that except merely with relation to privat or separat Good there is nothing which gains any estimation or any good affection towards it nothing which is thought right or worthy in it self of admiration love or good affection nor any thing on the other side which is accordingly dislik'd or hated as morally ill be it ever so horrid or deform'd THERE is in effect no rational Creature whatsoever but knows that when he offends or dos harm to any one he cannot fail to create an expectation or fear of like ill and consequently a resentment and animosity in any Creature looking on and therefore must be conscious to himself of being liable and exposed in some manner to such a treatment from every one as if he had in some degree offended all THUS Offence and Injury is always known as punishable and claiming punishment from every one and Equal Behavior which is therefore called Merit as rewardable and well deserving from every one This is no more than what the wickedest creature imaginable has and cannot but have a sense of So that if we have any farther meaning in this of a sense of Right and Wrong if there be any sense of Right and Wrong which an absolute wicked creature has not it can be only the hatred and dislike of what is accounted morally ill HATRED of offence and injury as such merely and the love of or approbation of what is accounted morally good LOVE of equal Behavior equal and kind Affection as such merely and not because of consequent Punishment or Reward which implies only love of privat Good hatred of privat Ill and not of any thing farther as in it self amiable or detestable So that Sense of Right and Wrong as here treated of is nothing but the very Affection it self of kindness or dislike to such objects of moral good or ill as above explain'd IT is scarcely to be conceiv'd that any Creature should be at the very first so ill and of so curst a nature as that if it be merely a sensible not a rational Creature it should as soon as it comes to be try'd by objects have no one passion of Goodness towards its kind no foundation in its Temper of either pity love succorableness or the like or if the Creature be more than sensible and be a rational Creature that it should as soon as it comes to be try'd by rational Objects as of Justice Generosity and other Virtue have no inclining Affection no kind of liking towards these or dislike towards what is on the contrary side cruel horrid base villanous or the like but so as to be of absolute indifference towards any thing of this kind this is in a manner impossible to suppose SENSE of Right and Wrong therefore being as natural to us as Natural Affection it self and being a first principle in our Constitution and Make there is no speculative Opinion Perswasion or Belief which is capable immediatly and of it self to exclude or destroy it and it being it self an Affection of first rise and production in the affectionate part the Soul or Temper nothing but contrary Affection by frequent check and controul can operate upon it so as to make it cease to be since that which is of original and pure nature nothing but contrary Habit or Custom a second nature is able to displace for where the Mind is the most earnestly bent merely against any bodily gesture or meen either natural or by Habit acquir'd and would endeavor to break it so as to remove it wholly out of the carriage it is not by such an immediate and sudden disapprobation or contrary bent of the Mind that this can be remov'd neither can that Affection in the Soul of hatred to Inhumanity love of Mercy or whatsoever else in a rational Creature implies a sense in some degree of Right and Wrong be instantly nor yet without much force and violence effac'd or struck out of the natural Temper even by the means of the most pernicious Opinion and Belief in the world But this mischief being not to be effected directly through any Opinion but in consequence and by effect of untoward and opposit Affection which may often be owing to and occasion'd by Opinion we may then speak of it more particularly when we speak of the ill operation of other Affections set in opposition to that of a sense of Right and Wrong II. AS to the second case If there be A SENSE OF RIGHT AND WRONG BUT THAT IT BE MORE OR LESS MISTAKEN AND CONFOUNDED as in the case of those barbarous Nations as above it often happens that it is no Opinion at all about the subject of a Deity which influences in this place for it is frequently nothing else but the custom of some Countries and the force of Education against Nature where such and such things are repeatedly view'd with Applause and Honor accompanying them So that it is possible that a man forcing himself may eat the flesh of his enemies not only against his Stomach but against his Nature if I may so speak and yet think it very right and honorable as being of considerable service to his Community and capable of advancing the name and spreading the terror of his Nation BUT to speak of the Opinions relating to a Deity and what effect they have in this place which is our business AS to Atheism it dos not seem that it can directly have any effect at all here towards the setting up or making of a false species or shew of Right or Wrong For tho a man by ill practice which may be occasion'd by Atheism may come to lose in a manner all sense of Right and Wrong that is to say all sense of good or ill amiableness or deformity in any moral Action as above tho Atheism thus may be the occasion of an almost thorow selfishness as when a creature has scarcely any thing that attracts him but what is of a selfish kind and what relates to a deliberat self-end the satisfaction of some Lust or the security of the animal State yet it dos not seem that Atheism should of it self be the cause of any such estimation or valuing of any thing as noble of performance generous self-worthy and deserving which was just the contrary so as that it should be thought that the being able to eat man's Flesh to commit Bestiality or any such like Actions as have bin mention'd were after the same manner good and excellent in themselves But this is certain that by means of ill Religion or Superstition many things the most horridly unnatural and inhuman come to be receiv'd as most excellent good and laudable in themselves For where the commiting Bestiality is taught as a religious Practice there it is generally in high esteem and thought to be in it self a thing excellent For if any thing that is abominable and horrid be injoin'd by Religion as the suppos'd command of some Deity if the thing be not taken for good and
excellent but for horrid and abominable then must the Deity be taken for such and be thought of as a Being odious and malignant which every Religion forbids to believe Therefore whatever teaches the love and admiration of a Deity that has any character of Ill teaches at the same time a love and admiration of that Ill and causes that to be taken for good and amiable which is horrid and detestable SO that if the Praise and Love of a Deity be that which is proper to every Religion there is no Religion where God is not represented intirely good and free of malignity injustice and cruelty but what must make that sort whatsoever it be of malignity injustice or cruelty to be applauded and taken for Good and Right and must be the cause therefore of mens acting against natural Affection and of their growing malignant unjust cruel and the like FOR instance if JUPITER be he that is ador'd and reverenc'd and that the History of JUPITER makes him to be lustful and to satiate his Lust in the most loose and exorbitant manner then is it impossible but his Worshipper believing this History and Character must be taught a greater love of lustful Actions If there be a Religion that teaches the adoration and love of a God whose Character it is to be full of jealousy captious and of high resentment subject to wrath and anger furious revengeful and revenging injuries on others than those who did injury and if there be added in the Character of this God a fraudulent inclination incouraging deceit and treachery favorable to a few and that for slight causes or no cause and cruel to the rest it is evident in the case of such a Religion as this that it must of necessity raise even an approbation and respect towards the vices and imperfections of this kind and breed accordingly that parallel disposition that unsociable and jealous temper partiality selfishness moroseness bitterness and revengefulness as well as treachery and inhumanity for whatever is of this nature must in many cases appear noble to him who views these things in that Being to which he gives the highest Honor and Veneration BUT if it be suppos'd that in the worship of such a God there is nothing besides what proceeds merely from fear and aw without the least esteem or love towards him as to one suppos'd amiable or excellent then is not any one indeed by this opinion misled as to his notion of Right and Wrong of what is amiable or detestable in Actions For if in following the precepts of his God or doing what is necessary towards the satisfying of such his Deity he be compell'd only by fear and act against his inclination the thing which he dislikes as barbarous unnatural or any other way ill and odious then has he a sense of what is ill and of what Right and Wrong is and is sensible of ill in the character of his God however nice he be in pronouncing any thing concerning it or in not daring so much as to think formally about it out of a superstitious fear or shyness For whoever pretends to believe that there is a God and that God is just and good must mean that there is such a thing as Justice and Injustice Right and Wrong according to which he pronounces that God is just for if the Will of God or Law of God alone be said to be that which makes Right and Wrong then must this be a name only for what is or is not his Will for thus if by his will one Person were to be punish'd for anothers fault this would be Just and Right and so the same if arbitrarily and without reason some Beings were made to suffer nothing but Ill and others only to enjoy Good which to say is just is to say nothing or to speak without a meaning AND thus it ever is and must be an ill consequence in false and ill Religion that where there is a real Reverence Esteem and Worship of a supreme Being represented not as absolutely just and perfect it must occasion the loss of rectitude in the Creature so worshipping and adoring and who is thus immorally Religious TO this I need only add that as the character of a vitious God or rather Daemon or Idol of the Mind dos injury to the affections of Men disturbs and impairs the sense of Right and Wrong so on the other hand it must highly contribute to the fixing of right Apprehensions and a sound sense of Right and Wrong in men to contemplate respect and adore a God who is ever and on all accounts represented to them so as to be actually a true model and example of the most exact Justice and highest Goodness and Worth and who by a constant good Affection express'd towards the Whole must of necessity engage us to act within our Compass or in our Sphere or System according to a like Principle and Affection and having once the good of the Species or Mankind in view and as our end or aim it must be with difficulty that we can be misguided to a wrong sense of what is Right or Wrong Nor can any thing more prevail on men or more naturally form their Minds to a union with Virtue and Excellence than an establish'd opinion such as this concerning a supreme Deity But of this afterwards AS to this second case therefore RELIGION according to the kind it may be of is capable of doing great good or great harm and ATHEISM not any positive good or harm For however it may be indirectly an occasion of mens losing a good and sufficient sense of Right and Wrong yet it will not as Atheism merely be the occasion of setting up false Right and Wrong which only fantastical reasoning ill custom or ill Religion can do III. AS to the last case THE OPPOSITION OF OTHER AFFECTIONS TO THOSE VIRTUOUS ONES WHICH CREATE A REAL SENSE OF RIGHT AND WRONG it is to be consider'd that a Creature having this sort of sense or good Affection in any considerable degree must necessarily act according to it if this Affection be not oppos'd either by some interesting Affection towards a contrary imagin'd Self-good and privat Advantage or by some strong and forcible passion as of Lust or Anger which may not only overbear the sense of Right and Wrong but even the sense of privat Advantage too and overrule even the most settled opinion of what is conducing to self-good NOTHING therefore can overcome or suppress this sense we speak of or injure the integrity of such a Creature but what EITHER raises or affords growth to those strong and obstinat Passions OR otherwise causes an imagination of some interest or self-advantage in opposition to this affection of Virtue so as to cause this good disposition to be resisted and gone against deliberatly and in cool judgment Whatsoever is of this kind besides that it turns a Creature towards Vice in spite of this other good dispositionâ— it
of the Soul there is an approbation given by the Mind to what is acted in consequence of that Motion or Affection and where there is the fairest matter of Speculation the goodliest view and contemplation on Earth which is that of a beautiful proportionable and becoming Action self applicable and of which the memory and consciousness is of any other thing the most solidly and lastingly pleasing In the passion of Love we mean of that sort which is between the Sexes in which there is a mixture of the strongest sensual Affection together with natural Affection or affection of Kindness such as is in that case towards the object belov'd it so far appears that the sense or feeling of the former and the Pleasure enjoy'd in it is outdone in this latter that it is commonly known how that often through that affection of Kindness and for the sake of the Person belov'd when in any danger or any ways expos'd the greatest things in the world have bin done and are so every day the greatest Hardships submitted to and even Death it self voluntarily embrac'd without any desired or expected compensation not here in this World surely for Death puts an end to all nor hardly I suppose hereafter for there are few who have ever thought yet of providing a Heaven or future Recompence for the suffering Virtue of Lovers But what is more yet as to the excellence of these natural Affections and their agreeableness to our natures not only the natural Affections of this kind when Joy Sprightliness and Gaity are mixt with them have real enjoyment and happiness above Sensuality or the gratification merely of Sense but even that natural Affection which is clouded and under the worst appearance the very Sorrow and Grief if one may say so which belongs to natural Affection to a generous humane and kind Concern tho it may be thought contrary to Pleasure is yet for contentment and satisfaction far above those other pleasures of indulg'd Sense And where a series or continu'd succession of these Motions or Affections can be carried on even through fears apprehensions alarms doubts the object Virtue being still kept in sight and its Beauty appearing still in the midst of the surrounding Calamities there is inseparably join'd to this a contentment and satisfaction of the highest sort insomuch that when by mere illusion as in a Tragedy the Passions of this mournful kind are artfully excited in us we prefer the Enjoyment and Pleasure to any other entertainment of equal duration and find by our selves that the moving our Passions in this sort the engaging them in the behalf of Merit and Worth and the exerting of that Goodness that is in us tho there be nothing more remote from sensual or bodily Pleasure is yet of exquisit sensation and to such as are refin'd enough to feel it more moving and of greater enjoyment than any thing of the other kind abstracted intirely from this And after this manner it may appear how much the mental Enjoyments are actually the very natural Affections themselves HOW much they proceed from and are caused by natural Affection we have now to consider THAT the affection of Love Kindness and Bounty is it self of the highest degree of mental Pleasure has bin shewn The EFFECTS of Love or kind Affection in a way of mental Pleasure are a delight in and enjoyment of the Good of others a receiving it as it were by reflection so as to participate in the Joy Pleasure or Prosperity of whom we love or kindly affect And a pleasing consciousness of love or approbation from others or of our meriting it from others THERE is nothing plainer than that both these Satisfactions and Delights viz. Joy in and participation of the Good of others and pleasing consciousness or sense of merited Love from others can possibly be nothing else but the EFFECTS of Love in us and that they increase and decrease as their CAUSE diminishes or grows So that where no Love or natural Affection is or where it is but weak or unsound there the consequent Pleasures cannot be at all or at least must be but weak and unsound Now the Pleasures of sharing Good with others of receiving it in fellowship and company of gathering it from the pleased and happy States of those around us from accounts and relations of such Happinesses Joys Deliverances from the very Countenances and pleased Looks even of Creatures foreign to our Nature and Kind whose signs of Joy and Contentment we can discern or understand the Pleasures or Delights of this sort are so infinitly spreading and diffusive through our whole lives that there is hardly such a thing as Pleasure or Contentment of which this is not a part and which if this were taken away would not totally sink and be corrupted or at least lose its chiefest vigor that which made its refinement and without which it would be dross And thus in the same manner as to the other Pleasure that of Sensibleness to the love of others and consciousness of merited Esteem and Love which in as far as it is a pleasure must be wholly the EFFECT of Love and cannot be felt where natural Affection is not felt How familiar and natural it is to us continually to be drawing some sort of satisfaction from hence How frequent and habitual it is with us and how great a part of our enjoyment of Life to be in joy and delight as either well satisfied in the consciousness of merited Esteem and Kindness from others or as flattered by the imagination of it What Wretch is there what open violator of the Laws of Society destroyer or ravager so great who has not a Companion or some particular Set either of his own Kindred or of such as he calls Friends with whom he shares his Good in whose Welfare he delights and whose Joy he makes his Joy Who are there amongst these that are not flattered by the kindness of some that are near them and sensibly moved by the Affection which they apprehend is bore to them even by such as are no way capable of assisting them or serving their Interest It is to this that almost all their actions have reference and without this there are few even of these ununiform and inconsistent livers who would not find themselves in an unsupportable solitude and desertion and think Life it self a torment to them It is this that goes through our whole lives and mixes it self even with most of our Vices Of this Vanity Ambition Luxury have a share and many other disorders of our Life partake So that were Pleasure to be computed in the way that other things commonly are it might be said that out of these two Branches would arise more than nine tenths of all that is enjoyed in Life Now there is not nor can be any thing of this kind which dos not immediatly depend on the having natural and kind Affection And as natural Affection is narrow broken or imperfect so must
to him and that if freed from this restraint of Virtue and Honesty he might be much happier 't is very obvious that his love and relish towards Virtue and Honesty must every day diminish as the Temper grows uneasy and quarrels with it But if he opposes to this the consideration that Honesty carries with it if not a present at least a future recompence so as to make up that loss to privat or self-good which he repines at then may this injury to his good Temper and honest Principle be prevented and his Love or Affection towards Honesty and Virtue remain the same IN the same manner where there is not a love but a sort of aversion towards what is Good and Virtuous as towards Lenity and Forgivingness and that there is a love of its contrary Revenge it is possible and very natural that by the consideration that Lenity is by its rewards made the cause of a greater self-good that very Affection of Lenity and Mildness may be industriously nourish'd and the contrary depress'd so that the good Affection may come at last to be seated in the Temper and the good and proper Object to be belov'd as by a Creature well affected when no Punishment or reward is thought of THUS we see that in a State or Public a virtuous and good Administration and an equal and just distribution of Rewards and Punishments is of service not only to restrain vitious men and to make them act usefully to the public but by making Virtue to be apparently the interest of every one it removes all prejudices against it creates a fair reception for it and leads men into that path which afterwards they cannot easily quit For thus a People made virtuous by the long course of a wise and just Administration when ever this happens to be interrupted by some sudden Tyranny or Usurpation they will on this account rather be raised to exert a stronger Virtue And even where by long and continued arts of a prevailing Tyranny they are at last totally oppress'd the seeds of that Virtue will still remain and for some Ages afterwards shew themselves not wholly extinct But this withal we must here observe that it is Example which chiefly works these Effects for a virtuous Administration is seldom but accompanied with Virtue in the Magistrate Nor is it so much the reward it self or the punishment which dos this as the natural estimation of Virtue and shame of Villany which is excited and mov'd by these expressions of the hatred of Mankind towards injustice and their approbation of Goodness and Virtue For even in the suffering of the greatest Villains themselves we see generally that the infamy of their Act the odiousness of their Crime and their shame towards Mankind contribute more to their misery than all besides and that it is not so much Death it self which creates their horror as that kind of Death they undergo IT is the same in privat Families and here tho the Slaves and mercenary Servants restrain'd and made orderly by punishment and by the severity of their Master are not on that account made Good or Honest yet the same master of the Family using proper Rewards and Punishments towards his Children teaches them Goodness and by this help instructs them in a Virtue which afterwards they practise upon other grounds and without thoughts of reward IF by the thoughts of future Reward or what regards another State be understood the love and desire of virtuous Enjoyment or of the very practice and exercise of Virtue in another Life the expectation or hope of this must not only be a great encouragement to Virtue but it appears plainly that the very following of Virtue in hope to obtain that supreme Happiness which consists in the perfection of it is of it self a degree of Virtue a proof of the sincere Love we have for it as for its own sake and cannot be call'd a motive of self-interest or selfishness for if the love of Virtue be any thing distinct from that which we mean by common and narrow self-interest then the love and desire of Life when lov'd and desir'd for the sake of Virtue alone must also be distinct But if the desire of continu'd or prolong'd Life be only through the violence of that aversion which is towards Death if it be through the love and desire of something else in Life than virtuous Affection and Practice and through the unwillingness of parting with something else than what is purely of this kind then is this no longer any Virtue or sign of Virtue WHOEVER therefore from what has bin said before is after any manner or in any way at all perswaded or induc'd to think that Honesty and Virtue have their Rewards such a one is capable of being led to a Virtue which he already is not arriv'd at tho yet his doing any thing on the consideration or foresight merely of such Reward separate from Virtue and of another nature is no Virtue nor even that thing of setting about to make himself virtuous on that score can be any Virtue For tho he may intend to be virtuous he is not become so for having only intended or for only intending to be so because of the rewards of Virtue but as soon as he is come to have one single good Affection any Affection towards what is good and worthy sociable human or any way morally good as liking and affecting this for its own sake and as good and amiable in it self then is he in some degree Good and Virtuous and not till then UPON the whole therefore one who has not any Reason or Belief to hinder him from thinking that Virtue is the cause of Misery and is of self-ill such a one must be subject to lose much of his Virtue and good Disposition And one who has a contrary Reason and Belief which makes him think Virtue to be his Good or a cause of good to him has an inducement to Virtue and an assistance in it which the other has not WHOEVER thinks always consistently or according to one fix'd or settled Judgment that Virtue causes Happiness and Vice Misery or whoever there is who as they say commonly feels by himself that he can never be happy if he quits his Integrity and Innocency either of these Persons carry with them that requisit security and that assistance to Virtue abovemention'd Or if there are such who have not such thoughts nor can believe that Virtue is their interest in Life except they are otherwise rewarded yet if they believe a God dispensing Rewards and Punishments in this present or in a future State to Virtue and Vice they carry also this security and assistance to Virtue along with them whilst their Belief continues thus and is not in the least either wavering or doubtful For it must be observ'd here that whensoever the dependence upon this is exceeding great it very much takes off from any other dependence or encouragement for where high
nor contradict those Affections which carry them on to operate to the public Good the Good of their WHOLE and that even those Beasts that live the farthest out of Society of that sort maintain however a conduct one towards another such as is exactly well fitted for the good of their own Species Man in the mean time vicious and unconsonant man lives out of all rule and proportion contradicts his Principles breaks the Order and Oeconomy of all his Passions and lives at odds with his whole Species and with Nature so that it is next to a Prodigy to see a Man in the world who lives NATURALLY and as A MAN THUS having clear'd this Part and having explain'd what is meant by having any passion in too high or too low a degree and how that to have any natural Affection too high or any self Affection too low is tho not so called a Vice and moral Imperfection and is prejudicial both to the privat and public System we come now to that which is the chiefest and most considerable part of Vice that which alone is call'd Vice and Illness THE several senses in which a Creature may be said to be ill or vitious are first when the Affections are all orderly and right but that through want of judgment any error is committed in the choice of moral Objects Of this there is no need to speak more than we have done All other Vice or Illness besides must be through the immediat disorder of the Affections themselves as when the natural Affections are too strong or the self Affections too weak Tho nothing of this hitherto be what we ordinarily call Illness or Vice That which remains of any way or sense in which a Creature may be ill or can possibly act ill is either through the want of natural and good Affections and the having no such thing at all to move him or that is sufficient to move him or through contrary Passions or Affections moving him to what is wrong and overcoming those others whensoever there are any of those to make opposition THAT is to say either by having the natural Affections weak or deficient or by having the self Passions too strong or by having such as are neither natural Affections nor self ones and of which the smallest and moderatest degree is not tending to the support or welfare of either the Species or privat System OTHER WISE than thus it is impossible any Creature can be ill or vitious And if it may be proved that it is the interest of the Creature to have his Passions or Affections never thus but contrariwise it will then be proved that it is the interest of a Creature to be and keep in that state in which he cannot but be good or virtuous so that Virtue then can never be but his Good and the contrary his Ill. OUR business therefore will be to prove 1. THAT to have those excellent Affections the kind and natural ones such as have bin mentioned is to have the chief enjoyment of Life and that to want them is and must be besides the loss of that Good the occasion of farther and greater Ill. 2. THAT to have the self Passions excessive or beyond such a degree in which they cannot but of necessity yield as is fitting to the natural ones whenever they meet or are opposed to each other is also injurious to the Creature and is of self-ill 3. AND that to have the other sort of Passions those which are neither natural Affections towards the kind nor self ones of which the least degree is essential or requisit in the Constitution or Oeconomy of the Creature is prejudicial to the Creature SECT II. THERE are few who when they think of such a Creature as is void of all natural Affection all social Inclination Friendliness Complacency or Love but think of it as in a condition miserable enough as to it self without regard to the ill terms upon which such a Creature must live with those that are his fellow Creatures 'T is generally thought I believe that such a Creature as this feels but a little part of the satisfaction of Life and relishes but little those few Enjoyments which are left with him those of eating drinking and the like when those others of sociableness kindness and love are substracted It is well known that to such a Creature as this it is not only incident to be morose rancorous and malignant but that of necessity a Mind or Temper thus destitue of all mildness and benignity of all kind and indulgent inclination sense or feeling must turn to that which is contrary must be agitated and wrought by Passions of a different kind and be a continual seat and lodgment of those bitter hateful and perverse ones made from a constant ill humor frowardness and disquiet in an uncalm unaffable and unloving Temper and that the consciousness of such a Mind or Nature thus dissociable obnoxious and averse to all humanity hating and hated of Mankind must overcloud the Mind with dark suspicion and continual jealousy alarm it with fears and horror and raise in it a continual disturbance and disease in the most appearing fair and secure state of Fortune and in the highest outward Prosperity THIS as to the perfect immoral or inhuman state is generally notic'd and where there is this absolute degeneracy and a total deprivation of all humanity love or natural affection there are few who do not see and acknowledge the misery of such a State when at worst as here suppos'd The misfortune is that this escapes us and is not perceiv'd in less degrees as if to be fully and perfectly horrid unsociable and inhuman were indeed the greatest misfortune and misery that could be but that to be it in a little degree should be no misery nor harm at all which is as reasonable as it would be to allow that it is the greatest ill of a Body to be in the utmost manner distorted maim'd and in an absolute disuse or perversion of all its Organs but that to lose the use of one Limb or to be impair'd in some one single Member is no inconvenience or ill at all THE parts and proportions of the Mind their relation to and dependency on one another the connexion and frame of those Passions which constitute the Soul or Temper in short the whole Order or Symmetry of this inward Part being no less real and exact than that of the Body yet by not being obvious to sense as that other is it comes not into consideration So that tho the greatest misery and ill is allow'd to be from the Mind or Temper which it is own'd may suffer by abuse and injury as the Body dos yet it is not known by what means this former suffers how it receives abuse or injury or at what rate and in what degrees it comes to be impair'd it is not known nor though of what it is that should maim or offend any particular part
be the Content and Joy arising hence FOR first PARTIAL AFFECTION or natural Affection in part and only to some particulars is an inconsistency and contradiction And as it has no foundation or establishment in reason so it must be easily removable and subject to alteration without reason Now the variableness of such sort of Passion which depends solely on capriciousness and humor and must undergo the changeable successions of alternate Hatred and Love Aversion and Inclination towards the same Object must not only in the end diminish natural Affection and together with it the pleasures enjoyed from reflected Good or Good of Participation as above but must create continual disturbance within unquietness disgust and give an allay to whatsoever is actually enjoy'd in the way of natural and social Affection Whereas on the other hand INTIRE AFFECTION which is throughout and equal towards the Society or Whole wheresoever any relation lies as it is answerable to it self duly proportion'd rational and accountable so it is irrefragable solid and lasting And as in the other every deficiency elsewhere and every exorbitancy in the Affection dos in some manner resist and disturb the present and immediat feeling of social and friendly Affection so in this every other good Affection and the consciousness of integrity and soundness casts a good reflection and an addition of contentment on every particular Affection felt and makes it of more inward pleasant feeling in the Soul and more satisfactory and rejoicing in the Mind Thus he who is least selfish and can according as there is merit love another with most sincerity and strongest Affection dos not only enjoy most by division or sharing of Good and by communicating and imparting of it but through the consciousness of the Justice Beauty and Excellence of that Love of its proportionableness to all his other Affections and of the sutableness of those Affections to Nature and to the whole he enjoys a satisfaction vastly above what is receiv'd from that limited entangled and much corrupted pleasure of imperfect partial and unintire Affection AND in the last place as PARTIAL AFFECTION is fitted but to a small enjoyment of those Pleasures of communicative and reflected Good above-mention'd so neither is it capable of extracting any thing considerable from that other principal Branch of human Happiness and Delight The being sensible to the love and esteem of others and the being conscious of that which merits it For in the same manner as the Affection it self is narrowly limited infirm and changable so accordingly is the merit arising hence very imperfect and of little account And as the Merit is but low and inferior whilst only towards some mean and inconsiderable part of Mankind and not towards Society and the Whole so accordingly the consequent pleasure of the mind must below and defective And as it is not possible that any who esteem not nor love according to Virtue should in the number of their so beloved and esteemed Friends find either those in whom they can so constantly and throughly rejoice and have satisfaction in meriting from or whose reciprocal love esteem or merited approbation they can equally and constantly prize and enjoy so they of necessity must fall short in this other part of mental Enjoyment Nor can the Pleasures gather'd from self-flattery in that unsound esteem and love of those who are neither rightly nor constantly esteemed or loved be any other than unsound disorderly and disturbed Whereas on the other hand INTIRE AFFECTION has all the opposit advantages it has Applause and Love from the best and in disinterested cases from the very worst of men and of this we may say that it has a consciousness of merited love and approbation from all Society from all intelligent Creatures and from that which is the highest and supreme of all Intelligences And the satisfaction which attends this Intire Affection is full and noble in proportion to its ultimate and final Object which carries all in it self and contains all Perfection according to that sense of Theism above establish'd This is the result of Virtue and to have this INTIRE AFFECTION or INTEGRITY is to live according to Nature and the Dictates and Rules of supreme Wisdom this is Morality Justice Piety and natural Religion THUS therefore it is evident that by reason of the EFFECTS of natural Affection in reflected good from the joy and good of others and in that of sensibleness to kindness and love from others the chiefest of mental Pleasures which are the chiefest of all Pleasures are deriv'd from and owing to natural Affection AND to shew by farther instance yet how much the mental Pleasures proceed from and are caus'd by natural Affection let any one consider that all those Pleasures which a man can have in any other besides a merely sensual way all those Pleasures receiv'd from Converse Familiarity Society in privat Contemplation Thought and Retirement in Mirth and Entertainment or whatsoever they be of that Species and Kind of mental Pleasures they are wholly in a manner founded in the having as well dispos'd and easy Temper or Spirit free of harshness distast sowerness turbulence and in having a Mind or Reason in good order reconcilable to it self such as creates it self no unpleasant views nor is of ill reflection Now such a MIND and such a TEMPER as this which must fit and qualify for the enjoying of the Pleasures mention'd is and must be owing to the natural and good Affections AS to what relates to TEMPER which we will consider first and how a Temper of that happy sort comes to be really owing to natural Affection it may be consider'd thus THERE is no state of Health or Prosperity so great where Inclination and Will are always answer'd Fancy and Humor pleas'd where there are not hourly almost some stops impediments or crosses to the Intention Appetite or Liking some Accidents or other from without to check the licentious course of the Desire or something from within from the disposition of the Body the Humors or what else is common in the ordinary course of a Constitution which must occasion distast and vexation and cause a habit of that kind where there is nothing to oppose it so as to stop the progress of it and hinder its gaining upon a Temper Now the only thing that can be oppos'd to this is some natural and kind Affection for if the Mind by reflection resolves to suppress this ill at any time when risen in the Temper and that it thinks fit to do it in good earnest on any account it can no otherwise effectually and really do it but by introducing into the Soul or passionat Part some affection of Love some motion of Kindness Affectionatness or Candor to allay and convert that motion of Impatience and Discontent For if it be not done this way the Countenance may indeed be counterfeited but the Heart not chang'd and if it be done only by the power of immediat Fear or