indeed of such a Contempt discovers it self in several Instances For First of all if we consult Nature and attend to the Condition and Design of our Creation Reason will teach us that nothing is more Graceful no Duty more Obligatory than the considering and maintaining the Character assigned to us that is in plain English the Learning to live here in all respects as becomes Men. It is in truth a very difficult Study but withal a most divine Accomplishment to know how to Enjoy and Use the Being God hath given us as he intended we should do To observe the Common Model of Nature and then the particular Circumstances and Qualifications of our own State and Case And so to adjust and proportion our behaviour to the first of these as at the same time to be guilty of nothing foreign to our private Condition or any way disagreeable to the part we are to play upon this Common Theatre We are to follow and to act what is given us but not to invent and make a new part of our own head But now these Extravagant Singularities These Studied and Artificial Essays and Overtures These ways of living beside the common road are all of them Sallies of Men's own Folly and Passion and impertinent Additions of such as because they do not understand their part mistake and overdo it They are the Diseases and Phrensies of the Soul that put Men quite beside their Senses They Spiritualize themselves only to be more refined Fools and while they affect the perfection of Angels degenerate into the stupidity of Brutes It was wisely said by him in the Comedy Homo sum ' humani à me nihil alienum puto which with respect to our present Subject is I my self am a Man and therefore must think nothing that is Human unworthy my concern For this is the very State of our Case Man is a compounded Being a Creature consisting of Soul and Body both and it is by no means commendable to maim Nature and take the Building to Pieces by cutting off this Fleshly Tabernacle God hath United and as it were Married these Two together by all the Ties of Nature and the most tender intimate Affection and how impious an Undertaking is it for Us to create Jealousies and Dislikes to drive things to Separation and Divorce and thus to put asunder those whom God hath joined together Quite contrary we should rather tye this Knot faster by all the good Offices and mutual Assistances they are capable of to one another For indeed they are well contrived for such reciprocal Services The Body of its self is heavy and stupid and therefore the Soul should animate and awaken and render it Vigorous and Active The Spirit of its self is light and airy and oftentimes very troublesomely brisk and therefore the Body is of use to check and six it In a word The Mind should govern and cherish and be helpful to the Body as a Husband should assist and direct his Wife and by no means hate or cast it off or despise the Infirmities and Necessities of this weaker Vessel It is an unbecoming Niceness and Pride to refuse the partaking in its innocent Pleasures such as Nature ordains and the Laws of God and Man allow for our Recreation and Entertainment For the thing required upon this Occasion is not total Abstinence but prudent Moderation Man is really bound to make this Life a considerable part of his Care to taste the Pleasures of it nay to chew the Cud and reflect upon them with Satisfaction for all this is necessary to give a right Relish and Value of them and to make him duly thankful and sensible of the Goodness of that Providence which hath made so liberal a Provision for our Entertainment here below Do not mistake There is no part of that which God hath in bounty bestowed upon us unworthy our regard Were it below Us to accept it would have been much more below Him to give We shall do well therefore to remember not only that we may receive it but that we are accountable for every the least mite of it And therefore the Use of Life is no jesting matter but a Commission and a Talent which requires our most serious Care that the living in agreement to Nature and governing our selves by such Rules as result from a due Consideration of it is an express Duty imposed upon us in very good earnest and with an intent to be severely reckoned for And Thus much may serve to convince us how unnatural See B. III. Ch. 38. and how foolish a Delicacy that is which teaches Men to condemn Actions as Vicious because they are Natural or to nauseate and disdain them as mean and below their Character because they are necessary Whereas in reality Necessity and Pleasure are the happiest Marriage that ever God made in all the Course of Nature It is a most convincing Demonstration of his Infinite Wisdom that in those Actions which are of greatest Use and indispensable Necessity to human Life the matter should be so order'd that some agreeable Satisfaction should always attend them and that our
is the Fruit of all this Suffering and Expence Why you escape the Severity of the Law A goodly Satisfaction indeed a Man is not punish'd that never deserv'd it But where is the Reparation for all the Trouble and Charge you have been at for This will stick by you and can never be wip'd off tho' the Suspicion and Scandal and all the Dirt that a false Accuser bespatter'd you with may The Plantiff or Informer in the mean while if he can but bring the least Colour of probability for what he depos'd against you comes off clear and a very easie thing it is to make any thing look so suspicious as shall suffice to prevent the recovering of Damages upon him So very niggardly so shamefully miserable is Justice in the Matter of Rewards and gratifying Men for having deserv'd well and so entirely addicted to Punishment Insomuch that now the Word is brought to signifie That by way of Eminence and doing Justice or being obnoxious to Justice is constantly understood in the rigorous Sense as if Justice had nothing else to do but to scourge and take Men off And any Man whose Disposition is litigious and his Malice and Conscience wicked enough to put him upon it may very easily give his Neighbours a great deal of Trouble and Charge and without any danger to himself run them into such Difficulties as will not be possible to get quit of again without considerable Detriment and Disquiet Now if we would consider Justice as to the several parts of our Duty and the Objects in which they terminate these are principally Three For every Man is by virtue of his Nature and Condition a Debtor to God to Himself and to his Neighbour So that One of his Creditors is above him Another is upon the level with him and the Third is Creditor and Debtor both in one Person The Duty to God is but another Phrase for Piety and Religion so that this Head of Justice hath been largely insisted upon already in the Second Part of this Treatise And therefore without troubling the Reader any more upon that Subject I shall betake my self to the other Two yet behind the Duty to our Selves and That to our Neighbour CHAP. VI. Of Justice as That regards a Man's Duty to Himself THis indeed is scatter'd throughout this whole Work and every Chapter is full of it For what else is the Design of the First Book which attempts to bring Men throughly acquainted with Themselves and the Condition of Human Life What else does the Second drive at in teaching Men Wisdom and laying down general Rules for their attaining to it What Lastly makes up this Third Book but especially that part of it which treats of Fortitude and Temperance which are both of them Virtues that have a more direct tendency and immediate Relation to this Matter So that any thing industriously apply'd to this Topick in particular might perhaps be well enough spar'd But however I will here lay down some Directions and give the Matter an express and solemn Consideration in the most compendious Method that conveniently I can 1. The First Advice I shall give upon this Occasion and that which in truth is the Foundation of all the rest is That Men would bethink themselves and take up a Resolution not to live Extempore and at Random from Hand to Mouth and without any Reflection of what they are what will become of them and why they are here and yet as extravagant as all this may seem at first hearing the greatest part of Mankind by far are guilty of it They fool away their Time and never live in good earnest but pass Day after Day without one serious Thought or troubling themselves to look at all before them They have no Relish no Enjoyment of Life nor make any other use of it but only to employ it in unnecessary Trifles and Things by the by Their mighty Projects and busie Cares are rather a Hindrance and Perplexity than any Furtherance to the great Ends of Living Such Men do every thing in earnest but live All their Actions and the little broken Parcels of Life are grave and full of Attention but the Bulk and Substance of Life goes off without any Regard or Consideration at all This is like a Self-evident Principle or a Truth taken for granted in Speculation upon which they never bestow a Second Thought That which is Accidental and Insignificant is made their principal Care and that which ought to be their main Business neglected as if it were only an Additional and Unnecessary thing They are exceeding diligent and importunately sollicitous in other Matters some in acquiring a vast compass of Learning some in aspiring to Honours and Preferments some in heaping up Riches Others are intent upon Pleasures and Diversions Hunting or Play or vain Contrivances to pass away their Time as if This were a Burden and hung upon their Hands Others are taken up in useless Speculations fanciful Notions pretty Inventions Others set up for Men of Business and spend all their Days in Hurry and Noise Others pursue Designs different from all these But amidst this vast Variety of Follies few or none apply themselves to the true Wisdom by studying how to live indeed They are Thoughtful and Anxious entirely given up to and eager of many Matters but Life slips through their Fingers insensibly and is turn'd to no Account This is only in the Nature of a Term a set Period of Time appointed to follow other Business in Now all this is extremely injurious and unreasonable the Source of our greatest Misery the falsest and basest way of betraying our selves and abandoning our true Interest It is perfectly losing and throwing away our Life and the most perfidious as well as the most fatal Breach of Duty we can possibly be guilty of For certainly every Man owes thus much to Himself Not to trisle and be wanting in his greatest Concern To make Life as easie as cheerful as desirable as good to himself as he can which is to be done no other way but by making the most of it in point of Usefulness and good Management For Living well and advisedly is the only Expedient in order to dying so and This is the great Task incumbent upon all Mortals We ought to look upon Life as a Matter of the last Consequence a precious Talent an important Trust of which we must render a strict and very particular Account and therefore are bound to husband it thristily and improve it to the utmost of our Power that we may be found faithful in our Stewardship and gain by the Increase This is our Great Concern All the rest are Toys and Geugaws in comparison inconsiderable and very superficial Advantages I cannot deny indeed but some there are who bestow some Thought of this kind and pretend to set about it with marvellous Application But then this Thoughtfulness comes too late and they begin to live when they are just going to
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
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
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
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
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