his Judgment in so difficult a Matter only he knows that Human Reason deceives us every day but that the Law of God cannot deceive us A Man of Understanding says the Scripture trusts in the Law and the Law is faithful to him This Behaviour of a down-right Person that is of a Good Man and a Christian is not only the most safe in point of Conscience but the most Just and Rational For as it is impossible for Subjects rightly to understand the Case of Affairs it is as impossible altogether for them to judge whether it be profitable or prejudicial to cut off a Province from the Body of the Realm and as for the general Knowledge of this Matter it obliges 'em altogether to Obedience For they know that one Province may be given in exchange for another nearer and more commodious or Surrender'd either for the prevention or putting an end to some Great War They are also well instructed that they have nothing to do to descant upon the Actions of their Soveraigns and that they ought not to censure their Government without a misbeseeming Audaciousness It is not lawful for Subjects says Tacitus to condemn the Actions of Kings nor to enquire into the hidden Reasons and Mysteries of their Conduct The Gods have made 'em Arbitrers of the Affairs and Designs of Empires and have only left us the Honor to Obey Besides have the Subjects any reason to complain that their Rights are invaded by the Surrender of a Province Does the Kingdom belong to them Is it not the Patrimony of our Princes Have they not won by the Sword the greatest part of the Provinces that compose it Four of our First Kings especially Clouis did not they alone conquer the greatest part of France and is it not by Purchase by Donations and Matches that the rest of the Provinces are come to the Crown And therefore especially in Hereditary Kingdoms it is no such unjust thing for a Prince to alienate some part of his Dominions Besides that we are always to take it for Granted that they never do it but when compell'd by necessity or that they find a considerable advantage by it The opposition of the French to the Treaty which Charles the VI made with Henry the V. King of England and the War wherein they engag'd to prevent the Effects are proofs already without any appearance of Reason that Subjects sometimes may oppose by force the Will of their Soveraign For how can we say that the French upon that occasion took up Arms against Charles VI. or what Validity could they imagine to be in a Treaty made when the Prince was troubl'd in his Mind and by which his Son was depriv'd of the Crown which was his Right In a word the Ambition of Henry V. the Revenge of the Duke of Burgundy and Queen Isabel of Bavaria's hatred of the Dolphin were the true and only Causes of that Treaty So that there never was a War more just then that which the French entred into as being against the Usurper of the Kingdom and for that they took part with Charles VII who was not only Successor but in Possession and Master of the Kingdom his Father being civilly Dead and not in a Condition either to Treat or meddle with any manner of Affairs As for the resistance of the French to the execution of the Treaty of Madrid concerning Burgundy It is visible that Francis I. might easily have surmounted it but that he cherish'd it that he might have a pretence for the not observing a Treaty so disadvantageous It is visible that he left Spain with a Resolution to break it for so soon as he return'd into his Kingdom he summon'd an Assembly of the Estates to meet at Angoulesme where after he had protested in the presence of Laney the Emperors Creature That for his part he desir'd to observe the Treaty punctually he submitted to the Arguments on the other side that it was not in his Power to perform it for that by the Fundamental Laws of Monarchy Kings could not alienate any Right or Inheritance that belong'd to the Crown and that having receiv'd the Monarchy entire from his Ancestors he was oblig'd to leave it entire to his Successors And of this Men may be soon convinc'd if they consider that Charles the VI. a Prince of less Courage less Formidable and of less Authority then Francis I. laugh'd at an opposition of the same Nature and that Francis I. by the Treaty of Cambray which was an Alloy to to that of Madrid renounc'd his Pretentions to Flanders and Artois and the Right which he had to Milan and the Kingdom of Naples contrary to the Resolutions taken by the General Estates and contrary to the Fundamental Laws of Monarchy True it is that these Arguments ought to be grounded upon some lawful Reason and that King's would injure their Successors if they parted with any Province from the Body of their Dominions without being constrained But when they condescend to those Retrenchments only by compulsion or for the good of the Kingdom their Subjects have no reason to complain or if they had the greatest part of our Kings had more reason to complain of their Predecessors particularly of the Children of Henry II. who by the Treaty of Careau-Cambresis restored near Two hundred Cities or strong Holds to the other Party To this we must add that it is a difficult thing to observe that point of Grandeur alledg'd by the fore-mention'd Author that when Dominions are united it is not lawful for kings to part with any parcel thereof because it is not long since the settlement of our Monarchs that France has been enlarg'd by the Conquests of our Kings or been lessen'd by those of our Neighbours Moreover the Princes of the First and Second Race have frequently diminishâ—d its Grandeur by dividing it among their Children into several Kingdoms Lastly not to mention all the Provinces that have been disunited from the Crown it will be sufficient to remark that Burgundy was disunited by Henry the younger Son of Hugh Capet in favour of Robert his Brother that it return'd to the Crown under King John who gave it in a short time after to Philip the Bold his Fourth Son and after the death of Charles the last Duke of Burgundy Lewis the XI made himself Master of it so that it had not been re-united to the Crown above Fifty years when Francis I. was inclinable to have restor'd it back again Let us proceed to those other Pretences for dispensing with our Loyalty to our Soveraigns Religion the Reformation of the Kingdom and the grievances of Impositions are the pretences most frequently made use of to debauch the Subject into Conspiracies and Factions But a Loyal Subject ought to be careful of being deluded by specious Pretences and to have always before his Eyes the saying of Tacitus That Liberty and Ease of the People are specious Words which the Factious make use of to withdraw
LICENSED Rob. Midgley Febr. 27. 1691. THE FALSHOOD OF Human Virtue A MORAL ESSAY Done out of French LONDON Printed for Timothy Child in St. Paul's Church-Yard M.DC.XCI THE PREFACE MAN naturally becomes his own Flatterer and being sensible that all other Animals are overcome either by his Wit or Strength easily enclines to despise those Beings as inferior and arrogates to himself the Empire of this small spot of Earth And though constantly put in mind of his Defects by the Weakness and Narrowness of his Senses and consequently of his Understanding by the irregularity of his Inclinations the Disorder of his Passions and innumerable Inconveniences to which he is subject nevertheless assuming a false Bravery he affects to seem above these Things and to appear self-sufficient With the counterfeit Wings of immaginary Virtue he soars towards Heaven and pretends to partake of the Divine Nature notwithstanding that the Spring and first Motion even of the best of his Actions as the subsequent Treatise fully proves is nothing but Pride Self-love and Interest Wherefore with all due Gratitude 't is fit to acknowledge the Grace and Favour whereby Almighty Providence has been pleased to communicate those Precepts and Commands which alone lead to Happiness and Perfection which are so admirably expressed in the Great Example of that Divine Person who came both to Instruct and to Save Mankind A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CHAP. I. OF Prudence Page 1 CHAP. II. Of Sincerity 24 CHAP. III. Of Friendship 34 CHAP. IV. Of Confidence p. 73 CHAP. V. Of Complaisance 81 CHAP. VI. Of Civility 89 CHAP. VII Of Officious Virtue 95 CHAP. VIII Of Clemency 99 CHAP. IX Of Mildness 119 CHAP. X. Of Affability p. 156 CHAP. XI Of Commisseration 161 CHAP. XII Of Generosity 176 CHAP. XIII Of Politeness 187 CHAP. XIV Of Humility 193 CHAP. XV. Of Liberality p. 200 CHAP. XVI Of Magnificence 214 CHAP. XVII Of Justice 224 CHAP. XVIII Of Integrity or the Honesty of Men 234 CHAP. XIX Of Loyalty of Subjects towards their Sovereign 245 The Reader is desired to pardon the Fault of the Printer in misnumbring the CHAPTERS the next being CHAP. XXVII Of Fidelity in keeping a Secret p. 274 CHAP. XXVIII Of Acknowledgment of Gratitude 282 THE FALSHOOD OF Human Vertue CHAP. I. PRVDENCE AMong all the Works of God there is not any one Greater or more worthy Admiration then Man himself For when we enumerate his different Qualities and Perfections it seems that the Skill and Art of Divine Providence that sports it self in the world would epitomize it self in him and that to shew the choicest of its Invention it has been pleased to form a Creature from a mixture and assemblage of what ever was extraordinary in all other Creatures So that if we consider the principal parts that compose him we cannot sufficiently admire that secret and most inward Union which we perceive in him of two Natures so opposite one to another and yet at the same time we cannot conceive how that Terrestial and Corporeal matter which is so incapable to obey the orders of Reason should so perspicuously apprehend and so readily execute her Commands in Man But all these particular advantages are inferior to his Birth wherein God as I may so say has Crown'd him with his own hands and has given him an absolute Empire over all other Creatures wholly subjected under his Dominion In a word the Heavens rowl about for his sake The Air the Land and Seas Strive all to please Contending which for Splendour not for Nâ—ed With choicest Viands shall his Table spread To this same Royal Supremacy God has also added another much more considerable and more excellent For he has made Man the Arbiter of his own Destiny the Lord and Soveraign of all his Actions so that whereas all other Creatures move blindly to their Ends and have their Inclinations determin'd Man performs all his Actions with knowledg and by his own proper election disposing of himself Which illustrious prerogative raises him to that degree that it likens him to God and gives him a share of that Providence with which God governs the World Nor can we deny but that this is one of the most exalted and the most sublime of all his Privileges Yet on the other side we are oblig'd to acknowledg that it may also prove fatal to him and may be the cause as well of his Ruin as his Felicity For Man being so near to himself and so remote from Soveraign Good it is much more easie for him to seek his Happiness in Himself and to enjoy a Benefit that is so near at hand and to which his Heart is naturally inclin'd then to raise himself to the possession of God from whom he is separated by such immensity of space Besides his Mind is cover'd with a veil of Sence which is the reason that oft-times he looses the prospect of real Good and mistakes Pleasure Wealth and Honour which are but the Shadows of real Felicity for the Thing it self At this time of imminent danger Prudence offers her self steddily to direct his footsteps to shew him the only Mark at which he ought to aim and the Object where he can only meet with repose and the accomplishment of all his wishes This important function which is only proper to Prudence is sufficient to advance it infinitely above all other Vertues and makes it seem to us as the very Eye of the Soul For tho all the Vertues are highly valuable in nature excellent in their effects and admirable in the variety of their offices yet must we all agree that they would every one be blind wandring and uncertain were not Prudence their Guide did she not discover the true End which they ought to propose to themselves and mark out the way which can only lead 'em to it To say truth Prudence is as it were a foreign Understanding that fortifies and brings to perfection the natural Understanding of Man 't is to her that all particular men are beholding for the wisdom of their Conduct all well order'd Families and all well regulated Cities for their Policy 'T is she that sitting in the Soul of Kings as in her Throne presides in all their Councils and pronounces those Oracles that cause the Glory and the Felicity of Kingdoms Lastly it is she that ranging abroad in their Armies renders the most savage and impetuous Dispositions capable of Discipline establishes Order in the room of Confusion and teaches Valour the secret of being attended with Victory These wonderful and innumerable effects of Prudence have gain'd her those great Encomiums which the Historians Poets and Philosophers give her and have caus'd her to be reverenc'd by the wise Men in all Ages as a Deity Insomuch that as the Persians adore the Sun because it appears to Sence to be the visible Creator and Cherisher of all that grows in Nature so the wise Men have attributed to Prudence a kind of Religious worship as seeming to them
far from being a Vertue that it is in him the extinction of all Royal Vertues as being a quality so mischievous to his Dominions that it is the most general cause of their Ruin It is an ignorance of the use and necessity of Justice Without which says St. Austin Commonwealths and Empires are but numerous Societies of Robbers 'T is a false and ill-extended Goodness a cruel Lenity and a vitious Indifference in reference to public Order and Repose Such was the Clemency which Titus affected after he obtained the Empire nor can we forbear notwithstanding his being call'd The Delight of Mankind to censure the Oath which he swore Never to put any man to Death which was an Oath by which he was engaged in the sight of Heaven to be the Protector of Robbers and Homicides to authorize all sorts of Attempts and Conspiracies and to ranverse and destroy the Empire As for that Oath which Nerva took at his first reception into the Senate that he would never suffer any Senator to be condemn'd to Death for any Crime whatsoever it was only a sneaking Compliment which he put upon the Senators disapprov'd by themselves and which gave occasion to the Roman Consul to utter this generous Expression 'T is a great Misfortune to Live under a Prince that oppresses his Subjects and commands them as his Slaves But it is a much greater Misery to Live under a Prince that gives them their full swinge and prostitutes all things to their Licentious Pleasure If therefore we desire to know the real cause of the Clemency of these two Emperors we shall find it to be only a secret Fear of being destroy'd by the Factions of the Great Men or massacr'd by the People as almost all their Predecessors had been For Vitellius Otho Nero and Caligula who all preceded Titus had every one suffer'd untimely Deaths by that means and Nerva ascending the Throne found it besmear'd with the Blood of Domitian And this we shall find to be true especially in respect of Titus when we consider that Mildness was by no means his Natural temper for his Consulship was so cruel that it was publickly said That if he succeeded in the Empire he would prove a second Nero. But notwithstanding that there are several false kinds of Clemency it does not hinder but that there may be a real sort of Clemency and that this real and vertuous Clemency may be a great Ornament to a Soveraign Prince The true Characters whereof are as follow Now we know that altho the proper function of Clemency is either absolutely to remit those punishments which Offenders have deserv'd or to remit something of their rigour and so all that are in Authority and have power to punish may in some measure be said to be Merciful Nevertheless in regard that Fathers and Tutors have no other Punishment at their disposal then only such as are call'd Chastisements since they who have the power of Life and Death as the Judges are not able to hinder the effects of their Sentences and therefore that only Soveraign Princes have only power to save those whom the Law has condemn'd to Dye all the World must grant That Clemency is the Vertue of Kings Fortune said Cicero to Caesar could do nothing greater for Thee then to make Thee Master of the Lives of Men. And the Goodness of thy Natural temper can inspire Thee with nothing more generous then with a Will to make use of thy Power to the ease of the Distressed So that Clemency may well be call'd the last Refuge of Man For in regard the Laws are deaf severe and inexorable the condition of Man says Livy would be extreamly unhappy if being so frail as it is there were no way to escape their Rigour but by Innocency This weakness and frailty of Man is the first foundation of the Royal Clemency For upon many occasions that touch him to the quick and surprize him as for example when a Man sees his Brother slain before his eyes such a sight so strongly moves his natural Affection that he pursues the Murâ—herers like a Madman even to the exposing of his own Life This is therefore that which a Clement Prince considers for as he is always disposed graciously toâ—â—lend an Ear to all that may excuse a suppliant Criminal he willingly admits such an allegation that the Oftender kill'd the Man only to revenge his Brothers Death that he had not time to consult his reason upon so short a warning and 〈◊〉 he was transported by his Natural Affections Crimes also committed by accident and misfortune are a second ground of Royal Clemency For if Crimes voluntarily committed may be thought to deserve Pardon because the force of Natural Affection has constrain'd the Will into Action with much more reason ought those Crimes to be pardon'd which a man commits contrary to his Intention as the French Gentleman who shooting at a Wild Boar kill'd his near Kinsman and one of his dearest Friends Justice also is a third ground of Royal Clemency For they justly exercise it in favour of those Offenders whose Crimes are less than the Services which they have done the Public and some regard may be also had to the Deserts of their Ancestors For Punishments as Plato has observ'd were not ordain'd to prevent the Criminal Acts since all the severity of Law and all the power of Soveraignty cannot prevent their being committed nor does Justice in the Sentences of Death propose the Amendment of those that are executed Therefore the Legislators had no other aim in ordering the Punishments of Crimes than to procure the public Good that is to terrifie the Wicked and prevent Honest people from being debauch'd by their bad example So that as the Public Interest excuses the Cruelty of the Law and all Men approve the Executing of Robbers and notorious Villains The same Public Good justifies the Clemency of Princes in saving from an ignominious Death such as have signaliz'd themselves in Defence of their King and Country by which means their good Service has been more beneficial to the Kingdom than the Fact which they committed or the bad Example given was ever prejudicial There was something of particular rarity in the Clemency of Theodosius For he punish'd his Anger by his Clemency and never fail'd to make use of it towards those that had incens'd him even to transportment So that they were sure to be pardon'd the Offences which they committed against him who had but the Address to provoke him to Rage As for the Character of true Clemency by which we may know and distinguish it from that which is false Cicero tells us That real Clemency agrees with Justice A Wise Prince said the Stoics ought not to have that effeminate Pity which cannot endure the Punishment of Offenders rather he ought to preser the wholesom Rigour of the Law before the Dictates of a tendâ—â— Disposition But because the Moral Vertues are only imperfect Vertues and for
has appointed for their Governors So that we may say That as the Sun is the Eye with which all Men See and without whose Light our Eyes would be useless to us in like manner our Soveraign Prince is the Eye of his Realm and such an Eye that continually enlightens his Subjects so that without that Light they would always be groping and wandring in the Dark This Order of Divine Wisdom it is that subjects the Multitude to one single Person which Plato considering it made him wish That as God was the sole Governor of the World that all Men were under one Prince Mankind said he will never be truly and really happy till they come under the Conduct of one sole Monarch Then all the unhappy Causes of War cease altogether No longer then shall Interest Jealousie and Ambition Arm Soveraign Princes one against another No longer then shall we hear the Moans of People that in so many places groan under the Dominion of Tyrants that oppress and despoil 'em of their Estates No longer shall the Wicked the Perfidious the Villanous find Sanctuary in Foreign Kingdoms For then so many different Nations shall be but as one Family which this same King and only Father shall love with a tender Affection and enrich with his Favours and Blessings But God not only binds Subjects to their Soveraign by that same Interest which obliges 'em to Obedience for knowing well the Blindness and Inconstancy of Men he found this Tye would not be strong enough therefore he has engag'd 'em to Submission by the obligation of Conscience and has made it a Religious Duty to be Loyal and Obedient to Soveraign Princes He has also so clearly explain'd this Duty in so many places of Scripture that it is visible he design'd to take away all pretences of its Violation having Declar'd that neither the evil Qualities nor the severe Government of Kings shall be any ground for Subjects to revolt from their Obedience And it was necessary that God should so Declare himself For that Fidelity which tyes Subjects to their lawful Princes being the only cause of the Tranquility of Kingdoms and Empires had God left 'em at their liberty to withdraw themselves from their Subjection upon all occasions he had expos'd Kingly Government to the rashness of the Judgments of every one and their Dominions to frequent Revolutions and had he not rank'd in the number of his Laws the obligation of Obedience to Princes they could hardly have assur'd themselves of the Fidelity of their Subjects for that the Dispositions of Men frequently alter and for that their Natural Inconstancy and variety of Interests are such that they cannot answer for themselves And this Fidelity thus explain'd is an Obligation which God has laid upon us not to be broken for the sake of any Interest nor to be dispenc'd withal by any Authority nor upon any pretence whatever Great Politicians demand how Subjects ought to demean themselves when Kings in their Treaties violate the Fundamental Laws of Monarchy For example What should the French have done had Francis the First been obstinate in observing the Treaty which he made at Madrid by which he was engag'd to surrender Burgundy to Charles the V. To this one of the most Learned and accomplish'd Politicians of our age makes answer That upon those occasions it ought to be the first Duty of the Subjects to divert the King from his Intention by Petitions and Remonstrances of which if the King takes no notice What can the Subject do more but only receive his Commands and his Orders but forbear to put 'em in execution Which was the Course which the French men took in reference to Francis the I. After that the same Author adds That if it should happen he should attempt to win by force what he could not gain by fair means and violently seek to constrain those that would not willingly follow him What should they do in such a strange Conjuncture Shall they submit to the violence that threatens to overwhelm 'em or shall they rise up in opposition Shall they submit or resist Shall they desert the common Good of the Publick or make War not against the Prince for that is not lawful but against the Will of the Prince Which being certain Precipices into which we must of necessity fall and the Malignity of the raigning Constellation not being byany means to be appeas'd What can they do but have recourse to their Arms and call to their assistance the first Light of Nature which is Self-Preservation This Case thus resolv'd by a Person of so solid and clear a judgment makes me think that the Christians in respect of Human Reason are no more then what the Pagans were in respect to the Oracles of their false Deities Those Oracles thought it their best course to cheat and delude the People by the Obscurity and Ambiguity of their Answers In like manner How experienc'd soever the Christians may be that the determinations of Reason are deceiful and uncertain they cannot forbear consulting it and nothing is able to make 'em sensible of their Error in confiding in it And that for which they deserve to be blam'd in an extraordinary manner is this That the Oracle of the Holy Spirit which is the only infallible Oracle curses Man that confides in himself and who puts his Strength in his Weakness that is to say Who relies upon his Reason and prefers the crooked and dangerous Turnings which that discovers before the sure straight and only Path which is taught us by the Law of God Thus we find that Politicians are always floating and divided in their Judgments never uniform in their Resolutions while the plain well-meaning Person that puts his confidence in God and guides himself according to his Promises walks with assurance For the way of the Lord is the strength of the simple saith the Scripture And now let us apply this to our purpose When Princes by their Treaties have parted with Cities of Importance or some considerable Province upon such occasions what do the People do that presume upon themselves They consume and evaporate themselves in vain Reasons they cry out That the Subjects have a right to oppose themselves against such Treaties and that they are not oblig'd to act as Subjects where the King refuses to act as a Soveraign they measure the extent of Royal Power and that of their Duty and stretch 'em out and shorten 'em according to the diversity of their Thoughts they enquire into the Rights and Prerogatives of Soveraigns and labour to set up the Priviledges that Nature has given us But what does the plain down-right Person do He walks in the way that the Law of God has mark'd out that Commands him to obey the King he Obeys while they endeavour to draw him out of the way by specious Reasons they tell him the Prince goes about to ranvers a Fundamental Law of Monarchy but he believes himself not able to give