Affliction and Pain is very Different from that which preserves a Man's Temper in Prosperity and Plenty and the Patience and Thankfulness of the Receiving Beggar from the Liberality of the Giver And as This holds in Virtues so does it much more in Vices several of which are not only very far Distant but Diametrically opposite to each other It is no less observable Secondly That many Times our Matters are so ordered as not to permit the Performance of such Actions as relate to One Virtue without encroaching upon some Other and doing what is inconsistent with or offensive to That very Virtue we are practising because things often interfere and obstruct us so that we cannot satisfie One Duty but at the Expence of Another This is like what our Proverb calls Robbing Peter to pay Paul and yet thus it is not from any Deficiency in Virtue it self but from the Impotence and Insufficiency of Humane Nature which is too short too narrow to give or receive any certain constant universal Rule of acting Virtuously and Man cannot so contrive his Methods and provide himself with Helps and Occasions of doing Good but that they will frequently cross and interrupt one another Thus Charity and Justice are sometimes impracticable at once If I engage against my Relation or my Friend in a Battle Justice requires me to take his Life and Treat him as an Adversary Charity and Affection bid me spare and preserve him as a Friend Suppose a Man mortally wounded and that he hath nothing to expect but the languishing out the miserable Remains of Life in extreme Torture it were certainly an Act of Charity to put this wretched Creature out of his Pain by killing him out-right as the Person who kill'd Saul alledged for himself and yet this is such a Mercy as Justice would call one to an Account for and David punished it accordingly Nay the being found near such a Person in a lonely Place when Search is made for the Murderer though one be there with Intentions of Kindness is exceeding Dangerous and the least that can come of it is the being made to undergo the Course of the Law and brought upon Tryal for a Misfortune which one had no Hand in And this last Instance shews how Justice does not only offend against Charity but also how it intangles and obstructs it self according to that most true Observation * Summum Jus summa Injuria The Extremity of Right is the Extremity of Wrong The Third Case and indeed the most remarkable of all is The Necessity Men are sometimes under of using Evil Means to deliver themseves from some greater Evil or for the compassing some Good End So that Things in themselves not Good nay much otherwise are sometimes legitimated and have Credit and Authority given to them for the Sake of the Purposes they serve As if Men might nay as if they must be wicked in some Degree in Order to becoming Good in a greater And this not only Policy and Justice but Religion too furnishes Examples of In Politicks How many indirect Practices are allow'd II Politicks and daily made use of And this not merely upon Permission and Connivence but even by express Direction and Approbation of the Laws †Ex Senatus consultis plebiscitis scelera exercentur Crimes are Established by Publick Edicts as we shall have Occasion to observe more at large in another Place Book III. Chap. 2. When a State is full and overgrown like a replete Body whose Humours are either too Noxious or too many to be endured the Method of discharging this Oppression is to send off its Superfluities of Men or those among them who are of the hottest and warlike Dispositions to be knock'd on the Head abroad Thus a Vein is breath'd but the Ease it gives is at the infinite Expence and Trouble of some other Countrey And this we know hath been the Practice of Franks and Lombards Goths and Vandales Turks and Tartars So again a Foreign War is often begun and maintained abroad on purpose to keep busie Spirits employ'd and to prevent Insurrections and Civil Dissentions at Home Lycurgus as a Lesson of Temperance used to make Slaves Drunk that Men of Quality from Their Extravagances might learn to detest this Vice The Romans to harden their People and make Dangers and Death familiar and contemptible instituted those Inhumane Sights of their Gladiators and entertained them with Blood and Slaughter every Day This at first indeed was consin'd to condemned Malefactors only then it came to Innocent Slaves and at last Free-Men and People of Condition practised and valued themselves upon it The Stews in some great Cities are of the same Kind and so are the Usury the Divorces of the Law of Moses and among other People and Persuasions Whose only Recommendation is This That they are allowed for a present Necessity and to put a Stop to greater Mischiefs So likewise in Justice which cannot subsist nor be put in practice III. Justice without some mixture of Injustice Nor is this the Case of Communtative Justice only This were no strange Matter for here it is in some sort necessary Men could not live by their Trades nor maintain Commerce with one another without some reciprocal Injuries and Ossences every Man must sell a thing for more than it is strictly worth and therefore some Laws have allow'd Men to Cheat provided it be not above half the Price of the Goods But Distributive Justice which consists in dealing Rewards and Punishments does the like so she her self confesses * Sammum Jus summa Injuria Et Omne magnum Exemplum habet aliquid ex iniquo quod contra singulos Utilitate public◠rependitur Extreme Right is extreme Wrong And All eminent exemplary Cases have some Allay of Injustice in them wherein however the Hardships which private Men suffer are well paid with the Advantages that accrue to the Publick from them Plato allows in several places that Publick Ministers should draw Criminals to a full Discovery by false Hopes and Promises of Pardon and Favour which they never intend to make good Which is to make a way to Justice thro' Impudence and Cozenage and Falshood And what shall we say of that cursed Invention of Racks which are a Tryal of Patience indeed but none at all of Truth For you shall never be able to get the Truth out of Them that can nor out of Them that cannot endure them Why shou'd we think extremity of Pain can more dispose a Man to tell what is than to tell what is not If an Innocent Man be supposed endu'd with Patience enough to bear the Torture why should the Concern for saving his Life inspire a guilty Person with the same degree of Resolution I know it is commonly reply'd in excuse of this Barbarity That the Pain astonishes and enfeebles the Guilty and extorts a Confession of his Treachery from him whereas it hath the quite contrary
which are Disadvantages contrary to them CHAP. LVIII Of Liberty and Servitude LIberty passes in the Esteem of many for a most eminent Advantage and Servitude for a very grievous Evil so exceeding great that some have rather chosen to Die and that after a very barbarous and painful manner than to be made Slaves or Captives nay rather than come into any danger of seeing their own or their Countrey 's Freedom and Properties infringed or usurp'd upon But as in all Other Cases of the like Nature so in This also there may be a very Criminal Excess of Partiality and a fanciful Fondness of what we deservedly have a high esteem for There is in truth a Twofold Liberty The true and proper sort is That of the Mind for This is in every Man 's own Keeping and Disposal no body can wrest it out of our Hands nothing can impair or encroach upon it not even the Tyranny of Fortune it self On the other side The Bondage of the Mind is the heaviest and most wretched of all others to live a Slave to one's Appetites and Lusts to lie down in our Chains and let our Passions prey upon us to be led by the Nose by Prejudice and Error and Superstition Oh This This is a miserable Captivity indeed The Liberty of one's Person is really valuable but still that lies at the Mercy of Fortune And as valuable as it is yet unless it be attended with some very uncommon Circumstance to enhance its Worth there can never be Justice or Reason in giving it the Preference above Life it self as some of the Ancients have done who chose to suffer nay to inflict Death and make it the Work of their Own Hands upon Themselves rather than not die free And even of this to me seeming Extravagance we find large Commendations as if it were a more exalted Virtue than ordinary so very dreadful Notions had they then of Slavery * Servitus obedientia est fracti abjecti Animi arbitrio carentis suo It is says One of them the Obedience of an enfeebl'd and despicable Soul that hath parted with its own Will And yet as vile as they represent this State very great and very Wise Men have liv'd in it as Regulus Valerian Plato Epictetus and have had the Misfortune too of very wicked unjust and barbarous Masters and yet they have never brought any dishonourable Reflections upon their Virtues or thought Themselves one whit the worse for it because in truth and very deed they still continu'd Free and at their own Disposal much more so than the Masters who pretended to Dominion over them CHAP. LIX Of Nobility NObility is a Quality or Distinction receiv'd and valu'd in all parts of the World It is a Mark and an Attractive of Honour and Respect instituted and brought into Use for very good Reasons and much to the Benefit of the Publick It is not every where the same but differently reputed and taken in divers Senses Description of it according to the different Judgments of Men and the Customs of the Countries where they live From hence we find several Sorts or Species of it pretended to but according to the common and most general Notion of the thing it is the Quality of a Man's Family Aristotle calls it the Antiquity of the Family and the long Continuance of an Estate in it Plutarch terms it the Virtue of the Family meaning by this some certain Character and particular good Quality for which our Ancestors were eminent and which hath been propagated in Succession and is continu'd in the several Descendents of that House Now what this Quality is in particular which should merit such a Distinction hath not been agreed on all hands Some and indeed the greater part will have it to be Atchievements in War others add or equal to this Politick and Civil Prudence whereby Men become necessary to the State by their Counsels as the former do in the Field To These have likewise been added Eminence in Learning and particular Offices in the Courts of Princes as Accomplishments thought fit and sufficient to distinguish a Man's Family and derivâ— Honour down upon Those that descend from him But I think it must be acknowledg'd by all considering Persons that the Military Honours have the Advantage and deserve a Preference above all the rest both because the Qualities of this kind are most serviceable to the State in its greatest Exigencies and Distresses and because it is the most painful and laborious and exposes Men's Persons to the greatest and most apparent Dangers From whence it is that a particular Veneration and Respect a louder Applause and Commendation is allowed universally to Them and that These by way of Eminence and Privilege have attain'd to that distinguishing Character of Valour or Worth Now according to this Opinion Two things are necessary and must both contribute as Ingredients to the Composition of that which is the True and Perfect Nobility First There must be the Profession and Appearance of this Virtue or good Quality serviceable to the Publick and this is as it were the Form and then there must be the Family in which as in the Matter or proper Subject this Quality is inherent that is there is requir'd a long uninterrupted Continuation of it thro' several Descents and Time out of mind Hence according to the vulgar Jargon they are stiled Gentlemen that is Persons who are Branches and Descendents of the same Blood and House Bearing the same Name and the same Profession of this distinguishing Quality for several Generations That Person then is truly properly and entirely Noble who makes singular Profession of some Publick Virtue that renders himself useful and remarkable in the Service of his Prince and his Country and is sprung from Relations and Ancestors who have done the same before him in the respective Ages when they liv'd Some it is true have separated these two Qualifications and consider'd them apart 〈◊〉 guished as being of Opinion that One of these singly that is Personal Virtue and Worth without any Advantages of Birth is sufficient to entitle a Man to this Honour They think it hard that Men should be excluded merely upon consideration of their Ancestors wanting the Excellencies which they have rendred Themselves conspiâ—uous for Now This is a Personal and Acquir'd Nobility and very valuable it is but yet the Vogue and Custom of the World hath so far obtain'd that They think it very hard too for the Son of a Cobler a Butcher or a Plough Man to start up Noble and be rank'd among the most Ancient Honours let his Service to the Publick have been never so great and valuable But yet this Opinion hath got good booting in several Nations and particularly among the â—urks For they have no regard at all to a Man's â—lood the Nobility of his Ancestors or the Antiquity of his Descent They look upon These Considerations to be full of unreasonable Partiality Châ—cks
they vend it without more to do Allegations indeed have their Uses and proper Seasons they are absolutely necessary in controverted Points where the Cause is to be decided by Authorities But then they ought to be used with Moderation and in Measure and good Care taken that they be home to the purpose that Prudence be used in the Choice of them for generally the Fewer and the Weightier to be sure the Better they are For it was his Opinion that of all the Three Manners of Expressing our Thoughts This was the least valuable As for the Third That indeed was infinitely the best and the Persons who make it their Method are by much the greatest and most significant Men. Antiquity and Authority were thus far of his side The Ancient Homilists being so many Examples of it in whose Writings and Orations you very seldom or never find a Quotation and in truth the old Authors of all Sorts and Professions seem to make sound Reason and good Sense their Business This being the proper the generous Food for entertaining Men desirous of Knowledge and of distinguishing Minds This relishes and shews more of Judgment and Understanding which are Nobler and more Exalted Parts of the Mind than Memory Lastly This is infinitely the most Free and Noble in it self and more Delightful and Improving to Hearers Readers and the Person who makes Use of it too than any other Method whatsoever For by this Men are rather made Wise than Learned and more accustomed to examine and make a Judgment of things Consequently the Will is directed and the Conscience informed this way whereas the rest are good for nothing but to stuff his Memory and Imagination with other Peoples Notions or little trifling Niceties This Account I thought not improper to trouble the Reader with because from hence he will guess what he is to expect in this Treatise and see withal what kind of Tast our Author had in Matters of this Nature As for what relates to his Temper Manners Conversation and Actions whether in Publick or Private I shall need to say only thus much That he made it his Constant Business to render them conformable to those Rules and Maxims contained at large in this Second Book of the following Treatise and was very successful and very accurate in the Undertaking What Persuasion and Church he was of his Three Verities abundantly declare as do likewise his Christian Discourses which were printed since his Death and make a convenient Volume by themselves How strict and conscientious he was may appear from this single Instance That though he were possest of several Theologal Canonries one after another yet he would never be prevailed with to resign any of them in Favour of any Person nor to name his Successor for fear of giving Occasion to the Censure of having upon private Respects put in an unqualify'd Man and One who was not worthy to fill such a Post But he constantly gave them up freely and clearly into the Hands of those Bishops who had collated him The last thing I shall mention upon this Occasion is his Last Will which was made and written all with his own Hand in January 1602. and after his Decease registred in the Office at Condom In This he first returns most humble Thanks to God for all the Mercies and Benefits which by His Bounty he had enjoyed in his Life-time begs him most earnestly for his infinite and incomprehensible Mercies Sake in the Name of his Well-beloved Son and our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ and for His Merits shed and multiplied upon all his Members the Elect Saints to grant him Favour and full Pardon for all his Offences to receive him for his own Child to assist and conduct him with his Holy Spirit during his Continuance in this World that he might ever remain in a sound Mind and the true Love and Service of Him his God and that at the Hour of Death he would receive his Soul to himself admit him into the Society and sweet Repose of his Well-beloved ones and inspire all his Holy and Elect Saints with a Pious and Charitable Disposition to pray and make intercession for him Then proceeding to the Legacies he bequeaths among other things To the Church of Condom provided his Corps be Interr'd there Two Hundred Livres Tournois upon Condition that every Year upon the Day of his Death High Mass shall be once said in his Behalf and Absolution once pronounc'd over his Grave He gives moreover to the Maintenance of poor Scholars and young Girls Two Thousand Four Hundred Crowns the yearly Income hereof to be distributed for ever the one Moiety to Three or Four Scholars the other to Three Four or Five young Maidens at the Discretion of his Executors of which he constituted Five The Master of St. Andrew's School and Rector of the Jesuites at Bourdeaux for the time being his Heir and Two of his Friends the Three Last to name some other Persons to succeed in this Trust after their Decease with This Qualification that they nominate such only as are well known and reputed for their Abilities Honesty and Charity And that any Three of these in the Absence of the rest might manage and dispose things as they should see convenient Likewise he gives and bequeaths to Mrs. Leonora Montagne Wife to the Sieur de Camin Kings Counsel in the Parliament at Bourdeaux half Sister to the late Sieur de Montagne the Summ of Five Hundred Crowns And her Husband Monsieur Camin he constitutes his sole Heir He paying the Charges and Legacies contained in his Will amounting in the whole to about Fifteen Thousand Livres Tournois in the Gross Summ. What hath been thus lightly touched upon is a sufficient Evidence how Religious and Conscientious a Person Monsieur Charron was that he feared God led a pious and good Life was Charitably disposed a Person of Wisdom and Conduct Serious and Considerate a great Philosopher an eloquent Orator a famous and powerful Preacher richly furnished and adorned with the most excellent Virtues and Graces both Moral and Divine Such as made him very remarkable and singular and deservedly gave him the Character of a Good Man and a good Christian such as preserve a great Honour and Esteem for his Memory among Persons of Worth and Virtue and will continue to do so as long as the World shall last OF WISDOM THE FIRST BOOK Which consists of the Knowledge of a Man 's own self and the Condition of Humane Nature in general An Exhortation to the Study and Knowledge of ones self The Introduction to this whole First Book THERE is not in the World any Advice more excellent and divine in its own Nature more useful and beneficial to us nor any at the same time less attended to and worse practis'd than that of studying and attaining to the Knowledge of our selves This is in Truth the Foundation upon which all Wisdom is built the direct and high Road to all Happiness And
were liable neither wou'd there have been any Place or possible Occasion for Bloody Offerings Expiations or Propitiatory Sacrifices This is a farther Evidence Secondly of our Weakness if we look at the Meanness of the Intention upon which that Usage grew and was encourag'd and That cou'd be no other than the Hope of Appeasing and Gratifying Almighty God by such Bloody Oblations I speak not now of the Reasons why God instituted Sacrifices but of that Notion which plainly appears to have been predominant in the Minds of Men who did not see into the Mysterious End of them which the Generality of the Jews themselves never did and much less cou'd it be expected that the Pagan World shou'd penetrate into it It is true indeed Almighty God in great Grace and Compassion to those more early and ignorant Ages of the World which knew no better did very favourably accept Good Men when they approached him with this sort of Devotion and the Apostle takes particular Notice of his having Respect to Abel and his Offering Heb. xi as the History of the Old Testament does of his testifying that Acceptance by visible Signs in the Case of Noah Abraham and Others There being this Motive to his Mercy that what was done of that kind proceeded from an Intention to serve and honour him and that the Understandings of Men were gross and heavy they were in their Minority and under a Schoolmaster as St. Paul expresses it of the Jewish People but at the same time honest and well-meaning And it is not improbable that this Opinion so universal at That time might represent Sacrifices to them as a Dictate of the Law of Nature and the only proper Method of Divine Worship There was it is confessed another Consideration which rendred Sacrifices very valuable and well-pleasing to God whereby they were made use of as Figures and Representations of that One truly meritorious Sacrifice to be offer'd upon the Altar of the Cross afterwards But this is a Mystery peculiar to the Jewish and Christian Religion And as it is a Common so is it an Excellent and Adorable Instance of the Divine Wisdom to convert what is of Human Institution Natural Usage or of a Corporeal Nature to High and Holy Purposes and make such things as the Ceremonial Law consisted of turn to a Spiritual Account But still This does not by any means infer that God took pleasure in these things as of any real Intrinsick Worth and Good in themselves For even before Grace and Truth set this Matter in its clearest Light by the Gospel the Prophets were not sparing to declare the Contrary and Those among the Jews of more enlightened Understandings saw this perfectly well and acknowledged it even while the Practice of offering them continu'd Psal li. Thus David Thou desirest no Sacrifice else would I give it thee but thou delightest not in Burnt-Offerings Psal xl Burnt-Offering and Sacrifice for Sin hast thou not requir'd And again speaking in the Person of God himself Psal l. I will take no Bullock out of thy House nor He-Goat out of thy Folds They call'd upon Men for Oblations of another kind more Noble and Spiritual more becoming Them to bring and more worthy and fit for a Holy Deity to receive The Sacrifice of God is a Contrite Spirit and the Offering of a pure Heart Mine Ears hast thou opened that I should do thy Will yea thy Law is within my Heart Offer unto God the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice And many other Passages to the same Purpose And at last to clear this Matter and put it beyond a Doubt the Son of God himself who was Truth and the Teacher of it and who condescended to come into the World that he might disabuse Mankind and rescue them from their Ignorance and Errours hath utterly abolish'd this way of serving God Which he wou'd never have done had there been any Essential Goodness in it which cou'd have recommended it for its own sake to God his Father But when He was come to be the End of the Law and the Universal Propitiation the use of Sacrifices was at an End too John iv 23 24. and then it is They that worship God must worship him in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him And without Question next to the Extirpating Idolatry This of abolishing Sacrifices is One of the most Glorious Publick Effects One of the best Reformations which Christianity hath wrought in the World And hence it was that Julian the Emperour its most professed most inveterate Enemy in Despight to it offered more Sacrifices than perhaps any other Man ever did and endeavoured to introduce This Way of Worship and Idolatry again as being both directly in Contradiction to the Christian Religion But of This we have spoken sufficiently and therefore let us now take a short View of some of the other considerable Branches of Religion The Blessed Sacraments when Adminished to us in Elements so common and of such mean Esteem as Bread and Wine and Water and not only so but in the very Act of Administration bearing Resemblance to the most Vulgar and Despicable Actions of Life as Wishing Eating and Drinking are plain Memento's of our continual Weaknesses and Wants our Miseries and Pollutions And as the marvellous Efficacy magnifies the Almighty Power and Goodness of God so the Need we have of them should humble us with mortifying Reflections upon our own feeble Condition Thus again Repentance is prescribed as the Necessary the only Remedy for our Spiritual Diseases and 't is plain This Considered in it self is an Act full of Shame and Reproach it upbraids us with our Faults and Follies afflicts our Souls with Grief and sad Remorse and shews us to our Selves in the Worst and most Deformed Figures that can be But however Evil and Uncomely this may seem in it self yet it is Necessary for reconciling us to God and That is enough to reconcile Us to it Another Instance may be taken from Oaths which are indeed Religious Acts when lawfully practised by Reason of the Name of God solemnly invoked in them But yet it is evident that the Common Use and Administration of these is a Scurvy Symptome a most shameful Argument how little Mankind are to be trusted What Monsters of Falshood and Treachery of Errour and Ignorance we are How vilely suspicious and distrustful the Person requiring them is and how liable to Jealousie the Person from whom they are demanded and what a mean Opinion those Law-givers who ordered them had of Mens Honesty and Truth when one's bare Word will not give Satisfaction nd as our Saviour says whatsoever is more than this Matt. V. 37. cometb of Evil. Thus you see not only how Weak and Sickly our Condition is but likewise what sort of Remedies Religion hath found it Necessary to apply for our Cure Since it may be said in some