excellently confirms our System and shews that there 's no Affection kindled in our Heart independently from Self-love We shall be further convinc'd of the Truth of this Opinion by considering not only that Relation is a Source of Friendship but also that our Affections vary and differ according to the Degree of Relation that we have to those Persons who are the Object of ' em The Quality of Man which we all bear makes this general Benevolence which we term Humanity Homo sum humani nihilà me alienum puto 'T is certain that if there were but only Two Men in the World they would have a tender Affection for each other but this general Relation being mingled and confounded with the infinite number of those different Relations we have one among another it happens that this natural Affection which it first produc'd is lost in the rabble and throng of the Passions which so great a Variety of other Objects produce in our Heart We don't see in our Neighbour the Quality of Man whereby he resembles us whilst we see in him a Rival an Emulator and Enemy of our Welfare and Prosperity as we are of his A proud Man who esteems nothing but himself who by the Lustre of his Qualities and Accomplishments attracts the Esteem and Attention of the World and puts us in Obscurity and Dis-repute and who by his Passions is continually buisy'd in circumventing us and encroaching upon our Properties But no sooner has Death uncloath'd his Person of these odious Relations but we find in him that general Relation which made us love him never thinking him a Man till he ceas'd to be a Mortal and then at last willing to enroll him in the Number of our Friends when Death has retrench'd him from the Society of the Living The Relation of Country usually inspires Men with a kind of Benevolence whereof they are insensible whilst they dwell in their own Nation because this Relation is weakned and too much divided by the Number of those that have a Title to it but becomes very sensible when two or three Natives of the same Country happen to meet in a strange Climate Then Self-love standing in need of some Supports and Consolations and finding 'em in the Person of those whom a parallel Interest and like Relation ought to inspire with the same Disposition never fails to make a perpetual Attention to this Relation unless it be prevented by a more powerful Motive of its own Interest Relation of Profession commonly produces more Aversion than Friendship by the jealousy it causes Men to have one of another But that of Conditions is generally accompany'd with Benevolence and Love 'T is no wonder that Grandees have no great Affection for ordinary People the reason is because looking with the Eyes of self-Self-love they see them at a great distance off they look not upon 'em as Neighbours they are very far from perceiving this Proximity and Nearness whose Mind and Heart are wholly concern'd about the Distance that separates and removes 'em from other Men and who make of this Object the Delights of their Vanity Yet must it be granted That Relation of Blood is usually more prevailing than any other tho' it be a common Saying That a Good Friend is better than many Parents and this be true in it self yet 't is certain that Men naturally prefer their Parents before their Friends and especially upon any great and important Occasion The Reason of it is because they consider their Parents as necessary Friends that can by no means be dis-united from 'em and their Friends as voluntary Parents whose Affection reaches no farther than their Pleasure Now tho' free and unconfin'd Friendship be of greater Obligation than necessary yet 't is not regarded as such by the Eyes of self-Self-love It may indeed inspire us with a greater degree of Gratitude but can't so much touch our Interest The Barbarous Constancy that appear'd in Brutus when he caus'd his Children to be Kill'd before his Eyes is not so Dis-interested as it seems to be The best of Latin Poets discloses the Motive of it in these Words Vincet amor Patriae laudumque immensa Cupido But he has not dis-entangled and laid open all the Reasons of Interest which caus'd the apparent Inhumanity of this Roman Brutus was like other Men He lov'd himself above all Things in the World His Children were guilty of a Crime that tended indeed to Rome's Destruction and Ruine but much more to Brutus's If Paternal Affection excuses Faults self-Self-love aggravates 'em whenever 't is directly wounded Rome undoubtedly owes the Honour of Brutus's Exploits to the Love of himself and his Countrey accepted the Sacrifice which he Offer'd to the Idol of his own Affection and rather Infirmity than true Fortitude was the Motive of his Cruelty Interest is the Sovereign Empress of Souls we seek it in the Object of all our Applications and as there be various Kinds of Interest so may we distinguish a Variety of Affections which Interest causes in Society An Interest of Pleasure causes Gallant Friendship an Interest of Ambition causes Politick Friendship an Interest of Pride causes Noble Friendship an Interest of Avarice causes Profitable Friendship Generally speaking our only Motives of Loving Men are either Pleasure or Profit but if these different Interests happen to be all united together to kindle our Affection for a Person then we are presently his very humble Servants and stick to him as close as a Burr The Vulgars who declaim against interested Friendship understand not what they say Their Mistake lies in this because generally speaking they know but one sort of Interested Friendship which is that of Avarice whereas there are as many Kinds of Interested Affections as there are Objects of Desire Moreover they find fault with Men for Loving by Interest and that this is the main Principle and Bâ—ass of their Affection and Kindness not apprehending that to love by Interest is to love One-self directly whereas to love by any other Principle is to love One-self only reflexively They don't perceive that Men find fault with interested Friendship in the Heart of another but never in their own Lastly They think it criminal and blamable for a Man to be Interestâ—d not considering that 't is Disinterestedness not Interest that ruines and destroys us If Men would offer us Goods that are great enough to satisfy the Desires of our Soul we should do well to love them with a Love of Interest and no One ought to blame us for preferring the Motives of this Interest before those of Relation and every Thing else Even Gratitude it self so highly valu'd in the World and so much commended in Morality and Religion cannot claim an Exemption from this Traffick of Self-love For in the main what difference is there betwixt Interest and Gratitude No more but this That the latter is conversant about a past Good the former about a Future Graâ—ituâ—e is nothing but a delicate
which is not so easily seduc'd Wherefore because the Author of Nature was so pleas'd that other Men's Reason should be in some sort our Law and Judge as to moral Honesty and the Decorums of reasonable Nature Upon this very account he form'd us with a natural Desire of raising an Esteem of our selves in the Minds of others a Desire which assuredly precedes the Reflections of our Mind For tho' the Utility Pleasure and Desire of finding Confirmations of the Opinion we have of our selves c. may be capable of satisfying the Love of Esteem yet we have shewn that they are not the Cause of it And here we might distinguish Three Worlds which the Wisdom of the Creatour has founded upon Three natural Inclinations The Animal the Rational and the Religious World The first is a Society of Persons united by Sense the second of Persons united by Esteem the third of Persons united by natural Religion The first has for its Principle the Love of Pleasure the second the Love of Esteem the third Conscience All these three Principles are Natural and the Grounds of 'em is not elsewhere to be search'd for than in the Wisdom of the Creatour The first of these Worlds relates to the second the second to the third and the third to the last Wherefore these things are thus subordinated to each other Esteem regulates the Love of Pleasure and Religion ought to regulate the Love of Esteem and this Subordination is no less natural than these Inclinations The Love of Pleasure may truly be attributed to Nature But the Irregularities of Voluptuousness are to be reckon'd to another Account The Love of Esteem may be said to be Natural but yet we are not to suppose that the Extravagancies and Enormities of Pride arise from the Womb of Nature To this we may ascribe the Fear of God and the Love of Vertue But we ought not to give it an Appennage of all those Superstitions which Men have been pleas'd to ingraft upon the Principles of Nature and consequently 't is necessary that the Love of Pleasure of Esteem and Conscience should have their natural Law Rules and Limits But 't will not be amiss to insist upon the Love of Esteem CHAP. XV. Where we examine all those Irregularities which are the Ingredients of Pride IT seems that hitherto we have not had a very perfect Knowledge of Pride and doubtless the reason was because we have not throughly distinguish'd its several Parts nor with sufficient Attention examin'd all its Characters Pride in general may be reduc'd to Five principal Branches Namely to the Love of Esteem to Presumption Vanity Ambition and Haughtiness For tho' Men are wont to confound these Terms and use 'em indifferently to signify the same Thing 't is certain that these Expressions have somewhat different Significations The Love of Esteem is Natural and Lawful in it self as we before observ'd but 't is Vicious and Disorderly when it rises to Excess This is the most general Irregularity of Pride for when our Desire of Esteem is excessive 't is natural to romage in our selves for some estimable Qualities and finding we have none our Imagination presents us with some in Complaisance to the Inclinations of the Heart from whence arises Presumption Moreover this immoderate Love of Esteem makes us value our selves upon any Endowment whether good or bad and for want of real Sources of Glory to aim at an Esteem upon the account of those things which are in no wise Estimable unless in our own Fancy this is properly our Vanity For this Expression originally signifies the Emptiness of those Objects wherein we erroneously seek for Esteem and which are naughty Sources of Vain-glory. From this excessive Love of Esteem arises the Desire we have to raise our selves above other Men having a Perswasion that we can't attract a publick Esteem and Consideration whilst we are confounded with the Vulgar Rabble and this produces Ambition Lastly The Desire we have to make a great Show by distinguishing our selves from the common Rank makes us despise other Men seeking all possible means to degrade and pull 'em down that we may stand upon their Heads All the Irregularities of Pride being reduc'd to the excessive Love of Esteem as their first and original Principle we can't use too much Diligence in considering this latter The two general Faults of this Inclination are Excess and Irregularity the First consists in this That we love Esteem too much the Second That we love false Esteem as well as true In order to understand what is the Excess of thâ— Love of Esteem we must consider the Design of God in placing this Inclination in our Heart He gave it to us for the Preservation of the Body the Good of Society and the Exercise of Vertue I say for the Preservation of the Body seeing that the Love of Esteem defends us from those Extravagances of corporeal Pleasure which would presently tend to our Destruction and Death For who doubts that the Desire of raising an Esteem of our selves is a powerful Motive to stave us off from that excess of Debauchery and Sensuality to which we are drag'd by the Love of Pleasure and which is of so fatal Consequence even to our Body He plac'd in us this Inclination for the Good of Sciety for 't is this Desire to obtain an Esteem in the World that renders us Affable and Complaisant Obliging and Civil that makes us love Decency and Sweetness of Conversation And yet all this while who does not know that the finest Arts the most lofty Sciences the wisest Governments the most just Establishments in general most that is Admirable in reasonable Society proceeds from this natural Desire of Glory Let us not fancy that our own Corruption and Concupiscence brought this excellent Benefit to Mankind doubtless the wise Instructions of the Author of Nature had the chiefest Hand in this Matter Lastly 't is certain that the Design of God was to steer and incline us to honest and laudable Actions by giving us for the Judge of our Conduct not only our own Reason which is oftentimes brib'd by the Enticements of Pleasure but also the Reason of other Men who are not so partial in our Favour as we our selves Indeed God may be consider'd either as the Author of Society or Religion As the Author of Society he thought fit Men should enter into mutual Commerce during some Time and with this Intent he endow'd 'em with such Inclinations as were necessary to the Good and Preservation of Society Among these are to be reckon'd the Love of Pleasure and the Desire of Esteem This latter is the Spring of Humane Vertues which ought not to be so much cry'd down as usually they are for if they are not inservient to eternal Salvation yet are they design'd for the Good of temporal Society they proceed from the Intention of the Author of Nature they are a part of his Model and Platform Love of Esteem being
at once but self-Self-love is mistaken for we are so far from losing all our five Senses that 't is certain we do not really lose one of them we don't become uncapable of Seeing Hearing and Speaking 'T is not the Nature of Things but the free Institution of God that hath affix'd these Perceptions of our Soul to the Organs of our Body to which they had naturally no more Relation than to the Matter which is hidden in the Center of the Earth howsoever Men may be prejudic'd in this Matter Would we say such a Man has lost his Sight the natural Disposition of whose Faculties God should have so chang'd as to have order'd that his Eyes should have no more Priviledge than the rest and that all the parts of his Body should be capable of Seeing This is the Idea of a Man that loses one way of perceiving and sees this infinite Abyss of Sensibility which is naturally in him adequately fill'd These Losses which prejudic'd Nature imagines it is at by Death become so much the more sensible as they are unavoidable and impos'd by a fatal Necessity which cannot be resisted Men have always look'd upon â—his Necessity as a dreadful Misery the irâ—egular Inclination they have to love forbidâ—en Things with so much the greater arâ—our which caused One to say Define vitiae â—rritare vetando augments and encreases â—heir Love of Life by the Impossibility they â—nd themselves under of extending its Liâ—â—its and makes 'em look upon Death with â—o much the more horour as they are uncaâ—able of avoiding it But had the Wisdom â—f God impos'd upon Men the necessity of â—iving as it has the necessity of Dying we â—ay be almost assur'd that in time they would â—e as much afflicted and troubled at the â—houghts of their Immortality as now they â—re at those of their Mortality Now the neâ—essity of Dying makes them attend more to â—â—e Pleasures than the Crosses of Life but â—â—en the necessity of Living would cause â—â—em to apply more regard and attention to â—â—e Evils than to the Agreements and Pleaâ—â—res of Life Our Soul assuredly owes a great part of its Repugnancy and Unwillingness to leave the Body to Custome and Prejudices to see this we need only reflect upon our past Life remark and muster up together all its Pleasures and seriously ask our selves whether all that countervails our past Grief and Trouble On one side what if it pleas'd the Author of Nature to endow a Soul which is form'd to animate a Body with a most distinct Knowledge of the Dignity and Perfections of its Nature the Grandeur of its End and the Nobility of its Extraction and on the other it were inform'd distinctly of all the Infirmities of all the base and painful Dependances which it goes to espouse by espousing this Body pray would not the very first Moment of its Life certainly seem the beginning of Death So for this reason 't was necessary that the confus'd Sensations of Nature which alligate and fasten us to Life should precede the distinct Ideas which are proper enough in themselves to free and loosen us from it and that the former should be naturally of greater Force and Activity than the latter For tho' God would not have us be excessively fond of Life yet the Author of Nature was oblig'd to interess and engage us in the Preservation of Corporeal Nature without which there would be no Society Death has two very different and also very opposite Aspects as we consider it with reference to the Soul For Life and Death may both be said to make the Debasement and Glory of Man Life makes the Glory of the Body and the Debasement of the Soul 't is by Life that the Body is extended to the just and natural Proportion of its Parts Life gives it Health Strength Agility Beauty and makes in a word all its Perfections But Life causes the Debasement of our Soul it confines it to such Objects as are no ways related to its natural Excellency it makes this Mind buisy it self in trivial Affairs and place its whole Concern in the management of a Family a Field a Vineyard and the most abject and sordid necessities of the Body as if this immortal Mind was made for no higher and nobler Imployment but to prolong for some Moments the Duration of this frail Machine to which it is united If Life makes the Glory of the Body and the Debasement of the Soul Death may be said to make the Glory of the Soul and the Debasement of the Body The Body falls but the Soul rises up and soars as it were to its native Heaven The Body consumes and in process of time relapses into Dust but the Mind extends and enlarges it self like a Divine Sphere which becomes greater and greater proportionably to the nearness of its Approach to God The Body is depriv'd of its former Motion the Soul acquires such Knowledge as it had not before The Body mingles it self with the Earth the Soul is re-united to God The Debasement which ensues upon Death lights upon an insensible lump of Matter A Carcass gnaw'd by devouring Worms endures no Pain it smells not those noisom Odours it exhales is not terrify'd with the surrounding Darkness nor is out of Conceit with it self even when 't is nothing else but an horrid Miscellany of Blood and Dirt of Bones and Putrefaction 'T is an Illusion and Cheat of prejudic'd Nature that makes us affix our proper Ideas and Perceptions to such Objects as do only occasion them Matter when depriv'd of Life and Sense is plac'd in its natural State this is no Imbasement or Degradation to it all the seeming Dishonour and Turpitude is meerly in our Fancy But the case is not the same in respect of that Imbasement and Degradation to which Life exposes us This is not the natural State of such a Soul as ours and doubtless the Author of Nature had never abandon'd it to such a Condition but upon the account of Sin Man indeed would have liv'd but his Life would have been more Noble and Excellent 'T is a great mistake to pretend that Man's Death commences the Punishment of his Corruption Life has already punish'd criminal Man by those sad Dependances which alligate and confine the Thoughts Cares Desires and Affections of so great and noble a Soul to the support and preservation of this sordid Mass of Clay which we term our Body Yet such is the Imbecillity and Weakness of Man that he would needs fancy himself Debased where really he is not and is not willing to perceive himself Debas'd where really he is so An imaginary Debasement frightens and terrifies him and yet he cannot see a proper and real Debasement But what if the Body be truly Degraded so the Gain of the Soul does infinitely preponderate the Losses of the Body Are we so weak as to think that our Happinessness is so confin'd and fix'd to certain Affairs Possessions Offices Housholds and a
their â—ouls to God Yet they who govern the â—ody don't for all this govern and reign over â—ouls They are Esteem'd if they deserve it â—f they are worthy of Contempt they are â—espis'd and slighted and this too with so â—uch the greater Delight and Pleasure as Men are vex'd and grated at that which subâ—ects and makes 'em crouch under So that â—o ' Fear obliges 'em to respect and reveâ—ence the Authority establish'd for their own â—nterest and Religion makes 'em regard the â—rder of God yet still there remains in the â—ottom of their Heart a secret Disposition 〈◊〉 murmur and grumble at this lawful Eleâ—ation which makes Men so precipitate and â—ash in the Judgments they pass upon their â—rinces and that they excuse not the least â—p in their Masters thro' the secret Averâ—on they have to Dependance and Command â—astly 't is certain that Empire is not soundâ—d in any natural Prerogative which some Men may have above Others for which â—eason the Custome of fixing Temporal â—randeur to Birth has been wisely and prudently establish'd this is undoubtedly done to manage the Pride of other Men who would suffer too great Mortification did all the Preferences we are oblig'd to make of Others before them for the good of Society proceed from a Preference of Merit Desert It seems in this that God has thought fiâ— to take Measures in the Tablet of his Wisdom to hinder Man from yielding to the Temptations of Vain-Glory for he was willing the confus'd Perceptions of our Nature should affix the Glory of the World to external Objects and that it should not be in the power of our distinct Ideas to revoke and call us back from this Errour and to teach us that the chief Perfection and Excellency of this Glory arises from the Womâ— of our own Essence without knowing that 't is God who immediately produces it in us We discover in the Principle we have establish'd not only the Grandeur of the Passions but also of the Vertues 'T is not necessary in order to make this out to give you an exact Catalogue of them We need but consider 'em confusedly as they occur to our Imagination Temperance is a Venue which undoubtedly elevates and raises Man but Temperance can have no solid Basis and Supports unless from the Motives of his Immortality and the eternal Felicity to which he aspires I confess Reason of it self is capable of â—eaching us to beware how we injure our Health and become our own Enemies thro' Excesses of Debauchery but this Consideration does not lead us very far since Intemperance consists not simply in Excess of Pleaâ—ure but also in making even but a moderate Use of forbidden Pleasure The only thing â—apable of raising us to this high Situation â—t which we ought to be in order to abstain â—rom unlawful Pleasure is the Consideration of Eternity for which we are made Nor has the Justice which is commonly practic'd in the World any greater Elevaâ—ion and Excellency since it imports no more but the fear of a Return of Injustice â—nd Retaliation and we are apprehensive of â—njuring Others meerly thro' fear of endaâ—aging our selves this Exercise of Justice â—s not to be blam'd in the base and limited Views of Mortality but when a Man is Just because he is fill'd with the thoughts of Eâ—ernity he 's willing to confine himself to â—uch an Interest and Concern as deserves his Care and Application we may say that he is â—quitable without Fault or Infirmity and â—hat his Vertue is Uniform and always â—ike it self Dis-interestedness passes for a Sport of Self-â—ove which takes Advantage by an apparent Renunciation of small and inconsiderable Things to arrive with more surety to a greater Utility and Profit This holds true of the Politick and Artificial Dis-interestedness of a Worldly Man for including all his Pretences and Advantages within the narrow Limits of this Life how can we conceive that he desires not those Goods which other Men pursue or rather who does not see that he seems to turn his Back to Fortune with a Design to meet her more infallibly another way The Case is far otherwise with a Man that considers himself in reference to Eternity if he be interested 't is with an Interest so great so sublime and lofty that he may be so far from being asham'd to own it that indeed 't is this that makes all his Glory and Perfection As he is Immortal 't is Honourable for him to take his flight towards the Coasts of Eternity and prosecute all those things with Disdain and Contempt which are capable of diverting and putting him out of that Road. In this State he resembles a great Monarch who blushes when surpriz'd in base and sordid Occupations and is cautious of seeming concern'd in trivial and inconsiderable Affairs being call'd as he is to so great and important Imploys and oblig'd to roll none but vast Designs in his Mind Liberality hath ordinarily but a meer shew of Dis-interestedness A liberal Man values that which he bestows but he has a yet greater Value for the Glory of Bestowing and is also desirous of â—btaining sacred and inviolable Rights â—ver the Hearts of those whom he faâ—ours with his Benefits The usual Libeâ—ality is but a sort of Commerce and a Genâ—eel Traffick of self-Self-love which making an â—utward Appearance of obliging Others â—oes but oblige and gratify it self by winâ—ing and gaining them to its own Interest â—ll this holds true in the Sphere of tempoâ—al Goods wherein the Worldling supposes â—imself to be in this Circle of corruptible â—bjects Concupiscence gives meerly with a â—esign to receive it ne're will go so far as â—o impoverish it self by its Gifts But eleâ—ate your selves above these corruptible Obâ—ects and you 'll discover another World â—hich rendering what you saw before mean â—nd contemptible in your sight will put you â—n a Condition to give without any hope of â—estitution from Men. You are very careful to hide the interestâ—d Views of your Heart because on one side â—ou are sensible of what you are and on the â—ther you know the Vileness of those Obâ—ects about which you are conversant Do â—ut become capable of this infinite Interest â—nd you need not endeavour to conceal it â—n Heart open'd to the Embraces of Heaven â—as no need to disguise it self all it has to â—o is to know it self to act upon that Prinâ—iple and to set out it self in its native and â—al Hue. The Shame which confounds us when Men look hard upon us proceeds not from this That we know our selves too well But that we know not our selves enough Such is Bashfulness the most polite and reasonable of all the Vertues Or rather the Artificial Disguisement of our Intemperance and Pleasure which tho' suffering us even with delight to think of those Pleasures of which we do not speak without trouble and uneasiness has the Care of regulating our Desires as if Corruption consisted rather in Expressions
to examine wherein the Disorder of Self-love consists This Query is no less considerable for its being singular And I dare say that few Questions in Morality and Religion are more important as I hope will appear by the following Discussion CHAP. VI. Where we Examine the Faults of Self-love SElf-love can sin but only Two ways either in Excess or Direction its Irregularity must consist either in this That we love our selves too much or that we take not a right Method in shewing this Love to our selves or in both these Faults together Self-love does not sin in Excess as appears from this That we are permitted to love our selves as much as we please so it be with good and reall Love Indeed to love One-self is to desire One's Good to fear One's Hurt and to search for One's Happiness Now I confess that many times our Desire and Fear are too great or we are too eagerly addicted to our Pleasure or that which we look upon as our Happiness But you may observe that the Excess proceeds from the Fault that refers to the Object of your Passions and not from the too great Measure of the Love of our selves which appears from hence That you both can and ought to have an unlimited Desire of the Supream Good and a boundless Fear of Extream Misery And 't would be a Vice for us to desire an infinite Good but with a finite and limited Appetite Truly were Man oblig'd to love himself but to a certain Measure the Vacuity of his Heart ought not to be infinite and were not the Vacuity of the Heart infinite it would follow that he was not made for the Possession and Enjoyment of God but only for the Fruition of finite and limited Objects Yet we are taught the contrary both by Experience and Religion Nothing is more lawful and reasonable than this insatiable Desire which even after the Possession of worldly Advantages makes us still reach after the Supream Good which no Man ever found in the Objects of this Life Brutus who made a particular Profession of Wisdom believ'd he should not be mistaken if he search'd for it in Vertue but as he loved Vertue for its own sake whereas indeed it has nothing amiable and laudable but in Relation to GOD guilty of a Genteel and Spiritual Idolatry was no less mistaken then those who sought for Happiness in Temporal things and at his Death was oblig'd to acknowledge his Errour when he Cry'd out O Vertue I own that thou art nothing but a miserable Phantom c. Wherefore this insatiable Desire of Man's Heart is not Evil in it self 'T was necessary Men should be endu'd with this Inclination to qualify and dispose 'em for seeking after GOD. Now what in a Figurative and Metaphorical Idea we term an Heart that has an infinite Capacity a Vacuity which cannot be fill'd by the Creatures signifies in the proper and literal Notion a Soul that naturally desires an Infinite Good that desires it without Limits and cannot be satisfy'd till it has obtain'd it If then it be necessary that the Vacuity of our Heart should not be fill'd with created Goods 't is necessary that our Desires should also be infinite which is as much as to say that we ought to love our selves without Measure For to love One-self is to love One's Happiness And as we may be truly said not properly to love the Creature when we love it infinitely because then we place the Creature upon the Throne of the Creatour which is an Idolatry of the Mind and most dangerous of all so also may we be said not to love God as our Supream Good when we love him but finitely and conceive but moderate Desires after him for then we debase God to the Condition of the Creatures thro' an Impiety of the Heart no less Criminal than Idolatry Whether we look upon God as our Soveraign Good or represent him as a Being infinitely Perfect t is certain that our Application and Adherence to him ought to be unlimited and to this End the Creatour â—lac'd a kind of Infinity in Man's Knowledge and Affections to capacitate him in some measure for the Enjoyment of this Infinite Good I know very well that our Nature being finite is not capable exactly speaking of forming Desires intensively infinite But tho' these Desires be not infinite in this Sense yet they are so in another for 't is certain that our Soul desires according to the whole Extent of its Powers that if the Number of Spirits necessary to the Organ could be multiply'd in Infinitum the Vehemence of its Desires would encrease proportionably and that tho' the Act it self have not an Infinity yet the Disposition of the Heart has which is naturally insatiable I own if we lov'd our selves by Reason we might conceive that Self-love would be in a limited Measure in the Heart for we don't find in our Mind an Infinity of Reasons for loving our selves But the Author of Nature whose Wisdom judg'd it not requisite that Men should be Philosophers in order to take care of their Preservation thought fit that we should love our selves by Sense which is so true that 't is not even conceivable how we can feel Delight and Joy without loving this Self which is the subject of it so that as there is an unlimited Variety and an Infinity of Degrees in the Joy we are capable of tasting so in like manner there is not any measure or bounds in the Desire of that Happiness in the which this Joy essentialâ—â—â—â—ters nor consequently in the Love of our selves which is the Principle of this Desire I also grant That had Man been made to be a Rival of the Deity he would not be oblig'd to love himself without Measure because then self-Self-love would stand in Competition and interfere with the Love of God But Man naturally loves himself with so great Vehemency meerly that he may be capable of loving God The unmeasurable Measure of self-Self-love and these kind of infinite Desires are the only Links that tye and unite him to God since as I have already said finite and moderate Desires are capable of binding Man's Heart to none but the Creatures and we don 't properly love God but only a Chimaera which we form to our selves instead of God when our Love of him exceeds not a Mediocrity And indeed 't is a great Errour to oppose self-Self-love to Divine when 't is well regulated For pray what else is it duly to love our selves but to love God and to love God but duly to love our selves The Love of God is the right sense of the Love of our selves and that gives it Life and Perfection When Self love is diverted and carried to other Objects it no longer deserves the Name of Love 't is of more dangerous Consequence than the most cruel and savage Hatred but when 't is converted towards God it falls in and mingles with Divine Love And certainly Nothing is so easy as to
Return oâ— Sâ—lf-love when it finds it self oblig'd 'T is in some sort an Elevation and Advancement of Interest We don't love our Benefactor becâ—â—se he 's amiable Gratitude at least of it â—elâ— goes not so far as that We love him because he lov'd us But to explain more particularly this Comparison between Gratitude and Interest we 'll 〈◊〉 that the Affection produc'd by Gratitude is more Noble and that which is caus'd by Interest is more strong and prevalent The former respects the Time past which is no more whereas Interest hath the Future for its Object of which it would make its best Advantage Gratitude loves even without Hope but Interest hopes and expects Gratitude loves the Benefit for sake of the Intention but Interest loves the Intention for sake of the Benefit Lastly the Idea's of Gratitude having Reference to the Time past are commonly rang'd among antiquated abstract Ideas and such as have no very prevailing Influence upon our Soul whereas the Ideas of Interest respecting the present Time are sensible and lively and such as more particularly import and concern us 'T is also certain that for this very reason there is some kind of Opposition betwixt the one and the other because all Men are as naturally Ungrateful as they are naturally Interested Ingratitude is always proportion'd to Interest because the more the Soul attends to the Idea's of the present so much the more it loses of that Application and Attention which it ought to have for what is past And in this respect the same is to be said of Dis-interestednesâ— as of Gratitude Namely that it consists very often in an outward Appearance and seldom rises in the Heart of Man unless Interest it self give it Birth or causes him as sometimes it falls out to endeavour to make a Shâ—w of it CHAP. VIII Where we continue to shew that Self-love is the Principle of all our Affections THe lively and real Perception we have of a Benefit at that very Instant when 't is bestow'd upon us never fails to produce a kind of Gratitude in our Heart which Mark wears out by little and little with the Memory of the Kindness receiv'd because 't is repugnant and goes against the Grain of the Heart to think often of those Things which put us in a State of Dependance and Submission the Case is not the same in respect of those Favours we have bestow'd upâ—n others as they give us a Title to the◠〈◊〉 Friendship and Gratitude And in a 〈◊〉 pull 'em down to â— kind of Subjection 〈◊〉 we revolve and think of 'em with Pleasure and Delight Whence it comes to pass that we are much more inclinable to love thâ—se that are beholding to us than those to whom we our selves are beholding They who think to insinuate and creep into great Men's Favour by laying Obligations upon 'em are often frustrated in their Design For certainly the only way to obtain their Love is for them to oblige others and not for others to oblige them Their Pride which is encreas'd by the Complaisance that Men use to 'em upon the account of their Greatness applauds it self at the Thoughts of having done you a Benefaction It considers with delight the Obligations you owe it and by that means inclines the Heart to have a Kindness for you But 't is dangerous to do very great Services when our whole Design is to insinuate into the Favour of those whom we oblige I tremble to think of this great Service said a Courtier to a Noble Man who told him he should never forget the Obligations he ow'd him and he was in the right of it Great Obligations do oftentimes prove great Offences and at least it always happens so then when either we cannot or will not acknowledge ' em Shall I tell thee Araspe He serv'd me too well Increasing my Power he has robb'd me of all But tho' the Heart has its reasons to forget Benefits yet has it others for making as if it remember'd ' em Gratitude is a Vertue very highly esteem'd the Appearances of it are fine and attract Respect and a Heart accustom'd to traffick in outward shews of Vertue to make a Commerce of vain Glory at the cost of Sincerity by seeking not what is in it self Estimable but what is valu'd by Men's Opinions is diligent in affecting an Appearance of Gratitude when it can by this means lay hold of the Estimation of Men. Also Gratitude is very subservient to the Designs of Interest because 't is a Means of drawing new Benefits· 'T is a Pleasure say they to oblige such a Man he has a sense of the Kindness one do him Gratitude mounts us as it were above the Benefit receiv'd when 't is prompt active and desirous to shew it self this is a fine and delicate Policy of an enlighten'd Self-love for avoiding the suspicion of Ingratitude because this Vice is a Mark of a sordid Baseness and as it were a forc'd Homage which we do to a Benefactor Ingratitude tho' it think of him with great Uneasiness being oblig'd to confess whether we will or no that we are under his Dependance and owe him more than we wish we did Moreover 't is very natural to a Man to let People see by his Carriage towards a Benefactor that he deserves the Benefit Lastly we are very glad to be deliver'd from the Remorse which attends Ingratitude which Remorse is more biteing and more natural than that which is consequent upon the Violation of Justice for tho' Injustice be repugnant to Reason as well as Ingratitude yet certainly 't is more opposite to the Dictates of Self-love to be Ungrateful than Unjust and doubtless that Remorse is greatest which arises not only from Reason but also the Love of our selves when its Laws have been transgressed Sympathy which we observ'd to be the â—ourth Source of our Affections is Twofold A Bodily Sympathy and a Sympathy of the Soul The Cause of the former is to be search'd for in the Temperament that of the latter is to be sought among the secret Spring that actuate and move our Heart And indeed 't is certain that what we believe to be a Sympathy of Temperament proceeds sometimes from the hidden Principles of the Heart For what reason pray do I hate such or such a Man at first sight tho' I have no Knowledge of him 'T is because he resembles some Person that has offended me this Resemblance affects and strikes upon my Soul and excites an Idea of Hatred tho' I reflect not upon it How come I on the contrary to love an unknown Person as soon as I see him without informing my self either of his Merit or unworthiness 'T is because he has some Conformity or Likeness either to my self my Children Friends or in a word to some One that I have an Affection for and without my making any distinct Reflection awakens an Amour which laid dormant in my Heart You see then how much Self-love is
a Veneration and Esteem for a Person whom you are assur'd you shall never be the better for meerly by considering in him the bare Power of doing you a good Turn is it at all to be wonder'd at that this same Principle causes you to love One who by his Vertue is dispos'd to be Beneficent to you tho' you very well know that he cannot actually exert this Inclination Say we then that the Heart has its Abstractions as well as the Mind and as this knows how to define Good in general tho' â—t can draw more to the Life in our Imagination any particular Good So the Heart loves these general Conformities and Agreements of Objects to it self tho' particular ones do infinitely more affect and touch it and it cannot but think well of a Vertuous Man by reason of these delicate Relations Vertue has to Self-love This is beyond all doubt because your Love of the Vertues increases proportionably to their Relation and Agreement to you We have naturally a better Opinion of Clemency than Severity of Liberality than Oeconomy and Thriftyness tho' they all equally partake of the Nature of Vertue which can be for no other reason but because our Affection is not altogether Dis-interested and we love in it the secret Relations it has to our selves But the Vicious and Exorbitant are not to be exempted from the Number of those who are thus enamour'd with the Beauty of Vertue On the contrary 't is certain that â—pâ—n the very Account of their being Vicious they are oblig'd to have a greater Affection and Opinion of Vertue Humility levels and smooths the Way for Pride and therefore 't is lov'd by an haughty Spirit Liberality is diffusive and free in Giving and therefore can't displease an Interested Person Temperance does not rob you of your Pleasures and therefore must needs be agreeable to a Voluptuary who would not willingly have either Rival or Combatant Could one think that the Affection which Worldlings testify themselves to have for Vertuous Persons should spring from so â—thy a Source and shall I make bold to advance this Paradox That our own Vices are often the Causes of our loving other Men's Vertues Nay more than that I dare say That Self-love bears no small Part in the most pure Sentiments which Religion and Morality give us of God Divine Love is commonly distinguish'd into three Species A Love of Interest a Love of Gratitude and a Love of pure Friendship Love of Interest according to the Vulgar Acceptation falls in with Self-love Love of Gratitude as we before observ'd is deriv'd from the same Source with that of Interest Love of pure Friendship seems to rise independently from all Interest and Self-love yet if you look narrowly into the Matter you 'll find that it has in the Bottom the very same Principle For first 't is observable that Love of pure Friendship rises not all at once in the Heart of a Man whom we instruct in points of Religion The first â—tep to Sanctification is a Detachment and â—nhampering from the World the Second is to love God with a Love of Interest by giving up our selves wholly to Him because we consider him as the Soveraign Good the Third is to have a due Acknowledgment and Gratitude for his Benefits the Last is â—o love his intrinsick Perfections 'T is certain that the first of these Sentiments disposes and makes way for the Second the Second for the Third and the Third for Fourth We can't throughly consider what a great Unhappiness and Misery it is to abandon and forsake God without desiring his Communion by Motives taken from our Interest We can't love God as the Principle of our Joy and Felicity without a grateful Acknowledgment of Benefits receiv'd at his Hands 'T is natural and even necessary that he who loves God as the Supream Good and as his great and eternal Benefactour should attend with Complacency and Delight to the Consideration of his adorable Perfections that this Meditation should excite in him Joy and Satisfaction and so bring him to love God in the View of his Excellencies and Vertues Now all the previous Dispositions to this last Affection which is the Noblest of all being taken from Self-love it follows that neither the pure Friendship which is conversant about God does â—se independently from it Also Experience teaches us that among the Vertues of God we particularly love those which have the nearest Agreement and Affinity to us We love his Clemency more than his Justice his Goodness than his Jealousy his Beneficence than his â—mensity c. Of which there can â—o other reason be given but that even this pure Friendship which seems to have for â—ts proper Object the Divine Perfections derives its principal Force from the Relation of these Perfections to Our Selâ—es Were there any entirely pure Friendship towards God in our Heart wholly â—empt from the Commerce of Self-love it would necessarily spring from Known Perfection and Excellency and not from our own Affections As Self-love would not produce so neither could it destroy this Friendship Yet the Devils know the Perfections of God without loving Him and Men before their Conversion know the Vertues of God tho' it can't be said that they have for him in that reprobate State the Affection which we term pure Friendship and consequently there must be some other Motives of this Love besides Known Perfection if Light be not sufficient to kindle it it must rise from the Flame of some Affection of our Heart since Affections and Knowledge are the whole Contents of our Soul Perhaps you 'll say that in order to capacitate a Soul for conceiving this Love of pure Friendship 't is not requisite that Self-love should directly produce it but only that it may not oppose and hinder it But I say if Pure Friendship arises from Known Perfection and nothing else be required to produce it the Opposition of Self-love is insignificant and as the Love of our selves can't derobe God of these Perfections nor hinder our Soul from knowing 'em so neither can it obstruct the Birth of this pure Affection Whilst we consider God as a Judge as a terrible Executioner of Vengeance and as standing ready with a Thunderbolt in his Hand we may indeed admire his infinite and adorable Excellencies but can't conceive an Affection for Him And 't is very certain that could we but any ways Evade even this Admiration of God we should be very cautious in applauding him with it for in this State we regard him as our Enemy render to him no more but what we needs must And whence can this Necessity of admiring God proceed unless it spontaneously arise from Known Perfection If then we conceive pure Friendship to have precisely the same Source with Admiration that is to say if we conceive it to have no other Origine but Known Perfection we may safely conclude that pure Friendship will arise in our Soul beyond all Possibility of any
of our Corruption neither will we set 'em up for true Sources of Esteem For pray What is Vertue taken in this Sence 'T is a Sacrifice of the inferiour Passions to the superiour 't is to offer up One's other Affections as Victims to Pride and the love of Glory Liberality is nothing else as we before observ'd but a Traffick of Self-love which prefers the Glory of giving before what it gives Constancy is but meerly a vain Ostentation of the Strength of One's Soul and a Desire to seem above the reach of Adversity Intrepidness is but an Art of hiding One's Fear or of putting off a natural Infirmity Magnanimity is only a Desire to make an outward Show of great and elevated Thoughts Love of One's Country which made the noblest Character of the Ancient Heroes was but a secret and by-road their self-Self-love took to arrive to Consideration Glory and Dignities and sometimes 't was only Ambition disguised under noble and venerable Names Cicero's Revenge Augustus's Ambition Lucullus's Interest would not have been very well taken by the Romans had they appear'd in their true and native shape they were oblig'd to cover 'em with this Pretext The Love of their Country There have also been Cases wherein Men having some confus'd Sentiment of their Perfections and seeking for natural Grandeur left no Stone unturn'd to give their Actions and Conduct such an End as was worthy of what they conceiv'd of their Excellency but wanting good Direction they diverted to false Objects Brutus commends Vertue and afterwards repents of it Cato sacrifices to his Country and considers not that under the specious Name of the Country he adores he works for a Company of Robbers and Usurpers and tho' a confus'd Idea of the Publick seem so Glorious a distinct ought to cover him with Shame and Confusion In a word there 's a Falshood in Humane Vertues which is obvious to all the World and hinders us from setting a Value upon 'em without a gross Extravagance Is there any more Sincerity in the Injustice of those other Heroes who became Ennobled by Crimes and Villanies and Renown'd by their injurious Exploits They Sacrifice their Lives and Fortunes as if all were their own Alexander is a lively Instance of this Disorder One would guess from the furious Conduct of this Prince that all Things were made for his Pleasure and Glory and that Mankind was good for nothing else but to serve his Desire He Burns Cities Ravages Provinces Reverses Thrones makes other Powers the Play-game of his own as if the Nation of the Earth were but Dust and Worms in his Sight Is it tolerable that a Man should make such Sacrifices to himself as he would dread to Offer to the greatest of his Gods CHAP. XIX Of the Two last Characters of Pride which are Ambition and the Contempt of the World THE excessive Love of Esteem produces another Irregularity which is Ambition because our too violent Ardour to make our selves Considerable in the World causes us to aspire at all that may render us eminent and great upon the Theatre of Humane Life Whilst we are confounded with the common Rabble others are equally respected by the Publick if we would draw Attention and a peculiar Deference we must depart from their Company Superiority challenges the Preferences of Consideration and Esteem and for this reason we are ambitious of attaining it Every One strives to excel in his Profession be it never so mean and that not because he loves the Excellency of his Art for its own sake but because he would become more Famous and Considerable than others They that expose themselves to War are not in love with the Dangers but the distinguisht Glory But lest the Distinction which proceeds from Merit and great Actions may pâ—ssiblyly hid be subject to Contestation or not expos'd to general View our Heart ambitiously covets another kind of Elevation which is Incontestable and acknowledg'd by all Men namely Grandeur Dignities and Power as we before observ'd The Fancy of self-Self-love is particularly tickl'd when it sees those whom it fear'd as Rivals in the Field of Vain-glory court and crouch under its Superiority 'T is charm'd and mightily taken with the Power that brings them under it and loves them so much the more as it less fears the Obstacle of their Competition But the same Sentiment of Pride which excites us to love those that are subject to our Empire so much tempts them to abhor the Necessity which puts 'em in a state of Dependance that no less than an heroick and eminent Vertue on our side can force them to hide their Malignity Lastly The same Reason that makes us endeavour to mount our selves to a distinguisht Rank that we may no longerly in the Obscurity and Confusion which hinder us from being Remarkt in the World inspires us with that Inclination we have to despise and contemn our Neighbour We are not contented to stand on Tip-toe to seem Taller than other Men but must also endeavour to Trip up their Heels and throw 'em down that we may seem Greater by their Fall and Debasement The Pleasure we take in Satyr and Comedy is not only to be imputed to our Spite and Malignity but also to our Pride 'T is Nuts to us to see other Men disgrac'd and pull'd down especially those Persons who hereby become uncapable of being our Rivals in the Suit of Vain-glory we take a particular Delight to see these Ridicule'd because this Debasement seems greatest and most incurable of all Men being asham'd to make those the Objects of their Esteem whom before they derided and reproacht How comes it to pass that Men who never Laugh to see a Stone or a Horse fall down can hardly forbear it when they see a Man fall since the One is undoubtedly in it self no more Ridiculous than the Other 'T is because our Heart is not at all concern'd or interested in the Fall of a Beast whereas we are so much interested in the Fall and Debasement of other Men that even the Image of it delights and pleases us Men think their Laughing is always innocent and indeed 't is always criminal and blamable This same Propensity inspires us with the Contempt of our Neighbour which is term'd Insolence Haughtiness or Arrogance according as 't is Conversant about Superiours Inferiours or Equals We are eager to Debase those who were beneath us before thinking we shall rise higher proportionably as they fall lower or to disparage and injure our Equals that they may no longer be at the same Level with us or to slight and undervalue our Superiours because the Lustre of their Grandeur extinguishes ours Herein our Pride visibly betrays it self for if others are an Object of our Contempt why should we ambitiously covet their Esteem Or if their Esteem be so much worth as to deserve the most passionate Desire of our Souls how can we despise ' em Is it not because the Contempt of our Neighbour is
Captivity whence the Legislator covers and shrouds himself as it were with this Benefit in order to draw them to the Obedience they owe to him I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Aegypt out of the house of Bondage thou shalt have none other Gods c. 'T is plain that this Motive has not the same Force upon the Heart of those Men who did not partake of this Deliverance 't will be to no purpose to say that tho' they did not all partake of the Temporal Deliverance of the Israelites yet have they been Spiritually deliver'd from the Egypt of Sin Mystical Senses are good in a simple Doctrine design'd to instruct but are of no use in a Precept which requiring an exact Obedience cannot be conceived in Terms too precise or too proper And again what a number of People are there in the World to whom God hath certainly given the Natural Law as well as to other Men who yet have never heard of the Deliverance of the Israelites by the Ministry of Moses and who consequently cannot find an Emblem of their Spiritual Deliverance 2. The Israelites being in a Desart where they could have no other Drink but Water nor other Meat but Manna had no need of any Instruction or Precept to incline them to Sobriety by making them to avoid Drunkenness and Gluttony No other reason can be given of this why the Lawgiver has not forbidden this kind of Intemperance in the Decalogue which hath always pass'd for a Capital Vice 3. The Canaanites who had incurr'd the Displeasure of God and born the Punishment of their own Sins did nevertheless seem accursed outwardly and interpretatively as the Schools speak by occasion of the Crime of Cham who discover'd his Father's Shame and was punished by this Prophetick Malediction which presag'd the Ruine of Canaan's Posterity The Son of the Impious One It cannot be deny'd but that the Decalogue manifestly alludes to this in the Fifth Commandment conceiv'd in these Words Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy Days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee 'T is certain that by the Land must be understood not the Land of the Living in general but this Land which had been allotted to the Israelites which evidently appears from this Expression which the Lord thy God giveth thee And doubtless the sense of the Law is That they ought to avoid the Crime of Cham who became fatal to his Posterity and endeavour to obtain by an opposite Conduct and Behaviour the Benediction of God who is able to confirm them in their Possessions 4. 'T is certain that Nature teaches us to Consecrate a part of our Life to the Service of God For since we receive from him every moment of our Duration Gratitude and Justice require us to Dedicate some of them to Him and particularly to set apart some certain Seasons for Piety and Devotion But to observe the Seventh Day and to extend the Observation of it even to Beasts is an Injunction that bears no relation to Nature but to the Condition of this People at that time God was not willing the memory of the Benefit of the Creation should be forgotten thro' neglect of observing a Feast that had been instituted with a design to perpetuate the Remembrance of this great Event It appears by all these Characters That the Law of the Decalogue doth not differ from the Law of Nature as to its Essence and first Principles but only as to its manner and the Extension which were requisite to be given it to adapt it to the Condition and Exigencies of the People of Israel This is evident from a general Observation which may be made upon this Subject namely That the grand Motives which support the Precepts of this Law in general are Temporal Benedictions and Maledictions Motives which the Soveraign Law-giver imploy'd to make himself obey'd he who could menace Men with eternal Punishments design'd for the Wicked and promise to those who observ'd his Law an eternal and most happy Life how does he come to suppress these powerful Motives these dreadful Objects or at least to declare them but darkly and confusedly whilst he takes all the Force of his Promises and Threats from the greatness of Bodily Goods and Evils 'T is because he proportions his Law to that present State of the Israelites the Time being not yet come for clearly revealing Life and most Blessed Immortality in Jesus Christ who among other Characters of his Divine Vocation was to have this of a clear and abundant Revelation CHAP. III. Where we continue to make certain Reflections upon the Decalogue considering it as the Expression of the Law of Nature accommodated to the State of the Israelites THe first Precept which it contains is of so great Importance that it seems of it self to be a Compendium of Morality and Religion It includes a Command and a Prohibition the Command is to love God with all our Heart with all our Strength and with all our Mind the prohibition is not to have any other God before the Lord. For the better understanding of this precept 't is to be observ'd in general that a Man may love Three ways by Sense or by Reason or by Sense and Reason both together To love by Sense is to love One for the Good he doth us or for the Pleasures he creates to us To love by Reason is to love Perfection for Perfection's sake To love by Sense and Reason too is to love One both upon the account of the Merit and Perfection wherewith he is endued and of the Good which he does or is capable of doing us Love of Reason seems not essentially to differ from Esteem and it imports no more than an Esteem interess'd in the behalf of the Object esteem'd which searches for Occasions of doing it Good or wishes it Well Thus we love extraneous and remote Desert such as no way relates to us but as we shall see hereafter Love of this Character is rarely to be found We love our selves on the contrary by Sense and not by Reason The Love of our selves precedes the Judgment which we make that we ought to love our selves and tho' we should propose a thousand Arguments against this Inclination yet for all that we should not cease to love our selves Lastly God loves Himself both by Reason and Sense by Reason because He knows His proper Perfections by Sense because He tasts His infinite Beatitude And in like manner we are obliged to love Him both by Reason and Sense by Reason because he is endued with all Perfections by Sense because He communicates to us all the Goods we can enjoy and possess God seems here to demand the Love of Sense He doth not say I am the God of all Perfections c. But I am the Eternal thy God who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt c. And 't is remarkable that this Character is
common to all His Revelations which he addresses to Men upon Earth this is to manifest Himself unto them cloathed with some of His Benefits that He may win their Heart by an Acknowledgment and Gratitude He was serv'd in the Old World under the Name of God who is and who is the Rewarder of them that call upon Him He was afterwards known under the Name of the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob. After that He gave His Law by declaring Himself the Lord who had brought this People out of the land of Egypt Afterwards a Prophet declares that the Time is come in the which Men will no longer say the Eternal is He who brought His People out of the Land of Egypt but the Eternal is He that hath brought up His People out of the Country of Babylon Lastly so soon as the time for Man's Redemption is accomplish'd God is no longer call'd by any other Name than the God of Mercy and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They therefore are very much mistaken who fancy 't is an Offence against God to love Him any otherwise than for the Love of Himself and His intrinsick Perfections and that there is no interested Motion in our Heart but what is Criminal In order to refute these Speculations we need but make reflection upon the Conduct of God who not only consents that we should love Him by the Motives of the Good which we find in the Possession of Him but also wills and proportions His Revelations to this Design and it may likewise be said that we glorify the Supream Good when we desire it ardently and feel no Repose or Joy but in Communion with it This grand Precept may be proposed to the Mortal Man to confound and baffle him by shewing him the Impossibility he lies under of fulfilling the Divine Law but 't is the Immortal Man alone that is capable of fulfilling this Duty 'T is not the dying Man that perceives himself under great Obligations to God but the Man that subsists to Eternity And 't is not in a heap of perishing Favours but in the Assemblage of incorruptible Goods that we find the Motives of such a Love and Gratitude as are worthy of God So also the Man of Nature consider'd as a Man that hath short and transitory Relations to other Men neither can nor ought to love others so much as himself Were we obliged to love an indifferent and unknown Person with the same degree of Affection that Children love their Parents certainly the whole World would be a Scene of Disorder and Confusion We ought to love our Children more than Persons that are indifferent to us now as it is the Love of our selves that makes this Inequality and this Variety of our Affections it follows that there is an Original Law of Nature which dictates that we should love our selves more than other Men. But the immortal Man hath other Views and Obligations all the divers kinds of Proximity and Relation which respect this Life disappear and vanish at the prospect of the Relations of that Eternal Society which we are to enjoy A Temporal Neighbour whom Nature points out to us is not so considerable as the Eternal Neighbour which Faith discovers in him But some persons love themselves to such an exorbitant Degree that 't is in no wise convenient they should be affected with the same Love if others as of themselves For pray tell me of One should say to a Man I wish you were Ungrateful Blind Passionate Revengeful Proud Voluptuous Covetous that you might take more Pleasure and Enjoyment in the World would he not have Reason to think that either we dote or have a Mind to make him a very course Compliment and yet this would be to love our Neighbour as we love our selves If we would love our Neighbour as our selves we ought to love him with Relation to Eternity None but the immortal Man is in a Capacity of observing this Precept strictly and well Perhaps the Question may be ask'd whether when the Law enjoyns us to love our Neighbour as our selves it means that we should love by the Motives of that Love we bear to God or of that which we have for our selves I answer by distinguishing still betwixt Rational and Sensual Love when we love our Neighbour with a rational Love 't is certain that the Motives of this Love ought to proceed from the Love we have for God When we love our Neighbour with a Love of Sense or sensual Love the Motives of Love should proceed purely from the Affection we have for our selves Thus it may be reply'd that we ought to love him by both these Motives and the Law of the Decalogue seems to confirm us in this Opinion for it puts the Precept which refers to our Neighbour immediately after that which refers to God to teach us that the One depends upon the Other and that we are obliged to love our Neighbour with the same kind of Affection that we bear to God And on the other side it calls him whom it recommends to our Love by the Name of Neighbour to intimate to us that we are concern'd to love him because he is a Person that belongs to us Reason tells us That God being the supream and infinite Beauty is Amiable for his own Sake and that all things become so for the Love of him It therefore requires us to love Objects according as they stand related to God The Experience we have of our own Being accompany'd with Joy and Delight obliging us to love our selves in the first place Nature teaches us to love Persons according to the degree of Proximity and Relation which they have to Us. These two Laws are not opposite to each other the One as I may say is the Law of Reason the Other is the Law of Sense the one is the Instinct of the mortal and perishing Nature the other of the immortal and incorruptible Nature the one relates to the short and transient Society which we ought to have one among another the other to the Eternal Commerce and Friendship we ought to have in God CHAP. IV. Where we shew the Extent of the Natural Law by considering it in the Gospel and with Relation to the Immortal Man IF the Law of Moses were the Law of Nature accomodated to the Condition of the mortal Man and to the State of the Israelites in particular the Gospel is the Law of Nature accommodated to the State and Relations of the immortal Man This sufficiently appears from the different Genius and Conduct of the two Oeconomies Under the Oeconomy of the Law God seems to make no farther Manifestation of Himself than to break thro' Walls open the Abysses of the Earth inflame Mountains send down Fire from Heaven menace the Body with his Judgments or to execute the Arrests of his Justice upon the perishing Nature but under the new Dispensation of Grace we see Persons animated with the Spirit of
God contemn the Injury of the Elements and the persecution of Men suffer with so great Constancy as if they suffer'd in a Body which was not their own transported with Joy in the midst of consuming Flames and triumphing to see the Dissolution of that Compound which is so preciously and carefully preserved by other Men because they are supported and encouraged by the Idea of Eternity whereof the Divine Mercy has given them a distinct Knowledge Not but the Law of Moses includes some Relation to Eternity for this Law had at least the Shadow of good things to come also it cannot be deny'd but that the Gospel supposes the Idea's of Man's Vileness and Mortality for it includes all our Remedies and Consolations against it but thus much is true that the Law of Moses regards the present Life directly and Eternity indirectly whereas the Gospel regards Eternity as its principal Object and the present Life indirectly As for Nature that is equally discover'd under both Oeconomies The Gospel if I may so speak is hidden in in Nature Nature in the Gospel but we must here understand the immortal Nature and that will put us in a way to unravel some Difficulties which might possibly intangle and perplex us Indeed it seems contrary to Nature to love our Enemies to look upon Adversity as a Blessing and Afflictions as a subject of Joy and so far to yield up the Cudgels to Justice as to render not only as much but even more than it demands which are Maxims of the Gospel I confess all this goes against the Grain of the Corruptible Nature which measures every Thing according as it stands related to this present Life but 't is far from being opposite to the Interests of the immortal Nature which values not Time and exerts all its Actions in a prospect of Eternity Our Enemies are an Obstacle to the establishment of our Fortune in the World but nothing except the Hatred we may possibly bear them is an hindrance to our Salvation and this is the Thing which the immortal Man considers he despises those little Reasons of Hating which Concupiscence suggests to our Heart and regards those eternal Relations we have to Others in God who is our common Father as the most powerful Motives of the Love we have for our Neighbour Plenty and Prosperity charm such a Heart as hath limited the utmost of its Hopes and Pretensions to the transitory World but the immortal Man finds in that State so much more subject of Fear as there is more of Sense he dreads these imaginary Goods which buisy us and never satisfy these lively Sensations which hinder the Knowledge of his real Interests He looks upon Prosperity as the Reign of the Passions which seduce and misguide us He 's perswaded that Afflictions by depriving us of these agreeable Sensations do but only chase an infinite Troop of Impostors from the Territories of our Soul And he does not think that Worldly Goods deserve our Envy and to make us rival each other in pursuing them especially when Religion assures him that these Hatreds and Contestations which are occasion'd by the corruptible World are capable of doing him an Eternal prejudice For which Reason tho' Man has a Right of demanding what belongs to him God having for this End establish'd Tribunals in Society which would be but an union of Robbers and a succession of Murthers and Villanies without the Exercise of Justice yet the prudence of the immortal Man permits him not to exact his Rights with rigour and severity when he sees but the least probability of injuring by that means the Interests of his Soul Whence we may conclude That the Morality of the Gospel is but purely the Expression of the immortal Man's Heart but we shall have an Opportunity to speak more of this elsewhere We have seen that the Perfections of Man roll upon his Immortality which alone can render him capable of Happiness and we have just now seen that this Immortality founds the Extent of our Duties and Obligations We proceed to shew that 't is this also that makes the Strength of our Soul or the Weight that can determine us to well-doing CHAP. V. â—f the moral Strength of Man or the Motives which he finds in himself for determining him in his Actions HAd God been an Enemy to Man He would have fix'd Pain to all those Obâ—ects whereunto it pleas'd Him to fix Delight â—nd Pleasure he could have done One as easiâ—y as the Other and then Man would have â—een his own Enemy whereas now he is naturally a Lover of himself For it needs must follow by an essential Consequence that he who feels Pain hates â—t and if this Pain be constant and inseparaâ—le he hates his own Being as knowing veâ—y well that unless he existed he should not â—ndure this Pain 'T is very easy to conceive That the damn'd Spirits hate themselves for â—heir Punishment and that tho' Self-love has been in this World the Source of their Corruption Hatred of themselves becomes hereafter Instrumental to their Punishment Moreover we conceive that 't is impossible to have a Sense of Pleasure without loving it and wishing the preservation of this Self which is the Subject of it Pleasure makes 〈◊〉 love our Existence because without our Existence this pleasure cannot subsist Thence it follows that 't was in the power of God when He form'd Man either to make him love or not love Himself since it depended upon His Will to affix or not affix Pleasure to certain Objects Thus the Love of our selves is in it self a natural Inclination 't is Nature that causes us to love Pleasure and hate Pain and 't is Nature that makes us love our selves This Inclination does not wait for intellectual Reflections to give it Birth in our Soul it precedes all our Reasonings The Stoicks have justly deserv'd to be scorn'd and ridicul'd by all posterity if they really held those Opinions which are usually attributed to them They pretended that the way for a Man to be Wise was to put off Humanity this at the first dash was a very great piece of Extravagance but they fail'd no less in conceiving a kind of Infirmity and Baseness in the most natural Spring of our Heart Secondly self-Self-love is an Inclination most Divine in its Original We love our selves for this very Reason because God has loved us Had God hated us we should likewise hate our selves therefore 't is unreasonable and groundless to cry down all those Actions which Self-love excites us to as if they were so many Crimes and Infirmities according to the dangerous Morality of some who have pretended to annihilate the Excellency of all the Vertues upon this principle That they all proceeded from the Womb of Self-love and were grounded meerly in Interest a very bad Consequence since Self-love is an Inclination of a most Divine and Heavenly Extraction Lastly the Love of our selves is a necessary Inclination it must not be imagin'd
that our Soul is indifferent to tend or not tend towards that which it judges advantagious and profitable these Indifferences of Free-will are the Dreams and Fancies of those who have not sufficiently study'd Nature or are not willing to have the Knowledge of themselves But God has thought fit to mingle Knowledge and Sense together that the former might regulate and guide the latter and the latter might fix the former Had Man no other Faculty but Reason we should Err in our Thoughts and spend our selves in vain Speculations applying our selves to know every thing else but what would be of greatest Concernment to us Sense is therefore design'd to fix this Intellect and confine it principally to those Objects which concern it Were there nothing else but Sense in Man he might indeed then have such propensities and desires as this Sense should produce but would fail of Light and Direction for finding out those Things to which these Desires do naturally tend and the Love of pleasure being blind and misguided would throw him down into a thousand Precipices wherefore Reason is design'd to regulate Sense Reason is the Soul's Councellor Sense iâ— as it were the Force and Weight that determines it And these Forces are greater or lesser proportionably to the Differenceâ— of Sense In the Comparison we make of them the Soul considers not only what excites in it present but also what is capable of creating to it future Pleasure It compares Pleasure with Pain the present Good with Absent the Good it hopes for with the Dangers to be endur'd and determines it self according to the Instruction it receives in these various Enquiries its Liberty being as I may so speak no more than the Extent of its Knowledge and the Power it hath of not choosing after having made a deep Scrutiny and throughly examin'd The Case being thus 't is easy to judge that 't is either present Advantage which consists in an actual Sense of Pleasure or future which consists in whatsoever can hereafter caress us with Delight and render us Happy or preserve our Happiness by preserving us our selves that makes all the Strength of our Soul for determining it self in its Designs and Conduct This Strength is very small when included within the Circle of worldly Objects The Power we have as Men for avoiding Covetousness will consist in the Fear of injuring our Honour by the sordidness of Interest the Power we have to hinder us from being Prodigal will consist in the Fear of ruining our Affairs when we aspire at gaining a famous Reputation by our Liberalities The Fear of Diseases will make us resist the Temptations of Pleasure Self-love will render us moderate and circumspect and even thro' Pride we shall appear humble and modest But this is only to pass from one Vice to another if we would give our Soul strength enough to rise above one Infirmity without relapsing into another we must excite and stir it up by Motives not taken from the World The prospect of Time may cause it to pass from Disorder to Disorder but the bare view of Eternity includes such Motives as are proper to elevate it far above the Region of all its Infirmities None but this Object touches and sanctifies because this alone mounts us high enough for totally renouncing the World We have seen some Preachers of a sublime and lofty Eloquence work no Effect because they did not well understand how to interest and engage the Immortal Nature and on the contrary we have seen a very mean Talent touch and affect all the World by inartificial Discourses because they shot the right Mark and â—aid hold of Men by the Motives of Eternity Motives which repeated a thousand ways and sometimes very grosly and unpolitely have won the most enlighten'd and purify'd Souls because they take them by what is greatest and most weighty in them and most considerable in all external Objects The Motives of Time have but a limited but the Motives of Eternity have as it were an infinite Strength which is suspended meerly by our Corruption Hence it follows that as self-Self-love is the general Source of those Motives which determine our Heart so 't is Self-love as it looks towards Eternity that makes all the strength we have to raise ourselves above the Confines of the World There is no better way to justify this last Truth than by seeing what the sense of our Immortality is capable of working in us what Influence it has upon our Motions and Actions and of what use it is in our Heart This we proceed to examine at large CHAP. VI. Where we explain what the Sense of our Immortality is capable of working upon our Heart WE certainly see that whatsoever comforts raises and satisfies us takes its Birth from this Original 't is only in the Idea and Sense of our Immortality that we find true and solid Consolations against the Fears of Death as 't is easy to shew by considering this Object every way The Idea of Death includes Six others an Idea of Desertion or Leaving an Idea of Necessity an Idea of Solitude an Idea of Destruction an Idea of Judgment and an Idea of Misery The Idea of Desertion or Leaving imports that we leave All and all leaves us This Idea mortifies and afflicts Self-love because it represents to it the rupture and disappointment of its Applications and Desires It beholds its loss of the Time present and a Curtain is drawn upon the Future and indeed I confess Man has very good reason to be afraid till the Curtain is as it were drawn back by Repentance and he can assure himself of the Remission of his Sins without which he is uncapable of any Comfort either in Life or Death but when he hath made his Peace with his God which he may know by the State of his Heart and the Sentiment of his Conscience he certainly ought to have quite different Ideas of Death what he regrets and bemoans is of very small Moment if he compare it not only with the glorious Eternity promis'd him in the Gospel but also with his own natural Excellency He ought to make it a Matter of the greatest Wonder that a Mind which by the inviolable Inclinations of its Nature flies up to Infinity should so long buisy it self with the Trifles of this Life and one may say without adding an Hyperbole to this Mind that if it has lost any thing 't is Life and not Death that ought to bear the Blame Life has involv'd it in the Loss of many precious things its Sanctity the sense of God's Love c. and to retrieve its Damage has given it nothing but Shows and Appearances but Death will advantagiously indemnify and repair its Loss provided it depart in the Lord. Death deprives us of our Five Senses whereupon Self-love makes this Resentment That if it be a great Affliction for a Man to lose his Seeing or Hearing 't is a much greater to lose all his Senses
demonstrate beyond all Dispute what our Enquiries have taught us in this Matter I demand for instance Whether the Blessed Above who undoubtedly love themselves neither too much nor too little seeing that they are in a State of Perfection can love God with an infinite Affection and yet not perceive the Joy arising from the Possession of him I would know in the next place Whether we can feel Joy and Delight without loving One-self proportionably to this Perception Why then should we trouble our selves with such vain and contradictory Queries As whether the Saints love God better than themselves I had as live they 'd ask me Whether they love Themselves better than Themselves For these two Expressions have in reallity the same signification and not to love God is in some measure to hate One-self To let you see that this is but meer Punning and Quibling in words we must divide the Love of God into two Sorts a Love of Interest and a Love of pure Friendship as Divines call it I understand this latter to have no Intercourse at all with Self-love according to the common Notion of it but I would know which of these two Kinds of Love you mean when you ask me Whether the Love we ought to have of God be not greater than that of our selves If you understand by the Love of God Love of pure Friendship whose only Object is Known-Perfection I answer that this Love cannot be compar'd with the Love of our selves which is of quite another Nature since as I have already said we love not our selves by Reason but Sense and Corporeal or Spiritual Pleasure naturally engages us to love our selves even before we are capable of making Reflection But if by the Love we ought to have for God you mean Love of Interest which is ty'd to him as our Supream Good you don't apprehend that you oppose the same thing to it self seeing that to love One-self and the Soveraign Good is all one and does not make two distinct species of Love but are one and the same consider'd under different Respects namely in reference to its Principles and its Objects It therefore appears That the Irregularity consists not in this that we love our selves too much seeing we are allow'd to love our selves as much as we please with Relation to the Supream Good But herein lies the Evil that we take a wrong Method in exerting this Love that is we love our selves with relation to false Objects Self love simply taken is innocent and harmless It becomes corrupted when 't is diverted towards the Creatures and Holy when converted and steer'd towards God Pursuant to the fore-going Doctrine we may distinguish Three Hearts in Man the Heart of the Man the Heart of the Sinner and the Heart of the Faithful The Heart of the Man is the Soul as it naturally loves it self the Heart of the Sinner is the Soul as it loves the World and the Heart of the Faithful is the Soul as it loves God The Natural Heart is essentially included in the other Two and the natural Love of our selves which is the Principle of all our Affections the Mobile that actuates either Grace or Corruption and receives either the Love of God or the World The Heart of Man loves The Heart of the Worldling loves Vanity The Heart of the Faithful loves the infinite and eternal Good The first is the Heart of Man the second the Heart of the mortal Man the third is the Heart of the immortal Man CHAP. VII Where we shew that Self-love kindles all our Affections and is the general Principle of our Motions I Said before that Self-love is the Principle of all our natural Affections For all our Desires Fears and Hopes are the devoted Servants and Off-spring of Self-love I confess the Affection we have for other Men sometimes causes us to Desire Fear and Hope But what is the Principle of this Affection but the Love of our selves Do but throughly consider and weigh all the Sources of our Friendship and you 'll find they are reduc'd to Interest Gratitude Relation Sympathy and a delicate Agreement of that Vertue with Self-love which makes us think that we love it for its own sake whereas indeed we love it meerly for the sake of our selves and it wholly terminates in Self-love 'T is from hence that Relation borrows all its Rapture and Strength for kindling our Affections We love our Children because they are our Children Were they another Man's Children they would be indifferent to us Therefore we don 't properly love them but the Relation which links us to ' em 'T is true Children don't love their Parents with the same Degree of Affection as Parents do their Children tho' these two Affections seem to be founded upon the same reason of Relation but this Difference proceeds from another Cause Children see themselves Die in the Person of their Parents and Parents on the contrary see themselves Revive in the Person of their Children Now nature inspires us with the Love of Life and Hatred of Death Also Parents behold in their Children as it were other selves but other selves subject and dependant upon 'em They think it an Happiness to have brought 'em into the World they consider 'em with Delight because they consider 'em as their own Workmanship They are exceedingly pleas'd at having sacred and inviolable Rights over ' em This is their Magistracy Royalty and Empire But the same Pride which causes the Parents to love Superiority makes the Children hate Dependance Nothing lays so heavy a weight upon us as a Benefit when 't is too great because it depresses us to too great Submission We look upon it as a delicate but very strong Chain which links our Heart and constrains our Liberty This is the Mystery of that common Maxim Blood never rises But as there is a Relation of Blood Profession Religion Country c. the Affections are infinitely diversify'd according to these various Respects But woe be to Relation if it be combated by Interest For Interest will infallibly get the better That tends to us directly Relation only by Reflection Hence Interest is always more strong and prevalent than Relation but in this as in every thing else particular Circumstances very much alter the general Proposition What we commonly experience That no Hatred is more violent than that which happens between those who were formerly very great Friends is to be imputed to almost the same reason 'T is because these Persons found either Profit or Pleasure in loving one another This interested their self-Self-love but when they come to change their Sentiment the Motives of Love joyn themselves with the Motives of Hatred they revolt and rise up in Arms both by reason of the Idea of the Wrong that 's done 'em and of the Pleasures of that Friendship which they renounce and they suffer not only by the Hatred which is kindled but also by the Affection which is extinguish'd which
concern'd in these mysterious and hidden Inclinations which one of our Poets describes in this manner Some seâ—ret Knots some Sympathies we find By whose agreeing Tyes Souls are Conjoyn'd But if after having spoken of Bodily Smypathies we would make an Induction of Spiritual Sympathies we should find that to love Men by Sympathy implies no more but to 〈◊〉 their Conformity and Likeness to 〈◊〉 this is to enjoy the Pleasure of loving 〈◊〉 selves in their Person this charms the Heart that it can safely commend it self without offending against Modesty this Adâ—â—â—â—age Men obtain when they seem to have 〈◊〉 great Affection for certain Persons the Principle of which Love is because they resâ—mble ' em We don't only love those that are naturally like us but also those that have an artificial Resemblance of us and make it their Endeavour to be our Imitators Cato as Proud and Austere as he was took it not amiss that Favonius imitated him and perhaps the most stiff and uncomplaisant Man in the World is so weak and flexible as not to be quite out of Conceit with this indirect Method of flattering and caressing his Self-love Not but a Man may indeed hate those who don 't imitate him well No person cares to be ridiculous 't is more Eligible to be oâ—â—â—s Thus we never like those Copies â—hose Ridiculousness reflects upon the Original But if you 'd know why one Gallant does â—oâ— love another or why one Learned Man 〈◊〉 not always just to another 't is easy to give you an Answer The reason is Because a Motive of Conformity does not countervail a Motive of Interest and the mutual Hatred of Rivalâ— is proportionable to the Accomplishments which they discover in each other The Heart as I said before considers the Profit and not the Light and 't is not Reason but the Love of our selves that determines us in placing our Affections Even our Love â—f a Vertuous Man is not to be excepted from this Rule who notwithstanding fails not to be belov'd even by those who are not like him for Vice is forc'd to pay Homage to â—his Vertue they esteem and respect him Qui pectore magno Spemq metumque domas vitio sublimior omni Exemptus Fatis indignantemque refellis Fortunam dubio quem non in turbine Rerum Deprehendet suprema Dies sed abire paratum At plenum Vita c. Tu cujus placido posuere in pectore sedem Blandus Honos hilarisque tamen cum pondere Virtaâ— Cui nec pigra Quies nec iniqua Potentia nec spes â—mproba sed medius per honesta dulcia limes Incorrupte fidem nullosque experte Tumultus Et secrete palam qui Digeris Ordine Vitam Idem Auri facilis Contemptor optimus Idem Condere Divitias opibusque immittere Lucem Hâ—c longum florens Animi morumque juventa â—acos aequare Senes vincere praesta Stat. Lib. 3. Sylvar Let Men examine themselves by this Portraiture and I 'm sure they cannot choose but love the Original and upon what Principles can this Affection be founded which Men have naturally even for those Persons whom they are not careful to resemble I answer that there be very few who have bid a final Renunciation and Adieu to Vertue and who don 't think but that they shall be Vertuous one time or other tho' they are not so at present I add that as Vice is essentially Odious so Vertue is essentially Amiable to Self-love The reason is because Vice is a Sacrifice of other Men which we Offer upon our own Altars and Vertue is a Sacrifice of some Pleasure or â—â—attering Profit which we Oâ—fer to the Good of other Men. Moreover 't is observable that the Objects which act upon our Soul have a twofold Relation to Self-love certain particular Correspondences which vigorously move and bâ—ass it such is the Correspondence of Interest or reciprocal Friendship For as this reason of â—oving regards us and none but us 't is I that â—â—d an Advantage in loving this Man and 〈◊〉 Me he loves and not another No wonder then if this particular Agreement obliges me to have a particular Adherence and Application to him But besides this there are certâ—in general Relations which an Object may have to our Heart which happen either when any One does us a Kindness for the Good of the whole Society whereof we are Members or when we find our selves oblig'd by the general Inclination which a Man appears to have towards doing Good because 't is possible we may some time or other be the Object of it or when being accustom'd to love one certain Beneficence which is profitable to us in particular we also come to love Beneficence in general and all those Persons to whom we apply its Idea Only 't is to be observ'd that as particular Agreements and Relations produce lively and vigorous Affections general Agreements as not concerning or interesting our Soul but at a Distance and a great way off excite only a frozen and languishing Friendship which partakes much more of the purity of Esteem than the Ardour of Affection All the Vertues at least in this general manner favour and countenance self-Self-love Your finest Descriptions of Vertue are grounded upon the secret Agreements and Correspondences they have to us as may be seen from the Example of these fine Expressions in that Portraiture of Vertue which we just now observ'd Cui nec pigra Quies nec iniqua Potentia Nec spes improba These Lineaments of Vertue are Amiable because they flatter and caress Self-love There be others which are rather productive of our Esteem than our Love because they are more Dis-interested Qui pectore magno Spemque metumque domas vitio sublimior omni Vertue when it has not these delicate Agreements with Self-love is only Esâ—imable But we render it more Amiable when we represent it as interesting our Heart How should we choose but be in Love with Clemency 't is very ready to pardon our Offences Liberality to do us good Beggar 's it self Humility never controuls but submissively yields to our pretensions Temperance respects our Honour and not our Pleasure Justice defends our Rights and renders us our Due Fortitude protects Prudence conducts Moderation spares us Charity does good to us c. You 'll say perhaps what do these Vertues signify to me they do me no Good It may be they don't Benefit you at present but were you under other Circumstances they might do you a Kindness Thâ— suppose a Disposition of doing you Good when an Opportunity is offer'd have you not experienced that tho' you never expect the Succour or Protection of a Rich Man yet you can't avoid having a secret Consideration and Respect for him which proceeds not from your Mind for that often despises the personal Qualities of such a Man but arises from the Love of our selves which respects in him even the simple Power of doing you a Kindness But if Self-love makes you have
in exerting this Love All Men most certainly agree in the general Idea Desire and Sentiment of Happiness The Diversity of Philosophers Opinions touching the Nature of Happiness is not really so Great as at first it seems to be All their Sentiments are reduc'd to Epicurus's who plac'd the Essence of Beatitude in Pleasure which will appear very reasonable provided you separate pure noble durable â—ertain Pleasure from sensual which has quite opposite Characters and you distinguiâ—h betwixt Happiness and its Foundations â—hich Men have been pleas'd to confound tâ—gether that they might cavil and contraâ—ict one another meerly thro' a mistake in the Notion of Happiness For Boetius defines Happiness The Absence of all Evils â—nd the Possession of all Goods You must observe that his Design was to define a perfect and compleat not a defective and imperfect Happiness and yet this is to define Happiness by its Foundations The Absence of Evils iâ— necessary indeed to keep us from being miserable but does not render us happy The Possession of Goods is the Foundation of our Happiness but not Happiness it self for what would it signify to have 'em in our Power if we have not the Perception and Fruition of ' em That Fool of Athâ—ns who thought that all the Ships which arriv'd to 〈◊〉 belong'd to him tasted the Happiness 〈◊〉 Riches without possessing 'em and it may 〈◊〉 the reall Owners of these Vesselâ— possâ—sâ—d 'em without any Fruition or Pleasure â—eing intoxicated with their insatiable Aâ—rice or afflicted with Disquietudes which infallibly attend the Possession of Temporal Goods Wherefore 't is not the Possession generally speaking but the Sentiment and Fruition of the Goods we are possess'd of that constitutes our Happiness So when Aristotle places Happiness in the Knowledge and Love of the Supream Good its plain that his Intention was to define Happiness by its Foundations otherwise he would be under a gross Mistake for if you separate Pleasure from this Knowledge and Love you 'd find that something more would be requir'd to make you happy And on the other Hand if you suppose a lively and durable Pain to be conjoyn'd with this Knowledge and Love you 'd see that we should certainly be Miserable The Stoicks who thought Happiness consisted in Wisdom were not so senseless as to imagine that the Satisfaction wherewith this Wisdom inspir'd 'em was to be separated from the Idea of Happiness Their Joy proceeded from the Drunkenness and Infatuation of their Soul which applauded it self at a Fictitious Constancy Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere Causas Atque Metus omnes inexorabile Fatum Subjecit Pedibus strepitumque Acherontis avari All Men in general are necessarily agreed in this Principle and I wonder the Schools should set 'em at Variance about it The Covetous Man feeds himself meerly with Hopes of enjoying his Riches and of tasting the Pleasure of possessing 'em Indeed he never truly enjoys his Wealth but 't is his Delight to hoard it up and that 's his whole Fruition The Ambitious Man's aim in seeking after Dignities is to be rais'd in the World above the Level of his Brethren And the Revengeful would never make any Retaliation did he not hope to find Satisfaction in Vengeance This true Maxim is not opposite to the Religion and Morality of Jesus Christ for he says that he did not come to destroy but to perfect Nature He does not oblige us to renounce the Love of Pleasure but proposes to us more pure more noble more spiritual more certain and more lasting Pleasures than those which the World promises And he defines Happiness by its Sources This is Life eternal to know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent And he very well knows that Happiness essentially consists in Joy and unspeakable Pleasures For 't is a Feast new Wine a River of Delights Torrents of Peace and Joy c. which Expressions under the Emblem of temporal Pleasures inform us of the eternal Pleasures of Paradise Men's Idea of Happiness assuredly proceeds from a sense of Pleasure The Vicious seeks after the Pleasures of Intemperance Vain-glory Revenge Ambition On the other Hand the Vertuous Man pursues the Pleasures of Vertue namely of Moderation Beneficence Temperance of Conscience and Piety He that should pretend to strip Vertue of the sense of Joy and Pleasure would certainly discourage our Heart and tho' possibly we might esteem yet we should not study and labour after it I confess that all Men don't relish the same Pleasure some are for gross others for delicate others for lively others for durable others for sensual others for mental and others for cordial Pleasure but all without exception are for Pleasure So say we that all Men agree in their general Desire to be Happy They may renounce all their Affections but they 'll never renounce this Inclination which is the primitive Source of all the others 'T is Happiness that Poor and Rich Young and Old Covetous and Liberal Temperate and Voluptuous do all aim at This Happiness is the Pleasure which they conceive and from the infinite Diversity of this Pleasure there arises a prodigious Variety of Passions and Applications The Irregularity consists in this that Men would fain tast and enjoy their Happiness before they have obtain'd it They wait not for the direction of Reason to conduct 'em to the Haven of Beatitude They begin with desiring to possess it as if they had regard to no other Pleasure but what they actually perceive These Disciples of the Senses want not Tutors to instruct 'em in the Art of Voluptuousness who tell 'em Non est mihi crede sapientis dicere vivam Sera nimis Vita est crastina vive hodie Mart. L. 1. Epig. 'T is no great Wonder that the most elevated Genius's of the Heathen World knew no other Good but the present and exhorted Men to enjoy the Delights that offer'd themselves for fear of losing 'em by Delays But 't is very much to be wonder'd that they who have the Knowledge of Eternity should be capable of the same Extravagance The Pleasure that constitutes our Happiness must have other Characters In the first place 't is requisite it should be spiritual Can one that tasts and enjoys Bodily Pleasure be in a State of Happiness if his Soul be at the same time fill'd with the Remorse of Fear and Sadness Secondly It must be durable Momentany Pleasures are more proper for rendering us miserable than happy because not only the Fruition of 'em is transient but they leave a durable Regret behind ' em And certainly Duration is so essential to Happiness that I dare say even the Felicity of Paradise would be inconsiderable were it possible for it to pass away in an Instant and that the Felicity of this lower World would be worth looking after were it but capable of lasting to Eternity For the former tho' it be never so great and transcendent would be swallow'd
Pursuit but this Joy expires with the Acquisition The greatest of temporal Goods after we have possess'd 'em but for two Days don't very much affect and please us This Happiness seems to consist in the Satisfaction of Desire which makes us not Happy either in Life or Death but only at the instant of Extinction or Annihilation The most excellent Wisdom of Nature thought fit to let us know that worldly Goods are not wholly to be neglected seeing it has affix'd Delight and Joy to the Acquisition of 'em But withal it would teach us that our Souls ought not to acquiesce in this Enjoyment since we no sooner commence the Perception of this Pleasure but it presently vanishes and cheats our Desire The Fifth Defect of Humane Felicity consists in this That our Happiness has always a mixture and allay of Misery Every Good brings some Evil at its Heels Impia suo Dulci melle venena latent Ovid. L. 7. Met. And I know not how it happens so consequent Calamities bear a proportion to precedent Blessings Vt rebus loetis par fit Mensura malorum Idem L. 1. Eleg. The last is that this Happiness does not fill the Capacity of our Soul nor answer the ardent Eagerness of the pursuit so that finding an extream Disproportion betwixt the Good we have obtain'd and the Ardour wherewith we pursu'd it we find our selves tantaliz'd and starv'd as it were in the midst of Plenty Tho' Self-love delights not in thinking of all those Things which may shew it the Vanity of its Applications yet certainly it has a Glimpse of all these Defects in the Happiness it reaches at 'T is conscious that sensual Pleasure is the Happiness rather of Brutes than of Men It owns that a solid and substantial Happiness must necessarily be durable It denies not that a certain Felicity is preferable to that whose Foundations are uncertain It perceives that in order to make a Man happy this transitory Pleasure which lasts no longer than the instant of Acquisition ought to be fix'd and stay'd in its Career It grants that true Felicity should be commensurate to the Appetite of our Soul Wherefore right Reason commands us to search for other Sources of Happiness But the present Delight which interests it and seduces the Understanding by tying it rather to the inquest of Pleasure than Truth takes it off from executing that Design it s own Illusions still serve it after the old Rate If they fail of Objects they take the Place of Qualities and set up themselves for Powers or Habits When Man can't obtain such a temporal Happiness as satisfies his Reason he makes his Reason knock under and condescend to satisfy his Pleasure The prejudic'd Mind gives an extravagant and undue Character to these false Goods and here 't is most of all admirable to see what a prodigious Ascendant the Heart has over the Mind For to disguise abstract and speculative Truths is no great Matter but to disguise sensible and experimental Truths is a Thing that gives us a special Evidence of the Force of our Corruption To see this we proceed in the next place by unfolding the most hidden Mysteries of self-Self-love CHAP. X. Where we consider the Cheats which Self-love puts upon it self to correct the Defects which it finds in the Happiness it aims at SElf-love perceiving that worldly Happiness is too gross and impure to satisfy our Mind and that indeed 't is not fit an Happiness enjoy'd by none but the Body should satisfy the Thirst of the Soul seeks how it may spiritualize and refine Corporeal Pleasures in order to cheat and impose upon us by making us think that they are equally satisfactory to the Soul and Body Hence Self-love has been pleas'd to tye unto this gross and carnal Felicity the Delicacy of Sentiments the esteem of the Mind and sometimes even the Duties of Religion by conceiving it as Spiritual Glorious and Sacred For as to the first of these who would not be amaz'd to see the prodigious number of Thoughts Opinions Fictions Writings Histories which sensual Pleasure has caus'd to be invented Muster up together all the Tracts that have ever been written about Morality which is the Science of Living well and compare 'em with those that have been made about the Pleasures of Intemperance and you 'll find a great Disproportion between their Number Considering these Actions in their natural Hue there appears in 'em a sordid Baseness which dis-heartens our Pride namely the vile and abject Conformity they have to other Animals Now what Course can be taken to elevate and render 'em worthy and becoming the Grandeur of Men Why the ready way is to spiritualize and refine 'em to present 'em for an Object of the Delicateness of the Mind make 'em a Subject of fine and delightful Sensations to make some sport of 'em to the Imagination and turn 'em agreeably to the Humour by the flourishes of Eloquence and Poetry And lastly to imploy all the Faculties and Lights of the Rational Principle to make the Delights of a Voluptuous Body go down glib and pleasantly into an haughty Soul I express my self according to the Vulgar Prejudice for truly speaking the Body has not in it self any Perception or Sensation Hence Self-love has also ty'd an Esteem and Respect to the most shameful Debasements of Humane Nature Pride and Pleasure are two Passions which tho' they spring from the same Original of Self-lovâ— yet for all that there is some Difference and Opposition betwixt ' em Pleasure humbles whereas Pride exalts us The former engraves us with the Image of Brutes the latter with the Picture of the Devil Also these two Passions have many a Combat and Duel in our Heart but the Heart can by no means approve of this Conflict being a Friend and Well-wisher to 'em both and all most equally sensible of the charms of Glory and Pleasure It must bestir its Stumps to make a Reconcilation and to bring this about it takes one of these Methods either it transports Pleasure if I may so speak to the Confines of Pride or Pride to the Region of Pleasure If it renounce sensual Pleasure 't will search for a greater in the acquest of Esteem and so Pleasure is wholly indemnify'd Or if we take a Resolution to satisfy its Thirst of sensual Pleasure 't will apply to it the Credit of Esteem and by this means Pride is solac'd at its loss Were there but one only Man of this Disposition of Mind he would not easily succeed in his Design but Men unhappily meeting together they understand one another and having the same Inclination they willingly agree to consecrate it This is a Ragoo to Pleasure which renders it much more exquisite than the Glory which Men's exorbitant Fancies have ty'd to it But 't is yet better season'd when we regard this Pleasure as an Ordinance of Religion A debauch'd Woman that would make People believe in the Heathen World that she had a
that of the Senses they reduce all to Bodily Intemperance and don 't see that in the Heart of Man there are as many different sorts of Voluptuousness as there are varieties of Delight for it to abuse and as great diversity of Delights as there are Passions which move and agitate our Soul Covetousness which seems willing to deprive it self of the most innocent Pleasures and to adopt in their place none but Labour Fatigues Disquietudes and Fears fails not of its Pleasure for all that which retrieves the loss of that Sweetness it renounces Populus me sibilat says the Miser describ'd by Horace at ego mihi plaudo ipse domi dum nummos contemplor in Arcâ The power of enjoying temporal Goods is the same to him that the actual Enjoyment is to other Men. But as some Passions are more Criminal than others there 's a kind of spiritual Pleasure which is particularly dangerous It may be reduc'd to three Species Namely the Pleasure of Hatred and Revenge of Pride and Ambition of Incredulity and Impiety Pride takes a delight in appropriating to us those Goods which are none of our own or such Qualities as are in us but are not properly ours or a Glory which ought to be ascrib'd to God and not our selves As the Soul resents a kind of Grief at being stript of its Honour to cloath and adorn another which causes the secret Repugnancies it has to Humility so it finds a very sensible Pleasure in derobing others of this Glory to cover and set off it self with their Feathers We may very well wonder what Pleasure the Romans could find in the bloody Pastime of the Circus to see the Gladiators kill and mangle one another to make them Sport and Recreation This barbarous Delight may be reckon'd a Pleasure of Ambition and Vain-glory The Thoughts that these Combatants were Slaves made the Romans forget 'em to be Men. This was a Flattery to Ambition letting 'em see that the Men were made for no other purpose but their Recreation and Divertisement There 's a Pleasure of Hatred and Revenge which consists in the Joy we perceive at other Men's Misfortunes This is an hideous Pleasure which is nourish'd by our Neighbours tears Yet if you look closely into the Matter you 'll find 't is most agreeable to the Palate of worldly Men. This Pleasure is proportion'd to the degree of that Hatred which gave it Birth Hence a Poet of our Age who had a competent Knowlede of Man's Heart expresses the Excess of Hatred by the Excess of Pleasure Should Clouds disgorge their Flames upon this Place And Thunder to the ground these Buildings rase Should thy proud Laurels into Ashes wast And all the Roman Stock new breathe their last I cou'd endure these Objects in my fight Cause 'em my self and Dye ev'n with Delight Incredulity fortifies it self with the Pleasure of all the other Passions which attack Religion and are delighted with upholding such Doubts as favour the Interest of their Disorder and Impiety which seems to do Evil for Evil's sake and without any further Advantage yet has its secret Pleasures which are so much the more dangerous the more the Soul hides 'em from it self at that time when it most exquisitely tasts ' em It often happens that an Interest of Vanity makes us irreverent to the Supream Being We wou'd fain seem formidable to Men by seeming to have no fear of God To menace and threaten the Earth we blaspheme Heaven But yet that is not the principal Ingredient of Impiety Man naturally hates God because he hates the Dependance which submits him to his Dominion and the Law which restrains his Desires This Abhorrence of the Deity lies hid in the bottom of Man's Heart or Infirmity and Fear many times conceal it from the Eyes of Reason This inward Aversion perceives a secret Pleasure at any thing that dares and affronts GOD Men love those flights of Wit which scandalize the Divinity Victrix causa Diis placuit sed victa Catoni Il dédaigne de voir le Ciel qui le trahit He scorns to see the Heaven which betrays him This seem'd Brave and Great because it was Impious I am inclinable to their Opinion who hold that Fear is the original Source of Superstition provided we join Hatred and Fear together as they are often found in the Heart of Man it being hard for us not to have some Hatred and Aversion at that which we very much fear and dread 'T is certain that Superstition would not be so common in the World for ordinarily 't is made up of an inhumane Extravagance did not Pleasure inveigle Men to that which Reason forbids and this Pleasure consists in an inward Satisfaction at seeing the Deity abus'd and degraded The Pagans did not only meet with a Pleasure of Pride in raising Men to the Order of Gods but also a Pleasure of Hatred and Impiety in debasing the Gods to the Condition of Men and it may be they were not so much delighted with reading those Fables of their Poets which related the Apotheoses of Men as those which feign'd the Wounds and Defeats of the Gods by Humane Arms. So that whoever sounds the Depth of our Heart will find that Superstition and Profaneness are not so opposite as Men commonly imagine and that they are united in this secret Hatred of God which follows the State of our Corruption and which nothing can cure but Grace As Pride and Hatred are united to form that vast Pleasure which Superstition aims at and the Delight we find in Impiety so also they combine to make the Pleasure of Malignity Slander and Calumny Here we find a Pleasure of Vain-glory For we many times dispraise other Men with a Design indirectly to commend our our selves Any Man in the World would openly praise himself if he dar'd be so bold but fearing least a breach of Modesty might make a Blemish in his Escutcheon he 's obliged to go a By-way to work to use Cunning and Artifice in displaying his Merit to the Eyes of Mankind so as not to attract the Reproach of too great Vanity He dares not commend himself in plain Terms but hopes that by speaking of others he shall give an indirect Description of himself that by making a shew of Horrour and Detestation of an evil Action he shall testify how much his Vertue removes him from the like Fault And that the more he blames the Vices o◠others the greater Evidence will he give of his own Exemption from 'em and make People think him endu'd with the opposite Vertues A dull and unpolitick self-Self-love draws this Discourse saying As for my part tho' I have very great Defects yet may I boast that I have not This But an ingenious and prudent self-Self-love knows better how to manage its Modesty and many times hides its Contempt but much more the design it has in Contemning But besides this Interest of Pride which makes us delighted in despising other Men
â—mpediment from Self-love as well as Admiration T will be to no purpose to make a wild and indefinite Answer that 't is the Corruption of our Heart which renders us uncapable of loving God purely for his own sake and his intrinsick Perfections whilst we suppose him not to love us This is to run into a Labyrinth of Generalities for avoiding the distinct Ideas of Things For our Corruption does not hinder the Admiration of our Soul it being certain that the Devils who far exceed us in Wickedness admire God tho' they are at the same time conscious of his being the Object of their Hatred and Aversion so neither can this Corruption hinder pure Friendship if that as well as Admiration derives its Birth from Known Perfection Nothing will better confirm this Truth than by seeing what 's the Use of Faith in Religion So long as Men live in a State of Ignorance which makes 'em imagine that God looks upon 'em with Indifferency and Disregard they in like manner seem to have but indifferent Sentiments of the Deity such were the Pagan Philosophers Whilst Men think they are the Object of God's Hatred they detest and abhor the Divinity The Romans who had already kindled the Fire of their Sacrifices to give Thanks to the Gods at the false Report of the Recovery of Germanicus run into their Temples with Fury and Rage when they hear the too true News of his Death they drag their Images in the Dirt throw 'em into Tiber and signalize their Grief by a Specimen of Impiety All Men seem to have the same inward Disposition which the Romans outwardly shew'd and the Violence which they â—s'd to the Images is an Expression of what Man would be willing to execute upon God when he thinks him his Antagonist and Enemy No sooner does the Gospel resound in the World for the Consolation of Men but as the Testimoines of the Divine Love to Mankind are every where manifested so likewise Men's ardent Love of God becomes universally Conspicuous Faith which assures us of this immense Charity of God is there look'd upon as the Key of our Heart and the first Degree of our Sanctification to this the Scripture attributes our Salvation When Faith has throughly perswaded us that we are the Objects of God's Love we are sufficiently dispos'd to affect and love Him But as our Affections essentially spring from Self-love our Hatred and Aversions proceed from the same Original We hate Men by Interest when they are our Competitors in the Pursuit of Temporal Goods We hate one that is Intemperate because he 'd rob us of our Pleasures we can't endure an Ambitious Man because he takes the upper-hand of us in Preferment and Honour nor can we love a Proud Man because 〈◊〉 contemns and tramples us under Feet nor a Miser because he hoards up the Riches that might possibly come to us nor an Unjust Man because he oppresses us We don't only hate those who actually prejudice and injure us but even those that have an Inclination to hurt us tho' they want fit Occasions or some Impediment hinder 'em from exerting their Malice Our Hatred reacheth as far as a Man's Power of doing us an Injury For which reason Power and Authority are many times the Incentives of Aversation and Ill-will and as there are few Persons in the World but meet with some who either actually do 'em a Mischief or would at least if it laid in their Power or were it for their Interest it must be own'd that secret Motives of Hatred do perpetually enter in our Heart and that nothing is more dangerous than the Temptations to which we are expos'd on this Account Indeed we are oftentimes Enemies to one another when we are ignorant of it We many times both love and hate the same Person because Self-love considers him under different Respects And it happens that we really hate those whom we think to be the Objects of our best Affection and sometimes those whom we have all the reason imaginable to love and esteem which appears from this That in all their Disgraces and Misfortunes there 's something that does not wholly displease us This unjust and unnatural Sentiment which the Vail of Pride hides from our Eyes proceeds from these two Principles Namely That we Our selves are not the Objects of this Disgrace which is a Reflection that Self-love instantly makes and that we see a Man degraded and pull'd down who in regard of his being a Man can't fail to rival us upon some Account or other a Sentiment which is chang'd into Compassion when either Death or some irrecoverable Adversity finally exempts him from the Number of those who pretend and aim at the Goods which are the Objects of our own Desire But Hatred is a turbulent Passion which puts the whole Body into a violent Commotion and all whose Effects are so sensible and obvious that 't is the most faithful Mirrour for discerning the Degree of Vehemence which attends all our other Affections If you would know how much you love Vain-Glâ—ry it may be your Heart gives you a false Intimation do but only consider the Violence of the Hatred which you conceive at One that has offended you in point of Honour this is the just Degree and Measure of it this Mirrour is your safest Guide for discovering and fathoming the Bottome of your Heart We hate by Interest Persons Things and Words If seeing an Abyss under our Feet we are put into Horrour and Consternation 't is the Image of our Destruction appearing before us that causes this trembling Motion and Reason is not so strong and prevalent as to correct and allay that Fear which a too lively Idea of our own Destruction exhibits to our Conceit Many People can't forbear swooning when they see the shedding of Man's Blood this proceeds not so much from a weakness of Temperament as an infirmity of the Heart Whatsoever represents to 'em the Ruines of Humane Nature threatens their Self-love and that which imbues the Fancy with Blood draws a livelâ— Picture of Death in the Soul and conducts it to that inward Recess by meer â—nt of Conceit where Reflection shuts the Doors against it CHAP. IX Where we consider the most general Inclinations of Self-love and in the first place the Desire of Happiness THe first Inclination of Self-love is a Desire to be Happy and I believe that in the Main these two Expressions do but signify the same Thing under different Ideas For what else is it to love One-self but to desire Happiness and to desire Happiness but to love One-self Truly he must be a very nice Subtiliser and Mincer of Things that can find any Difference As therefore the Desire of Happiness can't be too Great and it has always been reckon'd a Crime tâ— pursue a false and not ardently to affect a real Felicity it follows that we are not to be blam'd for loving our selves to Excess but for taking a wrong Method