Nature ordained pleasure in all actions these two Virtues which go to the composure of a chaste and continent man would be likewise of no use Clemency sweetens Choler and did not this Passion animate Princes to revenge the virtue whereby it is moderated would not deserve praise But if Passions be so much befriended by so many several virtues they are not thereof unthankful for when instructed in their whole they repay them with use and serve them faithfully The best part of Circumspection is composed of Fear which though it be accused to seek out the evil before it happen it prepares us either quietly to undergo it or happily to evade it Hope is serviceable to Fortitude and 't is she that by her Promises doth encourage us to the undertaking of gallant Actions Boldness is Valour 's faithful Companion and all great Conquerors owe the glory of their Generosity to this Passion Choler maintains Justice and animates Judges to punish the Guilty Briefly there is no Passion which is not serviceable to Virtue when they are governed by Reason and those who have so cried them down make us see they never knew their use nor worth The SECOND DISCOURSE What the Nature of Passions is and in what Faculty of the Soul they reside GODS Greatness is so elevated as Man cannot attain to the Knowledge thereof without abasing it and his Unity is so simple as it is not to be conceived unless divided Philosophers gave him different Names to express the diversity of his Perfections and by calling him sometimes Destiny sometimes Nature sometimes Providence they introduced a plurality of Gods and made all men Idolaters The Soul being the Image of God the same Philosophers did likewise divide it and not being able to comprehend the simplicity of its Essence they believed it was corporeal They imagined it had parts as well â—s the Body and though they were more subtle they were not less veritable They multiplied the Cause with its Effects and â—aking her divers Faculties for different Naâ—ures they contrary to the Law of Reason gave divers forms to the same composure But Truth which together with Faith came down upon earth teacheth us that the Soul is but one in its Essence and that it hath undergone several Names only to express the variety of its operations for when it gives life unto the body and when by natural heat which proceeds from the heart as from its Center it preserveth all the â—arts thereof it is called Form when it discerns colours by the Eye and distinguisheth of sound by the Ear Sense When she raiâ—eth her self a little higher and by discoursing infers one Truth by another she is called Understanding When she preserves her thoughts to employ them about her own affairs or that she draws from forth her treasury the Riches which â—she had lock'd therein men stile her Memory when she loveth that which pleaseth her or hates that which nauseates her she is termed Will but all her several Faculties which differing in their employments do notwithstanding agree in their substance make but one Soul and are like so many Rivulets derived from the same Spring-Head Prophane Philosophy arriving at length to the knowledge of this truth makes use of divers comparisons to express her Now she represents the Soul in the Body as an Intelligence in the Heavens the virtue whereof is displayed through all the Spheres thereof Anon they figure her out unto us as a Pilot who guides his Vessel sometimes as a King who governs his State But Christian Philosophy hath been more fortunate when coming even to the original of the soul it hath made us know what effects she produceth in the Body by the very same which God produceth in the world For though this infinite essence depends not upon the world which he hath created and that without interessing his might he may undo his own workmanship yet is he shed abroad in all the parts thereof there is no intermedium which he fills not up He applies himself to all Creatures in their operations and without dividing his unity or weakning his power he gives light with the Sun he burneth with the fire he he refresheth with the water and he brings forth fruit with the trees He is as great on earth as he is in Heaven though his effects do differ his power is alwaies equal and the stars which shine above our heads cost him no more than the grass which we tread under our feet So is the soul dispersed in the body and penetrates all the parts thereof It is as noble in the hand as in the heart and though applying her self to the disposition of the Organs she speaks by the Mouth seeth by the Eyes and heareth by the Ears yet is she but one Spirit in her Essence and in her differing Functions her Unity is not divided nor her Power weakned 'T is true that not finding the same dispositions in every part of the Body she produceth not the same Effects and in this point this Illustrious Captive is infinitely inferiour to God for as he is infinite and was able to make all things out of nothing he can likewise make all things out of every Creature and without any respect to their Inclinations make them serve his Will. So we see he hath used the Fire to sweeten the pains of his Servants that he hath used the Light to blind his Enemies that he hath made the Flouds turn back to give passage to his Friends and that he hath made the Earth open to swallow those that rebell against him But the Soul whose power is limited cannot operate without dependance upon the Organs and though she be spiritual in her Nature yet is she corporeal in her Operations This is that which hath made the Philosophers consider her in three several estates which are so different the one from the other that if in the first she approach near the Dignity of the Angels in the second she is in no better condition than the Beast of the Field and in the last she differs not much from the Nature of Plants for in this acceptation she hath no other employment than to nourish the Body she is in to digest Food to convert it into Bloud and by a strange Metamorphosis to make one and the same Matter thicken into Flesh stiffen into Nerves harden into Bones extend into Branches and lengthen into Grisles she augments her Parts by nourishing them she in time perfects her Workmanship and by her pains brings it to its just Greatness Solicited by Providence she takes care to maintain the World she thinks how to restore what she hath received and to preserve her species produceth the like In this acception her workmanship is not more noble than that of Plants which nourish themselves by the Influences of Heaven grow up by the heat of the Sun and get root downward by their Succors and Moisture In the second estate she becomes sensible and
alwaies waited that Reason might make them serve his Designs Ours for the most part do surprize us and are so ready to be moving that the wisest men cannot keep back their first motions they are so given to disorder as the â—east occasion sets them on fire their sleep is so unquiet as the least matter will awaken them they are so given to war that upon the least provocation they take up Arms and make more spoil upon their own Territories then would an enemies army do Their disorder proceeds not so much from their Objects as from their humour and it fares with their storms as it doth with those who being at the bottom of the Sea mount up again by their proper motion But they caused no tempests in Iesus Christ or if sometimes their waves went high they were led on by Reason which alwaies kept the power to appease the trouble she had caused As their birth depended upon his Will so made they no Progress or advancement but by his permission and their moving proceeded alwaies from some reasonable cause Men betake themselves to things which merit not their Love and have oft times strong Passions for weak and woful Subjects Imprudency seeks them in Choler and not weighing the difference of faults they punish a word as rigorously as they do a Murderer their ambition is blind their desires unruly their sadness ridiculous and who shall compare all their Passions with the causes which produce them will find them all to be unjust A Consul made a slave be eaten by Lampreys for having broken a Glass A Princes anger caused a Town to be drowned in the bloud of its Inhabitants and to revenge an injury done to an Image of Brass or Marble made 7000 men the lively Image of God lose their lives Sorrow hath made Idols to comfort her Fathers not able to raise agaiâ— their dead Children have deified them through an excess of love and sorrow have built Temples unto them after they had taken them out of their Graves In fine all the motions of our souls are irrational we cannot measure or bound our joy nor our displeasures our hatred exceeds our injuries our love is more ardent than the subâ—ect which sets it on fire and we ground â—irm hopes upon perishable things But the Passions of the Son of God were so reguâ—ated as in their motions a man might observâ— the worth of the subject which caused â—hem to arise he was not angry save only â—o revenge the injuries done unto his father â—r punish the impieties of those who proâ—haned his Temple he had no affection â—â—ve for those that did deserve it if he saw â—o perfection in his friends he loved such â—s he would place there and loving them he â—ade them worthy of his love he never â—â—rrowed save upon great occasion and â—hough the cross was a sufficient object of â—rief I verily believe his soul was more â—arrowly touched with the horror of our â—s than with the shame or cruelty of his â—unishment Such regulated Passions ceaâ—d when he pleased and their continuâ—ce was no less subject to his Empire than was their Progress We are not masters of our Passions as in their birth they set at nought our advice they laugh at our Counsels during their course they never stay till they be weary and we owe not our quiet so much to their Obedience as to their Weakness When they are violent our care cannot overcome them and there are some of them so stifâ—necked as they will not die but together with us therefore we ought to suppress them in their birth and to advise with Reason whether it be to any purpose to draw Souldiers into the field who when they have their Weapons in their hands despise the Authority of their chief Commander The beginning of War depends oft times upon two Parties but the end thereof depends alwaies upon the victory and he is not easily brought to a peace when he finds his Advantage lies in the continuance of War All these rules prove false in the Passions of Iesus Christ. He did even exceed therein when the Subject did deserve it though they were chafed they becamâ— calm as soon as he would have them so tâ— be Their heat as it was reasonable so waâ— it as soon extinguished as kindled so as joy did immediately succeed sadness and onâ— might at the same time see pleasingness take the same place in his countenance which Choler had possest It is peradventure for this reason that Saint Ierome could not resolve to call the agitations of the soul of our Saviour Iesus Christ Passions believing that to name them as Criminals was to injure their innocence and that there was injustice in giving the same name to things the conditions whereof were so different But every one knows that qualities change not nature and that the Passions of the Son of God were not less natural for being more obedient than are ours In my opinion it is a new obligation which we have to his goodness that he hath not despised our weakness he will eternally reproach us if we desire not his glory since he coveted our welfare if we fight not against his enemies since he hath overcome ours if we shed not tears for injuries done unto him since he hath shed his blood for our sins And he will have just occasion to complain upon our Ingratitude if our Passions serve not â—o witness our Love to him since he hath â—mployed all his to assure us of his Charity The Second Treatise Of the disorder of Passions in Man The FIRST DISCOURSE Of the corruption of Nature by Sin THough there be many wonderful things in man which deserve consideration that his qualities witness unto us the greatness power of his Creator there is nothing more remarkable in him than his constitution for he is composed of a body and soul he in his person unites Heaven and Earth and being more monstrous than are the Centaures in the Fable he is both Angel and Beast as the power of God appeareth in the uniting of these two so different parties his wisdome is no less evidently seen in the good intelligence they hold for though they had contrary inclinations that the one should bow downward towards the earth whereof it was formed and that the other should raise it self up towards heaven from whence it had its original yet God did so well temper their desires and in the diversity of their conditions so streightly united their wills by original justice as the soul shared in all contentments of the body without any injury to her self and the body served to all the designs of the soul without doing any violence to its self In this happy estate the soul commanded with mildness the body obeyed with delight and whatsoever object presented it self these two parties did always agree But this happiness continued no longer than our first father was obedient to God
and that all the assistance that man can hope for from Grace is so handsomly to manage Passions as that they may defend virtue and oppugn vice The FOURTH DISCOURSE That opinions and the senses do cause the disorder of our Passions THough sin be the original of all our mischief and that all the miseries we undergo are the punishments for our faults we seem to take pleasure in increasing them by our evil guidance and that we invent every day new penalties to which divine Justice had not condemned us we are not contented to know our Passions are revolted and that without the assistance of Grace Reason cannot regulate them we nourish their disorder and to make them the more insolent we admit of Opinions which raise them up at their pleasure For of a thousand Passions which are raised in our soul there are not any two that take truth for their guide and the evil which they apprehend or the good which they desire appear rather so to be than that they are so indeed To mend this disorder we must take cognizance of opinion mark her birth and progress Opinion is not so much a judgment of the understanding as of the Imaginations whereby she doth either approve of or condemn things which the senses represent unto her This is the most usual evil of our Life and if it were as constant as it is common our condition would be very sad but it changeth at every moment that which is the cause of its birth causeth likewise the death thereof And Imagination forsakes it with as much ease as she gave it entertainment It taketh its rise from our senses and from the reports of the world so as it is no marvel if the best grounded opinion cannot subsist long since the foundations thereof are so bad for our senses are liars and like inchanted glasses they present disguised Objects unto us Their Reports are seldom uninteressed and as they fasten themselves to objects they endeavour to engage Imagination When I consider the soul as a Prisoner in the body I bewail her condition and I wonder not if she so oft takes falshood for truth because it entereth by the gate of the senses this divine Spirit is inclosed in the body not having any other cognizance save what she borroweth either from the Eyes or the Ears thereof and these two senses which by nature seem so particularly appropriated to knowledge are such deceivers as their devices are for the most part but impostures blindness is to be preferred before their false Lights and they had better leave us in our ignorance than help us to such malignant and so doubtful knowledge They consider only the appearances of things they stop at accidents their weakness cannot penetrate into substances they are like the Sun and as they take all their light from him they endeavour to imitate him in their actions Every one thinks that this goodly Planet is extreamly useful to us when it comes about our Horizon and that it affords those beauties to nature which darkness had bereft it of But the Platonicks have found that the advantage we receive thereby equals not the prejudice it bringeth along with it for when it discovers the earth unto us it hides the Heavens from us when it exposeth Lilies and Roses to our sight it hinders us from seeing the Stars and takes from us the sight of the most beautiful part of the world So the senses take from us the cognizance of divine things to furnish us with the like of what is humane They make us only see the appearances of objects and hide their truth from us We remain ignorant under these bad Masters and our Imagination being informed but by their reports we can only conceive false opinions I find therefore that Nature is more severe unto us than is Religion and that it is much more difficult to be rational than to believe aright for though the truths which Religion proposeth unto us are of so high a nature as our understanding cannot comprehend them though she demand of us a blind obedience and that to believe her mysteries we must subdue our Reason and give the Lie to all our Senses yet this commandment is not injurious If she take from us our liberty she preserves our honour she frees our understanding from the tyranny of our senses she submits it to the legitimate Empire of the supream Intelligence which she illustrates unto us by her light she takes us from earth that she may raise us up to Heaven and takes not from us the use of Reason save only to make us acquire the merit of Faith But Nature ingaging our soul in our body makes her a slave to our senses and obligeth her in her noblest operations to consult with those that are blind and to draw her light from out their darkness Hence it is that all our knowledge is full of errour and that truth is never without falshood that opinions are uncertain and that our Passions which obey them are always out of order The worlds report is no surer a Guide and those who listen thereunto are likely never to enjoy true rest for this rumour is nothing else but the opinion of the people which is not the truer for being the more common That which seemeth to authorize it doth condemn it and nothing ought to make it more suspected than the great number of its partakers The nature of man is not so well regulated as that the best things be those that please most people ill opinions as well as good ones ground themselves upon the number of their approvers and when we would side with any opinions we ought not to number but to weigh the Votes The common people who gape after liberty delight to live in servitude never make use of Judgment and in worldly affairs which of all others ought to be the most free they are rather led by Example than by Reason they follow those who go before and not examining their Opinions they embrace they defend them for after having recived them they desire to divulge them as in factions they endeavour to engage others on their Party and to make their malady prove contagious In so much as Seneca's Maxime proves true That man is not only failing to himself but unto others and that he communicates his errors to all those that come nigh him When our Imagination is filled with ill Opinions she exciteth a thousand disorders in the inferior part of our soul and raiseth up Passions according to her pleasure for being blind they cannot discern whether the good or bad which is proposed to them be only likely or true and abused by the Imagination whose Empire they reverence they either draw nearer unto or fly further from objects their blindness serves them for excuse and they lay their faults upon that hath deceived them But to prevent this disorder the understanding must keep it self in its authority it must assubject Imagination to its
voluntarily condemned themselves to fearful punishments and who have esteemed all remedies pleasing which could cure so vexatious a malady Banishment is certainly one of the cruellest punishments which Justice hath invented to chastise the guilty it separates us from all we love and seems to be a long Death which leaves us a little life only to make us the more miserable Notwithstanding we have heard of a Mother who chose rather to suffer the rigor of this torment than the violence of Desire and who would accompany her son in his banishment that she might not be necessitated to lament his absence and wish for his return Thus Nature which saw that Desire was an affliction ordained Hope to sweeten it for whilst we are upon the earth we make no wishes whereof our mind doth not promise us the accomplishment these two motions of our soul are only divided in hell where divine Justice hath condemned her enemies to frame Desires void of hope and to languish after a happiness which can never befall them They long after the Summum bonum whatever hatred they conceived against that God which punisheth them they cease not notwithstanding to love him naturally and to wish they might enjoy him though they are not permitted to hope they shall This Desire is cause of all their sufferings and this languishment is a more insufferable torment than the scorching flames than the company of the Devils and than the eternity of their Prison could they be without Desire they should be without anguish and all those other pains which astonish vulgar souls would seem supportable to them were they not adjudged to wish a happiness which they cannot hope for But it is not in Hell only that this Passion is cruel she afflicteth all men upon earth and as she serveth divine Justice as a means wherewithal to punish the guilty she is serviceable unto mercy as an holy piece of cunning wherewithal to exercise the innocent for Gods goodness causeth them to consume in desires they are in a disquiet which cannot end but with their lives they strive to get free from their bodies they call in death into their succour and say with the Apostle I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Justice employs Desires to revenge her self upon sinners and by a no less severe than rational guidance she gives them over to this Passion to torment them their desires tend only to afflict them and their soul frames unruly wishes which failing of effects leave them in a languishment which lasts as long as doth their life In fine Divinity knowing that this Passion is the cause of all our misfortunes hath thought that she could not describe Happiness better unto us than in teaching us it was the end of all Desires Philosophy would have said that it is the end of all our evils and the beginning of all our good that it makes us forget our miseries by the sweets of her delights but Divinity which very well knows that desires are the most violent punishments which we suffer here below is content to say that happiness was the period thereof that when we should begin to be happy we should cease to wish we must also confess that Desire fastens it self to all the other Passions of our soul and that it either furnisheth them with weapons wherewithal to fight or with strength to afflict us for those Passions which make most havock in our hearts would be either dead or languishing were they not animated with Desire Love is only cruel because it coveteth the presence of what it loveth Hatred gnaws not on our Bowels save only because it desireth revenge Ambition is only angersom because it aspires after Honour Avarice tortures the Avaritious only because it thirsts after riches and all Passions are only insupportable because they are accompanied by Desire which like a contagious Malady is shed abroad throughout all the affections of our Soul to make us miserable If it be thus cruel it is not much less shameful and we are obliged to confess that it is an evidence of our weakness and indigency for we never have recourse to wishes but when our power fails us our desires never do appear but when we cannot effect them they are marks of our impotency as well as of our love it teacheth Kings upon earth that their will exceeds their power and that they would do many things which they cannot I know that desires inheartens them to proud undertakings where difficulty is always mixt with glory I know they excite their courage and that they produce that general heat without which nothing of gallantry is either undertaken or effected but they likewise teach them that there is none but God alone who is able to do what he will that maketh not fruitless wishes and that it appertains to him to change when he pleaseth desires into effects he rather wills than wishes and doth rather resolve events than desire them but amongst Princes their impotency hinders oft-times the execution of their desires they are enforced to make Vows and to implore aid from Heaven when they fail of help on earth poor Alexander seeing his dear Ephestion die could not witness his love unto him but by his desires He who distributed the Crowns of Kings that he had conquered and who made Soveraigns Slaves could not restore health unto his Favourite the vows which he offered up to heaven for his amendment were as much evidences of his impotency as of his sorrow and taught the whole world that Princes wishes witness their weakness They are also publick marks in all men of hidden poverty for every soul that desires is necessitous the soul that desires forgoes her self to seek out in another what she finds missing in her she discovers her misery by making her desires known and teaches the whole world that the felicity which she possesseth is but in appearance since it satisfieth not all her desires Great Tertullian hath therefore worthily exprest the nature of this Passion when he says it is the glory of the thing desired and the shame of him that doth desire for a thing must be lovely to kindle our desires it must have charms which may draw us and perfections which may stay us but for certain likewise the will that doth desire must be indigent and must stand in need of somewhat which makes it seek out a remedy Desire then is the honour of beauty and the shame of the unchaste it is the glory of Riches and the Avaritious mans infamy the praise of dignity and the Ambitious mans blame and as oft as Princes are prone to this Passion it gives us to know that their fortune hath more of glittering in it than of real truth that she gives not all the contentments she promiseth since they are constrained to descend from their Thrones to quit their Palaces and by shameful prosecution to seek out a forreign good which they have
long after a felicity to come she confesseth she is not of this world and she thinks it not strange if shâ— be persecuted in an enemies Countrey she knows very well that she is called from this miserable world to another more happy and that having nothing to possess on earth she ought to hope for all in heaven All Christians who are instructed in her School do with a holy impatience expect the happy day wherein the Son of God will punish his enemies and crown his Subjects They think themselves already saved because they are so in hope and amongst so many evils that afflict them they solace themselves in this virtue which promiseth much but gives more for it never confounded any body and though she suffer such as lay claim to her to be persecuted she inspires them with so much courage as that far from resenting their sorrows they cast the happiness of Angels amidst their punishments and laugh at the cruelty of Tyrants and Hang-men let whatsoever accidents befall them they are always secure and knowing that Jesus Christ is the foundation of their Hope they look upon all the changes of the earth with calmness of mind But whatsoever advantage Christians may draw from the virtue we must confess that she hath nothing to do with that Passion which considers the time to come and which seeks out a good which is possible and difficult for the one is a Christian Virtue which resides in the Will and the other is a Passion which resides in the sensitive appetite the one is a meer effect of Nature the other is the pure work of Grace the one by its one strength can extend but to some ages the other by its proper vigor mounts even to eternity the one in brief makes not good all that it promiseth and failing in her word leaves her lovers in confusion and sorrow but the other is so faithful in her promises as those who have sought under her banners confess that her recompenses surpass all their services yet in these their differences nothing hinders them from agreeing the best use of humane Hope is to assubject it to divine Hope and to make it aspire by her assistance to the Possession of eternal happiness for though Passion know no eternity and that being engaged in the body she raiseth her self not much higher than the Senses she hath yet some inclination to follow after Grace and to suffer her self to be guided by her motions as she obeys Reason she may obey Godliness as she is useful to Moral Virtue she may be useful to Christian Virtue and if it be not to give her too much advantage I should think that as she inter meddles with Patience and Fortitude to frame Moral habits she may do the like with Hope and Charity to form super-natural habits But without engaging my self in a School-dispute it shall suffice me to say that if all our Passions may be sanctified by Grace Hope being of no worse condition than the rest may pretend unto the same favour and contribute to all the good works of a Christian. Neither do I doubt but that the Saints have made good use thereof and that enlightned by Faith they have placed all that hope in Jesus Christ which they placed in their Kings or in their gods whilst they lived in Paganism I doubt not but that this generous Passion which encouraged them in dangers for the glory of their Princes did animate them amidst flames for the quarrel of the Son of God and I am firmly of opinion that as by her own forces she made them good souldiers so assisted from above she made them couragious Martyrs for Nature is the ground-work of Grace and as Faith presupposeth Reason the fortitude of a Martyr did presuppose the hope of a man and it behoved that Passion should work in the hearts of those generous Champions whâ—st Grace wrought in their Wills God makes daily use of the mouths of his Prophets to explain his Mysteries when he discovers to them secrets to come he makes use of their words to declare them unto his people and he accords Nature with Grace in them to execute his Designes I therefore think that the best use a man can make of Hope is to assubject it to three Christian virtues which may make good use of her heat the first is that which bears her name and which by a harmless piece of cunning loosens her from the earth and gives her desires for heaven for though humane Hope be so generous yet cannot she pretend to the happiness of eternity and though in the souls of Alexander and Caesar she aspired to divine honours it hath not proceeded so much from any motion of her own as from the like of vain-glory but when she is instructed by faith when she knows that God hath chosen us to be his children and that Jesus Christ hath made us his brethren that we may be coheirs with him she wisheth with Humility for what the others wisht for out of Ambition The second Virtue which she may be serviceable unto is Patience which in all the evils she undergoes hath no other comfort than what Hope furnisheth her withal for while she fights with grief and pain she would be a thousand times opprest by their violence did not this glorious Passion point out unto her the Rewards which are prepared for her and if she did not sweeten the present evil by future happiness which Hope promiseth her To understand this you must know that Patience is a Virtue as mild as close she hath nothing of lustre and though she undertake great matters she spares Pomp and the Theater darkness and the desarts are pleasing unto her and she is content to fight in his prefence by whom she expects to be crown'd neither is she any ways given to use violence and though her enemies be so powerful she defends her self by suffering and makes us win the victory by the loss of our lives she hardly takes the liberty to complain and she shews so little feeling of outrages done unto her or of her sufferings as those who do not know her accuse her of stupidity So great a coldness ought to be animated by the heat of Hope and so mild a virtue requires the assistance of an active Passion During all her displeasures the recompenses which are promised her do only possess her and in the sorrows which she suffers she raiseth her self up to heaven upon the wings of Hope and with the eye of Faith seeth the happiness which is prepared for her But the chief use which we ought to make of this Pashon is when Fortitude grapples with grief and when she sets upon these dreadful enemies which endeavour to triumph over her Courage For there is this difference between Patience and Fortitude the first is content to suffer the second will be doing the one out of modesty hides her self the other out of generosity shews it self the one
After the authority of Scripture a man must be very rash to oppose this opinion which it seems all things conspire to make veritable yet may it be replied upon and the very self same reasons which it produceth for its defence may serve to condemn it for though Jealousie be a mixture of Love and Hatred it follows not that she must be most violent of all our Passions the very same whereof she is composed would not agree together were they not sweetned And as the Elements cannot make one and the same Body unless their qualities be moderated so cannot all these Passions form our jealousie unless they be tempered and it must necessarily ensue that Love weakens hatred that joy moderates Sorrow and that Hope sweetens Despair It hath been observed that two Passions taken together lose their force and that serving as an Antidote one against another they do no mischief or if they do any they cure it again So in Jealousie Love is the Antidote to Hatred the jealous man suffers little harm because he hath many Passions and he may boast that by a strange destiny he owes his welfare to the number of his Enemies But since after having worsted a Falshood a Truth must be established let us say that according to our principles this question is not hard to resolve for as we acknowledge but one passion which is Love and that all the rest are but effects of her producing we are bound to confess that they borrow all their efficacy from their Cause and that they have no other violence than what is hers Love is a Soveraign which imprints his qualities in his Subjects a Captain which imparts part of his Courage to his Souldiers and 't is a Primum Mobile which bears about all the other heavens by its Impetuosity insomuch as Morality ought only endeavour how to govern Love for when this Passion shall be handsomly ruled all other will imitate her And he knows well how to love or how to love well shall have no evil desires nor vain hopes to moderate The FIFTH DISCOURSE Whether there were any Passions in the state of Innocency and whether they were of the same nature as are ours T Is so long since we lost our Innocency as there remains nothing unto us but a weak Idaea thereof and did not Divine Justice punish the Fathers fault in the Children we should likewise have lost the Sorrow for it Every one describes the felicity of that state according to his Imagination methinks a man may say that as many as speak thereof guide themselves according to their inclinations and that they place there such pleasures as they are acquainted with and do most desire Some say the whole earth was one Paradise that of the Seasons whereof our years are composed there was only Autumn and the Spring that all Trees had the property of Orange trees and that they were at all times loaded with leaves flowers and fruit others perswade themselves that no wind blew there but the South-west and that the ground uncultivated prevented our need and brought forth all things I think that without maintaining these Opinions a man may say that in this happy condition bad was not mingled with good and that the qualities of the Elements were so well tempered as that man did thereby receive all contentment and felt no Displeasure He had no disorders to reform no enemies to fight withal nor mischiefs to eschew all creatures conspired towards his felicity the beasts bare respect unto his person and it may be that even those which remained in the Forrests were not wild as the Earth bare no Thorns and all the parts thereof were fruitful and pleasing so had not the Heavens any malign influences and that Constellation which dispenseth Life and Death in nature had no aspect which was not innocent and favourable If there be so little certainty touching the state of man there is no more assurance for what regards his person we argue according to our understandings and as in the first ages Idols were made of all particulars every one shapes out a felicity for Adam and gives him all the advantages that may be imagined Amongst so many Opinions or Errors I see nothing more consonant to reason then that which Saint Augustine writes concerning this for though he determine nothing in particular he resolves so well for the general as there is none that appeals from his Opinion Though we cannot describe saith he neither the beauty of the place where man made his residence nor the advantages of his mind and body we are bound â—o believe he found in his habitation whatsoever he could wish and that he felt nothing in his body which could incommodiate him His constitution was excellent his health was unalterable and if time could weaken it he prevented that mischief by making use of the tree of life which repairing his forces furnish'd him with new vigor He was immortal not by Nature but by Grace and he knew that â—in could not bereave him of Life without making him lose his Innocence His Soul was no less happily constituted than was his Body for besides that he was infused with all Sciences that he knew all the Secrets of Nature and that he was not ignorant of any thing which could contribute to his Felicity his Memory was happy his will had alwaies good Inclinations his Affections were regulated and though he were not insensible he was of so equal a temper as nothing could trouble his repose The Passions which by their violence do anticipate Reason waited his Directions and never shewed themselves till they had received Commandment from him In fine his Passions were no less natural than are ours but they were more tractable and as his Constitution made him capable of all our motions original Justice exempted him from all our Disorders I know not whether I fall foul on the opinion of Divines but forasmuch as a man may see in this darkness I think I injure not the Truth for if man as being composed of a Body was Mortal and as being honoured with original Grace Immortal methinks one may consequently infer that not being a pure Spirit he had Passions but that being sanctified in all the faculties of his Soul all his Passions were innocent To give all the force that is requisite to this Assertion we must inlarge its Principle and prove with Saint Augustine that man might die losing Original Justice and that Immortality was rather a Grace from Heaven than a property of his Nature for if he had been truly immortal he had needed no sustenance and if death had not been natural unto him he had needed no priviledge to have secured him from it since he did eat to preserve Life it follows he might lose it and since he was obliged to defend himself against old age by the means of a miraculous fruit it follows necessarily he might die and that his Life as well as ours needed remedies against
above a mortal condition and to put storms and thunder under their feet She boasts to cure them of all their evils and to free them from those vexatious disorders which molest the Souls tranquility all those fair promises have brought forth none effects and these proud billows after having made such noise are turned to foam Certainly we owe thanks to Providence which hath rendered their endeavors vain for if they had made good their words they had deprived us of all those aids which nature hath endowed us withal to make us virtuous and the inferior part of our soul hath remained without either exercise or merit for the passions are the motions thereof they carry her whither she mindeth to go and without loosning her from her body they join her to the Objects which she looks after or keep her aloof from those she desires to shun Joy is her blooming and displaying sorrow is her contraction and pain desire is her seeking and fear her eschewing for when we are merry our soul dilates it self when afflicted she contracts her self when we desire she seems to advance and when we fear she seems to retire insomuch as those who will take the Passions from the soul take away all her motions and under colour of rendring her happy make her unprofitable and unable I know no rational man that would purchase felicity at so dear a rate and I know no true man that would promise it upon so hard a condition For if happiness consist in action and if to be content a man must taste the good which he possesseth there is none but will avow That Passions are necessary to our soul and that joy must perfect the Felicity which desire hath begun Those who side with the Stoicks will tell us peradventure That these Philosophers condemn not such desires as arise from the love of virtue nor the joy that accompanies the fruition thereof but that they blame only those irregular wishes that we make every day for Riches and Honour and that consequently they blame the vain contentment which their accomplishment brings us This answer weakens their Maximes and confirms ours for it admitteth of Passions and only forbids their excess It admits of desires and hopes and only rejects their disorder and to end all in few words It healeth the malady of our affections and doth not destroy their nature But the Stoicks were not so just and their Philosophy had in it so much of severity and so little of reason as it would have a man seek out virtue without wishing for it possess it without relishing it and that being as happy as God himself he should be void of desire hope or joy In brief it had vowed the death of our Passions and yet this proud Sect did not consider that in destroying them they caused the death of all Virtues for they are the seeds thereof and by taking a little pain in trimming and pruning of them they may be made advantageous to us Though man be not born virtuous and that art which teacheth him to become so be as difficult as it is glorious he seemeth notwithstanding to know before he learneth it that his understanding hath the principles of Truth and his will the seeds of Virtue That as science according to the Platonicks is but a remembrance or calling to mind her good habits are but natural inclinations For all his Passions are budding Virtues and if he take a little care to perfect them they become compleat Virtues Is not fear which foresees evil and shunneth it natural wisdom Is not Choler which takes up arms in the behalf of good against the enemy thereof a shadow of Justice Is not Desire which serves us from our selves to join us with somewhat that is better an Image of Charity which takes us from the Earth to raise us up to Heaven What must be added to Boldness to make thereof true Fortitude And what difference is there between Sorrow and Repentance save only that the one is the meer workmanship of Nature and the other the production of Grace but both of them are afflicted with evil and they oft-times mingle their tears to bewail the same sin In fine There are no Passions which may not become Virtues and as they have inclinations to what is good and aversions from what is evil they need but a little Government to make them change Conditions The good Application of a mans Love is sufficient to make all his Passions innocent and without taking so much pain to love aright is only requisite to make us happy in this world Since Virtue faith St. Augustine is the habit of a well governed mind we are but to moderate our Affections that they may be changed into Virtues for when our hatred and our love which are the Spring-heads of all other Passions shall be wisely modestly strongly and justly guided they will become rare Virtues and will be converted into wisdom temperance fortitude and justice Is it not then a barbarous thing to go about to strangle Passions which have such affinity with Virtue and which without much labour may be raised to so noble a Condition Is it not ingratitude to mistake the advantages which we have received from Nature and is it not injustice to give infamous names to these innocent Subjects which being well managed by Reason might merit such glorious Titles 'T is then an indubitable Maxim amongst the Philosophers That Passions are the seed of Virtues and that they have no more noble employment than to arm themselves in their behalf to fight their quarrels and to revenge them of their enemies As mothers are never more couragious than in the defence of their children the affections of our soul are never more vigorous than when they defend their products against Vices This praise puzzles the brains of all the Stoicks And Seneca could not endure that Virtues Army should be composed of souldiers that could mutinie he will not have us employ Passions in her service because some few have been found which have injured her authority Certainly if all Princes were so obdurate as is this Philosopher they would find few souldiers and they must cashier all their troops because formerly they have found some of them unfaithful The negligence of Princes is oft-times cause why the souldiers mutinie and the weakness of Reason is almost alwayes the cause of the revolt of Passions In true Philosophy the soul must be rather accused than the body and the Soveraign rather blamed than the Subjects Who sees not that fear is watchful for virtue that she always mingles her self as a Spy amongst the enemies to find out their designs that all her reports are faithful and that we are for the most part unhappy only for having neglected them who knows not that hope strengthens us and that she encourageth us to the understanding of glorious and difficult designs who doth not confess that Boldness and Choler despise danger suffering hardness and setting
it But to put an end to this discourse with S. Augustine Christians make good use of their Passions if they employ them for the glory of Iesus Christ and for the salvation of their own soules Their fears correspond with Reason when they consider Gods judgments and the punishment of the damned their desire is just when they aim at the happiness of the blessed Their sorrow is harmless when they afflict themselves for all the evils which our first Father hath left us to inherit and when opprest with grief they sigh after the liberty of the children of God Their joy is a holy joy when they expect the fruition of the good which is prepared for them and when by a firm hope they already taste the effects of their Masters promises Briefly if they fear unbelief if they desire perseverance if they sorrow for their evil actions and rejoyce when they do well they turn all their Passions into holy and glorious Virtues The FOURTH DISCOURSE That the government of Passions is virtues chief employment MAn is brought into so happy a condition by sin as his very advantages reproach his misery unto him and he is made to know his faultiness by what is most excellent in him Those noble qualities which beautifie his soul and which restore unto him the glory which he had lost have but unpleasing employments and are engaged in combats which though they be difficult cease not to be shameful For mans most illustrious virtues have no other employment than to make war upon vice and the necessity he hath to make use thereof is one of the chiefest proofs of the irregularity of his nature Prudence which serves him for a guide advertiseth him that he walketh in darkness and that he is in an enemies Country Fortitude teacheth him that he ought to fight that in all the course of his life he tastes no pleasure which is not mingled with pain temperance gives him to understand that his constitution is out of order and that he hath delights which flatter him only that they may destroy him Lastly Justice obligeth him to believe that not any thing which he possesseth is his and that having a Soveraign who hath given him all that he enjoyeth he is only the Steward to distribute them These virtues do what they say their employments answer their counsels they act not without going about to stifle some disorder and to overcome some vicious inclinations Prudence chuseth the Arms and the Enemy temperance rejects pleasure fortitude sets upon sorrow justice sits President in all these combates she takes care that the conqueror be not insolent in his victory that the Soul take not such advantage over the Body that in thinking to tame it it destroy it and that whilst it would revenge it self of a disobedient Vassal it lose not a faithful friend So as we must conclude that the exercise of Virtue is a continual warfare against Vice And that these glorious qualities have no more noble employment than to charge upon Monsters and fight with Infamous Enemies 'T is therefore that Saint Augustine with all the Divines do acknowledge that they were only given us to assist us during this miserable life and that they are steps whereby to arrive at that height of felicity which consists in the enjoyment of the Summum bonum For then our Prudence will be no more necessary since we shall have no evils to shun our Justice will then be superfluous for we shall possess all our riches in common Temperance will then be useless for we shall have no more unlawful motions to suppress Then our Fortitude will have no employment since we shall suffer no further evils 'T is true I have much ado to banish those Virtues from Heaven which have opened us the way thither But as nothing can be received there which is imperfect we must say that they shall be cleansed before they get admittance thither that they shall lose what they have of earthly to become wholly heavenly and that the glory which makes men spiritual will make them Divine and will take from them what they have of impurity they shall have all their beauty and shall have no more defects they shall triumph and fight no more they shall serve for ornaments and no longer for defence to the happy they shall receive the recompence of their Labours and that wearisom exercise which held them employed whilst on earth shall be turned to an honorable rest in Heaven Now amongst a thousand different employments which the virtues have here below one of the most advantageous is the government of Passions For it seems nature hath destined them to tame these savage subjects and so reduce them under the Empire of Reason Some have dexterity to win them others strength to beat them down some use threats to astonish them others promises to allure them and all of them together use several means to arrive at the end Prudence never comes to handy-blows but as she is the Queen of Moral Virtues she contents her self with giving Orders with providing for our souls peace with stifling seditions in their birth and with suppressing unruly motions which threaten her with an intestine war If the match be already made she endevours to break it by her dexterity and not medling in the fight she opposeth to every Passion that Virtue which is contrary to it she sends succours to the weakest places or to such as are most briefly assailed She foresees the evils that are to come or if she think sometimes that the Rebels are capable of Reason she exhorts them to obedience and to reduce them to their duty she lays before them their own interests she makes them know that all the pleasures which they seek after are fatal to them and that all the evils which they so fear are honourable Temperance is a little more exposed to danger for she is obliged to come to handy-blows and to defend her self against her enemies which are so much the more dangerous as they are the more pleasing She resisteth all those Passions which flatter our senses and which propound nothing unto our minds but voluptuousness and delights she regulates desires and hopes she moderates love and joy and as oft as any motions rise up with us which promise unto us unlawful pleasures she furnisheth us with weapons to overcome them when she thinks her self not strong enough to vanquish them she calls in Penance and Austerity to her aid and with these severe virtues she defeats these dissolute enemies fortitude takes care to govern the most viâ—lent Passions to set upon fear sorrow deâ—pair and hatred assoon as any danger troubles the peace of our soul or that any angersome object which doth astonish us presents it self this Heroick Virtue employes all her courage to enhearten and by a noble piece of art she makes use of choleâ— and boldness to overcome sorrow and despair If these couragious passions are not puissant
agree to declare war unto us we must suffer them with respect and love them with so much ardency as we may with less danger for in this acceptation they have nothing of charm in them which may flatter or abuse us they are rather hateful than loving they cause in us rather a fear of God than love of our selves and by an happy effect they loosen us from the earth and raise us up to heaven this counsel comprehends all that Religion teacheth us touching the use of the creatures and whosoever shall upon occasions make use thereof will by experience find that they are never less dangerous than when most cruel and that they never oblige us more than when they punish us most severely The FOURTH DISCOURSE Of the Nature Properties and Effects of Love THose who judge of things by their appearances imagine there is nothing more contrary to man than Hatred and that since he takes his name from Humanity he should not tolerate a passion which breathes forth nothing but bloud and finds no delight but in murder Yet it is a part of his being and if he need love to fasten him unto objects which may preserve him he hath need of hatred to drive him from those that may destroy him These two motions are so natural to all Creatures as they subsist not but by the love of their like and by the hatred of their contraries The world had been ruined ere this had not the Elements whereof it is composed kept it in being by their oppositions and accords did not water by reason of the coldness thereof resist fire fire would ere this have reduced all into ashes and having no further fuel to nourish it it would have consumed it self our humors which are nothing but tempered elements preserve us by their natural Antipathies and Choler would have dried up our whole body were it not perpetually watered with flegm so as the great and little world consist only by the contrariety of their parts and if the author which hath produced them should appease their difference he would overthrow all his work which would cease to love one another if they ceased to hate their contraries What is seen in Nature is observed in Morality where the soul hath her inclinations and aversions to preserve and to defend her self to fasten her self to things she likes and to make her keep aloof off from what she likes not And had not God indued her with these two Passions she would be reduced to a necessity of suffering all the evils which assail her not having power to oppose them or hope to defeat them Hatred is then as requisite as Love we should have reason to complain of Nature if having given us inclinations to what is good she should not likewise have given us an aversion from the contrary and if she had not indued our souls with as much vigour to shun objects which are prejudicial to her as to draw near to these that are useful These two inclinations differ then only in their objects and to speak exactly we must say that Love and Hatred make but one and the same Passion which changes name according to their different uses which is called Love when it hath a liking to what is good and Hatred when it abhors what is evil Leaving here the first effect of Hatred which we have already considered we will now examine the second and will see what the nature properties and effects thereof are Hatred in her birth is nothing else but a meer aversion in us from whatsoever is contrary unto us 'T is an antipathy of our Appetite to a subject which displeaseth it 'T is the first impression which a true or an appearing evil makes in the lowest part of our soul 't is a wound which we have received from a displeasing object and it is the beginning of that motion which our Soul makes to keep aloof off or to defend it self from an enemy which pursues it She hath this in common with Love that she oft-times prevents Reason and shapes her self in our will not consulting with our judgment She takes offence at divers things which are not unpleasing in themselves and many times one and the same object causeth Hatred and Love in two different personages Sometimes it so falls out that according to the divers dispositions of our minds we like what formerly we have disliked that which did hurt us cures us and becomes the remedy of the evil which it caused she hath this of different with Love that she is much more sensible For Love is oft-times formed in our Souls before we are aware our friends must give us notice thereof and those whose company we keep must teach us that we do love we must reflect upon our selves to know this Passion in its birth and as it is extreamly delightful it wounds us so pleasingly as we do not feel the hurt till by process of time it become an incurable Ulcer But Hatred discovers it self as soon as it is conceived because it proceeds from an Object wherein we are only concern'd as it hurteth us it makes us suffer in its birth and from the time that it possesseth us it becomes our punishment It is as readily formed as Love a moment serves to produce it in our wills notwithstanding the little care we have to entertain it It disposeth its flames abroad into all the faculties of our Soul and as the most active of all the Elements it feeds upon whatever it encountereth but it hath this of misfortune that it is not so soon efaced as is Love when it hath once taken root in the heart there is no tearing of it out time which hath produced it preserves it and Philosophy is defective of sufficient reasons to cure a man who is affected with this troublesom malady Religion it self is never more troubled than when she oppugns so opinionated a passion the Son of God seems to have descended upon earth only to teach us to subdue Hatred and to pardon our enemies Neither did he oblige us to this duty till he had suffered death for his enemies he believed that to establish so strange a Doctrine it must be confirmed by his example authorized by his death and signed by his own bloud Thus did he declare war to a passion which hath this advantage over other Passions as that it endeth not with our self it is so dearly esteemed of by men as it is their sole entertainment It serves to divert them when they are displeased and though it corrode their Bowels it gives content to their heart I have heard of a Princess who after having lost her Kingdom and her Liberty found comfort in the hatred she bore her enemies and confessed she was not so much possess'd with sorrow for her past happiness as by her desire of revenge We see fathers who having their souls hanging upon their lips and who being no longer able to live do yet think how to continue
lest it take part with the frailties thereof he ought to shun its company if he would preserve himself in his innocency and by the assistance of eschewing the soul must loosen her self from what she inanimates Men forbid solitariness to such as are affected because it nourisheth their sorrow and endeavour to divert them to make them forget their displeasures So is solitariness forbidden unto sinners men dare not abandon them to their own thoughts lest they entertain themselves therewithal and be therewith too much possest and a thousand tricks are made use of to take them from themselves lest they finish their own ruine for 't is well known that they take nothing but evil counsels in solitariness that they study how to lay traps for Chastity that they meditate on Revenge that they excite their Choler and that losing that Shame and Fear which withheld them when in company they give freedom to all their Passions when they are drawn aside To cure them of so many evils 't is endeavoured to part them from themselves and to lead on this design with success the charge is given to Eschewing which by harmless cunning separates the Soul from the Body and keeps men aloof from what may hurt them Since then we are so much obliged to this Passion of Eschewing and that we owe our welfare to her it will become us to employ the rest of this Discourse in the consideration of her Proprieties that we may the better know a Passion which doth us so many good Offices She is the same to Hatred which Desire is to Love though she seem to consider Evil only to the intent she may keep aloof from it yet seeketh she after good in all parts and like to Watermen she turns her back towards the place where she would be her effects are as powerful as those of Desire and those unfortunate people who keep far from a great danger have no less trouble in so doing than those who seek after a great good fortune As Desire calls in Hope to her succour to compass the good which she esteems too difficult Eschewing imployes the aid of Fear to acquit her self of an evil which surpasseth her power As Desire is a mark of our indigence Eschewing is a proof of our weakness and as in Desiring we obtain that which we want by Eschewing we overcome that which sets upon us In fine as Desire doth dilate our heart and make it capable of the good which it endeavoureth Eschewing by a clean contrary effect doth close up our Soul and shuts the door upon the Enemy which would force her So as these two Passions are the faithful handmaids of Hatred and Love and as Love undertaketh nothing of generous without the assistance of Desire Hatred doth nothing of memorable unassisted by Eschewing and as we owe the possession of good to Desire which sought after it we owe our escaping of Evil to eschewing which hath given it the Repulse THE THIRD TREATISE OF Hope and of Despair The FIRST DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of Hope THat Art which riseth from the Earth to consider the Heavens and neglects all the Worlds beauties that it may admire those of the Stars teacheth us that the Sun changeth Influences as she changeth Houses for though he lose nothing of Virtue in his course though the Eclipses which rob us of his sight take not from him that brightness which they hide from us and his being the farther off doth not diminish his heat yet are their certain parts in the heavens where his aspects are more favourable and his influences more benign there be constellations which he cherisheth and in which he delighteth to oblige whole Nature they seem to heighten his lustre to augment his force and he appears never to be more powerful than when he communicates with them Morality which knows no other Sun than Love confesseth that he takes new force as he takes new countenances for though he be always himself and that the different names that we give him do not change his Essence yet he accommodates himself to the apprehensions of our Soul which he employeth and doth with them produce more extraordinary or more common effects He is cloudy in sorrowfulness violent in choler ready in desire undertaking in boldness calm in joy and droops in despair but certainly he is never more pleasing than in Hope 'T is the Throne wherein he appears with most pomp 't is the affection wherein he works most strongly 't is the Passion wherein he most smoothly flattereth us so is it also the most generous motion of our Soul Nature seems to have ordained it to assist great men in their highest enterprize and that nothing of memorable can be effected without the assistance of this Passion 'T was at her solicitation that Alexander undertook the conquest of Asia distributing all the wealth that he had received from his father he only received her for his patrimony and he who found the world too little contented himself with the promises which Hope gave him Caesar consulted only with her when he resolved to change the state of the Roman Common-wealth and to make himself master of that haughty Queen which gave Kings to all the people of the Earth all Conquerors have been her Slaves and Ambition which commanded over them neither drew forth Forces nor took advice but from Hope which augmented their Courage But she is not so appropriated unto Princes as not to communicate her self unto their Subjects for her care extends even to the meanest condition of men she preserveth the worlds society and all that give her entertainments are only guided by her motions The Husbandman doth not cultivate the ground Merchants put not to sea nor do Souldiers give battel but when solicited by the sweets of Hope Though she have no warrant and that all her promises be uncertain she sees a thousand people follow her orders and attend her recompenses She hath more subjects than all the Kings of the earth put together and she may boast that neither the one nor the other do any thing but by her advice 'T is she alone that contents all men and who in the difference of their conditions makes them expect the same success 'T is she that promiseth the Labourer a happy harvest favourable winds to Mariners Victory to Souldiers and to Parents obedient children Every one is ready to engage himself upon her word and that which is yet more strange men believe her though they have tane her in a lie she gives so many colours to her new promises as upon the assurance thereof men form new enterprizes and throw themselves into new dangers The Labourer plows the ground after an ill year and endeavoreth to overcome the sterility of the soil by the unwearisomness of his labour Mariners remount their Vessels after a shipwrack and cozened by Hope forget the horror of Tempests and the seas perfidiousness Souldiers return to the fight
the Roman power had purchased since her ambition gave place to her avarice Notwithstanding all this this Philosopher found a cure for his malady where it was thought he should have increas'd it he grew to know the vanity of riches in the midst of their triumph for reflecting upon all that he had seen and finding that thosâ— things were no less useless than deceitful he generously despised them this pomâ— saith he could endure but some few hours one afternoon hath seen the beginning and the end thereof and though the Chariot that carried all this treasure marcht but softly they were quickly gone what likelâ—hood is then that that which could not entertain us one whole day should possess uâ— all our life-time and that we should suffeâ— long punishment for a thing which is noâ— able to give a long contentment Thus diâ— this Philosopher learn Virtue where others reaped nothing but Vanity and as oft as any object presented it self before his eyes the appearance whereof might deceive him he would say What dost thou admire O my soul that which thou seest is a triumphant pomp where we see things but are not suffer'd to possess them and where whilst we are therewithal delighted they pass away and vanish If riches not being a real good cannot be the object of our hope whatsoever else the world promiseth us cannot satisfie it since they are not far enough off For this Passion looks far into what is to come she neglects present things and longs after what is absent and builds her felicity upon a happiness which is not as yet come It seems she would teach us that the world is not her resting place and that all those contentments which smooth our Senses and which charm our eyes or ears are not those which she seeks after She raiseth her self up to Heaven and pretending to Eternity she thinks not that absent which is closed up in the un-intermitted course of Time she by a generosity which cannot sufficiently be praised doth undervalue all those greatnesses of which imagination may form an Idea and aspires only to that supream happiness which eye hath not seen neither ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man Those then injure her who force her to fasten her self to all that we esteem good and to languish for Objects which have not any one of those conditions that hers ought to have For to boot that her object ought to be absent it must be difficult and such as may cause trouble to those that will seek after it This Epithete will cause an error to arise in most minds and men finding difficulties in the pursuit of such things as they wish for will imagine that they deserve to be hoped for the Covetous man who crosseth the Seas who goes to discover unknown Lands and to seek out new maladies under new Climates will perswade himself that riches are very well worth the wishing since they are so hard to come by the Ambitious man who enjoys not one hour of content and who finds a thousand real Hells in the imaginary Paradise which he frames unto himself will think that Honour is the only object of Hope But Philosophy pretends to fix difficulty to greatness she confounds the name of difficult with that of noble and generous she blames all those that labour after an infamous good and who forgetting the nobleness of their birth have desires only after such things as are despicable Hope is too couragious to value smoak or dirt and she pities all those mean Souls which take such might pains to compass riches or honours 'T is true they cause trouble enough to those who seek after them but they are not the more to be wished for for their difficulty the pain which they are accompanied with makes them not the more glorious they resemble the punishment of the guilty which cease not to be infamous though severe In fine all that the most part of men desire is not Hopes end because it is for the most part impossible For though this passion be bold yet is she wise she measures her strength and though she engage her self in glorious enterprizes she will have some assurance of success she aspires only to what she may obtain and she quits the pursuit as soon as she finds they surpass her power she loves to be esteemed Reserved rather than Rash and to confess her impotency rather than to shew her vanity Notwithstanding all those that hope exceed these bounds and bereaving this Passion of her natural wisdom they raise their desires beyond their merits and do oft-times labour after things equally unjust and impossible a slave in Irons promiseth himself liberty a guilty person under the Hangmans hand hopes yet for pardon a man that is banisht from the Court pretends yet to government and you shall hardly find any so miserable who do not indiscreetly feed themselves with some imaginary happiness they perswade themselves that the heavens will do miracles for their sakes and that they will change the order of the Universe to fulfil their desires But of all these mad mad men there are none more to be pitied than old men who seeing death already pourtray'd in their faces do yet promise unto themselves a long life they lose every day the use of some part of their body they see not but by art they hear not without difficulty they walk not without pain and in every thing that they do they have new proofs of their weakness yet they hope to live and because our forefathers lived many ages they believe that in having a care of themselves they may fence themselves against death and after so many sins that they have committed taste a favour which hath not been granted save to such as had not as yet lost all Innocence A man must renounce his judgment to conceive so irrational a thought and not know the grievances which do inseparably accompany old age for all sorts of death are mingled with some hope a Feaver leaves us after a certain number of Fits their heats lessen as they increased the Sea throws on shore those whom it had swallowed up and a storm hurles ships into the Haven and a Souldier struck with pity gives life to his conquer'd Enemy but he whom old age leads to death hath no more reason to hope he is incapable of pardon and Kings who prolong the lives of such as are condemn'd cannot do the like to old men their death is with less pain but it is more certain and as they ought not to fear death so they ought not to hope for life But we have sufficiently consider'd the outrages done unto Hope let us see the good offices that may be done unto her employing her according to her own inclinations and our need The THIRD DISCOURSE Of the good use of Hope CHristian Religion is wholly built upon Hope and as she neglects present happiness we must not wonder if she
This mean while Leonidas seized upon the streights of Thermopilae and intrenching himself in those mountains resolved to give him battel with three hundred men as he should pass by Hope and Audacity enflamed the heart of this noble Captain and those two Passions enconraged him to an enterprize as difficult as glorious Hope laid before him the glory which he should receive in opposing the common enemy of Greece in preserving the liberties of his Countrey in saving the Temples from being burnt in defending Towns from being pillaged and in keeping the women from the insolence of a victorious Barbarian she forgot not to point out unto him all the honours which the Lacedemonians would give him the Statues which would be erected in memory of his name the praises which should be given him by all the people and the magnifique titles which Historians would give him in their Writings it may be she would flatter him with an impossible Victory and perswade him that a disorder falling out in an Army wherein were many men but few Souldiers he might easily defeat it But Courage fuller of Truth than Hope knew the greatness of the danger and not abusing this Commander laid open before his eyes that though his death were certain he was not to quit the passage which he had taken that there was no need of conquering but of dying and that he should do enough for the welfare of Greece if by losing his life he should make his enemies lose their resolution He gave belief to the advice of this generous Passion he resolved to stand the shock of an Army which he could not stay and invited his souldiers to fight and die at the same time By this example it is easie to judge that Hope considers only the good which doth solicite her and that Andacity respects only the evil that threatens her that the one entertains her self only with the glory which she promiseth to her self and that the other is only taken up with the danger which she withstands that the one feeds her self with an imaginary pleasure and that the other nourisheth her self with real pain 'T is true the latter finds her contentment in her duty and sings triumphantly in the midst of her defeat for though she bear not away the victory over the Persians in the person of Leonidas she carries it sheer away over the fear of death and she is sufficiently contented to have overcome the violentest of all her enemies she is not troubled for being beaten by men provided she may overcome Fortune and good success is to her indifferent so she may vanquish the apprehension of danger If it be permitted to add Fiction to History we shall see the divers motions of those two Passions in the person of Iason The purchase of the golden Fleece is the subject of his journey Hope makes him put to sea and promiseth him fair winds which shall fill his sails and bring him in despite of tempest to the Coast of Colchis she shews him how all Greece have their eys fixt upon him and that she hath no Commander who in this expedition will not fight under his Ensign that in so noble an enterprize profit is joyn'd to glory and that the recompense which he may expect is as rich as honorable but Audacity which cannot flatter lays before him Souldiers which he hath to overcome Monsters to tame and a Serpent which always waketh to surprize yet he accepts of all these conditions and undertakes to assail all these enemies upon confidence of his own forces he is not sure to overcome the Bulls and Serpents which he shall meet withal but he is very well assured to overcome Fear he knows that success depends upon Fortune but he knows also that Boldness depends only upon Courage it sufficeth him to set at naught all these Monsters which present themselves before him under such dreadful visages and without any further recompense thinks himself glorious enough if he can triumph over Fear By these two examples the advantages which Audacity hath over Hope are easily discerned but in their oppositions somewhat of resemblance may be found and the same Causes that make us hope for good seem to make us despise evil for youth which abounds in heat imagines nothing impossible because her vigour gives her assurance she easily engageth her self in difficult and glorious designs good success doth likewise feed this Passion and when Fortune smiles upon Commanders they do not greatly refuse to fight though their forces be inferiour to those of the enemy they perswade themselves that their very name is able to affright them and being accustomed to overcome they cannot fear a misfortune which hath not yet befallen them Power contributes no less than good success to make men bold for when a Prince commands over a great State when every Town furnisheth him with an Army when the Revenues are such as will afford him to entertain them divers years when his neighbours fear him and that he hath no more to do to make them his subjects but to march into the fields he shuns not the undertakings of any war nor ever despairs of Victory But of all things in the world nothing makes a man more bold than innocence for though the enemy that assails him be powerful and that the earth fight in favour of him he imagines that God ought to take his part and that he who protects the innocent being interessed in his Cause is bound to defend him so as he marcheth undauntedly amidst dangers dreads no ill success and expecting help from heaven promiseth unto himself assured Victory The one and the other of these Passions may be mistaken and as they become glorious Virtues when they are guided by Prudence they may degenerate into shameful vices when they suffer themselves to be governed by Indiscretion this is that we will examine in the ensuing Discourses The SECOND DISCOURSE Of the bad use of Audacity or Boldness AUdacity having no other guide than Hope we must not wonder if she undertake enemies which she cannot vanquish and if her desires have for the most part ill success 't is not likely that rash enterprizes should be fortunate and that actions which are not governed by Wisdom should be accompanied by good success Fortune grows weary offavouring the Audacious and having oft-times kept them out of danger wherein they had indiscreetly engaged themselves she forsakes them with some seeming Justice and punishes their Fool-hardiness to remedy the like in others All men are therefore bound to weigh well the Counsels which Hope giveth them and to consider their strength before they follow the motions of Audacity for though they be full of Gallantry and that most souldiers confound them with the motions of Valour they cease not notwithstanding to be fatal and to be dayly the cause of the loss of Armies and ruine of States But to find the Spring-head of this evil we must know that the Passions
guided by Wisdom she will alter her nature and of a simple Passion she will become a glorious Virtue Audacity and Fortitude consider the same object and their inclinations are so like as one may say that Fortitude is a rational Audacity and that Audacity is a natural Fortitude their enemies are common and they summon all their forces to fight with them they are agitated by the same motives and seek the same end For Fortitude according to her truest definition is a Science which teacheth us either to suffer or to beat back or to provoke injuries she constantly endures all the evils which Nature is subject to she will not be dispensed withal in general Rules and knowing that the necessity of death is a sentence pronounced against all men she never appeals from it with calmness of spirit she sees sickness approach the first remedy which she applies to cure them is to think that they arise from our constitution and that they make up a part of us contagion doth not astonish her be it either for that â—he looks upon it as a punishment of sin or that she considers it as an effect of Nature she accuseth not the stars of it and pretends not to be exempt from an evil which doth not pardon Princes with a noble neglect she beats back all such disasters as take all their strength from error and which do not offend our bodies but as they hurt our imagination she defends her self against Poverty by desiring only necessary things she despiseth Honours considering that they are oftner the recompense of Vice than of Virtue she laughs at Voluptuousness knowing that it is pleasing only in appearance and that under a specious name it hideth shameful and real pains she provokes sorrow to try her courage she seeks for calamity as an occasion to exercise her Virtue and if she had not tasted the disasters of life she would think her self ignorant of the better half of what she ought to know she hath rather a greediness than a desire after dangers and since the evil she undergoes contributes unto her glory she fore runs it thinking it a point of baseness to tarry expecting it In fine she hath overcome death in its most ghastly hue nor hath the cruelty of tyrants invented punishments over which Fortitude hath not triumphed Scoevola derided the flames and witnessed more constancy in seeing his hand burn than his enemies did in beholding it Regulus was an honour to the Rack whereon he died Socrates turn'd his Prison into a School his Executioners became his Disciples and the poyson which he swallowed made his innocence glorious Camillus suffer'd banishment calmly and Rome had remained captive had not this famons Exile restored unto her her liberty Cato slew himself and though he suffer'd himself to be overcome by impatience he may at least boast of having preserved his liberty But without making use of prophane examples where Virtue is always mingled with Vice we have no Martyr which hath not overcome some Tyrant in the severity of their sufferings given many proofs of their courage The Ignatii have provoked wild beasts and as if that Death had been a courtesie they sought after it with eagerness and endured it with pleasure the Laurences have vanquisht the flames and while their bodies distilled drop by drop upon the fire-brands their tongues reproached their Judges and gave praises to Jesus Christ the Clementâ— and Agathaes have wearied their Executioners their martyrdom endured thirty years the famousest Cities of the world have served for Theaters to their sufferings all the earth hath been water'd with their bloud and Heaven hath shewn a thousand miracles to prolong their lives and to make their Triumphs more famous But if Fortitude encouraged by Charity hath held out all these brunts and had the better of all these enemies Audacity may claim to a great share in the glory for it is she that maketh Martyrs and though Grace be more powerful than Nature yet doth she not despise the assistance thereof as the soul and body conspire together to practise Virtue Nature agrees with Grace to beat down sin Boldness is the ground work of all glorious actions and had not this noble Passion fill'd the heart of the first Christians Fortitude had not gotten such glorious victories they have so much of affinity between them as they cannot subsist asunder Fortitude languisheth without Audacity and Audacity without Fortitude is rash Virâ—â—e would be succor'd by Pasion Passiâ—â— guided by Virtue Audacity is the beginning of Fortitude and Fortitude is Auâ—â—cities perfection or to speak more â—early Audacity is an imperfect Virtue and Fortitude is an accomplisht Passion But to arrive at this perfection she must have three or four remarkable circumstances the first is that she be accompanied by Justice and Prudence for he that takes up arms to ruine his Countrey deserves not to be stiled Couragious his design dishonors his Passion and his Audacity becomes faulty for his not having chosen a lawful end Let Cataline take up arms let him encourage his souldiers to the battel by his examples let him be besmear'd with his own bloud mixt with that of his enemies let him die with his sword in his hand well advanced in the scuffle and let fury choler be seen in his visage even after death he shall never pass for a couragious man his Audacity was not discreet since trespassing against all the laws of Discretion he had undertaken so pernicious a design neither was it temperate since he won his souldiers good will only by satisfying their Avarice or Uncleanness of life it was not just because he had conspired against his Countrey and it was rather an obdurateness than a greatness of courage since to compass glory he committed Paricide The second is that the motive of Audacity be generous and that the daring man expose not his life upon a slight consideration for he very well knows his own worth and not born away with vain-glory he knows his life is precious he hath preserved it with much care and if he endanger it it must be for a subject that deserves it There is a great deal of difference between a valiant man and one that is desperate the latter seeks out death to free himself from misery but the other pursues it only to discharge his duty and content his inclination he will not then engage himself in danger to purchase a little honor he will not be guided by the example of the rash he values not those Maxims which are authorized by Folly and Indiscretion but he will go whithersoever the Trumpet summons him and will throw himself though single upon a Body of Horse if he have order so to do he will die a thousand times rather than forgo the station given him in charge and he will cover the place with his body which he is not able to defend with his sword The third is to try his own
Conquerors which bereaves the Incontinent of their Voluptuosness cannot robâ— Philosophers of their Science But let her pretend what advantage she can over her Rivals mans Felicity cannot consist therein For to boot that she is mixt with ignorance that her lights are mingled with obscurities that there is more of doubt than of certainty more of errour than of truth in her she is oftentimes either unprofitable or faulty in the most part of her imployments for as S. Bernard says some study out of a delight to be knowing and this is a frivolous curiosity others that men may know that they are knowing and this is a shameful Vain-glory Others out of a desire to sell their knowledge and this is a Sordid Commerce 'T is true there are some that study that they may edifie and this is a laudable Charity and others study to edifie themselves and this is a discreet point of wisdom Of all these there are only the two last who do not abuse Knowledg since they procure her only to employ her in the service of virtue but in this very occasion she hath her troubles and her defects and if she be not accompanied with Humility she puffes us up with Vain-glory and Self-love After all we must acknowledg with the wise man that 't is a troublesome occupation which God hath given men for their punishment and that it is rather an effect of his Justice than a mark of his Love If the use of all these pleasures be not innocent that of Riches is more Faulty for let us give them what praises we please they are enemies to Virtue and if they be serviceable to magnificence and liberality they are prejudicial to Continence and Justice all vices employ them to satisfie their unjust desires and he that would take them from Avarice Pride and Obscenity would reduce them to a happy incapacity of doing harm The greatest Philosophers have likewise acknowledged that they were the Ruine of Families and loss of Estates that the despising of them was safer than their Possession and that from the time they enter into a house they drive thence all virtue they irritate our desires awaken our hopes encrease our fears and oblige us to confess that there is more anxiety in keepingâ— them than in acquiring of them In fiâ—e Rich men are of so unhappy a condition that if they will therein taste any delight they must imitate the condition of pooâ— men and seek for that in poverty which they could not find out in abundance But where then will you place Pleasure if it be neither to be found in Voluptuousness nor in Glory And where will you lodgâ— her if she agree not well neither with knowledg nor riches I confess there are Rational Delights Lawful Honours Modest Sciences and Innocent Riches but certainly the common use thereof is out of order and by a just judgment of God every one finds his Trouble where he seeks his Felicity The Incontinent are sad amidst their Contentments Jealousie and Suspition revenge violated Chastity and Diseases make them pay use for their infamous pleasures the Ambitious are the Victimes of Vanity they have this of evil in their best Fortune that they are tormented with a twofold Envy for they cannot endure their Equals and their Inferiours cannot abide them They despise Honours as soon as they enjoy them and valuing none but such as they have not â— they mingle disquiet with enjoying and molest â—n Assured Happiness with desire of an Uncertain Contentment the learned are not much more Happy they are tormented with the Passions which lost the first man The Fathers fault is made the Childrens punishment and the same knowledg which thrust him out of Paradise persecutes them in the world they consume all their days in learning things either Ridiculous or Unprofitable They fight for defaced Letters and the Inscription of Tombes which is also the reward of Conquerors causeth almost all the Dispute of Criticks they boast themselves that 't is by these glorious Paths that men mount up to Heaven they seek for Immortality and they treat with the dead that they may reign with the Gods they know how to Speak not how to live they are Learned and not Virtuous and through a strange blindness they see not that their knowledge being Proud is as Boundless as Ambition and that her desires being irregular she is as Inperate as Voluptuousness The Avaritious are in pain for all their Riches they possess them they do not enjoy them they worship their wealth and dare not touch it they teach us that they are slaves thereunto not masters thereof and their only contentment lies iâ— hindering others from enjoying them But left it be objected that I discover an eviâ— without applying the remedy I intend iâ— my next Discourse to defend innocent and Lawful Pleasures The THIRD DISCOURSE Of the good use of Pleasure THose who condemn Pleasure must consequently condemn Nature and accuse her of having committed faults in all her works for this wise mother hath dispersed delight throughout all our actions and by an admirable piece of wisdom hath order'd that as those which are most necessary were the meanest they should be the most pleasing and certainly had she not found out this innocent Slight the world would have perish'd long ago and men who are the noblest part thereof neglecting their own preservation would have left it for a prey to wild Beasts for who would trouble himself with Eating were he not invited thereunto as well by Delight as by Necessity who would ever endure that sleep should benum his senses take from him the use of Reason and make him change life with the shadow of death did not the sweetness of her poppies make this remedy as charming as it is shameful as Pleasure is profitable to the body it is no less necessary for the mind which as ambitious as it is would never undertake the atchievement of Virtues and the defeat of Vices were not the Glory mingled with Joy and did not these two make up the recompense of her Labours who would toyl to overcome shameful and sinful pleasures were they not thereunto incited by innocent delights Who would dare to assail Death and to fight with a Monster which triumpheth over both the victorious and the vanquished were not his constancy animated by the contentment which the victory promiseth him Who were able to overcome the difficulties which accompany all Sciences were they not seasoned with Sweetness and who would ever contrive any famous design were he not thereunto invited by the hope of Pleasure But though Nature hath shed it abroad in all actions whether necessary or difficult she will have it be rather a help than a motive to us and that it serve us rather for a refreshing then for a recompense she will have us to look upon it as an Assistance which she hath given us whereby to acquire Virtue and that we use it
as a remedy found out by her to moderate our discontents for mans life is full of misery and had not the heavens sweetned them by Joy all Passions would end in Grief or in Despair we should be press'd to death under the burden of our misfortunes and losing the hope of vanquishing our enemies we should lose the desire of fighting with them To heighten our courage this wise Mother solicites us by Pleasure and equally mingling it with things that are Difficult and Shameful she obligeth us not to Despise the one nor to Fear the other but whatever Contentment she propounds to us 't is always with this Caution that it shall not be the end but that it shall serve us for a pleasing means to arrive the more contentedly thereat so that we are bound to taste of it with the same reservedness as Travellers look upon the goodly Fields which lie in their way they serve to unweary them they admire their largeness praise their Fertility value their Riches but they stay not to gather in the crop and knowing it is not lawful for them to enjoy them they are contented with such Recreation as thereby they receive which whilst they do they hasten their pace and continue on their journey so earthly Pleasures may well solace us but they are not totally to possess us When Nature intermingled them with our actions she meant them not for our Felicity but our Consolation and she intends not that they should stay us on Earth but that they should raise us to Heaven 'T is brutish to seek for nothing but Delight in Eating and to make that a Contentment which is nothing but a Remedy to love Sleep because it is accompanied with some sweetness and to place the happiness of Life in the Image of Death is to be void of Reason we must take it because it is necessary and thank divine Providence which being more lucky and powerful than Physick hath provided pleasing Remedies for us and cures our maladies without exercising our Patience to court Virtue only for Pleasures sake is to be unjust and not to value her she is too noble to be any thing but our end to seek out any other motive or hope for any other recompense than the possession of her is to injure her Pleasure which acompanies her is only for mean and poor souls which have not courage enough to follow her and her Difficulties she is never more glorious than when most difficult and her faithful lovers never think her more beautiful than when she is crown'd with Thorns yet doth not Nature forbid us to taste this sweetness which accompanieth the searching after her provided we look upon it as a succour to our weakness and that we take not that for a consummated felicity which is given us only for a refreshment this is notwithstanding the fault of all men and so general is this disorder that there is hardly any one who doth not seek after Pleasure and despise Virtue Every one will make his utmost end of a mean which is not honourable save only because necessary and all the world will have that a Passion which Nature hath placed in our Soul only to sweeten our misfortunes should be the height of our felicity men now respect nothing but what delights Glory gives place to pleasure and virtues self by a high injustice hath no more lovers unless she promise them delight insomuch as of all Passions not any one doth more prejudice her than joy doth For Desires are Noble Hopes are Generous Audacity and Choler assail Vice Hatred and Fear defend themselves from it but Joy is of a soft Nature and suffers it self to be corrupted when sollicited by Delights Other Passions are in perpetual motion and being always upon the Speed they never fix themselves so strongly on an Object but they may be staved off but Joy is at rest and making the good which she possesseth her Center she must be fought withal before she will part with it Therefore the Son of God knowing how hard it is to conquer this passion when it is grounded in a Soul forbids us to give it entertainment and counsels us to reserve it for such contentments as never shall have end He distinguisheth his Disciples from those of the world as well by Joy as by Love he employs all his Reasons to perswade us that temporal Joy cannot agree with Joy eternal and that to be happy in Heaven a man must be miserable on Earth he mingles Pain with our Pleasures sows Thorns amongst our Roses and poures Bitterness upon our Delights to make us distaste them He instructeth us that Pleasures are not only fading but painful and that they are not only Unprofitable but Faulty In fine they are the daughters and mothers of Sorrow and all those which promise us the greatest contentment subsist only by the Pain which precedes them Monarchs triumph not till after the victory they had not defeated their enemies had they not fought with them and Joy measureth it self so justly by Sorrow that the beauty of the Triumph depends upon the greatness of the Combat when it hath not been throughly disputed the pleasure is less and the glory is not so splendid Mariners never taste the sweetness of life more than when they have escaped Shipwrack and they are never more sensible of contentment than when after despair of safety a Tempest drives them upon the shore an only Son is never so dear to his Mother as when he hath run great hazards and hath cost her many a Tear she thinks she hath been brought a bed with him as many times as she hath wept for him her joy ariseth from her sorrow and the contentment of enjoying him would not be so great had she not fear'd to have lost him one must be hungry before he take delight in eating and as nothing sets forth Light better than Darkness so there is nothing adds more to Pleasure than the Pain that hath gon before it But out of another consequence as necessary more vexatious pleasure turns to Sorrow and that wherewith we were at first delighted in process of time becomes painful Too long sleep degenerates into a Lethargy the remedy which nature had found out to repair our strength when it is continual ruinates it Excess of meat suffocates the natural heat too violent exercise weakens our vigour and the innocentest Pleasures become Punishments when they are immoderate Temperance might cure us of these disorders if they went no father but experience teacheth us that what passeth for a Pleasure in the world is a Sin before God and that the greatest part of our joys cause sorrow in the Saints A Souldier rejoyceth in the murders he hath committed and men in this corrupt age call that Valour which in more innocent times would have been termed Cruelty A lustful person rejoyceth in having stollen away her that he loves and if he content
But howsoever all Philosophers agree that the Soul cannot be happy in a miserable body and that she cannot endue it with life without sharing in the miseries thereof if her noblest part be touched with Joy while the body languisheth with pain that which inanimates it must be sensible thereof to pay interests for the services she gets thence she must be miserable for company Even the Soul of Jesus Christ thrice-happy as it was failed not to be afflicted and a miracle was done in the order of Glory that the society might not be broken which Nature hath put between the Soul and the Body it is then agreed upon that these two parts that compose man cannot be separated in their suffering and that the torment of the one must of necessity be the others punishment they love too well to forsake one another in their afflictions and unless the violence of pain break the chains wherewith they are linked together their miseries must be common I should moreover think that the condition of the Soul is more deplorable than that of the Body for besides that to make her subject to sufferings be to injure her worth and that it is a piece of Injustice to force her to feel evils from which by Nature she is exempted she sentenceth her self to new sufferings and the love which she beareth to her Body obligeth her to resent with sorrow the pains which it endureth she together with it is sensible thereof seeing that she is the Original of Sense and as if this torment were not sufficient she draws another upon her self by compassion and afflicts her self with the Thought of all that which really torments it she makes much of its maladies after she hath shared in the suffering of them she grows sad with the conceit of them and of a single grief makes double Martyrdom true it is that this Faculty hath so much commerce with the Senses as she cannot resent their evils without communicating her pains unto them her trouble disquieteth them and as the sufferings of the Body are cause of the like in the Soul by a Law as just as necessary the pain of the Soul produceth the like of the Body This feeling is in my Opinion true Sadness which is nothing else but a dislike which is formed in the inferior part of the Soul by the fight of Objects which are displeasing to her Very strange are the effects of so Melancholick a Passion for when she is but in a mean she makes them eloquent without Rhetorick she teacheth them Figurative speeches to exaggerate their Discontents and to hear them speak the greatest pains seem to be less than what they suffer but when she is Extream by a clean contrary effect she astonisheth the Spirit she interdicts the use of the Senses she dries up Tears stifles Sighes and making men stupid she affords Poets the liberty of feigning that she changeth them into Rocks when she is of long continuance she frees us from the earth and raiseth us up to Heaven for it is very hard for a man in misery to covet life when it is full of pain and Sorrow and when the Soul hath great conflicts for a Body which doth continualy exercise her patience All men are not so poorly spirited as was that Favorite of Augustus who did so much covet life that Torments could not make him forgo the desire thereof who gloried in his Verses that he would have loved Life amidst Tortures that he would have been a Votary for the prolonging of it upon the Rack and that the cruellest sufferings that might be would have seemed swift to him so as he might therein have found Life I well believe that excess of pain would have made him be of another mind and that he would have confess'd that to die quickly is better than to live long in pain or had he persisted in his first Opinion we should be bound to confess that poorly-spirited men are more wilful than are those that are couragious and that the desire of Glory makes not so great impression in us as the desire of life But to return to my Subject when Grief is violent it loosneth the soul from the Body and causeth the death of the man for Sadness and Joy have this of resemblance in their difference that both of them attempt upon our lives when they are in extreams The heart dilates it self by Joy it opens it self to receive the good which is offer'd tastes it with such excess of pleasure as it faints under the weight thereof and meets with death in the midst of its Happiness It shuts it self up by Sorrow claps to the door upon the evil that besiegeth it and very improvidently delivers it self into the hands of a Domestick enemy to free it self from one that is a stranger for its Violence causeth its anguish and the care he takes to defend it self augments its pain and hastens its death Oft-times also its negligence makes it miserable it suffers it self to be surpriz'd by Sorrow for not having foreseen it and being no longer in a condition to defend it self when Sorrow arriveth it is forced to give way thereunto In fine Sadness makes us weep when it hath seized on our heart it wageth war with our Eyes it evaporateth by Sighes it glides down by Tears and weakens it self in the production thereof for a man that weeps easeth himself and comforts himself whilst he complains he finds somewhat of delight in his lamentations and if they be signs of his sufferings they are likewise the cure thereof As Choler dischargeth it self by Railing Sorrow being more innocent drops away by Tears and abandons the Heart when it gets up into the Face Having seen its effects it remains that we consider what use may be made thereof and in what conditions it may become Innocent or Offensive The FIFTH DISCOURSE Of the bad use of Pain and Sorrow THose who believe that Delight is Virtues most dangerous Enemy will never think that Sorrow can side with Vice and we shall have much ado to perswade them that there be some Sadnesses which are faulty yet we see but few of them that are innocent and most of those that draw tears from us are either unjust or unreasonable for man is become so esseminate that every thing hurts him Sin hath made him so wretched that he numbers the privation of pleasures amongst his pains and thinks he hath just cause to afflict himself when he possesseth not all that he desires the number of his evils is encreased by his abjectedness and he that in the first ages knew no other pain but Sickness and Death now vexeth himself for Disgrace and Poverty The witness of his Conscience is not sufficient for his Virtue and if he have not applause on Earth joyned to the approbation of Heaven he imagineth himself to be infamous the riches of Nature do not satisfie his Desires and though he have all things
begins to have inclinations and notions she sees Objects by the Sense which their reports make unto the Imagination this trusts them or commits them to memory which obligeth her self carefully to keep them and faithfully to represent them From the Lights of the Soul arise her desires and from her knowledge her love or hatred she betakes her self to that which is agreeable unto her shuns that which likes her not and according to the divers qualities of good or evil which present themselves she excites differing motions which are called Passions In this degree she hath nothing of more lofty than the Beasts which discover Objects by Sense which receive the sorts thereof in their Imagination and preserve them in their Memory In the third estate she quits the Body and coming to her self she entertains her self with more Truths she treats with Angels and mounting by degrees even to Divinity it self she knows perfections and admireth greatness she reasons upon such subjects as present themselves she examines their qualities that she may conceive their essence she confers the present with what is past and from the one and the other of them draws Conjectures for what is to come The Faculty which doth all these wonders is termed Understanding Imagination â—nd Sense acknowledge her for their Mistress but she is not so absolute but that â—he dependeth upon a Soveraign and takes â—he Law from one that is blind whom she serves for a guide This which is called Will and which hath no other Object than good to follow it and evil to shun it â—s so absolute as Heaven it self bears a respect unto her freedom for it never useth violence when it hath to do therewithal â—it husbandeth the consentment thereof with address And its efficacious graces which never fail in producing their Effects may well undertake to convert but not to force Will. Heavens Orders are alwaies observed within its Empire the Subjects thereof may well be froward never rebellious and when it commands absolutely 't is alwaies obeyed True it is that motions or agitations are formed in the second acception of the soul which exercise her power for though they hold of her they forbear not to pretend to some sort of Liberty they are rather her Citizens than her Slaves and she is rather their Judge than their Soveraign These Passions arising from the Senses side alwaies with them whenever Imagination presents them to the Understanding he pleads in their behalf by means of so good an Advocate they corrupt their Master and win all their Causes The Understanding listens unto them weigheth their Reasons considereth their Inclinations and lest he may grieve them oft-times gives Sentence to their Advantage he betrayes the Will whereof he is the Chief Officer he couzens his Blind Queen and disguising the Truth makes unfaithful Reports unto her that he may draw unjust Commandments from her when she hath declared her self Passions become Crimes their Sedition begins to make head and man who before was but unruly becomes wholly Criminal for as the Motions of this inferiour part of the Soul are not free they never begin to be vitious but when they become voluntary As long as they are awakened by Objects solicited by the Senses and protected by Imaginations self they have no other Craft than what they draw from corrupted Nature But when the Understanding overshadowed by their obscurity or won by their solicitations perverts the Will and obliges this Soveraign to take upon her the interest of her Slaves she makes them guilty of her sin she changes their motions into rebellion and of the insurrection of a Beast makes the fault of a man It is true that when the understanding keeps within the bounds of duty and is faithful to the Will he suppresses their seditions and reduceth these Mutineers to obedience she husbandeth their humours so well as taking from them all their unruliness he makes rare and excellent virtues of them In this estate they are subservient to Reason and defend the party which they were resolved to fight against The good or the evil that may be drawn from them binds us to consider their nature to observe their proprieties and to discover their original to the end that arriving at the exact knowledge of them we may make use of them in our affairs Passion then is nothing else but a moâ—ion of the Sensitive Appetite caused by the Imagination of an appearing or veritable good or evil which changeth the Body against the Laws of Nature I term it motion because it hath a respect to good or evil as the Objects thereof and suffers it self to be born away by the qualities which she observes therein this motion is caused by the Imagination which being fill'd with sorts of things which she hath received from all the senses sollicits passions to discover unto her the beauties or deformities of such Objects as may move her The sensitive appetite is so partial to her as it sooths her in all her inclinations let her be never so little agitated she draws after her all other passions she raiseth tempests as winds do waves and the Soul would be at quiet in her interiour part were she not moved by this power but she bears so great a sway in this Empire as she there doth what she pleaseth Nor is it requisite that the good or evil which she represents to the appetite be true which relyeth on her fidelity and believes her councils without examining them having no other light but what is borrowed from her he follows hoodwink'd all the Objects which she proposeth and let them be but cloathed with any appearance of good or evil he impetuously either rejects or embraceth them He behaves himself so vigorously as he alwaies causeth alteration in the Body for besides that his motions are violent and that they do hardly deserve the name of Passions when they are moderated they have such access unto the Senses and the Senses have so much of communication with the Body as it is impossible but that their Disorders should cause an alteration therein In brief Passion is against the Law of Nature because she sets upon the heart which cannot be hurt without resentment of all the parts of the Body for they are Looking-glasses wherein one sees all the Motions of him that animates them And as Physitians judge of his Constitution by the beating of his Pulse and Arteries one may judge of the Passions wherewith â—e is transported by the colour of his face by the flame which sparkles in his eyes by the shaking of his Joynts and by all such other signs as appear in the Body when the Heart is agitated Now these are the Passions which we â—ndertake to reclaim and bring under the Empire of Reason and by the assistance of â—race to change them into Virtues â—ome have been satisfied with describing â—hem unto us not shewing how to regulate â—hem and have employed their eloquence â—nly in making us know our Miseries