and prostitute the Arcana Imperii to the Knowledge of the Vulgar For Books give Men new Hints and Notions and those Notions do often put Men upon such Actions as are not always agreeable to the Interests of Princes Hence that Subtle and Crafty Prince King James I mean the First not the Second would often say That of all sorts of Subjects the Thinking Man made the worst And even by daily Experience we find it confirm'd that the High-flown Arbitrary Men commonly the Darlings of Tyrants are not Men of the deepest Thoughts nor of the greatest Foresight and Consideration since if they were they might easily discover That the absolute Power of the Prince cannot be made up of any other Ingredient than the Slavery of the Subject But even in some tempers there is such a Natural love to Servitude and Vassallage that they think no pleasure comparable to the hugging of their Chain And with the Slavish French Man their greatest Glory is Notre Roy est Absolu the Grammatical Construction whereof is We are Slaves But that ever any who call themselves English-Men should sink into such a meanness of Spirit so degenerating from the Virtues of their Ancestors many of whom lost their Lives in the generous Asserting of the English Liberties is that which as our Forefathers could never have dreamt of so for the Honour of the present Age I hope Posterity will never Remember But Monsters are the Product of every Age And there is no Climate without some Insects Though Liberty be the Mistress of all Generous Souls and is that alone which gives a Relish to Humane Life yet I say there hath been lately found amongst us a sort of Animals who have been as Industrious in giving up as ever our Noble Progenitors were in Establishing our Liberties But whatsoever Charms these the more Gross and Earthly part of Mankind may think there is in such a Lazy Slavish Subjection yet to Men of more refined Intellectuals and whose Veins run with a Nobler sort of Blood all that the World can give without Liberty hath no tast It must be confess'd That in the two last Reigns this Precious Jewel of Liberty hath been little valued Nothing hath been sold so Cheap by unthinking Men But alas that doth no more lessen the real value of it than the ignorance of the Foolish Indians did that of their Gold which at first they Exchang'd for the most inconsiderable Bawbles 'T is the happiness of our Constitution That King and People are both Bounded And Curst be the Man who shall go about to remove either of these Land-Marks The Crown hath Prerogative enough to protect our Liberties And the People have so much Liberty as is necessary to make them useful to the Crown So that the King's Prerogative and the Subjects Liberty do naturally tend to the preserving of one another It was the Observation of that Learned Attorney General Sir Francis Bacon That whilst the Prerogative runs within its Ancient and Proper Banks the main Channel thereof is so much the Stronger for Over-flows evermore hurt the River Certainly it was no ill saying of Pliny the Younger to the Emperour Trajan Foelicitatis est posse quantum velis Magnitudinis velle quantum possis It is an happiness for your Majesty to be able to do what you will But your Greatness consists in doing what you justly may And Comines that honest French States-Man notes That it is more Honourable for a King to say J'ay des Subjects si bons Loyaux c. My Subjects are so good and Loyal as to deny me nothing than to say I take what I please and I will keep it And those Courtiers adds he that Preach any other Doctrine do not a little mistake the Interest of their Masters and are so far from exalting their Grandure and Prerogative that they make them indeed no Kings For as Bracton says Non est Rex ubi dominatur Voluntas It is not a King where Will and Pleasure bears sway but rather some Cyclopick Monster which eats and drinks the Flesh and Blood of Mankind Nay even King James the first that high Asserter of Prerogative in his Speech in the Star-Chamber Anno 1609. saith That no sooner does a King give over Governing according to Law but he Ceases to be a King and degenerates into a Tyrant And the Lord Chancellor Bacon tells us That the People of this Kingdom love the Laws thereof and nothing will oblige them more than a Confidence of the Free Enjoying them What the Nobles of this Land upon an occasion once said NOLUMUS LEGES ANGLIAE MUTARI We will not have the Laws of England alter'd is imprinted upon the Hearts of all English Men who take themselves to have as good a Title to their Laws as to the Common Air they breath in And therefore Sir Walter Raleigh a man of no Vulgar Observations tells us a great Thing and in no wise to be slighted That the Kings of England have evermore sustained more loss by one Rebellion than by a hundred years Observance of MAGNA CHARTA 'T is observed of the Camel that it lies quietly down till it hath its full Load and then riseth up but the English Mobile is a kind of Beast which riseth up soonest when it is over-loaden And therefore to conclude this Point as an English Monarch may so long as he observes the Laws be the happiest Prince in the World So if he will turn Phaeton and drive furiously he will in the end find himself a King not of Men but of Devils But to proceed That Men of Learning are not always the greatest Politicians even the Experience of all Ages does sufficiently shew That great and Learned Antiquary Mr. Selden informs us That when Constantine became Christian He had so great an Affection for the Clergy that he put great part of the Civil Government into their hands But after 3 or 4 years Experience he was very sensible how fatal this Error had like to have been Whereupon he took new Measures and in the Posts of these unhappy Politicians he was fain to put in a Set of Lay-Men who having truer and better Notions of Government soon corrected and amended their Errors and Mistakes That the Clergy of England have since the Reformation been much abridg'd of their former Power is what I think every Man will grant And therefore that such of them as love to be Great and Powerful have still a hankering after that old Constitution I for my part cannot so much admire But how comes it that the Clergy are not now allow'd to have as great Power as in times of Popery The Reason is very apparent Because we found by Experience That when they were vested with such great Power no sort of Men ever carried it more Arbitrarily and Tyranically nor indeed committed greater Solecisms in Politicks than they did And therefore the History of those times does sufficiently warn us against running into the same
Error When men act out of their own Sphere who can expect any good will come of it And therefore we find it seldom happens That the Statesmen are more fortunate in meddling with Religion than the Churchmen with State affairs Each mars all with tampering out of their Provinces Christ's Kingdom is not of this World Nor ought the Divines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to meddle in this Political Province And when they do no sort of Men prove so unfortunate Let us hear what the ingenious Andrew Marvel says as to this Point Whether it be that the Clergy are not so well fitted by Education as others for Political Affairs I know not though I should rather think said he they have advantage above others and if they would but keep to their Bibles might make the best Ministers of State in the World Yet 't is generally observ'd that things miscarry under their Government If there be any Counsel more precipitate more violent more rigorous more extream than other that is theirs Truly I think the reason God does not Bless them in Affairs of State is because he never intended them for that Employment Or i◠Government and the Preaching of the Gospel may well concur in the same Person God therefore frustrates him because though knowing better he seeks and manages his Greatness by the lesser and meaner Maxims Upon these therefore and such like Considerations the wise Venetians have so slight an Opinion of the Politicks of their Church-Men that whenever any thing that is of a considerable nature occurs to be debated in the Senate before any Suffrage passeth they cause Proclamation to be made for all Priests to depart and the proper Officer with a loud and audible Voice pronounceth these words Fuora I Preti Out Priests And it is further remarkable That he who in this Common-wealth is called the Divine of the State an Ecclesiastical Person to be advised with in matters of Religion is commonly chosen such a One as is reputed the least addicted to Bigottry That no sort of Men have prov'd more fatal in their Counsels to Princes than the Political Divines is a truth too much confirm'd by Experience to be deny'd That which these Men chiefly aim at is to render themselves acceptable at Court as knowing that the best Preferments come from thence And therefore if they can but sooth and please the Prince they value not whether their Doctrine be true or false Hence then their chief business is to give a helping hand towards making the Prince Arbitrary And their way to do this is by entitling him to all those Regalia's or Prerogatives that the Kings of Juda or Israel ever enjoy'd or usurp'd as if the Judicials of Moses were calculated for all Seasons and all Meridians And thus arose that Doctrine That Monarchy is Jure Divino But this way of proceeding is no new Invention for we find it very usual amongst the Ancient Heathens whenever they had a mind to obtrude any odd Belief upon the Common People they presently trumpt up a Jus Divinum and after this manner we see both their Laws and Religions were establisht Thus Solon's Laws were said to come from Minerva Lycurgus derived his Laws from Jupiter Numa Pompilius the first Founder of the Roman Rites and Ceremonies declar'd he received them from the Goddess Aegeria and Mahomet pretended his Religion was imparted to him by the Angel Gabriel There is not any thing whatsoever that derives so great an Authority amongst Men as the opinion of Divine Favour or Heavenly Designation And therefore St. Austine speaking of that Custome amongst the Heathen of deriving the Pedigree of their Heroes from the Gods says That he lookt upon it to be of great use in as much as it made valiant Men fancying themselves to be Heaven-born upon the confidence thereof to undertake high attempts the more boldly intend them the more earnestly and accomplish them the more successfully And Ludovicus Vives says That another great advantage which accrued to the Heroes by this Belief was the readiness which hereupon they found in the common People to submit to whatsoever they commanded as thinking their very Commands to be Sacred and Divine This therefore made Scipio that he cultivated and improv'd that opinion of the People viz. That he was begot by some God and Alexander in Lucian tells us That it further'd him in many great designs to be accounted the Son of Jupiter Hammon for hereby he was fear'd and none durst oppose him whom they held to be a God Thus we see that that piece of Policy which many of our Court-Flatterers in the late Reigns have been so fond of viz. Their asserting Monarchy to be Jure Divino is but borrow'd from this old Heathen Custom the Original design whereof was first to flatter the Prince by making him believe his Power was absolute and his Will was uncontrolable and then to impose upon the People by making them believe That a Prince though a Tyrant and the very worst of Men was not to be oppos'd or resisted But from what I have now said let no Man think I am an Enemy to Monarchy for I do most Solemnly and Unfeignedly declare That of all sorts of Governments Monarchy is the most agreeable to my Genius and that of Monarchies the pure and unmixt would please me best it being that by which the Almighty governs the Universe could Humane Nature be long trusted with it and could we be as certain that his Vicegerent on Earth would as easily imitate those Divine Attributes of Wisdom and Goodness as they are prone to lay claim to his other Attribute of Power and Greatness But alas Kings are but Men they are not exempted from Error They have their Vices and Infirmities their Sallies and Enormites like the rest of Mankind And indeed considering the unhappiness of their Education and their being continually surrounded with Sycophants and Flatterers 't is a wonder they prove at the common rate of other Men. Hence therefore that great Man of Wisdom and Experience Philip de Comines tells us That a Vertuous Prince is worthy of more than ordinary applause Thus as a late ingenious Author observes the fault is not in the Government as Absolute but in Humane Nature which is not often found sufficient at least for above one or two Successions to support and manage so unlimited a Power in one single Person as it ought to be And now to return to my Subject Since Learning therefore is a thing of so little value and use to Mankind as we have made it appear to be how vain are those who extol it to such a degree as to make it the Standard both of Happiness and Wisdom by concluding that no Man can be either Happy or Wise without it Though the Scripture tells us That he who encreaseth in Knowledge encreaseth in Sorrow and daily Experience shews us That folly and Learning do often Cohabit in the same Person The ingenious Montaigne enquiring
soon as we can go alone we take them by the hand we sleep with them in our bosoms and contract an insensible Friendship with them a pleasing Familiarity which takes off all Deformities we love them and we like them and their very Blackness is a Beauty as it is with the African Nations to whom even that which we judge Deformity appears more lovely than the most delicate European Beauty Thus it was truly said of Philo That every Man 's own Religion seem'd to him the best because he judgeth of it not by reason but by affection like those Philosophers of whom Cicero spake who liked no Discipline but their own Hence we find and that the best account many can give of their Faith is that they were bred in it And the most are driven to their Religion by Custom and Education as the Indians are to Baptism that is like a Drove of Cattle to the Water Thus do we judge all things by our anticipations and condemn or applaud them as they differ or agree with our first opinions 'T is on this account that almost every Country censures the Laws Customs and Doctrines of every other as absurd and unreasonable and are confirmed in their own follies beyond possibility of Conviction In a word there is nothing so absurd to which Education cannot form our tender Youth It can turn us into shapes more Monstrous than those of Africk For in our Childhood we are like the melted Wax to the prepared Seal capable of any Impression from the documents of our Teachers The Half-Moon or Cross are indifferent to us and with the same ease can we write on this Rasa Tabula Turk or Christian Hence therefore it is That we find no Religion so irrational but can boast of its Martyrs Nor no Opinion so silly and ridiculous but has had some Philosopher or other to support and defend it And because there is not any thing more strange than the great diversity of Laws and Customs in the World I shall not here think it impertinent to transcribe some of those which are most remarkable as for Instance To account it a most pious and Religious Act to kill their Parents when they come to such an Age and then to eat them In one and the same Nation Virgins go with their Privy Parts uncovered and married Women carefully cover and conceal them Where Children are excluded and Brothers and Nephews only inherit Where Chastity in unmarried Women is in no esteem for such may prostitute themselves to as many as they please and being got with Child may lawfully take Physick to make themselves miscarry but Married Women keep themselves Chast and Faithful to their Husbands Where the Custom was that every Bride should be prostitute to all Comers the first Night and she who had entertain'd most was most honoured Where they have no Marriages and therefore Children only own their Mothers not being able to guess at their Fathers Where Bawdy Houses of Young Men are kept for the Pleasure of Women as there are of Women for the Necessities of Men Where the servile condition of Women is look'd upon with such contempt that they kill all the Native Women and buy Wives of their Neighbours to supply their use Where they boil the bodies of their Dead and afterwards pound them to a pulpe which they mix with their Wine and drink it Where the greatest Oath they take is to Swear by the Name of some Dead Person of Reputation laying their handup on his Tomb Where the ordinary way of Salutation is by putting a finger down to the Earth and then pointing it up towards Heaven Where it is the Fashion to turn their backs upon him they salute and never look upon the Man they intend to honour Where whenever the King spits the greatest Ladies of his Court put out their hands to receive it And where also the most eminent Persons about him stoop to take up his Ordure in a Linnen Cloth Thus have I Collected and Copied out several of those Customs which to me seem the most extravagant and uncouth whereby it plainly appears that there is no Opinion or Imagination so idle or ridiculous which is not established by Laws and Customs in some place or other Thus in a word do we see the mighty power of Custom and Education which is so great that the rankest follies are counted Sacred if Customary And the Fashion is always handsom and agreeable though never so uncouth or ridiculous to an indifferent Beholder In short we are civil or uncivil good or bad foolish or wise or any thing else according to Custom which Erasmus calls the Monosyllable Tyrant because 't is form'd Mos in Latine though Pinder stiles her the Queen and Empress of the World Seneca says That we govern our selves not by Reason but by Custom accounting that most honest which is most practised and Errour serves us for a Law when it is become publick Custom we know is of so great account among Phisicians that according to the great Hippocrates there is no one thing ought more to be regarded Nay says he whatsoever a Man is us'd to altho' it be bad is less harmful than what we are not accustomed to although in it self it be better And among the Lawyers we see there is nothing more esteemed of than Custom Prescription is always counted the best Title and the Common Law which is nothing but several Customs established by time and experience has always the preference of Statute-Law and is esteem'd the Nobler part Again Custom governs our very Affections and we love rather by Custom than by Reason Hence Mothers more tenderly effect their Children with whom they commonly converse more than Fathers do and Nurses more than some Mothers Custom hath likewise such a Power over the Imagination that when we are asleep we often dream of those things which our minds most run upon when we are awake And what a mighty Influence has it upon the outward Sences which may be perceived in those Persons who after they have been for some time kept in a dark place come into a full and open light not being able to bear that luminous Body which by its glaring seems to dazle and offend their sight And hence it is That those who live near the Cataracts of Nile as also those several Tradesmen whose noise displeases us so much and who dwell in Mills and Forges Custom has made it so familiar to them that they are no ways disturbed with this constant clattering but rest and sleep as quietly with noise as others do without it Thus doth Custom sufficiently shew its own Force and Power which is stronger than Nature inasmuch as it both alters and destroys Nature and is so poweful that it cannot be destroyed but by it self To conclude then the Power of Custom is much greater than most men imagine and therefore it is that through mistake we often call that the Law of Nature which really is but the