the Humane Mind Thus the old Poets represented it * Sanctius his Animal c. A Creature of a more exalted kind Was wanting yet Ovid Met. Lib. 1. and then was Man design'd Conscious of Thought of more capacious Breast And partly as an Ensign of Royalty some Characters whereof Naturalists have observ'd in some other petty Principalities such as the Crown in the Dolphin the Diadem in the Basilisk the Lion's stately Mane which serves as a Collar of Honour the Colour and the Eyes in the Eagle and the King among the Bees But Man being vested with an universal Monarchy walks stately upon the Earth like a Master in his own House He subdues and manages All either by fair means or by foul captivates and brings them to his hand by force or makes them tractable and tame by gentle and winning Usage Hence the same Poet proceeds For Empire form'd and fit to rule the rest He while the mute Creation downward bend Their Sight and to their Earthy Mother tend Looks up aloft and with erected Eyes Beholds his own Hereditary Skies Dryden His Body was form'd at first out of Virgin-Earth of a Red Complexion from whence the proper Name of Adam was deriv'd Adom Rufus Heb. Gen. 2.6 7. For the common Appellative of the Species in general is Ish And This well moisten'd was the common Materials of our Body So again the Poet * Mixtam fluvialibus undis Finxit in effigiem Earth the wise Maker temper'd into Paste And mix'd with living Streams the God-like Image cast In all Reason the Body must be before the Soul as we naturally conceive Matter antecedent to its Form as the House must be fram'd and fitted up before we can suppose an Inhabitant in it and a Shop made and furnish'd before any Trade can be exercis'd there When This was prepar'd and done the next thing in order was to animate this Body by the Infusion of a Soul convey'd thither by Divine Inspiration For God says Moses breathed into him the breath of Life and so Man became a living Soul Of which what Tradition the Heathen World retain'd may be learn'd from the same Author who proposes This as the first probable Solution of that wonderful Production * Hunc divino semine fecit Ille opifex rerum With Particles of Heavenly Fire The God of Nature did his Soul inspire And closes his Account †Sic modo quae fuerat rudis sine imagine tellus Induit ignotas hominum conversa figuras From such rude Principles our Form began And Earth was metamorphos'd into Man The same Order seems to be constantly observ'd in ordinary Generations and the forming of Natural Births ever since For here the Body is first formed and That according to the best Remarks which the Curious have been able to make in or somewhat near the following Method The first seven Days are employ'd in bringing the Seminal Principles to a due Consistency and perfecting the Conception to which some have been apt to think Job might allude Chap. X. v. 10. The next seven Days are taken up in Concocting Digesting and Changing those first Elements into Flesh and Blood which is as yet an unformed Mass but the proper Ground and Matter of the Humane Body In the third Week the Body in gross is formed so that after some one and twenty Days the three most Noble and Useful Parts of the Body are fashion'd the Liver the Heart and the Brain and These lie at length distant from one another in a kind of oval or oblong Figure and connected or just tack'd together by some thin loose Joynings which are afterwards sill'd up and resemble the Form of an Ant where you may observe Three grosser and fuller Parts coupled and held together by Two slenderer that lie betwixt The fourth Week which raises the Account to very near Thirty Days the whole Body is perfected and the Parts and Organs of it distinguishable and from thenceforth it ceases to be an Embryo as that denotes a rude shapeless Mass and is now in a Condition to receive the Soul which accordingly loses no time but comes and takes Possession of its new Dwelling at or before the Term of Forty Days that is at five or six Weeks When this proportion of Time is doubl'd namely after three Months the Animated Infant usually begins to move and much about the fourth Month the Hair and Nails set forward And after the same Term three times told that is after nine Months is the usual time of Maturity and coming into the World These may perhaps to some seem useless Curiosities and not altogether becoming a Treatise of this Nature But I must own that I think one great Advance towards the true and the best Wisdom would be to understand this part of our selves and sure Men could not but express a greater and more awful Regard of Almighty God did they but consider whose Hands have fashion'd and finish'd them who watch'd and brought forward their Substances when crude and imperfect wrote their Members in his Book and made them to be what they are after a fearful and very wonderful Manner CHAP. II. The first and general Distinction of Man MAN as if design'd to be all over Wonder is a Creature made up of Ingredients vastly different First into Two Parts nay directly opposite to one another For what can be more so than those two Constituent Parts His Soul and His Body Look upon him with regard to the former of These and He is a sort of inferiour Deity Turn your Eyes down to the latter and that Person which before you almost ador'd you will now be tempted as much to loath and despise For what is Man thus above a Beast What but a Load of Corruption and a Sink of Ill-Humours And yet this wonderful disparity notwithstanding these two so distant Parts are linked together with such amazing Art and embrace each other so close and kindly that there is at the same time eternal Quarrels and yet an inviolable Friendship between them They cannot live together peaceably and yet they cannot part contentedly Like a Man that hath a Wolf by the Ears and neither knows how to hold him nor to let him go So is each of these Principal Parts in Man and each may say to the other what the Poet did * Nec tecum possum vivere nec sine te My Help and Hindrance Health and Sickness I Cannot live with thee and without thee die But in regard one of these Parts admits of a Subdivision by reason of a great and manifest Difference in the Faculties and Parts of this Soul of ours Then into Three the One part Noble and Pure Intellectual and Divine the Other Mean and Sensual and Brutish The best and most lively Representation of Man and the surest Method of attaining to the Knowledge of him seems to be the making of this first Division to consist of Three Branches
Frost and Snow made only this Answer That other People cou'd bear their Faces naked and he was Face all over History tells us of several very great Persons who went constantly bare-headed as Masinissa and Caesar and Hannibal and Severas And some Nations there are who being accusiom'd to no Defence for their Bodies at other times never trouble themselves for any when they go into the Wars but engage in the hottest Action whole Armies of naked Men together Plato thinks it adviseable for the Health never to cover either the Head or the Feet at all Varro pretends that when Men were commanded to stand bare in the Temple of the Gods and in the Presence of the Magistrates it was not only the Respectfulness of the Ceremony but the Wholsomness of it that the Law had regard to since Men by this means harden'd their Bodies against the Injuries of Wind and Weather and strengthen'd themselves while they paid a due Reverence to their Superiours In a Word abstracting from what Revelation hath taught us and looking at Nature only I shou'd make no doubt but the Contrivances of Hutts and Houses and other Shelters against the Violence of the Seasons and the Assaults of Men was a much more ancient Institution than that of Cloathing and there seems to have been more of Nature and universal Practice in it for we see that Beasts and Birds do the same thing The Care and Provision of Victuals was unquestionably of far greater Antiquity than either of the former for this seems to have been one of the first Impulses and Dictates of Nature the Necessities and Appetites whereof return so thick upon us that it is not easie to suppose Man cou'd subsist at all without this Care Book III. In the Vertue of Temperance But of these Matters we shall have other Opportunities to treat more fully when we come to give Rules for the Use and Regulation both of Food and Raiment hereafter CHAP. VII Concerning the Soul in general WE are now entring upon a Subject of all others the most difficult and nice One which has been treated of and particularly canvassed by the greatest Philosophers and most penetrating Wits of all Ages and Countries Aegyptian Greek Arabian and Latin Authors but yet so that their Opinions have been infinitely various according to the several Nations from whence they sprung the Religions they embrac'd the Professions in which they had been educated and the Reasons that offer'd themselves to their Thoughts So that how far soever each Man might satisfie his own Mind yet they have never been able to come to any general good Agreement or certain Determination in the Matter Now the main Points in Controversie upon this occasion are those Ten that follow What may be the Definition of the Soul What its real Essence and Nature Its Faculties and Actions Whether there be One or More Souls in a Man Whence its Original What the Time and Manner of its entring the Body the Manner of its Residence the Seat where it dwels the Sufficiency to exercise the several Functions belonging to it and lastly Its End or Separation from the Body First of all It is exceeding hard to give an accurate Definition of the Soul It s Definâ—tion or be able to say exactly What it is And this in truth is the Case of all Forms in general and we cannot well conceive how it shou'd be otherwise with Things which are Relative and have no proper and independent Subsistence of their own but are only Parts of some Whole Hence without question it hath come to pass that the Definitions of it put abroad have been so many and at the same time so infinitely various too that not any one of them hath been receiv'd without Clashing or Contradiction Aristotle hath rejected no less than Twelve among the Philosophers who had written before him and yet he hath found but little better success with That of his own which he labour'd but in vain to establish in the room of them Nothing can indeed be more easie and obvious than to determine what the Soul is not We dare be confident that it is not Fire Air nor Water nor a Mixture and due Temperament of the Four Elements together the Qualities or the Humours nicely adjusted For This is a thing in perpetual Flux and Uncertainty the Animal subsists and lives without it And besides This is manifestly an Accident whereas the Soul is a Substance To this we may add that Minerals and several inanimate Creatures have a Temperament of the Four Elements and prime Tactile Qualities and still continue Inanimate notwithstanding Nor can the Soul be the Blood for several Instances may be given of Animated and Living Creatures without any Blood at all belonging to them and several Creatures die without losing one Drop of Blood Nor is it the Principle and First Cause of Motion in us for several Inanimate things impart Motion So does the Loadstone to the Iron the Amber to the Straw Medicines and Drugs and Roots of Trees when dry'd and cut to pieces draw and create very strong Motions Nor is it the Act Life Energy or Perfection for Aristotle's Term Eutclechia hath been interpreted in all these dissering Senses For all this cannot be the very Essence of the Soul it self but only the Operation and Effect of it as Living Seeing and Understanding are plain and proper Actions of the Soul Besides admitting this Notion it wou'd follow from thence that the Soul were not a Substance but an Accident only that it could not possibly subsist without that Body whose Act and Perfection it is any more than the Roof of a House can subsist as such without the Building which it covers and is supported by or a Relative without its Correlate In a word When we express our selves after this manner we only declare what the Soul does and what it is with respect to something else but we pronounce nothing of its proper and abstracted Nature or what it is in it self Now though things are thus far clear and easie yet when we go farther the Case alters extremely A Man may say indeed that the Soul is an Essential Life-giving Form which distributes this Gift as the Receiver is capable of it To the Plant it imparts Vegetation to the Brute Sense which includes and contains Vegetation under it and to Man Intellectual Life in which both the former are imply'd as the Greater Numbers comprehend the Less and as in Figures a Pentagone includes a Quadrangle and That again a Triangle I rather choose to term this the Intellectual Life than the Rational which is compriz'd and understood by it as the Less is within the Greater and that particularly in deference to those many renown'd Philosophers who have allow'd Reason in some Sense and some Degree even to the Brutes but not Any of them have ever gone so high as to attribute the Intelligent Faculty to Them and therefore I take Intellectual Life to be a
more unexceptionable more distinguishing Character of the Humane Soul than the other which some have thought not entirely and peculiarly our own The Soul in the mean while is not the Principle and Original of Life This in my Judgment is a Term due to none but the Sovereign Author of our Being the Lord and Giver of Life but it is the Internal Cause if you please of Life and Motion of Sense and Understanding It moves the Body but is not moved it self as on the contrary the Body is moved but moves not I say it moves the Body but it moves not it self for though Self-Motion be in some sense a Character by which we express the Freedom of the Humane Will yet considering the depending State of a Creature I rather forbear a Term which in its strict and most exalted Sense cannot in my Apprehension belong to any but God himself For whatsoever moves it self thus must be Absolute and Eternal and that Power of moving the Body which the Soul hath it hath not from it self but from Above The next Enquiry concerns the Essence or Nature of the Soul It s Nature the Humane one I mean for as to That of Brutes little doubt is to be made but this is Corporeal and Material conceiv'd born and bred with Matter and corruptible with it too and this is no such inconsiderable Dispute as some perhaps may imagine for some have affirm'd it to be Corporeal others again contend as vehemently that it is Incorporeal Which Opinions we will beg the Reader 's leave to compare a little and how wide soever they may seem we 'll try if it be not possible to reconcile them The Arguments which have persuaded Men to believe the Soul Corporeal are such as follow First The Authority of the most Eminent Philosophers and Divines and of the latter no less than Tertullian Origen St. Basil Gregory Augustine and Damascene who all admit that the Spirits both Good and Bad which are entirely separated from Matter are yet Corporeal and if They be so who have nothing to do with Matter how much more probable is this Notion of the Humane Soul which is in constant Dealings with and closely united to it The Ground of their determining these things to be Corporeal is a Notion that All Creatures of what kind soever when compar'd with God are Gross Corporeal and Material and that God Himself alone is so excellent a Substance as to be Incorporeal and therefore every Spirit is Body and of a Corporeal Nature To this of Authority may be added another Argument drawn from Reason All that is contain'd in this Finite World must needs be Finite it self limited in Virtue and in Essence circumscrib'd by some Supersicies consin'd within some place all which are the true and natural Conditions of a bodily Substance God alone is every where He alone is Insinite and therefore He alone is Incorporeal The common Distinctions of a Circumscriptive Definitive Effective Presence seem to be meerly verbal and to carry very little or no Force at all For still it is undeniably certain See Advertisements That Spirits are in a place after such a manner that at the same time they are there they are not elsewhere too nor can be in more places than one at once They are not in Insinite Space nor in extreme Little nor extremely Large room but take up so much as is proportionable to their Size and equal to their Finite Substance And did not the Case stand thus with them how cou'd Spirits change their Place and Residence how cou'd they Ascend or Descend which yet the Scripture frequently takes notice of their doing For if Incorporeal they must be incapable of Motion Indivisible and so every where indisserently Since then 't is evident they change their places is not this sufficient to convince us that they are capable of Motion and Division subject to Time and the Successions of it which is requisite for the adjusting of Motion and measuring the Passages and mutual Distances from one place to another All which are Qualities belonging to a Body But now in regard that the generality of People who see not to the bottom of these Distinctions by the Word Corporeal form to themselves an Idea of something Visible and Palpable and so gross as must affect our Senses Since they have no Notion of pure and subtle Air nor entertain any Conception of Fire abstracted from Fuel and Flame since I say they cannot persuade themselves that things so subtiliz'd are Corporeal hence it hath grown into Use to say that Spirits in a State of Separation and Humane Souls in the Body are not Corporeal Substances Nor are they so indeed in this gross and vulgar Sense for they are of an Invisible Substance whether that be Airy as many Philosophers and Divines have persuaded themselves or whether Coelestial and yet more refin'd as some Hebrew and Arabian Authors who call Heaven and Spirit both by the same Name of an Essence proper to Immortality or whether it consist of a Substance still more subtle and purify'd than even the Aethereal or Coelestial it self but still Corporeal nevertheless since subject to all those Conditions of a Body of being consin'd and circumscrib'd within a certain Space capable of Motion and measurable in that Motion by the successive Periods of Time Again Were they not Corporeal they must be impassible for which way cou'd they suffer as we find they do The Soul of Man manifestly receives and is assected with Satisfaction and Uneasiness Pleasure and Pain and as deeply as sensibly touch'd with these things in her Turn as the Body is from Her Dictates and Her Passions Again She is likewise wrought upon and distinguish'd by Good and Ill Qualities Virtues and Vices Affections and Inclinations of all sorts All which are Accidents and as such require some Bodily Substance for their Support and Subsistence Lastly All Souls whether separated or united evil Angels and Spirits as well as Men are obnoxious to Punishment and Torture From whence it must follow that they are Corporeal For nothing can be in a Condition of enduring Torment which is not so and so the Subject of Accidents is one particular Property of a Bodily Substance See Advertisement at the End of this Chapter and also That at the Conclusion of the Tenth Now the Soul abounds exceedingly in Faculties and Powers as many almost as the Body hath Members Its Faculties and Operations Some of these she exerts in Plants a greater number yet in Beasts but vastly more in Mankind Such as the Vital Locomotive Appetitive Attractive Collective the Retentive Concocting Digestive Nutritive those of Growing Sprouting Hearing Seeing Tasting Smelling Speaking Respiration Generation Cogitation Reasoning Contemplating Assenting Dissenting Remembring Judging All which Faculties are by no means parts of the Soul for at that rate we must admit the Soul to be capable of Division and made up of nothing but Accidents and Properties but
they are the Natural Qualities and Powers of it Upon these follow the Actions or Operations of the Soul which must needs in order of Nature be after those Faculties that qualifie it for the performance of them And thus the great Dionysius whose Doctrine in this particular is universally assented to observes That in Spiritual Creatures there are Three things to be consider'd The Essence the Faculty and the Operation By the Last of these which is the Action we are led to the Knowledge of the Faculty and from the Faculty again we are carry'd on to the Essence Now we must take notice by the way that the Actions may be obstructed suspended or a final Stop and absolute Cessation put to them without any Prejudice at all being done by this means to the Soul or its Faculties As the Skill and Faculty of Painting shall remain entire in the Artist tho' his Hands be ty'd up or he be otherwise disabled from exerting that Skill But upon a Supposal that the Faculties themselves perish the Soul must perish with them as the Fire can be no longer Fire if we suppose the Faculty of Warming to be taken away from it The Nature and Essence of the Soul being thus in some measure explain'd In Vaity there is another Enquiry which offers it self to our Consideration and That indeed of very great Intricacy and Importance both which is Whether each Animal but more especially each Man have a Complication of several Souls or but One only Concerning which a multitude of Arguments have been offer'd on all Sides and great variety of Opinions have grown but they may I think be reduc'd to Three Some of the Greek Philosophers and almost all the Arabian after Their Examples have fancied that there is but One Immortal Soul not only in each distinct Individual Person but in all Mankind and distributed throughout the whole Species in general The Aegyptians are in the other Extreme and conceive that each Person hath several Souls totally and essentially distinct from one another That every Brute hath Two of these and every Man hath Three Two of which the Vegetative and Sensitive are Mortal and the Third which is the Intellectual Immortal The Third Opinion lies between these Two and as it is more moderate so hath it likewise been more generally entertain'd than either of the Former for most Nations seem to be agreed that however Men may have been oblig'd to consider the several Faculties distinctly yet there is in reality no actual Plurality and but One Soul in each Person which extends to all those Operations assign'd to several The First of these Opinions I shall say nothing to thinking it too absurd and too generally exploded to stand in need of any particular Confutation The Second which asserts a Plurality of Souls in each Animal and particularly in each Man must be confess'd on the one hand exceeding marvellous if not altogether incredible and absurd For what Philosophy will allow us in giving several Essential Forms to one and the same thing But then on the other hand it must be acknowledg'd too that this Notion makes the Way fair and smooth for that of the Intellectual Soul's being Immortal Because upon a Supposition of Three distinct Souls there is no great Difficulty or Inconvenience in admitting that Two of these may die without at all impairing the Immortality of the Third Whereas the Unity of the Soul seems to make War upon its Immortality For which way can we conceive the same Thing to be Mortal in one part and Immortal in another which yet seems to have been Aristotle's Notion Certainly there is an absolute necessity of concluding that it is All of a piece in this respect and either entirely Mortal or Immortal throughout which yet are each of them loaded with very absurd Consequences For the Former Conclusion is destructive of all Religion and sound Philosophy and the Latter advances the Brutes to the same Dignity the same Immortal State with our Selves But the most general and in my poor Judgment the most probable Opinion is that each Animal hath but One Soul but One in Substance That This is the Cause of Life and the Universal Source of all the Actions perform'd by him That though it have but One Essence entire and undivided yet is it adorn'd enrich'd diversify'd with a vast number of Faculties and distinct Powers wonderfully different and some contrary to each other according to the vast Variety of Instruments made use of by it the Vessels in which they are contain'd and the Objects they are employ'd about Thus the Soul exercises what we call the Sensitive and Reasonable Faculties more peculiarly in the Brain there being the Instruments adapted to such Operations The Vital and Irascible in the Heart the Natural and Vegetative which are sometimes distinguish'd by the Concupiscible in the Liver These are the Chief and most Material Distinctions But these so many and so different Operations Instruments and Faculties no more impair the Unity of the Soul or argue a Plurality of Causes than a Multitude of Streams conclude against One Fountain or common Source or the different Effects of the Sun-Beams prove more Suns than One in the Universe For thus we daily see he sheds his Rays and shines upon different Places and Objects with very different Success To One he administers Heat to Another Light The Wax he softens and melts the Clay he dries and stiffens He makes the Snow Whiter and the Complexion Blacker He scatters the Clouds and contracts the standing Pools And if all this be done by One Sun in the Firmament what shou'd hinder the Former to be effected by One Soul in the Body Why shou'd That be admitted for an Argument against the Essential Unity of the Cause in One of these Instances which we our selves are content to allow and constant Experience makes it plain beyond all Contradiction is of no weight at all in a Case so very parallel as This I have last mention'd As to the other Difficulty which relates to the Soul's Immortality when the Matter is carefully considered it will appear that this Opinion of the Unity of the Humane Soul does it no manner of Injury For this Soul does not suffer in its proper Essence by the Death of the Vegetative and Sensitive Faculties by which Death in Reality is meant no more than an Incapacity of exercising and exerting those Powers in a State of Separation from the Body Which must necessarily follow upon the Want and Absence of the Proper Subject and Instrument to exercise them upon But all this hinders not but that the Third and most exalted which is the Intellectual Faculty may still exert it self because a Body though at present it be made use of as its Instrument is not yet so necessary and essential to that that it should not be able to subsist and act without it Supposing then this Soul to return to the Body a second time it would return at
of its Dwelling But that all this notwithstanding They are not Two nor Three distinct Souls neither together nor in Succession That the Vegetative suffers no Diminution by the Accession of the Sensitive nor that again by the Addition of the Intelligent Mind But all Those coalesce into One and are form'd and finished according to the stated Times and usual Process of Nature Others rather incline to believe that the Soul enters the Body entire and takes Possession with her Faculties of every kind at the same Instant That This is done when all the Organs of the Body are framed and the whole Shell finished and compacted that till Then the Body is only a senseless dead Mass without any Soul at all that it had only a Virtue or Natural Energy The Essential Form of that Matter out of which it is made and this acting upon the Spirituous Parts does by the Agitation and Ferment These are put into form and build the whole Body and adjust every Part of this Structure duly When things are brought to this Head then that Energy vanishes and is quite lost and the Soul succeeds into its Place And when this New this Noble Guest arrives all things change their Form and That which before was nothing but Dead Senseless Matter exalts its Name and Nature and from thenceforth commences Man When it hath actually entred the Body we shall do well to know after what Manner it exists It s Residence and the manner of it and dwells in it Some Philosophers whose Notions of this Matter seem to have been much perlex'd and at a mighty Loss how to make out any tolerable Conjunction between these Two have imagin'd the Soul to reside in the Body like a Master in his House or the Pilot in a Ship But though as to the Governing and Directing Part the Comparison be not much amiss yet when applied to explain the particular Mode of its Existence it is absolutely improper and stark naught For at this rate the Soul would not be the Form the Internal or Essential Part of the Animal or the Man It would have no Occasion for the Members of this Body to give it reception would not be affected in any kind from this close Affinity nor have any of those tender and mutual Resentments and Sufferings arising from Bodily Pains and Pleasures but would be a Substance entirely distinct subsisting from and by it self at its own disposal to go or come to separate from the Body without making any Difference in it or any way taking from its own Functions or the Exercise of them All which are intolerable and most notorious Absurdities The Soul then in the Body is like Form in Matter dispersed and extended over every Part of it Giving Life Motion and Sense all thorough and both These taken together make one Person or Hypostasis that is one entire Subject which we call an Animal Nor are we to be Solicitous for the finding out any intermediate Quality which should connect these Two for there is no such thing in Nature All Philosophers consenting in This That there can nothing come between Matter and Form no Common Link or Band more intimate for them The Soul then is all in all the Body but as for what is commonly added of its being all in every Part too I forbear the Expression because in my Apprehension it divides the Soul and implies a Contradiction Now The Seat of the Soul although the Soul in Agreement to what we have but just now asserted be really communicated and diffused through the whole Body in general yet it must be acknowledged that she is more Eminently present and powerful in some Parts than others Where for the Sake of a clearer and more visible Exercise of her Respective Faculties she may be said to keep her Residence or have her Seat though not to Be Entirely there because This would import Confinement and the other Parts upon the Account of her Absence would be left void of all Soul and Form In regard therefore that the Soul is Remarkable for the Exercise of Four Predominant Faculties above the Rest Four Principal Places of Action and Residence have accordingly been assigned to her Now these are the Four distinct Apartments or Work-Houses taken Notice of formerly when we had occasion to treat of the Fabrick and Contexture of the Humane Body These are the most Important and Prime Instruments of the Soul the Rest are subordinate too and reducible under them as the other Faculties are likewise to those exercised in these Parts Namely the Continuation of the Species in the lowest Region The Natural or Nutritive Faculty in the Liver The Vital in the Heart and the Animal and Intellectual in the Brain The next Advance to be made upon this Subject It s Sufficiency concerns the Exercise of these Faculties in geral and how the Soul is qualified for this Purpose Now we shall do well to take Notice that the very Nature and Form of every living Creature cosisting in This Soul it cannot be but the Soul must be abundantly provided with necessary Knowledge and understand its Business without Pains or Industry or the slow and laborious Methods of acquired Instruction As certain is it too that what she is thus instructed in by Nature she fails not to exert and punctually to fulfil as Need requires Provided no Accidental Obstruction prevent or interrupt her and that the Instrument she is obliged to make Use of be rightly disposed to follow her Directions The Philosophers therefore were much in the Right when they stiled Nature a Wise Skilful and Industrious School-Mistress One that qualifies her Children and Scholars for all that is required from them * Insita sunt nobis omnium artium ac virtutum Semina Magisterque ex occulto Deus producit Ingenia The Seeds of all Art and Virtue says one of them are implanted in us Originally and Almighty God the Great Master brings forward our Natural Abilities and draws them forth into Action It were easy to prove this by pregnant Instances of every Kind The Vegetative Soul of its own Accord without Artifice or Institution forms the Embryo in the Womb so curiously so conveniently so wonderfully that we can never sufficiently express and extol the Excellence of this Skill Afterwards it takes equal Care of the Nourishment and Growth conveys seeks and receives Sustenance Retains what is eaten digests and lives upon it throws off the Superfluous and Excremental Parts Refreshes recruits repairs those Parts which sink or faint or fall to decay And These are all of them Operations Manifest and Constant not in Men only but in Brutes and Plants also The Sensitive Soul in like manner of her own Accord puts Men and Brutes upon all necessary Actions Such as Moving their Feet their Hands and Other Limbs and Parts which may be of use to them to scratch to rub to shake themselves to suck to manage their Lips and Mouth to
its own nor was ever able to make any one Man Good since the beginning of the World A thing that Providence distributes Promiscuously and with a negligent Hand scattered in common to all the World and the greatest Share very often permitted to the worst and most scandalous Part of Mankind Nor is this all For though the Thing be indifferent in its own Nature and that single Consideration is sufficient to wean or at least to moderate our Affections yet the Effects and Consequences of it are by no means indifferent but in the Issue and Event incline strongly to the Worse The debasement of Mens Minds and the depravation of their Manners being the manifest and frequent Effect of it And though it cannot be proved that Riches ever reform'd one ill Disposition and made it Virtuous yet there are innumerable Instances of Persons otherwise well-disposed who have been corrupted and made Vicious by their Means And when we have computed all the Conveniences that attend them and represented these in their best Light and to all possible Advantage it must be acknowledged after all that a great many wise Men have lived very Easy and Happy without them and a great many more foolish and naughty Men have died Scandalously for them So then They are no necessary Ingredient of Life and they expose us to Danger and Disgrace and Death In a Word This is to act upon our selves the Barbarity and Tyranny for which the cruel Mezentius was Infamous to tie the living Body to the dead Carkass that so it may languish and expire with greater Torment to mix a Noble and Refined Spirit with the Dross and Excrement of the Earth to perplex and involve the Soul with innumerable Difficulties and Tortures which this Passion will be sure to bring upon it to entangle one's self in the Snares of the Wicked one and voluntarily to be taken Captive by the Adversary of Souls as the Scripture admirably expresses it And indeed there is scarce any Vice more pathetically and more frequently decried in those Holy Books Where we find these very significant Characters given of It Luk. xvi 9. Matt. xiii 22. 1 Tim. vi 9. Coloss iii. 5. 1 Tim. vi 10. The Unrighteous Mammon The Thorns which choak the Good Seed of Piety and Virtue The Robber that steals away Mens Hearts and Affections The Nets and Snares of the Devil The Idolatry that draws Men off from the Regard and Worship of the True God and The Love of Money which is the Root of all Evil. And sure if Men would but turn their Eyes inward and observe that Rust and fretting Canker of Sins and Discontents and desperate Anxieties which Riches breed in their Hearts with the same Attention and Diligence that they gaze upon their glittering Metals with the Consequence of This must be that They wou'd then be as much and as generally hated and despis'd as now we see they are belov'd and admir'd * Defunt Inopiae multa Avaritiae omnia Necessity wants many things Covetousness wants every thing †Avarus in nullum bonus est in se pessimus The Covetous Man is good to no body but worst of all to himself Not but that there is another Passion in the contrary Extreme The contrary Passion which is by no means free from Vice neither and that is a downright Detestation and obstinate Refusal of Riches For this is Refusing the Means and the Opportunities of doing good and putting it out of a Man 's own power to practise many excellent and very beneficial Virtues There needs but little Consideration to convince us that the using Riches as one ought and getting an absolute Dominion over them is a Task much more laborious and difficult than the being content under the Want of them and a Prudent and Virtuous Behaviour in Poverty is more attainable than a steady Goodness in the midst of Plenty In the former of these Circumstances a Man hath but One Attack to guard and may bend all his Forces against That without Distraction If he can but keep his Courage up from sinking under the Affliction and maintain his Ground with Constancy and Resolution he hath done his Business effectually But the Temptations of Wealth and Prosperity are Various I had almost said Insinite and the Duties which are expected from Persons in that Condition are proportionably so too There must be Temperance in the Use of them Mederation in our Desires Liberality to those that want the Comforts we enjoy Prudence in the Choice of sit Objects to exercise that Liberality upon Humility and Meekness and Condescension and several others too numerous to be specify'd particularly The Indigent Man hath only his own Virtue to take care of the Rich must preserve That and hath another Task of Action and Distribution to take Care of afterwards He that devests himself of large Possessions is at leisure for greater and better things which mov'd some Philosophers and Christians to do so He does at the same time disburden himself of a world of Cares and Sorrows of Duties and Dissiculties unavoidable which attend the Management of himself first in the Pursuit and Acquisition then in the Keeping then in the Using and Dispensing of Wealth So that upon the whole Matter except when done upon a Principle of Charity and Religion This is only the declining of Sollicitude and Business and Trouble and when such Men pretend to Resignation and Magnanimity and Contempt of the World I should make no scruple to tell them very freely Gentlemen You renounce these things not because They are Advantageous and You are get above them but because You know not how to make a right use of them and are afraid of the Trouble and Hazard which those who make it their Business to possess and manage them as they ought are of necessity exposed to For when all is done though Riches do not deserve our Hearts and are an Object too low for our Affections yet they are as much too high for our Disdain And tho' no Wise Man will suffer himself to be brought into Bondage to them nor desire them Immoderately nor get them Indirectly nor place his Happiness in them yet when the Bounty of Providence hath dealt them to us fairly and made them our Lot in such a Case what Seneca hath observed is undoubtedly true That for a Man not to be able to bear a plentiful Fortune is not an Argument of his Wisdom but a Symptom of his Weakness and Littleness of Soul CHAP. XXII Of Sensuality and Carnal Love in particular THis is a burning Fever and furious Passion 'T is stren naturally and common and the Consequences of it are insinitely dangerous when a Man suffers himself to be vanquished and overborn by it Such a one is no longer at his own Disposal His Body shall endure a Thousand Tortures in pursuit of Pleasure His Mind a Thousand Reproachings and Self-Condemnations In short he feels a perpetual Hell
they should not bear to have it so much as recommended or mentioned but prefer Slavery and Dependance before living upon their own Stock getting above Fortune and making themselves easy and Masters at all times and places and upon all Accidents alike May we not most justly cry out with Tiberius more justly indeed than He did O Wretches born to be Slaves How absurd is it that we who are such Patrons and Sticklers for Liberty in the Case of our Bodies Estates and all other Properties should not bear to have our Mind free which after all is the only Free-born thing that belongs to any of us We seek and employ conveniences fetch'd from all parts of the World count no expence too great for the Health the Service the Ornament of the Body but grudge every thing for the improvement and enriching of the Mind In short We are so partial as to take all possible pains that the Body may be at large while the Soul is fettered and coop'd up in Prison The other Branch of this Liberty in which the Will is concerned is of yet greater value in which the Wills is concerned is of yet greater value Liberty of the Will and ought to be more endeavour'd after by a Wise Man as indeed it is more serviceable to him than the former Now here I think it necessary to admonish my Reader that the Matter under our present Consideration is not that Faculty and Privilege of Human Nature which Philosophers and Divines commonly stile Free-Will nor shall we treat of it in the same Method with Them But my meaning is That a Wise Man ought to preserve his own Ease and Quiet to keep his Will and Affections free and disengaged and to lay them out upon very few objects and those such as may justify his Choice For indeed the things that deserve our Choice and challenge our Affections if nicely examined will be found but very few But this is not all For even Those that deserve them best will not justify our Vehemence and Eagerness and immoderate Fondness of them And here I find my self under some necessity of encountring two very popular and plausible Opinions The One is That which teaches us to be always forward to serve other people to lay aside all thoughts of one's self for the sake of our Neighbours and especially when the Publick Good is concerned pretends that no private Interest ought to come in Competition with it And the Other prompts us to espouse such Matters with all possible Zeal and to the very utmost of our power He that declines the Former is accused of wanting Good nature and a publick Spirit and He that is remiss in the Latter is suspected of Coldness and Indifference want of Generosity and the Zeal that is required of a Good Man and in short reputed incapable of making a Friend Now whatever there may really be at the bottom of these Opinions yet it is plain the World have overloaded the Foundation and built such Notions upon it as exceed all Reason and Measure and nothing can be more Romantick and Extravagant than what we sind delivered upon these Occasions For our Governors who feel the Advantage of them oftentimes infuse Principles into us not according to the true merits of the Cause but in proportion as they perceive they may prove serviceable and beneficial And it frequently falls out that those Opinions which are in themselves most reasonable and true are not most convenient to be generally entertained And besides this Observing how natural the Love of our Selves and our own private Advantage is and what Partialities and unreasonable Excesses it is apt to carry us into they thought it necessary to divert and draw us off as far from This as possibly and so took the Common Course of bending the Crooked Stick the Contrary way that it might at last stand strait by being forced toward the other Extreme 1 These Opinions when misunderstood and misapplied which is commonly the Fate of most Opinions when they fall into the hands of a Multitude occasion great Injustice and Disorder many Difficulties and grievous Mischiefs As we may plainly observe in those persons that snap at every bait of this kind let themselves out to hire as it were and devote all their Time and Pains to the service of other people These men do not only suffer themselves to be managed and taken absolute Possession of by their Friends but they thrust themselves forward of their own accord and will have an Oar in every Boat It is indifferent to Them whether the Matter concerns them or not whether it be of greater consequence or of none at all still they Interess themselves in all alike for indeed they often do it merely to keep themselves in Motion and Employment It stirs their Spirits put their Soul into a pleasing sort of Agitation and thus * In Negotio sunt negotij causà they are busy purely because they love to be so They cannot bear the having nothing to do nor can they confine their Thoughts to their own Affairs but either do not see or carelesly overlook them and so seek Employment abroad and meddle and turn undertakers in things that are foreign and distant as if they had nothing at all to do at home no concerns that are essential and necessary to be followed no personal no domestick Cares that lye upon their hands such as ought to be first dispatched and which if duly attended to would leave no room for Sloth nor leisure so great as should prove a Temptation to us to turn Managers for other people that we may keep our selves in Action Many of these persons are good husbands of their purse and careful not to part with a Penny of Money but upon valuable considerations but they are unreasonably prodigal of their Soul their Life squander away their Time and their Pains their Affections and their Will most profusely and unaccountably dedicate Themselves and all their Powers to any occasions that calls for their Assistance And yet when all is done These are the valuable Treasures of which we ought to be exceeding choice and sparing and in such Instances it is chiefly that Frugality and good Management are commendable But alas the Persons we speak of are so far from this that they glory in their Extravagance act all with such Violence and Passion that they are lost to Reason and common Sense and never think they do enough till they have engaged as deep as is possible and given up their Persons and their Wits both to the Cause they espouse Great Men make their Advantage of such Tempers as these Men that will be eager and angry and expose nay lose their lives upon pretences of Friendship and Punctilio's of Honour and Respect are special Tools for Their purpose And they are not wanting to countenance and caress them throw out large Promises and use a thousand little Stratagems to draw them in and six them to their
disability is Fear and Phlegm Coldness and Listlessness There is oftentimes not the least of Real Conviction or any Principle of Conscience in it And sure a feeble Body is a very unfit Conveyance to carry us to God and drive us to Repentance and our Duty For true Repentance is somewhat very different from all this it is a particular Gift of God by which we grow wise in good earnest a Remorse which checks our hottest Career even in the midst of Springhtliness and Courage and this is what must be created and cherished in us not by the want of opportunities or of power to use them not by the weakness of a Body broken and worn out and grown unserviceable to Vice any longer but by the Strength of Reason and Thought and the better consideration of a Resolute and Vigorous Mind For nothing more argues Greatness of Soul than the Correcting our former Follies and Steadiness in a new Course of Life notwithstanding all the Difficulties and Discouragements of an entire Reformation Now One fruit of true Repentance is a frank and conscientious Confession of one's Faults Of Confessing and Excusing Faults This is usually the Sign the Consequence and in some Cases so necessary a Qualification that all Professions of Penitence without it are Hypocritical and vain It is with the Mind in these Respects as with our Bodies For as in Bodily Distempers there are two sorts of Remedies made use of One that make a perfect Cure by going to the very Root and removing the Cause of the Disease Another which only sooth the Patient consult his present Ease and are properly termed Quieting Medicines and as in this case that former Application is much more painful but withal more powerful and effectual and better for the person than the latter So likewise in the Wounds and Sicknesses of the Soul the true Remedy is of a searching and a cleansing quality and This is such an Acknowledgment of our Faults as is full of Seriousness and Shame a being content to take the Scandal and the Folly of them upon our selves But there is another deceitful Remedy which only covers and disguises them its design is not to heal so much as to conceal the Disease and this consists in Extenuations and Excuses from whence we commonly say That Wickedness makes it self a Garment to cover its own Shame This is a Remedy invented by the Author of Evil himself and it answers the Malice of his Nature and his purposes by rendring the Party so much the worse and obstructing the Methods of his Recovery Such were the Shifts and Shufflings such the Covering of their Nakedness which the First Transgressors made the Fig-leaves and the Excuses were both alike and made the Matter but so much the worse while they laboured to mend it We should therefore by all means learn to accuse our selves and get that necessary Conquest over our Pride and Self-love as frankly and fully to confess the very worst of our Thoughts and Actions and not allow our selves in any reserves of this kind For besides that this would beget a brave and generous Openness of Soul it would likewise be a wonderful Check and effectual Preservative against all such Actions and Thoughts as are not fit to be publickly known and what a Man would be ashamed of if they were so For He that obliges himself to tell all he does will be sure to take care not to do any thing which shall need to be concealed But alas the Common Practice of this naughty World is the direct contrary to the Advice I am giving Every Man is discreet and modest and secret in the Confessing but bold and free from all restraint in the Committing part For as indeed the Confidence and Hardiness of the Crime would be very much curbed and abated so likewise would it be in some measure compensated by an equal frankness and hardiness in the accusing of our Selves and acknowledging what we have done amiss For whatever Indecency there may be in doing an ill thing not to dare to confess our selves in the wrong is ten thousand times more odious and base To this purpose we may observe that there are several Instances of Persons eminent for Piety and Learning such as St. Augustin Origen Hippocrates and the like who have taken pains to disabuse the World and to publish Books wherein they confess and retract their own Mistakes and erroneous Opinions and well were it if People could be brought to such a Degree of Sincerity as to do the same in point of Morals and Misbehaviour Whereas now they oftentimes incur a greater Guilt by endeavouring to hide and smother a less for a publick premeditated Lye seems to Carry some Aggravations along with it which render it more abominable and more Vicious than some other Facts committed in secret though these be such as in their own Nature are apt to raise a greater Abhorrence and Detestation in us All This does but inflame the Reckoning it either makes the first Fault worse or adds a fresh one to it and in either case the Guilt of the Man is not abated but increased and whether we count this Increase by way of Addition or of Multiplication the Matter comes all to one CHAP. IV. The Second Fundamental Point of Wisdom The Fixing to one's self a particular End and then chalking out some determinate Track or Course of Life which may be proper for leading us to that End AFter having spoken so largely concerning this first Fundamental Point the Real and Hearty Sincerity upon which Wisdom must be built we are now led to say some small matter of the Second Predisposition which is also necessary in order to living prudently and well And That is the Pitching upon and Drawing out to one's self some determinate Method or Course of Life that we may not live at large and at random but betake our selves to some particular sort of Business or Profession which may be proper and convenient for us My meaning is such as a Man 's own Temper and Natural Disposition qualifies him for and applies it self chearfully to with this Caution only that while we follow our own Nature in particular there be a constant Regard had to the Dictates of Human Nature in general which is and ought to be the Great the General the Governing Mistress of us all as you were told in the last Chapter For Wisdom is a gentle and regular Management of our Soul that moves and acts in due measure and proportion and consists in a constant Evenness of Life and Consistency of Behaviour It must then of necessity be a matter of very great momment This no eaâ—â— matter to manage our selves well in making this Choice with regard to which People behave themselves very differently and act with great confusion and perplexity by reason of the great variety of Considerations and Motives which they are influenced with and These many times such as interfere and confound one another
not esteem it worth a thought when so trivial a loss was compared with the abundance he had left Now this Body of ours is no other than a garment borrowed for a little while that our Soul may make its appearance and act a short part in it upon the stage of this lower World But the Soul in the mean while is that which commands our value and regard and our great affair is to secure the honour and quiet of this better part while sojourning in this busie and tumultuous life And what do we think may be the true reason why Pain provokes us to so great impatience What indeed but that we place our happiness upon wrong objects and do not set up our rest nor seek our satisfactions in the Soul * Non assueverunt animo esse contenti nimium illis cum corpore fuit Men grow into coldness and negligence of this part and grow too familiar and fond of the Body And Pain as if it were sensible of this folly of ours plies us hard in our tenderest part especially when a Man shivers and trembles at its approach as if it took a pride to insult over such unreasonable fear and concern The advantages however of this so much dreaded misery are considerable it helps to wean our affections and teaches us to work off our relish and delight from that which we must shortly leave for there is no one thing more assisting to us in giving us a due sense of the emptiness of the World and what an errant cheat it is than Sickness and Pain and I think every Man must confess this to be a very considerable piece of service It heightens the pleasure consequent upon it For when a Disease hath had its course the satisfaction of a recovery is much more sensible than any enjoyment of uninterrupted health This chears and enlivens us like Light out of the midst of Darkness and a Man would almost imagine that nature had contrived Pain on purpose that by mingling some of those sharp intervals ease and pleasure might have due honour done them and be rendred more acceptable and exquisite Let us then reflect upon these few Suggestions and see what consequences they naturally offer to us If our Pain be moderate the virtue of Patience cannot be very difficult if it be extream the glory of enduring it as becomes us is proportionably great if it appear insupportable our own cowardice and effeminacy have made it so if there are but very few who can bear it decently let us try to be of that number for the smaller it is the more distinguishing and commendable it is to be in among them Let us not lay the blame at nature's door for making us no stronger This is all pretence it is not natural weakness but affected nicety and tenderness that disables us in this point If we run away from Pain it will pursue us if we surrender our selves to this enemy and suffer it to conquer us we shall be treated with insolence and barbarous usage and the reproach of tameness will stick hard upon us If it tries to terrifie us and we stand our ground the success will be above our expectation let us therefore defeat and disappoint this design by shewing our selves more resolute and brave than it thinks for For the greatest part of the smart and anguish is owing to our own softness and delicacy our yielding and sinking under it * Non quia difficilia non audemus sed quia non audemus difficilia We do not flinch from things so much because they are hard to be born as we create that hardship to our selves by dreading and shrinking at them I may reasonably expect that all the former arguments should be lookt upon as flights of speculation Philosophical notions which Men of refined thoughts entertain when they are at ease but would soon find impracticable if brought to the tryal and therefore to obviate this objection I have reserved to the last place the instances and examples of persons whose practice hath justified the possibility and mighty efficacy of all that hath been said here or is usually urged in Books upon this occasion And these not only of wise and extraordinary but of ignorant and common Men Nay even Women and Children are frequently mentioned in story to have endured both long and acute pains and diseases and with a mind so steady and unbroken that the anguish which hath taken away their lives was never able to subdue their constancy and courage They have waited the approach of their torments and encountered them knowingly and met them gladly and supported themselves under them with marvellous chearfulness nay have even sought and courted the severest and most exquisite tortures humane nature is capable of suffering The Lacedaemonian Boys are notorious for whipping one another till sometimes they expired under the scourge and all this without the least change of Countenance A sort of barbarous discipline instituted to harden them that they might be better qualified to do their Countrey service when thus inured to sussering Alexander's Page was burnt to the very Bone with a Coal and endured it without the least complaint rather than he would interrupt the Sacrifice A Spartan Boy let his Bowels be cat out by a Fox rather than he would discover his Theft Pompey when taken by King Gentius who would have compelled him to reveal the secrets of the Roman state thrust his singer into the Fire and burnt it till Gentius could bear the sight no longer to convince him that all Torture would be lost upon him The Case of Mutius with Pâ—rsenna was another instance of the same kind and good old Regulus endured more than all of them from the Carthaginians The account of Anaxarchus hath scarce any Parallel who when pounded in a Mortar at the Command of a Tyrant cried out Beat on beat on your Belly-full you cannot touch Anaxarchus his self you only bruise the Shell of him But that which is a remedy indeed is one peculiar to Christians the sure prospect of a future and eternal state the consideration what cruelty and contradiction of sinners their Saviour condescended to suffer and that participation of glory and bliss with him in Heaven which is ordained and reserved for those who suffer with and for him that is after his example in a good cause and for the sake of Faith and a good Conscience These reflections will animate Men not by rendring them insensible or taking sanctuary in nice and airy distinctions but by furnishing arguments superiour to the quickest and tenderest sense of Pain And accordingly we see what incredible effects these Religious comforts had in all the Primitive Persecutions how triumphant they were in the midst of Racks and Fires and Crosses The having respect to the recompence of Reward The balancing the light Afflictions of a moment with the Eternal and far more exceeding weight of Glory the committing this Body to the Ground
Sun and Moon for their Excellencies and the good influences they shed When we enjoy this Beauty and have made it our own property by fair and honest means let us even then remember that this is a very low and mean satisfaction so far from being peculiar to the dignity of Humane nature that Brutes all partake and are most of them supposed to exceed us in it That the immoderate use of Pleasure wastes the Body softens and effeminates the Soul enfeebles and darkens the understanding That a world of people have fallen miserable Sacrifices to their inordinate Lusts some in the loss of their Lives others of their Fortunes and others of their Senses but the Reputations murdered by it are innumerable Consider again that there is more honour nay I will add more pleasure too in vanquishing these desires than in complying with them And all the transports of fruition are flat and dull nauseous and insipid in comparison of those ravishing satisfactions which overflow in our Souls when we have gained a virtuous and noble Conquest over our selves And this is the general Sense of Sober Mankind for there is no one Action in the Life of Alexander or Scipio in which their Historians so justly glory as that of the treatment they gave to their beautiful Captives and the tenderness for their Honour which the Fortune of War was generally thought a privilege to violate This Continency and Conquest of themselves is more highly commended than all their successes and hath more engaging Charms than the fairest of their Prisoners could ever boast of These I say are Considerations pertinent and proper enough but it cannot be expected they should have a constant efficacy For this Vice abounds with Sophistry and cunning and as it will not be reasoned with sometimes so at other times it will not be safe to go about it And therefore in cases of violent Assaults the best course will be to betake our selves to our heels and get loose from the Temptation And it is very observable that the Holy Ghost which bids us in all ordinary cases Resist the Devil Jam. 4.7 with a promise that he shall flee from us yet when he mentions Youthful Lusts the advice is that we would flee from them 2 Tim. 11.22 Debates as well as delays are dangerous here the Cause must be referred to a Judge under shrewd suspicions of Corruption and therefore the safest Issue we can make is to throw it out and never give it the hearing Business Recreation Company any thing to divert this stream of our Thoughts and Affections into another Channel There can be no difficulty in the Choice for in such cases the worst Company a Man can possibly be in is to have none but his own Now we are to observe that both the Virtue of Continency and its contrary Vice is of several kinds and different degrees The chief and that which I shall speak to at present is the Conjugal sort that mutual and inviolable Fidelity between Man and Wife which as it was the first and highest Obligation so is it the most sacred the most important and that which both Publick Society and Private Persons are deeply and inevitably interested in And therefore this ought to be held in the most Profound Veneration and Esteem and not suffered to become the Jest and common scorn of profligate Lewdness the Diversion of a Theatre or the boasted Triumph of a Man of the Town The Parties concerned in these holy Engagements must have no Affections nor cherish any desires beyond the Chast Embraces of each other but utterly Abandon the very wishes of stollen and unlawful delights and be content to Drink the Waters of their own Cistern Prov. 5.15 and the running Waters of their own Well that is pure and innocent unpolluted and untroubled delights of a faithful and lawful Marriage as the Wise Man expresses it according to the usual significancy and extraordinary decency of the Scripture Stile They that allow themselves in other liberties fall into the blackest and most complicated guilt imaginable they violate and Sin against their own Bodies by making them Vessels and Instruments of Uncleanness and Dishonour they transgress against all manner of Laws which any Man can be bound by The Laws of Revealed Religion which forbid us to prostitute our selves to silthiness and shame and have commanded the strictest purity of Conversation the Law of Nature which forbids the invading another Man's property and the tenderer the right is to him the more detestable is the injustice the Law of Reason and Equity which enjoyns fidelity and stedfastness to promises and mutual Contracts the Laws of the Land which have Established Marriages as the only conveyance of Right and giving a Title and Propriety in such cases the undoubted Rights of Families by grafting in a foreign growth upon the natural Stock injuring the other Children and transferring the fruit of a Man's Industry his Acquisition or his Inheritance to Strangers and Interlopers the Laws of Justice and Charity by starting difficulties and Disputes among Friends and Relations alienating the Affections of Parents from their Children and dissolving in great measure the Duty of Children to their Parents when there are these Jealousies among them and leaving a lasting and indelible stain upon the Unfortunate though innocent Posterity of so suspected a Race As to the other parts of this Vice I add only in one word that though Adultery be the highest yet it is not the only Violation of it Men would therefore do well to see how many Aggravations of this kind just now mentioned concur in any of those allowances they make to themselves to lay aside the byass of their present Passion and even in cases of simple Fornication ask their own Consciences how they should like to have the honour of a Sister or a Daughter so injured by another person and if they think but scurvily of such a blemish in a near Relation this at least makes the gratification an offence against Reason and Equity and natural Justice nor is it in such circumstances for a Man to alledge that the partner of the crime is no other Man's it is enough to Condemn him that She is not his own CHAP. XLII Of Ambition and Temperance with regard to the Desire of Honour and Fame THat this is a Desire which stands in great need of being tempered and restrained no Man can suffer himself to doubt who at all considers the inordinacy of the Affection the injurious courses it pushes the Patient upon and the infinite mischief it does to society when the Reins are let loose and we give it its head But though the free Range of this Affection be so pernicious yet we ought to take notice that according to what hath been formerly delivered upon the same occasion all Ambition all thirst either of Honour or of Reputation is not to be condemned without any distinction but that as it may be ordered and managed there
be wanting on my Part which might prove the Sincerity of those Professions I am Proud to make of being My LORD Your Lordship 's most Obedient and Most Devoted Servant Geo. Stanhope Lewisham May. 6. 1697. A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS of the First BOOK THE Introduction Page 1 Chap. 1. Of the Formation of Man Page 15 Chap. 2. The First and General Distinction of Man Page 22 Chap. 3. Of the Humane Body and its constituent Parts Page 25 Chap. 4. Of the singular Properties of the Body of Man Page 30 Chap. 5. Of the Advantages of the Body c. Page 32 Chap. 6. Of Apparel for the Body Page 41 Chap. 7. Concerning the Soul in general Page 45 Chap. 8. Of the Soul in particular and First of the Vegetative Faculty Page 74 Chap. 9. Of the Sensitive Faculty Page 76 Chap. 10. Of the Senses which are the most Exalted and Noble Parts of the Body Page 80 Chap. 11. Of Sight Hearing Speech Page 102 Chap. 12. Of the other Faculties viz. Imagination Memory and Appetite Page 109 Chap. 13. Of the Intellectual Faculty which is Peculiar to the Humane Soul Page 110 Chap. 14. Of the Parts of the Humane Soul And First of the Vnderstanding which is its Noblest Function Imagination Reason Wit Judgment c. Page 129 Chap. 15. Of the Memory Page 157 Chap. 16. Of Imagination and Opinion Page 158 Chap. 17. Of the Will Page 163 Chap. 18. Of the Passions in general Page 168 Chap. 19. Of Love in general and at large Page 178 Chap. 20. Of Ambitiom Page 179 Chap. 21. Of Avarice and the Passions opposite to it Page 190 Chap. 22. Of Sensuality and Carnal Love in particular Page 197 Chap. 23. Desires Page 201 Chap. 24. Hope and Despair Page 204 Chap. 25. Of Anger Page 205 Chap. 26. Hatred Page 213 Chap. 27. Envy Page 215 Chap. 28. Jealousie Page 216 Chap. 29. Revenge Page 217 Chap. 30. Cruelty Page 221 Chap. 31. Grief Page 223 Chap. 32. Compassion Page 233 Chap. 33. Fear Page 234 Chap. 34. The Second Way of considering Man which is by stating the Comparison between Him and Other Animals Page 240 Chap. 35. Of the true Value the Continuance and Description of Humane Life and the several Parts or Stages of it Page 274 A general Draught of Man Page 288 Chap. 36. I. His Vanity Page 291 Chap. 37. II. Weakness Page 301 Chap. 38. III. Inconstancy Page 328 Chap. 39. IV. Misery Page 331 Chap. 40. V. Presumption Page 360 Chap. 41. Of the Differences and Inequality of Men in general Page 380 Chap. 42. The First Difference whereby Men are distinguish'd which is Natural and Essential and deriv'd from the several Climates of the World Page 383 Chap. 43. The Second Distinction and nicer Difference which regards the Souls of Men or the Internal Qualifications and Capacities of their Minds Page 395 Chap. 44. The Third Distinction and Difference between Men which is Accidental and relates to their Degrees Conditions and Offices Page 402 Chap. 45. Of Command and Obedience Page 408 Chap. 46. Of Marriage Page 410 Chap. 47. Of Parents and Children Page 430 Chap. 48. Of Lords and their Slaves Masters and Servants Page 437 Chap. 49. Of Publick Government Sovereign Power and Princes Page 443 Chap. 50. Of Magistrates Page 459 Chap. 51. Lawgivers and Teachers Page 461 Chap. 52. Of the Common-People Page 467 Chap. 53. The Three Sorts or Degrees of Life as it is common to the Generality of Men distinguish'd and compar'd together Page 476 Chap. 54. A Life of Company and Business compar'd with one of Retirement and Solitude Page 480 Chap. 55. A Life in Common compar'd with that of distinct Properties Page 485 Chap. 56. A Town and a Country Life compar'd together Page 487 Chap. 57. Of a Military Life Page 489 Chap. 58. Of Liberty and Servitude Page 493 Chap. 59. Of Nobility Page 495 Chap. 60. Of Honour Page 503 Chap. 61. Of Learning Page 508 Chap. 62. Of Riches and Poverty Page 512 OF WISDOM Three BOOKS The Author's Preface Wherein the Title the Subject Matter the Design and the Method of this Treatise are explained BEfore we enter upon the Book it self it is requisite the Reader should be well informed what he is to understand by that Wisdom which is the Name the Subject and the End of it and after what manner it is intended to be treated of in the following Sheets Now every one at the very first hearing understands by Wisdom some particular and uncommon Accomplishment whereby a Man is distinguish'd and set above the Vulgar by a greater Ability and more masterly Readiness whether in Good or Evil. For tho' there be not the same Propriety indeed in the Expression when converted to the worse Sense yet it is used either way and the Scripture it self makes mention of some Persons Wise to do Evil. Thus then it does not by any means import a really Good and Commendable Quality of the Mind but in general any sort of Knowledge or Skill exquisite in the Degree be the Object and Employment of it what it will In this Sense a Tyrant or a Pyrate or a Robber may have this Title apply'd to him no less than a King or a Pilot or a Captain because all we intend by it is only Prudence and Conduct and a perfect Vnderstanding in the business of his Profession Hence it comes to pass that Folly is opposed to Wisdom not only as it denotes Extravagance and Vice but in general any sort of Indiscretion or meanness of Attainments For Wisdom gives us an Idea of something extraordinary and losty in its kind as the contrary does of somewhat little and low and short of the common Pitch Take Wisdom in a Good or a Bad Sense Two Things are manifestly included in it First A Sufficiency of Mind which implies its being furnished with all things necessary for its purpose and Secondly The Excellency or more than common measure of that Provision for to give a Man right to this Denomination it is no less necessary that he should enjoy these Qualities in a great and eminent degree Thus you see the largest and most vulgar Notion of Wisdom according to which Men commonly tell you that Wise Men are very scarce that they who are such have a Right to direct and preside over Others and in matters of difficulty to be consulted like so many Oracles from whence it is very frequently said that Men take the Judgment of the Wise and let better Heads determine for them But now if we come to define the thing more nicely and fix a right Notion of it we shall not find so general an Agreement For Wisdom means one thing with the generality of the World another among Philosophers and somewhat different from both in the Acceptation and Treatises of Divines These Three are the several Stages and Classes of Men under which all the World is comprehended The Two last have the Advantage and lead Men by Rules and
do them as leaning the Head on one side blowing the Nose and a hundred other such Gestures But some again there are common to all Mankind such as Reason and Contrivance hath nothing to do in but they are the effect of meer Natural Impulse as for Instance that of putting our Hands before us when we are falling which all do without thinking and some do it we see at a time when they cannot think at all CHAP. V. Of the Advantages of the Body c. THE Excellencies of the Body are Health Beauty Health preferr'd Sprightliness Agility Vigour Dexterity Gracefulness in Motion and Behaviour but Health is infinitely above all Health is the loveliest the most desirable the richest Present in the power of Nature to make It justly challenges precedence above all Temporal Blessings and Advantages Not only Learning and Knowledge Wealth and Greatness and Noble Blood but even Wisdom it self in the Judgment of the severest Philosophers is inferiour to it This is the only thing that deserves our utmost Endeavours our greatest Hazards the only one which is worth the venturing our very Lives for the acquiring and enjoyment of it For indeed our very Lives without it are flat and insipid nay they are troublesome and painful and Vertue and Wisdom languish and decay and die if this do not keep them in Beauty and Vigour and Exercise Suppose a Man of the greatest Abilities that ever Human Nature had or is capable of what Advantage wou'd all this be to him in a Fit of an Apoplex or a Fever or any other violent Distemper Certainly there can be but one thing in the World more valuable and that is Probity for Probity is to the Soul what Health is to the Body Now though this be commonly the Gift of Nature and the effect of an originally good Constituon a just and proper Temperament of Humours and fit Disposition of Parts and Vessels in the first Formation of the Body yet no doubt can be made but the Nourishment and Methods afterwards contribute very much to it also The wholsomness of the Milk and a good sound Nurse in the time of Infancy and a regular way of Living when Men come to their own Conduct and Management Sobriety and Temperance of all kinds moderate Exercise Appetites well govern'd and keeping one's self from Melancholy and all violent Passion and Disorder of the Mind do assist preserve confirm and finish what Nature and Complexion at first begun Sickness and Pain are its Opposites and Enemies and these are the sorest perhaps indeed when all things are rightly consider'd the Only Evils incident to Mankind Concerning which more will be said hereafter But both in Enjoying and Preserving this the Brutes seem to have the better of us for Man often ruins himself and pays dear for his Frolicks and Excesses The next Advantage to This in Order and Dignity is Beauty Beauty which is a very great Recommendation and of mighty influence in Conversation and Society This is the first thing that conciliates Men's Favour and unites them to one another and it is highly probable that this was the first and principal Mark of Distinction the first Consideration which gave Men any Preference and Authority over their Fellows The Power and Efficacy of this Quality is indisputable every one sees and feels it no other Accomplishment gains more Esteem none is so General and so Commanding in all the Affairs of Human Life None are so Barbarous none so Stupid or so Obstinate as not to be smitten with it It steps forward and offers it self to publick View it bespeaks our Favour prepossesses our Fancy seduces and bribes our Judgment makes strong and deep Impressions and is full of Importunity full of Authority Socrates understood its Power full well when he called it a short Tyranny upon the Mind and Plato when he term'd it the Privilege of Nature For a Man can hardly forbear thinking that the Persons to whom Nature hath been so partial in her Favours and signaliz'd with charming and uncommon Graces have a sort of lawful inborn Power over us and were made to command These when they draw our Eyes and Observation do insensibly attract our Hearts too and fasten our Affections upon them and captivate and enslave us whether we will or no. Aristotle says that Superiority and Government belongs to the Comely that They command our Veneration next after the Gods as being the liveliest and fairest Copies of those Glorious Originals and that all but the Blind must and ought to be affected with their Excellencies The three great Princes Cyrus Alexander and Coesar found This of mighty Importance and made the Gracefulness of their Persons turn to good Account in their weightiest Affairs and so did Scipio more than any of them Handsome and Good have a great Affinity and both the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek Language and the Style of Holy Scriptures seem to express this by using one and the same Word to signifie both Several great Philosophers found their Beauty Serviceable in their Study and Acquisition of Wisdom and to shew that this Recommendation is universal it is not consined to Men only but is valued and of great Request even among Brutes Now Beauty is of great Variety and may be considered in very different Respects Different Sorts of it That which is proper to Men consists chiefly in a Majestick Form and goodly Stature The other sorts of Beauty are of a softer and more Esseminate Kind they may be rather called Prettinesses and these are more peculiar to the Female Sex In each of These there is a Subdivision One which is a fixed and lasting Beauty and this consists in having the Parts well proportioned and the Colours justly mixed A Body not swelled nor bloated and yet not so thin and meager neither that the Nerves should shew themselves or the Bones start out of the Skin but full of Blood and Spirits and well in Flesh the Muscles high and clear the Skin smooth and soft the Complexion fresh and ruddy The Other is a moveable and inconstant Beauty which may be term'd Gracefulness and this consists in a good Air and becoming Motions wherein All the parts of the Body are concern'd but the Eyes more so than any of the rest The former is as it were Dead when not attended with This for all the Life and Action is in the latter There are also some Beauties of a more masculine and rough and fierce Air and others of a softer sweet tender and languishing Kind The Beauty and Excellence of the Body is more peculiarly seated in the Face Of the Face and our Measures of it are chiefly taken from thence The loveliest Thing in the Person of a Man is his Soul and in the Body of a Man it is his Face For this is as it were the Abstract the Copy and Image of the Soul It is a piece of Natural Heraldry where all the Advantages and Coats of Pretence
are distinctly Quarter'd and Blazon'd and This like a Scutcheon is plac'd upon the Front of the House that you may know whose Seat it is and who and of what Quality the Person is that owns and inhabits it For the Face is an Abridgment of the whole Man and this seems to be the Reason why Art which always follows Nature and treads in Her Steps troubles it self little farther in Paintings and Carvings than to give you an exact Representation of the Face from the Life and leaves the rest of the Picture or Statue to the Artist's own Discretion Now there are several very great Niceties Some particular Properties of the Face particularly observable in Humane Faces such as may very truly be term'd Properties of the Face since neither Brutes nor any other part of our own Bodies can pretend to the like And indeed for want of These Brutes can scarce be truly said to have any Face First The Great Number and Variety of distinct Features and the several Fashions of them For those of Beasts consist of much fewer The Cheeks the Chin and the Forehead are There all in one and not distinguished like Ours nor have they the Figure of ours at all Secondly The Wonderful Diversity of Colours for in the Eye it self there is a mixture of Black and White and Green and Blue and Red and Crystalline Thirdly The Regular Symmetry of the Parts whereby the Proportions answer to each other And this is observable in the Organs of Sense being double and exactly corresponding and in the different Relations which the rest bear mutually in Length and Breadth Thus the largeness of each Eye measuring at the Top of the Socket gives you the Wideness of the Mouth the Breadth of the Forehead is the same with the Length of the Nose and that again is of the same Dimension with the Lips and the Chin below Fourthly The wonderful Diversity of Faces so Nice so astonishing that among so many Millions of People there are not two to be found exactly and all through alike This is such a Master-Piece as all Nature cannot furnish such another Instance of And this deserves a little more particular Attention because it shews the Goodness as well as the Power and Wisdom of our Adorable Maker upon the Account of the mighty Consequence and Benefit such Variety is of to Humane Society First In regard it supplies us with Marks of Distinction sufficient to know one another asunder by For infinite and unconceivable Mischiefs must needs follow no less indeed than utter disbanding and breaking off all Commerce and Communication if Men's Faces were so like as to make us liable perpetually to mistake one Person for another A Daughter for a Wife an Enemy for a Friend and thus a second and worse Babel would follow Were there no Resemblance at all indeed then Men would not be distinguished from Brutes but were there not some Unlikeliness too than any one Man could not be discern'd from any other Man And which is yet more wonderful Nature hath dealt these Differences so artificially as to satisfie all Parties and found out a Secret that those who are most unlike should be highly contented themselves and should please others also For the Matter is so order'd that there is no Person but is approved and thought very well to pass by some body or other and the Faces themselves do not disagree more than Peoples Fancies and their Inclinations to several sorts of That which they call Beauty A Fifth Quality peculiar to Humane Faces is the Dignity and Honour of them resulting from the Oval Figure the Streight Position the Elevation above the Body their Direction upwards to Heaven their naked Graces without any Covering of Shag or Hair or Feathers or Scales as Beasts and Birds have A Sixth is the Air of the Face a pleasant Agreeable Sweetness so insinuating so engaging that as was said before Hearts are immediately caught and our Wills and Affections violently born away with it In a Word The Face is the Throne of Beauty and of Love Seat of Smiles and of Kisses two things peculiar to Mankind agreable and innocent when used as Nature intended them for true and affectionate Expressions of Civility and Friendship and Kindness and a good Understanding between Man and Man and once a Ceremony used in the most Solemn Religious Assemblies Lastly This is adapted to all manner of Changes in the Temper it expresses all the inward Motions and Passions of the Soul Joy and Grief Love or Hatred Envy and Malice Shame and Anger Indignation and Jealousy and the rest of them immediately betray themselves here This is like the Hand to the Watch which tells us the Hours and the Minutes while all the Wheels and Springs by which those Movements are made lie within and out of sight And as the Air receives all Colours and all Alterations of the Weather and so lets us know what Changes are coming So may it be said of the Countenance too * Corâ—us animum tegit detegit In facie legitur homo The Bedy says one both covers and discovers the Mind and you may read the Man in his Face The Beauty of a Face â— Dâ—seâ—â—â—tion of the Beauty 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 consists in a large square well spread Forchead Clear and unclouded even small and fine Lyebrows a well cut brisk and sparkling Eye a streight well proportion'd Nose a little Mouth with red Lips High full Cheeks with a pleasant Dimple in smiling a round compact Ear and all over These a lively Complexion of good wholesome White and Red. But yet this Description is not allowed Universally for several Nations and Climates have several Opinions of Beauty The Indians particularly esteem That the most exquisite Beauty which We look upon to be the greatest Desormity a Tawny Complexion large thick Lips a flat wide Nose and Teeth stained with Black or Red long hanging Ears a low hairy Forehead vast pendulous Breasts so large that they may fling them over their Shoulders and give Suck to the Children at their Backs and these are so much in Esteem so desirable Qualities that they use all possible Art and Industry to bring themselves to this Shape But what need we go to the Indies when our very next Neighbours differ so much in their Notions of the Matter For the Spaniards think none Beauties but the Lean and Slender and the Italians on the other Hand prefer the the well-set the strong and the plump and think there can be no such thing as Handsâ—meness without these Qualifications And indeed in every Countrey some are for the soft the weak the tender and the little Women and others for the tall the strong the masculine and bolder Beauties Now this outward Gracefulness of the Body Beauty of Boly and Mind and more particularly that of the Face ought in all reason to be an Indication and certain Evidence of the inward Beauties of the Soul And these consist
in an Evenness of Temper a Regularity of Opinions and Judgments steadily maintain'd and a Firmness and Constancy of Mind resulting from hence For surely nothing is more agreeable to Nature than the mutual Relation and Conformity of the Body and the Mind And where this Correspondence and Similitude does not appear we are to conclude that some Accident hath unfortunately interpos'd and broken the ordinary Course of Nature as it very often happens and is very apparent that there does For the Milk of a base Nurse the First Advances in Education and Instruction the Company they frequent and sundâ—y other things may leave a strong Tincture behind worâ— mighty Changes in the Natures and Humours of Men and give them Dispositions quite different from those they were born with either toward Virtue or to Vice Socrates acknowledged that the Deformity of his Body testified against him for the Deformity of his Soul and that the Evidence it gave was true but that by Study and Pains added to a good Education he had amended his Mind The Air and Face of a Man is no good Rule and very dangerous it is to depend upon it either way But they who have an honest engaging Look ought to suffer double Punishment if they belye it in their Actions For they betray and deceive People by their fair Promises which Nature hath written in their Foreheads and which they themselves make so ill a Use of as to trapan and cheat the World with them It were well indeed if we would follow Socrates his Advice upon this Occasion as all of us ought to do in becoming more nice and attentive in observing and considering curiously the Beauties of Mens Minds and in taking the same Satisfaction in beholding those Charms as we do in gazing upon these of the Body And so to come up close to them contract an Alliance and Friendship with them and unite our selves to them inseparably by admiring loving imitating them with all imaginable Affection and Zeal This were an Object worthy our Passion indeed But alas all People are not qualisied for it none but Philosophical Eyes can behold and discover Those Graces and none but pure and resined Souls can take Delight in the Love and Practice of them CHAP. VI. Of Apparel for the Body MAny probable Reasons may be given that may induce us to believe the way of going Naked which is still continued in a considerable part of the World to have been the Original and once Universal Mode of all Mankind how odd and singular soever it may seem to Us at this Day The other of Cloathing seems the Effect of Art and Invention contrived to abolish Nature upon pretence of mending it as fantastical People shut out the Sun and enlighten their Rooms at Mid-day with Tapers and Candles And surely this is not so much the dictate of Necessity as some would make us believe For it is by no means to be imagin'd that Nature which hath been so Liberal in all her Provisions for every other Creature and particularly in Point of warm and convenient Covering hath dealt so much worse by Man than all the rest as to leave him the only indigent Child she hath and in such Need of Help from other Hands that he must starve and perish presently if he be not succoured and supplied with it This is one of the Reproaches which fanciful and melancholy People cast upon Nature when they call her a hard and cruel Step-Mother to Mankind but that Charge against her is false and unjust Upon the supposition that Men had from the Beginning been all accustomed to Cloths it is not easy to conceive how any Number of them should ever take up a Fancy of throwing them aside again and going Naked both because a Regard to their Health which must needs have suffered extremely by so disadvantageous an Exchange and a Regard to Modesty and Shame too must in all reason have persuaded the Contrary And yet we see this is still the Fashion in several Nations which is a great Presumption of its having once been the Fashion of all Mankind Naturally For what can be alleged for the Contrary Opinion Will you urge the Two common Reasons that Clothes were always necessary to cover our Shame and to defend us against the Cold I mention not the Heat because it is not likely they were taken up for a Protection against That These Arguments are plainly insufficient Look back to the Primitive State of our First Ancestors and you will find that Nature never taught them to be out of Countenance at their Nakedness The Distinctions of this Kind are of a later Date and it was Guilt First and then Custom that introduced Shame Besides even those very Parts which we take Pains to conceal Nature hath been beforehand with us in keeping out of Sight But if we should allow this for one Reason of Cloathing yet the Argument can only concern the Covering of these Parts The Consequence of it cannot possibly extend to the rest and thus we see in some Countries some Persons of Better Condition do consult their own and the Beholders Modesty without troubling themselves for any farther Garments though the Common People in the same Places go stark naked Some have thought it a Disparagement that Man who challenges a Precedence and Authority over all Things here below should not dare to shew himself to the World as God Almighty made him but though that Thought be liable to some Exception yet I think truly it cannot be for his Honour to think himself Enrich'd with the Spoils of his Subjects to be Proud of the Ornaments they furnish him with and value himself or disesteem others according as he possesses or they want these poor Advantages if they are sit to be call'd Advantages even in the last and lowest Degree And yet this is a Vanity so prevailing that as if Reason cou'd not urge enough to make People ashamed of it Religion hath interpos'd her Authority too to forbid Affectation and Pride in tricking and setting off our Persons and teaches us that we shou'd never think our selves truly adorn'd except when the virtuous and shining Qualities of the Mind render us agreeable and lovely in the Eyes of God and Man These are the Jewels these the Ornaments which wou'd most effectually repair that Shame which all our outward Dresses were so industriously contriv'd to cover As to that other Argument which proceeds upon Cold and some other things that render Apparel necessary either to particular Persons of a Constitution more feeble or to all that dwell under one Climate sharper than the rest we know full-well that some go naked and others drest in the very same Latitude and the very same Air and there is never a one of us but exposes the tenderest Part about him to all Weathers continually Which gave occasion to that Reply of a sturdy Beggar who when he was asked how he cou'd endure to go naked in the midst of
the same time to the Exercise of its Vegetative and Sensitive Powers as we see plainly by Instances of Persons who have been raised from the Dead to live here below But this would not infer a Necessity of the same things for living in another State For those Faculties whose Exercise supports this Life we now lead are not thereby proved of such Consequence that no other kind of Life could be supported or enjoyed without them It is in this Case with the Soul as with the Sun for the same Instance will be of Use to illustrate our Argument in this Branch also which continues the same in himself every whit as entire and unblemished not in any Degree enfeebled though his Lustre and Vital Influences be sometimes intercepted and obstructed When his Face is cover'd with a Total Eclipse we lose the cheerful Light and cherishing Heat but though no sensible Effects of him appear yet he is in his own Nature the same Powerful Principle and Glorious Creature still Having thus as I hope sufficiently evidenced the Unity of the Soul It s Origine in each Individual animated by it let us in the next Place proceed to observe from whence it is deriv'd and how it makes its Entry into the Body Concerning the Former of these Particulars great Disputes have been maintained by Philosophers and Divines of all Ages Concerning the Origine of the Humane and Intellectual Soul I mean for as to the Vegetative and Sensitive attributed to Plants and Beasts those by general Consent have been esteemed to consist intirely of Matter to be transferred with the Seminal Principles and accordingly subject to Corruption and Death So that the whole Controversy turns upon the single Point of the Humane Soul and concerning this the Four most Celebrated Opinions have been these which follow I omit the Mention of any more which are almost lost in the Crowd because These have obtained so much more generally and gained greater Credit than the Rest The First of these is that Notion of the Stoicks embraced by Philo the Jew and after Him by the Manichees Priscillianists and others This maintains Reasonable Souls to be so many Extracts and genuine Productions of the Divine Spirit Partakers of the very same Nature and Substance with Almighty God himself who being said expresly to have breathed it into the Body these Persons have taken the Advantage of Moses's Words and fixed the sublimest Sense imaginable upon them He Breathed into him the Breath of Life by which they are not content to understand that the Soul of Man is a distinct Thing and of a different and more exalted Original than the Body a Spirit of greater Excellence than that which quickens any other Animal but they stretch it to a Communication of God's own Essence The Second was deriv'd from Aristotle receiv'd by Tertullian Apollinaris the Sect of the Luciferians and some other Christians and This asserts the Soul to be derived from our Parents as the Body is and in the same Manner and from the same Principles with that whence the Soul of Brutes and all that are confin'd to Sense and Vegetation only are generally believ'd to spring The Third is that of the Pythagoreans and Platonists entertained by most of the Rabbinical Philosophers and Jewish Doctors and after them by Origen and some other Christian Doctors too Which pretends that all Souls were created by God at the beginning of the World that they were then by Him commanded and made out of Nothing that they are reserv'd and deposited in some of the Heavenly Regions and afterwards as his Infinite Wisdom sees Occasion sent down hither into Bodies ready fitted for and disposed to entertain them Upon this Opinion was built another of Souls being well or ill dealt with here below and lodged in sound and healthful or else in feeble and sickly Bodies according to their Good or Ill Behaviour in a State and Region above antecedent to their being thus Incorporated with these Mortal and Fleshly Tabernacles How generally this Notion prevail'd we have a notable Hint from that great Master of Wisdom who gives this Account of his large improvements Wisd VIII 19 20. above the common Rate of Men I was a Witty Child and had a good Spirit yea rather being Good I came into a Body undefiled Thus intimating a Priority of Time as well as of Order and Dignity in the Soul and that its good Dispositions qualified it for a Body so disposed too The Fourth which hath met with the most general Approbation among Christians Especially holds that the Soul is created by God infus'd into a Body prepared duly for its Reception That it hath no Pre-existence in any separate State or former Vehicle but that its Creation and Infusion are both of the same Date These Four Opinions are all of them Affirmative There is yet a Fifth more modest and reserv'd than any of the former This undertakes not to determine Positively one way or other but is content Ingenuously to confess its own Ignorance and Uncertainty declares this a Matter of very abstruse Speculation a dark and deep Mystery which God hath not thought fit particularly to reveal and which Man by the Strength and Penetration of his own Reason can know but very little or nothing of Of this Opinion we find St. Augustine St. Gregory of Nice and some others But though they presume not so far as to give any definitive Sentence on any Side yet they plainly incline to think that of the Four Opinions here mention'd the Two latter carry a greater Appearance of Truth than the Two former But how The Entrance into the Body and when this Humane Soul for of the Brutal there is little or no Dispute nor is the present Enquiry concerned in it Whether This I say make its Entrance all at once or whether the Approaches are gradual and slow Whether it attain its just Essential Perfections in an Instant or whether it grow up to them by Time and Succession is another very great Question The More general Opinion which seems to have come from Aristotle is That the Vegetative and Sensitive Soul whose Essence is no other than Matter and Body is in the Principles of Generation that it descends lineally and is derived to us from the Substance of our Parents that This is finished and Perfected in Time and by Degrees and Nature acts in this Case a little like Art when That undertakes to form the Image of a Man where first the Out-Lines and rude Sketches are drawn then the Features specified yet These not of his whole Body at once but first the Painter finishes the Head then the Neck after that the Breast the Legs and so on till he have drawn the whole Length Thus the Vegetative and Sensitive Soul they tell you forms the Body in the Womb and when That is finished and made fit for the Reception of its new Inhabitant the Intellectual Soul comes from abroad and takes Possession
cry to laugh and other Expressions of Want and Grief and Pleasure The Reasonable and Intellectual Soul does the very same thing in Its Capacity And Thus it acts not by virtue of any Reminiscence or Recollection of any Knowledge it had before with this Union with the Body as Plato fondly imagin'd a Notion which proceeds upon the supposal of another State in which the Soul pre-existed before its Entrance into or the Formation of this Body Nor does it owe this Power to Knowledge receiv'd in at the Senses and acquir'd by Their means upon Use and Observation as Aristotle conceives who represents the Soul at the Birth to be a Perfect Blank utterly void of all Characters or Images but ready to receive Impressions of any kind But it seems rather to discharge this Office by the Original Strength of its own Native Powers It Imagines Understands Retains Argues Reasons Concludes of it self without any Instruction or additional Helps at all This Assertion I must own seems more difficult to comprehend than the Former and we can more readily assent to such a Native Aptitude in the Vegetative and Sensitive than we do in the Intellectual Soul It is manifest too that Aristotle's Authority lies in some Degree against the Thing And therefore to satisfie all these Difficulties I will allow this Matter a more particular Consideration when we come to discourse of the Intellectual Soul distinctly There remains yet one Point more concerning the Soul to be enquir'd into It s Separation Twofold Natural which relates to its Separation from the Body Now This may happen different ways and be of sundry kinds The only Usual and Natural Separation is by Death Only herein is a mighty difference between Other Animals and Mankind that when the Rest die their Soul dies too agreeably to that Rule in Philosophy That when the Subject-Matter is corrupted the Form is perfectly lost though the Matter still remain Whereas the Soul of Man is indeed separated from his Body by Death but by no means lost or annihilated So far from Perishing that it remains entire and unhurt as having the Privilege of an Immortal and Incorruptible Nature There is not in the World any One Opinion which hath been more universally entertain'd more eagerly embrac'd more plausibly defended more religiously stuck to I may well say Religiously since this Doctrine is in truth the very Foundation of all Religion than That which asserts the Immortality of the Soul All this now is meant of an External and Publick Profession for alas it is but too manifest and too melancholy a Truth and the prodigious numbers of dissolute Epicures abandon'd Libertines and prophane Scoffers at God and a Future State bear Testimony to it That what Pretence soever the Generality of the World may make of receiving this Doctrine in Words and Speculation there are but very few who express an inward Sense and serious Belief of it by living like Men that believe it indeed Of that practical Assent I shall take occasion to speak more largely hereafter In the mean while give me leave to lament that so little and so poor Effects appear of an Opinion capable of producing so many and so noble For certainly there is not any one Point whatsoever the Persuasion whereof can bring greater Benefit or have a stronger Influence upon Mankind It may be objected I confess that all the Arguments which Humane Discourse and meer Natural Reason endeavour to establish it by cannot amount to a Demonstration But it must be confess'd that there are several other things which Men are content to yield their Credit to upon far more weak and insufficient Suggestions And whereinsover Reason falls short it is abundantly supply'd by Revelation which as it is the Best so is it the Proper Evidence in Matters of this kind But yet to shew the Importance of this Doctrine even Nature herself hath implanted in all Mankind a strong Inclination to think it true For it is natural for us to desire the legthening out nay the perpetuating our own Existence And no Reflection is more uneasie than That which attempts to persuade us that we must once cease to be This Disposition is interwoven with our very Frame and hath given Birth to another no less general than it self which is That anxious Care and impatient Regard for Posterity that takes such fast hold on every Man of us Nor wou'd I be so far misunderstood as to have it thought that this Disposition of Mind is the only Humane Foundation upon which our Belief of the Soul's Immortality stands For there are Two other Moral Arguments in particular which give it great Credit and to say the very least of the Case render it exceeding probable The First is that Hope of Glory and Reputation and the tender Care of preserving a Good Name when we are gone nay the Thought and Endeavour that our Fame shou'd be Immortal Now though I cannot but condemn this sollicitude of Vanity when Men pretend to place their Happiness in the Opinions of other People after themselves are dead yet the marvellous Regard and universal Concern Mankind express for it seems to say that Nature inspires those Desires and Expectations And Nature we know is a Wise Agent and does not use to cheat Men with Hopes which are altogether impossible and vain Another Reason not easie to be got over by Them who oppose this Doctrine is That common Impression that Those Crimes which are committed in secret or which otherwise escape the Observation and Punishment of Civil Justice and the Vengeance of Man are still reserv'd to a farther Reckoning that Almighty God supplies the Defects of Temporal Judicatures and hath a severe Judgment in store for such Offenders as Those cannot extend to And since we find by frequent Instances that many Enormities of this kind are not made the Marks of the Divine Vengeance in The Present World it is a good Consequence of all the Idea's we can reasonably entertain of God that He shou'd pursue the Guilty Wretches into another World and chastise them as they deserve even after Death And now I wou'd be glad to know what greater Moral Assurance can be expected for a Subject of this kind than that Humane Nature disposes every Man to look forward to it to desire and to think it probable and that the Consideration of the Divine Justice represents it as a thing not only greatly probable but absolutely necessary This last Reflexion will lead us to the Discovery of Three different Kinds and Degrees of Souls all which become proper Objects of the Divine Justice Nor need we credit it upon that Account only but even Natural Reason the Order and Harmony of the Universe will persuade us that such a sort of Being and so Immortal as we have been describing the Humane Soul is requisite to make the Series of the Creation Beautiful and Complete Of these Three sorts we may observe that Two are in Extremes The One consisting
of such Souls as are gross sunk down immerst in inseparable from and compounded of meer Matter Such are the Souls of Brutes The Other quite contrary such as have no manner of Communication with Matter and Body as Angels and Immortal Spirits whether Good or Bad. In the midst and between these two is the Humane Soul and this is neither entirely and necessarily confin'd and fasten'd to Matter nor entirely separated from it but joyn'd and wedded to it in this present State yet so that its Divorce is not its Destruction but it can subsist and live without Matter in Another State Such an Order and Distinction as This is no despicable Argument for the Immortality of the Soul since otherwise we must suppose a wide Gap a vast Defect and foul Deformity in Nature such as carries Absurdity in it self casts a Reflexion upon its Author and threatens Ruine to the World Which is supported by nothing more than by the Gradual and Contiguous Order and Succession of the Creatures And therefore between Distances so wide as altogether Corruptible and absolutely Incorruptible Nature requires some middle Condition of a Substance partly the One and partly the Other Such a Link as this is necessary to tye the two Ends of this Chain together and such a Link can be no other Creature than Man For if we carry our Thoughts farther we shall find that Other Beings are without the Compass of this Length and so there are Five Stages of Beings in all One below the meanest and even those Souls which are said to consist entirely of Matter such as Stones which we cannot say have any Soul at all Another far above even the most exalted the most pure and immortal Souls which is the Ever-Blessed and Eternal Spirit the Great and Only God But besides the Separation of the Soul already treated of Separation Unnatural there is Another Unnatural and Uncommon One and this happens by Fits and Starts is out of the way and consequently very intricate and hard to give our selves any tolerable Account of Such I mean as comes upon Men in Extasies and Raptures which as they differ very much in their Symptoms and Circumstances so do they likewise in their Causes and Occasions Of these some are Divine Extasies wrought by the express and immediate Operation of God Such are those Trances which the Scripture takes notice of in Araham Daniel Ezechiel Zacharias St. Peter and St. Paul Others are Daemoniacal procur'd by the Interposition of Good or Evil Spirits many whereof are mention'd in Story And we are told of John Duns-Scotus in particular that having lain a long time in a Trance and being taken for dead he was carry'd to be bury'd and put into his Grave but being rouz'd with the Blows and Bruises of the Mould thrown upon him he came to himself and was taken up again and in a few Days after dy'd in good earnest with the loss of Blood and the Bruises he had received upon his Head Cardan mentions somewhat of this Nature with which both Himself and his Father were possessed And many Creditable Authentick Relations have been made from several distant parts of the World of abundance of People most of them of the Vulgar sort too weak and ignorant to contrive such Stories and of Women possessed whose Bodies have not only continu'd long without any Sense or Motion or Pulse but have been cut bruised burnt without ever feeing it and afterwards when they came to themselves they have complain'd of intolerable Torture and exquisite Pain and have given very strange Accounts of what they have seen and done in places a great way off A Third Separation there is which we may call Humane because proceeding from Humane Means and such as no Superiour or Invisible Power seems to be concern'd in This comes either from that Disease which from Hippoerates is call'd Morbus Sacer but commonly known by the Name of the Falling-Sickness attended with Foamings at the Mouth which are lookt upon as the Mark and Character of it and distinguish this Distemper from Possessions in which the Patients are said to have none of these Frothings but a very noisome Stench in the room of them Or this Separation may be owing to the Force of Stupifying and Sleeping Medicines Or to the Strength of Imagination which being vehemently intent upon some One thing perfectly carries away the Soul and renders it stupid and insensible to all other Objects besides Now in these Three kinds of Extasie and Transport whether Divine Daemoniacal or Humane the great Doubt arising is Whether the Soul be really and truly separated from the Body or whether without any such Separation it still continue there but be so entirely taken up with some External Object as perfectly to forget the Body belonging to it So that its Natural Operations and the Exercise of its proper Offices and Vocation are during that time suspended and wholly superseded As to Divine Extasies The Apostle speaking of Himself and what happen'd in his own Case 2 Cor. 11. will not presume to define any thing * Whether in the Body or out of the Body I cannot tell says he God knoweth And this Caution of His is methinks a good Warning to all other People that They too shou'd be modest and reserv'd and not rash in determining any thing positively not only in These but even in less Abstractions of the Mind As to the Second Case That of Demoniacks Their having no sense of great Blows and exquisite Tortures and reporting things transacted at Two or Three Hundred Leagues distance these I confess are great Conjectures and very violent Presumptions of an actual Separation but yet I think they are not conclusive and necessary Arguments for it For the Devils may amuse the Soul and keep it so fully employ'd even when at home that it shall have no Commerce or Communication with the Body for some considerable time and at the very same time too he may represent to the Imagination what passes at a great distance in so lively and clear a manner as to fool the Man with a Persuasion that he hath really been there and seen those very things which the Images thus strongly imprinted upon his Fancy have enabled him so particularly to relate How far the Activity of Evil or Good Spirits extends is not possible for us to say But it is a very bold Assertion and what Nature will very hardly endure that the Whole Soul formally taken goes out and abandons the Body for upon these Terms the Body must die to all Intents and Purposes And such Mens coming to themselves again wou'd not be a Recovery of their Senses but a Resurrection from the Dead And yet to say That the Soul does not All go but the Imaginative and Intellectual Faculties rove aboad while the Vegetative stay behind and keep House is still more Monstrous and Absurd For at this rate the Soul which is entire and One in her Essence wou'd be
divided or else we must suppose the Accident only to be transported and born away and the Substance to remain fixed in its proper place and therefore we have reason to admit any other Solution of the Case rather than that of an Actual Separation As to the Third and Last sort which was term'd Humane the Thing is clear beyond a Doubt that there is no real Separation in it since all that can be pretended to in this Case amounts to no more than some present Stupefaction and Disorder by means whereof such of the Soul 's Operations as are Visible and External cease in appearance and are suspended for some time What becomes of this Soul and in what State or Condition she continues after that Real and Natural Separation made by Death Wise Men have not been able to agree nor does this Point fall properly within the Compass and Design of the present Treatise The Transmigration of Souls advanced by Pythagoras hath found in some parts of the Notion especially tolerable good acceptance with the Stoicks the Academicks the Aegyptian Philosophers and some others Not that they all admitted it in the same Sense and Extent or to all the Purposes he intended it shou'd serve Some allowed it only so far as it might contribute to the Punishment of Wicked Men who might suffer by being turn'd into Brutes in a manner like that miraculous Infliction upon Nebuchadnezzar Dan. iv as a Scourge from God for his Vanity and Atheistical Pride Some again and those of considerable Eminence and Authority have imagin'd that Pure and Pious Souls upon their quitting this Body are translated into Angels and the Black and Guilty ones transform'd into Fiends and Devils Methinks it were more prudent to soften the former Branch of this Notion as our Blessed Saviour hath done already by saying Luke xx That they neither marry nor die any more but are as the Angels and are the Children of God Some again have fancied that the Souls of the wickedest and most profligate Wretches after a very long Term of Time and Punishment utterly perish and are reduc'd to their First Nothing But Humane Reason is and must needs be for ever in the Dark about all such Matters And therefore these Disquisitions shou'd be constantly referr'd to their proper Topick of Instruction For as nothing but Revelation and Religion can inform us truly in what concerns a Future State so they have not been wanting to declare what is full and sufficient for our purpose and therefore it is our Duty as well as our Wisdom to receive this without more ado and stedfastly to rest in it ADVERTISEMENT IN the Second Particular which concerns the Essence and Nature of the Soul the Author makes a very odd Distinction between Matter and Body and tries to reconcile the Opinion of Those who say the Soul is Immaterial with Theirs who affirm it to be Corporeal The Result of which is That the Souls of Men do not consist of gross and palpable Matter but of a Body thin and subtle even beyond all Imagination And therefore in the Sequel of this Discourse he continues to make a Difference between the Souls of Men and those of Brutes even in this very Point of Materiality it self But now Since Body and Matter strictly and Philosophically taken come all to one and since No Subtlety or Fineness of Composition makes any Body the less a Material Substance Since again the Humane and Intellectual Soul hath evidently several Faculties and performs several Operations such as Cogitation Volition nay even Sensation it self which are neither inherent Qualities of Matter as such nor what any Motion or Modification whatsoever can render it capable of Monsieur Charron's Subtlety of the Body will not help the Cause at all For Aethereal or Coelestial Bodies are as truly Matter as any of the Coursest and Grossest whatsoever And the Notion of Matter is not to be taken from its Purity or Foeculency its Palpability or its Fineness but from its Essential Properties such as Extension and quantity Divisibility Being purely Passive and Acting only as it is acted upon It s being subject to the Laws of Motion and the like These now are the inseparable Properties of every thing that is Body and from hence it must needs follow that all Bodies whatsoever are equally distant from equally unqualify'd for Thought and Perception and all other Operations and Faculties which are the proper and distinguishing Characters of a Reasonable Soul Concerning which if my Reader desire farther Satisfaction than the Nature of a single Advertisement allows me room for I referr him to Dr. Bentley's Second Sermon against Atheism where he will find this Argument handled at large When once such an Absurdity as This hath been shewn to attend that Notion which maintains the Soul's Corporeity it is to very little Purpose to urge us with the Difficulties concerning the mutual Intercourse of our Souls and Bodies or what the Soul suffers either in her united or in her separate State Some of which are capable of the same Resolutions with those given in the Case of Brutes by those Philosophers who allow them Sense and are not the Actions or Affections of the Intelligent but of the Sensitive Powers And for Others which are superiour to Humane Discourse we acknowledge our Ignorance and resolve all into the sole Will and wonderful Wisdom of our Almighty Creator He hath not told us what is the Band of Union between these Two nor how this Communication and intimate Correspondence is kept up and carry'd on And we think it is impossible for any to acquaint us with this Process except Him only who contrived and constituted it But Ten Thousand such Objections weigh little when balanc'd against a Flaw in the very Foundation Every thing at this rate may be disputed and Universal Scepticism be advanced for we are able to trace nothing through all its Motions and Operations But an Argument ab Absurdo made evident in the First and most substantial Principles is allowed even in that Science which professes the greatest accuracy in Arguing to be a Just and Legitimate Demonstration against any thing which such Principles are alledged to establish See more concerning the Immateriality of the Soul and her Operations in the Advertisement at the End of the Tenth Chapter CHAP. VIII Of the Soul in Particular and First of the Vegetative Faculty HAving thus given a General Description of the Soul in the Ten Points already insisted on I come in the next Place to treat of it somewhat more distinctly by considering its respective Principal Faculties apart And the most convenient Order as I apprehend will be to begin with the Lowest first and so proceed from the Vegetative to the Sensitive from thence to that of Imagination and Appetite and last of all to the Intellectual which is the Supreme of all the Faculties and that which is the true and peculiar Character of the Humane Soul Under each of These
there are several subordinate Powers of less Note and Figure which hold as Branches of or Deputies under those and will fall in naturally to be mentioned in the Profecution of that Method I have here proposed As for That which concerns Vegetation it is the meanest by much and given us in common with the very Plants I shall therefore say but very little of it not only because the subject is not of Dignity enough to bear me out in long Enlargements but also because this is more properly the Business of Physicians whose Profession leads to the Study of Health and Sickness the Preservatives of the One and the Remedies against the Other I shall only call upon my Reader at present to observe that under this Faculty there are Three Great and very Important Subalterns concerned and each of them subsequent and assisting to each other in a regular Progression For the First promotes the Second and the Second the Third but not so as that the Order can be inverted and the Remark hold back again The First of these is the Nutritive Instituted for the Preservation of the Individual and under This there are several Assistants such as the Attractive or seeking of Necessary Sustenance that of Concoction and Digestion which separates the good and useful Parts from those which are noxious and naughty The Retentive for what is necessary and the Expulsive to throw off what is offensive or superfluous The Second is that of Growing which tends to the Perfection of the Individual and giving it all its just Proportions The Third is the Generative for the Continuance and Succession of the Species From hence now it is plain that the Two former of these were instituted by Nature for the Sake and Benefit of the Individual and terminate in the Advantage of one single Person and his own Body The Third extends to the Species in general and its Effects do not cannot center in the Person himself and therefore This as more Extensive and Beneficial is esteem'd superiour in Dignity to the other Two and advancing nearer to That Faculty next above it which is the Sensitive For Producing ones own Likeness is a very Eminent Perfection in Nature and gives us the Honour of some distant Resemblances even to the Great Creatour himself CHAP. IX Of the Sensitive Faculty THE Exercise of this Faculty or the Operations of Sense require the Concurrence of no less than Six several things Four within and Two without the Body And they are These which follow I. The First is the Soul This is the Prime Efficient Cause of Perception II. The Second is the Faculty of Sensation which I distinguish here from the Former having already proved that it is only a Quality of the Soul and not the very Essence or Soul it self This consists in the Perception and Apprehending of External Objects Which may be done Five several Ways for which Reason we are commonly said to have Five Senses Concerning that Number I shall say something in the next Chapter in the mean while my Reader need scarce be told that these Senses are call'd Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting and Feeling III. The Third thing necessary is the Bodily Instrument or Organ of Sense and these are proportionably Five too The Eye for Sight The Ear for Hearing The Cavity at the Top of the Nose which goes into the first Ventricle of the Brain for smelling The Tongue for Tasting and the Skin all over the Body for that of the Touch or Feeling IV. The Fourth Requisite is that Animal Spirit derived from the Brain which is the Origine and Seat of the Sensitive Soul and conveighed through the Nerves to these several Organs by the Motion and Mediation of which Spirit and Organ the Soul exercises her Faculty V. The Fifth is what the Philosophers were used to call the Species Sensibilis which is in plain English the Object which moves and affects or is propounded to the Organ and This is of a different kind according to the different Sense excited or applyed to by it That of Sight or the Eye according to the commonly received Opinion is Colour A Quality or Accident inherent in the Body coloured Six of these are Styled Simple Colours as White Yellow Red Purple Green and Blue To which some add Black and call them Seven But strictly speaking Black is not any Colour but only a Privation of Light resembling Darkness as other Colours do more or less resemble Light The Number of Compounded Colours is infinite And indeed if we go to the Philosophical Nicety of the Thing there is no Colour at all in any Body whatsoever for This is nothing else in Truth but the various Representation which Light differently modified makes upon our Senses For when the Light is gone all Colour is gone with it and as this never appears without some Colour so it never disappears so as to leave Colour behind Now Light is a Quality proceeding from a Luminous Body which creates in us a Perception and Sight of it self and of all things else within our View When this terminates upon and is stopp'd by any solid Body it rebounds back again and doubles its Rays by Reflection But if it peetrate the Body and find farther Passage it cannot be seen except only in its first Source the Luminous Body from whence it was shed originally nor does it then do us any Service in shewing other Objects The Object of Hearing is Sound by which we are to understand that Noise which results from the mutual Collision of two Bodies and this is very various For some Sounds are sweet and melodious they sooth and charm the Soul calm the Passions compose the Humours of the Body and chase away the Disorders of the whole Man Others again are smart and piercing strike through the very Soul wound and disturb our Faculties with an ungrateful Harshness But of all our Senses the Mind seems to be most under the Power of This none entertains it with greater Variety none takes more absolute Possession of it The Object of Taste is what we call Savour or Relishes of which the Simple are Sweet Bitter Sour Sharp Salt Acid But of the Compounds there is no Number they are made so exquisite and multiplied so industriously That of Smelling is Flavour which is a sort of Vapour arising from the Odoriferous Object and ascending through the Nose into the first and most prominent Ventricles of the Brain Such Perfumes as are very strong commit a sort of Violence upon the Brain and are prejudicial or offensive to it But those that are agreeable and moderate minister wonderful Comfort and Refreshment and both delight and do good to the Head The Objects of Feeling are such as usually are term'd the Tactile Qualities Hot Cold Moist Dry to which we may add Soft and Sharp Rough and Smooth Motion and Rest Tickling c. VI. The Last thing which must concur in Sensation is the Medium or Space betwixt the Object and the
for this particular Number of Five Senses Whether enough of them and to prove that These are suflicient by comparing and distinguishing them and the Uses they serve All Bodies say they without us which are Objects of our Senses are either very near and close to Our Body or they are at some distance from it If they be close to us and still remain without us then they fall under our Touch If they approach and come into us then they are the Objects of our Taste If they are more remote and stand before us so that their Distances are measur'd by a Right Line then the Sight discerns them If the Line be Oblique and the Motion Reflex then the Hearing does it Now methinks the Distinction were better thus Of the Five Senses accommodated for the Service of the whole Man as he is compounded of Body and Soul some are appropriated to the Use of the Body only and These are the Touch and the Taste the One for all that enters within the Other for that which continues still without it Some again are first and chiefly design'd for the Benefit of the Soul and those are Sight and Hearing the Former to assist Invention the Latter for Improvement and Instruction and all manner of Communication And One more in the midst of these Extremes sitted to those Spirits and Avenues that belong to Soul and Body both which is Smelling Again They answer to the Four Elements and their respective Qualities The Touch to the Earth Hearing to the Air Taste to Water and Moisture Smelling to Fire and Sight to a Compound of Water and Fire because of the Brightness of the Eye It is likewise pretended that there are as many Senses as there are General Divisions of sensible Objects and these are Colours Sounds Scents Relishes and a Fifth sort which wants a Name to express it adapted to the Touch and comprehending all the Tactile Qualities as Hot Cold Hard Soft Rough Smooth Sharp and the rest of them But This is evidently a Mistake for the Number of the Senses is by no means adjusted according to the Number of the Objects they are capable of Nor are these Objects the Cause of their being just so many and no more Were this a good Account it wou'd follow that we must have been endu'd with a great many more than we now have whereas now one and the same Sense entertains Objects of different Kinds and one and the same Object creates a Perception and impresses it self upon several Senses at once The most probable Account of this Matter seems rather to be That the Senses were intended for Means and Instruments of conveying Knowledge to us and that Nature which as she is not niggardly so neither is she profuse hath given us as many Senses as are suflicient for this purpose and that when she had supply'd us with enough for our Use she did not think sit to give us any more Of These the Sense of Seeing does surpass all the rest in the Quickness of its Operation A Comparision of them For it reaches the very Heavens in an Instant and acts in the Air which is full of Light and Images without any Trouble or Motion whereas all the rest of the Senses receive their Impression by the Motion of those Bodies which make it And all Motion requires Time to be perform'd in so that all the other Senses must needs proceed more slowly than This which need but open its Organ and is sure to find Light and Colours stand always ready to be discern'd by it All the Senses are likewise capable of Pleasure and Pain but This is observable of the two grossest of them That the Touch is capable of abundance of Pain and but very little Pleasure and the Taste just contrary feels a great deal of Pleasure and little or no Pain The Weakness and Uncertainty of our Senses is the Great Cause of our Ignorance and Errour The Weakness and Uncertainty of them and all sort of Misapprehension For since Knowledge is attain'd by the Mediation of the Senses only if these make a false Report what can we do but receive and stick to it But after All who can tell what Reports they make or how can any Man accuse them of Falshood since we learn all from Them and consequently even That which gives us this Jealousie and is the Ground of the Accusation Some indeed affirm That the Senses are faithful in all their Messages and represent the very Truth That when we imagine they deceive us the Fault is not in Them but in something else and that we ought rather to lay it at any other Door for no other thing is so free from so incapable of imposing upon us Some again run into the contrary Extreme cry out upon the Senses as downright infamous Lyars and tell you that nothing at all of Certainty can be had from them * See Advertisement But the Truth lies between these Extremes Now Whether the Senses themselves are deceiv'd or not thus much at least is evident The mutual Deceits of the Mind and the Senses that they put a Cheat nay sometimes a Constraint upon Reason and that by an unhappy Vicissitude Reason pays them back in their own Coin and returns the Cheat upon Them And is not Man think you like to be wonderful Wise and Knowing when the outward and the inward Instruments of Instruction are Eternally tricking one another and his whole Composition is full of Falshood and Weakness in the most necessary and essential Parts of it Now that the Senses deceive and commit a Violence upon the Understanding we see plain enough in those Instances where Some of them immediately put us in a Rage Others sweeten and appease the Soul and Others again tickle and please it exceedingly And why shou'd Men turn their Heads away when they are let Blood or lanced or suffer Incisions and Burnings but from their Consciousness of the Power the Senses have to disturb their Reason and that the same thing is better born when the Eyes do not observe the Operation The Looking down a Pit or vast Precipice disorders and confounds a Man though he knows at the same time that he stands safe himself and cannot reasonably apprehend any danger of salling into it And to instance in no more 't is evident that Sense of Pain and Pleasure both does every Day vanquish and utterly confound the best and bravest Resolutions of Virtue and Temperance and Patience Again It is no less evident that the Senses on the other hand are cheated by the Understanding This is demonstrated by those Agitations of Anger and Love and Hatred and other Passions which impose upon us and make us see and hear things quite otherwise than they really are Nay sometimes our Senses are not only deceived but perfectly stupify'd and bound up from all power of Action by violent Disorders of the Soul as if the Soul retir'd inwards and were entirely taken
the Defect It must be compos'd of a delicate fluid Substance of fine and subtle Parts and these well joyn'd together and all united without any Separation or void Spaces throughout the whole It hath Four small Cavities or Ventricles Three of which lie forward in the middle and are plac'd in a Collateral Line to one another The Fourth lies behind these toward the hinder part of the Head and is single by it self This is the Shop in which the Vital Spirits are first form'd and united in order to the being afterwards converted into Animal Spirits and then convey'd into the Three Cavities that lie forward And these Animal Spirits are the Instruments made use of by the Soul for discharging her several Functions and exercising all her Faculties Those Faculties are likewise Three the Understanding the Memory and the Imagination And these are not exercis'd distinctly and apart nor hath each of them a different Ventricle of the Brain appropriated to it which is all an old and vulgar Errour concerning them but their Operations are alltogether and in common All the Three Faculties exert themselves in all and every of the Three Cavities somewhat like our Bodily Senses which are double and have Two Organs in each of which the same Sense performs all its Operations entire From hence it comes to pass that a Man who is hurt or disabled in Two of these Three Ventricles as one in a Palsie for Instance does yet continue to have the use of all his Three Faculties That is He understands and remembers and forms Idea's still by virtue of that One Cavity which the Disease hath not yet seized upon It is true he does this more weakly and every Operation of every kind is more imperfect than it was formerly because the Strength and Vigour of One is not equal to the united Force of Three But yet it evidently follows from hence that each Faculty hath not its Workhouse in a distinct Apartment and entire to it self alone for then assoon as any of these Ventricles begins to be disabled that Faculty to which it belongs must immediately cease and cou'd never more be exerted in any Degree at all Some Persons have been of Opinion How far the Reasonable Soul is Organical that the Reasonable Soul is not Organical that is that it can act separately and independently and hath no need of any Corporeal Instrument to assist it in the Discharge of its Functions And this Notion they have been more fond of because they imagine it of consequence for proving the Immortality of the Soul Now without engaging in a vast and dark Labyrinth of Dispute about a Matter which we are incapable of knowing perfectly this Question may be brought to a short Issue For if we will but credit our own Eyes and our own Experience every Day gives us Demonstrations which overthrow this Opinion and establish the Contrary It is certain that all Men have not equal Capacities nor do they apprehend things or argue upon them alike but the Disparity is very great and visible between one Man and another It is no less evident that the same Person changes and differs from himself that his Reason is more clear and perfect and strong at one Time and at one Age in one Disposition of Body and in one Circumstance of Fortune and Life than it is in another One Man can do nothing except he have Ease and Leisure another requires Dangers and Difficulties to rouze him and never thinks to purpose till he be prest hard and driven to Extremities A Third finds himself much more capable in Health than in Sickness And a Fourth feels his Mind most vigorous and active then when his Diseases and Weakness have reduc'd his Body lowest The same Man at one Season excels in Judgment and flags in his Fancy so that One Faculty decays in proportion as Another improves Now the most probable Account that can be given for all these Differences and Alterations seems to be a difference in the State and Disposition of the Organs which are to the Soul as Tools to the Artificer Which way but this shall we answer for the strange Effects we see produc'd by Drunkenness by the Bite of a Mad Dog by a high Fever by a Blow upon the Head by the Vapours that rise from the Stomach and annoy the Brain and by several other Accidents which affect any of the Parts thereabouts What Confusions do they make how perfectly stupid and childish and frantick do Men grow upon them lose their Memory quite and feel their Heads turn'd upside down their former Idea's eraced their Judgment destroy'd All the Wisdom of Greece is not able to maintain it self against them and if the Shock be very violent indeed then it does not only disturb and enfeeble but quite drive away the Soul and constrain her to remove out of the Body Now it is plain that these Accidents are purely Corporeal and consequently they cannot affect what is not so they can never fly so high as the exalted and Spiritual Faculties of the Reasonable Soul all that they can do is to vitiate the Organs to put Them out of their Course and intercept the usual Communications and when This is once effected the Soul can no longer act regularly She may command but They cannot obey and if these Organs are sore bruised and distorted very grievously then She and They can no longer subsist together The Lodging is no longer sit to entertain her and she must be gone Now I do by no means see how this Opinion can be guilty of any Prejudice to that of the Immortality of the Soul For first We are not here enquiring what the Soul is but how she operates and what Laws of Action she is bound up to while in Conjunction with a Mortal Body And Secondly The making Use of Corporeal Instruments does by no Means prove the User to be Corporeal or Mortal God without all Question is Immortal and yet God himself does not think it below him to use such and to proportion the Effects and Operations of his Providence to them He produces Men of different Understandings and Parts according to the Constitution of their Parents and the Concurrence of other Natural Causes nay even according to the different Climate and Country and Air they are born in For Greece and Italy have ever been observ'd to produce Men of quicker and clearer Wit than Muscovy and Tartary And as God does in this Case so does the Mind in others It reasons better or worse remembers more or less Faithfully hath a more fruitful or more barren Imagination according as the Organs which are the Corporeal Instruments appointed to serve it upon these Occasions are better or worse disposed to do their Duty Now the Brain is properly the Instrument of the Reasonable Soul and therefore upon the due Temperament of This a great deal must needs indeed the Whole in a manner will depend That therefore shall be the next
easily loses them again A Second which quickly remembers and seldom or never forgets and a Third where the Impression is hard to be made and yet is presently worn out again The Sciences proper to this Faculty are Grammar and the Theory of the Civil Law Dogmatical Divinity Cosmography and Arithmetick The Imagination abounds in Distinctions and Differences are occasioned by it much more than either the Memory or the Understanding is capable of To this belong after a more peculiar manner Fanciful Inventions Pleasant Conceits Witty Jests Sharp Reflections Ingenious Repartees Fictions and Fables Figures and Comparisons Propriety and Purity of Expression and in a Word All that Quaintness and Elegance and Easiness which adorns Conversation and becomes the Character of a Man of Sense and Good Breeding And therefore we may range under this Division Poetry Eloquence Musick Correspondence Harmony and Proportion Now from hence it appears that Sprightliness The Properties of the several Faculties Subtilty Readiness of Parts and all that which commonly goes by the Name of Wit is to be imputed to the Warmth of Imagination Solidity Mature Judgment and Truth to the Dryness of the Understanding The Imagination is Active and Blustering and Busy keeps all about it awake and sets the other Faculties on work The Understanding is a grave sedate and severe Action The Memory acts not at all but is purely Passive and the manner of these Operations seems to be thus In the First Place the Imagination collects together the Idea's and Figures of Things not only such as are present by the conveyance and ministry of the five Senses but those that are absent too by the Assistance of that Inward and Common Receptacle called the Sensorium commune where the Forms of them lie deposited The Next thing in Order is to represent these to the Understanding if that be thought fit and then this Faculty takes them into Consideration examines digests and makes a Judgment of them When That is over the Imagination lays them up carefully to be preserved in the Memory as a Man takes down a Memorandum in his Table-Book that so they may be consulted and made use of again when any future Occasion shall call for them Or if the Imagination be not so disposed then she commits these things into the Memory's Custody without referring them to the Understanding at all and so the Second Branch of this Operation is wholly Superseded Now this Account informs us that the Acts of Recollection Representing to the Intellectual Faculty laying up in the Memory and drawing out those Stores again for Use are all of them Operations of the Imaginative Faculty So that That Common Repository the Internal Sense Reminiscence as it is called and Fancy come within the Compass of This and are not as some pretend Powers of the Mind distinct and separate from it And consequently there is nothing in those Operations that shou'd oblige us to quit the former Division or allow more Faculties of the Reasonable Soul than the Three already insisted upon The Common People who to give them their due are very seldom in the right have an high Esteem The Faculties compared together and make a marvellous to do with Memory extolling This insinitely above the other Two The only Reason whereof seems to be that this hath more of Shew is more pretending and forward and makes a greater Noise in Conversation Hence it is that a Man whose Memory is well stored is usually reputed a great Scholar and that to pronounce one a Person of good Parts you look no farther than his having a good Memory as if Learning were to be preferr'd before Wisdom which indeed comes infinitely short of it and this Faculty from whence it is furnish'd is the least valuable of all the Three For it is consistent with great Folly and insufferable Impertinence and very rarely to be met with in any great Degree where the Person excels in Understanding and Wisdom for the Temperaments indeed from whence they result are contrary to one another From this vulgar Errour I suppose the improper Methods of teaching Children to have taken their Rise it being the Custom of Country-Schools almost every where to follow them close with Tasks to be got by Heart as they call it that so they may be able to repeat and quote things readily out of Books Thus they stuff their Memories full and load them with the Riches of other Men without taking any care to awaken and whet the Understanding to form or to refine the Judgment Which after all is the most necessary part of Instruction to shew them the true worth of their Natural Faculties to draw out the Stores and Abilities of their own Mind and by the Exercise and Improvement of their Home-Growth to render them considerate and wise and qualify'd for all manner of Business Accordingly we see that many of your Scholars which carry all Aristotle and Cicero in their Heads are mere Prigs and Puts and incapable of any management at all and that generally speaking the World is led by the Nose and all the weightiest Affairs of Governments entrusted with Men of little or no Learning Which yet no doubt is of infinite Advantage and wou'd render even the prudentest and cunningest Politicians yet more capable than they are if wisely instill'd and well us'd But then they must not as the way of the World is value themselves upon Other Men's Wisdom nor think it their Own because they remember it but make it so by digesting what they read incorporating it with their own Thoughts refining and improving upon it and knowing how to convert it to the Use and Benefit of themselves and others But to return All Wise Men have given the Preference to the Understanding and admit it to be the most excellent and choicest Piece of Furniture belonging to the Mind If this moves right all the rest goes true and the Man is wise and if this be false the whole Movement is out of Course Imagination is the Second in Dignity and Memory is the Last and Lowest The following Similitude may perhaps contribute something to our apprehending the true State of these Faculties and the different Circumstances and Relations they are in more perfectly An Image of the Three Faculties The Reasonable Soul then cannot be more painted to the Life than by forming an Idea of it to our selves as a Court of Judicature Now in every such Court there are Three Degrees and Orders of Persons concern'd The Uppermost and most Honourable Order is the Bench of Judges and here there is little or no Noise but a World of Business and Dispatch For they proceed calmly and quietly and without any Hurry or Passion try Causes decide Controversies and Claims make Decrees and give the Final Determination to all Matters brought before them This carries a very lively resemblance to the Understanding which is the highest the most honourable and the judging Faculty of the Soul The Second
Persons of good Parts good Sense and the like The bringing things over again allowing them a Second Thought and applying the Touch-Stone to them over and over that our Disquisition may be as Curious and Elaborate as possible and nothing may pass but what we are well assur'd is true Standard this is Judgment and its Business is to go upon sure Grounds and come to no Resolutions but such as one may abide by The Effect Lastly of the Understanding thus exercised is as you perceive Knowledge Speculative Wisdom and Resolution The Action which follows next and is a Natural Consequence of such Knowledge and Resolution is that of the Will or Volition by which the Mind reaches forward and makes some Advances towards the Object so known Now from hence I think it follows that the Essence of all these Things is the same and the Operations of them only are different That is Understanding and Imagination and Reason and Discourse and Penetration and Judgment and Wisdom and Resolution are only so many several Methods by which the same Mind moves and exerts it self And accordingly we find some Persons better disposed to one of these Ways than they are to others a Man for Instance shall be Excellent for Quickness and readiness of Wit and yet very Weak and Childish with Respect to his Judgment Every Man hath all these Powers inherent in his Mind but every Man hath them not alike nor is alike qualify'd for the Exercise of them all I am well enough content to hear the Characters and Lofty Commendations of the Soul of Man Description of the Mind It s Advantage and take great Delight in the Account of its Comprehension and Sprightliness and vast Abilities I allow it to be called the Image of the Living God a Drop of the Fountain of Immortality an Efflux of the Divinity a Beam of Heavenly Light That the Great Creator hath furnished it with Reason by which as by a living Rudder this Vessel may steer its Course Regularly That it is an Instrument most exquisitely Harmonious That by it we contract a great Resemblance and have the Honour of being near of Kin to God and that therefore he hath so disposed the Seat and Situation of this Mind that it should be in a perpetual Disposition of looking upward to the Place of its Birth In a Word I agree that there is nothing in this lower World truly Great but only Man and nothing truly Noble in Man but his Mind that if you come up to the utmost Height of this you have climbed Higher than the very Heavens Themselves These Characters I consent to very heartily and they are such as the Schools and Chairs of Philosophers and Divines have commonly abounded in with a Design to render Men duly Sensible of the Dignity of their Nature and to teach them not to debase or undervalue themselves All This I say is admitted but still with this Proviso Its Disadvantages that Men would apply themselves withal to examine and come to a more distinct Knowledge of This Soul of ours For upon a more intimate Acquaintance we shall find that it is capable of being made and as the Matter is commonly order'd does actually prove an Instrument of much Danger and Mischief to ones self and others a Terrible Disturber of the publick Peace which like a Common Juggler with his Legerdemain amuses you with Slight of Hand and waits all Opportunities of putting the Cheat upon you For in Truth all the Falsehood and Forgery and Mischief that the World labours under are owing purely to This and have no other Original The Bodies of Men as infinitely various as we see them Disterent sorts of Souls are yet less different from one another than their Souls are In general They may properly enough be reduced into Three Classes each of which is capable of being subdivided again and hath several Distinctions and Degrees comprehended under it The Lowest of these are poor and weak Souls not much remov'd from that of Brutes And this Defect may be caused sometimes from the Faults and Imperfections of the Natural Constitution Too great a Predominance of Cold and Moisture in the Temperament of the Brain as Fishes whose Composition is of this kind are reckoned the Lowest and most wanting of all other Animals This Infirmity is born with us and deriv'd from our Parents Sometimes it is Chargeable upon accidental Failings afterwards Want of due Care to awaken and exert the Natural Powers and letting them rust upon our Hands till they Degenerate into Senselessness and Stupidity Of these we can make no certain Account nor can they be esteemed a certain Species For in Truth they are not in a Condition to govern themselves as Men but are Minors and Ignorants all their Days and ought to be constantly kept under the Tuition and Care of others Wiser than themselves * Qui vigilans stertit Mortua cui vita est prope jam vivo atque videnti They snore and nod with their Eyes open and while they seem to live and act are dead in the very midst of Life Moving Carkasses and Men that walk in their Sleep Such are the Boors and Common People without Sense without Apprehension without Judgment The Uppermost Class are those Elevated and Singularly Excellent Souls that seem rather to be Angels and Demi-Gods than Common and Mortal Men Strong and Vigorous and every way Accomplished These are conspicuous and admirable indeed but so rare and few withal that if we could bring all of them together that ever the World knew this long and numerous Succession could not furnish enough to compose one Common-Wealth The Middle Sort is Infinite in Partitions and Degrees Men of moderate Endowments refin'd from the Dregs but still beneath the Cream and Flower of Humane Nature And These take in much the greatest Part of Mankind Of those Distinctions there will come a more proper Time to treat more largly hereafter In the mean while we must try to give a more particular Description of this Soul with Regard to its Nature and Qualities which yet are so intricate and manifold that it is as hard to represent them truly as it would be to drawâ—a Picture like from a Face that is always in Motion First of all We may observe that it is perpetually in Action The Soul indeed cannot live Idle It s Description A perpetual Agent for to be doing somewhat is its very Essence and hence it is that for fear of lying quite Unactive it employs it self in false and fantastical Imaginations forms a Thousand wild Idea's will study to cheat and deceive it self and go directly contrary to its own Knowledge and Persuasion rather than be out of Business Like Fallow and neglected Grounds which must always be kept sown with some Grain or other if the Soil be Rich and Fruitful otherwise they will provide themselves a Harvest and put forth vast Crops of wild and noxious Weeds Thus the
still and in these Humours it leaps over and bursts through all so exceeding fierce and intractable so head-strong and self-conceited is it naturally And therefore Art must manage and make it tame for Force is to no purpose at all †Naturâ contumax est Animus humanus in contrarium atque arduum nitens sequiturque facilius quam ducitur ut generosi nobiles equi melius facili fraeno reguntur The Mind of Man says Seneca is naturally stiff and rebellious continually bending the wrong way and bearing hard upon the Bit and is easier led than driven as high-mettled Horses are better ridden with a Snassle than with a Curb It is a much safer Course to keep it under the Custody of a Guardian to sooth and gently lay this indiscreet Minor asleep than to let him have his Head and ramble abroad at his own Pleasure and go his own Pace For if the Mind be not very regular and prudent as well as very lively and strong the Conjunction of which Qualities make that happy Disposition of Souls of the first and highest Order or if it be not weak and tender and somewhat dull of Apprehension which were said to be the Characters of the last and lowest Set there is great hazard of its losing and ruining it self by the Freedom it takes of Examining and judging Things and submitting to no Prescription or Authority And therefore very expedient it is that it shou'd be put under some Consinement and if it go abroad that it be duly and conveniently equipp'd For there is greater need of a Clog than of Wings and of a streight Rein than of a Spur The Advice of Phoebus to his Son * Parce puer Stimulis fortiùs utere Loris Ovid. Son spare the Whip and strongly use the Rein They of their own accord will run too fast 'T is hard to moderate their flying haste That Advice is necessary here too otherwise This like another Phaeton and his Steeds ungovern'd wou'd set the World on Fire The Prevention of that Inconvenience is what hath been chiefly aim'd at by all those Great Men who have either modell'd Mankind into particular Societies at first or devis'd Laws for them ever since And this sort of Men are the very Persons with whom both the Founders and the Governors of States have been most of all perplex'd For the common People and those of meaner Capacities are generally more Peaceably disposed than those whom Wit and Parts make Thoughtful and Busy and consequently Factious and Troublesome The general Genius of a People is very Remarkable to this Purpose for in the single City of Florence who are a Sharp-Witted People there have been more Seditions and Civil Confusions within the Compass of Ten Years than have been known among all the honest dull Suisses and Grisons for above Five Hundred Years together And just so it is with particular Persons in the same Community They that have but a bare Competency of Understanding are generally the honestest Men the best Subjects more flexible and tractable more contented to submit to the Laws to be commanded by their Superiours to hearken to Reason and be governed by it than these brisk and discerning Sparks whose Parts and Penetration are above being controuled by Power or Persuasion and put them upon new Hazards and Projects and will not let them content themselves with their own Business and sleep in a whole Skin So very wide a Difference there is between Wit and Wisdom The Mind hath likewise its Defects Decays and Diseases as well as the Body and indeed the Number of these is greater The Defâ—ct of the Mind the Consequence of them more Dangerous and the Cure of them more Difficult and Impracticable than that of Bodily Distempers For the better understanding of these it is Necessary to distinguish them into their several Sorts Now some of these are purely Accidental and fall upon it from outward Causes Among which we may take Notice of Three more especially The First is The State and Disposition of the Body Accidental For Diseases which make any Alteration in the Temperament of the Body do manifestly carry their Influence farther and produce a mighty Alteration in the Mind and impair the Judgment at the same time Sometimes the Substance of the Brain is not of a good Composition From the Body and so the Organs of the Soul are not in a Condition to do their Duty And this again happens either from a Fault in the First Formation as in Them who have an Ill-shap'd Head too little or too round or else from some accidental Hurts afterwards as many have suffered extremely in their Reason and Memory by Falls and Blows and Wounds upon their Head For The Second Cause of these Defects Prejudicate Opinions we may assign that Universal Infection of common and popular Opinions entertained in the World With which the Mâ—nd is tinctured early and these take Possession and usually keep it obstinately Or which is yet worse sometimes wild and fantastical Delusions have been drunk in and with these the Mind is so strongly seasoned so grossely cheated that They are not only not dismiss'd but made the Rule of our Judgments and the Measure of Truth in other Cases All is brought to this Standard and receiv'd or rejected as it agrees or disagrees with it Here the Man sixes his Foot and will not be got one Step backward or forward The Instances of this kind among the Vulgar are Infinite most of whom are guided by some fantastical Notion some erroneous Conceit that hath grown up and is like to live and die with them And indeed when these Fancies or Opinions are common they are like a strong Torrent Every Body hath not Force and Vigour of Mind enough to stem it and keep himself from being carried down the Stream with his Neighbours The Third Passions and That which sticks much the closest to it of all the rest is the Sickness and Corruption of the Will and the Inordinacy and Strength of the Passions And in this Case the Soul is a World turn'd upside-down The Will is made by Nature to follow the Directions of the Understanding This is its Guide to Instruct Its Candle to give it Light but when once the Strength of Passion hath corrupted and as it were laid violent Hands upon the Will then the Will in like manner corrupts and commits a Violence upon the Understanding And from this disorderly Procedure it is that the greatest Part of our false Judgments grow Envy and Malice and Love and Hatred and Fear make us see things with other Eyes and take them for what they really are not and draw such Conclusions and Inferences from them as they minister no Just Ground for From whence it is that we so often are admonish'd and do admonish others to Judge without Passion This puts us upon all those base and black Interpretations by which we labour to eclipse the
it the Title of a Virtuous or Vicious a Spiritual or a Carnal Mind according as it pursues commendable and exalted Objects or is sunk into Sensuality and Vice Thus the true and only way by which the Will can ennoble it self is by loving and choosing worthy and noble Things and the abandoning it self to little and low base and unworthy ones is the debasing and disparagement of it So that our former Comparison is in this regard justify'd again for thus the Will is as a Wife who gets or loses Quality according to the Person she marries and in strictness can claim no Honour nor Place but that which belongs to her Husband Daily Experience assures us that there are Three Things which whet and stimulate the Will The Difficulty of Obtaining The Rarity or Excellence of the Thing we seek and The Absence or Fear of Losing it And the Three Considerations opposite to These which are It s being Easie and in our own Power The Abundance or Commonness of it and The Constant Presence and Secure Enjoyment do as much blunt and pall our Will The Three former raise our Esteem of any thing the Three latter render it cheap and beget Neglect and Contempt We are also sharpned and made more eager by Opposition and Refusal and entertain some sort of Indignation which makes us more resolute against any thing that pretends to stand in our way and disappoint our Desires And thus in the other Extreme we disdain and overlook the Blessings we have in hand though never so valuable and lose what we are already possest of for things distant and in Reversion and in proportion what we lawfully do or may enjoy for such as we cannot or ought not * Quod licet ingratum est quod non licet acrius urit Ovid. Eleg. Amor. Lib. II. What comes with Ease we nauseously receive Restraint inflames and Hardships Pleasure give Thus the Case stands with us in our Pleasures of all sorts †Omnium rerum Voluptas ipso quo debet fugari periculo 〈◊〉 The Danger which in reason should absolutely destroy Delight is the very thing which heightens it and the strongest incentive to our Appetites in the pursuit of it So that both Extremes have at last the same Effect and either of them serves to make us miserable Want and Plenty Security and Fear Desire and Enjoyment all give us the same Disquiet and put us to perpetual Pain And this unhappy Disposition is the true account why Men so seldom make a right estimate of Things from whence grew that Proverb of the Prophet in his own Country to intimate how very different Intrinsick Worth and Common Opinion are and that the highest Endowments and most Divine Excellencies when Custom and Acquaintance hath rendred them familiar to us can no longer preserve the Value and Veneration most justly due to them What Course is to be taken for the managing and regulating our Will See B. II. Ch. 2. B. III. Ch. 6 will be shewn hereaster The Passions and Affections ADVERTISEMENT THE Passions of the Mind are a very large and copious Subject furnish great variety of Matter for Reflection and are one of the most considerable Topicks in all this Treatise of Wisdom And upon this occasion we are to observe that the first Step to be made in this Branch of it is to learn the true Nature of the Passions and how to distinguish them from each other which shall be taught you here in the First Book And then for the Remedies of Cure by which they are to be curb'd controul'd and brought within due Bounds such of them as are general will be laid down in the Second And those that are proper for each Passion in particular will be directed and specify'd accordingly in the Third Book This Method being most agreeable to that Scheme of the whole Work drawn out in the Preface Now in order to attaining to a clear and distinct Knowledge of them at present I design to employ one Chapter in treating of the Passions in general and then to speak of each Passion singly in the Chapters that follow But before I enter upon That I think my self oblig'd in Justice to declare that of all the Authors I have seen none hath represented this Matter more copiously and to the Life than the Sicur de Vaux in his Moral Tracts to whom I have been much beholding and have borrow'd a great deal from thence of what I shall say upon this Subject of the Passions CHAP. XVIII Of the Passions in general PAssion is a violent Motion of the Soul in that which is distinguished by the Name of Its Sensitive part An Account of Passion what and whence it is And the Cause and Tendency of this Motion is either to pursue somewhat which the Soul apprehends to be Good or to decline and run away from something which it apprehends to be Evil. But it is very necessary and of great consequence upon this Occasion to be rightly inform'd how these Motions begin and what it is that cherishes and kindles these Fires in us Of This several Accounts may be given and different Comparisons made use of to illustrate it by according to the different Respects in which we consider them And first of all with regard to the suddenness and vehemence of their Emotions it is to be observ'd That the Soul which however seemingly multiply'd by Distinctions is really but One and the Same in the Body hath several Powers belonging to it and These differ greatly in their Qualities and Operations according as the several Vessels in which the Soul keeps her Residence and the Instruments she makes use of in discharging her Functions and the Objects propounded to her Contemplation are differently dispos'd Now when the Parts where the Soul takes up her Lodging are not crowded or over-burdened but filled in such Proportions as sute well with their ordinary Custom and Capacity and such as are convenient for a due discharge of their respective Duties then all the Operations of the Soul are gentle and mild sedate and regular But on the other side when any of these Parts are either put into a swifter and more violent Motion or are heated above their ordinary and proper Temper then they immediately feel a considerable Change to the great Prejudice and Disorder of the Soul The like we see in the Beams of the Sun which when scatter'd loosely with all that Freedom they naturally take in diffusing themselves impart a moderate and gentle a cherishing and kindly Warmth but when contracted within the Concave of a Burning-Glass they burn up and quite consume the very things to which they gave Life and Nourishment before It must be farther observ'd too that These Parts are not always distributed alike And from hence arises another Distinction not only with regard to the Kind and Quality but to the Degree of their Emotion and so they differ in the same sort as their Violence is greater
Women when they had them at their Mercy And all this from no other Principle than a Point of Honour Conquers all other and a Soul enflamed with Ambition to which the Fires of Love were so far from being equal that they were made subservient to it and the Conquest of these Desires became a Triumph and a Sacrifice to their Glory Thus it happen'd very remarkably in Caesar For no Man alive was ever more siercely addicted to Amours of all sorts than He as the many Extravagances he had been guilty of both at Rome and abroad in Foreign Parts abundantly testifie no Man was ever more choice of his Person more nice in Dress more careful to preserve and render it agreeable to the Ladies and yet Ambition was evermore his reigning Passion The Pleasures of Love tho' they had him in perfect Subjection when This came not into Competition with them were then so feeble and so over-match'd that they never cou'd prevail for the throwing away upon them so much as one Hour which was capable of being employ'd or made in any degree serviceable to the promoting his Honour So that notwithstanding the Mixture of any other Passions which had their Seasons too yet Ambition sat Supreme in his Soul and was to all Intents and Purposes as if It had had the sole and ontire Possession of him 'T is true we meet with an Example the very Reverse of this in Mark Anthony and some Others who have been so enslaved by Love as to give up All banish their most necessary and weighty Cares and lose themselves and their Crowns through mere Esseminacy and Neglect But then these have been Persons of quite different Tempers For where both meet together and are fairly weigh'd one against the other Ambition will cast the Scale Some indeed who argue for the force of Love above it tell you that in Reason it must needs be so because This extends to the Body as well as the Mind keeps the whole Man in Captivity and is not only agreeable but necessary and convenient too But I shou'd think the Reason holds on the contrary side and that Ambition is therefore the stronger because the more Spiritual Passion What they pretend of the Body being also concern'd in Love proves the Passion to be so much the Feebler for from hence it must by necessary consequence be capable of being satiated and cloy'd Again What is Corporeal it self admits of Corporeal Remedies and Cures some which Nature provides and others which Art invents and accordingly Experience hath approved these and shewed Instances of many who have beaten down the hottest Flames of Love and of some who have overcome and quenched these quite by artificial Means and good Management But now Ambition is so far from being glutted that its Appetite is never satisfy'd Enjoyment does but whet it more and being seated wholly in the Soul and the Reason renders the Disease obstinate and incurable incapable of outward Application and too deep and subtle for Medicines to reach and fasten upon It does not only conquer the Regard for one's own Health and Ease The Gare of Life for indeed Honour and Ease can never dwell together and make Men content to sacrifice all their Quiet and Comforts and Enjoyment of the World but even the natural Care and Tenderness for our very Lives is not able to stand before it Agrippina the Mother of Nero was an eminent Example of this Nature who being extremely desirous that her Son should be Emperour and inform'd that he should be Emperour indeed but it shou'd be at the Expence of Her Life made an Answer sit for the Mouth of Ambition her self cou'd that be personated Provided he may have the Power says she I am content it should be upon the Condition of using it to my destruction * Occidat mâ—do imperer Let my Son kill me so my Son may but reign Thirdly The Laâ—â— Ambition makes its way through all Laws and tramples Conscience it self under Foot The great Professors of Morality who tell you that a Man must make it his Business to be entirely Virtuous and pay an universal Obedience to Laws yet when they speak of Ambition begin to mince the matter and are content to make an excepted Case of it A Crown it seems is so sweet so delicious a Morsel that the Temptation is invincible and deserves a Dispensation The most abstemious Man may strain a Point and break his Fast upon this Feast †Si violandum est Jus regnandi cauâ— violandum est in caeteris pietatem colas If ever Breach of Law and Equity be allowable says one it is in the Case of gaining a Kingdom but in every thing else be sure to be strictly Virtuous Not that even in this or any Case such Liberties are to be indulg'd but They who thus express themselves signifie the strong Propensity of Humane Nature to this Passion how strong it is in all and how difficult to be subdu'd by any who are tempted with very great Advantages With the same Insolence does it treat the Holiest things Râ—â—g â— eraces all Reverence of God and treads Religion under Foot For what greater Contempt of these can be shewn than the World have seen in Jeroboam who establish'd an Idolatrous Worship for the securing his Throne and Aâ—â—â—â—net who gave general Encouragement to all Persuasions and valu'd not which was uppermost so he might reign And the old Broachers of Heresies who rather chose to forsake the right Way and so become Heads of Parties and Ringleaders in Falshood and Lyes tho' a Thousand Disorders and Impieties were the visible and unavoidable Consequences of that wicked Choice than to continue in a lower and less conspicuous Station by being Disciples and Followers of the Truth With regard to such as these it is that the Apostle hath admirably foretold the Doom of Ambitious Men That they who suffer themselves to be intangled in these Snares make Shipwrack of a good Conscience 1 Tim. i 6. err from the Faith and pierce themselves through with many Sorrows In short It changes Men's Natures Natural Affection hardens their Hearts and makes them brutish defaces all those tender Impressions and Resentments which are most customary and most due to our nearest Relations The infamous Accounts which Sacred or Prophane History hath recorded the Barbarities and Murders committed upon the Persons of Parents or Children or Brethren are most of them insligated by this Passion Witness Absalom and Abimelech and Athaliah Romulus Sei King of Persia who slew his Father and his Brother Soliman the Turk that dispatch'd his two Brothers So unable is any thing to stand against the Force of this impetuous Passion which is for removing every thing out of its way and where-ever it takes its Course overturns and lays all level with the Ground * Est autem in hoc genere molestum quod in maximis Animis splendidissimisque ingeniis
Progress toward Virtue as to quit all other Vices yet there is but very little Hope or Appearance of its ever renouncing it self It pushes Men to Brave and Illustrious Actions I confess it and the Benefit of these Actions to the Publick is unspeakable but though Others may reap the Fruit and be the better for such Actions yet it will not follow that the Person who does them is one whit the Better for them These may be the Effect of Passion and not of Virtue or Principles and if they be so this Excuse is vain For at present it is not the Profit but the Intrinsick Goodness of such Exploits that we are inquiring into I know indeed this Passion shelters it self under that very excellent Maxime That We are not born for our selves alone but for the General Good of Mankind But how good a Sanctuary this is the Methods made Use of for rising in the World and Mens Behaviour after their Promotions and Successes must shew And These if they be nicely observ'd will give us Cause to suspect that the Men who talk at this Rate speak against their own Consciences and that private Interest is at least an equal if not a stronger Motive to the Generality of Mankind than the Good of others Men look nearer Home in all they do and That how large soever the Pretensions to it may be for we cannot wonder that Men should pretend at least to One of the best and most valuable Qualities in the World yet a truly Publick Spirit is very rarely to be found See Advice and Remedies against this Passion in particular Book III. Chap. 42. CHAP. XXI Of Avarice and the Passions opposite to it BY Avarice is to be understood an inordinate Love What it is and vehement Desire of Riches Tho' indeed it is not only the Love and Fondness for them that deserve this Name but all Sort of over-curious Niceness and sollicitous Concern about Riches will bear it very justly even the Care of distributing them and Liberality it self if it take up too much of our Time and Pains in ordering and making it exact In short All manner of Anxious Thought with Relation to Riches savours strongly of this Passion for they ought to be entertain'd and used with a becoming Negligence and to be looked upon as they really are not worth any earnest Attention of the Mind nor a sit Object of our Care and Trouble The vehement Desire of Riches and the mighty Pleasure of Possessing them is merely Fantastical a Creature of our own Imagination and hath no Being no Foundation in Nature at all 'T is a Canker or Gangrene in the Soul that spreads and mortifies and with its Venom corrodes and quite consumes all Our Natural Affections and fills us with noxious and virulent Humours in their stead No sooner hath This taken up its Dwelling in our Hearts but immediately all those Tendernesses and kind Concerns are banished thence which either Nature inspires or Virtue recommends and improves in us All the Duties and Regards we owe to our Relations to our Friends nay to our very Selves are no longer of any Consideration with us All the World when set in competition with Interest and Profit goes for Nothing and at last we come to that pass as even to over-look and despise our own Persons our Ease our Health our Bodies our Souls All are sacrificed to this Darling this adored Wealth and as the Proverb expresses it We sell the Horse to get the Provender Avarice is a mean sordid Passion the Temper The Folly and Misery of it or rather the Disease of Fools and Earth-Worms who esteem Riches as the Supreme Good and most exquisite Attainment Humane Nature is capable of and dread Poverty as the Last of Evils who cannot content themselves with a bare Competency or such Provisions as are necessary for their Subsistence which indeed are so small that very few want them They measure their Riches by the Bags and Weights of Bankers and Goldsmiths whereas Nature teaches us to make a different Judgment and directs us to the Standard of our own just Occasions Now is not this the very Extremity of Folly to fall down and worship That which Nature hath taught us to despise by casting it under our Feet and hiding it in the Bowels and dark Caverns of the Earth as a thing not fit for publick view but to be trampled and trod upon as a just Object of our Neglect and an Intimation of its own Worthlessness There it was Originally and there it had remained to all Eternity had not the Vices of Mankind ransack'd those dark Cells and with great Difficulty and Violence drawn it up And great their Reward of such Industry hath been For what have they gain'd by it but the Ground of Insinite Controversies and Quarrels and Blood-shed and Rapine a Fatal Instrument of devouring and destroying one another * In lucem propter quae pugnaremus excutimus non erubescim us summa apud nos haberi quae fuerunt ima Terrarum We take unspeakable Pains to fetch up that above Ground says one which when we have it serves us only to fight for Nay we are not out of Countenance to have those very Things in highest Esteem which God and Nature had made lowest and thought the deepest Mines of the Earth a Place Good enough for Nature indeed seems in some Measure to have given sure Presages how Miserable those Men should be who are in Love with Gold by the manner of its Growth and the Quality of the Soil that produces it For as That Ground where the Veins of this Metal are found is Unprofitable for other Uses and neither Grass nor Plants nor any other Thing of Value and Service to Mankind will grow there it is in this Respect a most lively Emblem of the Minds of Men which are enamour'd with it They being in like manner the most sordid and abject and abandoned Wretches cursed and condemned to Barrenness void of all Honour lost to all Virue and no kind of thing that is Good in it self or Beneficial to the World is to be obtained or expected from them What a horrible Degradation is this and how do we lessen and disparage our selves when we give up that Dominion and Liberty to which we were born by becoming Servants and Slaves to the very meanest of our Subjects * Apud Sapientem Divitiae sunt in Servitute apud Stultum in Imperio For Riches as is most truly observ'd are the Wise Man's Servants and the Fool 's Masters And in Truth the Covetous Man cannot be so properly said to possess Wealth as That may be said to possess Him He hath it indeed but he hath it in such a Sense only as he hath a Fever or some violent Disease which hath got an absolute Mastery over him and preys upon his Vitals and all his Faculties How extravagant is it to dote upon That which neither hath any Goodness of
Dominion of the Thing we hate and give it a Power to afflict and torment us The Sight of it disturbs our Senses ruffles our Spirits and makes the whole Body Sick and Disordered The Remembrance of it raises a Storm in our Minds and sleeping or waking sills us with Disquiet and Impatience The Ideas of such Objects are always hideous and shocking and we never entertain them without Indignation and Horror Spight or Grief some Resentment not easy to be exprest which puts us beside our selves and rends our very Heart asunder Thus we feel in our own Persons all that Torment we wish another and undergo the Punishment we think due to Him He that hateth is at this Rate the Patient and he that is hated the Agent Thus it certainly is to all Intents and Purposes excepting only that we think sit to express it otherwise and deceive our selves with Words and Names of Things For it is evident to common Sense that the Haler is in Pain and the Person beted in perfect Ease perhaps too in perfect Ignorance of the Matter But after all let us consider and examine this Point a little What is it that we hate Men or Things Be it the one or the other 't is plain we do not pitch upon the right Object For if any thing in the World deserves to be Hated heartily it is Hatred it self and such other Passions which like this breed Discords and raise Tumults in our Minds and rebel against that Power which of Right ought to Command and bear an absolute Sway in us For when our Enemies have done all they can still neither They nor any Thing else but such exorhitant Passions as these can do us any real and essectual Injury For Particular Directions against this Evil. See Bock III. Chap. 32. CHAP. XXVII Envy Envy is own Sister to Hatred as like as Two Twins in their Fierceness and Miserable Effects This is a wild outragious Beast indeed more exquisite in Torture than Ten Thousand Racks and of All that wretched Mankind feels best deserves the Title of a Hell upon Earth This lies perpetually corroding and tearing the Heart-strings and converts other Mens Happiness into an occasion of Our Misery And how Dreadful how Incessant must that Vexation be which both Good and Evil conspire to aggravate Of the many ill Effects this Passion hath That is a very considerable one That while Envious Men look awry upon the Prosperity of others and grudge them Their Comforts they unavoidably suffer their Own to perish and flip through their Fingers and have no Pleasure or true Enjoyment in all that the most bountiful Providence does or can beslow upon Themselves Directions and Remedies Proper for this Evil will be prescrib'de in Book III. Chap. 33. CHAP. XXVIII Jealousie THE Nature and the Effects of Jealousie have a mighty resemblance to that Passion of Envy last describ'd excepting only that they differ in this One Circumstance The Good of other Men is the Object of our Envy but our own Happiness is the Object of Jealonsie Some Good which we are desirous to ingross to our selves and which we apprehend belongs to Us alone for which Reason we dread and detest the Communication to any Person beside Jealousie is a Disease of the Soul an Argument of great Weakness an evil and a foolish Disease but withal a furious and terrible one It rages and tyrannizes over the Mind insinuates it self under the pretence of extraordinary Friendship and Tenderness But when it hath gotten Head and taken Possession it builds a mortal Hatred upon the Foundation of Kindness Vertue and Health and Beauty and Desert and Reputation which are the Attractives of our Love and Assection are likewise the Motives and Incendiaries of this Passion they kindle and minister fresh Fewel to both these Fires This is Wormwood and Gall to us It depraves and embitters all the Sweets of Life and commonly mingles it self with our most delightful Enjoyments and these it renders so sower and unpleasant that nothing can be more uneasie to us It tures Love into Hatred Respect into Disdain Assurance into Distrust It breeds a most unhappy Curiosity makes us busie and inquisitive to our own Ruin desirous and impatient to know what nothing but the Ignorance of can keep us tolerably easie under and what when we do know there is no Cure for but such as makes the Misfortune worse and more painful For Whither does all this Information tend but only to bring the Matter out of Darkness and Doubt into clear and open Day To have Demonstration of our own Unhappiness and to proclaim it to all the World To make our selves a publick Jest and to entail Shame and Dishonour upon our Families Advice and Remedies against this Passion are to be met with in Book III. Chap. 35. CHAP. XXIX Revenge THE Desire of Revenge is in the first place a cowardly and esseminate Passion an Argument of a weak and sordid a narrow and abject Soul and accordingly Experience teaches us that Women and Children and such others as have manifestly the feeblest Minds are ever the most malicious and dispos'd to Revenge Brave and Generous Minds feel little of these Resentments They despise and scorn it either because an Injury when done to them does not make any great Impression or that the Person who does it is not thought considerable enough to give them any Disturbance but so it is that they feel themselves above any Commotions of this kind as the Poet says * Indignus Caesaris Ira. A Wretch beneath the mighty Caesar's notice Hail and Thunder Hurricanes and Tempests and Earthquakes all these disorderly Agitations and loud Ratlings which we see and feel and hear are form'd in these lower Regions of the Air They never discompose or in any Degree affect the Heavenly Bodies and higher Orbs All there is quiet and constant and serene These frail and corruptible and grosser Bodies only are they that suffer by them And thus it is with the Rage and Folly the Noise and Brawlings the Impudence and Impotent Malice of Fools They never shake great Souls nor carry so far as lofty and generous Minds An Alexander or a Caesar an Epaminondas or a Scipio cannot be mov'd by all that such mean Wretches could do or say For all truly Brave Men and these in particular have been so far from meditating Revenge that on the contrary they were remarkable for doing good to their Enomies Secondly This is a very troublesome and restless Passion full of Heat full of Smart and Sting it boyls and bubbles in the Breast and gnaws the Heart like a Viper distracts the Men infected disturbs their Enjoyments takes off the Peace and Comfort of their Days and breaks the Sleep of their Nights It is also a Passion full of Injustice for it tortures an innocent Person and adds Grief and Pain to Him that was wounded and afflicted before It is properly the Party's Business who committed the Offence to labour
then a miserable Sight our Head hanging down our Eyes fixed upon the Ground our Tongue Speechless our Limbs stiff and Motionless our Looks Wild and Confused our Ears Deaf and Insensible our Minds void of all Attention and composed Thought How distant is this from the Beauty the Dignity the Majesty of our Original Form and Temper Are these Men You may better call them walking Statues which only sweat forth Moisture at their Eyes like Niobe whom the Poets to represent the Miseries of Excessive Grief have feigned to be transformed into a weeping Marble But it were well if this Passion Impious and Unjust being Unnatural were the worst of it I have a yet much more heinous Accusation to charge it with For it flies in the Face of God himself and Arraigns his Justice and Wisdom and Providence What better Construction can any Man in Reason put upon our Rash Complaints and Outragious Passions than a Mind discontented with the Great Governour of the Universe and his Disposals of Us and our Affairs To murmur and repine at what is done by Him is to find Fault with him who does it and in an oblique and little more respectful Way to charge him with Folly or Hard-dealing The Law and Condition which he hath fixed to himself for the Government of the World is that all things in these Sublunary Regions shall be Changeable and Inconstant ever in Motion and subject to Decays and Death If then we know this to be their Condition why do we afflict our selves for that which is the common Fate of all here below for that which could not be New and should not be a Surprise to us what if we did not yet we might and ought to have expected And if we did not know this the truest and only reasonable Matter for grieving is our own most wretched Ignorance Of a Truth so Evident so Useful so Necessary to be known a Truth that Nature hath Graven every where in Characters so Large and Legible that it is impossible for us to go abroad and not meet it or to turn our Eyes any way at home and not read it Others our Selves and Every Thing carry this Inscription Alas we mistake our Post and Quality Man's Business here is not to give Laws but to receive and submit to them The Administration of Affairs is lodged in higher and better Hands The Order of the Universe is established and We who are but a very small Part of this vast Body must follow the Motions of the Whole and take contentedly what falls to our Share To fret and vex our selves is to be concern'd that Eternal Ordinances are not reversed and dissetled for our Sakes that We are not made an Exception to all Created Nature which besides the Intolerable Arrogance and Impiety it is guilty of against God is no less insupportable Folly with Respect to our selves for it mends not the Matter one whit but adds Weight to what Providence hath laid upon us already and makes all our Sufferings double For we must add too Destruâ—â—ve that it is exceeding destruâ—â—ve and of extreme ill Consequence to Men The Danger whereof is but the more increased by its hurting us under a Pretence of doing us Good It flatters with false Hopes and a fair shew of Relief but in Reality aggravates the Misfortune and while it professes to draw the Weapon out of our Side makes the Wound wider and deeper and thrusts a Dagger into our Hearts Besides these Thrusts are infinitely the more Difficult to defend our selves against because it is a Domestick Enemy that gives them One that we cannot run away from One that is fed and cherished within our own Bosoms and which we our selves have bred up and given Birth to merely to be a Vexation and a Punishment to us The Effects indeed of Grief Outwardly are Universally Mischievous they spread themselves quite over the whole Man and while they infect do very much impair every Part of him As to the external Appearance It Dishonours and is a Reproach to the Man by that Deformity and Change of Countenance brought upon him by this Means Do but observe when once Grief enters how it fills Men with Shame and Confusion so that they dare no more shew themselves in Publick nay so as to shun the Sight and Conversation even of their most intimate Friends and particular Acquaintance When once we are under the Dominion of this Passion the Light it self is offensive and our Great Care is to seek out some dark Corner some close Retreat to crouch and hide our selves in far from the Eyes and Observation of every Body Now what can be the Meaning of all This but a plain unnatural Confession of its own Indecency and how much Men ought to be asham'd of what they do at that time Is not this evidently to condemn it self and would you not be apt to think This was some Woman caught in Adultery that runs away and hides her Face and takes such Pains not to be seen or known Next to the Person observe the Habit what strange uncouth effeminate Things the Mourning Weeds are as if our very Clothes were intended to publish to the World that Grief utterly destroys and takes away all that is Manly and Brave about us and in its Room gives us all the Softnesses and Infirmities of Women Accordingly the Thracians always drest Men when they were in Mourning in direct Womens Habit and a certain Author observes that Grief enervates Men and wasts their Strength The old Roman Laws which were the most Noble and Masculine like the Spirits of those that made and lived under them strictly prohibited all such Effeminate Lamentations and long indulged Sorrow They thought very truly that it was a horrible Absurdity for Men to act in Contradiction to Nature and Reason and thus Unman themselves And all the Allowance they were content to make was only for the First Gush of Passion while it was fresh and tender or surprising For there are Tears that may be permitted to fall from the Eyes of Philosophers themselves A Man may keep up the Dignity of his Nature and yet not abandon the Humanity of it This we are bound to preserve as well as not to debase the other and therefore all that those Roman Laws and these Reflections aim at is so to Temper and get the Mastery over our Passion that while the Tears fall from our Eyes Virtue and Wisdom may not fall from our Hearts at the same time But the outward Fadings of the Beauty disfiguring the whole Man Inwardly and changing his Mein and Air and Behaviour so infinitely to Disadvantage no nor yet that corroding Venom which eats into our very Joints and Marrow and as the Wise Man expresses it drieth up the Bones these miserable Effects I say upon the Body are not All It goes deeper yet decays the Soul breaks all its Rest confounds and disturbs its Operations disables and draws off the
Birds enjoy by having the Regions of the Air assign'd them The wonderful Perfection they attain to in some Arts For what Art or Labour even of the most celebrated and accomplish'd Masters cou'd ever pretend to compare with the Swallows and some other Birds in Building or with the Spider in Spinning and Weaving or with the Nightingale in Musick or with some other Creatures in Knowledge of Plants and Physick Some astonishing Effects and peculiar Properties that are inimitable unaccountable nay incredible Such as That of the Fish call'd Remora because tho' small it self in Comparison yet it stops the largest Ships in their Course Instances of which History gives us in the Vessel that rode Admiral of Mark Anthony's and Caligula's Fleet That of the Cramp-Fish which benumbs People's Limbs at some distance and tho' they never touch him That of the Hedg-Hog which hath a Fore-knowledge of the Winds And That of the Cameleon and Polypus in changing Colours and taking a fresh Tincture according to the Things they rest upon Their strange Prognostications of Birds for Instance in their leaving one Country and going into another according as the Weather and Seasons of the Year change That of all Beasts that are Dams in knowing which of all their Young will prove the best for when they are driven to Straits and put upon preserving them from Danger they constantly save the Best first In all these Respects Man is much inferiour to Beasts and in some he is so far from being Equal or near that he is in no Degree like them To all which might be added That other Advantage which consists in the Length of their Lives The Term of some Animals in the ordinary Course of Nature extending to a Number of Years Seven or Bight Times as much as that of Man The Advantages which Man lays claim to above Brutes but which will admit of some Dispute Advantages that may be disputed and perhaps upon a stricter Examination would tempt an Impartial Judge to give it on the other side are several First The Reasonable and Intellectual Faculties of his Mind the Power of comparing Reasoning Qu. Whether Brutes partake of it considering arguing collecting Learning and Improvement Judgment and Conduct Now Two Objections may be offered in Bar to this Claim the One Relating to the Thing it self the Other to the real Worth and Benefits of it First It is not out of all Dispute whether the Matter of Fact set forth in this Claim be True that is whether Men have these Excellencies peculiar to themselves It hath ever been and ever will be a Point in Controversy whether Brutes have none of these Spiritual Powers and that Opinion which holds the Affirmative and maintains they have is supported with greatest Authorities and seems to carry a greater Appearance of Truth The most Celebrated and Learned Philosophers have declared for it No less than Aristotle and Galen and Porphyry and Plutarch Democritus and Anaxagoras The Reason upon which they ground that Assertion is this That the Brain is the Particular Organ the part of the Body employed by the Soul in the Acts of Ratiocination and that The Composition of the Brain is exactly the same in Brutes as it is in Men and from hence they conclude that the Instrument of Reason is as apt and capable in one of these Creatures as it is in the other The Difficulty then will be whether the Souls be equally Capable of using this Instrument to such Purposes and for This they offer Experience That Brutes conclude Universals from Singulars as from the Sight and Form of One Man to know the same Humane Form in All Men That they are able to compound and to divide Idea's by assenting and refusing and that they exercise a Power of Choice and make very Subtile Distinctions between Good and Evil in such Cases as concern the Life the Liberty and Preservation of Themselves and their Young Nay they pretend that any Man who observes with Attention may read and discover several Strokes and Foot-steps of Reason more Bold more Judicious more Nice more Ingenious and Cunning than the common Sort of Men are used to give us Proof of Some of the most memorable Actions from whence this Conclusion hath been made I will briefly recite The Fox designing to pass over a River when it is frozen lays his Ear close to the Ice to hearken if there be any Noise and whether the Water run underneath that from thence he may form a Judgment whether it be Safe to proceed or Necessary to retire And this Expedient the Thracians are said to make use of when they have any Frozen Rivers to pass The Hound in Doubt which Way his Master or the Game he is in chase of went at a Place where Three Paths meet takes this Course of making out his Loss He scents the several Paths one after another and when he finds that in Two of these Ways no Scent hath lain he never troubles himself to lay his Nose to the Third but springs forward and takes That without farther Enquiry Thales the Philosopher's Mule when heavy loaden with a Sack of Salt and being to go over a Brook stoop'd down to dissolve his Salt and so make his Burthen lighter because he had found once before that the Salt was lighter when it fell into the Water by chance But when loaden with Wooll he did the direct contrary and strove to keep it dry because the like Experiment had taught him that Wooll grows heavier by being wetted Plutarch says That once on board a Ship he saw a Dog casting Stones into a Great Jar that so he might make the Oyl in it rise higher which before was too low and out of his reach And the like is reported of the Crows in Barbary when the Water is too low for them to drink at Thus Elephants when one of them is set fast in a Bog are said to bring great Stones and pieces of Timber to help their Fellows out The Oxen in the King's Gardens at Suza which have been long practised to turn a Wheel a Hundred Times Round the Depth of the Well requiring just so much from whence Water is drawn for the Use of the Gardens cannot be made to exceed that Number of Rounds and when left to themselves never come One turn Short Now what Way are all these things possible to be done without Reasoning and Discourse Composition and Division which are the Operations proper to a Rational Soul Must not a Man be thought to want Reason himself who thinks it hath nothing to do in such Actions So again The Marvellous dexterity of drawing Darts and Spears out of wounded Bodies with very little Pain to the Patient for which Elephants are Famous The Dog mentioned by Plutarch that at a Publick Entertainment lay upon a Scaffold and countefeited himself dead fainting away by degrees breathing short trembling stretching himself out and letting them drag him about as quite dead then by
an Eye-Witness of at Rome An Elephant that in heat of Passion had kill'd his Keeper would neither eat nor drink but pined himself to Death by way of Penance But now on the other hand Is there in the World any Creature that can compare with Man for Injustice and Ingratitude Churlishness and Ill-Nature Treachery and Baseness Lying and Dissimulation Besides allowing Virtue to consist in moderating the Appetite and curbing one's Pleasures Beasts are then a great deal more regular than We and keep themselves more duly within the Bounds of Nature and Convenience As for those Desires that are superfluous extravagant and unnatural they never have any Inclination of that Kind And consequently are exempted from one great and common Species of Humane Vice which is The enlarging our Desires beyond Measure and multiplying nay inventing fresh Objects to our selves and employing Artifice and Industry to heighten and create new Inclinations In those which Nature prompts them to as Eating and Drinking and other Bodily Satisfactions they out-do us much in Temperance and Reservedness But if we would in good earnest be satisfy'd whether Man or Brutes be the more Vicious or Virtuous that is indeed if we would put Man out of Countenance effectually and silence all the Pretensions to this Excellency quite Let us put the Issue upon that single Virtue which is therefore call'd Humanity because lookt upon to be the most proper and inseparable Quality of our Nature as on the Contrary That of Cruelty is esteem'd the most foreign most disagreeable and that which we abandon as sit for wild Beasts only by giving it the Denomination of Ferity But alas in this very Instance they reproach and put us to the Blush particularly upon the following Accounts They never or but seldom fall foul or do any great Mischief upon those of their own Kind It is a lamentable and scandalous Observation but hath too much of Truth in it That Dens and Desarts are more peaceful Habitations than Towns and Cities and even * Major Serpentum Ferarumque concordia quam Hominum Dragons and Beasts of Prey agree better together than Men do But These when they do fall out quarrel upon just and weighty and necessary Occasions Provocations that touch them nearly and to defend that which needs and deserves their utmost Endeavours to defend it Their Life Their Liberty their Young Again They engage and assault each other with such Arms only as Nature hath provided for them they come to fair and open Combat use no Methods of Hostility but plain Strength and Courage encounter single One against One No general Rendezvous of vast Herds and Troops on each side Nor do they act with Stratagem and Design Their Engagements are also very short and presently decided for as soon as one of them is wounded or gives out the Fray is over and which is yet more considerable assoon as the Action is ended the whole Quarrel the Hatred and all the Resentment is at an end too But Man is the very Reverse of all This He is so far from not quarrelling with his own Kind that he quarrels with none besides The Grounds of these Quarrels are frequently trifling and frivolous and of no Consideration nay which is worse they are sometimes unjust they proceed from Falshood and Misrepresentation and if the Matter be examin'd to the bottom the Quarrels have no real Ground at all The Arms he uses are the Work of Industry such as are treacherous and kill without warning and contriv'd to be as much so as is possible The Method of making War is by Deceit and Cunning which we colour over with the specious Name of Conduct and this is seen in Stratagem and Surprize Feints and Ambuscades This again is transacted by vast Numbers of Men met together by solemn Engagement and particular Appointments to Stand and Fall by one another These Wars are vastly long too none lay down their Arms upon the first Disadvantage but still either Side pushes on its Fortune the One to recover their Losses the Other to pursue and perfect their Conquests and the usual End put to these Controversies is by the Death of the Principals Lastly In these Quarrels when Men want the Power they still retain the Will to do Mischief and tho' Acts of Hostility may cease yet the Hatred and Resentment seldom or never cease The Sum then of this Comparison as you have found it here stated The Cenclusion of this Second Consideration amounts to thus much That Man hath no such mighty reason to magnifie Himself in the Advantages of his Nature above That of Brutes For allowing Him some Endowments and Accomplishments which They have not as the Sprightliness and Force of his Mind and Intellectual Faculties and all the other nobler Powers of the Soul yet the Incumbrances upon these is very great and grievous the Evils he is involv'd in upon their account infinite and insupportable The Inconstancy and Irresolution Superstition and Sollicitude sad Remembrances of the Past and Anxious Concern for the Future Ambition and Avarice and Envy restless Curiosity busie Detraction Lying and Deceit a world of unruly Appetites and Passions Troubles and Discontents Thus this Mind with the Thoughts and value whereof Man is so much exalted is the Occasion of infinite Misfortunes and of most of all then when it exerts it self most For in all vehement Agitations it does not only hurt and disturb the Body and render its Forces and Functions disordered and broken and quite tired down but it hinders and confounds its own self For what is it that throws Men into Folly and Madness so much as the Acuteness and Activity and Strength of the Mind it self The subtilest Follies and most exquisite Phrensies proceed from the quickest and sinest and most vigorous Agitations of the Mind as we may observe that the bitterest Aversions and most irreconcileable Immities grow from the tenderest Passions and most intimate Friendships and the most virulent and mortal Diseses from a strong Complexion and healthful Body Melancholy Persons are observ'd by Plato to be best disposed for Learning and Wisdom but they are equally disposed for Folly too much more than Persons of a different Temper And to a Man of nice and just Observation it will appear that when the Soul acts freely and gives her self a Loose there is none of her Altitudes and Sallies without a Mixture of Folly and in good truth these things dwell very close together Wit to Madness nearly is ally'd And thin Partitiens do their Beunds divide Once more If we regard the living in agreement with Nature and in conformity with what she dictates and requires from us Beasts seem to excel us in this respect very much for they lead a Life of more Freedom more Ease and Security more Moderation and Contentedness than Men do And That Man is deservedly reputed Wise who makes them his Pattern and his Lesson and reaps Profit by their Example by reforming and
reducing himself to that Innocence Simplicity Liberty Meekness and Gentleness of Temper which Nature had originally implante both in Us and Them And which in Brutes is still very conspicuous but in Us is decay'd chang'd and utterly corrupted by our Industrious Wickedness and Artisicial Depravations thus debauching and abusing the particular Prerogative we pretend to and rendring our selves more vile than the Beasts by means of that very Understanding and Judgment which sets us so far above them Hence sure it is that God intending to shame us into Vertue sends us to School in Scripture and bids us grow wiser by the Example of these Creatures The Crane the Stork and the Swallow the Serpent Jer. viii 7. Mat. x. 16. Prov vi 6. Isa i. 3. and the Dove the Ant and the Ox and the Ass and sundry others are recommended as Teachers to us And after all To take down our Vanity upon this Occasion we ought to remember that there is some sort of Correspondence some mutual Relations and Duties arising from thence if upon no other account yet by reason of their being made by the same Hand belonging to the same Master and making a part of the same Family with our selves And this single Reflection ought to prevail with us to use our Advantages over them modestly tenderly and conscientiously and not to treat them with Cruelty and Contempt For as Justice is a Debt from us to all Men so Kindness and Beneficence and Mercy must needs be due to all Creatures whatsoever that are in any Condition of receiving benefit by us ADVERTISEMENT OUR Author in the midst of his great Care to slate this Comparison so as might be most mortifying to the Vanity of Mankind hath yet found himself oblig'd to acknowledge that the Reason of Men is so much brighteâ— and more noble in its Operations and Effects than any thing discoverable in the Brute part of the Creation that I might have let this Chapter pass without any Censure had it not been for two or three Sentences which seem obnoxious to very ill Construction Such as a sort of Men are in Our Age but too fond of embracing who at the same time that they are vain enough to imagine that neither the Nature nor the Revelations of God himself can have any thing in them above their Reason are yet so sordid and degenerate as to be content that Beasts should be thought endu'd with the same Souls and to be mov'd with the same Principles of Reason with themselves An Opinion which is the rather entertain'd for the sake of a certain Consequence that recommends it with regard to a Future State for it seems they can be satisfy'd with the Portion of Brutes now provided they may but partake in it hereafter And what Favour this Notion might find from these Passages That Brutes and Men both have the same Reason tho' not in the same Degree and that some Men excel others much more than some Men again excel Beasts I was doubtful and therefore look'd upon my self concerned in pursuance of my Proposals at the Beginning of this Book to offer these following Considerations to my Reader First That in the Operations of the Reasonable Soul a great deal depends upon the Organs and Disposition of that Body to which it is joyned and as hath been already explain'd at large more especially upon the Brain Now since Anatomists have not been able to observe any very remarkable Differences between the Contexture of the Humane Brain and that of Brutes we are not to think it strange if there appear some small Resemblances in some particular Actions of Men and Beasts tho' these do not proceed from the same Principle of Motion but owe their Similitude to that of the Body and Medium put into those Motions Secondly That the Impressions of external Objects have very strong Effects upon the Imagination and Memory and these assisted by Custom and Imitation and Example will perform many wonderful things which yet are not the Operations of Reason properly so called Of this kind it is easie to observe great Number of Instances in Them who either by means of their Infancy have not yet attain'd to the use of Reason or Them who by some Natural Defects never have it at all or Others who by some accidental Disturbance have lost it In all which Cases not during the lucid Intervals only or when the Powers of the Mind seem a little to be awakened but even in the most profound Ignorance or most raging Madness Those which are frequently distinguished by the Sensitive Faculties of the Soul put forth sometimes a marvellous Efficacy and Vigour And that These are moved entirely by material and sensible Objects and act as necessarily as any other Parts of Matter whatsoever hath been the Opinion of many new Philosophers some of whom imagine that all the Operations of this kind are as capable of being resolved by Principles of Mechanism those Operations I mean of Imagination and Memory and Custom as any other Affections and Motions of common Matter How just this Conclusion is I do not pretend to determine for They themselves seem to confess it insufficient when they call in to their Assistance another Principle which is Thirdly That of Instinct By which is meant a strong Tendency and Natural Impulse discernible in these Creatures to certain necessary and useful Actions Something of a Principle implanted in them by their wise Creator to qualisie them for their own Preservation and the answering the Ends of his good Providence in Making them And this appears so early as to be plainly antecedent to either Memory or Fancy and yet is so constant too and always the same in the same Circumstances and Occasions as neither to depend upon Causes so mutable as the Impressions of outward Objects nor a Principle so capricious as the Choice of such a Mind perfectly free feels in its Deliberations And as Instruments put together by a skilful Hand perform many Operations so astonishing that a Man unexperienc'd in the Art cou'd not possibly imagine such Materials capable of them so these Philosophers conceive that Almighty God in his infinite Wisdom hath so disposed the Sensitive Parts of the Soul that They by their wonderful Structure shall be adapted to most amazing Effects and possessed with some Original Propensions and Impulses independent from and antecedent to the Impressions of Matter or the power of Institution and Custom which in the needful and most profitable Actions of Life serve these Animals for Fundamental Principles and bear some kind of Affinity to the first common Notions in the Rational and Intelligent Mind And upon these Impulses joyn'd to those other Advantages mention'd before the whole Oeconomy of Brutes and even those Actions which seem most exquisite and admirable in any of them have by the Modern Mechanick Philosophers been generally thought to depend Concerning which tho' almost every System treat in some measure yet I believe my Reader whether
his Opinion incline to that Account or not would at least think himself well entertain'd upon this Subject by the perusal of our Learned and Ingeious Dr. Willis in the Sixth and Seventh Chapters of his Book De Animâ Brutorum Two things are fit to be added upon this Occasion with regard to what Monsieur Charron hath deliver'd concerning Instinct The first is That in regard we observe these Animals constantly going on in the same beaten Track and keeping ever close to one Method and even in those Instances which have the greatest Appearance of Comparison and Choice of Ten Thousand that make the same Experiment or go about the same thing not one varying from the common and received Way This seems to be some Governing Principle in Nature which gives a necessary Determination to them and very different from that Liberty and Consideration which hath scarce any more convincing and demonstrative Proof of the Will being absolutely unconstrain'd in Mankind than that Multiplicity of Opinions and strange Variety of Proceedings observable upon Occasions and Junctures in themselves extremely alike The Other Remark Proper upon this Occasion is that what our Author suggests here is no Consequence at all as if too much Honour were done to these Creatures and such a Happy and Unalterable Determination to what is Profitable and Proper for them were a Privilege more than Humane a nearer Approach to that unerring Wisdom and unchangeable Goodness of the Divine Nature than We our selves can boast of For there is so very wide a Difference between Liberty and Necessity of acting the One is so Glorious so truly Noble the Other so Mean so Slavish a Principle that no Comparison can be made between them The most Glorious most Beautiful most Useful Parts of the Material Creation are in this Respect infinitely beneath the meanest of the Sons of Men and all their other Advantages put together cannot deserve to be laid into the Balance against this Single Dignity of Free and Spontaneous Action And though the Excellency of the Divine Nature be indefectible and unalterable Goodness yet would not even This be an Excellence if it were not the Effect of perfect Liberty It is indeed Our Misfortune that our Understandings are imposed upon our Affections perverted and so the Choice we have the use of often determines us to the wrong Side and entangles us in Errour and Vice But These Defects and Temptations are so many Clogs and Bars upon our Freedom and therefore God who is above any Possibility of such false Determinations is still so much the more Free For Freedom does not consist in a Power of choosing Evil as well as Good which is a Power indeed that never was or can be strictly speaking but in being Self-moved and Self-acted so as to be the Disposer of one 's own Will without any Compulsion or necessary Determination from a foreign or external Principle and only acting as one is acted upon If then this Instinct in Brutes be a Matter of Force and Necessary Determination they are in no Degree the Better or more Commendable for it but under a fatal Constraint which is so far from resembling the Divine Perfection that it admits of no Virtue nor ought to be esteemed any Excellence but the direct Contrary Fourthly Let us observe what mighty Difference there is between the Perceptions of Brutes and those of Men so great that in them we find no Footsteps of any but such as are Material and Single Objects and what this Author advances as Collections and Inferences from thence are not improbably assign'd by Others to the Force of Imagination or the Strength of Memory or to those Natural Impressions which commonly go by the Name of Instinct To the latter of These we find very Learned Men attributing that uniform Process of Birds and Bees and Ants in their Nutrition Generation Production and the like To the Former that which Charron terms deducing an Universal from a Singular and knowing by the having seen one Man how to Distinguish the Humane Form in any or all Individuals of the same Species But supposing we should allow that this proceeds from a distinguishing Faculty and not meerly from the refreshing and awaking an Image that lay dormant in the Memory 'till revived by this fresh Object yet what Proportion can even thus much bear to all those Abstracted Idea's by which Men distinguish the Natures and Properties of Things If a Brute from the Sight of a Man could collect so much as should serve to discriminate all other Men from Creatures of a Different Species yet what is This in Comparison of that Penetration which examines into the Abstruse Causes and essential Differences of Things and informs it self distinctly wherein that very Character of our Nature which we call Humanity consists And what account can there be given of any universal or abstracted Idea's in Beasts of any of those which we properly call Reasonable Actions For as to these seeming Demurrs and little Comparisons which we find instanced in here and in other Places it is usual to observe as much in Children so little and Naturals so wretchedly Stupid as that there are but very Faint if any Glimpses at all of Understanding in them I know indeed S. 1. Monsieur Charron hath provided a Reply to this Argument by saying That we cannot have any competent Knowledge of Their Internal Operations But though we do not see all the hidden Movements of their Souls nor can distinctly say whether they are feeble Reasoners or Stupendous Machines yet we may be very confident they cannot dive into the Causes and abstracted Idea's of Things because there do not appear the least Foot-steps or any of those Noble Effects of such Knowledge which Mankind have in all Ages been conspicuous for For to these abstracted Notions it is that all the amazing Inventions and Improvements of Arts and Sciences but especially the Wonders of Mechanism and Motion by Numbers and Proportions Duly adjusted owe their Birth and daily Growth And since in the Distinction and Perception of Concrete Bodies where Sensation is chiefly concern'd the Brutes are acknowledged to equal if not exceed Us in Accuracy it is not to be conceived that They who excel in a Faculty which is commensurate to a Sensitive Soul should be able to give No Marks at all of their being endued with a Capacity of entertaining and feeding upon those Ideas which are the Peculiar Prerogatives and Glories of a Rational one Much more might be added upon this Occasion with Regard both to the Objects themselves and the particular Manner of Conception and the infinite Disparities of the Humane Intellect and that Faculty which is affected in Brutes But it is Prejudice sufficient against them that so many very Wise and Inquisitive Persons have found Cause to do even something more than doubt whether Brutes be better than a sort of Divine Clock-Work and have any manner of Sense or Perception at all This at
created To This one may reply with Reason enough What do you make of all the Happiness you have enjoy'd What would become of This if you had had no Being And would it not have been some Matter some Hurt never to have enjoy'd it For certainly tho' the loss of the Good which we have and know the worth of be a more sensible Evil yet the mere privation of Good and never having it at all is One sort of Evil too even tho' that Good be such as we shou'd never have missed nor such as was necessary to us These Extremes are too wide they overstrain the Point on both sides and degenerate into Vice tho' they are not equally vicious and erroneous neither I confess speaking in the Quality of a Philosopher and with regard to the present State of Assairs only I do not think That Wise Ancient much out of the way who acknowledged †Vitam nemo acciperet si daretur scientibus Life to be Good but such a Good as no Man would accept of if it were left to his own free Choice and he were fairly inform'd beforehand what Incumbrances lay upon it It is not at all amiss that we are engaged in it before we know what it is We come into the World blindfold but That is no reason why Men shou'd afterwards put out their own Eyes or hoodwink themselves For the Mischief is that when we are got hither we run into different Ways Some cheat themselves into so extravagant a Fondness for Life that they wou'd not part with it again at any rate Others fret themselves into so ill an Opinion of it that they grumble eternally are discontented at every thing and pretend to be weary and sick of Living But Wise Men have juster Notions of the Matter They consider that this was a Bargain made without their Knowledge or Consent for no Man lives or dies assoon or as late or in such Manner and Circumstances as he pleases himself But still it is a Bargain we are bound to stand to and if it be a hard one we must try to make the best of it Sometimes we shall meet with Rough Ways but the whole Passage is not so And therefore Philosophers agree that the best Course is to create no Disturbance nor struggle and flounder unprofitably but for Men to suit their Tempers and comply with their Circumstances as well as they can to carry it off with Evenness and Moderation and make a Virtue of Necessity for That is the Character of Wisdom and Good Management And when they have fixed themselves in this Method then to live as long as is Fit for them consistent with their Duty and Decency Not as long as is Possible for them which is the Principle of foolish and profligate People For there is a Season proper for Dying as well as one for Living and a Virtuous Honourable Death is a Thousand time rather to be chosen than a Wicked and Infamous Life Now a Wise and Good Man makes it his Business to live just so long as Life is better than Death and no longer For as we observed before that They are in the Wrong who esteem the shortest Life best so is that common Opinion a Mistake too which raises the Value by Computation of Years and accounts that Life best which lasts longest The Shortness of that Term allow'd us in this World is a great and a general Complaint Of the 〈◊〉 of Life We meet it in every Mouth not from the Ignorant and Vulgar only where we cannot expect better than that They should be willing to live always but which may be allow'd a little to surprize us even Great Souls and Wise Men reckon it among their very greatest Unhappinesses Now to say the very Truth as Men usually manage the Matter and indeed as Nature hath in some measure contriv'd it Life is very short For the greatest part of it is employed and diverted otherwise and a very small Proportion left for the true Uses and Ends of Living The Time of our Infancy and Ignorance the Decays and Infirmities of Old Age the necessary Intervals of Sleep the Diseases of our Bodies and our Minds and the infinite other void Spaces of it wherein we are incapable of doing Good run away with a great deal of our Time And when the Whole is summ'd up and these Abatements made the Remainder is not much But yet without troubling our selves with the Contrary Opinion which asserts the Shortness of Life to be greatly for our Advantage we shall find Reason enough to accuse this Complaint of Injustice and to think it more the effect of Inconsideration and Ill-Nature than of good Arguing and Virtuous Disposition For what Advantage would a longer Life be to us Shall we wish for it to no other purpose but merely to Live in to take our Ease to Eat and Drink and Sleep to Look about us and see more of the World What need is there of so much Time for this We have already seen and known and tasted what we are capable of in a very little time and when we are got to the End of our Curiosity This is sufficient What Good will it do us or wherefore should we wish to act the same things over and over again and be always beginning afresh Who would not be cloyed with eating upon the same Dish every Day If this be not nauseous and troublesome yet to be sure it is superfluous and unnecessary This is but One Circle which is perpetually rolling and brings the same things uppermost again sometimes they remove to a little distance and then they quickly return back upon us T is but a spinning the same Web and That which may serve a Child to play with but can never be a sit Entertainment for grown Men. Shall we then wish it for nobler Ends that we may grow Wiser and Better and aspire to higher degrees of Virtue and Perfection that we may do more Good and be more useful in our Generations This indeed carries the Appearance of an excellent Disposition but They that know us will not be imposed upon by it For Who shall teach Who shall improve us Alas That Little which is committed to our Trust is so ill used that we cannot have the Confidence to ask for more We neglect what we have already and suffer the greatest part of it to slip thro' our Fingers We squander it away profusely upon Vanity and Trifles nay we abuse and misemploy it upon Wickedness and Vice And yet after all this Unfaithfulness and Folly we cry and complain for more and think our selves ill dealt with that we have not enough Enough for What For the same insignificant and ill purposes to be sure for That wou'd be the Consequence of a more liberal Allowance too But supposing Men serious in this Matter and that they wou'd really do as they pretend yet of what Use wou'd this vast Treasure of Knowledge and Experience prove
were brought on or what Part they were to act * Quidam vivere incipiunt cum desinendum Quidam ante desiverunt quà m inciperent Inter caetera mala hoc quoque habet stultitia semper incipit vivere Some says the Philosopher begin to live when they should make an End others cease to live before ever they begun Among the many Mischiefs that Folly brings upon us This is not the least That it is always beginning to live We think of Business and intend to set about it but make no Progress at all nor bring any thing to perfection The World is a Theatre and our present Life in it the Beginning and the End of a Play Description of it our Birth draws the Curtain and our Death shuts it up again T is a Comedy of Errours a constant Succession of Accidents and Adventures a Contexture and Chain of several Miseries linked closely and interwoven within one another nothing but Evil on every side That which passes off and that which approaches and comes into its place and these drive out and push forward each other as the Waves of the Sea do in their Ebbings and Flowings Trouble and Disquiet are always at hand but for Happiness we are cheated with the empty Shadow of it Blindness and Insensibility take up the Beginning of our Lives Labour and Anxious Care the Middle Weakness and Pain the Latter End But Ignorance and Errour reach from the Beginning to the End These are inseparable and keep us Company quite through The Life of Man hath its Inconveniences and Miseries of several sorts Some of them are in Common extending to all Persons and all Times Others are Peculiar and Successive and distinguish'd by the different Parts and Age and particular Seasons and Accidents of Life As Childhood Youth Maturity Man's Estate and Old Age for Each of these hath its distinct Calamities some Embasements and Incumbrances which may be properly call'd its own When Youth and Old Age come to be weigh'd one against the other Youth and Age compar'd it hath been usual to give the Advantage to the Latter And most Authors speak of Age with Honour and Respect as having attain'd to greater degrees of Wisdom more maturity of Judgment more Moderation and Temper All which good Qualities are marvellously cry'd up with a Design to put Youth out of Countenance and to charge upon it the contrary Characters of Vice and Folly Licentiousness and Extravagance But with the leave of those who have thus decided the Controversie I must take Liberty to declare that this Verdict is in my Opinion very unjust For in good truth the Defects and the Vices of Age are More in Number Worse in Quality and less to be resisted or recover'd than those that are peculiar to Youth Years deform our Minds as much as our Bodies bring Wrinkles there as well as in our Faces and turn our Tempers sour and mouldy with long keeping The Soul keeps pace with the Body Both are spent and Both decay till at last we grow so weak so perfectly helpless as in respect of both to verifie that Proverb of Old Men being twice Children Age is a necessary but a strong Disease it loads us insensibly with grievous Imperfections and then contrives to cover the Shame of them with creditable Names What is in effect no other than Moroseness of Humour a peevish dislike of the present Enjoyments and Disability to do as the Man did heretofore passes for Wisdom and Gravity Experience and an Insight into the Vanity of the World But Wisdom is somewhat much more noble than all this comes to and far above making use of such mean Instruments There is a vast difference between growing older and growing wiser between forsaking all Vice and the changing one for another and as it often happens in this Case changing for the Worse Old Age condemns the Pleasures and Gayeties of Youth but how much of this must be allowed to it s not being now able to relish them any longer It is like Esop's Dog hates and despises what it cannot enjoy But This is not to disdain and give over Pleasure it is rather to be disdain'd and given over by it Pleasure is always Airy and Entertaining and these are Persons no longer for its Turn But why should they cast a Reflection upon That which is due to themselves Why shou'd Impotence corrupt their Judgment For this if impartially consulted would tell Young Men that there is Vice in their Pleasures and Old Men that there is Pleasure in Vice And if this were rightly understood and frankly confest Youth would be a great deal the better and Old Age not one whit the worse The Vices more peculiar to Youth are Rashness and Heat Forwardness and an unguarded Conversation Debauchery and all manner of Sensual Excess And these are in some Degree natural to that State the Effects of Warmth and Vigour and the Boylings of a Florid Blood All which as they need and ought to be corrected so they have something to say in their own Excuse But what Apology shall we make for the Ill Qualities that attend Old Age The lightest and least of which are vain Arrogance and Pride a troublesome and peremptory way of Conversing and an engrossing all the Talk to themselves froward and unsociable Humours Superstition and Whimsie Love of Riches when past the use of them sordid Avarice and Fear of Death which generally is not as some have favourably interpreted the Case the effect of a cold Blood and low Spirits and of Courage damp'd by these Natural Causes but it proceeds from long Custom and Acquaintance and a foolish Fondness for the World by which the Old Gentleman hath corrupted his Judgment and hath a greater Tenderness for it than young Men who enjoy more and know less of it Besides these there are Envy and Ill-Nature and Injustice but the most exquisite and ridiculous Folly of all is that Affectation of a severe and grave and wise Character and hoping to gain Respect and Deference by an Austere Look and Scornful Behaviour which indeed does but provoke Laughter and become it self a Jest while it pretends to extort Observance and Fear For the Young Fellows combine together against this formal Austerity which they see put on only for a Disguise and with a design to amuse and affright them into Reverence where real Merit which would engage it is wanting In short The Vices of Old Age are so numerous on the One Hand and the Infirmities of it on the Other and Both together conspire to render it so despicable that the best and most saving Game it can play is to secure Mens Affections and to win them by Methods of Kindness and Affability and Good-Nature For Churlishness and an Imperious Humour and whatever aims at Fear and Dominion are not by any means Weapons fit for These Persons to manage The Affecting so very much Awe does by no means become them and if the thing
up in contrivance for the Management of his Person the Affecting a particular Motion of his Body an Air of his Face a Singularity of Address odd Sentences and uncommon Pronunciations and This he is insinitely delighted with as a Thing extremely graceful and engaging and what other People must needs admire and be taken with too Then how prodigiously vain and foolish are we in our Wishes and Desires from whence spring our ridiculous Opinions and our yet more ridiculous Hopes and Expectations And This again not only at such times as we surfeit with Leisure and have no other Business to employ our Thoughts but it very often interrupts our serious and most important Affairs and breaks our Thread in the very heat of Action So Natural is Vanity to us and so prevalent over us that it Spirits us away and pluckâ— us forcibly from Truth and Solidity and real Substance to lose us in Air and Emptiness and Nothing But of all Vanities the most refined in Folly is that anxious Care of what shall happen hereafter Concern for Futurity when we are gone and cannot feel it We stretch our Desires and Affections beyond our Persons and Subsistence and are much concerned for things to be done to us when we shall be in no capacity of receiving them How importunately do we covet Praise and Applause after Death and how egregious a Folly is This What can be vainer This is not Ambition as Men may be apt to imagine for That desires a Sensible Honour such as a Man can enjoy and reap some Benefit from So far as our good Name indeed is capable of doing Service to our Children or Relations or Friends that stay behind I own there is use of it and am content Men should desire it in proportion to this Convenience But to propose That as Our Own Happiness which can never reach or in any Degree affect our selves is meer Vanity Such another Folly is Theirs who perplex their Lives with Fears of their Wives marrying second Husbands and passionately desire they would continue single nay are content to purchase the Gratification of this Whimsie at a dear Rate by leaving in their Wills great part of their Estates to their Widows upon this Condition What an insupportable Folly and as it sometimes falls out what horrible Injustice is This How directly the Reverse of those Heroick Spirits in former Ages who upon their Death-Beds advis'd their Wives to Marry again as soon as Decency and Prudence would permit and to render Themselves useful by bringing Children to the Publick Some again Conjure their Friends to wear such a Ring or a Lock of Hair or some other Relick as a constant Remembrance of them when they are dead or leave Directions for some Particular thing to be done about their own Bodies What can we make of all This hath it not a very untoward Aspect Methinks it looks as if Men could be content to part with Life but could not even then submit to part with Vanity at any Rate Another Vanity is This That the Generality of Mankind live for Other People only and not for Themselves We are not half so much concern'd what we really and truly are in our own Persons and Dispositions as what the World takes us for and how we stand in Character and Reputation abroad And thus we frequently Cheat our selves and cast away the true Happiness and Advantages of Life and do a Thousand inconvenient Things Tho' at the same time we Torture our selves to be agreable to the Standers-by and to put on what we know is most in Vogue And this is plainly so not only in our Estatesâ— and our Bodies The Table the Equipage the Furniture the Dress the Figure all adapted to the present Mode and what the World expects from Persons in our Circumstances But which is a great deal worse and more deplorable in the Advantages of the Mind the Observation holds too For even These are thought of no Use or Worth unless they draw the Eyes and Approbation of other People And Virtue it self is neglected and disesteem'd if it be not publickly acknowledged and commended As if the Testimonies of ones own Breast were no Satisfaction As if those Things which were given for our proper Use and Benefit had lost all their Efficacy and changed their Nature when Others do not see and share in them as well as our Selves Nor is our Vanity consin'd to simple Thoughts and Desires and calm Discourse Commotions of the Mind but it often rises higher puts both Body and Mind into violent Agitations and Pains Men often teaze and torment themselves more for Matters of little or no Consequence than for Those which are of nearest Concern and upon which their All depends Our Soul is frequently thrown into violent Disorders by little Whimsies a meer Fansie a Dream a Shadow and empty Amusement without Substance without Ground and works it self up to all the Excesses of Anger and Revenge Joy and Grief and Confusion and all This with building Castles in the Air. The Ceremony of taking leave the Idea of some particular Gesture in a parting Friend strikes us deeper and gives us more real Trouble than all the Reasoning in the World upon Matters of greatest Moment is able to do The Sound of a Name repeated some certain Words and melancholy Accents pronounc'd Pathetically nay dumb Sighs and vehement Exclamations go to our very Hearts Tricks which all your formal Haranguers Enthusiasts Buffoons and Others whose Trade it is to move the Passions know and practise in great perfection And this airy Blast sometimes surprises the most cautious and transports the most resolved unless they set a more than common Guard upon themselves So strong an Influence hath Vanity and We so mighty a Tendency to it Nay as if it were not Reproach sufficient to be agitated and tossed about with Toys and Trifles even Falshood and Cheat hath the same Effect and which is strange even when we know it is nothing but Falshood and Cheat. Such Delight do we take such Industry do we use to Bubble our selves with our Eyes open and to feed upon Fable and Nothing * Ad fallendum nosmet ipsos ingeniosissimi sumus How dextrous we are to deceive our selves We need no other Instances than Those that cry heartily and fall into violent Passions upon hearing dismal Stories and seeing deep Tragedies at the same time that they know the moving Parts of These to have been invented and composed for Entertainment and Diversion at the Discretion of the Romancer or the Poet Nay some of them meer Fables so far from Truth now that they never were true in any Circumstance at all Shall I mention one Vanity more That of a Wretch possessed fond and dying for Love of an ugly old Hag One whose Age and Deformity he knows and knows that she Hates and Despises him too and notwithstanding all this is bewitched with a painted Face and Colours well laid the
upon their Heads But if this Yielding proceed from the Surprize and Confusion occasion'd by the over-bearing Power of some Superiour Virtue as the People of Thebes who were quite dispirited when they heard Epaminondas in his Defence reckon up his good Services and noble Exploits and Reproach their base Ingratitude with a becoming Indignation and Alexander when he despised the noble Resolution of Betis who was taken with the City of Gaza of which he was Commander then there is another Account to be given of it The Former of these was Weakness the Second neither the effect of Courage nor Weakness but of Anger and Rage which in Alexander was never subject to any Check nor ever knew any Moderation ADVERTISEMENT THis Author had said in the Preface to his Book that his Design was to write after the manner of the Academick Philosophers who made it their Business o represent each side of the Question in its utmost beauty and Strength without delivering any decisive Opinion in the Case or being bound to stand by either branch of the Controversie An Attentive Reader will easily observe that Monsieur Charron hath thus far maintain'd the Character he propos'd for his Pattern as to make the most of the Arguments that offer'd for his present purpose without precluding himself from putting quite another Face upon the Matter when his Subject requir'd that it should be taken by another Handle Thus you will find him varying concerning the Attaining of Knowledge by Sense and whether This be the Only possible way of Information by comparing Chapter X. and Chapter XIII Sect. 10.11 And in the very Subject of this Chapter and Section how distant is the Reflection he makes here from those others which He and other Philosophers propose to us elsewhere upon the Noble Excellence of Virtue the Largeness of its Scope and Extent it s Independence upon Fortune and Casualties and the mighty Convenience of furnishing something commendable and proper for our Exercise and so making us Happy in every possible Condition of Humane Life This Variety then of Thought is a good warning to avoid what our Author so frequently condemns Too easie a Credulity and taking his Notions upon Trust For we find even those Notions not always the same but accommodated to his present Subject and Design And That Design well attended to and taken along with us will be a very good Guide to our Understanding him aright For Instance He had laid it down in the beginning of this Treatise as a Fundamental Principle That the Ignorance of a Man's Self is the great and most governing Errour of his Life of an Influence so universally pernicious that all his Vices and Misfortunes are owing to it But then This was such an Ignorance as disposed Men to over-value and neglect themselves by covering and quite overlooking the Defects and Disadvantages of Humane Nature and so kept the Patient incurable because insensible of his Disease In order to remedy this Evil it is that Monsieur Charron undertakes to shew Men to Themselves and 't is evident his Design requires that he should shew the worst of them and paint only Those Features and Lines strong which may discover their Deformity and tend to humble and to mortifie them first and then to awaken that Care which can never be vigorously employ'd till they are first con'â—inc'd of the Weakness and Danger of those Circumstances that want it A Philosopher now under these Circumstances is thus far like a Law-giver that it will be Prudence in him to suppose and provide against the Worst and therefore as I wou'd not extenuate the Art or Wisdom of my Author nor do Injury to his Argument so neither can I be just to the Dignity of our Nature and grateful to the Wise and Good Creator of it unless I give my Reader these short and as I conceive necessary Directions in perusing this First Part of the Book First That What is here truly said of some or most Men and was sit to be said in general Terms because the worst Men have most need of such Treatises and so are most concern'd in them must not be so universally apply'd or understood as to be taken for a common Standard and universal Representation of all Mankind without Exception Secondly That in those Vices and Defects which are general we should make a Distinction between such as are essential to Humane Nature and inseparable from its Original Constitution and such as are the effects of Custom and Corruption of either Adam's or our own Sin Thirdly That what we Charge as a Defect be really so and owing to the Cause we ascribe it to These are necessary Cautions for the sake of doing common Justice as well as preventing Mistakes in our Selves It were unreasonable to take our Measures of all Mankind in respect of their Bodies from the Sick or Lame and from the Fools or the Sots every whit as extravagant for their Souls It were a charging God foolishly to ascribe those Impotencies and Evils to Him which have been the Consequences of our Disobedience against Him And it is a most unthankful Aspersion upon the Beauty and Wisdom of his Providence to charge That upon a Defect in Nature Which is really no other than a natural Result of the different Fortunes and Conditions of Men Which is exactly the Case here before us For wherein is the Excellent Wisdom of that Providence more clearly seen than in that useful Variety of Circumstances which Men are placed in And what can more Vindicate the Justice and Goodness of God from any reasonable Exception than This That there are particular Virtues appropriated to every sort of Persons and Accidents and that no Circumstance of Life is possible or supposable but it may be adorned and recommended by Virtues which are seasonable and distinguishing for that very Condition This Variety of Virtues then is far from a Natural Weakness it is not owing to Nature but to Fortune and Providence and is so far from a Disparagement that it is rather an Ornament and Advantage to the World Indeed if Nature have any thing to do in it it is the Nature of Virtue it self for even Almighty God who is Goodness in Perfection yet does not exercise both Justice and Mercy for Instance at once to the same Person and in the same respects And how is Man the worse for not doing things inconsistent and incompatible and what even Almighty God himself does not do The same may be said of the Defects of Justice taken Notice of afterwards at least in some degree Those being the unavoidable Consequences of Multitudes incorporated into Civil Societies and so many Interests nicely interwoven with one another All which I thought it my Duty to hint at thereby to prevent any mean repining or ungrateful Thoughts which such Reflections as These when lavishly spoken or unwarily received might be apt to raise in Men's Minds to the Disquiet of their own Hearts and the Dishonour
till he hath overtaken it But now we will take him in another Prospect affected with a Sense and weary of some particular Evil for even This does not happen always and many Miseries are endured without any uneasie Resentments at all And when his Mind is thus far awakened let us next observe how he endeavours to disengage himself and what Remedies are to be apply'd in order to a Cure And These are such in truth as rather fret and anger the Sore than heal it for by quitting one Evil he only exchanges it for another and oftentimes for a worse But still the very Change is pleasing or at least it sooths and allays the Pain a little He fancies one Evil may be cured by another and this Imagination is owing to a vulgar Errour that seems to have bewitch'd Mankind which makes them always suspect things that are easie and cheap and esteem nothing truly valuable and advantageous but what costs us dear and is attended with much Labour and Dissiculty And This again rises higher for it is not more strange than true and nothing can more fully prove that Man is exceeding miserable That let the Evils we lie under be what they will some other Evil is necessary for the expelling and subduing them and whether the Body or the Mind be the part affected the Case in this respect is much the same For the Diseases both of the one and the other are never to be healed and taken off but by Torture and Pain and great Trouble Those of the Mind by Penance Watchings and Fastings hard Usage and course Fare Confinements and Mortifications which notwithstanding the Voluntariness and Devotion of them must of necessity be afflicting and pungent because the whole effect of them would be lost if we could suppose them in any degree subservient to Ease and Pleasure Those of the Body require nauseous Medicines Incisions Causticks and severe Dietings as They whose Unhappiness it is to be oblig'd to a Course of Physick know by woful Experience They are got between the Millstones as they say ground and bruised on one side by the Disease and on the other by a Regimen as bad as the Disease Thus Ignorance is cured by long laborious Study Poverty by Sweat and Toil and Care and Trouble are as Natural in all the Provisions for Body and Mind both as it is for Birds to fly The several Miseries hitherto insisted on Miseries of the Mind are such as the Body suffers in or if not peculiar to that alone yet at least such as it bears a part in with the Mind and the highest they go is only to the meanest of our Faculties Imagination and Fancy But Those which next fall under our Consideration are of the most refined and Spiritual Nature such as are more truly deserving of that Name full of Errour full of Malignity their Activity greater their Influence more general more pernicious and more properly our own and yet at the same time less acknowledged less perceived by us And This enhances nay doubles Man's Misery that of moderate Evils he hath a quick and tender Sense but those which are greatest he knows not feels at not all Nor can he bear to be informed of them No Body dares mention them to him none will do the ingrateful good Office of touching this Sore Place so hardened so obstinate so lost is he in his Misery All therefore that can be allow'd us in the Case is to handle them with all imaginable Gentleness and just Glance upon them by the by or rather indeed to point them out at a distance and give him some little Hints to exercise his own Thoughts upon since of his own accord he is by no means disposed to take any notice of them And First In respect of the Understanding The Understanding Is it not a most prodigions and most lamentable Consideration that Humane Nature should be so universally tainted with Errour and â—â—indness Most Vulgar Opinions and commonly the more general in a more eminent manner are erroneous and false not exempting even those that are received with the greatest Reverence and Applause Nor are these so Sacred â—â—otion-False only but which is worse very many of them Mischievous to Humane Society and the Publick Good And tho' some Wise Men and they alas but very few think more correctly of these Matters than the generality of the World and have a truer Notion of them yet even These Men sometimes suffer themselves to be carry'd down with the Stream if not always and in every Point yet now and then and upon some Occasions A Man must be very firm and well fixed to stem the Tide very hardy and of a sound Constitution whom an Infection so epidemical cannot falsten upon For indeed Opinions that have got Footing everywhere and are entertain'd with general Applause such as searce any Body dares to contradict are like a sweeping Flood that bears down all before it * Proh superi quantum mortalia pectora caecae Noctis habent Good Heaven what Errours darken Human Sight And wrap our Souls in gross substantial Night †O miseras hominum mentes pectora caeca Qualibus in tenebris vitae quantisque periclis Degitur hoe aevi quodcunque est Lucret. Lib. 2. Blind wretched Man in what dark Paths of Strife We walk this little Journey of our Life Creech To instance in all the foolish Opinions with which the generality of Mankind are intoxicated were much too tedious an Undertaking But some few shall be just mention'd here and reserved to their proper places for a more full Enlargement upon them and such are These that follow 1. The forming a Judgment of Counsels and Designs and pronouncing them Prudent See Book III. Chap. 1. and Seasonable and Good or the direct Contrary according as they succeed Well or III. Whereas the Issues of all these things are in no degree at our own disposal but depend entirely upon a Higher Hand One who as his own Infinite Wisdom sees fit prospers the most unlikely Methods and defeats the Wisest Measures and most promising Attempts 2. The Condemning and utterly exploding all foreign and strange Things Manners Opinions Laws See Book II. Chap. 8. Customs Observances and looking upon them as barbarous and Wicked without ever examining into the Matter or knowing of what Nature and Consequence they are And all this for no other reason but that they are New to Us and practised only in remote Countreys and different from the Vogue and Usage of our own As if We were the common Standard for all the World to take Measures by and nothing could possibly be commendable or convenient but what hath been received and is in request in that little Spot of Ground where our particular Lot hath fallen 3. Somewhat distant from This See Book II. Chap. 10. is the esteeming and extolling Things because they are New or Scarce or Strange or Difficult which are the Four
Occasions argues want of Affection and sincere Friendship This is not only Misery but an exceeding Vanity too and as common as it is vain 12. The bearing a very great regard to those Actions which require a great deal of bustle and stir in the doing and make a Noise in the World and to slight and undervalue all that are done in a still sedate and obscure manner As if no Effects could ever follow upon such a dull heavy way of proceeding but all Men were asleep and did nothing that do it not with Hurry and Clutter In short All those vain Preferences which Men give to Art above Nature are likewise of this kind for One of These works with Labour and Observation the Other easily quiet and unseen And thus whatever is swell'd and blown up by Industry and Invention that which cracks about our Ears and strikes strongly upon our Senses and all this is Artificial we respect and value highly infinitely above That which is mild and gentle and simple and uniform and common for such are the Products of Nature The former of These awakens us into Attention the latter advances silently and leaves or lays us asleep 13. The putting unfair and perverse Interpretations upon the good Actions of Others and when the Thing is well in it self attributing it to base or trifling or wicked Causes or Occasions So did They whom Plutarch is angry with for pretending that the Death of Cato the Younger proceeded from no other Principle than his Fear of Caesar And some Others yet more senselesly charg'd it upon Ambition This is a most infallible Symptom of a sick Judgment a Disease that proceeds either from Wickedness at home and a general Corruption of the Will and Manners disposing Men to pervert every Thing to the worst Sense or else from Uneasiness and Envy against Persons that are better than Themselves or else from a Mis-giving Quality within which reduces all their Belief to the Compass and Size of their own Abilities so measuring others by their own Standard believing Every one as bad as they know Themselves to be and absolutely incapable of doing things better or proposing nobler Ends in their Actions than their own usually are Or perhaps as probable an Account of this as any of the former may be a Natural Weakness and Littleness of Soul which like tender Eyes cannot bear to look at so strong and clear a Light as that which Virtue sheds when Pure and in its native Beauties Nor is it amiss here to take notice of a Practice exceeding common which is Men's affecting to shew the Nicety of their Judgment and the Smartness of their Wit in finding Faults suppressing extenuating disguising Circumstances setting Things in their worst Light and eclipsing the Glory of the bravest Actions In all which one would wonder they should suppose any thing worth valuing themselves upon since it is manifest all Dexterity of this kind is a much greater Demonstration of their Ill-Nature than it can be of their Parts and as it is the Vilest and most Disingenuous so is it the Easiest and most Vulgar way of Wit in the World 14. Another which seems to be a very convincing Testimony of the Misery of Humane Minds tho' somewhat more nice and out of the way of common Observation is That the Soul in its calm and sound and composed Estate can rise no higher than the perception of those Objects and the performance of such Operations as are Common and Natural and of a moderate Size But in order to the raising it up to such as are Divine and Supernatural such as admit Men into the Secrets of Heaven it is distemper'd and violently agitated either by vehement Impulses Extasies and Enthusiasms or by Trances and deep Sleeps This I gather not only from the Tripods and Oracles of the Heathen Pythia but from the authentick Accounts given us of Revelations and the extraordinary Manifestations God was pleased to make of Himself to Prophets and Holy Men in Scripture Such as Abraham and Ezekiel and Daniel and others in the Old Testament and St. Peter and St. Paul in the New All which Instances seem to argue that the only Natural ways of attaining to these extraordinary Communications are by Transport and Sleep by Visions and Dreams So that our Mind it seems is never so Wise as when it is out of its Senses nor ever so truly Awake as in Sleep It arrives best at its Journey 's End by leaving the Common Road and takes the Noblest and most successful Flights when it s own Faculties appear most depressed as if it were necessary to Lose it self for the Finding somewhat better and more lofty and to be Miserable in order to its being Happy This seems most Natural Advert because we are assured it was most usual not that there was an impossibility of other Methods but that these were best adapted to Humane Infirmities And therefore it is worth observing upon this Occasion what Truth Himself mentions as a Prerogative by which Moses was distinguished from other Prophets In that God talked with him Face to Face as a Man talketh to his Friend Deut. xii that is Easily and Familiarly without any of those vehement Commotions of Body or extatick Raptures of Soul which the rest of Mankind us'd to feel upon such Occasions And this proves both that the Other Method was so ordinary as to justifie our Author's Observation and yet that there was no utter Incapacity for this freer way in Humane Nature which deserved this additional Remark upon it for God who is absolute Master of Nature can reveal himself in what manner he sees sit 15. Lastly Can any greater Desect or Misery be imagin'd incident to the Minds of Men than the Neglect and Disesteem of their best and most useful Faculty And yet This is almost every one's Case while we extol Memory and Imagination and are fond of excelling in These but let the Judgment lie idle and unimprov'd no Care taken to employ it nor any account at all made of it Do but look abroad a little and you will soon be convinced of what I say For what are all the neat Harangues the learned Treatises the quaint Discourses the celebrated Sermons and Books with which the World is so mightily taken What in a Word are all the Productions of this fruitful Age the Works of some few Great Men only excepted but common Places and Quotations tack'd and sil'd up together a Collection of other Men's Labours put into a new Method with some few Strokes and Illustrations and so naturaliz'd and made all our Own And what can we make of this but a work of Memory the Excellency of a School-Boy and That which requires very little Brains or Trouble as to all that part which we pick up from Authors and find ready cut to our Hands And the Work of Imagination for those little Graces and Garnitures which make up the much less part added by our Selves This
of Obstinacy and Affectation and intractable Perverseness and other vile Qualities in which the Sex abounds Hence it was the Saying of one Author That whoever first invented the Marriage-Knot had contrived a very fair and colourable but withal a most effectual Expedient for taking a severe Revenge upon Mankind A Snare or Net to catch Fools and Brutes in and then put them to a long and lingring Death And of another That for a Wise Man to marry a Fool or a Woman of Sense a Coxcomb was like tying the Living to the Dead that so by the Extremity of Cold from the Carkass the Body might chill and languish till at last it expire which is of all Capital Punishments the most barbarous that ever Tyrants have been able to invent The Second Accusation imports That Marriage corrupts and adulterates Generous and Great Minds by softening and abating nay utterly enfeebling and dissolving their Life and Vigour by the little Dalliances and Flatterings and Wheedles of a Person of whom one is fond by Tenderness for one's Children Care and Management of Domestick Affairs and Sollicitude to provide for and raise one's Family in the World What lamentable Instances of this Effeminacy are Samson and Solomon and Mark Anthony whose Falls stand in Story like so many noble Ruines to put us in mind of that Enemy with some Indignation that undermin'd and demolish'd what Nature had made so strong If then there must be Marrying it is fit say they that This should be left to Fellows that have more Body than Soul let Them go on securely being so well qualisy'd and having so little to hazard and the Cares and Burden of the World are indeed properest for Them for such mean and low Considerations are Employments just of a Size with Their Capacities But as for Those whom Nature hath been so liberal to in another kind and given them good Sense and noble Souls capable of greater and better Things Is it not pity to shackle and bind Them down to the World and the Flesh as you do Beasts to the Manger Nay even among Beasts some Distinctions are made too for Those among them that are most esteem'd for Service and Courage as among Dogs and Horses particularly are kept up at a distance and forbidden all Approaches of the other Sex Others of less Value serving to breed upon very well Accordingly among Mankind Those that are Devoted to the most Venerable and Holy Professions the Service of the Altar and a Recluse Life both Men and Women such whose Stations oblige them to be the most excellent part of the World the Flower and Ornament of Christian Religion Clergy and Monasticks are forbidden by the Church of Rome ever to Marry at all And the Reason most certainly is This that Marriage obstructs Wisdom and Virtue calls off the Mind and gives it too strong and too frequent a Diversion clips its Wings and checks its noblest Flights For the Contemplation of High and Heavenly and Divine Objects is by no means consistent with the Clutter and Hurry and sordid Cares of Family-concerns Upon which Account it is that the Apostle who commands Continency even in Marriage hath preferr'd absolute Celibacy before it Marriage perhaps may have the Advantage in Point of Prosit and Convenience but the Honour and the Virtue they tell you is confessedly on the other side Besides It confounds Men's Measures and defeats noble and pious Intentions and Undertakings St. Augustin gives an Account to this purpose That He and some other Friends of his some whereof were married Men having formed a Design of retireing from the Town and all Conversation with the World into some Solitude that so they might have nothing to employ their Thouâ—â—â—s but the study of Wisdom and Virtue the 〈…〉 Scheme was immediately interrupted and 〈…〉 ' d by the Interposition of their Wives And another Wise Man hath given us his Opinion That if Men could prevail with Themselves to give over all Conversation with Women Angels would certainly visit and keep them Company Once more Marriage is a great Hindrance to Men's Improvement particularly it keeps them at home and cuts them off from the Opportunities of Travelling and conversing with Foreign Countries Which is really a great Accomplishment and a mighty Convenience to learn Wisdom one's self and to teach it to others and to communicate what we have seen and known to those who want the same Opportunities In short Marriage does not only cramp up and depress great Parts and great Souls but it deprives the World of many noble Designs Works of Munisicence and Charity and Publick Good it renders a Man incapable of serving his Country and attempting such Things as He can give no entertainment to the Thoughts of in the Embraces of a tender Wife and his Little ones round about him For These need and require the Care and Preservation of Himself and serve for an Excuse at least they cool his Courage to Actions that are Brave if at the same time they seem Desperate or are manifestly Dangerous And is it not a noble Sight now to see a Man that is sit to be at the Helm trissing away his Time at home playing and telling Stories with his Wife and Children in the Chimney-Corner Is it not Ten Thousand Pities that One who is capable of Governing and Directing a World should be entirely bury'd in Secresie lost to the Publick and taken up with the Concerns of a single Family Upon this Consideration it was that a Great Man when his Friends moved a Match to him made answer That he was born to Command Men and not one pretty little Toy of a Woman to Advise and give Rules to Kings and Frinces and not to Boys and Girles To that part of these Objections which carry any serious Argument Answer to them for a great deal of them is Raillery only we may answer as follows That Humane Nature must be consider'd as it really is A State not capable of Absolute Perfection nor was such a Life here ever intended for us as we should have nothing in it to be found fault with nothing that should cross or give us cause to wish it otherwise Our very Remedies must make us a little sick even when they are promoting our Health and Recovery and every Convenience carries its Abatement and is clogg'd and incumbred with some Inconvenience inseparable from it These are Evils allow it but they are Necessary Evils And if the Case be not well in all Points yet this is the best of it for there is no other way possible to be devised for the preserving and propagating Mankind but what would make the Matter infinitely worse and be liable to More and Greater Evils Some indeed as Plato in particular would fain have rooted out these Thorns and resin'd upon the Point by inventing other Methods for the Continuance of the Species but after all their Hammering and Polishing Those Conceits at last prov'd mere Castles in the Air Things
Pleasure Call its Fruitions slat and insipid if you please but yet they are solid and substantial agreeable and universal They must needs be so indeed because they are Lawful and Innocent free from the Censure of Others and the Reproaches of one's Own Mind What the World calls Love aims at nothing but Delight it hath perhaps somewhat of Sprightliness and is of a quicker and more poignant Relish but this cannot hold long and we plainly see it cannot by so few Matches succeeding well where Beauty and Amorous Desires were at the bottom of them There must be something more solid to make us happy A Building that is to stand for our whole Lives ought to be set upon sirmer Foundations and these Engagements are serious Matters such as deserve and it is Pity but they should have our utmost Discretion employed upon them That Hot Love bubbles and boils in our Breasts for a While but it is worth Nothing and cannot continue and therefore it very often happens that these Affairs are very fortunately manag'd by a Third Hand This Description is only Summary and in general Terms Another more particular one But that the Case may be more perfectly and particularly understood it is sit we take Notice that there are Two Things Essential and absolutely Necessary to this State of Life which however contrary and inconsistent they may at First Sight appear are yet in reality no such Matter These are Equality and Inequality the Former concerns them as Friends and Companions and upon the Level the Other as a Superiour and an Inferiour The Equality consists in that Entire Freedom and unreserved Communication whereby they ought to have all Things in Common their Souls Inclinations Wills Bodies Goods are mutually from thenceforward made over and neither of them hath any longer a peculiar and distinct Propriety exclusive of the other This in some Places is carried a great deal farther and extends to Life and Death too insomuch that assoon as the Husband is dead the Wife is obliged to follow him without delay There are some Countries where the Publick and National Laws require them to do so and they are oftentimes so Zealous in their Obedience that where Polygamy is indulged if a Man leave several Wives behind him they Try for it Publickly and enter up their Claims which of them shall obtain the Honour and Privilege of sleeping with their Spouse that is the Expression they soften it by and upon this Occasion each urges in her own behalf that she was the best belov'd Wife or had the last Kiss of him or brought him Children or the like so to gain the Preference to themselves Th' Ambitious Rivals eagerly pursue Death as their Crown to Love and Virtue due Prefer their Claims and glory in Success Their Lords first Nuptials are courted less Approach his Pile with Pomp in Triumph burn And mingle Ashes in one Common Urn. In other Places where no Laws enjoyned any such Thing it hath been resolved and practised by mutual Stipulation and voluntary Agreement made privately between the Parties Themselves which was the Case of Mark Antony and Cleopatra But omitting This which in truth is a Wicked Barbarous and Unreasonable Custom The Equality which is and ought to be between Man and Wife extends it self to the Administration of Affairs and Inspection over the Family in common from whence the Wife hath very justly the Title of Lady or Mistress of the House and Servants as well as the Husband that of Master and Lord over them And this joint Authority of Theirs over their own private Family is a Picture in Little of that Form of Publick Government which is termed an Aristocracy That Distinction of Superiour and Inferiour which makes the Inequality consists in This. Inequality That the Husband hath a Power and Authority over his Wife and the Wife is plac'd in Subjection to her Husband The Laws and Governments of all Nations throughout the World agree in this Preeminence Et certamen habent lethi quae viva sequatur Conjugium pudor est non licuisse mori Ardent Victrices flammae pectora praebent Imponuntque suis Ora perusta viris but the Nature and the Degrees of it are not every where the same For These differ in Proportion as the Laws and Customs of the Place differ Thus far the Consent is Universal That the Woman how Noble soever her Birth and Family how great soever her Fortunes or any other personal Advantages is not upon any Consideration exempted from Subjection to her Husband This Superiority and Inferiority may well be general and be the Opinion of All when it is so plainly the Condition of All. For in truth it is the Work of Nature and founded upon that Strength and Sufficiency and Majesty of the One Sex and the Weakness and Softness and Incapacities of the Other which prove it not equally qualified nor ever designed for Government But there are many other Arguments besides which Divines fetch from Scripture upon this Occasion and prove the Point indeed substantially by Them For Revelation here hath backed and enforced the Dictates of Reason by telling us expresly that Man was made first that he was made by God alone and entirely by Him without any Creature of a like Form contributing any thing towards his Being That he was Created on purpose for the Pleasure and Glory of God his Head That he was made after the Divine Image and Likeness a Copy of the Great Original above and Perfect in his Kind For Nature always begins with something in its just Perfection Whereas Woman was created in the Second Place and not so properly Created as Formed made after Man taken out of his Substance * See 1 Corinth xi 7.8 The Man is the Image and Similitude of God but the Woman is the Similitude of the Man So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be rendred in the Sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 similis sum not Glory as we read it which is foreign to the rest of the Words and the whole Scope of that Argument Fashioned according to that Pattern and so His Image and only the Copy of a Copy made Occasionally and for particular Uses to be a Help and a Second to the Man who is himself the Principal and Head and therefore She is upon all these Accounts Imperfect Thus we may argue from the Order of Nature But the thing is confirmed yet more by the Relation given us of the Corruption and Fall of Man For the Woman was first in the Transgression and sinned of her own Head Man came in afterwards and by her Instigation The Woman therefore who was last in Good in order of Nature and Occasional only but foremost in Evil and the occasion of That to Man is most justly put in Subjection to Him who was before Her in the Good and after Her in the Evil. This Conjugal Superiority and Power hath been very differently restrained or enlarged
and Support of Humane Affairs the Cement that knits and keeps them Fast and Strong the Soul that gives them Life and Motion the Band of all Society which can never subsist without it the vital Spirit of this Body Politick that enables Men so many Thousands of Men to breath as One and compacts all Nature together Now notwithstanding the absolute Necessity and unspeakable Convenience This is of for sustaining the Universe yet is it really a very slippery and unsafe thing extremely difficult to manage and liable to infinite Changes and Dangers * Arduum subjectum fortunae cuncta regendi onus The Governing of Men and their Affairs is a very hard Undertaking a heavy Burden and exposed to great variety of Chances It often declines and languishes nay sometimes falls to the Ground by secret Misfortunes and unseen Causes And though its rising to a just Height is Gradual and Slow a Work of much Time and great Pains and Prudence yet the Ruins and Decays of it are frequently sudden and surprizing and the Constitutions which took up Ages to finish and build up are broken and thrown down in a Moment It is likewise exposed to the Hatred and Envy of all Degrees and Conditions The High and the Low watch it curiously and are Jealous of all its Proceedings and set Themselves at Work perpetually to endanger and undermine it This Uneasiness and Suspicion and general Enmity proceeds partly from the Corrupt Manners and Dispositions of the Persons in whom the Supreme Power is vested and partly from the Nature of the Power it self of which you may take this following Description Sovereignty is properly a Perpetual and Absolute Power What Sovereign Power is Subject to no Limitation either of Time or of Terms and Conditions It consists in a Right of constituting and giving Laws to all in General and to each Person under its Dominion in Particular and that without consulting or asking the Consent of such as are to be govern'd by them and likewise in being above all Restraints or having Laws imposed upon it self from any other Person whatsoever For to Impose and Command a Duty argues Superiority and That which is Sovereign can have no Superiour And as another expresses it It infers a Right Paramount of making Reservations and Exceptions from the usual Forms as the King in Courts of Equity corrects the Common Law For Sovereignty in its highest and strictest Importance implies the Contrary to Subjection or the being bound by Humane Laws either of others or its own Appointment so as not to repeal or alter them as there shall be Occasion For it is contrary to Nature for all Men to give Law to Themselves and to be absolutely commnded by Themselves in Things that depend upon their own Will * Nulla Obligatio consistere potest quae à voluntate promittentis statum capit No Obligation can continue firm none can lie there where the Person that engages hath nothing but his own Will to bind him And therefore Sovereign Power Properly so call'd cannot have its Hands ty'd up by any other whether Living or Dead neither its Own nor its Predecessor's Decrees nor the Received Laws of the Country can be Unalterable or Irreversible This Power hath been compared by some to Fire to the Sea to a Wild Beast which it is very hard to tame or make treatable it will not endure Contradiction it will not be molested or if it be it is a Dangerous Enemy a just and severe Avenger of them that have the Hardiness to provoke it †Potestas res est quae moneri doecrique non vult cistrigationem aegrè fert Power says one is a Thing that seldom bears to be admonish'd or instructed and is generally very impatient of Contradiction or Reproof The Marks and Characters which are proper to it Its Properties and by which it is distinguish'd from other Sorts of Power are the Giving Judgment and pronouncing Definitive Sentences whereby all contending Parties shall be concluded and from whence there lies no Appeal A full Authority to make Peace and War Creating and Depriving Magistrates and Officers granting Indulgences and dispensing with the Rigour of the Laws upon particular Hardships and extraordinary Emergencies levying of Taxes coining and adjusting the Value of Money ordering what shall be current in its Dominions and at what Prices Receiving of Homage and Acknowledgments from its Subjects and Embassies from Foreigners Requiring Oaths of Fidelity from the Persons under its Protection and administring them in Controversies and Tryals of Right and Wrong But all is reduc'd at last and comprehended under the Legislative Power the enacting such Laws as it shall think fit and by Them binding the Consciences of Those who live within its Dominions Some indeed have added Others which are so small and trivial in Comparison that they are scarce worth naming after the Former such as the Admiralty Rights of the Sea Title to Wracks upon the Coast Confiscation of Goods in Cases of Treason Power to change the Language the Ensigns of Government and Title of Majesty Greatness and Sovereignty is infinitely coveted by almost All. But wherefore is it Surely for no other Reason so much as that the Outside is Gay and Glorious Beautiful and Glittering but the Inside is hid from common Observation Every body sees the Plenty the Pomp and the Advantages of a Crown but few or none at a distance are acquainted with the Weight the Cares the Troubles and the Dangers of it It is True indeed To Command is a Noble and a Divine Post but it is as True that it is an Anxious a Cumbersome and a Difficult One. Upon the same Account it is that the Persons in that Dignity and Elevation are esteem'd and reverenc'd much above the Rate of Common Men. And very Just it is they should be so for this Opinion is of great Use to extort that Respect and Obedience from the People upon the due Payment whereof all the Peace and Quiet of Societies depend But if we take these great Persons apart from their Publick Character and consider them as Men we shall find them just of the same Size and cast in the same Mould with other common Men nay too often of worse Dispositions and not so liberally dealt with by Nature as many of their Inferiours We are apt to think that every Thing a Prince does must needs proceed upon great and weighty Reasons because all they do is in the Event of great and general Importance to Mankind but in truth the Matter is much otherwise and They think and resolve and act just like One of Us For Nature hath given Them the same Faculties and moves them by the same Springs The Provocation which would set Two private Neighbours to Scolding and Quarrelling makes a Publick War between Two States and what One of Us would whip his Child or his Page for incenses a Monarch to chastise a Province that hath offended him
passes at Home and in our ordinary Course of Affairs The Third is Publick and respects what is exposed to the common View of the World In the First of these there is no manner of Restraint in the Second no Pains or Study to recommend one's Behaviour as being not accountable for our Own Management to Them that live under our Own Roof and Government but all the Reserve and Artifice and Dissimulation is in a manner appropriated to the last of These Now it is much more difficult to be regular and exact in the first of these Degrees than in either of the other and the Examples of Persons that are or have been so have been infinitely fewer and so in proportion the Case stands with the Second too in comparison of the Third sort The Reason is obvious and evident For where there is no body to judge or controul or countermand nay where there is not so much as a Spectator to observe our Actions where we have no apprehension of Punishment for doing amiss no expectation of Reward for doing well we are much more remiss and careless in our Behaviour Reason and Conscience are here the only Guides we have to follow and although These may be some Check yet that is not comparable to the Restraints we feel when placed in open View and made the common Mark of All who must needs see and will take a Freedom of censuring our Actions Applause and Glory fear of Scandal and Reproach or some other Passion of the like Nature are much more powerful Motives these carry and manage us after a very different manner And indeed the greatest part of Mankind are more govern'd by Passions of this Nature than by any strict Sense of Duty and regard to Virtue These put us upon our Guard and teach us Prudence upon force And from the Influence of These it is that many People have the Reputation of Holy and Excellent Persons and behave Themselves as such in the Eye of the World who yet in reality and at the bottom are mere Hypocrites stark nought and rotten at the Core and have not one commendable Quality belonging to them What passes before Men is all Farce and Counterfeit we put it on for Convenience and are concern'd to appear thus to the Spectators but the Truth of us is conceal'd and the Man can have no true Judgment made of him but from what he does in private and alone We must see him in his constant and every-day's Dress and strip him of those Ornaments that set him off when he comes abroad We must know his Temper and his usual Deportment for all the rest is Fiction and Constraint * Universus mundus exercet histrioniam All the World are Actors and play their Parts to please the Audience And it was well observ'd by a Wise Man That none are good except such as are so inwardly and by Themselves And that Virtue is always the same as cautious as prudent upon the account of Conscience as it is in Obedience to the publick Laws and Customs of the World as fearful of offending one's own Self and as careful to avoid the Condemnation of one 's own Breast when no Eye sees us as it is of the Observation and Reproaches of all Mankind Publick Actions such as Exploits in War delivering an Opinion in Senate or Council discharging an Embassy governing a Nation or the like are bright and loud every body sees every body hears of them and therefore These are perform'd with all possible Diligence and Circumspection but such Private and Domestick ones as Chiding Laughing Selling and Buying Borrowing and Paying and Conversing with our own Families and most intimate Acquaintance are silent and dark they make no Noise fear no Discovery and are therefore thought worthy very little or not any Attention or Consideration at all Nay we are sometimes scarce so much as sensible of them when we do them And if in These Men be so unthinking a little Reflection will soon convince us that they are infinitely more so in Those yet more secret and merely internal such as Loving Hating Desiring of which none is or can be conscious but their own Minds There is one Thing more fit to be observed upon this Occasion and a very sad and wicked Thing it is viz. That Men being depraved by a kind of Hypocrisie natural to them have taught Themselves and Others to make a greater Conscience and be infinitely more Scrupulous and concern'd for their outward Behaviour which consists in Shew and Form and is perfectly free and at their own Disposal of no Consequence in the World but all over Set-Countenance and Ceremony Things of no real Difficulty and as little Substance and Effect than they are for inward Miscarriages or private Actions such as are buried in Secrecy and make no Figure but yet are highly Expedient and Necessary very Valuable in Themselves and therefore very Difficult For upon these Last the Reforming of our Souls the Moderating of our Passions and the Regulating our whole Life and Conversation depends And yet the Former are not only preferred before them in our Care and Concern but the Matter is so ordered that even They who find themselves well disposed will by constant Study and Sollicitude to discharge those outward Actions punctually degenerate into Formality of course and by insensible Degrees grow Cold and Negligent in their Regard for the others Now of all these Sorts it is plain that the Men as Hermits for Instance who live in perfect Solitude and have but One of these Three That of the Internal and most private Life only to take Care of are upon better Terms and have an easier Task to discharge than Those that have Two and so likewise he that hath the Domestick Care added to the former and so lies under a Duty in Two Capacities is exposed to less Difficulty than the Persons of a Publick Life and Character upon whom the Care of all the Three Degrees is incumbent CHAP. LIV. A Life of Company and Business compar'd with one of Retirement and Solitude THey that upon all Occasions recommend and cry up a Solitary Life are so far certainly in the Right that it is an Excellent Means of Ease and Quiet a sure Retreat from the Hurry and Troubles of the World a very proper and effectual Defence against the Vices and Extravagances of a profligate Age which are commonly propagated by Infection and Example and are very likely to Spread and Reign where much the greater Part of those we converse with are already tainted with the Disease For not One in a Thousand is Vertuous and Good the Number of Fools is Infinite and the thicker the Crowd the greater the Danger Thus far I say they have Reason on their Side for ill Company is certainly one of the most fatal and ensnaring Things in the World and that not only in Regard of the Corruption but of the Punishment and Vengeance it exposes Men to Accordingly
it between conquering and not hazarding our Persons in the Engagement And when Men are in a Capacity of becoming beneficial to Others and may be Instruments of Great and General Good to excuse Themselves from serving the Publick and abandon all Society when they might adorn and be useful in it is to betray their Trust to bury their Talent in a Napkin to hide the Candle which God hath lighted under a Bushel when the setting it on a Candle-Stick might enlighten others and do great Service to all that are in the House It requires then much Deliberation and many uncommon Circumstances to give Men a Right thus to dispose of Themselves And they who presume to do it merely out of private Considerations and make the Publick no part of their Concern are so far from deserving to be applauded for their Virtue and Resignation that they are guilty of a great Fault and liable to very just and severe Censure CHAP. LV. A Life in Common compared with That of distinct Properties SOme Persons have been of Opinion that a Life where all Things are in Common and there is no such Distinction as Mine or Thine hath the greatest Tendency to Perfection and is best accommodated for the cherishing and maintaining of Charity and Concord and Union among Men. But Experience shews us daily that whatever Conveniencies it may really have of this kind yet are they not so great nor so effectual to the Purposes before-mention'd as those Persons have imagined For in the first Place whatever Appearance there may be outwardly of Kindness and good Agreemeent yet there is no such Thing as an entire and hearty Affection nor the same tender Regards for That which is in Common as a Man finds where he alone is concern'd To this purpose it is that we have two Proverbs The College Horse is always ill saddled and Every Body's Business is No Body's Business Men consider that Others are equally concern'd in the Care and in the Damage that the Loss is not immediately their own and that each Member of the Society stands in that respect equally related to them and that begets a Coldness and Indifferency among them But which is a great deal worse this State does naturally produce Quarrels and Discontents Murmuring and mutual Hatred every Community is but too full a Demonstration of it and the very Holiest and Best that ever was the Primitive Church it self could not you see be exempted from the Misfortune For though the Institution design all Things should be equal yet unless you could make the Desires of the Persons so too they will always be full of Complaints and Jealous that some are preferred and others neglected Acts vi like the Grecians and their Widows in the Daily Distributions The Nature of Love is like that of Great Rivers which while they continue united in one Stream are Navigable and carry Vessels of Vast Burden but if you cut them into fresh Channels and divide the Water they are no longer Serviceable in that kind and thus when Men's Affections are divided and parted as it were among a great many Objects not any one of those Persons or Things is of very tender Concern for all the Force and Vigor of the Passion is scattered and broke to Pieces Now in a Life of Community there are several Degrees To live that is to eat and drink together at a common Table is very decent and well Thus we find it practised in some of the best and most ancient Commonwealths as Lacedemon and Crete particularly such publick Meals are very useful for the teaching Men to be Modest and reserved and keeping up Dicipline Society and Good Order and they do also minister occasion for great variety of very useful and improving Discourse But to think of pulling up the Fences and Inclosures and lay all in Common is a wild Imagination Plato was once of this Opinion but he thought better of it afterwards And indeed the Project would be so far from reconciling and uniting All that the certain Consequence of it would be to overturn and confound All. CHAP. LVI A Town and a Country Life compared together THis is a Comparison very easie for any Man who is a true Lover of Wisdom to make for almost all the Advantages lie on one side The Pleasures and Conveniences both of Body and Mind Liberty Contemplation Innocence Health and Delight In the Country a Man's Mind is free and easie discharg'd and at his own Disposal But in the City the Persons of Friends and Acquaintance one 's own and other People's Business foolish Quarrels ceremonious Visits impertinent Discourse and a Thousand other Fopperies and Diversions steal away the greatest part of our Time and leave no Leisure for better and more necessary Employment What infinite Perplexities Avocations Distractions of the Mind and which is worst of all what abominable Debaucheries and Depravation of Manners does such a Life expose Men to Great Towns are but a larger sort of Prisons to the Soul like Cages to Birds or Pounds to Beasts This Celestial Fire within us will not endure to be shut up it requires Air to brighten and make it burn clear which made Columella say that a Country Life is Cousin-German to Wisdom For a Man's Thoughts cannot be idle and when they are set loose from the World they will range and expatiate freely in noble and profitable Meditations But how shall a Man hope to command his Thoughts or pretend to call them his Own in the midst of all the Clutter and Business the Amusements nay the Confusions of the Town A Country Life is infinitely more plain and innocent and disposed to Purity and Virtue In Cities Vice assembles in Troops the very Commonness of it makes it unobserv'd it hardens and reconciles us to the Practice Example and Custom and the meeting with it at every Turn makes the thing familiar and thus the Disease seizes us strongly and presently and we are gone all on the sudden by living in the midst of the Insection Whereas in the Country those things are seen or heard with Abhorrence and Amazement which the Town sees and does every Day without Remorse or Concern As for Pleasure and Health the clear Air the Warmth and Brightness of the Sun not polluted with the Sultry Gleams and loathsome Stenches of the Town the Springs and Waters the Flowers and Groves and in short All Nature is free and easie and gay The Earth unlocks her Treasures refreshes us with her Fruits feasts every Sense and gives us such Entertainment as Cities know nothing of in the stifling press of Houses so that to live there is to shut one's self up and be banish'd from the World Besides all this a Country Retirement is more active and sit for Exercise and this creates an Appetite preserves and restores Health and Vigour hardens the Body and makes it lusty and strong The greatest Commendation of the Town is Convenience for Business and Profit It is
hath disposed and as it were out out sor Virtue this Man is well born indeed For the Man wants nothing else to make him Noble who hath a Mind so generous that be can rise above and triumph over Fortune let his Condition of Life be what it will But these Two kinds dwell most amieably together and often meet in the same Person Both together as indeed there seems a great Aptitude and Disposition for them to do and when they center thus in one Person then the Nobility is perfect and complete The Natural is an Introduction an Occation a Spur to the Personal for all things have a strong tendency and very easily revere to their first and natural Principle And as the Natural first took its Origine and Existence from the Personal so it inclines and leads the Persons so descended to imitate nay to emulate the Glories of their Noble Progenitors The Seeds of Virtue and Honour are in them already * Fortes creantur Fortibus Bonis c. Horat. Ode 4. Lib. 4. In Sons Their Father's Virtues shine And Souls as well as Faces keep the Line This one Advantage is observable in being Nobly born that it makes Men sensible they are ally'd to Virtue and lays strong Obligations upon them not to degenerate from the Excellencies of their Ancestors And sure there cannot be a more forcible Motive to spur and quicken Men in the pursuit of Glory and the attempting Great and Noble Actions than the being conscious to Themselves that they are come out of the Loins of those very Persons who have behaved themselves gallantly served their King and Country and been eminent and useful in their Generations Is it possible Men can please Themselves with these Reflections to feed their Vanity as it is manifest they do and not think at the same time how vile and reproachful it is in Them to bastardize and bely their Race to serve only as a Foil to their Forefather's Virtues and cast back Darkness and Disgrace upon the Lustre of their Memories Nobility granted by the particular Patent and partial Favour of a Prince without any Merit to give a Title to it and neither personal Accomplishments nor an Antient Family to support and set it off is rather a Blemish and Mark of Shame than of Honour It is a poor pitiful Parchment-Nobility bought to supply a needy King or to feed a hungry Courtier the Price of Silver and Gold or the effect of Countenance and Access not the purchase of Blood and Sweat as such Honours ought to be But if it be granted for any singular Desert and signal good Services then it falls not within the compass of this Notion but is to be reputed personal and acquired and hath a Right to all those Privileges and Commendations which were said to belong to that sort of Nobility before CHAP. LX. Of Honour IT is the Notion of some but a very mistaken Notion sure it is That Honour is the proper Price and Recompense of Virtue Others have a little corrected this Notion by calling it the Acknowledgment of Virtue in the Persons to whom we pay it or the Prerogative of a good Opinion first and then of those outward Respects whereby we testisie that good Opinion for it is most certainly a Privilege that derives its Essence and Nature Principally from Virtue Others call it Virtue 's Shadow which follows or goes before it as the Shadow does the Substance and Body from whence it is reflected But to speak more properly it is the Splendor or Fame of brave and virtuous Actions darted out from the Soul upon the Eyes of the World and then rebounding back again upon our selves by that Demonstration it gives of what others think of us and the mighty Satisfaction of the Mind resulting from this Sense of their Good Esteem Now Honour is so very highly esteemed so very eagerly sought that we generally balk no Difficulty to come at it We endure any thing for its sake despise every thing in Comparison of it even Life it self is not thought a Purchase too Dear to compass it And yet after All This is but a thin airy Business uncertain and sickle foreign and at some distance from the Person receiving it and the things for which it is paid It is not only not Essential to him not any part or Appurtenance of his Person and Substance but it searce ever comes home to him For generally speaking this Deference is given to Persons either Absent or Dead and if Living it is not accounted good Manners to praise them to their Faces so that it waits without and belongs to a Man's Name only which bears all his Commendations and Disgraces his Scandal and his Respects from whence one is said to bear a Good or Wicked Name Now the Name is no part of the Nature of the Thing but only the Image which gives us a Representation of it A Mark of Distinction to know it from other Things by In a Word somewhat that goes between the Essence of the Thing and the Honour or Dishonour belonging to it For it is applied to the Substance and whatever is said of it Good or Fad falls upon This and is born by it Now Honour before it rests upon the Name fetches a kind of Circular Flight and makes some stay upon the Action the Heart and the Tongue Whatever gallant commendable Action is Atchieved is as it were the Root the Source the Parent which gives birth and Being to Honour for iâ— truth Honour is nothing else but the Lustre and Resplendence of 〈◊〉 Gâ—rious or Benesicial or otherwise Noble Explâ—â—t Whatever Perfection a Thing hath in it self with Regard to its own Intrinsick Worth yet if it do not produce some Effect which is Excellent it is not capable of Honour but to all Intents and Purposes of this kind as if it had never been at all The next Advance is made into the Mind where it first begins to live and is form'd into good Opinions and Venerable Esteem Then it comes abroad in the last Place and rides Triumphant upon Men's Tongues and Pens and so reflects and returns back again upon the Name of the Person who did that Celebrated Action from whence it first set out As the Sun returns Daily to the Point from whence his Motion began and when it hath finish'd this Course it from thenceforch carries the Name of Honour Praise Glory Renown or the like But to what Sorts of Performances this Recompence is due hath been a Question much disputed Some Persons have delivered their Opinion that Honour does not only nor properly consist in a Man's behaving himself well where great and difficult Posts are to be filled and managed by him for every Man's Circumstances will not furnish him with Opportunities of weighty Administraions but in the faithful Discharge of the Duties of each Person 's particular Profession be the Capacity of the Man what it will For all Commendation is the Effect and
submit but to think themselves bound to do so and that they are not at liberty to satisfy their own Reason What a Horrible Indignity what a Degradation of Humane Nature is This In other Cases we find them bold and assuming extremely jealous of their Honour and tenacious of their Privileges But here they are despicably tame and poor-spirited which is the justest the most indisputable the most inherent Property of any that belongs to them 'T is certain that there can be but One Truth but Falshood is infinite A Thousand differing Judgments upon the same Thing and but One of all these in the right and shall I in the midst of all this Doubt and Confusion be forbidden to use the Means God hath put into my hands for the finding out which That is Shall it be thought Taking more upon me than becomes me if I endeavour to discover the best Appearance of Truth or Equity or Profit or Convenience for a Rule and Measure to my own Actions Is it possible to suppose that among the many disagreeing nay opposite Laws and Customs of the World none but Ours should be good for any thing Are all Mankind out of their Senses and hath every other Nation taken wrong Measures Who can have the Confidence to assert this Or who makes any Question but other Countries are even with us and think every whit as meanly of Our Constitutions as we do of Theirs Nay there is no dispute but this very Person whoever he be that is so blindly fond of his Native Manners would have had the same partial Liking for those of any other place where it had been his Fortune to have been born and bred He would have been as warm in preferring Those above such as he now thinks best for no other reason 't is plain but because he hath been used to them If any Man shall venture to assert the Contrary I must beg leave at least to answer him that This Liberty of Judging is a good Rule however for all Foreigners to make Use of that so They by the Practice of it may convince themselves how much Our methods of Living excel Theirs This he must grant me sure and if he do it will follow that a Wise Man will think it advisable to do this upon All Occasions and pass Sentence upon nothing till he have allowed it a fair hearing and weighed the Matter impartially To be led thus like Oxen and follow the Herd is fit for none but Brutes or Men but one Remove above them I would by all means have a man behave and express himself and make his Figure in compliance with the rest of the World but I would not have him conform his Judgment to Theirs nay I would have him even sit in Judgment upon Theirs What Privilege do you leave the greatest Philosopher above the most ignorant Clown if the noblest part of him his Mind shall be enslaved to common Vogue Methinks the World should be very well satisfied with a Man's Compliance in outward Behaviour But all Within is my Own And what hath the World to do with my Thoughts They shall give Rules if they please to my Tongue and my Hand but my Mind by their good Leave is out of their Jurisdiction and is accountable to another Master The Liberty of the Mind is what no body can actually take away and if any Attempt it they are of all Tyrants and Usurpers the most unreasonable the most insupportable Every Wise Man will be sure to be tender of it and offend in neither Extreme for he will neither endure to part with his own Freedom nor offer to invade any other Man's Now I own that while a Wise Man asserts this Liberty to himself it cannot be expected that he should be always of a piece For at this rate his Hand and his Opinion his Body and his Mind will be frequently put upon contradictions to one another and there is no avoiding it because Prudence governs his outward Actions and private Judgment the Sentiments of his Soul So that here are two different Characters to be maintained and he must play both or be unjust either to the World or to himself The Common Remark that all Mankind act a part upon this Stage of the World is as strictly true of the Wisest Men as of any others whatsoever for they are quite other sort of persons within than they appear to the Spectators and if they should not play thus but shew themselves without any manner of disguise the difference would never be endured all their Behaviour would be so particular And yet at the same time were their real Opinions in agreement with their Practice this would involve them in so many Errors and Corruptions that they would not be able to endure themselves Many Compliances must be indulged out of Respect to the Opinion of the World and the Laws and Customs which prevail abroad and particularly in the places where we dwell But then a man owes it to himself too not to make These the Standard of his Opinions but form Them upon the Dictates of Nature and the Rules of Universal Equity and Reason And he who does thus must content himself with many things which he does not strictly approve and while he lives among Men must act as They do but with this Reserve to himself that these things are not done by him in the Quality of a Wise Man but merely under the general Character of a Man and a Member of Society Thus He in his Actions will be like Cicero in his Expressions who declared he referred the Usage of Words to the People but the proper meaning of them he reserved the right of judging in to himself To instance now in a few particulars and those some of them very frivolous and of little or no Consequence I make no Scruple to pull off my Hat in Civility and Deference to a Man of Quality because this part of the World express their Respect that way but at the same time I am free to think the Eastern Custom better who express their Reverence by laying their hand upon their Breast and never hazard their health nor expose themselves to any of the other Inconveniences incident to frequent Uncovering of the Head So again were I an Inhabitant of the Oriental parts of the World I would eat my Meals upon the ground or leaning or lying along as they do and as great part of the World did heretofore particularly the Jews as we find by the Description of our Lord's last Supper but still I could not forbear in my own private judgment preferring the sitting upright at Table as our present manner is for the much more commodious way of Eating Again to mention a Matter of somewhat greater Importance I am satisfied that the Dead Bodies of my Friends should be interred and given as a Prey to the Worms but still I cannot but think the old way of burning and preserving their Ashes in Urns much more cleanly
bred up in without more ado condemns and expresses the greatest Detestation of them imaginable and rails at the people as Rude and Uncivilized or else he gives no credit to these accounts but looks upon them as the Romantick Tales of Travellers who take liberties of representing Foreigners very oddly to those that cannot disprove them so absolutely enslaved are his Judgment and Assections to his own Municipal Constitutions so impossible is it as he thinks that any but These should be true or agreeable to Nature and therefore he is verily persuaded they must needs or at least should be Universal too It is exceeding common to traduce every thing with the Reproachful name of Barbarism that we do not fancy or see frequently practised at home and to depend upon the Example and the Ideas of the Persons with whom we converse the Notions and the Usage of our own Countrey for the Test to distinguish Truth and Reason by Now This is a mean and brutish debasement of the Soul which we ought to get above and to enlarge it by looking no longer upon this Picture of Nature in Little but take a view of her as she is drawn at length and in all her full proportions The just Idea of Nature is to consider her as the Common Mother of us all an Universal Queen whose Authority and Dominion hath the same limits with the World nay extends to more Worlds if as some eminent persons have thought more Worlds there be This would inspire us with becoming and Great Apprehensions of her Majesty and Beauty There we should behold as in an exquisite painting a constant and endless variety of Things and the longer we gazed the more our Entertainment and our wonder would be Infinite Difference in Humours disagreeing Judgments Opinions Customs and Laws Innumerable Disorders Commotions and Alterations in States and Kingdoms surprizing turns of Fortune in the Affairs of private Men a World of Victories and Triumphs buried and lost in the Rubbish of Time many Noble Entries and Processions Pomps and Grandeurs utterly vanished and as if the Courts and Princes celebrated by them had never been at all And by taking such a prospect as this and observing how such different Things and Events like Colours well mingled conspire to make up a general Portraicture of the World we shall learn our own littleness and be surprized at nothing nor esteem things at all new or incredible nor be over-tenacious and positive in vindicating our own and condemning the Practice of others since it is not necessary or at all Essential to Beauty that all who pretend to it should be of Our Complexion And that the Darkness and Difference of other Nations like the Shades in drawing make a more grateful Variety and are all agreeable and useful for setting forth the Skill of the Great the Divine Artificer whose Workmanship the Orginal and the Life is This large brave open and universal Disposition of Mind is indeed scarce to be found and hard to be compassed and it is not every common Man that can aspire to it Nature hath not cut out all her Children for such an Excellence no more than she hath qualified them all for that Wisdom and Perfection it leads to But yet there are several Considerations that may be serviceable in helping us toward it Such is First what you find already insisted upon in the foregoing part of this Treatise concerning the wonderful Variety B. 1. Ch. 37 38. and vast difference observable in men according to those qualities of Body and Mind which Nature hath distributed so very unequally among them Secondly Those Differences Men have made among themselves by the disagreeing Laws and Customs which obtain in several Nations and Constitutions To both which may be added the Strange Variety of Opinions which we find the Ancients received and delivered down to Posterity concerning the Age the Condition and the Changes of the World which yet to Us seem to be very Romantick and Extravagant * Concerning those Egyptian and Assyrian Calculations see Bishop Pearson en the Creed Art 1. Page 58 59. where he plainly refutes the Account according to the common computation of years from their own Authers The Egyptian Priests told Herodotus that since the Reign of their first King from which they reckoned down above Eleven thousand years and shewed the Statues of Him and all his Successors in the draughts taken from the Life the Sun had changed his course four several times The Chaldaeans in Diodorus his time as He and Cicero both say kept a Register and Annals comprehending the Space of Four hundred thousand years Plato tells us that the Citizens of Sais had Memorials in Manuscript of Eight thousand years standing and yet they owned that the City of Athens was built a thousand years before that of Sais Aristotle and Pliny and others pretend that Zoroaster lived Six thousand years before Plato was born Some have advanced a Notion of the World 's Existing from all Eternity that it hath been destroyed and revived again several times and hath and will for ever hereafter go through many such Vicissitudes Others and Those some of the most renowned Philosophers have held the World to be a God but yet of so inferior a Quality as to derive its Form and present Being from another and much greater God or else as Plato and some others have been induced by the Motions of it to affirm with some degree of Confidence that it is certainly an Animal consisting of Body and Spirit That the Soul or Spirit is lodged in the Centre of the Universe but though its chief Residence be there yet it expands it self all over to the very utmost parts of the Circumference and that its Influences are conveyed and communicated in Musical Numbers That the several parts of it too thus animated and directed as the Heaven and the Stars for instance are made up of a Body and Soul and these though Mortal in respect of their compounded Nature are yet Immortal by the determination of their Almighty Creator Plato says That the World puts on quite another face that the whole Scene is shifted that the Heaven and Stars vary so much in their motions as quite to change sides so that Before shall be Behind and the Point which is East at one time comes to be the West at another There hath also been an Opinion of great Authority much countenanced and promoted by the most eminent Philosophers suitable to the Power and Majesty of God and grounded upon fair and probable Reasons that there is a Plurality of Worlds for we see no other thing single or solitary but This if This be so All Species are multiplied in numbers and therefore it is not unlikely that God hath not left this part of his Workmanship quite desolate and alone nor exhausted his whole power and skill in the forming of an Individual Nay even Divinity assures us that God can make as many Worlds as he
every Place every Emergency will find him the same For this Law of Nature is perpetual the Obligation of it is lasting and inviolable the Equity and Reason of it are Eternal written in large and indelible Characters no Accident can deface them no length of time waste or wear them out even Wickedness it self by the Customary Habits whereof the positive and additional Improvements of this Law are corrupted yet cannot debauch or exterminate these first and Natural Notions no Place no Time can alter or disguise them but they continue every where the same The Collections inferred from them differ infinitely but these first Principles themselves which are the Ground of all Moral Institutions admit of no Change no Increase no Abatement no Fits and Starts no Ebbings and Flowings but as they are a part of our Substance so do they agree with what the Schools say of all Substances in general * Substantia non recipit magis minùs that it is contrary to their nature to be more or less than they are Why then Vain Man dost thou trouble thy self to seek abroad for some Law and Rule to Mankind What can Books or Masters tell thee which thou mightest not tell thy self What can Study or Travel shew which at the expence of much less pains thou might'st not see at home by descending into thy own Conscience and hearkning attentively to its Admonitions When Ignorance of this kind is pretended the same Reply is fit for Thee which would be given to a shuffling Debtor who when Payment is demanded professes not to know how the Money became due when all the while he hath the Bill about him For thou carriest the Bond and the particulars of thy Debt in thy own Bosom and what thou seekest Information of from others canst not but know if thou consult thy Self To what purpose is all this Labour and Cost the toilsome tumbling over of Codes and Institutes of Precedents and Reports of Statutes and Records when all these are contained in one small portable Volume The Two Tables of Moses the Twelve Tables of the Greeks Rom. 2.12 the Law written in the hearts of Them who had no Law and in short all the Rules of Equity and Good Laws that have any where been enacted and obtained in the World are nothing else but Copies and Transcripts produced in open Court and published from that Original which thou keepest close within thee and yet all the while pretendest to know nothing of the matter stifling and suppressing as much as in thee lies the Brightness of that Light which shines within and so falling under the Condemnation of those mentioned by the Apostle Rom. 1.18 who hold or detain the Truth of God in Unrighteousness If This have not been sufficiently published and promulged as loud as clear as intelligibly as other humane Laws the only Reason is that that Light which is really All-heavenly and Divine hath been put under a Bushel that is too much neglected and industriously forgotten All other Institutions are but so many Rivulets and Streams derived from this common Source And although they be more visible and obvious and express yet is not the Water they carry so copious nor so lively and pure as that of the unseen Spring within thy own Breast if thy own Negligence did not suffer it to waste and dry up It is not I say so Copious for as one well observes * Quà m multa Pietas Humanitas Liberalitas Fides exigunt quae extra Tabulas sunt What a world of Good Offices are there which Prety Humanity Liberality and Fidelity require from a Man and yet no written or positive Law ever prescribed Alas how poor and scanty a thing is that Honesty of your Formal and Hypocritical Pretenders who stick to the Letter of the Law and think when That is satisfied they have fully discharged their Duty whereas there are infinite Obligations incumbent upon a Man which no human Law ever binds upon him †Quà m angusta Innocentia ad Legem bonum esse latiùs Officiorum quà m Juris patet Regula He that is honest only in the Eye of the Law hath but a very slender sort of Innocence to boast for the Measure of our Duty is of a much larger extent than the Law can pretend to There are infinite Cases unforeseen sudden Emergencies and extraordinary Conjunctures the Occasions and Circumstances whereof are too many and too intricate for any human Wisdom to foresee and much more impossible for it to make any competent Provision for so that a Man must often be left to his own Judgment and Discretion and even where he is not a Good Man will sometimes think the Rule too narrow and disdain to consine or cramp up his Virtue within the Compass of that which was thought necessary to be imposed upon every Common Man And as this invisible Fountain within is more exuberant and plenteous so is it more lively and pure and strong than any of those Streams derived from it Of which we need but this single Testimony That whenever any Disputes arise about the Interpretation and right Execution of a positive Law the constant and best Method of Understanding the Equity and true Intent of it is by running it back to its first Head and observing what is most agreeable to the Law of Nature in the Case This is the Test and Touch This the Level and the Truth by which all the rest are to be judged For as we commonly say * Anima Legis Ratio Reason is the Soul and Life of the Law here we find things clear and limpid in their Source which when drawn out into Rivulets grow foul and sullied by all that Faction and Interest Ambition and serving of Parties which corrupt all human Sanctions and Establishments And thus I have described to you a Real Substantial Radical Fundamental Honesty born with us rooted in us springing from the Seed of Universal Reason This in the Soul is like the Spring and Balance in a Clock it regulates all its motions like the Natural Warmth in the Body which sustains and preserves it self and is both its own Strength and Safety and the Person 's to whom it belongs The Man that proceeds according to This acts in conformity to the Will of God in consistence and agreement with himself in compliance with Nature and obedience to those Rules upon which all Government and Civil Constitutions are founded he proceeds smoothly gently silently His Virtue draws little Observation perhaps as it makes no Noise but slides on and keeps its Course like a Boat carried down by the Course of the Water in a Calm day Whereas all other sorts of Virtue are the Products of Art and Accident grafted into us by Discipline and not of our own natural growth fickle and out of Temper like the Intermitting Heat and Cold of a Fever they are acquired at first and drawn out into exercise afterwards by Chance and
happen that a Man be obliged to struggle with his own Inclination and must conquer and commit a violence upon his Nature to make it serviceable to his purpose and capable of discharging the Employment he hath taken upon him Or on the other hand if in obedience to Nature and to gratify our Inclination we are either with our own consent or insensibly and against our Wills trapann'd into a Course that falls short of our Duty or runs counter to it what miserable Confusion and Disorder must here needs be How can we ever expect Evenness under so much Force Constancy from so much Constraint or Decorum where every thing is against the Grain For as is well oberved * Si quicquam decoium nihil profecto magis quam aequabilitas Vitae universae singularum actionum quam conservare non possis si aliorum imitans Naturam omittas tuam If there be such a thing as Decency in the world it is seen in nothing more than in an easiness and consistency both of one's whole life in general and of each particular Action in it And this Decorum can never be maintain'd if you live in conformity to other people's dispositions and have no regard to the following your own There cannot be a vainer Imagination than to suppose any thing can last long or be well done and eminently good in its kind or that it can become a Man or sit easy upon him if there be not somewhat of Nature and Inclination in it †Tu nihil invitâ dices faciesve Minervâ Hor. Art Poet. Discern which way your Talent lies Nor vainly struggle with your Genius Lord Roscom * Id quemque decet quod est suum maximè Sic est faciendum ut contra naturam universam nil contendamus eâ servarâ propriam sequamur That which is most a Man 's own is always most graceful And we must always take care so to order matters as first to offer no Violence against Nature in general and then to follow our own Genius in particular But now if it should so fall out that a Man either through Misfortune Imprudence or any other Accident should perceive himself entred into a Profession and course of Life full of Trouble inconvenient and improper and that he is so deeply engaged too that there is no possibility of changing or getting quit of it in this case all that Wisdom and good Conduct hath to do is to resolve upon supporting and sweetning it keeping one's self easy and making the most of it Like skilful Gamesters who when they have an ill Throw mend it in the playing For Plato's Counsel is best upon these occasions the bearing our Chance patiently and managing it to all the Advantage an ill Bargain is capable of You see what a Knack of this kind Nature hath given to some sort of Creatures when the Bees out of an Herb so rough and harsh and dry as Thyme is can extract so sweet a Substance as Honey And this is such an Excellence as all those wise and good Men Imitate who manage Difficulties dextrously and as the Proverb expresses it make a Vartue of Necessity CHAP. V. The First Act or Office of Wisdom The Study of and serious Endeavour after True Piety THE necessary Preparations to Wisdom being thus explained in the former Chapters which are in the manner of laying our Foundation it may now be seasonable to proceed to the Building it self and erect upon this Ground-work the Rules and Precepts of Wisdom And here the First both in Order and Dignity which offers it self to our Consideration concerns true Religion and the Service of Almighty God For certainly Piety ought to have the precedence of all Virtues and is the highest and most honourable in the Scale of Duties But the greater and more important it is the more we are concerned to have a right notion of it especially when to the insinite consequence of the thing we add the danger of being mistaken and withal how very common and easy it is to deceive our selves in this point Great need therefore we have of Caution and good Adâ—ice that we may be truly informed how the Man who makes Wisdom his Aim and Business ought to manage himself upon this weighty occasion And the giving Directions of this nature is the design of my present Discourse after I have first made a short Digression concerning the State and Success of several sorts of Religion in the World Of which I shall chuse to speak but briefly here and refer my Reader for farther Satisfaction to what I have said more at large to this purpose in another Treatise of mine called the Three Truths And first of all Difference of Religions I cannot but take notice how dismal and deplorable a thing the great Variety of Relgions is which either now do or formerly have obtained in the World And which is yet a greater misfortune and reproach the Oddness of some of them Opinions and Rites so fantastical so exorbitant that it is just matter of wonder and astonishment which way the Mind of Man could so far degenerate into Brutality and be so miserably besotted with Frauds and Folly For upon examination it will appear that there is scarce any one thing so high or so low but it hath been Deified and even the vilest and most contemptible parts of the Creation have in some quarter of the World or other found People blind enough to pay them Divine Honours and Adoration Now notwithstanding this Difference be really as vast and as horrid as I have intimated or my Reader can imagine yet there seem to be some General Points in common which like Principles or Fundamentals are such as Most if not All of them have agreed in For however they may wander from one another and take different Paths afterwards yet they set out alike and walk hand in hand for some Considerable Time At least they appear and affect to do so the Devil transforming himself into an Angel of Light and undermining the Truth by Mimicking it as knowing that the most effectual Art to seduce Men is by contriving fair and plausible Lies and dressing up Wickedness in its most engaging Attire To this purpose it is observable that the most prevailing Persuasions have sprung from the same Climate and first drew breath in almost the same Air. Palestine I mean and Arabia which are Countries contiguous to one another Some of their First and main Principles are very near alike such as the Belief of one God the Maker and Governor of all things All own the Providence of God and his Particular Love and Favour for Mankind the Immortality of the Soul a Reward in Reserve for the Good and terrible Punishments which await the Wicked even after this Life some particular Profession and set Form of Solemn and External Worship by which they put up their prayers invoke the Name of God and think that a decent Honour and acceptable
he says that the Weakness and Cowardice of Mankind first brought Religion into Practice and Esteem and that upon this account Children and Women and Old People were most apt to receive Religious Impressions more Nice and Scrupulous and more addicted to Devotion than others This I say is true of Superstition and mistaken Devotion but we must not entertain any such dishonourable Thoughts of true and perfect Religion This is of a nobler Descent its Original is truly Divine it is the Glory and Excellence not the Imperfection of Reason and Nature and we cannot be guilty of greater Injustice to it than by assigning such wretched Causes for its beginning and increase and drawing so scandalous a Pedigree for its Extract Now besides those first Seeds and general Tendencies to Superstition which are derived from Nature Cherished by Reason and Policy and Common to Mankind there are large Improvements and Additions of this Vice owing to Industry and Cunning. For many people support and cherish it in themselves they give it countenance and nurse it up in others for the sake of some Convenience and Advantage to be reaped from it It is thus that Great Persons and Governors though they know very well the Folly and baseness of it yet never concern themselves with putting a stop or giving any disturbance to it because they are satisfied This is a proper State-Tool to subdue Mens Minds and lead them tamely by the Nose For this reason it is that they do not only take good care to nourish and blow up that Spark which Nature hath already kindled but when they find occasion and upon some pressing Emergencies they set their Brains on work to forge and invent new and unheard of Follies of this kind This we are told was a Stratagem made use of by Scipio Sertorius Sylla and some other eminent Politicians * Qui faciunt animos humiles formidine Divûm Depressosque premunt ad terram Who by false Terrors Freeborn Souls debase And paint Religion with so grim a Face That it becomes the Scourge and Plague of human race †Nulla res multidudinem efficaciùs regit quam Superstitio Nothing keeps the Multitude under so effectually as Superstition But enough of this wretched People and that base Superstition An Introduction to the description of true Religion which like a common Nusance ought to be detested by that Scholar of mine whom I am now instructing and attempting to accomplish in the Study of Wisdom Let us leave them grovelling in their filth and betake our selves now to the Search of true Religion and Piety of which I will here endeavour to give some strokes and rude lines which like so many little Rays of Light may be of some use at least and help to guide us in the pursuit of it Now from the former Considerations it does I hope sufficiently appear that of the great Variety of Persuasions at present or any possible to be Instituted Those seem to Challenge the Pre-eminence and best deserve the Character of Truth and Religion indeed which without imposing any very laborious or much external Service upon the Body make it their business to contract and call the Soul home that employ and exalt it by pure and heavenly Contemplations in admiring and adoring the Excellent Greatness and Majesty incomprehensible of Him who is the First Cause of All Things the Necessary the Best the Original Being And All this without any nice or presumptuous declaration what this Being is or undertaking positively to determine and define any thing concerning that Nature which we cannot understand or prescribing too peremptorily how he ought to be Worshipped But contenting our selves with such large and indefinite acknowledgments as These That God is Goodness and Perfection it self infinite in all Respects and altogether incomprehensible too vast for human knowledge to understand or conceive distinctly And thus much the Pythagoreans and other most celebrated Sects of Philosophers taught long ago This is the Religion of Angels and that best sort of Worshippers in Spirit and Truth whom God seeks and loves But among all those less spiritualized Pagans who could not satisfy themselves with so refined a Principle as Inward Belief and the Exercise of the Soul only but would needs gratify their Senses and Imagination with a visible Object of Worship which was an Error all the World almost was tinctured with The Israelites chose a Calf but None seem to have made so good a Choice as those who pitched upon the Sun for their God This indeed excelling all other Creatures so vastly with regard to its Magnitude and Motion its Beauty and Lustre its wonderful Use and Activity and the many unknown Virtues and Efficacies of its Influences that it does certainly deserve nay command the admiration of all the World we cannot think too highly of it while we remember it is still but a Creature for look round this whole Fabrick and Man excepted your Eye shall discover nothing so glorious nothing equal nay nothing near or comparable to it The Christian Religion preserves a due Temper between these Extremes and by devoting both Body and Soul to God and accommodating it self to all Conditions and Capacities of Men hath mixed the Insensible and Internal Worship with that which is Sensible and External Yet so that the most perfect and Spiritual Persons employ themselves chiefly in the former and the weak and less exalted are taken up with that which is invisible and popular Religion consists in the Knowledge of God and of our Selves Some descriptione of Religion For This is a Relative Duty and these are the two Terms of that Relation It s business is to magnify God and set Him as high and to humble Man and lay Him as low as possibly we can To subdue and beat him down as a lost worthless Wretch and when this is once done then to furnish him with helps and means of raising himself up again to make him duly sensible of his own Impotence and Misery how Little how mere a Nothing he is that so he may cast away all Confidence in himself and place and seek his Hope his Comfort his Happiness his All in God alone That which Religion is chiefly concerned in is the binding us fast to the Author and Source of all Good the grafting us afresh and consolidating Man to his first Cause like Branches or Suckers into their proper Root For so long as Man continues firm and fixt in this Union so long he preserves the Perfection of his Nature but on the contrary when once he falls off and is separated from it all his Vigor and Powers are dried up and gone and he immediately withers and dies away The End and Effect of Religion is faithfully and truly to render their Dues both to God and Man that is to say All the Honour and Glory to God and all the Gain and Advantage to Man For these two comprehend under them all manner
of Good whatsoever The Profit or Gain which is a real Amendment and bettering of our Persons and Conditions is an essential and internal Benefit and This belongs to Man who is of himself and without this a Creature Impotent and Empty Indigent and Necessitous and miserable in all respects The Glory is not so much an Advantage as an Ornament an Additional and External Grace and This belongs to God only for he is the Fulness and Perfection of all Good so absolute and compleat that nothing can be added to his Essential Happiness and therefore Benefit is a thing he cannot receive And thus if you please you may understand that Angelick Hymn Glory to God in the Highest Luke II. 14. and on Earth Peace and Favour towards Men. Thus much being premised in general the particular Steps or Directions in this matter Piety explained must be these that follow First It is necessary that we apply our selves to study and in such a measure as we are capable to know God To know God For our Knowledge of Things is the Foundation and the Standard of the Honour we have for them The first thing then that we ought to be convinced and fully persuaded of upon this occasion is His Existence then That he created the World and that all other Beings whatsoever are the Products of his Power and Goodness and Wisdom That by these same Attributes he governs this Universe of his own making That his careful Providence watches over all things and even the least and most inconsiderable Events do not escape his observation That whatsoever his Dispensations to Us are they are all for our Good and that all our Evil comes from our selves alone For if we should account those Accidents which God appoints for us to be Evils this were to be guilty of great Prophanation and to blaspheme against his Government this were to tear up the very Foundations of all Piety and Religion because Nature teaches us to Honour and love our Benefactors but begets hatred and aversion to them that deal unkindly by us and do us mischief Our Duty therefore is to get a right Notion of God's dealings toward us to resolve that we will obey him at any rate to receive all that comes from his hand with Meekness and Contentation to commit our selves to his Protection and Care and to submit all we are and all we have to his direction and wise disposal The next Duty which follows upon our Knowing God To Honour him and which indeed results most naturally from it is the Honouring him And the best the most becoming and most Religious Honour we can pay him consists First of all In raising our Souls far above any Carnal Earthly or Corruptible Imagination and then exercising our selves in the Contemplation of the Divine Nature by all the purest the noblest the holiest and most reverent Conceptions that can be When we have adorned and represented this most excellent Being to our selves in all the most magnificent Ideas when we have given him the most glorious Names and sung forth his Praises in the most excellent manner that our Mind can possibly devise or strain it self up to we are still with all Humility to acknowledge that in all this we have not done or offered to his Majesty any thing suitable to his own Excellency or in it self worthy his Acceptance and to possess our selves with yet more awful and respectful Ideas of him by the profoundest Sense of our own Imperfections That it is not in the power of Human Nature to conceive any thing better though we plainly see that our most exalted Thoughts serve not so much to shew us his Glory as to reproach us with our own Weakness and Defects For God is the last and highest Flight which our Imagination is able to make when it would soar up towards absolute Perfection and in aspiring to this Idea every Man le ts loose his Mind and enlarges his Notions according to his own Capacity or rather indeed God is infinitely greater and higher than all the boldest and bravest Flights of poor feeble Man a Perfection more exquisite more bright than the Dim Eye of Mortals can receive the Lustre of or the most tow'ring Imagination make any approach to We must also serve this God Sincerely in Spirit and from the Heart for this is a sort of Service To serve him with our Spirit Joh. iv 24. which is most agreeable to his Nature God himself is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth says he who best knew both what he was and what he expects from Us. This Argument the very Heathens could enforce for Inward Purity and a Sanctified Mind * Si Deus est animus sit purâ mente colendus This he will not only accept but it is what he seems desirous of and hath declared will be exceeding welcome and delightful The Father seeketh such to worship him V. 23. The Offering of a sweet-smelling Savour and what he values indeed is That of a clean free and humble Spirit The Mind is a Sacrifice to God says Seneca an unspotted Soul and an Innocent Life And thus others †Optimus Animus pulcherrimus Dei Cultus Religiosissimus Cultus imitari Unicus Dei Cultus non esse malum Lactant. Merc. Trism He that brings the best heart worships God best The most Religions Adoration is to imitate the Perfections of Him we adore The only way of serving God is not to be an ill Man The truly Wise Man is a True Priest of the most High God His Mind is God's Temple and the House where his Honour dwelleth His Soul is God's Image a Ray or Reflection of that Brightness and Glory above His Affections and Appetites like so many Oblations are all consecrated and entirely devoted to his use and service And his great his daily his most solemn Sacrifice is to imitate and serve and obey him You see how different this is from that absurd Notion of those People who make Religion consist in Giving to God Alas what can We give to Him All is his own already and the most we can possibly do is but to restore and pay back what his Bounty hath bestowed upon us But we are wretchedly mistaken if we imagine it possible for God to receive any Addition or be enriched from Men No he is above all That Our business must be to ask of Him to implore his Favour and Assistance for our Wants and Weaknesses It is the Character of the Great to give and of the Poor and Mean to ask And therefore we may easily discern which of these two parts belongs to an Infinite Almighty God and which to wretched indigent Mortals Acts xx 35. It is more blessed to give than to receive And however he may graciously condescend to interpret those Works of Mercy done for his sake yet in the way of Sacrifice and Worship of himself it is a
applicable to these Persons above any others For they have a notion that the best Use Life can possibly be put to is to let it slide over without observation to deceive the Time and steal from the World as if Living were a most miserable Hardship full of unavoidable Mischiefs and a Penance so burdensome and tedious that He only is happy who can make his escape from it Thus these great Sages dodge and run away from the World they do not only bring the common methods of Living into Suspicion and cast an Odium upon the Recreations and Entertainments and innocent Liberties in common use but they even proclaim War upon the Necessities of Nature and profess an Aversion to those very things which God in his Wisdom hath seasoned with Pleasure on purpose to recommend the Use of them to us They never come in the way of these but with Reluctance and are rather dragged than move willingly they keep their mind still in exercise and employment upon somewhat else and are absent in thought all the while In short If you will believe the mighty boasts they make and all the mortified account they give of themselves Their whole Life is a Toil and a Burthen Death is the only Ease and Solace they propose to themselves And that unnatural Sentence is ever in their mouths * Vitam habere in Patientiâ mortem in Desiderio That they do indeed bear and can be content to Live but if they might follow their own Inclinations the thing they wish and would much rather chuse is to Die But it will be no hard matter to take off all the seeming Virtue of this Opinion This Opininion disapproved and to blast the Glories and Commendations it pretends to For when we come to a close and impartial Consideration of the matter The Unreasonableness the great Wickedness indeed of such a Contempt discovers it self in several Instances For First of all if we consult Nature and attend to the Condition and Design of our Creation Reason will teach us that nothing is more Graceful no Duty more Obligatory than the considering and maintaining the Character assigned to us that is in plain English the Learning to live here in all respects as becomes Men. It is in truth a very difficult Study but withal a most divine Accomplishment to know how to Enjoy and Use the Being God hath given us as he intended we should do To observe the Common Model of Nature and then the particular Circumstances and Qualifications of our own State and Case And so to adjust and proportion our behaviour to the first of these as at the same time to be guilty of nothing foreign to our private Condition or any way disagreeable to the part we are to play upon this Common Theatre We are to follow and to act what is given us but not to invent and make a new part of our own head But now these Extravagant Singularities These Studied and Artificial Essays and Overtures These ways of living beside the common road are all of them Sallies of Men's own Folly and Passion and impertinent Additions of such as because they do not understand their part mistake and overdo it They are the Diseases and Phrensies of the Soul that put Men quite beside their Senses They Spiritualize themselves only to be more refined Fools and while they affect the perfection of Angels degenerate into the stupidity of Brutes It was wisely said by him in the Comedy Homo sum ' humani à me nihil alienum puto which with respect to our present Subject is I my self am a Man and therefore must think nothing that is Human unworthy my concern For this is the very State of our Case Man is a compounded Being a Creature consisting of Soul and Body both and it is by no means commendable to maim Nature and take the Building to Pieces by cutting off this Fleshly Tabernacle God hath United and as it were Married these Two together by all the Ties of Nature and the most tender intimate Affection and how impious an Undertaking is it for Us to create Jealousies and Dislikes to drive things to Separation and Divorce and thus to put asunder those whom God hath joined together Quite contrary we should rather tye this Knot faster by all the good Offices and mutual Assistances they are capable of to one another For indeed they are well contrived for such reciprocal Services The Body of its self is heavy and stupid and therefore the Soul should animate and awaken and render it Vigorous and Active The Spirit of its self is light and airy and oftentimes very troublesomely brisk and therefore the Body is of use to check and six it In a word The Mind should govern and cherish and be helpful to the Body as a Husband should assist and direct his Wife and by no means hate or cast it off or despise the Infirmities and Necessities of this weaker Vessel It is an unbecoming Niceness and Pride to refuse the partaking in its innocent Pleasures such as Nature ordains and the Laws of God and Man allow for our Recreation and Entertainment For the thing required upon this Occasion is not total Abstinence but prudent Moderation Man is really bound to make this Life a considerable part of his Care to taste the Pleasures of it nay to chew the Cud and reflect upon them with Satisfaction for all this is necessary to give a right Relish and Value of them and to make him duly thankful and sensible of the Goodness of that Providence which hath made so liberal a Provision for our Entertainment here below Do not mistake There is no part of that which God hath in bounty bestowed upon us unworthy our regard Were it below Us to accept it would have been much more below Him to give We shall do well therefore to remember not only that we may receive it but that we are accountable for every the least mite of it And therefore the Use of Life is no jesting matter but a Commission and a Talent which requires our most serious Care that the living in agreement to Nature and governing our selves by such Rules as result from a due Consideration of it is an express Duty imposed upon us in very good earnest and with an intent to be severely reckoned for And Thus much may serve to convince us how unnatural See B. III. Ch. 38. and how foolish a Delicacy that is which teaches Men to condemn Actions as Vicious because they are Natural or to nauseate and disdain them as mean and below their Character because they are necessary Whereas in reality Necessity and Pleasure are the happiest Marriage that ever God made in all the Course of Nature It is a most convincing Demonstration of his Infinite Wisdom that in those Actions which are of greatest Use and indispensable Necessity to human Life the matter should be so order'd that some agreeable Satisfaction should always attend them and that our
such order that each Advantage of the Mind hath one belonging to the Body joined and so joined as to be correspondent to it for as Nature hath united Body and Soul together so she seems to have given each of them Accomplishments extremely agreeable and alike Thus Health is to the Body what Probity is to the Mind it is the Probity or good Disposition of the Body as Probity is the Health of the Soul These should be the Sum of our Wishes * Mens sana in Corpore sano Forgive the Gods the rest and stand confin'd To Health of Body and a Virtuous Mind Says the Poet. Beauty is commensurate to Wisdom the Just Measure exact Proportion and Comeliness is the Wisdom of the Body and Wisdom is the Regularity the Decency the Beauty of the Soul Quality and Good Birth is a wonderful Capacity a mighty Disposition to Virtue and these Spiritual Abilities again and Good Parts are the Nobility of the Mind Learning is the Wealth of the Soul and Riches the acquired Advantage of the Body Others I know will differ from me in the Method and Order of ranging these Qualifications for some put all the Advantages of the Mind first and are of opinion that the least of These is more valuable than the best and highest of Those that belong to the Body and others who go not so far yet may not agree in the Preference due to each Particular Every Man in this Case follows his own Sense and from that we cannot but expect great Variety of Judgments will ensue In the next place succeeds a Third Qualification which indeed naturally springs out of the former For Wise Choice from the Sufficiency of passing a just Estimate upon things is derived an Ability of making a Wise Choice and this is not only a matter of Duty and Conscience but very often an Eminent Instance of Wisdom and good Conduct There are indeed some Cases extremely plain and easy as when Difficulty and Vice Honesty and Profit Duty and Inrest stand in competition For the Preeminence in this Comparison is so visible and so vast on one side above the other that whenever these things encounter each other the Advantage lies and the Balance should always fall to the side of Duty though attended with never so great Difficulty and Inconvenience In the Case of Private Persons I mean for possibly there may sometimes be room for an Exception but then this does not often happen and if it do 't is generally in the Administration of Publick Affairs and then too it must be managed with great Tenderness and Circumspection But of This I shall have a more proper season to speak when my Third Book brings us to treat of Prudence in particular But sometimes there is such a Conjuncture of Circumstances that a Man is driven to a very hard Choice As for Instance When we stand inclos'd as it were with Two Vices and there is no getting clear of both Thus History describes that Eminent Father Origen who had it left to him Whether he would commit Idolatry or suffer his Body to be carnally abused by a Moor The first was the Thing he chose and some say he chose amiss Now when we are unhappily involved in such Perplexities and at a loss which way we should incline in the choice of Matters not morally evil the best Rule we can be guided by is to go over to that side where there is the greatest Appearance of Justice and Honesty For though every thing should not afterwards succeed according to our Wish or Expectation yet there will result so pleasing an Applause such Glory and Self-gratulations from within for our having taken the better Part as will make us ample Compensation for our Misfortunes and abundantly support us under them And besides all this If the Worse but seemingly Safer Side had been chosen what Security can we have that the Event would have proved more favourable and why may we not reasonably suppose that the Governour and Lord of Us and all our Fortunes would have been provoked to punish and disappoint us that way too When Matters seem to be so equal that we cannot distinguish which is the better and shorter course we should take that which is the plainest and straightest And in Things manifestly Immoral of which properly speaking there cannot be any Choice we must avoid that which is most detestable and hath more of Villany and Horror in it For this indeed is a Point of Conscience and is more truly a part of Probity than of Prudence But it is very often exceeding hard to satisfy one's self which of Two things of the same kind is the more agreeable to Justice or to Decency or which is preferable in point of Advantage And so likewise of Two Ill Things which is the more Unjust more Indecent and Dishonest or attended with worse Consequences Upon the whole matter then though the Act of chusing is an Act of Probity and Conscience yet the Ability of making this Choice aright is a part of Prudence and sound Judgment I am apt to believe that in such Straights as these the best and safest way will be to follow Nature and to determine that those Things which are most agreeable to Nature are the more just and becoming and that what is most distant from or contrary to Nature is more especially to be avoided and abhorred by us This agrees well with what was formerly delivered in our description of Probity That we ought to be Good Men by the Dictates and Impulse of Nature Before I go off from this Point of Choice give me leave to say one word or two for the resolving a Doubt which some People have started with regard to the Determination of our Wills in these Cases The Question is When Two Things are proposed so Equal and Indifferent that we can give no reason why One should be valued more than the Other what it is that disposes the Soul to take the One and leave the Other The Stoicks pretend that it is a rash Operation of the Soul somewhat Foreign and Extraordinary and beside its proper course But let Them say what they will We may be bold to affirm That there is no g round for the Question and that no Two Things ever do or can present themselves to our Consideration so as to be perfectly Equal and Indifferent to us It frequently happens indeed that the Difference is very small and inconsiderable but still some difference there is something we apprehend in One and not in the Other which casts the Scale and draws us on to a Choice though the Motion be so gentle that we scarce feel it and the Motive so slender that we know not how to express and can very hardly give our selves any account of it But still certain it is that were a Man evenly poized between Two Desires he would never chuse at all For all Choice implies Inclination of the Mind and all Inclination
and restores our Souls to perfect Liberty and true Enjoyment Instead of locking us up in the dark it sets us in the clearest and brightest Light and serves us as we use to deal by the best Fruits when we take off the Skin or Shell or other Covering that so we may see and use them and taste their Natural Excellence It removes us out of a streight inconvenient Dwelling from a Dark and Rheumatick and Diseased Place where we can see but a very little Spot of Heaven and only receive Light by Reflection and at a vast distance through Two little Holes of our Eyes into a Region of absolute Liberty confirmed and uninterrupted Health perpetual and incessant Light a Sun that never sets and Endless Day without any gloomy Intervals * Aequaliter tibi splendebit omne Coeli latus Totam lucem suo loco prope totus aspicies quam nunc per angustissimas ocuâ—orum Vias procul intueris miraris A Place where our Faculties shall be enlarged and all Heaven will display it self to us where we shall not only see Light but dwell with it in its own proper Sphere In a word It delivers us from the very Thing we dread most by making us Immortal and putting a sinal and full Conclusion to that Death which took place from the Instant we came into the World and was finished at our Passage into Eternity †Dies iste quem tanquam extremum reformidas aeterni natalis est For the Day we have such dreadful Apprehensions of as if it were to be our Last is really our First the joyful Birthday into a Life which can never have an End We come now to consider the Second Sort of Resentment which Men are affected with upon the account of Death which is Waiting for and entertaining it with contented and chearful Minds when it comes This is indeed the Quality of a Good a Gentle and well-governed Spirit and the Practice of it is peculiar to a plain easy way of living and to Persons who as they make the best of Life and enjoy the Quiet of it so know very well how to esteem it as it deserves but still they make Reason the Standard of all their Affections and Actions and as they are well satisfied to stay here so they readily obey when Providence thinks fit to call them out of the World This is a Medium very justly tempered a Masterly Greatness of Soul and such an Indifference to all here below as a Life of Retirement and Peace seems best qualified for and the Two Extremes between which it lies are Desiring and Dreading Courting and Running away from Death accoring to that of the Poet * Summum nec metuas diem nec optes With Courage firm and Soul sedate Attend the Motions of thy Fate And whether Death be far or near Live free from eager Wish and anxious Fear Now these Extremes except there be some very particular and uncommon Reason to give them countenance are both of them Vicious and exceeding blameable and when I come hereafter to speak of this Matter in its proper place you will see that nothing less than a very extraordinary Cause can render them so much as excusable To desire and pursue Death is very criminal for it is very unjust to throw away one's Life without a sufficient Reason it is spightful to the World and injurious to our Friends to grudge them the longer Use and Continuance of a thing which may be serviceable to them It is the blackest Ingratitude to God and Nature thus to slight and throw back again the best and most valuable Present they can make us as if it were a Trifle or a Burden not worth our keeping It savours too much of Peevishness and Pride and shews us humoursome and difficult when we cannot be easy and bear the Lot that falls to our share but will needs quit our hands of the Station God hath called us to when there is nothing extraordinary to render it cumbersome And on the other hand to fear and flee Death when summoned to it is an Offence against Nature Justice Reason and every Branch of our Duty since Dying is Natural Necessary and Unavoidable Reasonable and Just First It is Natural Dying is Natural it is a part of that Great Scheme by which the Order of the Universe is established and maintained and the whole World lives and subsists And who are We that all this Regularity should be broken and a new System contrived in Our Favour Death is really one of the Principal and most Material Articles in the Constitution and Administration of this vast Republick and of infinite Use and Advantage it is for determining the Continuance and promoting a Constant Succession of the Works of Nature The Failure of Life in One Instance propagates it afresh in a Thousand others * Sic Rerum Summa novatur Thus Life and Death successive keep their round Things dye to live and by decays abound But which comes nearer home Death is not only a part of this Great Complex and Universal Nature but of thy Own Nature in particular and That every whit as essential a part as that Birth which gave Thee Life So that in cherishing an Aversion and running away from This thou attemptest to flee from thy own self Thy Being is divided equally between Death and Life These are the Two Proprietors and each claims a share and hath an indefeasible Right in every one of us These are the Terms upon which Thou wer't created and Life was given with a Purpose and upon Condition of being taken away rather indeed it was only lent and like all other Trusts or Debts must be demanded back and may be called in at pleasure If then the Thoughts of Dying discontent Thee consider that the Hardship does not lye here but carry thy Reflections higher and be concerned that ever thou wast born For either there is no cause of Repining in either case or else the Ground of all the Complaint lies in having lived at all You had Neighbours Fare and purchased Life at the Market Price which is The laying it down again no body hath it cheaper and therefore they who do not like the Bargain and are loth to go out again should have refused at first and never come into the World at all But this is what Men were they capable of such a Choice would never do if their Fondness of Life be so excessively great The First Breath you drew bound you fast and all the Advances you made toward a more perfect Life were so many Steps toward Death at the same time †Nascentes morimur finisque ab origine pendet Asson as born we dye and our Live's End Upon its first Beginning does depend Manil. Ast 4. To be concerned then that we must Dye is to be concerned that we are Men for every one that is so is Mortal And upon the strength of this Impression it
Good especially that God likes us the better merely because we use our selves the worse is a very Fantastical and Erroneous Imagination And such as any Communion or Party of Men by Encouraging do great Injury to the Honour of God deceive the Souls of Penitents and hinder the Essentials of Religion which are Faith and Newness of Life In short They expos Religion in general to the scorn of all those who see the Foppery and unreasonableness of those mistaken Methods and call the very foundations of it into Question by tempting such to think that it is all Invention and Trick and Empty Sensless Formality Advertisement the Second Book II. Chap. 5. Sect. 8. Monsieut Charron hath in this Section put together Two Objections against the Divine Origine of Religion and such as no doubt do it prejudice in the Minds of Men who do not attend to the Reasons of things and judge impartially The First concerns the Manner of Propagating Religion and Man's first entrance into it The Second That want of Efficacy which one would expect an Institution coming immediately from God must needs have upon the Lives and Actions of Those who have Embraced and profess to be Governed by it I. Page 125. The Former of These is urged to be only a matter of Custom and Necessity the Fate of a Man rather than his Choice who if Adult is brought over by Custom and Multitudes and if an Infant is presently initiated into the prevailing Persuasion of his Country or his Family and so continues all his Life long Now for Custom and Multitudes and Example it is very evident This was much otherwise in the first Plantation of Religion that of the Christian in particular A Persuasion which it is manifest came into the World with all possible disadvantages and the Establishment whereof was one of the most amazing Miracles that ever was wrought since the Beginning of the World For People had common Sense then as well as now and all the Corruptions of Human Nature were equally powerful There was the same Arrogance and Vain Opinion of their own Wisdom to render the Mysteries which are acknowledged above the Comprehension of a Human Mind offensive to the Men of some Learning and more Vanity The same sensual Appetites and Vicious Practices to hold out and stand at defiance against the Precepts of Chastity and Sobriety Self-denial and Mortification The same Pride and Opinion of Worldly Grandeur to raise their Indignation and Disdain of a Crucified Saviour The same Love of the World and Tenderness for their Persons to prevent any rash Sacrificing of their Lives and Estates for a Persecuted Faith when nothing was promised in Reward but a very distant Happiness after Death And yet notwithstanding prevail that Faith did in despight of Human Opposition and Interest and prevail it could not have done by any other means than the Almighty Power of its Author and Protector and the Astonishing Effects which the Conviction of its Truth produced upon men's Consciences This certainly was Argument sufficient even to Demonstration that those Words were not in any degree misapplied when put into the Mouth of Christianity and its Preachers Not of Man neither by Man nor of any other Creature but of God And shall it be esteemed any Prejudice to this Religion that Men do not still lie under the same Difficulties in the Choice of it When it hath made its own way triumphantly and weatied out or won over its Persecutors shall the Multitude of its Professors and the Peaceable and Easy Exercise of it be thought to derogate from its Authority Sure it is very unreasonable that Faith should be thought of Divine Extract no longer than while it bids Men embrace it at their Peril The being handed down in Families is a plain and natural Effect of an Established Principle Parents could not have the Affection which becomes their Character did they not take all lawful and Commendable Methods of putting their Children into the same way to Heaven which they trust they are in themselves Especially if the Case lie between any other Persuasion and Christianity which we have reason to believe is the only possible Ordinary way thither The entring Children early into Covenant with God is a very Profitable and Charitable Custom what He himself not only admitted but enjomed formerly and since He is much more eminently the Father of the Christians than of the Jews we have no reason to suspect they shall be less favourably received when as early dedicated to him This gives Security that they shall be taught when their Years enable them to learn how they ought to believe and act so that if their Religion afterwards be merely the effect of Custom and Example This is utterly beside the Design of Those early Initiations where the Express Contrary is positively indented for If Men happen to be bred up in a wrong Persuasion there is little Question to be made but great and gracious Allowances will be made for that fast hold which the Prepossessions of Education have taken But be they in the right or in the wrong it is every One's duty so far as his Opportunities and Capacity will give him leave to examine and see that he may have comfort and be better established in the Truth or else retract his Error Where This is not done it is a neglect and far from the intent of Truth for Truth will bear Enquiry and the more nicely she is look'd into the better she is lik'd the more admired and triumphs and reigns more absolute St. Peter positively commands that we should be ready to give a Reason of the Hope that is in us 1 Pet. III. 15. and though Men are more disposed to consider when their Opinions are like to cost them dear yet the Reason of the Command is Universal and by no means restrained to Times of Persecution only Every Man should do his best to obey it and every Persuasion ought to encourage it and if any do not but hide the Key of Knowledge either by detaining the Scriptures or not leaving Men to the Free Use of Modest and Impartial Reason These are the Men who are most contrary to St. Peter and best deserve the Censure of Monsieur Charron in this Passage II. The Second Insinuation against the Divine Authority of Religion is taken from the Visible Inefficacy of it upon Men's Lives as if all that came from God must needs be effectual for reforming the World Now This how popular and plausible soever at first appearance yet is an Argument of no Foundation or Strength at all For the Short of the Matter lies here Religion never was intended to destroy Men's Nature but only to mend it to change Men indeed in their Affections and Inclinations but so as that this Change should be wrought by themselves Hence it is that though the Grace of God be Almighty yet Man is not a proper Object for its Omnipotence to exert it self upon For
significant Part of it that so his Eye may command all the Quarters and like the Sun in the midst of the Firmament pierce enlighten and warm all round about him with the Influence of his Beams For when a Prince resides in some very remote Corner of his Dominions this Distance emboldens those in the contrary Extremity to behave themselves insolently and grow Tumultuous and Unruly As forâ—h's Conversation That should be very reserved his Considents and familiar Friends but few his Progresses and other Appearances in publick but seldom that the People may always be eager and glad to see him For the shewing himself often and giving too easie Access to his Person will mightily lessen the Majesty of his Character * Continunâ— Aspectus minùs verendos magnos homines ipsa satietate facit Liv. The being always admitted to the Sight and Presence of Great Persons does mightily impair and diminish our Respect by Glutting our Curiesity says one of the Roman Historians And another to this purpose †Majestati major ex longinquo Reverentia quia omne ignotum pro magnih co est Majesty is always most reverenc'd at a distance for Nature forms all our Idea's bigger than the Life and what we are not acquainted with is always fancy'd to be very Great and Stately After the Three Things already treated of The fourth Head Counsel The Knowlege of his People and Government the Virtues of his Mind and the Fashion and Address of the Prince all which are inseparable from his own Person The next things we are led to consider are such as are near and about his Person And therefore in the fourth place let us say somewhat concerning his Counsel which in truth is the main Point of all this Head which relates to his Politicks and of Consequence so vast that it is in a manner All in All. For Counsel is the Soul of any Government the Spirit that insuses Life and Motion Energy and Vigour into all the rest And upon the Account of This it is that the Management of Affairs consists in Prudence because Hand are of no Significance at all till the Heads have cut them out their Work and prescrib'd their Methods It were indeed to be wish'd That a Prince were enrich'd with so great a Stock of Prudence and Consideration as to be able himself to govern and dispose and contrive every thing without calling in Help from abroad This is such a Sufficiency as the first Chapter of this Book observed to be the Noblest Perfection and highest Degree of Wisdom and no Question can be made but that Matters would be better order'd and more successfully dispatch'd if it could be so But this is an Accomplishment meerly imaginary no Instance of it is to be found in Nature whether it be that Princes want the Advantage of Good Temper or Good Instruction And indeed let Nature be never so bountiful and Education never so proper yet it is scarce possible to suppose That all the Parts and all the Improvements in the World could ever qualifie one single Head for the Comprehending and Direction of such infinite Variety of Business * Nequit Princeps suâ scientià cuncta complecti nee unius Mens tantae molis est capax No Prince says Tacitus can have a Reach so great as to be Master of all his Concerns no one Mind is strong enough to carry so great a Burden A single Man hears and sees but very little in Comparison But Kings have need of abundance of Eyes and Ears to assist and give Intelligence Great Weights and great Undertakings can only be made light by a Multitude of Hands And therefore it is absolutely necessary for a Prince to provide himself with good Advice and with Persons every way capable of giving it for as the Case stands and the Intrigues of Government are perplex'd he that will take upon him to do all of his own Head shall much sooner six upon himself the Character of Pride and Conceitedness than gain the Reputation of Wisdom A Prince then of all Men hath most need of faithful Friends Liv. and diligent Servants who may assist him in his Difficulties and ease him of part of his Cares These are the real the most valuable Treasures of a King Tacit. and the most useful Instruments to the Publick And therefore the first and great Care must be to make a wise Choice of Assistants and employ the utmost Application Plin. and bend all one's Judgment to have such as are excellent and proper for a Post of such vast Importance Now of these Assistants there are two sorts One that contribute their Advice and Project only Xenoph. and these employ their Wit and their Tongue and are in strict propriety of Speech Counsellors the Other are concern'd in the executive part they lend us their Hands and their Pains and these are more properly styled Officers Of these the former sort are in much the more Honourable Character For thus the two great Philosophers have declared their Opinion Plato Aristot that it is a most Sacred and Divine Accomplishment to consider judiciously and be able to advise well Now in Persons thus to be chosen and employed Qualifications of Counsellors several Qualifications are necessary As first of all It is necessary to choose such as are Faithful and fit to be trusted that is in one Word Men of Virtue and good Principles * Optimum quemque sidelissimum puto I take for granted says Pliny that the better Man any one is the more stanch and true be is and more safe to be depended upon Secondly They must be Persons of Ability and proper for this Office not only in regard of their Knowledge and Learning in general but upon the Account of their Skill in Politicks and that express Form of Government in particular such as have been used and try'd before and have come off with Honour and Success versed in Business and accustomâ—d to Difficulties For Hardships and Adversities are the most useful and improving Lessons †Mihi Fortuna multis rebus ereptis usum dedit bene suadendi Mithr in Salusi Fortune says one in the room of many Advantages which she hath torn frem me hath given me the Faculty of Advice and Posuasion And in one Word They must be wise and discreet moderately quick not too sprightly and sharp for such Men will be always projecting And â‚ Novandis quam gerendis rebus aptiora ingenia illa ignea Mon of Fire are more for Change than steady Management Now in order to these Qualifications it is necessary that they should be Men of ripe Years to give them Stayediness Experience and Consideration nay I may add to inspire them with Caution too for it is one of the many Unhappinesses attending Youth that Persons then are easily imposed upon of which the Tenderness and Softness of their Brain may perhaps be one reason as that
magni ad Verborum Linguaeque certamina rudes Diserimen ipsum certaminis differt Viri fortes in opere acres ante id placidi Verbis Linguà feroces Plin. Men that are disposed for War are great in Deeds but unskill'd in Disputes of Words For indeed these Engagements are of very different kinds A Stout and truly Brave Man is not forward to come to Action but eager and violent in Action calm and compos'd till he come to it On the other Hand your great Talkers are good for nothing and are only valiant in Words as one hath very truly represented them Now the Tongue is the Instrument of Counsels as the Hand is of Action But then there is a Modesty in Deeds and Behaviour too by which I mean a ready and entire Obedience without any trifling or delaying or disputing the Commands of his Superiours and pretending to be wiser than They. For â‚ Hoec sunt bonae Militiae Velle Vereri Obedire These says one are the Properties of good Soldiers to be ready and willing respectful and obedient The Third Virtue is Abstinence By which Soldiers would learn Honesty and Contentedness and keep their Hands clean from all manner of Rapine and Violence and not as too frequently happens turn Robbers and common Ravagers and make every thing a Prey that comes within their reach This in short is the Substance of Military Discipline to which a General must give Force and Authority by Largesses and Rewards bountifully scatter'd among those that are tractable and valiant and deserving and by severe and exemplary Punishments inflicted upon the Refractory and Idle and Negligent For Indulgence in an Army is the Ruine of the Soldiery What hath been said already may suffice for private Soldiers Of the Commanders and therefore the little I shall add more Concerns the Officers who are of so great Consequence that their Soldiers can do nothing without them For it is then no longer an Army but a Rabble a Body without a Soul a Ship with Sails indeed to move but no Helm to steer no Pilot to direct it Of These there are two sorts The General who is the Supreme and then the Subalterns such as Lieutenant and Major-Generals Brigadiers Colonels and so down But the General is All in All and He can be but One upon Peril of Confusion and losing All. Hence it is that we commonly say an Army is considerable in proportion as the General is so * Plus in Duce repones quam in Exercitu Tacit. That he is worth all the rest more account to be made more depending upon him more Hope or more Distrust and Fear upon his Account than the whole Body under his Direction Now this General is either the Prince in Person or some Person of Eminence for Prowess and Conduct chosen and commission'd by him The Presence of the Prince himself is of mighty Moment and Efficacy toward the obtaining a Victory for it provokes the Emulation and inflames the Courage of his Subjects and indeed when the Preservation of the Government or any part of his Dominions is the Occasion of the War his Personal Appearance seems highly expedient and necessary In Disputes of less Consequence it may well enough be dispensed with For so Tacitus advises That * Dubiis Praeliorum exemptus summae Rerum Imperii seipsum reservet Tacit. Monarchs would not ordinarily expose their Persons to the common Hazards of War but reserve themselves for the more important Concerns of the Government and stay till Extremity calls them into the Field But be the General who or of what Character he will a good one he cannot be without the following Qualifications First Knowledge and Experience in the Art of War one that hath seen and felt the different Events of War †Secundarum ambiguarumque rerum sciens eoque interâ—â—â—s Tacit. acquainted with Conquest and Defeat the Successes and the doubtful Chances of the Field and neither to be exalted with the One nor dejected and dispirited with the Other Secondly Caution and provident Care and consequently a Man of sound substantial Sense cool and strong Thought weighed and steady Resolution free from Heat and Rashness and eager Haste which is not only an Argument of Folly but the Cause of infinite Misfortunes and irreparable Calamities For False Steps in War are hard to be recovered and a Man may not have the â‚ Non licet in Bello bis peccare Ducem opertet potius Reâ—◠〈◊〉 quâ—m Perspicere opportunity of playing the Fool twice For which reason we commonly say a General should rather look behind him than before him and be more sâ—llicitous to sccme what he hath already than eager of getting more to it at the hazard of the whole A Third is Vigilance and Activity winning upon the Soldiers by imposing Labour and Hardship upon himself and by his own Example going before and leading them on to every thing he would have Them do A Fourth is good Success Men indeed are not cannot be fortunate as they please This is a peculiar and immediate Gift of Heaven but yet the Divine Providence does usually give Success to probable Means and Endeavours and where the Three former good Qualities meet this very seldom wanting to crown them In the mean while it ought not to seem strange that I give This a place here among the other Accomplishments tho' it be not so directly within a Man 's own Power to acquire it For every Body knows what prodigious Effects the Persuasion of a lucky Commander produces and how much more bold and daring and assured those Men are who have a Confidence in the Fortune of their General and fight under one who hath been accustomed to conquer Having now done with those Considerations Advice for Action which relate to necessary Provision of Ammunition and Men we will proceed to the Rules and Directions proper to be observed in the making use of both these This Third Point is of infinite Consequence and the only thing that can render either of the former so for Strength and Numbers Arms and Men are but empty and imaginary Things without it There must be Art and Address and not only Instruments but Skill to work with them For * Plura Consilio quam Vi perficiuntur Counsel and Wisdom atchieves more and greater Explelli than Force But it must be confessed †Consilium in Atena that to lay down such Rules as shall be standing and eternally suitable to every Case and Circumstance is absolutely impossible Because These depend upon a vast variety of Accidents and Occurrences all which must be taken into consideration and the Person will be oblig'd to comply with and accommodate himself to them And upon this Account it was ingeniously observ'd That Men did not so properly guide their Affairs by Counsels as their Affairs guide and determine the 〈◊〉 That a Man must make War by his Eye that is the must
reducing it thus to Subjection is the Office of Virtue which tames and subdues it and inclines its Ear to this wise Guide by drawing off its Attention and Inclination from the Seducements of vain fickle and commonly false Opinions and by delivering it from the Tyranny of Passion For These are the Three Principles some of which always push on our Souls to Action and preside over them in it but They who are under either of the latter are lost and miserable to the last Degree For do but observe the mighty Difference betwixt them The wise Man maintains his Post and hearkens to the true Word of Command the Dictates of his Mind which are agreeable to Nature and Reason he keeps his Eye constantly upon his Duty and regards not what he is dispos'd to by his Frailties and Corruptions but what by the Law he is oblig'd to do Whatever common Opinion would persuade him to he always suspects for spurious whatever Passion would prompt him to he certainly rejects and condemns And the Effect of This is that he lives at Ease and Quiet finds Peace always within goes on smoothly and without disturbance is never driven to any necessity of altering his Measures or acting in contradiction to himself or repenting of what he had done for let the Event be what it will yet his Methods were right and proper he chose the best and made the most of his present Circumstances And then another Advantage he gains too which is to do nothing with Heat and Violence for Reason is a Cool and Calm Principle Whereas on the other hand the foolish Man who gives himself up to the other Two is exorbitant and uncertain all his Motions are excentrick and wild he is in perpetual Confusion at War with himself and hath no Ease no Satisfaction He is doing and undoing taking new Measures beginning again repenting and condemning what is past unsteady in all his Resolutions and dissatisfy'd with his own Choice For indeed none but the Wise Man can ever be fix'd and contented and all other Principles but Reason and Virtue are too feeble too sickle to settle or to satisfie us * Nulla placidior Quies nisi quam Ratio composuit When This composes us to Rest we may expect it shall be sweet and refreshing A good Man will always have regard to and stand in awe of his own Conscience which is in reality what the Heathens use to call his good Genius or Angel and the Reverence he bears to This will make him careful not to step awry and asham'd of misbehaving himself in its Presence And the true Reason why the World is no better is that †Rarum est ut fatis se quisque vereatur so very few People pay that Respect which is due to themselves 8. The Body comes next to be consider'd and to This we owe our Assistance and good Management 'T is a vain and ridiculous Attempt to separate these two principal parts of our Persons and pretend to lay out all our Care and Tenderness upon the one to the Prejudice and Defrauding of its Fellow On the contrary a good Understanding and mutual Kindness ought to be maintain'd between them that by reciprocal Offices they may be still more closely ally'd more intimately joyn'd Nature hath bestow'd a Body upon us as our necessary Receptacle and Instrument of Life and therefore the Soul which is the Principal ought to take the Guardianship and Protection of it It must not enslave it self to the Body 't is true for This were to draw the basest most unjust most dishonourable and reproachful of all Servitudes upon its own Head but it is bound to succour to direct to advise and to perform the part of an affectionate Husband to this Flesh which Providence hath married it to Care and Love is its due tho' Submission be not and the Soul should give it the Treatment of a Master not the imperious and arbittary usage of a Tyrant it must cherish but not cram it and shew that if it does not live for the Body yet it cannot live here without the Body One great part of the Artificers Excellence is to be expert and dextrous in using the Tools that belong to his Trade And it is no less Advantage that a Wise Man finds in knowing how his Body ought to be used and employing it as an Instrument excellently fitted for the Exercise and Promotion of Virtue Now the way to preserve the Body in a good Condition and of keeping it sit for Service is by moderate Dier and regular Exercise What Share the Mind ought to have in the Pleasures and Gratifications of Sense and how far it is allow'd to bear the Body Company in them hath been already shew'd in part and will be explain'd more largely and particularly hereafter when we come to treat of the Virtue of Temperance 9. The last Branch of this Consideration concerns the Goods or Estate and for the adjusting exactly what are the Duties of each particular Person in this respect we shall do well to observe that there are several Offices and Arts relating to this Matter There is the Gathering or Increasing part the Keeping or Saving the Managing the Expending the Trafficking and Turning the Penny For these are in a manner so many distinct Sciences A Man may be very knowing and a perfect Master in one and yet altonether ignorant and unexperienc'd in the rest of them The Getting part seems to be more difficult and intricate and to consist of more several parts than any of the others The Expending part is that which brings most Honour and Reputation The Saving and Managing part is the proper Province of the Mistress of a Family and This is but a dull Business obscure and mean in common Esteem by reason the Methods and the Fruits of it are not so visible as the rest but yet so necessary that This is the Defence and Security of all and ordinarily speaking our other Cares are to very little purpose without it There are Two Extremes in this Case both equally vicious and blameable The one is the Fondness and inordinate Love of Riches the other Hating and Refusing them By Riches at present I understand all that Wealth which is the Overplus of what Necessity and a Competency according to our Quality require to be supply'd with Now a Wise Man will run into neither of these but proportions his Desires according to that Prayer of Solomon Prov. xxx Give me neither Poverty nor Riches feed me with Food convenient for me He will do them Justice and allow them their proper place in his Esteem looking upon them as they really are a Thing indifferent in its own Nature the Occasion and Ground of either Good or Evil according as they fall into Good or Ill Hands but capable of being made use of to many excellent Purposes And this is all the Value they can fairly challenge from us The Miseries and Mischiefs which attend the
in the Mouths of such Persons But then there is likewise a free and voluntary Love between Equals such as that of intimate Acquaintance and Friends which hath no other Band of Union but Affection only and This is what in the strict and proper Signification of the Word we call Amity or Love The Third sort with respect to the Persons concern'd is a Mixture and Compund of the two Former from whence it follows that each Ingredient having its due Force this Composition ought to be much stronger than either of the other can possibly be alone And such is the Conjugal Affection between Husband and Wife This hath somewhat of the direct and descending Line by reason of the Superiority of the Husband and the Subjection of the Wife and it hath a great deal of the Collateral Line too upon the account that This is a Society instituted for Familiarity and mutual Comfort An Intimation whereof Almighty God himself seems to have given us in the first Creation of Woman by taking her out of the Substance of Man yet not out of his Head nor his Feet but his Side And thus married Persons do and are oblig'd to exercise these two sorts of Affection in their Behaviour to each other but each of them so as may be most seasonable and becoming In Publick the Duties of the direct Line take place for a Wise Woman will always be sure to treat her Husband before Company with Submission and Respect but in private and alone the Familiarities of the Collateral Line and all imaginable Freedoms are to be practis'd This Conjugal Affection is likewise twofold and of a compounded Nature in another Respect For it is both Spiritual and Corporeal an Union of Bodies as well as Souls which is a Qualification peculiar to This alone and such as no other kind of Love can pretend to except That which is abusively and most injuriously styl'd so and such as not only all wholsom Laws but even Reason and Nature it self have always disallow'd and condemn'd Upon these several Accounts then this Affection of a marry'd State is fitted to be exceeding great and strong powerful and endearing But yet there are two or three Rubs in the way that check and cool it and very seldom suffer it to rise up to all the Perfections of a just Friendship One is That no part here is left to their own Liberty but the first Entrance upon it When once they are in they must even make their best on 't for there is no getting out again The persisting and continuance in this Soceity is irreversibly bound upon them and this Constraint is the universal Condition of all the best and most Religious that is of all Christian Marriages For in other Persuasions Men are left more to their Liberty by the allowing Divorces sinal Separations and Nullities of this Obligation Another if the Ladies will give us leave to say so is the Weakness of the Sex whose Strength of Mind is not sufficient to keep up and hold pace in a perfect Conference and unreserv'd Communication of all a Man's Thoughts and the Contemplations of a penetrating and judicious Mind So that here is quite another Turn of Soul it wants Substance and Solidity to keep the Knot right and this Conjunction is like the fastening of one thing which is stubborn and inflexible to another that is slender and limber and yielding which for want of Strength to bear up against it buckles under and slips away from it A Third Impediment to that entire Affection in a Conjugal State may be imputed to the great Intricacy of Business that attends it the Children the Relations on both sides and a great many other Uneasinesses and Perplexities which tho' but an Accidental Inconvenience and not constant and unavoidable as the two former are yet is frequent and considerable enough to deserve a Remark here and too often disturbs the Happiness and Quiet and cools the vigour of that Affection which is the Blessing and Ornament of that State The Third Distinction of Love concerns the Strength and Intenseness or the Weakness and Remissness of it Degrees With regard to This Consideration it is again Twofold One Common and Imperfect which indeed ought rather to be term'd Benevolence or Well-wishing Familiarity Particular Acquaintance And this varies exceedingly and may differ almost infinitely in the degrees of it each of which may be more or less close and intimate and strong than other The Other is Perfect and this is a sort of Phoenix few if any one Instance of it to be seen in the World so far from being practised by Mankind that they can scarce form a tolerable Idea of it to themselves or reach up to the Force and Excellencies of the thing by all the Strength of mere Imagination For the clearer and more distinct Understanding of this Difference it may be of some Service to us to give a Description of each and to confront them with one another as for Example 1. The Common may be conciliated and come to its utmost Pitch in a very little while but long Time and great Deliberation must go to the Finishing a perfect Amity Such Persons according to the Proverb must eat at least a Bushel of Salt together before they can be qualify'd to contract an entire Friendship 2. That which is Common may be contracted and carry'd on by an infinite variety of Accidents which contribute to our Profit and Delight whereupon a Wise Man prescribed these two Rules for the attaining to it That a Man should be entertaining in his Discourse and obliging and serviceable in his Actions for if the One of these do but furnish out Pleasure and the other promote the Interest of the Persons with whom we converse all that a Common Friendship pretends to is done effectually But now That which I call a Perfect Friendship is never built upon such mean Considerations Nothing less than the Contemplation and mutual Experience of an unfeign'd and vigorous Virtue can be Foundation strong enough for so noble a Superstructure 3. The Common Friendships may extend themselves to a great Number of Persons But the true entire Friendship admits but of One Partner and this is to all Intents and Purposes a Second Self so that altho' the Persons are Two yet their Hearts and Affections are One and the Same And the necessity of confining such Friendships to Two only is very evident from the Nature of the thing For to suppose more destroys the Notion and obstructs all the Offices and Operations of it For instance To succour and assist a Friend in his Distress is an indispensable Obligation but if we put the Case of Two such standing in need of our Help at the same time and not only so but desiring Kindnesses which are inconsistent and contrary to one another Which way shall I turn my self or how can I discharge my Obligations when one of these is favour'd and relieved to the Prejudice and Neglect
of the other Again My Friend imparts a Secret to me What Distraction is here If I reveal it This is a Breach of Trust and Friendship which obliges me to be Faithful in keeping what is thus deposted with me But then if I do not communicate it to my other Friend this is Unfaithfulness too for it is another Law of true and entire Friendship to unbosom themselves freely and to have no Reserves from each other Thus you see the Confusion and Perplexity the Impracticableness and utter Impossibility indeed of more Friends than One in the highest and most genuine Acceptation of the Word And no doubt Multiplication of Parts and Division is generally speaking an Enemy to Perfection as Union is a natural and inseparable Property of it 4. The Common Friendship admits of Diminution and Increase it is subject to Exceptions Limitations different Modifications and Forms it grows warmer and colder and comes and goes by Fits like an intermitting Fever according as the Person is Absent or Present as his Merits are more or less and the Kindnesses he does more or less frequent and engaging and many other Considerations there are capable of making an Alteration in our Affections of this kind But now That Friendship which is perfect and entire is much otherwise firm and constant to it self even and steady Its Warmths are healthful its Temper regular and all its Motions vigorous and uniform 5. The Common Friendship admits and stands in need of several Rules for its Direction several Wise Cautions contriv'd by considerate Persons for the regulating and restraining it and preventing any future Inconveniences which may happen to arise from Unwariness and an unguarded Conversation One of these is To love our Friend so far as may be consistent with the Preservation of our Piety and Truth and Virtue For even that old Expression of Amicus usque ad Aras implies this Restriction Another is to love him so as if you were sure one Day to hate him and to hate a Man so as if you were hereafter to love him that is To be prudent and reserv'd in your Passions and Affections and not abandon one's self so entirely or be so violent in either Extreme that a Man should have just occasion to repent and condemn his former Behaviour if at any time hereafter there should happen to be a Breach or any Coldness grow betwixt them A Third is To come into our Friend's Assistance of our own accord and without being call'd For it puts a Friend out of Countenance to demand his Right and he buys a Kindness dear when forc'd to ask what he looks upon as his just Due and that which he conceives he ought to be prevented in Therefore these Obligations are never fully satisfy'd except we be always ready and early in our Courtesies and if that be possible beforehand with his very Wishes A Fourth is not to be troublesome to our Friends by entertaining them with dismal Stories of our own Misfortunes and being always in the complaining Strain Like Women that make it their whole Business to move Pity and are constantly magnifying their own Hardships and Sufferings Now all these are very useful and seasonable Directions fit to be observ'd in common Friendships But in That more sublime and perfect one there is no occasion at all for these This disdains all Forms and is above the Pedantick Niceties of Ceremony and Reserve This is what we shall attain to a more just and distinct Notion of Perfect Friendship what by giving the Reader a Draught and Description of Friendship in Perfection Which is no other in short than a free full and entire Mingling of Souls throughout and in every part and point To explain this now in Three Particulars I say First It must be a Mingling and if I may so express it an Incorporating and not a Conjunction of Souls only For this gives us a Resemblance of Solid Bodies which how strongly and artificially soever they may be tack'd together in one part yet do not touch in all And not only so but that very Ligament which joins them together may be dissolv'd or cut asunder and each of these Bodies may subsist and remain and feel it self entire after Separation But now in these perfect Friendships the Souls of Men are entirely absorpt in each other so confounded as never to be distinguish'd never to be parted again like Liquors well mix'd which can never be drawn off from each other And That is the perfect the universal Communion of Minds that entire Agreement of Judgments and Inclinations which I rather chose to express by mingling of Souls as a Phrase that gives us a stronger Idea of this Union than any Resemblance taken from Solids could possibly do Secondly It is free and purely the Work of Choice a generous and spontaneous Act of the Will without any Obligation or distant Inducement foreign to the Worth and Agreeableness of the Parties For nothing is more voluntary than Love and so much of Constraint as you put upon it so much you weaken the Affection and take off from the true Nature and Commendation of the Virtue Thirdly It is universal and without Exception no Reservation of any thing nothing that can be call'd ours in bar to our Friend's Title and Pretensions Estate Honours Preferments Judgments Thoughts Wills all laid open and in common nay even Life it self is what both have equal Right in From This so universal and entire Communication it is that that those Maxims have taken place of Friendship finding or making all equal of Friends having no Property and the like such can no longer lend or borrow they cannot give or receive there is no such thing as Beneficence and Obligation Acknowledgments or Returns or any such Offices of Kindness or Gratitude practicable or in force for Their Condition These indeed are the Arts and Methods by which ordinary Friendships are cherish'd and maintain'd but at the same time that they are Testimonies of Affection they are Marks of Distinction too Whereas in this Case it is as with one's own Self and as a Man cannot be oblig'd to himself for any Service done to his own Person nor owe any Gratitude upon the Account of that Kindness and Readiness to relieve his own Wants which he feels in his Breast no more can one true Friend be indebted to another upon any the like Occasions Nay even Marriage tho' it give us the best yet is even That but a distant and feeble Resemblance of the Divine Union we are now treating of The Laws allow no such thing as Distinct Properties and Donations betwixt Man and Wife And therefore in Friendship could there be any such thing as giving and receiving the Benefactor would be That Person who made use of his Friend's Kindness and so put it in his Power to do what became him For the principal Design and eagerest Wish of each Party being to snatch every occasion of mutual Assistance and Benefit He who
to her former Circumstances Whether she did or did not bring a Fortune That alters not the Case one whit such Considerations are quite out of Doors and nothing now lies before him but the present Relation between them He is indeed to be governed by his own Abilities and will do well to secure the main Chance but then all the Frugality upon this Account must extend to the retrenching his own Expences too For whatever Figure he allows himself to make his Wife ought to be supported Suitably and in Proportion to it 3. The providing her with Clothes which is a Right so undoubted that all Laws concur in giving a Wife this Privilege and that in so Solemn and Incommunicable a manner that they have denied the Husband a Power of disposing any thing of this Kind away from her and have not left them liable to the Payment of his just Debts 4. The Rights of the Bed 5. The Loving Cherishing and Protecting her Those Two Extremes which the World are apt to run into are Vicious and Abominable The keeping them under and treating them like Servants and the submitting to them as if they were absolute Mistresses These I take to be the principal and constant Duties Others there are Accidental and Occasional Duties secondary to and consequent upon the former Such as Taking Care of her if she be sick Ransoming her if she be taken Captive Burying her Honourably and according to her Quality if she happen to die and Making Provision by his last Will for her decent Support in her Widowhood and the comfortable Subsistence of the Children she hath brought him The Duties of the Wife are to pay all becoming Honour and Reverence and Respect to her Husband Wive's Duty looking upon him as a kind and Affectionate Master Accordingly the Scripture takes Notice that Women eminent for their Conjugal Virtues used to call their Husbands Lord and it is observable that the same Word in the Hebrew Tongue signifies Lord and Husband both The Imagination that a Woman lessens her self by this respectful and submissive Behaviour is most Frivolous and Foolish for she that discharges this part of her Duty well consults her own more than her Husband's Honour and she that is Insolent and Imperious Humoursome and Perverse does the greatest Injury to her self A Second Duty is Obedience to all his lawful and just Command's complying with his Humours and bringing over her own Inclinations to His For a good and a prudent Wife is like a true Glass which makes an exact Reflection of the Face that looks in it She should have no Design no Passion no Thought particular to her self but to be sure none in Opposition to His. Like Dimensions and Accidents which have no Motion no separate Existence of their own but constantly move with and subsist in the Body whereunto they belong so Wives should always keep close and be from the very Heart and even Affections of their Souls entirely and inseparably united to their Husbands A Third is Service That part especially which relates to the providing him seasonable and Necessary Refreshments over-looking the Kitchin ordering the Table and not disdaining to do any Offices or give him any kind of Assistance about his Person a Duty so fit to be condescended to that the Antients were wont to reckon Washing the Feet in particular among the Instances of Service due from the Wife to her Husband Fourthly Keeping much at Home upon which Account a Wife is compar'd to a Tortoise that carries her House upon her Back and used heretofore to be painted with her Feet Naked an Emblem of her not being provided for stirring abroad This is a modest and decent Reserve requisite at all Times but more especially in the Absence of her Husband For a good Wife is the exact Reverse of the Moon she shines abroad and in full Lustre when near her Sun but disappears and is totally invisible when at a Distance from him A Fifth is Silence for she should never give her self the Liberty of talking much except with her Husband or for him Here indeed her Tongue may take a Loose and is subject to no other Restraint than the speaking no more than is convenient This I confess is a very difficult Point hard of Digestion in this lavish Age where Multitude of Words sets up for a Female Virtue and so rare in all Ages Ecclus xxvi 14. that the Wise Son of Sirach calls a silent Woman a Precious and Particular Gift of God The Sixth is applying her self to Houswifery and good Management Prov. xxxi for though Solomon's Description of a wise and good Woman may be thought too Mean and Mechanical for this refined Generation yet certain it is that the Business of a Family is the most Profitable nay the most Honourable Study they can employ themselves in This is the Reigning Accomplishment That which so far as Fortune is concerned ought to be 〈◊〉 esteemed and regarded in the Choice of a Wife To 〈◊〉 the Truth This is a Fortune singly and by it self the Observation or the Neglect of it without the Addition of any Casualties is sufficient to ruine or to preserve nay to make a Family But This hath the Fate of all other Excellencies too which is to be exceeding rare and scarce There are I confess a great many sordid and scraping Wives but very few good Managers But alas there is a vast deal of Difference between Avarice and Parsimony and provident Care and good Houswifery As to the Enjoyments indulged in a Married State Men should always remember that this is a Chast a Pure and a Religious Union Consecrated to Excellent Mysteries and Holy Purposes and therefore that all the Pleasures of it should be used with Moderation and Sobriety In such Measures only as Prudence and Conscience would direct when consulted seriously and without any Byass from gross and carnal Affections And sure it would very ill become a Society instituted for mutual Comfort and the Advancement of Religion and the preservation of Purity to throw off all Restraint and convert their Privilege of Lawful Delights into an Occasion of abandoning themselves to Sensuality and Licentiousness This is One of those Cases where no certain Bounds can be prescribed but it will highly concern all Persons engaged in this State to consider the Dignity and the Design of it and to keep themselves under such Reserves as may neither profane the one nor evacuate the other CHAP. XIII Good Management THis is a very becoming and necessary Care An Employment not hard to be attained to every Man of common Discretion is capable of it But though the Art be easily learned the constant Exercise of it is Intricate and Laborious by Reason of that Great Variety of Business in which it engages us and though many Matters about which it is managed be small and inconsiderable in themselves yet the constant Succession of them is very troublesome Domestick Cares give great Uneasiness because
of Europe this is the only way to make a Noise in the World Reputation and Riches are not to be got without it So that the Persons we now speak of make a Trade of Learning and sink it into a Mercenary Pedantick Sordid Mechanical Thing A Commodity bought dear to be sold again dearer at second Hand These Hucksters are past all Cure and it is not worth while to give our selves any Trouble about them Not but that our Men of Mode are some of them as Extravagantly Foolish in the other Extreme who esteem Learning an ungentile Thing and somewhat too Pedantick and Mean for Quality and esteem a Man the less for being a Scholar This is but another Proof of their Folly and Emptiness and Want of all Sense of Virtue and Honour which their Ignorance Impertinence sauntring Lives and vain Fopperies give us such abundant Demonstrations of every Day But now for the Instruction of those Others Learning and Wisdom compar'd that give us some Hopes of Recovery and for the discovering where their Mistake lies we must shew Two Things First That there is a Real Difference between Learning and Wisdom and that the Latter is infinitely to be preferred before any the most exquisite and exalted Degree of the Former Secondly That they do not always go together nay that most commonly they obstruct each other insomuch that your Men of nice Learning are not often eminent for Wisdom nor your Truly wise Men deep Learned There are I confess some Exceptions to this last Observation but it were heartily to be wished there were more of them They that are so are Men of Great and Noble Souls of which Antiquity furnishes some Instances but the more Modern Times are very barren of them In order to the doing this Argument Right we must first know what Learning and Wisdom are Now Learning is a vast Collection of other Peoples Excellencies a Stock laid in with Labour and long Trouble of all that we have seen and heard and read in Books the Sayings and Actions of Great and Good Men who have lived in all Ages and Nations The Repository or Magazine where this Provision is treasured up is the Memory He who is provided by Nature with a good Memory hath no body to blame but himself if he be not a Scholar for he hath the Means in his own Hands Wisdom is a calm and regular Government of the Soul That Man is Wise who observes true Measures and a due Decorum in his Thoughts and Opinions and Desires his Words and Actions and Deportment In short Wisdom is the Rule and Standard of the Soul and he that uses this Rule aright that is The Man of Judgment and Discretion that sees and discerns judges and esteems Things according to their Nature and Intrinsick Value who places each in its just Order and Degree is the Person we would have every one attempt to be And how Reasonable that Advice is will quickly appear by observing how far the greater Excellence of the Two this of Wisdom is Learning however Valuable in it self is yet but a poor and barren Accomplishment in Comparison of Wisdom For it is not only unnecessary being what Two Parts in Three of Mankind make a very good Shift without but the Usefulness of is but small and there are but a very few Instances comparatively to which that Usefulness extends It contributes nothing at all to Life for how many do we see of all Qualities and Conditions High and Low Rich and Poor that pass their Time in great Ease and Pleasure without knowing any thing at all of the Matter There are a great many other Things more Serviceable both to Men's private Happiness and to Human Society in General Honour and Reputation Noble Birth and Quality and yet even These are far from being absolutely necessary The most they can pretend to is the being Ornaments and Conveniences and additional Advantages It contributes Nothing to any Natural Operations the most ignorant Man in this Respect is upon the Level with the greatest Clerk For Nature is of her self a sufficient Mistress and deals to every one the Knowledge needful for supporting her own Occasions Nor does it in any Degree assist a Man's Probity no body is one whit the Honester or Juster for it rather indeed it hinders and corrupts the Integrity of the Mind by teaching Men to be Subtle and to distinguish all Plain-dealing quite away Look into the Characters of Excellent Persons in History and you shall find most amongst them of moderate and very indifferent Attainments Witness Old Rome which in the Days of her Ignorance was renowned for Justice and Honour but when Learning and Eloquence got the Ascendent the Fame of her Virtue was in its Declension and in Proportion as Mens Wits grew more Subtle and Refin'd Innocence and Simplicity fell into Decay and Contempt Sects and Heresies Errours and Atheism it self have ever been set on foot and propagated by Persons of Artifice and Learning The primitive Source of our Misery and Ruine and that first Temptation of the Devil which inveigled and undid Mankind was an unseasonable and intemperate Desire of Knowledge Ye shall be as Gods discerning between Good and Evil was that fatal Expectation which deprest our first Parents and made them less than Man The more Men employed their Wits in Study the more plausible and consequently the more dangerous Notions they started which made St. Paul bid his Colossians beware that they were not seduced by Philosophy and vain Deceit And one of the Learnedest Men that ever liv'd speaks but very meanly of it as a Thing Vain and Unprofitable Hurtful and Troublesom such as was never to be enjoyed without many grievous Incumbrances since he that increaseth Knowledge must unavoidably increase Sorrow at the same Time In a Word Learning it is confest may Civilize and refine us but it cannot moralize us we may be more courteous and conversable and accomplished but we cannot be one jot the Holier the Juster more Temperate or more Charitable for it Nay Fourthly it does us no Service neither in the sweetning of our Lives or abating our Resentments for any of the Afflictions that embitter them It rather sets a Sharper Edge upon our Calamities and raises our Sense of them to be more quick and tender Accordingly we see that Children and plain ignorant People who measure their Misfortunes only by what they feel at present and neither anticipate and give them an Imaginary Being nor revive and as it were raise them from the Dead again by melancholy Reflections get over their Sufferings much more easily and support themselves under them with much greater Temper and Moderation than your quaint and refined and more thinking Men. Ignorance is in some Degree a good Remedy a strong Amulet against Misfortunes and our Friends it is very manifest are of that Opinion when they beg of us to forget and not to think of them For what is this but to drive us
Parts The Preventing Ill Habits and Cultivating Good Ones The Former is the more Necessary and Requires the more diligent Attention of the Two And This is a Business which ought to be begun very early indeed a Man can hardly set about it too soon For Vicious Dispositions grow into Habits apace so that the Corruption of Nature is sure to be beforehand with us and if these Things be not stifled in the Birth it is very difficult Dealing with them afterwards I suppose I need not say that this Endeavour ought to be Universal and bend it self against all Vice without Exception But some there are which I shall mention and recommend the subduing of more especially because they are more incident to that Condition of Life and therefore more formidable than the rest The First is Lying A pitiful poor-spirited Vice the Character of Slaves and Cowards the most ungenteel Quality that can be and certain Indication of a base degenerate and timorous Soul but more particularly sit to be caution'd against in this Place because harsh Methods and rigorous Severities in the Education of Children very often fright them into it at first and lay the seeds of Fear and Falshood for their whole Lives The Second is an Aukward Bashfulness which puts them upon hiding their Faces hanging down their Heads blushing and looking out of Countenance when they are spoken to makes them incapable of bearing any sort of Correction or the least angry Word without being disordered and put quite out of Humor A great deal of This is owing to the Natural Weakness and Tenderness of their Minds but this Infirmity must be corrected by Study and Application by learning them to bear Admonition and Rebukes using them to see Company and fortifying them with a becoming Assurance and Presence of Mind Thirdly All Affectation and Singularity in their Dress their Mean their Gate their Gestures their Speech and every other Part of Behaviour Making their Deportment and Conversation Masculine and free easie and unconstrained For Affectation is a sure Sign of Vanity an inordinate Desire of recommending themselves by doing somewhat particular and out of the common Road and is extremely Nauseous and Offensive to all Companies it displeases even where it labours to oblige and casts a Blemish upon our best Actions and kindest Intentions * Licet sapere sine pompâ sine invidià A Man may be Wise without Ostentation and should labour to be so without giving Prejudice or Offence But especially They must check and utterly banish all Anger and Peevishness and Spight and Obstinacy And in order hereunto It will be a good Rule to settle a Resolution never to gratifie Children when they are froward nor give them any thing they cry and are outragious for To make them sensible betimes that these Arts will never do them service and are therefore unprofitable as well as unbecoming Another necessary Course to this purpose will be never to flatter or wheedle or caress them in their querulous Humours for Fondness and Indulgence which is blameable at all times is of most dangerous consequence at such times as these This absolutely ruines them to all Intents and Purposes incourages them to be Passionate and Sullen if they have not what they ask for and renders them at length Obstinate and Headstrong Intractable and Insolent For * Nihil magisreddet Iracundos quam Educatio mollis blanda Nothing disposes Men more to extravagant Passion and Resentment than the being humour'd and cocker'd in their Infancy and the greatest part of those Fretful Exceptious and Self-conceited Qualities which render Conversation so difficult and so full of Cavils as we find it are owing most certainly to a Failure in this part of Education The Niceness and Tenderness they have been us'd with in their Infancy and the Unreasonable Compliances with their Passions then have absolutely broke their Tempers and make them Whimsical and Jealous Furious and domineering all their Life-long They expect because Mothers and Nurses have done it to my young Master and Miss that all the World shou'd submit to their Humours when they come to be Men and Women But it is not sufficient to clear the Soil of Weeds and Bryars except you sow it with good Seed and therefore at the same time you root out Ill Habits Care must be taken to implant Good ones The first and most important part whereof is to Infuse into them and take care they be throughly season'd with a becoming Reverence and awful Fear of God learning them to tremble at his infinite and incomprehensible Majesty to admire and adore the Perfection of his Holiness to take his Name into their Mouths but very seldom and when they do to mention it with Gravity and great Respect to discourse of his Power his Wisdom his Eternal Essence his Will his Word and his Works not indifferently and upon every Occasion but with such Seriousness and Submission such Modesty and Humility and at Seasons so proper that all the World may perceive we have due Dread and a constant Awe of that Being which we take care to treat so very respectfully Not to use themselves to dispute upon Religion or call the Mysteries of it in into Question but resign their Understandings to the Oracles of God and be content to believe the Scriptures in such a Sense as the truly Catholick Church hath embrac'd and commanded to be taught and receiv'd In the Second Place The Spirit of Children shou'd be strengthen'd and confirm'd by Ingenuity and Frankness of Temper Openness and Easiness of Conversation Candor and Integrity and especially they shou'd be fix'd in the Fitness and the Necessity of Virtue and so made resolute and zealous in Justice and Goodness deaf and inflexible to every thing which is Vicious and Dishonourable Thus the Youth must by degrees be brought to embrace and stick to Virtue upon a true and solid Principle for its Own sake and real Excellence and exact Congruity to the Dictates of uncorrupt Reason and not be induc'd meerly by the force of Fear or Interest or some other Consideration so slavish and mercenary that it cannot deserve a Name so noble as Virtue These Two Directions are principally for a Man 's private use and centre in his own proper Benefit The Third regards other People and hath a more immediate tendency to fit him for and render him easie and agreeable in Company And to this purpose you must use all means possible for the Sweetning his Temper teach him the Rules of Civility and Complaisance and shew him the Deference that ought to be paid to all Qualities let him know how to make himself acceptable how far it is fit to accommodate himself to other People's Humours and submit to their Manner Alcibiades's peculiar Excellence was said to lie in this obliging Easiness of Humour And Aristippus was a Man of perfect Address so far from Moroseness or suffering the Study of Philosophy to sowre him that
that there is no Distinction observ'd in our Respects to the Memory of the Good and the Bad. Kings are the Law 's Fellows if they be not their Masters And the Revenge which Justice will not permit to be taken upon their Persons it is but sitting that it shou'd take upon their Reputation and the Estates of their Successors We owe Subjection and Obedience to all Kings alike because This is an Obligation annex'd to their Offices and payable purely upon that Consideration but we cannot be accountable for our Affection and Esteem to all alike because These will depend upon their Qualities and are due only to their Merits and Virtue Let us then resolve patiently to endure even the worst and most unworthy while we have them let us endeavour to cover and conceal the Vices of the Living for this is what Respect to their Authority requires from us and besides the Weight and Difficulty of their Charge and the Preservation of Publick Peace and Order challenge our joint Endeavours and stand in need of the utmost we can possibly do to support them But when they are withdrawn and gone off the Stage it wou'd be hard to deny us a just Liberty of expressing our real Thoughts of them without all that Reserve Nay it is an honest and a commendable Pattern which these Proceedings set to Posterity who cannot but look upon it as a singular Commendation of our Obedience and Respect that we were content to pay these to a Master whose Imperfections we were very well acquainted with Those Writers who upon the Account of Personal Interest or Obligations espouse the Memory of a wicked Prince and set it off to the World do an Act of Private Justice at the Expence of the Publick For to serve or shew themselves grateful they defraud Mankind of the Truth This Reflection were an admirable Lesson for a Successor if it cou'd be well observ'd and a powerful Check it might be to the Exorbitancies of Power to think with one's self that the Time will thortly come when the World will make us as free with his Character as they do at present with his Predecessor's CHAP. XVII Duty of Magistrates THose few Wise and Good Men who are Members of the Common-wealth would doubtless be better pleased to retire into themselves and live at Ease full of that sweet Content which excellent and intelligent Persons know how to give themselves in the Contemplation of the Beauties of Nature and the works of Providence than to sacrifice all this satisfaction to Business and a publick Post were it not that they hope to do some good in being serviceable to their Country by their own Endeavours and in preventing the whole Administration of Affairs from falling into ill or unskilful hands This may and ought to prevail with Persons of this Character to consent to the trouble of being Magistrates But to cabal and make Parties and court Employments of Trust with Eagerness and Passion especially such as are judicial is a very base and scandalous Practice condemned as such by all good Laws even those of Pagan Republicks as the Julian Law among the Romans abundantly testisies unbecoming a Man of Honour and the shrewdest sign that can be that the Person is unsit for the Trust he seeks so vehemently To buy publick Offices is still more infamous and abominable the most sordid the most villainous way of Trading in the World For it is plain he that buys in the Piece must make himself whole by selling out again in Parcels Which was a good Reason for the Emperour Severus when he was declaring against a Fault of this nature to say That it was very hard to condemn a Man for making Money of that which he had given Moncy for before Just for all the World as a Man dresses and sets his Person in order and form putting on his best Face before he goes abroad that he may make a Figure and appear well in Company so is it sit that a Maâ— should learn to govern his own Passions and bring his Mind to good Habits before he presume to meddle with publick Business or take upon him the Charge of governing other People No Man is so weak to enter the Lasts with an unmanaged Horse or to hazard his Person with such a one in any Service of Consequence and Danger but trains and teaches him first breeds him to his hand and uses him to the Exercise he is designed for And is there not the same reason that this wild and restiff part of our Soul should be tamed and accustomed to bear the Bit Should be perfectly instructed in those Laws and Measures which are to be the Rules of our Actions and upon which the good or ill Conduct of our Lives will depend Is it not reasonable I say That a Man should be Master of his own private Behaviour and expert in making the best of every Accident and Occasion before he venture out upon the publick Stage and either give Laws to others or correct them for the neglect of those they have already And yet as Socrates observed very truly the manner of the World is quite otherwise For though no body undertakes to Exercise a Trade to which he hath not been Educated and served a long Apprenticeship and how Mean or Mechanical soever the Calling be several Years are bestowed upon the Learning of it Yet in the case of publick Administrations which is of all other Professions the most intricate and difficult so absurd so wretchedly careless are we that every body is admitted every body thinks himself abundantly qualified to undertake them These Commissions are made Complements and things of Course without any Consideration of Men's Abilities or regarding at all whether they know any thing of the matter as if a Man's Quality or the having an Estate in his Country could inform his Understanding or secure his Integrity or render him capable of discerning between Right and Wrong and a competent Judge of his Poorer but perhaps much honester and wiser Neighbours Magistrates have a mixt Quality and are placed in a middle Station between sovereign Princes and private Subjects These Subalterns therefore have a double Task incumbent upon them and must learn both how to Command and how to Obey To obey the Princes who trust and employ them to submit to and truckle under the Paramount Authority of their Superiour Officers to pay Respect to their Equals to Command those under their Jurisdiction to Protect and Defend the Poor and those that are unable to Contend for their own to stand in the Gap and oppose the powerful Oppressor and to distribute Right and Justice to all Sorts and Conditions of Men whatsoever And if this be the Business of a Magistrate well might it grow into a Proverb that the Office discovers the Man since no mean Abilities no common Address can suffice for the sustaining so many Characters at once and to Act each part so well as to merit a general
and Noise in the World and yet oftentimes there is nothing of substance or solidity at the bottom of it Now allowing Military Valour all that can possibly belong to it yet at best it is but one part and that a small one neither a single Ray of that Glory which the true and entire the perfect and universal Valour sheds round about it For by this a Man is the same thing alone that he is in Company the same brave Man upon a Bed of Languishing and Pain as in the Field and heat of Action and marches up against Death with all his Friends and Relations looking on and lamenting his Fate as he would at the Head of an Army when animated by the Shouts of those that assist in the Engagement This Military and Fighting Courage is more peculiar and natural to Brute Beasts and among them we sind accordingly that the Female Sex have it in common with the Males But in Men it is frequently the effect of Art rather than any Tendency in Nature kindled by the dread of Captivity and ill usage by the evident Necessity of doing bravely in their own Desence and the certain prospect of Death or Wounds Poverty or Pain or Punishment if they do otherwise All which have not any influence upon Beasts nor do they lie under the least apprehension of them The Courage of Men is a sort of wise Cowardice and we commonly say That every Man would be a Coward if he durst It is Fear attended with skill to shun one Evil by another and Anger is the Liquor that tempers the File that sharpens it But in Brutes it is genuine and pure undesigning and unconstrained Men arrive at some sort of Mastery and Perfection in it by Custom and long Acquaintance by Instruction Education and Example upon which account it is that we find it sometimes among the meanest most ignorant and most degenerate sort of People A Footman that hath run away from his Master an Apprentice from behind a Counter a Villain out of a common Gaol shall very often make a good Souldier stand a Charge and do Duty very well and yet have no such thing as real Fortitude there is not the least tincture or spark of Virtue or Philosophical Bravery in all this Fire The second necessary Ingredient in this noble Composition is a full and distinct Knowledge of the Difficulty the Toil the Danger that assaults us in our Undertaking and also of the Beauty the Decency the Justice and the Obligation of attempting vigorously or constantly and patiently enduring what we are called to at that time And this discovers the Folly and Mistake of confounding this Courage as some do with giddy unthinking Rashness or else with Fool-hardiness and a brutal insensibility * Non est inconsulta temeritas nec periculorum amor nec formidabilium appetitio diligentissima in tutelâ sui fortitudo est Et eadem patientissima eorum quibus falsa species malorum est It is by no means says Seneca an inconsiderate forwardness not a fondness of Danger nor a desire of those Accidents which strike a Terrour into common Men Fortitude is provident and careful and diligent in her own Defence and yet she is extreamly patient and resigned under those things which are commonly but falsely reputed Evils There cannot possibly be any such thing as Virtue where there is no Knowledge no Apprehension and a Man cannot with any good Sense be said to despise that Danger which he knows not and does not rightly understand For at this rate we cannot refuse the honour of this Virtue to Brutes who in every part which concerns the Action or the Suffering do equal if not exceed the Stoutest Men and yield to us in no point but that of foreseeing and making a true Estimate of our Danger For Valour distinguishes it self particularly by going on with our Eyes open and not running blindfold and accordingly we find by Experience that those who undertake boldly without regarding or duly weighing what is like to come on 't commonly flinch and sneak and prove errand Dastards when they are driven to a push A third Ingredient necessary to be taken notice of in the Character of Fortitude is That it is a Resolution and firmness of Mind founded upon solid and good Principles the sense of Duty the Honesty and Justice of the undertaking and such other Motives and this too such a Resolution as never wavers or abates whatever the Event be But persists with unmoveable Generosity till either the Design be brought to Perfection or the Life lost in the Attempt The mention of this Qualification may at first sight seem somewhat superfluous in the former part of the Description but it is in reality seasonable and of good use and that as upon its own account so more especially because it gives us an occasion to obviate two or three very gross and common Mistakes with relation to this Matter As first some have so odd so stupid a notion of Fortitude as to place it in bodily Strength the Structure of the Man and the largeness of his Limbs But alas This is no Excellence belonging to the Body not the stiffness of the Muscles the knitting of the Joynts or the size of an Arm or a Leg but a quality peculiar to the Soul and entirely residing there The worth of a Man is to be computed from his Heart and his Will there it is that his true Honour is to be found and the only Advantage the true and compleat Victory to be gained over an Enemy is the shaking his Constancy driving away his Resolution subjecting him to Terrour and Disorder and putting his Virtue to flight All other Advantages are either fictitious and imaginary or else borrowed and not properly ours The lustiness and strength of a Leg and an Arm is an Excellence fit for a Porter only to boast of To force our Enemy to give ground or engage him in a disadvantageous ground is not a Commendation belonging to Us but to Fortune He that continues his Courage to the last and slackens not one whit of his Gallantry and Constancy at the approach of Danger or Death you may call him beaten if you please but then it is not his Adversary but the Chance of War that beats him and if he happen to fall in the Engagement he is killed I confess but he is not Conquered If Fate be to blame he is not for though he die unfortunately yet he does not die cowardly and basely For the Gallantest Men cannot command Events answerable to their Merits and very frequently are less successful than others Another Errour yet more senseless than the former is the looking upon those to be stout and brave who swagger and strut and talk big and by a contemptuous Air a stern Countenance and vain boasts would fain get the Reputation of Valour But these do not often meet with People silly enough to be frightned into such an Opinion and when the
curb to hold them in and prevent the wild and furious sallies of vice unrestrained or else a rebuke and chastisement the rod of an Affectionate but Provoked Father to reduce and reclaim them that they may be more considerate and mindful of their duty hereafter and abandon utterly those courses which have cost them so much smart and pain Thus it is with our minds as with our bodies and the health of both is consulted by the same applications These sufferings are like the breathing of a Vein and seasonable Physick sometimes made use of as preservatives to prevent the gathering of ill humours and divert them another way at other times as correctives and restoratives to purge the corrupted mass and carry off a disease already formed To the Obstinate and Incorrigible they are a Punishment and Plague a Sickle to cut those down speedily whose Iniquities are ripe for destruction or else to make them more lingring and languishing spectacles of vengeance And thus you may plainly discern very excellent and necessary effects of the troubles Men are used so bitterly to complain of such as may abundantly convince us how erroneous that opinion is which looks upon such dispensations as evils and ought to prevad upon us to entertain them with Patience and a becoming temper of mind to take them in good part as the instances and operations of the divine justice and not only so but to welcome them gladly as the useful instruments and sure pledges of the tenderness and love and careful providence of God and especially using our utmost diligence to benefit under them and to answer the intention of that wise and kind being in whose disposal all these things are and who distributes them according to his own good pleasure and as they may be most suitable to every Man's occasions ADVERTISEMENT Of External Evils considered in themselves particularly ALl these Evils which are many in number and various in their kinds are so many privations of some contrary good for so much indeed is implyed in the very name and nature of evil Consequently the general heads of evil must answer and be equal to the several heads or species of good Now these may very properly be reduced to seven Sickness and Pain for these being Bodily indispositions I join them together as one Captivity Banishment Want Disgrace Loss of Friends and Death The good things we are deprived of in the forementioned Circumstanc's every one sees very plainly to be Health Liberty our Native Countrey Wealth Honour Friends and Life each of which we have had occasion to treat of at large in the foregoing parts of this Treatise All therefore that remains to be done at present is to prescribe such Antidotes against these as are proper to them respectively and that very briefly and plainly without any nice or formal Reasoning upon the Case CHAP. XXII Of Sickness and Pain IT hath been observed in the beginning of this Treatise Book 1. Chap. 6. that Pain is the greatest and in good truth the only evil attending this Mortal Body of ours the most sensible the most insupportable that which is least to be cured least to be dealt with or asswaged by consideration But still though this be not altogether so capable of advice as most other afflictions yet some Remedies there are drawn from Reason Justice advantage and usefulness imitation and resemblance of great persons celebrated for their illustrious Virtue and that branch of it which consists of Patience and these such as they are I shall just propound to my Reader 's Consideration First then the enduring what is tedious and troublesome is a necessary incumbrance of life and charged in common upon all living creatures upon Mankind most evidently and especially And it is by no means reasonable that providence should work a Miracle for our sakes and exempt us only How absurd is it therefore to fret and perplex our selves because that hath hapned to one Man in particular which might and may happen every moment to every Man without exception Nay it is not only general and common but natural too We are born to it and cannot in any equity and justice hope to be exempted for indeed should we cease to be subject to it we must cease to be Men. Whatever is a fixt and irreversible Law of our Creation ought to be entertained with meekness and moderation For we entred into life upon these terms and the conditions of humanity expresly indented for are old Age and Infirmities Decays and Diseases Anguish and Pain There is no possibility of avoiding these things and what we can never get clear of it will be our best Wisdom to settle a resolution of making the best of and to learn how we may go through with it * Confide summus non habet tempus dolor Si gravis brevis si longus levis If the pain be long it is but moderate and consequently very supportable and a Wise Man will be ashamed to complain of any thing less than extremities If it be violent and exceeding acute it is but short and we should not repine or be driven to impatience for a suffering which is quickly over And yet this must of necessity be the case for nature cannot sustain it self under the continuance of extream Torture There must be an end either of that or of the Patient in a little time and which of these two soever be the conclusion of it as to the suffering part the matter comes all to one and therefore let this give us courage and comfort Consider again that these sufferings can go no deeper than the Body we are not injured our very selves every real injury takes off from the excellence and perfection of the thing but now Sickness and Pain are so far from derogating from and doing any real prejudice to us that on the contrary they furnish matter and put occasions in our way for a more noble exercising of Virtue than any that we owe to Ease and perfect Health And surely where there is more occasion of praise and Virtue there cannot be less good If the Body be what the Philosophers usually call the instrument of the mind why should any one complain for this instrument being applied to its proper use and worn out in the service of its proper master The Body was made on purpose to serve the Soul but if every inconvenience which befalls the Body shall disorder and afflict the mind the order of nature is quite inverted and the Soul from thenceforth becomes a servant to the Body Would you not think that man unreasonably querulous and childish who should cry and roar and take on heavily because some thorn in the hedge as he passed by or some unwary passenger had spoiled or torn his Clothes A poor broker who was to make Money of the Suit might be allowed some concern upon such an occasion but a Gentleman and one of substance and condition would make a jest of it and
like seed for a plentiful and joyful harvest at the general Resurrection the considence in the promises of him who cannot lye These inspired the noble Army of Martyrs and these are able to support all their followers who have a title to the same expectations and are heirs through hope to the same Kingdom And all the Stoical Philosophy put together cannnot minister the hundredth part of that Consolation which those two short Sentences of S. Paul do No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous Heb. 12.11 Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of Righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby And We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved 2 Cor. 5.1 we have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens CHAP. XXIII Of Captivity or Imprisonment THis Affliction is very inconsiderable in comparison of the former and the conquest of it will prove exceeding easie to them upon whom the prescriptions against Sickness and Pain have found their desired effect For Men in those circumstances have the addition of this misfortune confined to their houses their Beds tied to a Rack and loaded with fetters and this very consinement is a part of their complaint though the least part But however we will say one word or two of it Now what is it that Captivity or Confinement imprisons The Body that which is it self the cover and the Prison of the Soul but the Mind continues at large and at its own disposal in despight of all the World How can it indeed be sensible of any inconvenience from a Prison since even there it ranges abroad as freely as gaily takes as noble as sublime as distant slights if not much more so than it does in other circumstances The Locks and Bars and Walls of a Prison are much too remote to have any power of fastening it down or shutting it in they must needs be so since even the Body it self which touches upon is linked to and hangs like a Clog fastened to it is not able to keep it down or six it to any determinate place And that Man will make a jest of all these artisicial and wretched these slight and childish enclosures who hath learnt how to preserve his native liberty and to use the privilege and prerogative of his condition which is to be confined no where no not even in this World Thus Tertullian derides the cruelty of the Persecutors and animates his Brethren by relling that a * Christianus etiam extra carcerem saeculo renunciavit in Carcere etiam carceri nihil interest ubi siris in saeculo qui extra sacalam estis Auseramus carceris nomen secessam vocemus â—â—si corpus includitur caro detinetur omnia Spiritui patent totum hominem animus circumfert quo vult transfert Christian even when out of Prison had shaken hands with the World that he desied and was above it and that when under Confinement the case was the same with his Gael too What mighty matter is it in what part of the World you are whose principle it is not to be of the World Let us change that name of so ill a sound and instead of a Prison call it a retreat where when you are shut up the slesh may be kept to a narrow room but all doors are open to the Spirit all places free to the Mind this carries the whole Man along with it and leads him abroad whithersoever it will Prisons have given very kind entertainment to several valuable and holy and great Men to some a Gaol hath been a refuge from destruction and the Walls of it so many fortifications and entrenchments against that ruine which had certainly been the consequence of liberty nay some have chosen these places that there they might enjoy a more perfect liberty and be farther from the noise and clutter and confusion of the World He that is under Look and Key is so much safer and better guarded And a Man had better live thus than be crampt and constrained by those Fetters and hand-cuffs which the World is full of such as the places of publick business and concourse the Palaces of Princes the conversation of great Men the tumult and hurry of Trade the vexation and expence of Law-suits the envy and ill-nature the peevishness and passions of common Men will be continually clapping upon us * Si recogiâ—emus iâ—sum magls mundum carcerem esse exisse nos è carcere quam in carcerem introisse intelligemus Majores tenebras habet mundus quae hominum praecordia excaecant graviores caâ—enas induit quae ipsas animas coustringunt pejores immunditias expirant libidines hominum plures postremo reos coutinet universum genus hominum If we do but reflect says the same Author again that the World it self is no better than a Prison we shall imagine our selves rather let out of a Gaol than put into one The darkness by which the World blinds Man's minds is thicker and grosser the chains by which it clogs and binds their affeclions heavier the silth and stanch of Men's lewdness and beastly conversation more offensive and the Criminals in it more numerous for such in truth are all Mankind There have been several instances of persons who by the benefit of a Prison have been preserved from the malice of their eâ—emies and escaped great miseries and dangers Some have made it a studious retirement composed Books there or laid a foundation of great vertue and much learning so that the uneasiness of the flesh hath been a gain to the spirit and the confinement of the body was well laid out in a purchase so valnable as the enlargement of the mind Some have been disgerged as it were by a Prison thrown up when it could keep them no longer and the next step they made hath been into some very eminent dignity as high as this World could set them this remark the Psalmist hath left us of the wonderful dispensations of providence Psal 113. He taketh the simple out of the dust and lifteth the needy off from the dunghill That he may set him with Princes even with the Princes of his people And he indeed who was an Israelite might well make this reflection since even among his own Ancestors they had so eminent an instance as Jeseph of the mighty alteration we are now speaking of But others have been advanced yet higher exhaled as it were and drawn up into Heaven from thence But thus much is certain that there can be no such thing as perpetual Imprisonment general Gaol-deliveries are unalterably established an Article of the Law of Nature for no Prison ever yet took in a Man whom it did not shortly after let out again CHAP. XXIV Of Exile or Banishment EXile is in reality no more than changing our Dwelling and this hath nothing of substantial Evil in it If we are afflicted upon the account our
take our measures from Reason and Nature and be satisfied with what these desire and prescribe to us we shall seldom or never want enough for our purpose But if we will create to our selves fantastical and imaginary wants nothing can ever satisfie us * Si ad naturam vives nunquam eris pauper si ad opinionem nunquam dives Exiguum natura desiderat opinio immensum He that lives by Nature says Seneca can never be Poor and he that lives by Fancy can never be Rich for the former will gladly take up with a little but the latter grasps at all and there is no end of it A Man that is master of any sort of Trade or bred up to any Profession nay he that hath neither of these advantages if he have but the use of his Hands is safe from these Extremities and will find no just reason to fear or to complain of this first sort of Poverty The other sort consists in the want of those things which exceed a sufficient provision for the uses of Nature and minister to Pomp and Pleasure Delicacy and Supersluity what we commonly call a Decency and this is in truth the thing most Men are so mightily concerned for loss of rich and sumptuous Furniture the not having a Down Bed and a Table well spread or a stately House shut out from the Comforts and the Ornaments of Life But this when all is done is not Want but Niceness and that is the very Disease we labour under Now all complaints of this Nature are highly unjust for what they dread as Poverty is rather to be preferred and wished for We see the Wisest Man that ever lived was for neither Poverty nor Riches but only such Food as was a convenient Subsistence for him It is more agreeable to nature more truly rich more quiet and safe than all that abundance Mankind are so fond of First it is more congruous and agreeable to our Condition because Man came Naked into the World and he must go so out and how can he call any thing his own which he neither brought along with him nor can carry away with him The Possessions we pretend to here are like the Furniture in an Inn ours to use while we stay but not to remove when we leave the House And therefore all we ought to look at is our present Accommodation Secondly it is more true Riches for a larger Mannor none can be possest of He that hath enough hath all the World 1 Tim. 6 Godliness with Contentment is great Gain says the Apostle it is safer and more quiet For here is no Fear to perplex no hope of Booty to tempt no danger of Enemies to fence against Poverty is secure in the inidst of Banditi A little Man when covered all over with his Buckler is less liable to danger than a bigger and stronger who is in many parts exposed and cannot bring his whole Body within the compass of his Shield such a condition as it does not burden and fatigue a Man with great Troubles so neither does it make him capable of great Losses And therefore these sort of People are always more easie and free and cheerful for they have not so much to take care of nor can they suffer so much by any storm that shall happen to blow Such a Poverty as this is snugg and close gay and jolly and secure all foul Weather flies over its head it makes us truly our own Men masters of our Lives without the hurry and noise the squabbles and contentions which are the necessary incumbrances of plentiful Fortunes and devour the greatest part of their Ease and Time who stand possest of them And what precious things are these to be called the Goods of this World that are big with so many Mischiefs such substantial and vexatious Evils that expose us to Injuries enslave us to Jealousies and Suspicions to anxious Fears and inordinate Desires and have so many thousand artifices to trouble and disquiet us He that is discontented with the loss of these things is miserable indeed because he is deprived of his Possessions and understanding both and so does more than double his loss The Life of Men in moderate Circumstances is a condition much like that of Coasters but that of the rich is like Sailors out at Sea These are tost and driven and cannot make Land though they would never so fain they must wait a favourable Gale and the Current of the Tide to carry them in The former are always near home and have it in their power to Debark whenever they please To all these Considerations we shall do well to add one more That of Great and Generous and justly Celebrated Persons who have despised such Losses nâ—y have welcomed and improved them to their advantage and thanked Almighty God for them as so many signal Blessings Such as Zeno after his Wrack the Fabricij Serrani and the Curij among the Romans And this is an extraordinary Attainment in Virtue when a Man can find his account and discern and satisfie himself with the wisdom and kindness of Providence in instances which the generality of the World look upon with the greatest Horrour and Aversion The Gods were heretofore painted Naked to intimate that they are above both the Necessities and Gayeties of this World and how Godlike a Quality the Philosophers heretofore esteemed the despising of them we may learn by that voluntary Poverty which so many of them embraced at least if it was the work of Fate and not their own Choice by that easie Content and Acquiescence of Spirit with which they entertained it To summ up all then in one word to Persons of Prudence and unprejudiced Affections Men of elevated Souls refined and purged from the dross of Sensuality and Avarice this condition of Life will appear preferrable but to all People who think at all it is very tolerable CHAP. XXVI Of Infamy or Disgrace THis Affliction is of several sorts according to the different Senses of which the Title here is capable If by Disgrace be meant the loss of Honour or Dignity or offices of Importance and Trust the Man is rather a Gainer than otherwise and hath made a very advantageous Exchange For what are such promotions but splendid slaveries by which a Man hires himself out to the Publick and lays out his Property and the enjoyment of his Person in the Service of other People These Honours shine indeed and glister but with that dazling light they kindle Envy and Jealousie burn up the Owner and at last go out in Exile and Poverty Let a Man but refresh his memory with the Histories of all Antiquity and the most memorable passages of Great Men see how thick a cloud they set in and whether almost to a Man those that were most renowned for Gallantry and Virtue did not finish their course in Banishment or a Prison by Poyson or some other violent Death See the declining Aristides
Cure in the Patient The several Remedies prescribed here though particularly insisted upon with regard to Anger only will yet be very applicable and useful in the correcting of the following Passions CHAP. XXXII Remedies against Hatred TO defend our selves effectually from the insults of this Passion we shall do well to bear constantly in mind that old rule of Epictetus and a most excellent and useful observation it is That every thing hath two handles and that every Man hath it in his choice whether of them be will lay hold of it by Take it by one and it will seem heavy and grievous but by the other it will be light and easie to us Let us rather be sure to take every thing by the better handle and look upon it in the most advantageous light That is put the best and most favourable interpretation upon all that happens to us and so shall we find by experience that what we hate and find fault with hath a great deal to soften and recommend it to our acceptance For Providence hath in infinite wisdom so ordered the matter that there is not any one accident possible to us in this World which a dextrous and skillful Man may not turn to some account And even in that which gives us greatest offence there is more subject for lamentation and complaint than there can be for hatred and just Aversion He who does an ill or unbecoming thing to us hath done the first wrong and suffered the greatest damage in it himself For he hath lost the use of his Reason and betrayed his own virtue which are injuries so substantial that nothing we can suffer at second hand can be comparable to them Let us therefore take this accident in another prospect and view it there let us give a fresh turn to our Passion and change Hatred into Piety let us take pains to make the persons who have tempted us to hate them worthy of our love and esteem Thus Lycurgus is said to have dealt with a Man that put out his eye instead of prosecuting so sensible an injury he took another course of punishing him which was by his severe remonstrances and good instructions to render him a vertuous modest and peaceable Person ever after CHAP. XXXIII Remedies against Envy IN opposition to this fretful and tormenting Passion let us consider and weigh nicely the nature of the thing we set so high a value upon and grudge another the fruition of We are apt to envy our more prosperous Neighbours their Riches and Honours their Preferments and the favour of Great Men But all this is reasoning without Book and want of attending to the condition of the purchase we are not sensible how dear these things have cost their owners Were this rightly understood it is highly probable if they were offered to us upon the same terms we should think it our wisdom to decline striking the bargain Flattery and Attendance Anxiety and Care Sufferings and Injuries Affronts and Repulses loss of Liberty and ungenerous compliances with the Passions and Pleasures of those we make our court to Violations of Justice and contradiction to our own Consciences these are usually the price such advantages come at Thus much however is most certain that there is nothing in this World worth the having which can be had for nothing To hope for Wealth and Honour a Plentiful Estate or a gainful Office upon other Terms than they usually go at is to desire that we may be made an exception to the rest of Mankind to repeal an Universal Law or at least to break and pervert a general Custom received and established all the World over It is taking the Commodity and keeping our Money too Why should you then who set up for the Character of Honour and Virtue be discontented because you are not possest of those advantages which are never to be acquired but by ignominious and reproachful methods and must be bought at the expence of Modesty and Decency If this be the case these splendid appearances call rather for your Pity than your Envy Either the Object of your Passion is a real Good or it is not if it be a fantastical and imaginary good only it is beneath this resentment nay it is inconsistent with it For no Man is envious upon a supposition of a treacherous and deceitful outside but upon an implication of substantial and intrinsick worth But if it have this and be a feal and solid good then ought it to be matter of Joy and Pleasure For the Laws of Humanity and those of Christianity much more oblige us to desire and take delight in one another's Happiness and the exercise of this Virtue with regard to other peoples satisfaction and good Fortune would be a very considerable addition to our own CHAP. XXXIV Remedies against Revenge FOr the beating down this cruel passion several Considerations may be of use to us as first of all That there is not any action of our Lives so truly honourable and glorious as that of pardoning and passing by injuries and affronts nor any attaintment which requires greater skill than this to master and excuse it readily and gracefully Every body knows but too well how to prosecute Wrongs and demand Satisfaction but the remitting and receiving those that have done them into grace again is a Glory reserved for Princes and truly great Souls If then thou wilt prove thy Soveraignty shew that thou art King of thy self and do a truly royal act by forgiving freely and extending thy kindness to those that have most justly merited thy displeasure Secondly Remember that this is of all others the noblest Conquest to convince the World that thou art impregnable and above the reach or resentment of injuries and Affronts For by this means they all rebound back again upon the head of the Author and like blows upon Anvils when they make no impression only benumb and put the party to pain who laid about him with such impotent malice and fury To continue Revenge is to give our Enemy the satisfaction of knowing that he hath hurt us and he that complains declares himself worsted in the Controversie So say the Moralist * Ultio doloris confessio est non est magnus animus quem incurvat Injuria Ingens animus verus aestimator sui non vindicat injuriam quia non sentit He that is impatient for satisfaction acknowledges himself in pain that Soul cannot be truly great which bends beneath an Injury A generous Spirit and one that truly values himself never revenges a wrong because he is too big to feel the smart of it You will reply perhaps that it is very hard though to suffer Injuries and Offences grievous in it self and scandalous to the World I know it very well and therefore my Advice is that you would not suffer them but vanquish and get so absolute a mastery over them that nothing of this kind should reach up to you And this to be
all that know him and beyond the very utmost of his own most Sanguine hopes Prosperity is a State of infinite hazard and danger As soon as ever this fair Gale begins to blow all that is light and empty in the Soul is immediately carried up with the breath of it Nothing hath so pestilent an influence to stupifie and ruin Men and make them forget themselves They perish and are spoiled like Corn born down by a full Ear and Branches broke with excessive quantities of Fruit. And therefore it is necessary a Man should be sensible what slippery ground he stands upon and look to his steps accordingly but especially he should beware that he be not carried to Insolence and Contempt of others Pride and Presumption with regard to himself These are Vices so incident to Mankind that the least Temptation will suffice for them And as some People according to the Proverb will be drowned in two foot of Water so there are some too who upon the least smile of Fortune swell and look big scarce know themselves and are intolerable to all their Acquaintance Of all the Pictures of Folly which the World can furnish us with this seems to be drawn most like the Life From the unsteadiness of Mind it is that we are able to give a rational account why Prosperity should be so very short and uncertain as generally we find it For Persons in this Condition are for the most part ill-advised and this Inadvertency makes frequent and quick Revolutions changes the Scene from Joy and Grandeur to Calamity and Sorrow and Want alienates the Affections of Providence provokes Almighty God to take back again what Men make such ill use of To all which we may add the secret and undiscernable Reasons of his Dispensations or to express the thing in a more secular Phrase that Inconstancy of Fortune which from a fond Mother changes her humour unaccountably to all the Severities of a cruel and cursed Stepmother Now the properest Advice upon this occasion is for a Man to restrain and moderate his Opinions and Affections of the good things of this World not to esteem them too highly nor imagine himself one whit the better or the worse Man for the Enjoyment or the Want of them and the natural Consequence of this so low Valuation will be not to desire them with any degree of vehemence If they fall to his Lot to accept them as the Gift of a bountiful Master and to serve him with them thankfully and cheerfully but always to look upon these as foreign and additional Advantages no necessary no inseparable part of Life Such as he might have been very well without and such as while he hath them are not to be made any great account of or suffered to change the temper of his Mind either higher or lower For * Non est tuum fortuna quod fecit tuum Qui tutam vitam agere volet ista viscata beneficia devitet nil dignum putare quod speres Quid dignum habet Fortuua quod concupiscas What Fortune hath made yours is none of yours He that will live safe and easie must decline those treacherous Baits those Limed twigs of Fortune For what hath she in her disposal worth engaging our desires or fixing our Heart and Hopes upon CHAP. XXXVIII Of Pleasure and Directions concerning it BY Pleasure I understand a Perception or Sensation of that which is agreeable to Nature a delightful Motion or tickling of the Senses as on the contrary by Pain is meant some disagreeable Sensation which produces Sorrow and is grievous to Nature But those Philosophers as the Sect of the Epicuraeans in particular who resolved the chief Happiness of Man into Pleasure and paid it greater Honour than we think fit to do took it in another Signification and extended the thing no farther than a privation of Grief or Uneasiness such as they thought sit to express by Indolence According to their notion humane Nature was capable of rising no higher than the not being uneasie This is a sort of middle State a Neutrality between the first and vulgar acceptation of the Word and Pain And bears the same Proportion with regard to this Life which some Divines have thought Abraham's Bosom does to the next A Condition between the exquisite Happiness of Heaven and the extreme Torments of Hell 'T is a sweet and peaceable sedateness of Body and Mind an uniform constant and fixed Pleasure which carries some resemblance to that Euthymia or tranquility of Soul which other Philosophers esteemed our chief Good Whereas the other is an active and sensible Pleasure full of vigorous and sprightly motion At this rate there would be three distinct Conditions of which Mankind are capable two in extremes Pleasure and Pain which are neither stable nor durable but both of them sickly and in excess the Mean between them firm and sound healthful and permanent to which the Epicuraeans attributed the name of Pleasure and such indeed it is when compared with Pain and placed the supreme happiness of our Nature in it This unhappy Name brought that general scandal upon their Sect which the opposite Parties of Philosophers insult over with so much Pomp and Triumph For after all as Seneca with great Ingenuity confesses there was no hurt but in the Name no offence but what was meerly Titular for to those who will be at the pains of a nice Examination into their Lives and Manners it will appear that none ever advanced Doctrines of stricter Sobriety none were greater Enemies to Vice and all manner of Debauchery none more distant from those Reproaches to a rational Soul than the Men of this Profession Nor indeed was it without a fair appearance of Reason that they gave this name of Pleasure to that so much exalted Indolence of theirs For this Titillation of the Sense comes at last to this and seems to make it the ultimate end and aim of all the more feeling satisfactions we find in it as for instance the delight we find in Meats and Drinks pretends to nothing more than to deliver us from that torture and those eager cravings which Hunger and Thirst had brought upon us and by satifying the Appetite to place us in a Condition of Ease and Repose till the same Wants return again upon us The learned World have behaved themselves very differently upon this occasion They have determined very peremptorily on both sides and as is usual with hot and positive People have both over-shot the Mark Some have perfectly adored Pleasure and exalted it into a Deity others pretend the greatest Detestation of it and expose it for a Monster They start and tremble at the very Name and cannot allow it to import any thing but what is full of Guilt and a Scandal to humane Nature Those who condemn it without more ado proceed to Sentence upon these following Considerations They tell you that it is First a short and transitory Enjoyment a fire of Thorns
kindled and extinct in a moment especially if it be vigorous and exquisite for in proportion as you add to the Degree so much you take off from the duration of it Secondly That it is a nice and tender thing the least Accident corrupts and embitters it that a drop of Pain will sowr an ocean of Pleasure Thirdly That it is mean and base attended with shame and attained by those parts of our Body which Nature hath placed out of sight as if she were out of Countenance at the gratifying our own Inclinations This however is true but of some Pleasures for there are some which affect Pomp and Ostentation Fourthly That we are quickly cloyed with it Men are formed in such a manner that their Constitutions will not bear the long continuance of any exalted Pleasure There is a certain Impatience attends it and we soon grow weary of what we most eagerly desired but just before Whereas on the contrary Nature hath made us hard and tough and able to weather out very long Pains as hath been observed formerly This short Pleasure too is often followed by long Remorse it produces monstrous Mischiefs and is more fruitful in nothing than in the ruin of single Persons and Families and whole Countries But the fault they insist most upon is That when Men are most intent upon gratifying it it does so entirely possess and tyrannize over them that it usurps the whole Man and will not so much as admit Reason to interpose or share in the Entertainment On the other hand the Advocates of Pleasure plead not guilty to this Indictment and alledge in defence of their Cause That Pleasure is natural created by Almighty God himself and contrived for the good of the World made subservient to the Preservation and continuance of his Creatures Nature which is the Parent of Pleasure seems convinced of its necessity in that all the actions by which Life is sustained are seasoned with and recommended by it And yet all Philosophy hath allowed that the way to live well is to follow the Dictates of Nature God placed Man during the state of Innocence in a place and condition richly furnished with vast variety of Delights And the very name given by Moses to Paradise is in the Hebrew Language Pleasure And not only so but Eden if we raise our Eyes and Thoughts above this World to the highest perfection which Religion bids us aspire after What are the felicities of the Saints above but a lasting and uninterrupted Series of Pleasure They shall be filled with the Pleasures of thy House and thou shalt give them Drink out of thy Pleasures as out of the River says the Psalmist when he would describe the Satisfactions of the holiest Men. These I confess do not mean those gross and carnal Satisfactions which this Term is abusively made to denote but it ought not by any means to be confined within that compass as if nothing that is truly generous and great could be intended by it These things ought to be included when we speak in vindication of Pleasure and the other have no reason to be disdained when regulated by Equity and Reason And accordingly we find that the most renowned Philosophers and acknowledged patterns of Virtue such as Zeno Cato Scipio Epaminondas Plato and the Immortal Socrates himself did not think it below them to tast the Comforts and Diversions of Life nay descended so far as even to Discourse and write Tracts of those which some now by an affected nicety pretend to accuse as you have heard and would in their mighty but mistaken zeal for Virtue fain banish out of the World under the odious Character of Pleasures of Sense Since therefore Wise Men have been so much divided in their Opinions upon this Subject it will be necessary for us to proceed cautiously and to distinguish these Pleasures into their several sorts without which we shall never be able to come to any just and true Resolution of the Case arising hereupon nor satisfie our selves which are lawful Pleasures or how far any are so First then we must take notice that some Pleasures are natural and others unnatural This Distinction being of all the rest most important to our present purpose will be considered more particularly by and by Some again are pompous and showy nice and difficult others are silent and secret easie and ready at hand Pleasure is not ambitious of Splendor and Observation but esteems her own solitary Enjoyments Wealth enough without concerning her self what other People think of her and enjoys her self more in Retirement than in the eye of the World Those again that are so very easie as to be always at our command grow flat and nauseous and lose all their relish except there be now and then a little Uneasieness or Obstruction to set an edge upon our Appetite There are likewise spiritual and corporeal Pleasures The ground of which Distinction is not any real Separation capable of being made between them for Pleasure of every kind affects the whole Man and extends to every part of the Composition and one part hath not any one resentment peculiar to it self which the other does not likewise share in nor can have while this intimate Union of Soul and Body continues the present Life to us But that which is the true foundation of this Distinction is that there are some Sentiments which affect the Mind more than they do the Body and may therefore very fitly be called manly Pleasures as being more proper to us better suited to our Faculties and powers of Perception than they are to those of Beasts And as they are more worthy in respect of the Faculties they are commensurate to so are they likewise more steady and durable Such for instance are those Satisfactions which enter at our Eyes and Ears for these two Senses are the Doors of the Soul and the Objects they receive only pass through there in their way to the Soul which entertains feeds upon and digests them and finds long Refreshments and Delights from them But the Body tasts but a very little part of these Satisfactions Others again the Body ingrosses almost wholly to it self such as those of the Touch and the Taste which are more material and of a courser Composition Such as Brutes keep us Company in And such Pleasures are received performed and finished by the Body and its Organs The Mind hath no other advantage in them than by Reflection only and what must needs belong to it while it continues an assistant and Companion to the Body And these are short and transient the crackling of Thorns the flash of a Meteor born and bred up and dead in a moment Now the main thing we are concerned to know upon this occasion is how it will become us to behave our selves in the fruition and government of our Pleasures This is the Lesson that Philosophy pretends to teach and the particular difficulty Temperance makes provision against And
here first we ought to put a very great difference between natural and unnatural Pleasures By the unnatural I do not understand those only which are contrary to Nature and such usages as the Laws have established and approved but even those which are the most natural of all others are comprehended under this Title in case they degenerate and run out into Superfluity and great Excesses For these things are not within the Verge of Nature for She concerns her self no farther than meerly to supply our Necessities and real Wants which however we have leave to enlarge a little and that we may not complain of scanty measure are free to consult Convenience and common Decency For Example it is a natural Pleasure to be sheltered by a good tight House and to have our Nakedness covered with good warm Cloaths for these secure our Persons from Wind and Weather and bitter pinching Blasts and are some defence against the attempts of wicked Villains But now that those Cloaths should be of Tissue or Embroidery or that House built of Jasper and Porphyry this there is no occasion for and the satisfaction which would result from their being such is not any natural Pleasure Again they may be unnatural if they do not come to us in the way and method of Nature as if they are sought with Anxiety and Industry procured by Artifice prepared by Medicines or any other Stratagems of humane device and invention to create to heighten to force either the Appetite or the Pleasure by which it is gratified So they are likewise when formed and beaten out originally in the Mind by the strength of imagination or the violence of Passion and so are afterwards communicated to the Body which is just inverting the order of Nature For the usual Course is that Pleasure should begin in the Body and from thence pass on to the Mind And indeed as that Laughter which is forced by Tickling is not natural nor pleasant but rather a convulsion and violence upon Nature so that Pleasure which is courted and industriously contrived kindled up first in the Soul and from thence descending to the Body is not a regular and natural Pleasure Now the first Rule which Wisdom would prescribe with regard to Pleasures is to condemn and utterly abandon all the Unnatural as Vicious and Spurious and to allow and entertain such as are Natural For as those who come to a Feast without any invitation should be turned home again so those Pleasures that obtrude themselves upon us without even being bidden by Nature are to be looked upon as Busie-bodies and Smell-feasts and either denied entrance or thrust out of Doors again But neither may we think our selves at liberty to entertain the true Guests as we please for even these must be treated by Rule and with Moderation And thus you have the Duty and Business of Temperance in general laid before you at once The whole of which may be reduced to these two good Offices excluding all unnatural Pleasures and regulating those that are natural Now the Regulation of natural Pleasures will depend upon the due Observance of these three Rules First That whatever we indulge our selves in be no way Offensive or Scandalous Injurious or Prejudicial to any other Person For where any of these is the plain and natural Consequence of the thing we must forbid our selves the fruition of it and seek out some more innocent and unexceptionable Entertainments Secondly That this Liberty be not to a Man 's own Prejudice by impairing his Health casting a Blemish upon his Reputation devouring his Time encroaching upon his Duty or being disagreeable and unbecoming his Office and Character in the World Thirdly That even those which are clear of all the former Inconveniencies be taken in due measure and proportion and our Affections moderated with regard to them As we are not to act against the grain in all we do so neither must we lay any of those things which are most with it too close to our Hearts we should neither court our Pleasures nor run away from them neither be averse to them nor doatingly fond of them But take their Sweets as we do that of Honey a drop or two upon the Tip of our Finger not lay it in by whole handfulls not engage too deep in them I mean nor make them our Business and the main design of Life much less intoxicate and lose our selves in them For these are additional Comforts Recreations and Diversions only to render our Continuance here easie and give us a better relish of Life to refresh and recruit our Spirits and sustain them under the Fatigues of a troublesome World As Sleep is intended to make us forget our cares a while and inspire us with new vigour that we may return to our work again and be more sprightly and fresh in Business In a word they are made to use and not to live upon But especially we ought to be very vigilant and guard our selves strictly against their deceitful Insinuations For many of them are bought at too dear a rate and do us more hurt than all their satisfactions can ever compensate They leave a Sting behind and create lasting Remorse and great Disquiets of Heart And this is done after a very subtle and treacherous manner They put themselves forward and amuse and cheat us by some present Gratifications but hide the Hook that lies under this Bait. They put on the Face of Friends to cover their murderous Intentions caress and embrace us with a seeming tender Affection but hug us so close with a design to strangle us Thus the Pleasures of Intemperance go before the Pains and sick Qualms of it and thus do the generality of those Delights which heat of Youth is so prone to and plunges it self so unwarily in Then we venture in over head and ears but when we are drowned in them the Infirmities of Old Age succeed and then they forsake us quite and leave a miserable Spectacle behind them as the tide of Ebb does its Nuisances and Carkasses upon the Shore The delicious Morsels which were swallowed so greedily turn to Gall and Choler upon our oppressed Stomachs and end in Repentance and bitter Reflections And the Dregs of our foul and polluted Enjoyments stick fast to our Souls and by their poysonous corroding quality infect and corrupt our Dispositions and settle into ill habits and inveterate Diseases Now as Moderation and Regularity in our Pleasures is a most decent and beautiful a most useful and profitable thing agreeable to the Laws of God the design of Nature and the dictates of Reason So on the contrary Extravagance and Excesses of all sorts are odious and deformed hateful to God and Man and the most destructive that can be both to the publick Good and Men's own private Interest Pleasure unduly taken softens and enervates the Soul enervates and preys upon the Body makes Fools of the Wise and Cowards of the Brave What a lamentable instance
Several Persons as Atticus particularly who have been given over by Physicians of the Gout and other Distempers looked upon to be incurable have been perfectly recovered by Abstinence and a sparing regular Diet. And what can we desire more for the Body than a long and a healthful Life What can recommend any Virtue to Men fond of the World if this will not But then it is of equal advantage to the Soul too For by this means our Heads are kept clear and unclouded our Faculties awake and sprightly we are capable of thinking and fit to be advised All the very great Men in Story have been particularly eminent for their Sobriety not only Philosophers and such as made pretensions to a strict and severer Virtue but all that have been Excellent and whose Names live upon Record for any sort of Greatness whatsoever Such were Cyrus and Caesar the Emperour Julian and Mahomet Such was Epicurus too who though a profest admirer of Pleasure and run down as a Scandal to Philosophy for espousing it was yet famous for these abstemious Virtues above any of his Accusers The Curij and Fabricij are more celebrated in the Roman History for their frugality and simplicity of Diet than for the greatest and most glorious Conquests they ever won And though the Lacedaemonians wanted neither Courage nor Success nor a Reputation equal to both yet the Character they valued themselves upon and pretended most to was that of strict Discipline Frugality and Sobriety Now this is a Virtue which must be fallen in love with betimes Youth is the proper time for embracing it while it can be called a Virtue while we have more opportunities of gratifying our Appetite and while that Appetite is keener too For how wretched is it how ridiculous to take Sanctuary here in our old Age when we have made our selves living Hospitals and are all over Aches and Pains This is a folly like that observed in the Athenians who are said never to have asked a Peace but in Mourning Weeds for their Friends and Relations slain in Battel when all their Men of Note were lost and they no longer in a condition to defend themselves This is what our English Proverb calls * Sera in sundo parsimonia Shutting the Stable-door when the Steed is stollen and turning good Husbands when we have brought our Noble to Ninepence It will be very adviseable not to use our selves to delicious and artificial Meats for fear our Body should by degrees come to relish no other and suffer for the want of them For in truth these make our Appetites humoursome and give us both a false Hunger and a deceitful Nourishment These may feed our Diseases and ill Humours but the plainer and courser our Diet the truer strength and more kindly Nourishment it imparts These therefore we shall do well to accustom our Palates to if we would secure our Ease and Health For they are easie and every where to be had and so our desires are not like to be disappointed when we want and they are also lightest of digestion and most agreeable to Nature when we have them CHAP. XL. Of Luxury and Excess in Apparel and their contrary Virtues Frugality and Modesty CLoathing was observed in the beginning of this Treatise to have been none of those things which are natural and necessary nor to have been originally in use with Mankind But it is meerly artificial invented for our convenience and in request with no other Creature in the World Now it is usual with all Inventions to increase and multiply every day refines and improves them still more till at last there is no end of their Variety Multiplicity is the certain Character of Art as Simplicity is of Nature The consequence then of Apparel being Artificial is that it runs into insinite Fantastical forms and differs in proportion to People's Fansies and Humours Accordingly we find that the greater part of Tradesmen and Handicrafts Men deal in such Commodities and Manufactures as are converted to the defence and ornament of the Body But it were well if this only were regarded for from hence they are come to such Extravagancies and Abuses that our Garments are no longer a covering to our Defects and a supply to our Necessities but a nest of Vanity and Vice * Nîdus Luxuriae These are the great occasion of Quarrels and Disputes for the distinction of property seems to have begun in this point When things were most in common every Man had a peculiar title to the Cloths he wore which is intimated by the French Language in particular expressing all manner of Rapine by Stripping Dérober and the English Word Robbing is very probably an Allusion to the same thing This Vice hath always been most remarkable in the Female Sex and if it be not entirely theirs the Scandal is the greater to those Men who descend so low For there is not in the whole World a surer sign of a poor and little Soul than this striving to recommend ones self and gain respect by such despicable means as Dress and Rich Cloths None will insist none depend upon these Ornaments but they who have no other How wretched a thing is it to confider the Care and Cost laid out upon Luxury and Shew and the general neglect of those shining Habits of the Mind that Virtue that Bravery which should enable us to make a beautiful Appearance and set us off in real and solid Excellences The Lacedaemonians prohibited any but common Women to wear gay and sumptuous Cloths this was lookt upon as the mark to distinguish such infamous people by but the Ladies of Reputation desired to be known by their severe Honour aâ—â— shining Virtues Now the true anâ— lawful use of Apparel is to keep out Wind and Weather and all other severities and inconveniences which our Bodies would suffer by being exposed to the open Air And it is a great fault to divert the thing from this to other vain and Sinful purposes In order to answering their proper end it is plain Clothes need not they ought not to be expensive for the richer they are the less are they qualified to defend and secure our ease But then some regard must be had to Decency too and distinction of Qualities all which may be done with Gravity and frugality observing the just medium * Nec affectatae sordes nec exquisitae munditiae between affected Slovenliness and effeminate Nicety Caligula made himself ridiculous by the softness and Fantasticalness of his Habit and Augustus was as much admired and commended for the Modesty and Gravity of his CHAP. XLI Of Temperance with respect to Carnal Pleasure which is Chastity or Continency COntinency is a Virtuo of very difficult Practice and requires an exceeding strong and vigilant guard over our selves For all our perfections of this kind are so many violences upon nature and inclination which are not in any case to be withstood without much Toil and
things may be to us they are of none at all to the Persons we tell them to except it be to give them a taste of our Folly and from a dislike of our Conversation to avoid the same absurdity in their own We fancy because these Accidents are pleasing to us that they are so to them but alas the difference of Persons should be considered for to render the Story agreeable to tell there needs no other Recommendation than that our selves are at the bottom of it but then the very same reason renders it as nauseous to the Hearer not only because he finds no Concern of his own there but from that natural Aversion and Disdain we bear to Men who are always big and full of themselves and have the vanity to suppose that whatever relates to them is worthy to be the Concern of all they converse with But especially we should be careful not to transgress this Rule of profiting others by running into the contrary extreme of Injurious or Offensive Language For Speech is in the very original intention of it an Instrument and Harbinger a Reconciler and Uniter of Mankind and therefore to apply it to any purposes contrary to these is to abuse and pervert the nature and design of it This Consideration was never more necessary than now and if applied to the modern way of Conversation would soon convince us how vainly those Persons pretend to Wit and Sense and Honour whose whole Discourse consists of Slander Detraction Mockery or Reproach sacrificing the reputations of the absent to an ill-natured Jest or exposing and ridiculing their Defects by Mimickry and Buffoonery all which are infinitely unbecoming the Character such Men aspire after and a Diversion too base and barbarous for any Wise or Good Man to allow himself in Our Discourse should be Easie and Pleasant Courteous and Entertaining not Rough and Harsh Difficult and Troublesome For this reason it will require some prudence in the Choice or the declining of our Subject We should contrive as much as possibly we can to start nothing but what will keep our Company in good humour never to engage in Controversies where any that are present shall find themselves concerned for this either disobliges if they think fit to let the Argument fall or else it draws them into Disputes and occasions Warmth and Uneasiness and perhaps Coldness and angry Resentments afterwards But though there should be no personal Interest in the case yet nothing of Controversie in general should be industriously begun for common Discourse is not the proper season for that If the Question be Substantial and of great Concernment the respect of a private Conference is due to it but if it be some nice and subtle point it is not worth so much as our common Talk Such Questions have been aptly enough compared to Crabfish of which some are all Shell and when we have taken great pains to open and prepare them for our Palates nine parts of ten must be thrown away and a very poor pittance remains fit for Eating Their difficult and abstruse Speculations raise a Noise and a Dust but when we examine what account they turn to little comes of them but Heat and Calmour and Contradiction Our Expressions should be strong and clear our Arguments sinewy and full not loose and flat and languishing and therefore we should observe and avoid the formality of Pedants the stiff-set way of Pleaders and the impertinent Affectation of the Ladies This particular sort of Temperance extends likewise to one very necessary Virtue which I think may not unfitly be called the Continence of the Tongue That I mean of keeping Secrets which though already spoken to in the Chapter concerning Fidelity Chap. 8. I thought not improper to make another mention of here And the rather because I take Secrets here in a more large and comprehensive Sense so that the Virtue at present prescribed does not only oblige us not to disclose those things which were committed to our Trust under the Seal of Secresie but also to suppress whatever in Prudence and our own Discretion appears unfit to be divulged All that is dangerous or of ill consequence all that can any way reflect upon our own or be injurious to another's Reputation In a word so strict a Guard so steady a Conduct in all our Conversation that our Tongue may not out-run our Judgment and that neither our own Consciences or those we keep Company with upon the severest and most impartial Recollection have cause to accuse us of saying any thing which was not fit to be said This is of greater Importance and needs to be more diligently attended to than People seem generally well aware of and yet it is no more than every Man 's own Reflections upon the indecent Gayeties and unthinking Freedoms in Conversation and the many ill Effects and hard Censures these produce may soon convince him of And satisfie him not only of the Beauty and Comeliness but of the safety and great advantage there is in a modest and cautious reserve While the word is kept in it is entirely our own but if it once break loose from us it can never be retrieved we have lost all our Property and Jurisdiction and must stand to the courtesie of the World who will make what use they please of it and very seldom are just or good-natured enough to make the right use or to understand it as innocently as we intended it Now as the advantage of Speech in general is an Excellence peculiar to Mankind and sets us above Brutes so Eloquence exalts those that are Masters and Professors of it above the rate of common Men. For this is the Art or Science of speaking a more accurate and exquisite way of Communicating our Thoughts of enforcing and adorning Reason This is the Rudder of the Soul that steers and turns Men and sets us at the Helm of our Audience to carry them whither we please It falls in with the Heart and secretly moves our Passions like the Chords in Musick which in a skilful Composition conspire together to make a more perfect and delightful Harmony By Eloquence I mean all that is necessary to make an accomplished Orator For this does consist not only in perspicuity and purity of Expression the Elegance and Propriety of the Words the happy Choice and regular Disposition the fulness and roundness of the Period and the justness of a sweet and musical Cadence but it must also be assisted and strengthned by other Ornaments and Graces and Motions of the Person himself Every Word should be inspired with Life and Vigour first by a clear and sweet Voice a proper and distinct Pronunciation rising and falling gently and easily as is best accommodated to the matter and design Then by a grave and unaffected Action where the Countenance the Hands the whole Body the every part and gesture speak as well as the Mouth all follow them ovements of the Soul and
should think or speak or act according to Truth and good Sense We have likewise before Book I. Ch. xxxix in that Chapter which undertook to represent the Misery of Human Nature given several remarkable and but too notorious instances of the Faults and Failings which the generality of the World are guilty of both in point of Judgment and Choice how miserably their Understandings are darken'd and their Wills depraved which may very easily convince us how fix'd and deeply rooted they are in Error and Vice To this purpose are those Sayings common among Wise men That the Greater part is always the worse part of Mankind There is not one of a Thousand Good That the Number of Fools is infinite And that there is very great Danger of Infection in the Croud Upon these accounts their Advice is not only to keep one's self Clear and Free and have nothing at all to do with such Opinions and Designs and Affections as are popular and in vogue but as if all this Restraint were too little not so much as to venture your person among the Mob to decline all manner of Conversation and Familiarity with the Vulgar since it is impossible ever to approach that diseased part of Mankind without some taint some pestilential vapours such as will certainly bring danger and detriment to our own Health So contagious is the very Breath and Company of the People so little ought even the wisest and persons best established in Virtue and Wisdom to trust themselves among them For who indeed is strong enough to sustain the Attack of Vices when they march up in form of Battel and charge by whole Troops at once We see what a world of Mischief one single Example of Avarice or Luxury does The Conversation of One Effeminate Man softens by degrees and enervates the Minds of them that live with him One Rich Neighbour kindles our Desires of Wealth One Lewd Companion strikes as it were his Extravagance and Debauchery into us so forcibly that we may even feel the Impression it eats like a Canker and nothing is so solid so clean to be free from the Rust of it And if this be the Case of particular Instances what do we think must the Condition and the Power be of those Vices and Dispositions that are become General and such as all the world run into with full Cry and wild Career And yet after all as necessary as this keeping aloof off from Infection is the thing is exceeding difficult and but seldom put in practice For to follow the beaten Track is something very plausible and carries a great Appearance of Justice and Goodness Humility and Condescension in it The Road is plain and large and Travellers are easily seduced into it Singularity is a By-path and none but fanciful or conceited men are thought to take it We go on after our Leaders like Beasts in a Herd The Reasonableness and Worth and Justice of a thing is rarely examined but Example and Custom are the moving Arguments and thus we hurry on and stumble at the same Stones and fall upon one another in heaps we press and push forward and draw whole multitudes upon the same Precipice and there we fall and perish merely upon the Credit of those that go before us Now the Man that would be wise indeed must take quite contrary Measures He must receive nothing upon Content and Example only but be very jealous and considerate and suspect every thing which he finds the generality of Mankind agreed in and fond of and instead of counting Numbers and practising by the Poll he must weigh the Goodness of the thing not suffering himself to be deluded with fair Appearances with general Approbations or common use or doing as the rest of the world do but nicely examine the real intrinsick worth of Things and Actions and resolve to stand alone where this will not justify his Compliance Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil is a just a prudent a necessary Precept and a most vicious and mistaken Modesty That is which prevails with us to disobey it When therefore any one would cut us short and thinks to knock all our Arguments on the head by saying All the world is of this Opinion or all the world does thus a considerate Man will answer to himself at least I like it so much the worse for that this is but a very scurvy Caution for their Approbation makes me suspect it the more Thus the Wise Phocion when he saw the whole Auditory highly applaud something he had spoken turned about and asked his Friends that stood by What was the matter whether he had let fall somewhat which ought not to have been said or been guilty of some egregious Impertinence that all the People were so mightily pleased with him The wisest method then is to decline as much as possibly we can any Familiarity or frequent Conversation with the People who are generally foolish ignorant and a very odd Medley of Men But if our affairs will not permit that yet at least it must be our constant Care to avoid their received opinions not to be born down with their Judgments nor conform our selves to their Temper and Complexion nor be corrupted by their vicious Dispositions and Practices But at the same time we live in the world we must not be of the world And This indeed is the Reason why Solitude is so much and so earnestly recommended by Philosophers and Wise men a Solitude that consists in setting the Soul free and discarding all popular Opinions and reigning Vices delivering the Mind from the Bondage and Confusion which Custom and Example and the Common Cry subject it to that so itmay have leisure to retire into it self and take its full Range without Interruption or Restraint The other Inconvenience and fatal Obstruction of Wisdom Second Thing Exemption from Passions is Internal and as such threatens more imminent Danger and requires a greater portion of our Care And This is that Slavery and Perplexity which our own Passions and disorderly Affections put us into And against These there ought to be a strict and strong guard to prevent their Tumults and Insurrections or rather indeed we ought if that were possible to dispossess them quite that so our Mind might be clean and open and unsullied like a Blank Paper ready to receive any Inscription any Tincture of Wisdom against which the Passions are formal and declared Enemies by the Stains and Prejudices they leave upon it This gave occasion for that Saying of some Wise Heathens That it was not possible even for Jupiter himself to be in Love or to be angry or affected strongly with any other Passion and yet to be Wise at the same time And accordingly both Reason and Revelation in the Ideas they teach us to form of God represent him void of all Passions Body or Bodily Affections as Infirmities by no means consistent with the Excellencies of an Absolutely Good
and Perfect Being Wisdom is a regular conduct of the Soul it proceeds in number and weight and measure it is an evenness and smoothness a sweet and pleasing Harmony of our Judgments and Wills and well-proportioned Dispositions A constant health and soundness of the Mind whereas the Passions quite contrary are the Ague-sits of a distempered Soul the Boundings and Reboundings of Folly the wild Skips and wanton Sallies and impetuous Emotions and rash unguided Flights of the Man without any Aim or Order or Measure The Colours in which the former Book painted our Passions are so black and hideous General Remedies against them that they cannot but shew us their Deformity and may create in us a just horror and detestation of them The Remedies and Means for subduing each of these in particular will come in more properly in the Third Book under the Topicks of Fortitude and Temperance But of those which are general and our present Business there are several and of different kinds some Good and some Evil. I do not here reckon that Happiness of Constitution and Natural Blessedness which renders the Man so well tempered as to preserve him calm and serene not subject to any strong Passions or violent Emotions of Soul and keeps him in a constant smooth even uniform composure of Spirit harden'd and impenetrable and proof against all Attacks This indeed is an uncommon Excellency but it is not so properly a Remedy against Evil as an Exemption from it it is not a Medicine or an Instrument of Recovery but it is an effectual Prevention of Sickness and the State of Health it self This therefore falls not within the compass of our Subject and Design in this place which is to prescribe Remedies truly so called and of Them I shall propose Four to the Reader 's Observation The First which in truth is not at all advisable nor hath any real Goodness to recommend it Stupidity is a sort of Stupidity or Insensibility of Mind which does not feel nor apprehend at all A Brutish Apathy incident to mean Souls such as are either perfectly seared and dead or have their Apprehensions in great measure blunted and dulled a sort of Callousness and Crust upon the Sensitive parts a Spiritual Lethargy and constant Heaviness which though it have some Air of Health and Ease yet what we think so is in effect its Disease For there can be no such thing as Wisdom and Constancy where there is no Knowledge no Sense no Activity at all And therefore this does not cure the Distemper but only render the Patient insensible of his Illness But yet This as bad as it is is better and much rather to be chosen than the knowing and feeling and suffering ones self to be vanquished and preyed upon by the painful Impression What Horace says of his Writings is thus far applicable to the Affections and Follies of Mankind * Praetulerim Scriptor delirus inersque videri Dum men delectent mala me vel denique fallant Quam sapere ringi Horat. Epist 2. Lib. 2. I had rather be a little Wit So my dull Verse my own dear Self delight Than know my Faults be vex'd and dye with Spight Creech The Second Remedy is very little or nothing better than the Disease it self and yet it is more used A Counter-Passion and oftner applied than any other This is when a man vanquishes one Passion and stifles it by the more prevailing Force of another For the Passions are never equally poized but one or other of them will always cast the Scales Now we are frequently guilty of a great Error in attributing things to Virtue and Wisdom in which They never had the least hand or concern but they are purely the Effects of Passion And it happens very well for Persons under these Circumstances when those which ride highest and have got the Dominion in their Souls are not of the worst sort of Passions The Third which is indeed a Good Remedy though not the very Best Prevention is a matter of Prudence and Artifice by which a Man steals out of the way runs hides himself and keeps at a distance from the Occasions and Accidents which he knows or hath found by Experience apt to provoke and put him out of Temper such as wake the sleeping Lion and give Fire to his Passions This is a Study and a Knack men have of putting themselves upon a posture of Defence or rather of keeping good Out-guards upon the alarming whereof they may have leisure to retreat or so to secure the Passes and Avenues that the Approach of Evils may be intercepted and prevented Of this kind is that common Story of a Prince who immediately broke a Rich Cup that was presented to him for fear it should provoke his Anger if by Chance or Negligence it should happen to be broken by another hand The proper and constant Prayer of these men is Lead us not into Temptation Thus it is that Men resolve against Gaming who feel themselves unable to command their Temper and cannot play without Passion And thus Men of nice Honour and prone to Anger decline Disputes in Company and crush the very first motions to Strife in the birth For when a man is once engaged it is difficult to make a good Retreat and the After-Game of Wisdom and Discretion is very hard and hazardous to play In the Beginning we manage things as we please and have them at our mercy but when once the fire is kindled and we are grown warm they manage and carry Us how and whither they will It is certainly much easier wholly to decline a Passion than to keep it within just bounds and measures and that which few can moderate almost any body may prevent And the Reason is plainly this Because all things in their infancy and at first are small and feeble flexible and tender But the misfortune is that while they are weak we are not sensible of the Danger and when they are grown stubborn and strong we are not capable of a Remedy This any man may observe in common Conversation How many instances could every one of my Readers recollect of persons who upon every slight occasion fall into Quarrels commence Law-suits engage in Disputes and Controversies and are at last forced to give out with Disgrace come to shameful and dishonourable Accommodations take Sanctuary in mean and equivocating Interpretations belye and contradict themselves betray their want of Honesty go against their own Sense palliate and disguise and colour over matters of Fact which are all of them miserable Refuges and Remedies ten thousand times worse than the Disease they would cure In all these cases it were much better not to begin at all than to bring matters to such a Conclusion For for want of timely Prudence and good Conduct they fall into want of Integrity and Good Sense And so in all their Proceedings they run directly counter to that wise Advice of