their sentiments are more sincere then those of other men and that their Friendship is exempt from all sort of Interest we desire them but to reflect upon the Accidents that happen to most men in the course of Human Life and then how undeniably they prove that there is no sincere or real Friendship Not only our Misfortunes and our Business render them unfaithful and discover to us what they are but we also find by woful experience that the saying of Socrates was not without reason when he affirm'd That a Man is never more at a loss then when he is oblig'd to give an account of his Friends Therefore true and solid Friendship is nothing else but that same Charity which unites two persons together to assist each other in the Service of God and maintaining his Glory If Cicero believ'd there were very few Friendships clear from Interest we may with much more reason aver that there are fewer Christian Amities or rather that they are so rare that we can hardly find one in an Age. And I am the more positive in this assertion because that tho they seem frequent enough in the imagination of those that make a profession of Piety yet the greatest part of such people too easily perswade themselves that their Friendships are grounded upon Vertue when they are only grounded upon Nature and receive their Birth from Human Sympathies and corresponding Tempers But most assuredly we shall be astonish'd when the Day of the Lord shall come and the lustre of his grand Appearance shall disperse the night and darkness from the Hearts of Men and discover the secret foundations of Friendship which Men now esteem so Holy and maintain in so profound a repose The Heavens saith Job which seem to be so clear and full of Brightness are not pure in the sight of God nor are the Stars themselves without Sports And therefore the reason we have to fear that Men seek after human satisfactions in vertuous Friendships is this because they who are lookt upon by the greatest part of the world as Holy Men have very few Friends Correspondencies or Interests and for that they cannot approve in most people of worth their particular obligations to Women believing that the person that binds himself to a Woman and devotes all his Services to her how regular soever he may be in his Life and Conversation is altogether sway'd by some secret Ambition if it be not of the number of those that are cherish'd by Diligence and Confidence Could we discover what lies conceal'd in the folds of mans heart we should find in the breast of the most prudent and pious sentiments altogether strange and surprizing We should find a great number of Amours turn'd into Friendship others into Zeal for the good of the Soul others cover'd with a pretence of Kindred we should find Amours intermix'd with Ambition and several other sorts of such like Amours which we could easily discover were it proper to dive into that subject CHAP. IV. CONFIDENCE HE that should deprive a man of all the Kindnesses which he receives from his Imagination and should only leave him those which he really enjoy'd would render him miserable the greatest part of his time or would at least abridg him of a confiderable share of his Felicity They who doubt of the truth of this let them but pursue him through the whole course of his Life and they shall find him frequently pensive in the midst of Wealth and Graudeur which are the Felicities which he passionately desires and which he labours after with so much care and trouble and therefore they are only his Conceits and his Visions that occasion his Happiness and chiefest Delight What greater proof of this can we desire then what may be drawn from a sort of people which we see at Court who pride themselves in nothing more then in being the Confidents of Princes and of Ministers of State and all that make a figure in the World and who are transported with joy every time they bethink themselves that persons of this Rank and that Quality have pick'd 'em out of a great number of other persons and made choice of them to be the Trustees of their Secrets And this Confidence swells up their Hearts because they look upon it as an undeniable proof of their Merit and as a mark of the Friendship and Esteem which those Grandees have for them Nevertheless it is most certain that those Grandees that put their Confidence in them have no design to oblige them by their Confidence but only that either weakness pleasure vanity or necessity are the real causes of that Reliance Necessity is the visible cause of the great Reliances wherewith the person confided in believe themselves honour'd and such a man has but little reason to think himself happy therein or to have a just occasion of boasting But the general causes of Reliance are the fear of disquieting and grieving our selves the allurements of Novelty and our natural proneness to Communication And these causes dispose us in such a manner to open our hearts and relye one upon another that the smallest occasions are many times the most inevitable snares to those who are reckon'd in the number of the wisest and most reserv'd Insomuch that two or three days travel together or a short converse in the Country have a strange power to open their Lips and disclose the secrets of their Hearts There is a sort of Confidence of which the cause seems to be altogether strange and wherein the persons themselves confiding have no share But to give the Idea of it we must observe that there are a sort of people who have the Gift to make others Talk This is a particular Talent and sufficient to introduce a man into Court and to prefer him to the good Opinion of persons of the best Quality But they who have this and are unprovided of all the rest are forc'd to take a great deal of pains and yet are frequently nonplus'd and put to the foyl For in regard that they are not endow'd with Qualities agreeable and that they are not able to gain the goodwill and favour of persons of high Condition to whom they make their Addresses they are constrain'd to employ their utmost industry and to make use of all manner of artifices and devices to insinuate themselves into their Confidence So that whereas other persons that are in good esteem and acceptable whenever they come think it sufficient to make their Visits at convenient times The others never stir from their Houses follow 'em observe 'em and attend 'em all day long to take the advantage of every moment that they find 'em alone and by all the obsequious Oratory both of Looks and Gesture to oblige the Grandee to vouchsafe 'em a word of his mouth And this is the first Act of the Comedy After which they begin several general discourses to engage the Grandee to speak But if none of those trains will
the Manners of Men for these Persons thus instructed and inform'd assure us that those Persons whose Liberality we adore are even at the brink of Despair when there is any small Expence requir'd at home at the same time that they are so extravagantly profuse in the sight of the World That they refuse even necessary subsistance to their Relations and Friends when upon others they spend even to Superfluity and that the Wages of their Servants are unpaid when they give high Entertainments to Strangers And this is a strong proof That Liberality that advances the Esteem of so many Persons is a fallacious Vertue And the force of the Argument consists in this That the Character of True Vertue is to agree with all the other Vertues Now the Liberality of those whose Puâ—se is always open to their Friends is visibly contrary to Justice for we know well that while they are so free of their Presents and that they let no opportunity of Expence escape they not only never mind the payment of their Debts but frequently give away what they have borrowed and sometimes robb'd or got by violence from other People And the same Argument makes it out That the Spirit which animates 'em is the Spirit of Vanity which can always find Mony to supply a Vain-glorious Humor but never to recompence a Servant grown old in their Service nor to pay a Tradesman that hath furnish'd 'em with his Goods to his Ruine Therefore these Persons so famous for their Liberality are no more than Civil violators of Justice and Equity Of which there are two sorts Those that ruine themselves by their Profusion and deprive their Children of what they lavish away to strangers And those that being advanced to high Employments rob the Publick to enâ—ich particular Persons and Heads of Factions who to gratify their Friends and purchase the Favour of the Rabble despoil the Estates of those that refuse to side with their Interests Now tho they all resemble one another in the injury they do to Justice both Publick and Private yet the Motives that induce 'em to Liberality are quite different For the Liberality of some is purely Vain-glorious which is the most usual sort of Liberality The Liberality of others is Vain-glorious but Politick withal and such was Alexander's Liberality who to out-do the Presents which Taxites King of the Indies had sent him made him a Magnificent Banquet where he drank to him a Health of Six hundred thousand Crowns or a thousand Talents which he ordered forthwith to be paid him And others there are whose Profusenesses are purely Political as were those of Cesar who kept open House entertain'd a vast Retinue of Servants and divertiz'd the People of Rome with publick Shews and Interludes at his own expence on purpose to oblige 'em to give him their Suffrages to advance him to the chief Employments in the Commonwealth which was the first step to his Imperial Dignity The Profuseness of Scipio was upon the same score as appears by the reproaches that Cato the Censor made him Thou consumest said he even the Publick Revenue in excessive Gifts to the Soldiers and Officers to gain their Hearts and make thy self Master of the Army not minding the Corruption of Military Discipline and that thou art the cause that their Courage grows Effeminate while pamper'd by thy Luxuries The Second Proof of the Falshood of Liberality is this That assoon as a Man proposes Expence to himself that he may appear Honourable his Avarice opposes his Vain-Glory and contends against it with all it's force And altho the Contest be conceal'd in his Breast yet may it be discover'd by the Effects which it produces For we find every day that a Great Lord that has entertain'd in his House Persons of the same Quality after he has given order that nothing be wanting that is in Season Neat Delicate and Magnificent the next day when he comes to reckon with his Steward he disputes the price of Things and shews by his Transports his Vexation and sometimes by his Repentance that he had not been so splendid but that his Ambition got the upper hand of his Avarice and that a Liberal Man is but the Martyr of his Vanity Affectation is a Third Proof that Liberality is no sincere Vertue This Affectation is visible in the foregoing Examples We have known a Great Lord of the Old Court who having lost a great Sum at Play left off of a suddain and because People believ'd he left off to save the rest of his Mony which was very considerable he gave it away in cold Blood to those that supply'd the Cards to the admiration of all the Company We have seen a Governour of a Province whose Train equall'd that of a Soveraign Prince who ordeâ—'d a prodigious number of Cloaths to be made him and never wore the same Suit twice but after he had worn a Suit one day gave it away to his Favourites or to his Servants which made him look'd upon in his Government and over all France for the most Liberal and Generous Person in the World The Fourth Proof is this That they who are esteem'd for their Liberality let all the World see what they do Whence it comes to pass that they are more or less Liberal according to the opportunities which they have to be so but never shew it unless they have remarkable Testimonies of their Liberality Play is the next Proof that Man is never truly Liberal for when the heat of Play has disorder'd him and render'd him uncapable to conceal his ordinary Defects and vicious Inclinations presently he cries out Dolosi Spes refulsit Nummi Hope of deceitful Mony brightly shon The hope of Gain kindles him in such a manner and renders it self so suddainly Master of his Thoughts that if he win he feels at the bottom of his Heart that immediately ascends into his Face If he lose he brooks his loss with an extreme Anxiety So that the same Person that seems to throw away his Mony profusely applies himself to his Game with all the eagerness imaginable and shews how truly he loves the Good which he strives to despise The Sixth Proof is That Persons who are accounted Liberal never observe the Dictates of Reason in the distribution of their Gifts for they squander 'em sometimes to Persons of no Worth or Merit They take no care to proportion their Favours to the Nature of their Exigencies they gratify the Rich and leave those unregarded to whom a small taste of their Vertue would be an incredible Relief This mark of False Liberality is very considerable Whereas on the other side it is a certain sign that a Man is truly Liberal if he prefer out of Choice for Objects Persons of Merit and Vertue fallen under Misfortune if he bestow his Mony upon poor Widows burthened with a numerous Family or to People imprison'd for small and trivial Debts In the last place we prove that no Man is Liberal
censures Pompey for several other oversights thro that Ignorance of his which only acknowledg'd Human Causes to be the Causes of Human Events But the sudden change of Pompey's Fortunes raises our Contemplations much higher and instructs us more sublimely That that same Dread which seiz'd his Heart where Fear never enter'd before was a Divine Terror a stroke from the Hand of the most Omnipotent who frequently smites in this manner to teach Great Captains and Admirers of their Atchievements that Prosperity and their Victories are only the Effects of those Councels and that Courage which He inspires into their Breasts and that He having the sole disposal of their Hearts in his Hands bereaves 'em of their Strength and Resolution when he pleases and when it is his pleasure to ruin and deliver them into their Enemy's hands he has no more to do but to withdraw his Assistance and then the Valour the Puissance and the Industry of Men drop to the ground of themselves as having lost their only support There is no King says the Oracle of the Holy Ghost who is sav'd by the multitude of an Host A mighty Man is not delivered by his Strength And that same Manag'd Horse in which a Warriour puts his Confidence after many trials of Courage and being preserv'd by the Generous Breast shall fail him at last in his most pressing Necessities If then the discouragement which frequently happens to the most famous Captains be an evident Demonstration that God is the Arbiter and soveraign Disposer of the Success in War the confusion and sudden ecclipse of their transcending parts is a much more palpable proof For we find that in the midst of all those means that are in their power to reestablish their Affairs they have neither the Wit nor the Invention to make use of any one Which blindness and oversight was apparent thro the whole Conduct of Pompey For when he might have ruin'd Caesar without the hazard of a Battel and when he had at command so many means to prevent his own loss or to have recover'd and repair'd the loss sustain'd he had not the understanding to make use of any one God is terrible says the Sacred Writings chiefly to the Kings of the Earth whenever he pleases he deprives them of their Understanding and then they dream of making themselves formidable by the Puissance of their Arms by the Number of their Chariots by the Magnificence and Grandeur of their Equipage but he that sits in Heaven derides their Projects makes Himself more formidable then they and with a Word of his Indignation dashes 'em to pieces like Pots of Clay Behold the Conduct which God observ'd in respect of Darius This haughty Monarch was fully perswaded that the innumerable Number of his People the immense Riches which the Conjunction of two Empires furnish'd him withall render'd his Puissance invincible He lookt upon Alexander as a rash and inconsiderate young man a kind of Knight Adventure and he had commanded his Guards to fetch him to Court both Fetter'd and Manacl'd Nor did the Loss of the Battel of Issus diminish his Pride nor had as yet made him change his Language chusing rather to impute his Loss to his own Mistake for Assailing the Enemy in the narrow Passages of the Cilician Mountains then to Alexander's Valour and assur'd himself of Victory could he but draw the Grecians down into the Plain But he had no sooner cover'd the Plains of Arbela with his Army of eight hundred thousand Men when Alexander whom God made use of to humble the Pride of that presumptuous Monarch utterly defeated his numerous Host with a handful of Men slew a hundred thousand of the Persians and totally ruin'd in one day the most flourishing Empire in the World This Example alone may suffice to convince Mankind that the Advantages of Encamping the ranging of Battalia's the Multitude and Resolution of the Soldiers and the Experience of the Generals are not the only secure means for obtaining Victory of which God alone is the sole Disposer and who having at his own command the two contending Parties delivers up the one into the hands of the other as he pleases himself Least the Victors saith the Lord should be so blinded by their own vanity to attribute to the Strength of their own Arms and not to Me the gaining of Conquest and lest they should fondly believe that when they have vanquish'd their Enemies it was some other Power then the Strength of my Sword that threw 'em to the Ground or other then my Terrors that discourag'd their Hearts I give that Confidence to one single Man to pursue a Thousand and so two or three to put ten Thousand to flight The Name of the Lord of Hosts which God so frequently assumes to himself in Holy Scripture wonderfully confirms all this to be a Truth For since we cannot without Impiety believe that he takes upon him any Name unjustly or undeservedly it behoves us to be strongly perswaded that while he declares himself the Lord of Hosts He it is that is the Author of Victory to whom he pleases and that he regulates the Successes of War according to the Laws of his Justice and Wisdom So that however men may attribute all Events in War both extraordinary and surprizing to Chance and Fortune which they look upon as the blind Cause of all accidents both sudden and unexpected yet both the one and the other are false judgments which the mistakes of men has brought forth those Adventures seeming strange and odd in regard of our Ignorance not in respect of Gods Providence which governs all those Events and banishes all manner of hazard from the World I shall conclude with the words of the learned Boetius That the Care of Providence is so wise and universal that it leaves nothing to the rash Power of Fortune CHAP. II. SINCERITY THere is not any Vertue which we may be tempted to believe more truly a Vertue then Sincerity for there is not any that has more beautiful appearance It is the most amiable and the most beneficial of all the Vertues that serve to bind and uphold Society 'T is the foundation of Trust and Assurance 't is the repose and security of intercourse Without her we are of all particular and private Discourses as so many Traps and Snares all the Designs which others communicate to us we look upon as obstacles to our own and all men with whom we converse as Enemies that may surprize us Without her we converse and discourse together with as much fear as those who travel by Night upon the brink of Precipices The real Cause of that Esteem which we have for Human Vertues proceeds from this that we only consider their Functions that is to say that variety of Duties which men are enjoin'd to discharge and because they never examine what those Ends are which they propose when they acquit themselves of those several Devoirs Tho without the knowledg of those Ends