intelligent Being to another 3. God by his Power is the cause of our clear Perceptions or Cognitions in consequence of our own Desires or Attention But the intellectual and common Substance of Truth alone is the Form the Idea and the immediate Object of them The Soul separated from Reason cannot attain to the knowledge of any Truth It may by the action of God upon it be sensible of its own Pain Pleasure Perception and all the other particular Modifications of which its substance is capable but it cannot engross to it self the knowledge of Truths which are common to all spiritual Beings For Man who depends on the Power of God to be happy and powerful must also be united to the Wisdom of God to become Rational Wise Just and compleatly Perfect 4. We do not derive from the Objects the Ideas which we have of them 5. Men whom we call our Masters are only Monitors 6. When we retire into our selves it is not we that answer our selves but the inward Master which dwells in us which presides immediately over all spiritual Beings and gives them all the same answers XI Mat. 23.8 See S Augustincts Treathe De Mâ—gistro All those may be reduc'd to that general proposition of our Saviours that we have but one Master even Christ himself who illuminates us by the evidence of his Light when we retire into our selves and solidly instructs us by Faith when we consult the visible and infallible authority of the Church in whose custody the sacred Treasure of his written and unwritten Word is deposited XII From this great Principle the following Duties are deriv'd 1. Not to value our selves on our Knowledge but to return our humble Thanks for it to him who is the Fountain and Author of it 2. To retire into our Selves as much as we can and to hearken more readily to Reason than to Men. 3. To yield only to the Evidence of Reason and the infallible Authority of the Church 4. Whenever Men speak to be sure to compare that which they say to our Ears with that which Reason answers to our Mind never to believe them but in what concerns Matters of Fact and that too with a kind of saving and reservation 5. Never to speak to them at least not with an air of Confidence before Reason hath spoke to us by its Evidence 6. To speak to them always as Monitors not as Masters to question them often and in different manners and to lead them insensibly to our common Master the universal Reason by obliging them to retire into themselves There is no way to instruct them but this 7. Never to dispute for disputing's sake nor even to propose Truth to others when the Company they are in Passion or any other Reason give us sufficiently to understand that they will not retire into themselves to hear the decision of the impartial Judge 8. Never to consult Reason but about such Matters as are suitable to the dignity of it and useful to our selves either to conduct us to Good or unite us to Truth to regulate our Heart or procure us Strength or liberty of Mind 9. To lay up carefully in our Memory as far as it is possible to be done none but certain Principles and such as abound in Consequences none but necessary Truths or the precious answer of the inward Truth 10. For the most part to neglect Matters of Fact especially those that have no certain Rules to be judg'd by such as are the Actions of Men. They give no light to the Mind and often corrupt the Heart 11. Our inviolable Law is Order not Custom which is many times opposite to Order and Reason To follow Example without confronting it with Order is to act like Brutes and by Mechanism only Nay it is better tho' that be bad enough to make our own Pleasure our Law than foolishly to obey pernicious and wicked Customs Our Life and Actions should do honour to our Reason and be answerable to the illustrious Characters we bear 12. We should set no value on Subtilty Beauty or even Strength of Imagination nor esteem any of those Studies which cultivate that part of us which makes us so valuable and acceptable in the Eye of the World An over-nice or over-stock'd Imagination doth not willingly submit to Reason It is always the Body which speaks by the Imagination and whenever the Body speaks it is an unhappy necessity that Reason must be silent or not regarded 13. To confirm us in this dis-esteem we should frequently and with a particular Application examine by the inward Light that which appears bright and sparkling to the Imagination that so we may dissipate that false and bewitching Lustre with which it hides its Follies We should very seldom regard Mens outward Behaviour which passes for current Payment in the World 14. We should carefully stop up the Passages by which the Soul gets away from the presence of God and wanders among the Creatures A Mind continually distracted by the action of sensible Objects cannot pay that respect and attendance which it owes to Reason It is a Contempt to Reason to give our Senses their full liberty 15. We should ardently love Truth Wisdom or the universal Reason We should esteem all the Gold of Peru but as a Grain of Sand in comparison of it Wis 7.9 All Gold in respect of Wisdom is as a little Sand saith the wise Man We should continually pray to it by our Attention My delights were with thâ— Sons of Men Prov. 8.31 We should place our whole Delight in consulting it in hearing its Answers and obeying its Commands as that delights to converse with us and to be always among us CHAP. IV. Of the Duties which we owe to the divine Love Our Will is nothing but a continual impression of the Love which God bears to himself the only true Good We cannot love Evil But we may take that to be Evil which is neither Good nor Evil. So we cannot hate Good But the true Good is really the Evil of wicked Men or the true cause of their Miseries That God may be Good in respect of us our Love must be like his or always subject to the divine Law Motions or Duties I. WE depend on the power of God and do nothing but by his Efficacy We are united to his Wisdom and know nothing but by his Light But this is not all we are also animated and inspir'd by his Love in such a manner that we are not capable of loving any Good but by the continual impression of the Love which he bears to himself This is what I must now explain in order to give a general view of our Duties toward God II. It is certain that God cannot act but for himself He hath no other Motive but his Love of himself He cannot Will but by his own Will and his Will is not like ours an impression proceeding from and tending toward something else As he is his own
Spiritual and consequently not Rational This is Life eternal to know the true God and Jesus Christ his only Son To have Sentiments worthy of the divine Attributes and Motions agreable to those Sentiments To know Jesus Christ who alone gives us access to the Father and diffuses Charity in our Hearts To be fully convinc'd that he alone is the High-Priest of the true Goods or the occasional cause of Grace that so we may draw near to him with Confidence and by his assistance excite in our selves such Motions as are suitable to the knowledge he hath given us of the true Worship which honours the divine Majesty But instead of this every one frames to himself a Theology a Religion or at least a Devotion apart of which Self-love is the Motive Prejudice and Possession the Foundation and Beginning and sensual Goods the End The Worship of God consists many times only in outward Sacrifices in verbal Prayers in Ceremonies which were at first ordain'd to raise the Mind to God but now serve only by their splendor and magnificence to refresh the Imagination in most People when they are tir'd and out of relish with the performance of their Duties to God Custom human Considerations or Hypocrisy carry their Bodies into the Church But their Minds and Hearts never come there And while the Priest offers up Jesus Christ to God in their Presence or rather while Christ offers up himself to his Father for their Sins on our Altars they on their part Sacrifice to Ambition Avarice or Pleasure spiritual Sacrifices in all the places whither their Imagination carries them CHAP. VI. Of the Duties of Society in general Two sorts of Society Every thing should be refer'd to the eternal Society Different kinds of Love and Honour The general heads of our Duties toward Men. They must be External and Relative The danger of paying inward Duties to Men. The Conversation of the World very dangerous I. HAVING explain'd in general the Duties which we owe to God we must now examine those which we owe to other Men as God hath made us to live in Society with them under the same Law the universal Reason and in a dependance on the same Power that of the King of Kings and supreme Lord of all things II. We are capable of forming Two sorts of Society with other Men A Society for some Years and an eternal Society A Society of Commerce and a Society of Religion A Society maintain'd by the Passions and subsisting in a communion of particular and perishing Goods whose end is the preservation and welfare of the Body and a Society govern'd by Reason supported by Faith and subsisting in the communion of the true Goods whose end is a happy Life to all eternity III. The great or indeed the only design of God is the holy City the heavenly Jerusalem where Truth and Justice inhabit All other Societies shall Perish tho' God be immutable in his Designs But this spiritual Society shall continue for ever The Kingdom of Christ shall have no end His Temple shall be eternal His Priest-hood shall never the chang'd Psal 110.3 The Lord hath Sworn and will not Repent Thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck The House of God is built on an unshaken Foundation on that belov'd Son in whom God is well-pleas'd and by whom all things shall subsist to the Glory of him who gives them their Being IV. When we procure any settlement here below for our selves or our Friends we build on the Sand we place our Friends in a tottering House it will sink under us at the Hour of Death to be sure But when we enter our selves as Workmen in the building of the Temple of the true Solomon and cause others to come in we then labour for Eternity This Work shall last to all Ages This then is the good which we ought to procure for our selves and other Men This is the chief end of all our Duties toward them This is that holy Society which we must begin here below by the love which we owe to one another For since the design of God in these temporary and perishing Societies is only to furnish Christ the Architect of the eternal Temple with fit Materials for the building of his Church we cannot fail of performing essential Duties when we engage in the designs of him who would have all Men to be sav'd and employ all our Faculties in hastning his great Work and in procuring to Men those good things for which they were created V. So when our Saviour bids us Love one another we must not imagine that he absolutely commands us any other thing than to procure one another the true and spiritual Goods What kind of Blessings were those which he showr'd on his Apostles and Disciples Did he give them the fading and perishing Goods such as the pretended Friends of this World give to those that gratify their Passions Did he constantly deliver them out of the Hands of their Persecutors No certainly-Therefore the principal Duties of our Charity do not consist in such things as these We must assist our Neighbour and preserve his Life as we are oblig'd to preserve our own but we must prefer the Salvation of our Neighbour before his and our own Life VI. To Love therefore is an equivocal Term. It signifies Three very different things which we must carefully distinguish To unite our selves by our Will to an Object as our Good or the cause of our Happiness To conform our selves to any thing as our pattern or the rule of our Perfection And to wish well to any Person or to desire that he may be happy and perfect The love of Union is due only to the power of God The love of Conformity is due only to the law of God the immutable Order No Creature is capable of acting on us No Person can be our living Law or our perfect Model Christ himself tho' he was without Sin tho' he was Reason incarnate did some things which we must not do because the circumstances not being the same the intellectual Reason the inviolable Law the indispensable Model of all intelligent Beings forbids us to do them VII So then we must not love our Neighbour with a love of Union nor with a love of Conformity But we may and ought to Love him with a love of Benevolence We must Love him in that sense of the Word which signifies to desire his Happiness and Perfection and as our practical desires are the occasional causes of certain effects which conduce to that end we must use all our endeavours to procure him solid Vertue that he may merit the true Goods which are the reward of it This is the obligation that truly and absolutely lies upon us from that Commandment which our Saviour hath given us in the Gospel to Love one another as ourselves and as he hath loved us VIII To Honour is also an equivocal Word It denotes a submission of the
unite our selves to corporeal Objects and separate our selves from them without loving or fearing them But the surest way is to break off all Correspondence with them as far as is possible p. 99. CHAP. XII Of the Imagination This Term is obscure and confus'd What it is in general Several sorts of Imagination Its effects are dangerous Of that which the World calls Wit That quality is very opposite to the Grace of Christ It is fatal to those who possess it and to those who esteem and admire it in others tho' they have it not themselves p. 109. CHAP. XIII Of the Passions What they are Their dangerous effects We must moderate them The conclusion of the first Part. p. 119. THE CONTENTS OF THE SECOND PART Of Duties CHAP. I. GOod Men often do wicked Actions The Love of Order must be enlightned to make it regular Three Conditions requir'd to make an Action perfectly Vertuous We should study the Duties of Man in general and take some time every day to examine the Order and Circumstances of them in particular Page 1. CHAP. II. Our Duties toward God must be refer'd to his Attributes to his Power Wisdom and Love God alone is the true Cause of all Things The Duties we owe to Power which consist chiefly in clear Judgments and in Motions govern'd by those Judgments p. 4. CHAP. III. Of the Duties we owe to the Wisdom of God It is that alone which enlightens the Mind in consequence of certain natural Laws whose efficacy is determin'd by our Desires as occasional Causes The Judgments and Duties of the Mind in relation to the universal Reason p. 14. CHAP. IV. Of the Duties which we owe to the divine Love Our Will is nothing but a continual impression of the Love which God bears to himself the only true Good We cannot love Evil But we may take that for Evil which is neither Good nor Evil. So we cannot hate Good But the true Good is really the Evil of wicked Men or the true cause of their Misery That God may be Good in respect of us our Love must be like his or always subject to the divine Law Motions or Duties p. 21. CHAP. V. The three Divine Persons imprint each their proper Character on our Souls and our Duties give equal Honour to them all three Tho' our Duties consist only in inward Judgments and Motions yet we must shew them by outward Signs in regard of our Society with other Men. p. 30. CHAP. VI. Of the Duties of Society in general Two sorts of Society Every thing should be refer'd to the eternal Society Different kinds of Love and Honour The general heads of our Duties toward Men. They must be External and Relative The danger of paying inward Duties to Men. The Conversation of the World very dangerous p. 36. CHAP. VII The Duties of Esteem are due to all Mankind to the lowest of Men to the greatest Sinners to our Enemies and Persecutors To Merits as well as to Natures It is difficult to regulate exactly these Duties and those of Benevolence by reason of the difference of personal and relative Merits and their various Combinations A general Rule and the most certain one that can be given in this matter p. 42. CHAP. VIII Of the Duties of Benevolence and Respect We should procure all Men the true Goods and not relative Goods Who it is that fulfills the Duties of Benevolence The unreasonable Complaints of worldly Men. The Duties of Respect should be proportion'd to the greatness of participated Power p. 52. CHAP. IX Of the Duties due to Sovereigns Two Sovereign Powers The difference between them Their natural Rights Rights of Concession Of the Obedience of Subjects p. 61. CHAP. X. Of the Domestick Duties of Husband and Wife The Ground of these Duties Of the Duties of Parents toward their Children with relation to the Eternal and Civil Societies Of their instruction in the Sciencies and Morality Parents should give their Children a good Example They should govern them by Reason They have no right to use them ill Children owe Obedience to their Parents in all Things p. 69. CHAP. XI The original of the difference of Conditions Reason alone ought to govern but Force is now necessary The lawful use of Force is to make Men submit to Reason according to the Primitive Law The Rights of Superiours The Duties of Superiours and Inferiours p. 81. CHAP. XII Of our Duties toward our Equals We should give them the place they desire in our Mind and Heart We should express our inward Dispositions in favour of them by our outward Air and Behaviour and by real Services We should yield them the Superiority and Pre-eminence The hottest and most passionate Friendships are not the most solid and durable We should not make more intimate Friends than we can keep p. 90. CHAP. XIII A Continuatian of the same Subject If we would be belov'd we must make our selves amiable The Qualities which make a Man amiable Rules for Conversation Of different Airs Of Christian Friendships p. 100. CHAP. XIV Of the Duties which every Man owes to himself which consist in general in labouring for his own Perfection and Happiness p. 110. A TREATISE OF Morality PART I. CHAP. I. Vniversal Reason is the Wisdom of God himself All Men have some Communication with God True and False Just and Vnjust is the same in respect of all intelligent Beings and of God himself What Truth and Order is and what we must do to avoid Error and Sin God is essentially Just he loves the Creatures according as they are amiable or as they resemble him We must be Perfect to be Happy Vertue or the Perfection of Man consists in a Submission to the immutable Order and not in following the Order of Nature The Error of some of the Heathen Philosophers in this Matter grounded upon their Ignorance of the simplicity and immutability of the Divine Conduct I. THE Reason of Man is the Word See the first and second Christian Meditation or the Illustration on the Nature of Ideas Search after Truth Tom. 3. or the Wisdom of God himself for every Creature is a particular Being but the Reason of Man is Universal II. If my own particular Mind were my Reason and my Light my Mind would also be the Reason of all intelligent Beings for I am certain that my Reason enlightens all intelligent Beings No one can feel my Pain but my self but every one may see the Truth which I contemplate so that the Pain which I feel is a Modification of my own proper Substance but Truth is a Possession common to all Spiritual Beings III. Thus by the means of Reason I have or may have some Society with God and all other intelligent Beings because they all possess something in common with me to wit Reason IV. This Spiritual Society consists in a participation of the same intellectual Substance of the Word from which all Spiritual Beings may receive their Nourishment In
Man to the holy Trinity are but shadows and imperfect Draughts which can never come up to the Original of all Beings who by an incomprehensible property of Infinity communicates himself without Division and forms a Society of three different Persons in the unity of the same Substance But tho' the Image of God which we bear be very imperfect in respect of our Original yet there is nothing more great and noble for a mere created Being than this faint resemblance We labour for our Perfection only as we maintain and keep it up we secure our Happiness no further than we fashion our selves according to our Model All our true Judgments and regular Motions all the Duties which we pay to the Wisdom Power and Love of God are so as many Steps by which we advance toward the Fountain of all Good and an habitual Disposition to frame these Judgments and excite these Motions is the real Perfection of Man who essentially depends on the supreme Good and was made for no other End but to find his Perfection and Happiness in doing his Duty V. Now as the three Persons in the Trinity are but one God one and the same Substance so all those Duties which seem to relate particularly to any one of the Persons give equal Honour to the other two Every Regular Motion honours the Power of the Father as its Good the Wisdom of the Son as its Law and the mutual Love of the Father and the Son as its Principal and Original On the contrary every Sin or every Love of the Creatures dishonours the true Power opposes the universal Reason and resists the holy Spirit So that we cannot absolutely separate the Duties which we owe to the Power of God from those which we owe to his Wisdom and to the Substantial and Divine Love and therefore I have been forc'd in the three foregoing Chapters to repeat the same things after different manners VI. Tho' all the Duties which Spiritual Beings owe to God who is a pure Spirit and will be worship'd in Spirit and in Truth consist only in true Judgments and Motions of Love conformable to those Judgments yet Men being compos'd of a Soul and a Body living in Societies with one another educated in the same outward Religious Worship and thereby tied to certain Ceremonies they are oblig'd to an infinite number of particular Duties which have all of them a necessary Relation to those which I have already set down in general All these external Duties are arbitrary and indifferent at least in their first Foundation and Original but the spiritual Duties are in themselves absolutely necessary We may dispense with outward Duties but we can never dispense with the others they depend on an inviolable Law the immutable and necessary Order Outward Duties of themselves do not sanctify those that render them to God they receive their Worth and Value only from the spiritual Duties which accompany them but all the Motions of the Soul which are govern'd by true Judgments do immediately and of themselves honour the Divine Perfections VII Thus for instance it is a Duty indifferent in it self for a Man to pull off his Hat when he comes into a Church But to enter into the presence of God with respect and with some inward Motion of Religion is not an arbitrary but an essential Duty He that for some particular Reason cannot be uncover'd at Mass may be cover'd at the Celebration of it Women are excus'd from this Duty and provided it be known that it is not done out of contempt but upon necessity commonly their needs no dispensation for it None but those that have wrong Notions of things cenforious and weak People will find fault with it but no one that is present at that Sacrifice can be excus'd from offering up to God the Sacrifice of his Mind and Heart Praises and Motions which honour God He that prostrates himself before the Altar is so far from meriting and honouring God by that outward Duty that he commits a heinous Crime if he designs by that Action only to gain the Esteem of the World But he who tho' he be unmov'd outwardly is nevertheless inwardly agitated with Motions agreeable to the Knowledge which Faith and Reason give him of the Divine Attributes honours God draws near and unites himself to him He conforms himself to the immutable Law by Regular Motions which leave behind them a Habit or Disposition of Charity and thereby truly purifies and sanctifies himself But there are many People whose Religion is not spiritual they go no farther than the outside which makes an Impression on them and often determines them to do that by imitation which they had no design to do of themselves VIII Certainly it is a disrespect to the universal Reason to separate our selves from it by the use of Wine or to run away from our selves where Reason inhabits and where it gives its Oracles and suffer our selves to be carried by our Passions into a World where the Imagination reigns In a word to depart voluntarily and without any necessity from the presence of our Good and of our Reason is a Motion which dishonours the Divine Majesty it is Irreligious and Impious But the generality of People do not judge of things after this manner they judge of a Man's inward Sentiments by his outward Actions and Behaviour they imagine it a great Crime to do some Actions in a holy Place tho' perhaps they are not indecent in themselves and yet never consider that nothing is more indecent than to neglect the essential Duties of a rational Creature in any place whatsoever A Man that is Religious even to Superstition passes for a Saint with them but the Christian Philosopher is counted no better than a Heathen if he will not abandon Reason to agree with their Notions and religiously observe their Customs IX Indeed the Philosopher doth ill if he neglects the external Duties Mat. 18.6 and thereby offends the Weak and Simple It were better for him that a Mill-stone were hang'd about his Neck and that he were Drown'd in the depth of the Sea Every Man ought to testify his Faith by visible Actions and thereby incline other Men who are always affected with the outward Behahaviour to such Motions as give honour to God In every thing that relates to God we should with all Humility assume the air and posture of Adoration Any other is at least Foolish and Ridiculous But it is Impious to use such outward Actions as are superstitious and lead Men's Minds to Judgments and Motions which dishonour the divine Attributes They are excusable perhaps in such as have but a confus'd Idea of God But he that is better instructed in Religion and hath a more particular knowledge of the divine Perfections ought not to do any thing out of any humane Consideration that contradicts his own Light X. The greatest part of Christians have a Jewish Spirit Joh. 17.3 their Religion is not
to one single Person is more cruel than the inhuman Phalaris that it is just that he should suffer like that wretched Prince the same Fire into which he hath made others fall and that it were better for him as our Saviour speaks That he were thrown into the Sea with a Milstone about his Neck XVIII On the contrary we shall see that he who labours under Jesus Christ in the building of the eternal Temple is incomparably more valuable than the greatest Architect that ever was There is nothing now to be seen of the Temple of the great Solomon the Habitation of the living God and the Glory of a whole People but this Man's Work shall remain for ever XIX We shall see clearly that a deform'd Body a rude and unpolish'd Mind a lively and irregular Imagination a Man of no reputation or fortune in the World without Friends and without any Qualifications to recommend him that such a Man I say if he be truly pious if he fears and loves his God is infinitely more worthy of our Esteem than the most beautiful Man in the World the most caress'd and honour'd for his admirable Qualities but with something less Religion Certainly no one will dare to say That God the righteous Judge prefers this Man before the other Therefore we also are bound to prefer the other if we are sufficiently convinc'd of the Difference of their Piety XX. A Man may esteem the quality of a Physician more than that of a Lawyer this is indifferent and depends on Customs which vary according to times and places But to esteem the quality of a Prince more than that of a Christian to value the Title of a Gentleman more than that of a Priest after the Order of the Son of God this is not indifferent Not but that a Man owes to his Prince other kind of Duties than he doth to the Minister of his Parish the Prince hath the sovereign Power and therefore he must pay him the highest Respect and an exact Obedience in all things XXI I have two Relations or two Friends one of them is an honest Missionary who labours with success in the building of the Church the other an accomplish'd Person in all human Sciences a great Mathematician an excellent Philosopher one that knows the Histories of all Nations and speaks their Languages But I do not find that his Learning is serviceable to the eternal Society nay I think I discover the contrary Now which of these two Persons is the most valuable both of them stand in need of my Assistance Which shall I prefer Certainly the good Priest the honest Preacher whom the World despises and not the learned Gentleman whom the World adores I may perhaps give him greater marks of esteem in many Cases for fear of disgusting his nice and squemish Constitution For those that have great Talents in appearance or according to the judgment of Men think every thing their due and that we may not offend them we may sometimes give them those honours which they do not deserve for our outward Actions should be govern'd by the Rules of Charity and sometimes with respect to the false Judgments of Men. But for my inward Esteem and Benevolence I owe them to those who have the greatest Relation to the eternal Society before all others tho' they were my profess'd Enemies and the lowest of Men in the Eyes of the corrupt World XXII Sometimes Circumstances may fall out so that a Man must either give scandal to his Neighbour or lose his honour and his life He cannot well defend Truth without ridiculing him that attacks it and exposing his Party He cannot serve his Friend or it may be his Prince without violating the Christian Charity which he owes to a stranger and being the cause of his Damnation What must a Man resolve in these and innumerable other the like Cases Nothing is more clear according to the Principle which I have laid down For since every thing that relates to infinity becomes infinite it self by that Relation no regard ought to be had to the Rights of a temporary Friendship or Society when the eternal Society is concern'd XXIII But yet we must take care that in preferring the spiritual Advantage before all other Things we do not offend our Friends without cause For we should always do justice before we exercise Charity A Man must not steal to marry a Daughter who he fears will otherwise be ruin'd The Grace of Christ may remedy those disorders He must not give his Friend occasion to break with him by neglecting those Duties which he hath a Right to expect from him nor wound one Man's Conscience to cure anothers We should govern the Duties of Charity by Prudence and endeavour to foresee the Consequences of our Actions But I think I may say in general That there is not a more certain and comprehensive Rule than this to have always a regard to the Rights of the eternal Society when they are mingled with other Interests as it most commonly happens CHAP. VIII Of the Duties of Benevolence and Respect We should procure all Men the true Goods and not relative Goods Who it is that fulfills the Duties of Benevolence The unreasonable Complaints of worldly Men. The Duties of Respect should be proportion'd to the greatness of participated Power I. THe greatest part of what hath been said touching the Duties of Esteem may be also applied to the Duties of Benevolence and Respect However I think it necessary to say something farther of them here that the Nature and Obligations of them may be more distinctly understood II. As to the Duties of Benevolence or Charity we owe them to all Men in general and tho' there be some particular Goods which we ought not to wish nor procure to some Persons nor in some Circumstances yet the true Goods which we may give without depriving our selves or others of them ought never to be refus'd to any one whatsoever We should never conceal Truth the nourishment of the Soul from those that are capable of receiving it We should give good example to all the World No one should ever be excepted in the publick Prayers and Offices of the Church The Sacraments should never be refus'd to such as are rightly dispos'd to receive them These are the true Goods which relate to the eternal Society And since God would have all Men to be sav'd and to come to the knowledge of the Truth he that refuses to any one the Duties of Christian Charity opposes the designs of God and undermines the Foundation of that Society which we have with him by Jesus Christ III. But for the good Things of this World as they are not properly Goods as their real worth depends on the relation they may have to the true Goods in short as they are such things as cannot be communicated without dividing it very often happens that we are oblig'd not to impart them to some Persons For instance if a
cloth'd with our Vileness and Infirmities But the Bishop hath more relation to God as Wisdom and Reason incarnate and compass'd about with our Infirmities than as absolute and independent Power to Jesus Christ upon Earth conversing familiarly with Men than to Jesus Christ glorified and made supreme Lord of all the Nations of the World Ye know saith our Saviour to his Apostles Mat. 20.25 that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them and they that are great exercise Authority upon them But it shall not be so among you The Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a Ransom for many Not that Princes have a Right to use their Authority without Reason God himself hath not this miserable Right he is essentially Just and the universal Reason is his inviolable Law But the abuse of the Ecclesiastical Authority is more criminal in the sight of God than the abuse of Royal Authority not only because there is an infinite difference between spiritual and temporal Goods but also because the Ecclesiastical Power that acts imperiously and arbitrarily acts directly contrary to the Character which it bears of Jesus Christ who is always Reason and Reason humbled and proportion'd to the capacity of Men for their Instruction and Salvation V. The end of the institution of these two Powers is very different The Civil Power is ordain'd for the maintenance of Civil Societies The Ecclesiastical Power for the establishment and preservation of the heavenly Society which is begun upon Earth and shall never end The Duty of the Prince regards only the peace of the State the Duty of the Bishop the peace of Christ's Church The Prince should preserve and augment those Conveniences that are necessary for the temporal Life The Bishop by his Preaching and Example should instruct and enlighten the People and as the Minister of Christ diffuse inward Grace by the Sacraments in the Members of the Church and thereby communicate the life of the Spirit to those that are committed to his charge In a word the Power of the Prince is ordain'd for the temporal Good of his Subjects that of the Bishop for the spiritual Good of his Children VI. This being laid down as the first Principle the second which follows from it is That since God is the absolute Lord of all Things his Orders give a Right to all necessary and reasonable means for the execution of them A Servant who receives Orders from his Master to carry a message of importance with all speed to his Friend hath no right to take his Neighbour's Horse for the execution of his Master's commands because his Master himself hath not that right But God being the absolute Lord of all Things when he saith to St. Peter Feed my Sheep or when he commands the King to preserve his Subjects in Peace he gives to these two sovereign Powers as far as Order permits an absolute right to all Things necessary for the execution of his Will So that the natural essential and primitive Rights of the temporal Sovereignty are as far as Order permits all necessary means for the preservation of the State and the natural rights of the Ecclesiastical Power are all lawful means necessary for the edification of the Church of Christ VII But the Church and the State being compos'd of the same Persons who at the same time are both Christians and Members of a Body Politick Children of the Church and Subjects of the Prince it is impossible for these two Powers which ought to have a mutual regard to each other and should be absolute and independent in the Administration of their several Functions to exercise their Jurisdiction and execute the Orders of their common Master if they do not perfectly agree together and even in some Cases depart with something of their Rights to one another For this Reason it is that the Prince by the concession of the Church hath now a right of Presentation to many Benefices and the Church by the concession of the Prince enjoys temporal Possessions These are not natural rights because they are not necessary or natural consequences of the Commission which these different Powers have receiv'd from God They are only rights of concession depending on a mutual Agreement whose end ought to be no other than that which God propos'd to himself in the institution of these two Powers VIII The building of the Church of Christ the eternal Temple being the great or indeed the only design of God for all the Societies and Kingdoms of this World shall be dissolv'd when the Work of him who alone is immutable in his designs shall be compleated it is evident that the State hath a reference and should be subservient to the good of the Church rather than the Church to the glory or even the preservation of the State and that one of the principal Duties of a Christian Prince is to furnish Christ with Materials fit to be sanctified by his Grace under the care of the Bishop and to build up the spiritual Edefice of the Church For this end chiefly it is that the Prince should prefer the State in Peace give Orders that his Subjects be instructed in solid Learning such as gives perfection to the Mind and regulates the Heart and take care that the Laws ordain'd for the punishment of Vice and Injustice be strictly observ'd For a People well instructed and obedient to reasonable Laws is better fitted to receive effectually the influence of Grace than a rude vicious and ignorant People For this Reason the Prince ought to employ his Authority in causing the Decrees of Councils to be observ'd and keeping the People in the Obedience which they owe to their Mother the Church of Christ For in fine there is so close an Union between the Church and the State that he who troubles the State troubles the Church which consists of the same Members and he that makes a Schism in the Church is really a disturber of the publick Peace and Tranquility IX But whether a Prince doth or doth not propose to himself this great design of gaining immortal Glory by labouring for Eternity and carrying on a Work which alone shall last for ever it is not for private Men to censure his Conduct And provided that he requires nothing but what flows from the natural Rights given him by the Commission which he hath receiv'd from God he ought to be obey'd in all things even by those that hold the greatest Dignities in the Church X. It doth not belong to me to deduce from the certain Principles which I have here laid down such consequences as contain the particular Duties of those that have a right to command and besides there is more difficulty in it than may be imagin'd There are a great many circumstances to be consider'd which vary or determine these Duties Princes should examine their own Obligations in the sight of God by the light of the
zealous Friends who Sacrifice their Kindred their Life and their eternal Salvation to the Passions of their Friends VI. We must not then confound Vertue with Duties by reason of a similitude of Names it is this that deceives Men. There are some who imagine they follow Vertue when they follow only a natural Inclination they have to perform some certain Duties and because they are not guided by Reason they are in truth Vicious in excess when they fancy themselves to be Heros in Vertue But the greatest part of Mankind being deceiv'd by this confusion of Terms and the splendour of Names rely upon and value themselves without Reason and often judge ill of the most Vertuous Persons because it is impossible that good Men should follow the Rules of Order any long time without failing according to outward appearance in some essential Duty For in short to be Prudent Good-natur'd and Charitable in the Eyes of the World a Man must sometimes commend Vice or at least hold his Tongue when he hears it commended To be esteem'd Liberal he must be Prodigal If he be not Rash he shall hardly be accounted Valiant and if he be not Superstitious or Credulous let his Piety be never so great he may perhaps pass for a Libertine in the Opinion of others VII It is certain that Universal Reason is always the same Order is immutable and yet Morality changes according to Places and Times It is a Vertue among the Germans to drink hard and a Man can have no conversation with them if he be not drunk It is not Reason but Wine that unites their Societies settles their Agreements and makes their Bargains 'T is reckon'd Bravery in a Gentleman to shed the Blood of him that gives him the Lie Duelling was for a long time a lawful Action amongst the French and as if Reason was not worthy to determine their Differences they decided them by Force They prefer'd the Law of Brutes or Chance before the Law of God himself Nor must we imagine that this Custom was in use only amongst the Men of the Sword it was in a manner general and if the Clergy did not fight themselves out of respect to their Character they had their Champions who represented them and maintain'd their Quarrel by shedding the Blood of their Adversaries Nay they imagin'd that God approv'd this manner of proceeding and whether their Differences were decided by the Sword or by Lot they did not doubt but that God sat as Judge in the Cause and gave it in favour of him that had Right on his side And indeed if we suppose God to act by particular wills where is the Impiety of believing either that he favours Injustice or that his Providence doth not extend to all things VIII But without going to seek for damnable Customs in the past Ages let any one by the Light of Reason judge of those that are at present kept up among us or let him only observe the Conduct of those very Persons who are appointed for Guides to others Without doubt we shall often find that every one of them hath his particular Morality his own private Religion and his favourite Vertue that one talks of nothing but Penance and Mortification another esteems only the Duties of Charity and a third cries up nothing but Meditation and Prayer From whence can this diversity proceed if the Reason of Man be always the same From hence no doubt that they leave off consulting Reason and suffer themselves to be guided by Imagination its Enemy in stead of observing the immutable Order as their inviolable and natural Law they frame to themselves Ideas of Vertue conformable at least in some things to their own Inclinations For there are some Vertues or rather Duties which have a relation to our Tempers or Humours there are shining and glittering Vertues proper for fierce and lofty Souls low and humble Vertues which are fit for timorous and fearful Minds and soft and effeminate Vertues if I may so call them which suit very well with Laziness and Inactivity IX It is true they agree that Order is the inviolable Law of Spiritual Beings and that nothing is regular if it be not conformable to it But they maintain a little too stifly that they are not capable of consulting this Law and tho' it be graven upon the Heart of Man so that he need only retire into himself to be instructed in it they think like the gross and carnal Jews that it is as hard to discover it as to climb up into Heaven or go down into Hell as the Scripture speaks X. I must confess that the immutable Order is not easie to be found it dwells within us but we are always roving abroad Our Senses unite our Soul to all the parts of our Body our Imagination and Passions extend it to all the Objects which surround us and often carry it into a World that hath no more reality than imaginary Spaces this is undeniably so But then we should endeavour to silence our Senses Imagination and Passions and not fancy that we can be reasonable without consulting Reason But this Order by which we ought to be govern'd is a Form too abstracted to serve as a Model for grosser Spirits I grant it Let us then give it a Body let us make it sensible let us cloath it in several Dresses to render it agreeable to carnal Men let us if I may so speak incarnate it yet so as it may be always known again Let us accustom Men to distinguish true Vertue from Vice from seeming Vertues and from simple Duties which a Man may often perform without Vertue and not set before them Phantoms or Idols which attract their Admiration and Respect by the sensible Splendour and Pomp that surrounds them For in short if we are not guided by Reason if we are not animated by the Love of Order how exact soever we may be in the performance of our Duties we can never be solidly Vertuous XI But say they Reason is corrupted it is liable to Error it must submit to Faith Philosophy is but a Servant we ought to distrust the Light which that affords All equivocal Terms Man is not his own Light Religion is the true Philosophy It is not I confess the Philosophy of the Heathens nor that of those great Talkers who speak to others before Truth has spoke to them Reason is immutable incorruptible infallible and ought always to govern God himself follows it In a word we ought never to shut our Eyes against the Light but we should accustom our selves to distingush it from Darkness or false Glares from confus'd Sensations from sensible Idea's which appear bright and shining Lights to those who are not accustom'd to distinguish Truth from Probability Evidence from Instinct and Reason from its Enemy Imagination Certainly Understanding is preferable to Faith for Faith will have an end but Understanding will remain for ever Faith is indeed a very great good but it
which seems most probable that the eternal Word to justify to them the Wisdom of God's proceeding acquainted them that he had a Design to make Man and to joyn himself to the two Substances of which Man is compos'd Soul and Body thereby to Sanctify the whole Work to God which is also compos'd of none but these two sorts of Beings The wicked Angels oppos'd this Design and would not Worship Jesus Christ nor submit to one whom they thought their equal or even inferiour to them in his own Nature how much soever that might be exalted by the hypostatick Union Upon this two opposite Parties were form'd in the Workmanship of God S. Michael and his Angels and Satan and his Ministers the Foundation of the two eternal Cities Jerusalem and Babylon IX The Angels then having a Power over Bodies either by the Right of their own Nature for Order seems to require that superior Beings should act on those that are below them Or rather by the Decree which God had establish'd to execute his own Designs by them as occasional Causes of certain Effects to build the holy City the heavenly Jerusalem his great Work in which the Angels are employ'd under the Wise and only Architect our Lord Jesus Christ according to the Holy Scriptures And by this means to manifest the Power of his well-beloved Son who wanted Enemies to Fight with and overcome which Power of his never appear'd more illustrious than when he dethron'd the rebel Prince who had brought all the World under subjection to his Laws For the Power of a Deliverer is never more Conspicuous than when our Enemy hath gain'd an absolute Dominion over us when we have no Power to resist him and have groan'd a long time under his Tyranny The Angels I say having an immediate Power over Corporeal Substances and by them an indirect Power over spiritual Substances as soon as our first Parents were Created the wicked Angels tempted the Woman in that manner which we all know probably grounding their Temptations on the known Design of God that the World should unite it self to the Soul of Man to Sanctify him as may be gather'd from these Words Ye shall be as Gods knowing Good from Evil. Gen. 3.5 For I do not see that illuminated Minds could have any other Motive formally to disobey God but that of being translated from a profane State to one Divine and worthy of God by a particular union with the universal Reason the Eternal Word for whom and by whom they knew that they were first form'd and by whom they were to be form'd anew they who were all of their kind upon the Earth and the Heads of that Posterity which might spring from them Thus the Devils conquer'd them and became Masters of them and all their Posterity And thereby tho' indeed they promoted the Design of the Incarnation of the Word for the Sin of the first Man made it necessary upon several Accounts yet they thought they had overthrown it imagining belike that the Union with God was to be merited by an exact Obedience to his Orders X. We must know that not only for Reasons which I have given in my Search of Truth 2d Part of the 1st Remark when the first Man had Sin'd there was a necessity in consequence of the Laws of the union of the Soul and Body and the immutability of Order that his Flesh should rebel against his Mind and also that Concupiscence should be transmitted to all his Posterity but for other Reasons which I have examin'd in another Place of the same Book See the Remark on original Sin Now Concupiscence is the universal Instrument of that Iniquity which over-ran the whole Earth And being in the Hands of the Devil who hath a Thousand ways to stir it up by the Power which he hath over Bodies he reign'd by the help of that till the coming of Christ who by his Sacrifice merited the quality of High Priest of the true Goods and of the occasional cause of inward Delight which alone can counterpoise the force of Concupiscence and render that Instrument of the Devils Conquests useless to him For since Man invincibly desires to be happy there is nothing can cure his Heart corrupted with sensible Pleasures but the Unction of Grace the Earnest or Fore-tast of true Joys For the good Angels having no Power to infuse into the Heart of Man the Grace of Sense and the bad ones having a Power to stir up Concupiscence in it Sin must necessarily have reign'd not only among the idolatrous Nations but even among the Jews also And therefore we find that that People was very Gross and Carnal always prone to Idolatry and frequently relapsing into it notwithstanding the extraordinary Miracles which S. Michael and his Angels wrought in favour of them and in spight of the Promises and Threats of temporal Good and Evil which were the Objects of their Concupiscence For the Angels themselves preserv'd the Worship of the true God among those that follow'd their Conduct and kept them in their Duty only by motives of Self-love and by promising them such Enjoyments as true Christians think altogether unworthy of their Love XI There are several Reasons why the Law did not promise the true Blessings but one of the chiefest is that since this sort of Enjoyments cannot be the Object of Concupiscence the knowledge and worship of the true God would have been soon lost among the Jews and that chosen People reduc'd to a Handful of Men belonging to Christ and Sanctified in every Age by inward Grace But it was necessary that the knowledge of the true God should be preserv'd with some lustre among the Jews a prophetical People and an unexceptionable Witness of the Truths of Religion in spight of all the Power and Artifices of the Prince of this World till at length the only begotten Son of God for and by whom all things were made should come down from Heaven to change the Face of Things over all the Earth and to open the surprising and wonderful Scene of God's Conduct A Scene which will end with the indissoluble Marriage of the Bride and Bridegroom who shall enjoy together in Heaven an eternal Felicity in the midst of the divine Brightness singing Songs of Praise without ceasing to the Glory of him who shall have put all their Enemies under their Feet by the invincible Power of his Arm and by ways perfectly suitable to his Wisdom and other Attributes XII These great Truths do without doubt deserve to be prov'd and explain'd more at large but this is not a place for it My Design here is chiefly to shew Heb. 1.14 that the Angels are Ministers of Jesus Christ sent forth as S. Paul saith to Minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation And that as occasional Causes for God communicates his Power no other way to the Creatures they have a Power not of giving inward Grace but of producing in the
hurries him away But Christ very rarely bestows such Favours and that Man is very senseless who throws himself into a Precipice in expectation that God should work a Miracle to save him from death XII What then must we do to moderate our Passions I have already spoke of this in the Seventh Chapter and elsewhere but I shall sum it up here in few words I. We should avoid the Objects which excite them and mortify our Senses II. We should keep our Imagination within the bounds of that respect which it ows to Reason or makes a continual revulsion in the animal Spirits which by their Course keep up and fortify the sinful Impressions III. We should seek after the means to make our Passions appear ridiculous and contemptible we should examine them by the Light confront them with Order and use our utmost endeavours to discover the foulness injustice and irregularity of them and their fatal consequences as well in respect of this life as the other IV. We should form no Design when they are excited nor ever enter upon any Business by their direction or influence V. We should get a Habit and lay an Obligation on our selves of consulting Reason in every thing and whenever we have neglected to do it either by surprize or for any other reason we should change our manner of proceeding and at least take upon us the shame we deserve for having acted like Brutes by the construction and motion of the Machine much less should we justify the foolish step we have made by continuing in a vitious and sinful Course VI. We should labour to augment the strength and liberty of our Mind that we may be able to undergo the labour of Attention and to suspend our Assent till Evidence forces it from us Without these two Qualifications we cannot receive from Reason any certain Rules for the Government of our selves VII Lastly that we may be in a capacity to follow those Rules which destroy the Passions we should above all things have recourse to Prayer and with confidence and humility draw near to him who came to deliver us by the strength of his Grace from that Body of Death or that Law of the Flesh which rebels every moment against the Law of the Spirit For I have often said already and do not stick to repeat it here again because I think there is no fear of reflecting on it too much That neither Reason by it self nor all the helps which Philosophy affords us can without the influence of the second Adam deliver us from the malignity of the first XIII The sum of what hath been said relating to the First Part of this Moral Essay is this First I shew'd that Vertue consists precisely in an habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order Then I spoke of the two principal Qualities necessary for the acquisition of Vertue After that I laid open the occasional Causes of Light and inward Sense without which we cannot acquire or preserve the Love of Order And lastly I examin'd into the occasional Causes of certain Sensations which are contrary to those of Grace and abate the Force and Efficacy of them that we may avoid them So that I think I have omitted nothing necessary for the acquisition and conservation of Vertue in general I come now to the Second Part which treats not of Vertues but of the Duties of Vertue For I know of but one single Vertue which renders those that possess it truly and substantially Vertuous namely an habitual and ruling Love of the immutable Order A TREATISE OF Morality PART II. Of DVTIES CHAP. I. Good Men often do wicked Actions The Love of Order must be enlightned to make it regular Three Conditions requir'd to make an Action perfectly Vertuous We should study the Duties of Man in general and take some time every day to examine the Order and Circumstances of them in particular I. THE Actions of those that have attain'd to the true and solid Vertue are not therefore all solidly and substantially Vertuous There is in a manner always some deficiency or imperfection in them nay many times they are really sinful The reason of this is because a Man doth not always Act by the influence of his predominant Habit but sometimes by the operation of the Passion which is actually excited in him For if the predominant Habit be asleep as I may say and the rest awake the Actions of a good Man may be many ways sinful But besides tho' the predominant Habit of the Love of Order be actually excited in a good Man yet at the same time his Actions may be defective and imperfect and even directly opposite to Order which he actually loves and designs to follow For beside the difficulty of paying an exact Obedience to the Order which we do know indiscreet and ill govern'd Zeal often makes us Act contrary to the Order which we do not know Wherefore that an Action may be compleatly Vertuous it is not sufficient that it proceed from a good Man nor from a Man actually mov'd by the Love of Order but it must also be conformable to Order in all its Circumstances and that too not by a kind of Chance luckily determining the actual Motion of the Soul but by the strength of Reason guiding and governing us in such a manner as to make us fulfill all our Duties II. So then tho' it be sufficient to make us just and acceptable to God that the Love of Order be our predominant Habit yet if we would be perfect and compleat we must be able to govern this Love by an exact Knowledge of our Duties Nay I may say that he who neglects or slights this Knowledge what Zeal soever he may find within himself for Order his Heart is by no means rightly dispos'd For Order would be lov'd by Reason and not altogether by the Heart and fervency of Instinct which often fills with indiscreet Zeal those whose Imagination is too brisk and lively who are not us'd to retire into themselves but are continually apt to mistake the secret inspirations of their Passions for the infallible Answers of the inward Truth III. Indeed those whose Mind is so weak and their Passions so strong that they are not capable of giving Counsel to themselves or rather of taking Counsel of him who enlightens all Men are excusable before God if they sincerely desire and follow the Advice of such as they believe to be the best and wisest Men. But those who have or pretend to have Wit and Sense are guilty in the sight of God if they undertake any Design without consulting him that is without consulting Reason how fervent soever the Zeal may be which transports them For we must distinguish the Answers of the inward Truth which illuminates the Mind by the Evidence of its Light from the Language and secret Inspirations of the Passions which confound and deceive it by such Sensations as are indeed lively and agreeable but always obscure and
confus'd IV. The Love of Order therefore requires of us three Conditions to make any of our Actions conformable to it First That we examine the Action in it self and all its Circumstances as far as we are able Secondly That we suspend our Assent till Evidence forces it from us or the Execution till Necessity obliges us to defer it no longer Thirdly That we readily exactly and inviolably obey Order as far as it is known to us Strength of Mind must make us couragiously undergo the labour of Attention Liberty of Mind must moderate and wisely govern the desire of Assent Submission of Mind must make us follow the Light step by step without ever going before it or forsaking it and the Love of Order must animate and quicken these three Faculties by which tho' it be hid in the bottom of our Heart it discovers it self to the Eyes of the World and sanctifies all our Actions in the sight of God V. But since it is impossible for a Man that is not vers'd in the Science of Morality to discover the Order of his Duties in sudden and unexpected Occasions tho' he have never so great strength and liberty of Mind it is necessary for him to provide against those Occasions which leave him no time for Examination and by a prudent foresight to inform himself of his Duties in general or of some certain and undeniable Principles to govern his Actions by in particular Cases This study of a Man's Duties ought without doubt to be prefer'd before all others Its End and Reward is Eternity He that applies himself to Languages to the Mathematicks to Business and neglects the study of the general Rules for the Government of his Life is like a foolish Traveller who loiters by the way or rambles out of it and is overtaken by the Night an eternal Night which will deprive him for ever of the sight of his Country fill him with immortal despair and leave him expos'd to the dreadful wrath of the Lamb and the power of the Devils or rather the justice of an avenging God VI. He that should go about to examine in particular all the Duties belonging to the several conditions of Men would undertake a Work which he could never finish how indefatigable soever he were For my part I am too sensible of my own weakness to engage in so vast and difficult a Design and all that I here pretend to is to set down in general and that chiefly for my own private use the Duties which all Men as far as they are able ought to pay to God their Neighbour and Themselves Every Man must examine his own particular Duties himself as they relate to the general and essential Obligations and according to Circumstances which vary every moment We should set apart some time for this every day and not expect to find in Books nor it may be in other Men so much Certainty and Light as we may in our selves if we consult the inward Truth sincerely faithfully and in the motion of the Love of Order CHAP. II. Our Duties toward God must be refer'd to his Attributes to his Power Wisdom and Love God alone is the true Cause of all Things The Duties we owe to Power which consist chiefly in clear Judgments and in Motions govern'd by those Judgments I. THe immutable and necessary Order requires that the Creature should depend on the Creator that every Copy should answer to its Original and that Man being made after the Image of God should live in Obedience to God united to God and like God as far as is possible obedient to his Power united to his Wisdom and perfectly like him in all the motions of his Heart Mat. 5.48 Be ye perfect saith our Saviour to his Disciples even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Indeed we shall not be truly like God till being swallowed up in the contemplation of his Essence we shall be wholly penetrated with his Light and Pleasure But thither it is that we must tend it is that which Faith gives us a Right to hope for that to which it conducts us that which it gives us an earnest of by the inward Reformation which the Grace of Christ works in us For Faith leads us to the understanding of the Truth and merits for us the Grace of Charity Now Understanding and Charity are the two essential strokes which draw our Minds anew after our Original who is call'd in the Scriptures Truth and Love Beloved saith St. John 1 John 3.2 3. now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is And every Man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart saith Christ himself for they shall see God II. To discover the Duties which we owe to God we must attentively consider all his Attributes and consult our selves in reference to them Especially we must examine his Power Wisdom and Love and on our own part our Judgments and Motions For it is only by the Judgments and Motions of our Minds that we render to God that which we owe him as it is chiefly on the account of his Power Wisdom and Love that we indispensably owe him the greatest Duties III. When in thinking on God we consider him only as a Being of infinite Reality or Perfection we are convinc'd that Order requires us to esteem him infinitely But we do not naturally conclude from this alone that we ought to worship fear or love him c. The consideration of God barely in himself or without any relation to us doth not excite those Motions in the Soul which carry it towards Good or the cause of its Happiness and produce in it fit dispositions to receive the influence of that Good There is nothing more evident than that a Being infinitely perfect ought to be infinitely esteem'd No one can refuse God this speculative Duty for it consists only in a simple Judgment which no one can suspend when the Evidence is full and convincing And therefore wicked Men those that have no Religion those that deny the Providence of God willingly pay him this Duty But as they imagine that God doth not concern himself with our Affairs that he is not the true and immediate Cause of every thing that is done here below and that we can have no Communication no Society no Union with him neither by a Reason nor a Power in some sort common both to him and us they brutishly follow the agreeable Motions of their Passions and pay those Duties to a blind Nature which are due only to the Wisdom and Power of the Creatour IV. These mistaken Men argue and conclude right enough but it is from false Principles and you cannot easily make them understand that God requires any Duties of his Creatures if you
day happy for him and it may be fatal to you by your irrecoverable fall for a punishment of your Pride VI. Lastly the contempt of Mens Persons is not only injurious and wrongful but it also puts him who is so unwise as to shew it by outward signs out of a condition of having a charitable correspondence with the Person despis'd or of ever being serviceable to him For Men will have no communication with those that despise them they do not naturally enter into Society with others nor do them any good but with hope of a return they will not follow a Trade when they expect always to lose and never to get any thing by it and they never expect any good from those that are so unjust as to despise them For contempt is a certain sign not only that they actually want Charity and Benevolence but also that they are very far from ever having any VII As to our Enemies and Persecutors it is certain that Esteem is a Duty more general than Benevolence There are some Goods which we are not bound to wish our Enemies for the Love which we owe to our selves obliges or permits us at least not to desire that they may have the Power to hurt us So that we may in some measure want Benevolence for our Persecutors without failing of our Duties toward them But the Persecution of our Enemies ought not of it self to diminish the Esteem that is due to them but rather encrease it in this respect that we should give them more sensible and more frequent Testimonies of it A Man may pass by his Friend or even his Father without saluting him this is no affront to them But it is an injury to his Enemy not to pay him this Duty because his Enemy hath not the same Thoughts of him that other Men have He hath reason to believe it done out of contempt whereas a Friend will look upon it as meer Inadvertency VIII But besides there is nothing that disunites Men so much as Contempt for no Man would be counted a Cypher in the Society of which he is a Member no Man would be the lowest part of that Body which he composes with others So that when Mens Minds are already irritated when they are once separated by any Enmity they can never be join'd again if the contempt be open and visible Whereas on the contrary deadly Enmities may be reconcil'd where Men reciprocally pay the Duties of Esteem to one another and thereby shew that they are so far from pretending to a higher Rank in the Society which they would form that they willingly give it to others and do Justice both to them and themselves according to the Judgment which they make of their own and others Merit Self love and a secret Pride do not suffer us long to consider him as our Enemy who willingly gives us Proofs that he is persuaded of our Worth and Excellence IX But if we come short in the Duties of Esteem in respect of our Enemies or those that make no Figure in the World we exceed in them as to our Friends or such as are conspicuous for their Birth Riches or any other extraordinary Qualification The Brain is so fram'd for the good of each particular Person and for that of Society in general as it relates to this Life that the Body mechanically puts on an Air of Esteem and Respect for every thing that comes from our Friends and from those who are in a condition to do us any Kindness The esteem which we have for Persons extends it self to every thing that belongs to them Eccles 13.23 When a rich Man speaketh saith the Son of Sirach every Man holdeth his Tongue and look what he saith they extol it to the Clouds But if the poor Man speak they say What fellow is this Our Machine is set to this pitch Two Lutes tun'd together give the same sound and when they are near one another if one be touch'd the other will move of it self So our Friends are tun'd to us he that touches one shakes the other Those whose favour we have an interest to maintain are always in the right They mutually impel and are impell'd by us They deceive us and we again deceive them by a rebound which neither they nor we are sensible of The Wheels of the Machine will go on in their Motion Now the Body speaks only for the Body this is a thing we cannot too carefully observe For Opinion or the contagion of the Imagination is the most prolifick Root of those Errors and Disorders which lay wast the Christian World We should therefore retire into our selves every moment and compare that which Men say with the answers of the inward Truth We should consult Reason which puts every thing in its proper place and doth not confound the Esteem which we owe to Mens Persons with the Contempt which is due to their Follies The approbation we give to the impertinences of our Friends confirms them in their Errors and the Respect that is shewn to every thing which comes from Persons of Quality swells them so with Pride that they attribute to themselves a kind of Infallibility and think they have a right to say and do whatever comes in their Head not that we should reprehend them openly neither They are extremely tender and we can scarce touch them without hurting and offending them Our Duties in relation to them must be guided by the Rules of Prudence and Charity but we must not abuse them by sordid Flattery after we have been deceiv'd our selves by that admirable Relation which God hath put between our own Bodies and those that are about us for the good of Society Which Relation on the Soul's part is indeed chang'd into a dependence by Sin but ought still to be govern'd by Reason and when there is occasion check'd and reprimanded by it X. That all the Judgments and Motions of our Esteem as well as those outward Actions which are the Marks and Effects of it may be conformable to the divine Law the immutable Order we must observe that not only Mens Persons but also their Merits require our Esteem As to Persons nothing is more easie than to acquit our selves of this Duty for equality of Esteem is due to equality of Natures But it is very difficult to proportion our Esteem according to the Merits of Men. For besides that their true and real Worth is known only to God their natural Merits have so many different Relations which should encrease or diminish our Esteem as well as our Respect and Benevolence toward them that it is impossible for finite Minds as ours are to know exactly the Duties we owe them so that we are many times at a loss which way to determine our selves in this Matter XI Merits in general may be divided into free and natural civil and religious Merits Free Merits are those which proceed from a good use of the Liberty of the Mind Natural
them this miserable Life a Life which we ought not much to value but only as it is a Time which relates to Eternity and may deserve it by the Grace which Christ the High-Priest of the true Goods distributes to Men and thereby sollicits them to enter into a communion of the same happiness with him XVI As to the Duties of Respect or external and relative Submission they are due to Power and therefore we cannot proportion them according to the merits of Persons nor regulate them by our own Light with respect to the interests of our eternal Society in Christ We must follow the Customs and Laws of the State in which God hath plac'd us It is a Duty of Justice to pay Respect and Tribute to those to whom God hath given Authority over us It is all one whether they be good or bad nay whether they be Christians or not Whether they make a good or a bad use of our Contributions And the reason of this is because it is God whom we Honour in their Persons for all Honour is relative and must be ultimately refer'd to him alone who really possesses Power So that it is an injury and a wrong to our Prince to deny him the Respects which are due to him and it is a formal disobedience against the King of Kings to refuse to submit our selves and give sensible marks of our Submission to those whom he hath appointed his Lieutenants and Vicegerents upon Earth The primitive Christians paid to the Roman Emperors even those who cruelly persecuted Christ himself in his Members all the Respect Submission and relative Honor that was due to their participated Power Well knowing that Honour is properly due to God alone and must be refer'd solely to him 1 Tim. 1.17 according to S. Paul's Words Unto the King eternal immortal invisible the only wise God be Honour and Glory They knew that the Duties of Respect ought not to be proportion'd to the interest of the Church or rather that they ought to be refer'd thither because that is the great or indeed the only design of God but that this is never better done than when Christians pay those Duties with all possible exactness For indeed this is the right way to oblige sovereign Princes who are always jealous of their Glory and Authority to favour Christian Societies more than any other in their Dominions But I must discourse more at large of our Duties as they relate to the different kinds of Society which we form with other Men. CHAP. IX Of the Duties due to Sovereigns Two Sovereign Powers The difference between them Their natural Rights Rights of Concession Of the Obedience of Subjects I. ALL the Duties which we owe to participated Powers may be reduc'd to Two general Heads Duties of Respect and Duties of Odedience The Duties of Respect depend on the Laws and Customs observ'd in every State and consist in certain outward and sensible marks of the Submission which the Mind pays to God in the Person of it's Superiors Those Duties vary according to the different Circumstances of Times and Places Sometimes Subjects prostrate themselves before their Prince sometimes they put one Knee to the Ground or both At other times they only make a profound reverence and stand uncover'd and sometimes also they remain cover'd in his Presence without losing the Respect which is due to him These are arbitrary Ceremonies and are govern'd by Use and Custom II. But that which is essential to Morality is that the Soul it self should be touch'd with Respect in the Presence of the Prince who is the Image of the true Power and that in such a proportion as the Prince actually exercises the Authority he hath receiv'd or cloaths himself as I may say with the Power and Majesty of God For we owe more respect to the King when he is in the Seat of Justice than in a Thousand other Circumstances and to the Bishop in the actual administration of his Episcopal Functions than at any other time And indeed we are naturally enclin'd to measure the respect due to Grandeur and Power by the sensible operation they have on us Certainly when we are in the Presence of the Almighty our Mind ought to prostrate it self Now tho' we are always in the sight of God yet we come into his Presence in a more particular manner when we approach Superiour who is his Image Therefore it is not sufficient to put on an outward air of Respect and Veneration but the Mind must also humble it self and respect the Greatness and Power of God in the Majesty of the Prince III. There is no great difficulty in paying the Duties of Respect to the higher Powers nay the Brain is fram'd in such a manner that the Imagination willingly bows before the splendour that environs them wherefore I think it needless to say any more of these Duties But an exact Obedience to the commands of our Superiors is a continual Sacrifice much more difficult and burdensome than the Slaughter of Beasts and therefore Self-love is an irreconcileable Enemy to it There are few People that discharge this Duty like Christians or in expectation that he whom they Honour in the Person of the Prince should be their only Reward Every one in a manner dispenses with himself as much as he can from paying an Obedience that doth not suit with his own conveniences and some preposterously obey unjust Commands because they do not know the exact order and measure of their Duties For opposite Powers having each their separate Rights their different interests are many times so intermingled that it is very difficult to know which of them ought to be obey'd and in these cases every Man follows his own particular humour or advantage for want of certain Rules to govern his Actions by I shall therefore here lay down one or two Principles which may give us some Light toward the clearer discovery of these Duties IV. There are but two sovereign Powers in the World the Civil and the Ecclesiastical The Prince in monarchical States and the Bishop The Prince who is the Image of God Almighty and his Minister upon Earth and the Bishop who is the Image of Christ and his Vicar in the Church The Prince derives his Authority over other Men from God alone so doth the Bishop and neither of them ought to use it any otherwise than God doth himself with respect to the immutable Order the universal Reason the inviolable Law of all intelligent Beings even of God himself The Prince notwithstanding hath a more absolute Power than the Bishop He hath Authority to make Laws and is not subject to them himself he may act without controul and is not oblig'd to give an account of his Conduct to any Man for he seems to have more Relation to God as Power than as Reason to God cloth'd with Majesty and Glory than to God made Man and like us to Christ glorified than to Christ upon Earth and
the Woman for it expresly figures the Union of Chirst with his Church It is an indissoluble Union for God being immutable in his Designs the Marriage of Christ and his Church shall continue for ever it is a natural Union and the two Sexes by their particular constitution in consequences of the admirable Laws of the Union of the Soul and Body have the most violent of all the Passions for each other because the love of Christ to his Church and that of the Church to her Lord her Saviour and her Husband is the greatest love that can be imagin'd as appears from the Canticles For in short the Man and the Woman are made for one another And if we can conceive that God in creating them had not a design to join them together then we may also conceive that the Incarnation of the Word was not necessary and that the principal or the only design of God which is figur'd by the marriage of the Man and the Woman more particularly than by any other thing is not the establishment of his Church in Jesus Christ who is the Basis and Foundation of it in whom also the whole Universe subsists who brings the whole Work of God out of its prophane State and by his quality of Son renders it worthy of the Majesty of the Father III. This Principle sufficiently shews that the mutual Duties of Christ and his Church are the Model of those of Husbands and Wives and that the Marriage of Christians like that of the first Man and Woman being the figure of the marriage of Christ and the Church ought not to differ in any of its consequences or circumstances from the reality which it represents And therefore St. Paul derives from this very Principle the mutual Duties of the Husband and Wife His Words are these IV. Eph. 5.22 Wives submit your selves unto your own Husbands as unto the Lord. For the Husband is the Head of the Wife even as Christ is the Head of the Church and he is the Saviour of the Body Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ so let the Wives be to their own Husbands in every thing Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish So ought Men to love their Wives as their own Bodies he that loveth his Wife loveth himself For no Man ever yet hated his own Flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church for we are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones For this cause shall a Man leave his Father and his Mother and shall be join'd unto his Wife and they two shall be one Flesh This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the Church Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his Wife even as himself and the Wife see that she reverence her Husband V. From these admirable Words of St. Paul we see that the Duty of a Husband is to maintain his Wife and to supply her abundantly with all things necessary for her subsistence to assist and guide her by his Wisdom and Counsels and to comfort her in her Afflictions and Infirmities in a word to love her as himself and after the example of Christ to expose his life for her defense And that the Wife on her part ought to obey her Husband as her Lord to fear and respect him to seek to please none but him and to govern the Family in subordination to his Authority and with a dependence on his Designs provided they are agreeable or at least not contrary to the designs of God VI. Now the design of God in the institution of Marriage is not only to supply the State with Members to compose the Body of it and to defend and maintain its Honour and Reputation but more especially to furnish Christ with Materials for the external Temple with Members of the Church and perpetual Worshippers of the divine Majesty For married Persons are not only the Figures but also the natural Ministers of Christ and the Church God hath join'd them together not only to express his great design but also to act in it It is true since Sin came into the World they beget Children only for the Devil and by an action altogether brutish and if it were not for Christ our Mediatour it would be a hainous Crime to communicate to a Woman that miserable fertility of bringing forth an Enemy of God to damn a Soul for ever to labour for the Glory of Satan and the establishment of the infernal Babylon But Christ came to remedy the disorders of Sin and it is permitted by the Sacrament of Marriage the Figure of his eternal Alliance to give our Children as I may say to the Devil that Christ may have the glory to snatch them out of his Hands and having wash'd them in his own Blood to make them enter into his Building VII Now the principal Duty of Parents is to educate their Children in such a manner that they may not lose their Baptismal Innocence and Purity Married Persons may live in continence as Adam and Eve did before their Sin Christ doth not want Materials for the building of his Temple How many Nations are there still that are ignorant of the Mystery of our Reconciliation But that Parents by their Ambition their Avarice their disorderly course of Life their ill Example nay by barely neglecting to instruct their Children should deprive them of the possession of the true Goods and make them fall again into the slavery of the Devil in which they were Born and from which they had been once deliver'd this is the greatest Crime that Men are capable of committing VIII A Father may educate his Children so as to be the Honour of his Family the delight of their Country and the support of the State he may leave them the peaceable enjoyment of large Possessions and all possible Splendour Yet still he is a cruel and unnatural Father and the more cruel because he charms their Maladies in such a manner that they will not be sensible of them till they are past remedy He is Impious and Wicked and so much the more because with that which he pulls down from the sacred Temple of the living God he builds up the prophane Babylon He is Senseless and stupid and the more because there cannot be a greater degreee of Folly a more gross Stupidity a more brutish and surious Despair than that of a Father who is regardless of the inevitable alternative of Two very different Eternities which shall succeed our latest Moments who builds for himself and his Family on the Brow of a Precipice expos'd to Storms and Tempests and just ready to bury for ever the
miserable Object of his Glory and Pleasures IX A Parent therefore that would preserve to his Children the inestimable right which they have acquir'd by Baptism to the inheritance of Christ must be always watchful in removing out of their sight all Objects that may tempt them He is their guardian Angel and should take up out of their way every Stone that may make them fall It is his Duty to instruct them in the Mysteries of Faith and by Faith to lead them by degrees to the understanding of the fundamental Truths of Religion to fix in them a firm hope of the true Goods and a generous contempt of humane Greatness He should shape their Mind to Perfection and teach them to exercise the faculties of it He should govern them by Reason for there cannot be a more perfect Law than that which God himself inviolably follows But he must begin with Faith For Men especially the younger sort are too sensual too carnal too much abroad to consult the Reason which dwels within them It must shew it self without cloth'd with a Body to strike their Senses They must submit to a visible Authority before they can contemplate the evidence of intellectual Truths Again a Father should never grant his Children any thing that they ask themselves and never deny them any thing that Reason asks for them for Reason should be the common Law the general Rule of all our Wills He should accustom them to obey as well as consult it He should make them give a reason either a good or a plausible one for every thing that they ask and then he may gratify their desires tho' they are not so agreable to Reason if he is satisfied that their intent was to obey Reason He should not chide them too much for fear of discouraging them But this is an indispensable Precept never to act but according to Reason The Soul should will nothing of it self For it is not its own Rule or its own Law It doth not possess Power it is not Independent It ought not to will but with a dependence on the immutable Law because it cannot think act nor enjoy Good but by a dependence on the divine Power This is what young People ought to know But it is perhaps what the old ones do not know It is certainly what all Men do not practise X. We should take care not to burden the Memory of Children with a great number of Actions which are of little use and serve only to confound and agitate a Mind which hath as yet but very little Strength and Capacity and is but too much disturb'd and shaken already by the action of sensible Objects But we should endeavour to make them clearly comprehend the certain Principles of solid Sciences We should use them to contemplate clear Ideas and above all we should teach them to distinguish the Soul from the Body and to know the different properties and modifications of these two Substances of which they are compos'd We should be so far from confirming them in their Error of taking their Senses for Judges of Truth by talking to them of sensible Objects as of the true causes of their Pleasure and Pain that we should be always telling them that their Senses deceive them and should use them in their Presence like false Witnesses that clash with one another to discover their Cheats and Illusions XI Children dye at ten Years old as well as Men at Fifty or Threescore What then will become of a Child at his Death whose Heart is already corrupted who is swell'd with esteem of his Quality and full of the love of sensual Enjoyments What Good will it do him in the other World to understand perfectly the the Geography of this and in Eternity to know the Epochas of Times All our knowledge perishes in Death and the knowledge of these things leads to nothing beyond A Lad knows how to Decline and Conjugate he understands Greek and Latin it may be perfectly well nay perhaps he is already well vers'd in History and acquainted with the Interests of Princes he promises much for this World for which he is not made but what signify all these Vanities with which his Mind and Heart is sill'd Are there solid rewards in Heaven for empty Studies Are there places of Honour destin'd for those that make a correct Theme Will God judge Children by any other Law than the immutable Order than the Precepts of the Gospel which they have neither observ'd nor known Is it the Duty of Fathers to breed up their Children for the State and not for Heaven for their Prince and not for Jesus Christ for a Society of a few Days and not for an eternal Society But let them take notice that those that are best skill'd in these vain Sciences are they that do most mischief to the State and raise the greatest Tempests in it I do not say but they may learn those Sciences But it should be then when their Mind is form'd and when they are capable of making a good use of it and the instructing of them in essential Truths should not be put off to a time when they shall be no more or at least not in a condition to Tast Meditate and Feed upon them XII The labour of Attention being the only way that leads to the understanding of Truth a Father should use all means of accustoming his Children to be Attentive Therefore I think it proper to teach them the most sensible part of the Mathematicks Not that these Sciences tho' preferable to many others are in themselves of any great value but because the Study of them is of such a Nature that a Man makes no progress in them any farther than he is Attentive For in reading a Book of Geometry if the Mind doth not labour by its Attention it gets nothing Now People should be us'd to the labour of the Mind when they are young For then the parts of the Brain are flexible and may be bent any way It is easy then to acquire a habit of being Attentive in which Part I. Chap. V. as I have shewn the whole strength of the Mind consists And therefore those that have accustom'd themselves from their youth to meditate on clear Principles are not only capable of learning all the Sciences but are also able to judge solidly of every thing to govern themselves by abstracted Principles to make ingenious discoveries and to foresee the consequences and events of Enterprises XIII But the Soâ—…nces of Memory confound the Mind they disturb its clear Ideas and furnish it with a Thousand probabilities on all sorts of Subjects which Men take up with because they know not how to distinguish between seeing in part and obscurely and seeing fully and clearly This resting on probabilities makes them wrangle and dispute endlesly For as Truth alone is one indivisible and immutable so that alone can closely and for ever unite Men's Minds Besides the Sciences of Memory do naturally