at once but Self-love is mistaken for we are so far from losing all our five Senses that 't is certain we do not really lose one of them we don't become uncapable of Seeing Hearing and Speaking 'T is not the Nature of Things but the free Institution of God that hath affix'd these Perceptions of our Soul to the Organs of our Body to which they had naturally no more Relation than to the Matter which is hidden in the Center of the Earth howsoever Men may be prejudic'd in this Matter Would we say such a Man has lost his Sight the natural Disposition of whose Faculties God should have so chang'd as to have order'd that his Eyes should have no more Priviledge than the rest and that all the parts of his Body should be capable of Seeing This is the Idea of a Man that loses one way of perceiving and sees this infinite Abyss of Sensibility which is naturally in him adequately fill'd These Losses which prejudic'd Nature imagines it is at by Death become so much the more sensible as they are unavoidable and impos'd by a fatal Necessity which cannot be resisted Men have always look'd upon â—his Necessity as a dreadful Misery the irâ—egular Inclination they have to love forbidâ—en Things with so much the greater arâ—our which caused One to say Define vitiae â—rritare vetando augments and encreases â—heir Love of Life by the Impossibility they â—nd themselves under of extending its Liâ—â—its and makes 'em look upon Death with â—o much the more horour as they are uncaâ—able of avoiding it But had the Wisdom â—f God impos'd upon Men the necessity of â—iving as it has the necessity of Dying we â—ay be almost assur'd that in time they would â—e as much afflicted and troubled at the â—houghts of their Immortality as now they â—re at those of their Mortality Now the neâ—essity of Dying makes them attend more to â—â—e Pleasures than the Crosses of Life but â—â—en the necessity of Living would cause â—â—em to apply more regard and attention to â—â—e Evils than to the Agreements and Pleaâ—â—res of Life Our Soul assuredly owes a great part of its Repugnancy and Unwillingness to leave the Body to Custome and Prejudices to see this we need only reflect upon our past Life remark and muster up together all its Pleasures and seriously ask our selves whether all that countervails our past Grief and Trouble On one side what if it pleas'd the Author of Nature to endow a Soul which is form'd to animate a Body with a most distinct Knowledge of the Dignity and Perfections of its Nature the Grandeur of its End and the Nobility of its Extraction and on the other it were inform'd distinctly of all the Infirmities of all the base and painful Dependances which it goes to espouse by espousing this Body pray would not the very first Moment of its Life certainly seem the beginning of Death So for this reason 't was necessary that the confus'd Sensations of Nature which alligate and fasten us to Life should precede the distinct Ideas which are proper enough in themselves to free and loosen us from it and that the former should be naturally of greater Force and Activity than the latter For tho' God would not have us be excessively fond of Life yet the Author of Nature was oblig'd to interess and engage us in the Preservation of Corporeal Nature without which there would be no Society Death has two very different and also very opposite Aspects as we consider it with reference to the Soul For Life and Death may both be said to make the Debasement and Glory of Man Life makes the Glory of the Body and the Debasement of the Soul 't is by Life that the Body is extended to the just and natural Proportion of its Parts Life gives it Health Strength Agility Beauty and makes in a word all its Perfections But Life causes the Debasement of our Soul it confines it to such Objects as are no ways related to its natural Excellency it makes this Mind buisy it self in trivial Affairs and place its whole Concern in the management of a Family a Field a Vineyard and the most abject and sordid necessities of the Body as if this immortal Mind was made for no higher and nobler Imployment but to prolong for some Moments the Duration of this frail Machine to which it is united If Life makes the Glory of the Body and the Debasement of the Soul Death may be said to make the Glory of the Soul and the Debasement of the Body The Body falls but the Soul rises up and soars as it were to its native Heaven The Body consumes and in process of time relapses into Dust but the Mind extends and enlarges it self like a Divine Sphere which becomes greater and greater proportionably to the nearness of its Approach to God The Body is depriv'd of its former Motion the Soul acquires such Knowledge as it had not before The Body mingles it self with the Earth the Soul is re-united to God The Debasement which ensues upon Death lights upon an insensible lump of Matter A Carcass gnaw'd by devouring Worms endures no Pain it smells not those noisom Odours it exhales is not terrify'd with the surrounding Darkness nor is out of Conceit with it self even when 't is nothing else but an horrid Miscellany of Blood and Dirt of Bones and Putrefaction 'T is an Illusion and Cheat of prejudic'd Nature that makes us affix our proper Ideas and Perceptions to such Objects as do only occasion them Matter when depriv'd of Life and Sense is plac'd in its natural State this is no Imbasement or Degradation to it all the seeming Dishonour and Turpitude is meerly in our Fancy But the case is not the same in respect of that Imbasement and Degradation to which Life exposes us This is not the natural State of such a Soul as ours and doubtless the Author of Nature had never abandon'd it to such a Condition but upon the account of Sin Man indeed would have liv'd but his Life would have been more Noble and Excellent 'T is a great mistake to pretend that Man's Death commences the Punishment of his Corruption Life has already punish'd criminal Man by those sad Dependances which alligate and confine the Thoughts Cares Desires and Affections of so great and noble a Soul to the support and preservation of this sordid Mass of Clay which we term our Body Yet such is the Imbecillity and Weakness of Man that he would needs fancy himself Debased where really he is not and is not willing to perceive himself Debas'd where really he is so An imaginary Debasement frightens and terrifies him and yet he cannot see a proper and real Debasement But what if the Body be truly Degraded so the Gain of the Soul does infinitely preponderate the Losses of the Body Are we so weak as to think that our Happinessness is so confin'd and fix'd to certain Affairs Possessions Offices Housholds and a
too little to Matter And here I durst advance a Maxim which will seem a very great Paradox Namely That altho' according to the confus'd Notion we have of these things Death be more capable of humbling us than Life yet according to the distinct Notion and in the reallity of the Thing it self Life is a more humbling and debasing Object than Death Death humbles the Grand Seignior the Prince the Monarch but Life humbles the Man which is more than all that Death snatches from us the props and supports of our Vanity but Life in the Debasement to which it pulls us down suspends in us most of the Sense of our true Grandeur Death brings the Body down into the Grave but Life as it were calls down our Soul from Heaven Death puts a Period to our secular Commerce with Men but Life suspends that natural Commerce we ought to have with God and which our Heart perceives to be the End for which it was made The Pursuivants of Death are Darkness Worms and Putrefaction whereof we are not sensible Life is totally made up of Weakness Baseness Infirmities Disgraces of which we are sensible Wherefore we are certainly prejudic'd and mistaken when we terrify our selves with the Ideas of Desertion Necessity Solitude Destruction which are not really included in the Image of Death but herein indeed we do not mistake when we dread the Judgment of God which accompanies Death for certainly this cannot but seem terrible to a Conscience that feels it self laden with the Weight of a multitude of Sins and pray where is there a Man that finds not himself in this Condition if he reflect but never so little upon his past Life This Moment truly is dreadful upon which we conceive all Eternity to depend but 't is certain that even in this the Heart of Man suggests to it self many Cheats and Illusions It fancies the Moment of Death to be the Price of Eternal Life And considers not that 't is not this Instant but its whole Life which God requires that this moment hath nothing more pleasing to God than any other and that its whole Importance consists simply in this That it is the concluding Moment of Life And Lastly That 't is not this Moment that contracts and covenants with the Divine Justice but all the Time we past in our Impenitence The Sentiments therefore of our Immortality our Perfections and our End will harmonize and agree together admirably well and with the other Sentiments and Inclinations of Nature and the Principles of Religion which God has given us for our Consolation against all the seeming Frightfulness and Horrour of this King of Terrors CHAP. VIII Where we continue to shew what Effect the Sentiment of our Immortality can work upon our Heart CErtainly the Idea of our Immortality can never be too present to our Mind for our Comfort and Consolation amidst this eternal Circle of those sad and dismal Objects which compass us about and those publick and private Calamities which the Severity of God has vary'd so many ways to give Occasion to the sweet Variety of His Deliverances and Consolations After all what signifies it that we are infirm and mortal in our Bodies This State cannot last long Why should we embarass and perplex our selves with Cares and Sollicitude for the short Futurity of this transient Life Have we not another Futurity in View which very well deserves the principal Care and Occupation of our Heart and Mind What need we value the Menaces and Threats of the World What can it do to us It may indeed crush our Body into Atomes but cannot destroy us What if the Frame of the World perish Nature decline and shake the Elements corrupt and decay what if our Body be converted into Dust Worms or Vapour what if it descend again into the Womb of its Mother Earth or be dispers'd into the fluid Air the Ruines of the World will not crush and destroy our Soul nor dissolve that Divine Principle which is in its own Nature uncapable of a Dissolution We think the Body which cloaths us is Our-self This is a mistake this Clay is not Our-self nor ever will be God indeed will re-establish and raise it in Honour to serve for a Tabernacle of that Spirit which was its original Guest and Inhabitant but this Union will not be with the same Submission and Dependance The Soul will not then follow the Condition of the Body but the Body will be adjusted as far as is possible to the State and Nature of the Soul and as the Soul was once debased even to the mean Condition of the Body so as to fly God and bend its Inclinations to Earthly Things the Body will now be desirous to elevate it self to the State of the Soul so as to decline and quit all Earthly Cares and to betake it self to a joyful Celebration of the Glory of God in the Heavenly Choir Certainly 't is not to be wonder'd That the Gospel administers more Comfort to us I will not say than Humane Wisdom has ever done but yet much more than the Law as Divine as it was This is because it clearly reveals to us Life and Immortality which are the only Objects that are capable of satisfying such a Mind and Heart as ours and so have Divine Relations to our Nature But as this Objâ—ct affords us all imaginable Comfort under the sense of so many Miseries that continually surround us so it yields us whatsoever may elevate and truly raise us The Sentiment of our Immortality joyn'd with the Consideration of that Glory and Happiness which Religion promises elevates us more than the World more than the so much boasted Wisdom of Philosophers and even more than all those Vertues which have fallen within the Verge of Humane Knowledge Here we discover the Grandeur of the Passions the Grandeur of the Mind to whose Empire they are Subject and the Grandeur of Vertue which regulates the Mind I say we do in this View discover the Grandeur of the Passions and no Man need be offended at this Expression For tho' the Passions be in some sense great Infirmities yet may they truly be said to be ingrafted upon the natural Dignity and Excellency of Man Hatred Fury Anger which are such criminal Passions and by which we equally contradict the Rules both of Humanity and Christianity proceed if you observe from an Opinion of our proper Excellency ill-directed and accompanied with the Illusions of Self-love which makes us conceive an Excellency in our selves exclusively to those that have offended us as if our Enemies were not Men as well as we That this Sense of our natural Excellency is in all Men appears from hence That even those Persons who are least of all esteem'd in the Minds of Others do notwithstanding this esteem and value themselves and so receive a kind of Domestick Consolation at their publick Infamy and Disgrace from their own Conceit We don't here pretend to justify all
progress in Arts and Sciences at least according to the ordinary Course and for the Generality and the Examples of the contrary are too few to lay any great stress upon But she can be Honest and Modest for which reason nothing is more Honourable in a Woman than Chastity Also that Empire of Beauty which the World esteems the Glory of Women fails of adding the same Honour to Men who are naturally design'd for other Purposes than to make themselves Amiable and display some Skill in throwing the Darts of Cupid And sometimes it happens that a Vice well plac'd passes for a great Vertue and a Vertue ill plac'd is thought a great Vice Prodigality becomes Alexander very well who being Master of the World has in his Custody the Treasures of it Frugality suits very well with Hannibal who supports his Armies by a Miracle when block'd up in Italy on every side Even Cruelty it self which at another time would in no wise become him agrees with the Circumstances of that Condition But Wisdom Prudence Honesty Fidelity c. being Qualities which suit with all States and Conditions no wonder if the greatest part of Mankind are equally concern'd about 'em They don't endeavour to obtain these Vertues as being worthy of Man but as they match and agree with their States and Interests They seek for true Judgment and Prudence because 't is the Reality and not the bare Appearance of these Vertues that serves their turn and promotes their Advantage but they usually content themselves with a meer shew of Honesty because they think that outward Appearances of Sincerity are more for their Ends than the Vertue it self Men have sufficient reason to hate Hypocrisy and to be angry at this Imposture of Vice which seems desirous to make Fools both of God and Men by an execrable Traffick of Appearances and affected Out-sides But to speak the down-right Truth Hypocrisy is a Vice which seems common to Mankind All Men study to appear as may be most for their Advantage 'T is a mistake to imagine that there be Hypocrites or Dissemblers of none but Devotion there be Hypocrites of Honour Constancy Valour Liberality and there be more that counterfeit themselves in civil Life than who put on a Vizard in the Church 'T is pretty to see two Fellows that scrape Acquaintance or are going to swap Wares take each other for Cullies and soft-Heads and neither say nor do any thing but what is to carry on the Design of Cheating Men affect a shew of Complaisance Politeness Probity Honour meerly to be thought really endow'd with these Qualities All this assuredly proceeds from a too short View of Self-love and lest we should Err and go out of the way 't is necessary to return from the Road we went in before to search after Man whom we desir'd to avoid and taking for Perfection not whatsoever distinguishes us in the World but what suits with this natural Equality of Perfection and Excellency which we have in common with other Men to consider our selves not in Our selves but God The Perfections belonging to the Mortal Man are very inconsiderable But those of the Immortal Man are all worthy of Admiration he need not put on the Mask of Hypocrisy to counterfeit himself to the Eyes of Mankind He need only renounce the Fallacies of his Pride the vain Prejudices of the World and take off the Veil which intercepts the prospect of himself to find that he 's advanc'd above the Sphere of Admiration Even the Passions of Men set up for real Perfections when they have their just Extent in the Immortal Man and if you narrowly observe you 'll find that the Baseness we conceive in these Affections of our Soul proceeds from the too narrow Limits where unto Concupiscence and Self-love have confin'd 'em Give the Soul Liberty to take its whole flight let it act with the full extent of its Powers and you 'll find 't is a Divine Sphere that grows bigger and bigger the nearer it comes to GOD. CHAP. XII Where we Treat of the general Vices which flow from Self-love and first of Pleasure THere are Three sorts of Goods whereunto Self-love is principally apply'd the Full which is of it self sensible and this is Pleasure A Second which is Desirable for its own sake but becomes not sensible of it self this is Esteem A Third which is neither sensible nor desirable for its own sake and hath only as the Schools speak a Goodness of the Means and this is Riches to which we must add a Fourth Good which seems to include all those before-mention'd namely Dignities which according to the ordinary Notion Men have of 'em are a Compound of Pleasure Glory and Support in order to lead a commodious and agreeable Life The love of Pleasure is Natural that of Esteem is Lawful the Desire of Riches hath nothing Criminal in it self But all these Inclinations immediately commence Vices when they become head-strong and cease to be directed by the Dictates of Reason Self-love apply'd to irrational Pleasure is term'd Voluptuousness as it irregularly pursues Esteem it has the Name of Pride and when 't is conversant about Riches desiring 'em with an excessive Ardour 't is termed Covetousness Lastly Self-love eagerly aspiring at Dignities beyond the measures of right Reason and the Tenour of Justice is call'd Ambition But as worldly Goods are reduc'd to Pleasure and Glory so the most general Disorders of Self-love are reduc'd to Voluptuousness and Pride an Examination of which will be the Conclusion of our present Enquiries Pleasure may be consider'd in reference either to the Person who is the subject of it or in reference to Society or GOD for 't is undoubtedly necessary in these Three respects 'T is by Pleasure that the Author of Nature hath engag'd our Soul in the Preservation of the Body we should omit to repeat the use of Food had it not an agreeable Tast 'T is Pleasure that puts us upon mutual Commerce whether in Oeconomical or Political Society since the Union of Men and even the Propagation of Mankind is to be ascrib'd to this Sentiment Lastly 't is the Pleasure we find in loving and being lov'd by God in hoping for his Blessings in receiving his Benefits and in having a sense of his Peace and Favour that incites us to have our Conversation with him Hence it follows that Pleasure is Criminal either when 't is opposite to the Good of the Man who is the subject of it or to the Good of Society or the Commerce we ought to entertain with God The imbitter'd Pleasures which for a momentany Delight cost Men very durable and lasting Torments are to be rang'd in the first Order As the Goodness of God manifestly appears in this That he hath affix'd Sentiments of Pleasure to Food and other things which naturally relate to the Preservation of the Body so his Justice becomes most sensible in the rigorous Punishment and Scourge of Incontinence But we
order to the pure Learning of these Duties but it is extreamly proper to nourish the Gratitude which we ought to bear to the Author of our Being to confirm the Faith we have in Jesus Christ and to remove from the Incredulous this haughty Prejudice That our Morality is calculated only for such Persons as have not Wit enough to avoid Deception And lastly To elevate our Mind and Heart by shewing us the Ways of GOD in the Inclinations of Men and the Duties of Man in the the Ways of GOD. We shall see thro' this Meditation the Divine Relations that are between Nature and the Gospel and that Reason leads us to the Confines of Religion We shall learn that Natural Light when it is pure and exempted from Prejudices doth of it self conduct us to the most sublime Duties of Man and represent unto us his lofty Destinies and the Glory of his Condition We shall endeavour to say Nothing but what relates to the Principles of our Faith which we will evince to be the same with those of Nature as far as they concern the Knowledge of Manners and if we be oblig'd at first to insist upon abstract Truths we shall do this no farther than as they conduct us to sensible Truths In a word We will search not only after Truth but also for Advantage and Profit in our Discoveries remembring the Design of the Science which we treat of Indeed Morality being to our Soul the same that Physick is to our Body and having for its End and Scope the curing us of our spiritual Maladies it must apply it self principally unto Two Things First to know the Evil and afterwards to search for Remedies that may effect the Cure These two Designs do divide Morality but they are too vast and would lead us too far wherefore we confine our selves to the former waiting till Providence put us in a way to handle the other We do here search for the Knowledge of Man but not as Physick Anatomy Metaphysick Logick Medicine which consider him as a Corporeal Being or simply as a Spiritual Substance as an Animal or as a reasonable Animal We shall consider him only as a Creature capable of Vertue and Happiness and which finds it self in a State of Corruption and Misery Not but this respect under which Morality obliges us to consider our selves engages us to borrow from some of these other Sciences certain Principles which we shall take from what is most evident in them For in order to have a perfect Knowledge of the Corruption and Misery of Man 't is necessarily requisite we should have some Knowledge of his Nature his End and his Excellence But if what we have to say on this subject seem in some places somewhat Abstract above the ordinary Capacity of Men it ought to be remember'd that we treat of the Sources of Morality and if it be perceived that we do not always accomodate our selves to vulgar Opinions it must be consider'd that this is not a fit place for respecting Prejudices since we write meerly to disentangle the Confusion of our Idea's and to justify by Reason that which we perceive by Sense This Work must therefore be divided into Two Parts In the First We will shew what Man is to what is Obliged and for what he is Able that is to say We will treat of his Nature his Perfections his End his Duties and natural Obligations his Strength Motives and Objects that may principally determine him in his Actions In the Second We shall treat of his Irregularities in general and particular we shall search for the Original of his Corruption we shall consider the Rivulets flowing thence we shall view the Force of his Applications the Extent of his Passions the Principle of his Vices and all along we shall shew the Rule in order to make known the Irregularities and we will justify the Greatness of our Fall by shewing the Degree of our Rise and Elevation May GOD who is the Master of Minds purify mine by his Grace to the end That I may say nothing but what refers to his Glory and is conformable to the Holy and Eternal Truths of his Gospel Amen The FIRST PART Wherein we Treat of the Nature of MAN of his End his Perfections his Duties and his Strength CHAP. I. Wherein we give a General Idea of the Vileness and Misery of Man which are the First of his Qualities that occur to our Mind IT is certain That Man seems to be a very inconsiderable Being when we judge of him thro' the Prejudices of the Senses We are not far from finding him uncapable of Vertue when we consider his Vileness and uncapable of Happiness when we reflect upon his Misery The Smallness of his Body is the first that occurs to the Eyes the Scripture dedenotes it by telling us That Man has his Foundation in the Dust That he dwelleth in a Tabernacle of Clay and That he is consumed at the meeting of a Worm And Nature moreover so clearly represents it to our Understanding that 't is impossible for our Pride to contest or dispute it 'T is true That as we are accustom'd to measure every thing with Relation to Our Selves we use to look upon our selves as the Center of Perfection and to think the Bodies that surround us either too great or too little according as they are more or less proportion'd to the Bulk of our own But you need but only change your State and view things with other Eyes than your own or consider them in a sense of Opposition in order to disabuse your self on this account Go up a Mountain and tell how big those Men appear who stand in the Vallies beneath Suppose the Heavenly Bodies were Animated with such a Mind as yours and that they had Eyes to look upon you pray what would your Body seem to them Or compare the Dimensions of this Body to these vast Spheres wherewith you are environ'd with these moveable and luminous Worlds which the Hand of the Creator seems to have planted round about you to convince you more throughly of the Smallness of this Tabernacle of Flesh which you inhabit The Infirmity of Man is proportion'd to his Smallness and his Meanness to his Infirmity and the one and the other was in the Mind of the Prophet when he cry'd out speaking to GOD Wilt thou shew thy Strength against a Leaf which the Wind carries away Or in the Mind of the Psalmist when he said by a kind of Hyperbole fraught with Sense and Truth That if Man should be weighed with Nothing we should find that Nothing would turn the Scale We may indeed say That Nothing does encompass Man on every side By the Time past he is no more by the future he does not yet Exist by the present he partly is and partly is not In vain does he endeavour to fix the past by Memory and to anticipate the future by Hope that he may stretch the present to a greater
length He 's a Flower that springs in the Morning spreads at Noon and withers in the Evening Man consider'd in his various States is a Creature constantly Miserable Who as an Ancient very well says Meets with Sin in his Conception Labour in his Birth Pain in in his Life and Despair of an inevitable Necessity in his Death All his Ages bring him some Infirmity or some particular Misery Infancy is meerly an Oblivion and Ignorance of One self Youth a durable Passion a long Madness and Old Age nothing but a Death languishing under the Appearances of Life with so great a Troop of Infirmities is it attended There are few things round about him but what do put him in Mind of his End he discovers the Principles of his Death which he dreads above all things both in the Air which he breaths in the Aliments which he receives and in the Sources of his Life which consumes and gnaws away its own Bowels And such is his Fate that after having shun'd the greatest Dangers Fires Shipwracks and Diseases he at last finds all these pretended Deliverances terminated by Death His Body is the Center of Infirmities his Mind is fill'd with Errors and his Heart with irregular Affections He suffers both by the Consideration of what is past which is Irrevocable and of the future which is Inevitable In vain does he desire to stay himself a while that he may have leisure to Tast some Pleasures which present themselves in his Way Time is like a Whirl-pool which carries him away inexorable to his Regrets and Complaints When we are alone we cannot endure the View of our selves and of the Necessity that is imposed upon the Pleasures of the World of passing away in a Moment United with others in Society we do but multiply our Selves as I may so say into other selves in order to a greater Participation of the common Misery of Mankind 'T is a very grievous thing to a Creature that loves it self so well to behold it self continually Dying and to perceive Life no more than proportionably as it loseth it Infancy is Dead to make way for Youth Youth for Ripeness of Years Ripeness of Years for Advanc'd Age and this latter for extream Old Age We are Dead in respect of those many well-belov'd Persons whom we have lost and in respect of many Pleasures and Advantages which following the Fate of the World are consum'd away by their own proper Use no Relick thereof remaining unto us but only a slight Remembrance which is uncapable of yielding us any Satisfaction and is very proper to vex and torment us Suppose the Life of Man were very long and durable yet the appendant Happiness of it would be inconsiderable and were the Felicity which we meet with here in these lower Regions as full as it is Defective yet 't would be very insignificant seeing it must be cut off at last by the fatal Sword of Death What then will this be when we are convinced of the Deceitfulness of these Advantages and of the shortness of Life which is such that to speak the down-right Truth 'T is hardly long enough to give us time to regulate our Affairs to take leave of one another and in a fit manner to make our Will Man who is naturally convinc'd of these Truths enquires after Means of solacing himself at these Calamities to which the Quality of Man exposes him therefore he avoids the Representation of himself to his own View and the putting himself forward under this Quality He would fain be look'd upon only as a Being invested with certain external Advantages which make the difference of Conditions and the distinction of Persons But if there be so much Dignity in Man as Religion represents to us there would be a Thousand times greater Grounds for Valuing himself upon the Qualities which we have in common than upon those which characterise and distinguish us And if on the contrary the Possession of these external Advantages were so Honourable as the World would make us believe Man in himself must needs be a very trivial and inconsiderable Being which we cannot think without betraying not only the Honour of our Nature but also the Sentiments of our Vanity Methinks we may give this Definition of the Worldling who to cure or comfort himself at his Poverty and natural Misery loves to cloath himself with Imaginary Goods A Phantome that walks among such things as have only an Appearance I call a Phantome not the Man of Nature compounded of a Body and Soul which GOD hath framed but the Man of Concupiscence compounded of the Dreams and Fictions of Self-love I call the Things which have only an Appearance and this after the Psalmist the Advantages which the World seeketh after with so great Passion and Ardour these great Vacuities taken up with our own Vanity or rather these great Nothings which occupy so great a space in our extravagant Imagination When we endeavour to Annihilate and Destroy this Phantome of Pride and Concupiscence which we discover'd in Man 't is not our Design to subscribe to the Eternal Arrest of our Misery and Vileness Let us make a deep Search into these Appearances which seem'd at first so sad and dismal and we shall find some Reason to comfort our selves but in order to discover that which we desire we must search for Man in Man and not in these external Differences which Concupiscence seeketh after with such a passionate Desire For it is not the design of GOD to raise one Man or a certain Order of Men to a proper and particular Happiness Concupiscence deceives in the very first Step it makes you take in your Search of the Supream Good You enquire after a particular Happiness a distinguished Glory so much the worse for you if you chance to find it since the true Good whereunto you ought to Aspire is a common Felicity which should be participated by an Infinity of Creatures that ought to make up the Family of GOD. Having consider'd the Man of Concupiscence who made himself let us now con-consider the Man of Nature who is the Work of the Creatour and to that end take a Survey of the Faculties of his Soul We shall not insist upon the Faculty of Imagination which properly speaking is nothing but a Collection of weak Sensations that do still subsist in our Soul by occasion of the Traces which outward Objects left in our Brain A Collection I say of Sensations which the Soul disposes and afterwards makes use of in the Perception of other Objects But we cannot sufficiently admire this Intellect of Man which rectifies the Senses corrects the Fancy purifies and enlarges Bodily Perceptions which unites together various Ideas in the Judgment it frames of Things and various Judgments in Discourse which weighs compares examines enquires and by the Relation it finds between Things makes the Dependance of Arts Sciences Governments and produces all the Wonders of reasonable Society Is it not a piece
transient â—nd finite Happiness For no less than an â—nfinite succession of Duration bears a proâ—ortion to this infinite succession of Percepâ—ions Thoughts and Desires of which Man â—nds himself naturally capable Let us then conclude That 't is in the Immortal Man that we discover the Nature the Perfections and the End of Man which make up his natural Dignity But as the Nature and Perfections of Man have given us a prospect of his End so his End informs us what are his Duties and natural Obligations which we shall consider in the following Chapter CHAP. II. Where we endeavour to know Man by considering the Nature and Extent of his Duties OUr Duties flow from Nature and owe not their Birth to Education as some Men imagine To make out this we need but suppose Two Principles The First is That we naturally love Our selves being sensible of Pleasure hating Evil desiring Good and taking care of our Preservation The Second is That together with this Propensity to love our selves Nature hath given us a Faculty of Reason to conduct and guide us We love our selves naturally this is â— sensible Truth We are capable of Reason this is a Truth of Fact Nature inclines us to make use of our Reason for directing this Love of our selves this most necessarily rises from the Principles of this latter it being impossible for us to love our selves really without employing all our Lights to search for what is agreeable to us Now from thence that Nature orders us to search for our own Good it follows that Man cannot be said without an evident Contradiction to be void of Duty and Law We must grant an Essential Difference beâ—wixt Moral Good and Evil since the former consists in obeying the Law of reasonaâ—le Nature the other in breaking it This natural Law in general may be diâ—ided into Four others which are its parâ—icular Species the Law of Temperance which obliges us to avoid Excesses and Deâ—aucheries that ruine our Body and injure â—ur Soul the Law of Justice which inclines â—s to render unto every Man his due and â—o by others as we would they should do by â—s the Law of Moderation which proâ—ibites Revenge knowing that we cannot do 〈◊〉 but at our own Cost and that to respect â—n this case the Rights of God is to take â—are of our selves and lastly the Law of â—eneficence which engages us to do Good â—o our Neighbour 'T is certain that the Immortality of Man â—akes the Perfection and Extent of these â—our kinds of Laws He who knows himself under the Idea of an immortal Being will not place his End in those Pleasures which the Author of Nature affixes to that which causes the Preservation or Propagation of the Body We shall not desire to injure other Men if we do not only fear a return of Justice in this Life but if moreover we dread the doing to our selves by that means an eternal Prejudice Whosoever is buisy'd as he ought about his Natural Dignity which undoubtedly raises him far above the Abuses he can possibly receive will be so far from satisfying himself at the Expence of God's Glory that he will hardly conceive any Resentment how ill soever he be dealt with Lastly if this Natural and Temporal Communion which we have with Men in Society be capable of producing any mutual Benevolence which is intended and encreas'd according to the Degree of the Temporal Commerce we entertain with them what Motives of Love and Beneficence do we not discover in the Idea of this Eternal Society which we ought and can have with them Thus the Natural Law is in Man but the Perfection and Extent of this Law is in the Immortal Man But these Four kinds of Laws do constitute what we call the Law of Nature which is the most Ancient most General most Essential of all and the Foundation of the rest 'T is the most Ancient Seeing that the Love of our selves and Reason are antecedent in us to all manner of Inclinations and Laws 'T is the most General For there have been many Men who never heard of Reveal'd Right but never did any come into the World without this Law which inclines 'em to search for their proper Good 'T is the most Essential For this is neither the Jewish nor Christian simply taken it is the Law of Men it does not belong only to the Law or simply to the Gospel but to Nature in what State soever it be Lastly 't is the Foundation of all the rest This plainly appears if we consider That all other Laws are nothing else but the Law of Nature renewed and adapted to certain Conditions of Men you discover the Natural Law in that which God gave to our First Parents The Legislator does there suppose that Man loves himself seeing that his Law is grounded upon Promises and Threatnings Good and Evil are set before him he is enlighten'd to know the one and the other He is engag'd to the Acknowledgment and Gratitude which Nature it self prescribes to us God requires an Homage of him in token of those many Favours he bestows upon him and this Homage consists in abstaining from â—he Fruit of One only Tree the Duty of his preservation is prescribed to him In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye the Death As also the Law of Justice for what is more just than to yield to the Creator the Empire and Dominion over his Creatures and not to gape at the use of his Creatures whether he will or no. This then is the Law of Nature accommodated to the Condition wherein Adam was at that time placed Indeed he could not be as yet prohibited the use of Idols which were unknown to him nor Blaspheming the Name of the Lord when he had but just began to Bless it nor to rest one Day of the Week who was to rest always nor the Killing his Neighbour that was not yet in Being nor committing Adultery when there was but one Woman in the World nor Stealing when he was Master of all Things nor bearing false Witness when he could bear it against no one but himself nor Coveting since all Things were his own But when Men were multiplied upon the Earth as their Condition chang'd God from time to time made new Editions of this Natural Law and gave it to Men under another Form because it was to be proportion'd to their particular Circumstances for which Reason it must not be imagin'd that when we say the Decalogue contains the Law of Nature we mean that it includes nothing else but these simple and common Principles which are to Guide the Conduct of all Men. I confess indeed the Decalogue is the Natural Law renewed and fresh drawn to the Eyes of the Israelites but withal it is certain that 't is the Natural Law accommodated to the State of the Israelites at that time The following Observations will set this Point beyond all doubt The Israelites had been delivered from the Egyptian
certain Circle of Persons with whom we have Society as that we cannot be Happy without all these things We have almost the very same Notions of Death as Children have when they fancy they shall be weary with abiding in the Grave and not dare to be alone in the Abyss of surrounding Darkness We terrify our selves with our own Phantomes and Chimaera's we make such a Confusion of our proper Perceptions with the Grave which is their Object that we are ready to imagine and resent that Horrour in the Sepulchre which is meerly a Creature of our own Fancy and exists no where else but in our own Soul We should not fear this pretended Solitude and apparent Privation which attend Death if substituting the distinct Ideas of Reason instead of the confused Perceptions of Nature we would consider that by Death we are not depriv'd either of the Subject or the Cause of those Delights which this World may have afforded us For the Subject is our Soul which still remains and the Cause is GOD who is immortal and immutable The reason why we regret and bemoan the loss of the Sky Earth Elements Society is because we invest these Things with those agreeable Sensations which they occasion'd not considering that we carry away with us the Colours Cloth Paint and Pencil which are necessary for drawing this admirable Picture and that if God fail us not we can nevâ—r want any thing Nor ought the Idea of Destruction which is included in Death to trouble us any more than this Idea of Solitude which we have been speaking of 'T is true Death seems to destroy Man several ways In his account it destroys the World it being certain that the Sun Moon Stars Air Earth Sea although they be not absolutely Annihilated in themselves may yet be said to be annihilated in respect of him seeing that he cannot enjoy any longer Use of them Man is not annihilated in himself but in the Nature which he admires and which perishes as to him in the Society he has been us'd to and which ceases to be any longer in his Account in his Body the Instrument of his Pleasures which perishes and moulders away in the Dust of the Grave Let us see whether there be any thing Real in either of these Three kinds of Destruction First then external Things cannot be said to be annihilated both in themselves and in respect of thei Use for how do we know but the same Institution in kind may still remain and be in Force tho' the manner of it cease Indeed there is no great likelyhood of our having such kind of Sensations after Death as we had during our Life for 't is no longer necessary that these Sensations should be proportion'd to the Condition and Preservation of a Body which in respect of us ceases to subsist The design which the Author of Nature hath had of engaging us in the Preservation of this Body by the Pleasure which the Aliments excite in us being accomplish'd and come to its intended Period we easily conceive that there being no longer Pleasure to be excited in us by Aliments Tasting has no place after Death and is not a proper Faculty for the Enjoyment of the other World unless God affix it to other Objects for different Ends. But methinks Hearing and Seeing being not only design'd for the Preservation of the Body but also for the Search and Pursuit of all that may nourish the Admiration and Gratitude we bear to the Creatour we have no reason to believe that these Sensations are terminated by Death Indeed I own we shall not see by the Motion of the Optick Nerve but yet we may be said to see for all that For pray what has the shaking of the Optick Nerve common with the Perception of Light These things have no natural Relation to each other and if we see Light and visible Things by the occasion of the Optick Nerve mov'd after a certain manner nothing hinders but we may have the same Sensations by the occasion of the Aethereal Matter which us'd to agitate the Optick Nerve which may be said proportionably of Hearing But suppose we should not have these very Sensations what does that signify since we shall certainly have Others and those of a more noble and elevated Kind For as by losing the Body we shall not be depriv'd of any thing but what confin'd and degraded us we ought not to fear that our Soul will lose any thing of the Purity and Excellency of its Operations by disentangling it self from the Embraces of Matter 'T is neither our Duty nor Interest to meddle and spend our Conjectures about those things which God thought fit to conceal from our Knowledge but I believe 't would not be a piece of too great Boldness and Presumption to conjecture That as the Imbasement and Vileness of Man during this Life consists in having his Reason subjected to Sense so the Glory that will follow Death consists in a perfect submission of Sense to the Empire of Reason Indeed at present as the Soul is descended from Heaven to inhabit a Tabernacle of Clay it buisies not it self in enlarging its Views or extending its Lights but on the contrary 't is employ'd in â—â—cking and confining 'em that it may not diâ—dain to use them in preserving the Body But then as the Soul will take its flight from these lower Regions to its Heavenly Station where it will have no longer need to care for the Support and Preservation of the Body but its whole Business will be to glorify God 't will no longer bestir it self to limit and confine but to purify and enlarge its Knowledge in order to render it more worthy of God about whom it will be conversant The second Destruction we apprehend in Death is no less Imaginary for tho' we see the Links which ty'd us to Society dissolve and break yet we ought not for all that to think we shall be exempted from all manner of Friendly Obligations The Society of Spirits does very well countervail the Society of Bodies whatever weak and prejudic'd Nature may think of it And when we shall put off these Eyes and Ears which are design'd for our Commerce and Conversation with Men we solace our selves with this Lenitive That we shall undoubtedly acquire other ways of Sensation and Knowledge by vertue of another Institution proportion'd to our future Condition Lastly I grant that One who still lives in this World and is depriv'd of the Members of his Body is to be pitty'd But when a Man is transported into another World sees another Oeconomy of Objects what should he do with these Senses which have indeed some Relation to this present World but not to his glorify'd State The Mischief arises from hence That in the ordinary Idea we have of our selves we attribute too much to the Body and too little to the Soul whereas following the distinct Ideas of Things we cannot ascribe too much to a Spirit nor
Being and infinite Understanding which governs and rules the Universe In General we should not make any matter of that Ignorance which proceeds from either of these Reasons That our Nature is too finite and limited and the Object too sublime or from the shortness of our Life which will not permit us to attain the Knowledge of all Things c. For Mortality is not a Crime to our Body nor is our Soul to be blam'd for not being Infinite Neither the Ignorance of the Mysteries of Nature nor of the Secrets of Providence can be look'd upon as the Corruption of the Understanding Jesus Christ was the Modâ—l and Pattern of Perfection and yet as Man He had not the Knowledge of all Things for He was ignorant of the Day of Juâ—â—ment The Ignorance of our Duties of our Sins and of the Benefits we have receiv'd is that which makes the Corruption of our Understanding this Ignorance proceeds not from want of Light and can bear no Apology or Justification nor are speculative Errours to be thought Vices of the Understanding So far are they from it that they have often remain'd in Souls which GOD had enlighten'd by His Revelation after an immediate and extraordinary manner For it does not appear that either Moses or any of the Prophets had other Ideas of the Sun Stars Earth c. than what were obvious to the Vulgar sort and indeed 't was not requisite that GOD should make those Men Philosophers by his Revelation whom He design'd for the Instruction of the most simple and illiterate Persons It s no matter tho' the Vulgars are mistaken in apprehending the Stars like Flamboys But 't is a great exorbitance and excessive Fault for those Sages who have such exact Ideas of the Magnitude of the Heavenly Bodies yet to look upon Eternity GOD and Religion as but so many Points or rather so many Shadows and remote Appearances Our Reason may be enlighten'd tho' it has the former Prejudice but if it has the latter it must needs be blind But 't is very easy to justify the Mind and to make it appear that 't is not the original Fountain of our Corruption by examining its different ways and manners of Knowing For to begin with the simple Conceptions of our Understanding no Idea in our Soul is Evil as such or as it represents an Object to us The Objects of Pleasure Glory nay and of Sin it self have nothing Criminal in themselves seeing we are permitted to know these Objects the same may be said of the Judgments and Discourses of the Soul Nor are the first Notions Criminal seeing that they are of so clear and so easy Evidence that the Mind no sooner begins to exercise and use its Reason but it presently apprehends ' em Discourse is a kind of acquir'd Knowledge which will never deceive us unless the Heart interpose and mingle it self with it For 't is an usual saying that Common Sense never deceives to denote that Man Reason's well Naturally Yet by the way 't is to be observ'd that among our different kinds of Knowledge Ideas have more Force to determine our Will than the Judgments or Discourses of the Mind this is true Generally speaking The reason of it is because our Notices as we have already remark'd have no Force of themselves but borrow it all from the Affections of the Heart And hence it comes to pass that Men are never very successful in Perswading unless they interpose as it were a mixture of Sense among their Reason or Knowledge Now none but a remote Good can be mingled with Reasons for seeing you are oblig'd to use Reasonings and Discourses in order to make it known it appears that 't is at some Distance off Whereas an Idea or simple Perception partaking of the Quality and being either pleasant or unpleasant according to the Disposition of its Object makes you of it self actually feel and perceive that which Discourse makes you only expect and wait for But yet this is not the Source of the Evil. The Irregularity proceeds from this That spiritual Ideas don't make near so great Impressions upon our Soul as Corporeal Ideas which enter'd in by the Channel of Sense whereas by right they should make a much greater since the Perception of our own Soul ought to be more vivid and lively than that of external Objects and the experience of spiritual Things should more nearly touch and affect us than the Knowledge of the Senses which concern us only in outward Objects Corporeal Ideas seem to be design'd for no other Purpose but for the good of the Body which they conduct and guide whereas Spiritual Ideas ought to direct our Soul and lead it to the Sources and Fountains of its Happiness so that as much as the Value of our Soul exceeds that of the Body so much are Spiritual Ideas Naturally more important than Corporeal and as they are more necessary so ought they Naturally to make a greater and more lively Impression As Ideas are a kind of internal Sense being pleasant or unpleasant according to the Character of the Things they represent because they partake of the Quality of their Objects 't is no mistake to say that they belong in some sort to the Affections or Sentiments of the Soul which are either Corporeal as Sensations or Spiritual as the Affections of the Heart so tho' we say the Corruption of Man arises from hence That Corporeal Ideas make too lively and strong Impressions upon the Soul yet this does not contradict our Principle that the Corruption of Reason proceeds from that of the Heart CHAP. III. Where we Enquire after the Manner how the Heart deceives the Mind THis Imposture of the Heart which deceives the Mind proceeds from voluntary Inapplications affected Distractions beloved Ignorances from Errours occasion'd by the ardent Desire we have to Cheat our selves and from this Inclination which removes and alienates our Mind from all that is Afflictive and firmly binds it to all that is pleasing and delightful The first Thing then which the Heart does is to fill us with unprofitable Objects that it may distract and divert us from those the Consideration whereof would be more important and useful to us tho' the sight of 'em seem afflictive and unpleasant We find among Others two Ideas in our Soul which we fear and dread above all the rest which are the Ideas of our Misery and our Duty The Idea of our Misery comprehends that of the Frailty of the World of our own Mortality our Sins the Justice of GOD our Vices Infirmities and of the Shame which naturally follows ' em The Idea of Duty includes a Thousand Obligations which are painful to such a voluptuous Soul as ours troublesome and disagreeable to an Heart affected with nothing but Pleasure mortifying to Pride and intolerable to Self-love Hence the most trivial Occupations the most insipid Diversions the most infructuous Knowledge the most unacceptable Employments become the Object of our
World that enlarges and fixes 'em in our Imagination the Soul to the utmost of its Power magnifying and eternizing whatsoever is agreeable and delightful to it So may we suppose that Grace causes the good Impression which Spiritual Ideas make upon us that is it fixes and enlarges 'em by accompanying 'em with a certain Sense of Consolation and unspeakable Joy which the Scripture sometimes calls the Joy of the Holy Ghost and sometimes the Peace of God which â—aâ—seth all Understanding As the Mind apply'd by our Passions to Corporeal Ideas may be term'd the Intellect of the Mortal Man so the Mind apply'd by Grace to Spiritual Ideas may justly be call'd the Intellect of the Immortal Man There is an extream Difference betwixt these Two the One is almost continually bewilder'd in Errours the Other is almost exempt from Errour For as our Errours at least those which are of dangerous Consequence have their Source in the Violence of the Passions and these Passions cannot but be very moderate in One who is conducted by the Views of Eternity and not of temporal Things we may judge that he is not subject to those Illusions which commonly cheat and deceive us The Immortal Man finding himself Glorious in his own Nature most Happy in the State propos'd to him by Religion and elevated far above Time and the World by Nature and Revelation has no reason to shun the Prospect of himself nor fear being afflicted by considering his End No Diversion relishes with him at least not such as pleases the Worldling's Palate for he seeks not only the Refreshment of his Body and Recreation of his Mind in this Design there would be nothing unreasonable but he searches for all that may buisy his Thoughts and bar him from taking a View of himself which appears from this That even after Repose and Ease he still reaches after farther Divertisements and is so charm'd and caress'd with the Enjoyment of 'em that he cannot be given up and retir'd to himself for a Moment without great Anxiety and Disquietude which proceeds from hence that the Weight of what is Past which is no more in his Account but an Object of Trouble and Regret and the Future which he looks upon as an Object of Doubt and Uncertainty combine together to crush his Heart with their Gravity and Burthen and plunge it into the sad Reflections of an inevitable Misery But the Immortal Man conceives all those things as Vexatious and Afflictive which are capable of diverting and carrying him away from the Confines of himself and is fretted and troubled at those importunate Veils which intercept the sight of his own Grandeur and at those Objects which suspend the Joy he perceives in the perfect Knowledge of himself Affection can't impose upon the Immortal Man his Passions are moderate seeing that he cannot long enjoy and partake of those things which bear so little Proportion to the Extent of his Duration blameless and untainted he casts his Eyes on Earthly things because he consider's 'em all with Indifferency He is not pre-possest with Pride A Man is not very careful to raise himself a great Name in a Place where he is to sojourn but for a very short time Nor with Interest his Reason does not shew it self partial for his Lucre and Profit seeing he is in View of an other Interest to free him from all other Prejudices And certainly right Reason and Prudence may be said to be proper to him alone tho' a Man be Cunning and Ingenious to heap up Riches to Conquer or Govern Provinces yet if his Knowledge reach no farther he is still no better than a Fool Indeed he has fram'd the Edifice with a great deal of Reason and Dexterity but he laid its Foundation upon the Sand. Worldly Men are Wise enough in the Choice of those Means which they employ to bring about the Ends of their Designs but are irrational and senseless in choosing the End which they propose The Immortal Man is as Wise in the Choice of the End as of the Means and consequently Exactness of Mind Uprightness Reason Judgment and Prudence are proper to none but him The Gospel affords us an illustrious Example of this Elevation in the Person of Jesus Christ in whom we discover not only an Immortal Man but the Prince of Immortality 'T is equally surprizing and admirable to find in him a God crawling on the Earth and conversing with Men and a Man enthron'd in the Kingdom of Heaven and rais'd above the Region of all Temporal things Consider but the simple and plain Manner in which his Disciples relate his Doctrines Actions and the divers Circumstances of his Life and this will perswade you that they had not a Design to make a flattering Description of their Divine Master For certainly these poor Men were not sufficiently skill'd in the sublimity of Manners for successfully broaching a fictitious Portraicture of Him Yet must it withal be granted that the History of our Saviour tho' compil'd without the Affectation of Study and Elegance of Art carries with it such a Loftiness and Elevation of Style as was never known before his Appearance For he 's the first that Acts and Speaks like an Immortal Man and teaches us to steer and conduct our Lives by the Views of Eternity He seeks not any thing that may distract and take him off from the Duties of his Charge or divert him from meditating and thinking of himself he spends the Day in instructing the Multitude and the Night in Praying to GOD. That which Men use to covet and desire is an Object of his Contempt and Disdain he 's not Ambitious of any Man's Esteem nor does he eagerly follow great Mens Heels with hopes of Benefaction and Preferment He uses not a sordid Indulgence nor a false Complaisance to any Rank or Condition whatsoever He has been said to have had the Knowledge of Nature for no other End but only that he might understand how to take Emblems from it which he makes use of and employs to lead Men to God Those are not his Friends which have a temporal Relation to him but those that are related to him in God that is who are truly his Disciples and do the Will of his Heavenly Father He measures the Wisdom and Folly of Men not by their Craftiness and Ingenuity in the Things of this Life but by a Dexterity and Wisdom which tends to the infinite and incorruptible Good His Desires Fears Anger Thoughts Discourses Works Occupations and Studies stop no longer at the Confines of Time then 't is necessary in order to separate and loosen Men from it but are all directed to Eternity And doubtless tho' the intimate Commerce he has with his Eternal Father should not fill his Mind with supernatural Lights yet his own Sanctity which disengages him from holding Commerce with Creatures would be sufficient to secure him from those Illusions and Cheats whereby Men are commonly inveigled and deceived Having now
there 's also an Interest of Hatred which creates in us the like Disposition We look upon other Men as our Enemies because we regard 'em as Competitors in the pursuit of temporal Enjoyments You 'll always be pleas'd at seeing 'em Degraded whilst you think 'em in a Condition to rival you in any thing But no sooner does this Opposition cease but there 's also an End of that Pleasure you conceiv'd in their Debasement hence it happens that Slander has for its Object not the Dead but the Living After this 't is easy to judge that the Pleasure of Conversation is not so innocent as Men commonly fancy Indifferent things are tedious to us those which concern and nearly relate to us excite a Pleasure either of Pride Hatred Impiety Ambition or some other Passion no less Criminal As there is a Pleasure of Conversation there is also a Pleasure of Thoughts which proceeds from the same Source with the former It arises from this that our Heart being prepossess'd with certain Passions can't enjoy it self but when it thinks upon certain Objects and therefore suspends all our other Thoughts and Reflections Such is the Pleasure of a Lover who forgets every thing else to think of the Object of his Love he perceives a sort of Delight in his Amorous Contemplations which is destroy'd by Passion because the Pleasure of Thought yields to that of Sense Men commonly imagine that the usual Distractions and Wanderings of those that pray to God or exercise any other Duties of Religion are the least of Faults but if they enquire into the Cause of 'em they 'll change their Opinion For indeed these proceed meerly from the too great Pleasure which the Ideas of temporal Things excite in our Minds and that as I may so speak we desire to retain those worldly Objects by the Pleasure of Thinking which escape our reach thro' the Suspension of our sensual Delights We every where seek for Pleasure just as Bees for those Flowers which afford 'em Nourishment and as they many Times find what they search for in foul and moorish places so it frequently happens that we perceive a kind of Pleasure in Affairs Dangers Labours and sometimes even in Affliction if it be not very great There 's a Pleasure which might justly be term'd the Pleasure of Complaints and Tears We take delight in lamenting the Death of illustrious Persons the Glory of those who are bewail'd signalizing in some sort even those who bewaiâ—â— ' em We take a Pleasure to prolong and eternize our Sorrow We think to give a Specimen of the Constancy of our Soul by an inconsolable Affliction Lastly we are very glad to make an appearance of the Greatness of our Loss thinking to engage the Compassion of others to reflect upon our own Worth In the last place we perceive a sort of Pleasure even in Idleness which oftentimes causes us to renounce all the rest It proceeds from a certain Effeminacy and Softness which makes us hate even the least Pain and Incommodity For our whole Business being the search of Pleasure we accustom our selves to think love desire speak and act with Pleasure to seek for such Company as delights us and to avoid all manner of disagreeable Occupations Hence the least Inconveniency puts us in Despair it being contrary to this prevailing Habit and suspending the Perception of so many different Pleasures the Thoughts whereof are always present to our Mind Wherefore we must not think to find Stedfastness and Constancy in Voluptuous Souls Pride indeed may cause 'em to affect a sort of Hardiness to support Disgraces and Calamities but certainly they never put on a real Fortitude till they are freed from the charming Idea's of Pleasure Bodily Pleasure is more sensible than Spiritual yet this appears more Criminal than that For the Pleasure of Pride is Sacrilegious which appropriates to it self the Honour belonging to God the Pleasure of Hatred is Barbarous and Blood-thirsty which is delighted in nothing but Desolation and Tears and the Pleasure of Incredulity and Superstition is as we before shew'd full of Impiety and Wickedness which is nourished and upheld by any thing that seems to debaâ—e or annihilate the Deity This shews us in the first place that Pleasure is as universal as our Corruption it being certain that they who are abandon'd to one sort of Pleasure seldom fail to enslave themselves to another It signifies but little for Instance to make great Scruples about the Use of sensual Pleasures when we are given up to that of the Mind which is far more criminal and dangerous Secondly we may reasonably conclude that 't is impossible to cure One-self of this Vice by Motives purely Temporal For when you allege to a Voluptuous Man the Considerations of Honour and Decorum of his Interest and Establishment in the World you may perhaps so far work upon him as to oblige him to prefer the Pleasures of Pride and Ambition before sensual Pleasure but this will but transport him from one Vice to another If you 'd find such Motives as are capable of withdrawing him from all kinds of Pleasure you must put the case to him of forsaking all worldly Delights if need be and to this End set him upon making this Reflection That himself shall last to Eternity and those Pleasures but for a Moment Indeed upon the Principles of a mortal and perishing Man the Cause of Pleasure seems just and reasonable for 't is natural to One that is not to be very long in a Condition of enjoying the sweetness of Pleasure to seek and pursue it so long as he has an Opportunity This Piece of Morality is prettily express'd by Horace Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam Were all Man's Hopes and Pretensions confin'd to the short Duration of this Life there would be Truth and Reason in these Maxims But being destin'd to live after Death the Light of Nature teaches us that he ought in like manner to aspire at those eternal Delights whereof Religion so happily informs him To this I add that the Immortal Man or as I have already describ'd him he who believes he is Eternal and acts according to this Principle easily renounces the Allurements of Pleasure thro' his desire of an endless and unlimited Happiness 'T is impossible he should become a slave to sensual Delight which he knows the Author of Nature imploy'd purely as a Motive to engage us in the Preservation or Propagation of the Body He 's as far from placing his Supream Felicity in the Pleasure of being applauded and extoll'd by a Society of Mortals as any Man in his right Senses would be from placing his Glory in the Praise and Commendation of one that 's to see him but for a Moment He is not affected with the Pleasure of Revenge he 'll hardly look upon those Persons as Enemies who do him but a temporal Prejudice He patiently supports the short Dâ—pendances of this Life and
for the same reason tasts not any criminal Pleasure in being a Superiour regarding his Condition as a provisional and transitory State which scarcely deserves his Care and Attention In a word the Immortal Man has no Passions but what are very moderate about 〈◊〉 Objects of this Life and as his pleasure in the World is proportion'd to the Degree of his application to these Objects 't is easy to conceive that he finds himself situated above the Sphere of Voluptuousness in which certainly he cannot be said to lose any thing being advantagiously indemnify'd by the Commerce of Love Gratitude Zeal Joy and Consolation which he holds with God who by the Sentiment of his holy and unspeakable Delights raises him above the melancholly Scene of our sad and intoxicated Pleasure Wherefore Man does not escape the fond Embraces of Pleasure as 't is usually fancy'd either by Pride Interest Revenge or Ambition he that shuts himself up in the narrow limits of this Life will be Voluptuous do what he can Let the Pagan Philosophers tell us as many fine Precepts of Vertue and prescribe as many Remedies as they please against Intemperance we 'll indeed admire their Maxims because of the secret Relation they have to our natural Dignity of which we have a confus'd and imperfect Knowlege But shall never find our selves any farther dispos'd to practice 'em than as we are convinc'd of our Eternity CHAP. XIV Wherein we Treat of the general Disorders of Self-love and particularly of Pride PLeasure and Glory are the two general Goods which give a season and relish to all the rest They are as it were the Spirit and Salt of all the others differing in this as we before observ'd That Pleasure becomes amiable and desirable purely for its own sake whereas Glory is perceiv'd meerly upon the account of that Pleasure which attends it But tho' Glory be perceiv'd only by means of that Pleasure wherewith 't is accompany'd yet may it still be said in some sense to be desirable for its own sake at least it must be certainly acknowledg'd that 't is no easy matter to find out the primitive and ancient Reason upon which our Love of Esteem is founded This is no satisfactory Solution to say that we desire Esteem because of its appendant Pleasure For this Pleasure being a Pleasure of Reflection the Difficulty is not so easily ended since it still remains to know why this Esteem which is something forreign and remote in respect of us should cause our Satisfaction Nor is it more to the purpose to alledge the Utility and Profit of Glory for tho' the Esteem and Repute we acquire may serve to make us succeed in our Designs and procure us divers Advantages in Society yet there are Circumstances under which this Supposition will not hold good What prospect of Advantage could Mutius Leonidas Codrus Curtius and all those other Heroes propose to themselves who laid down their Lives in the Field and pursuit of Honour What Advantage could they see in sacrificing their Goods and Themselves upon the Altar of Pride Thro' what Principle of Interest do those Indian Women who burn themselves in the Funeral Pile of their deceas'd Husbands seek even in despight of Laws and Remonstrances for an Esteem which they Survive A certain Person hath said upon this subject That Self-love delights to foster and cherish an Idea of our Perfections which is as it were its domestick Idol being unable to endure any thing that opposes this Idea as Contempt and Injuries and on the other hand passionately searching after all that flatters and magnifies it as Esteem and Commendations According to this Principle the Advantage of Glory would consist in this That the Esteem which others have for us confirms the good Opinion we have of our selves But that this is not the principal Source of the Love of Esteem and Honour appears from hence That Men for the generality make more account of the apparent Merit which they obtain by the Esteem of others than of the real Merit which attracts the Esteem of themselves or if you will that they had rather have those Faults which Men esteem and value than such good Qualities as are not priz'd in the Eyes of the World and that moreover there are multitudes of Persons that seek to make themselves considerable and valu'd by such Accomplishments and Qualities as they very well know they are not endu'd with which destroys the Opinion that they have recourse to an outward and forreign Esteem to confirm the good Sentiments they have of themselves 'T is equally groundless to imagine that we desire Esteem meerly for this reason That we may be distinguish'd and rais'd above the common Rank for this is to explain the Cause by the Effect We don't seek for Esteem that we may distinguish our selves but we distinguish our selves because we would be esteem'd by departing from the Multitude and leaving the Dungeon of our former Obscurity Lastly The Love of Esteem in its general Idea can't be said to proceed from this Idolatry of Self-love which aims at being Eternal and Immense like GOD exhibiting to us an imaginary Eternity in the memories of Men to save us from the Shipwrack of Time and maugre its consuming Malignity to perpetuate our Name and trying to enlarge our Dimensions and extend 'em to the utmost limits of the World by buisying the Minds of Men with the Consideration of our Actions and Grandeur If that were the only Source of the Love of Esteem and Honour 't would follow that we cou'd not innocently desire the Esteem of other Men nor consequently be blamable for dreading Infamy and Disgrace which is contrary to Reason Tho' we search ne're so long for the Springs of this Inclination I 'm perswaded that the reason of it will no where else be discover'd but in the Wisdom of the Creatour For as God imploys the Use of Pleasure in order to preserve and propagate our Body to unite us together and make us sensible of the Good and Preservation of Society wherein we are plac'd so there 's no doubt but his Wisdom makes use of the Love of Esteem to defend us from the Debasements of Pleasure and put us upon exerting honest and laudable Actions which so well agree with the Dignity of our Nature and at the same time to unite us more conveniently one with another This Pre-caution would not have been necessary had Humane Reason acted only by it self and independently from Sense For then this Reason would be able not only to shew us what is Honest but also to prefer it before what is Pleasant But because this Reason is Partial and many times judges in favour of Pleasure tying Honour and Decorum to that which delights us the Wisdom of the Creatour thought fit to give us for the Arbitrator of our Actions not only our own Reason which suffers it self to be corrupted and brib'd by the softness of Pleasure but also the Reason of other Men
common to all His Revelations which he addresses to Men upon Earth this is to manifest Himself unto them cloathed with some of His Benefits that He may win their Heart by an Acknowledgment and Gratitude He was serv'd in the Old World under the Name of God who is and who is the Rewarder of them that call upon Him He was afterwards known under the Name of the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob. After that He gave His Law by declaring Himself the Lord who had brought this People out of the land of Egypt Afterwards a Prophet declares that the Time is come in the which Men will no longer say the Eternal is He who brought His People out of the Land of Egypt but the Eternal is He that hath brought up His People out of the Country of Babylon Lastly so soon as the time for Man's Redemption is accomplish'd God is no longer call'd by any other Name than the God of Mercy and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They therefore are very much mistaken who fancy 't is an Offence against God to love Him any otherwise than for the Love of Himself and His intrinsick Perfections and that there is no interested Motion in our Heart but what is Criminal In order to refute these Speculations we need but make reflection upon the Conduct of God who not only consents that we should love Him by the Motives of the Good which we find in the Possession of Him but also wills and proportions His Revelations to this Design and it may likewise be said that we glorify the Supream Good when we desire it ardently and feel no Repose or Joy but in Communion with it This grand Precept may be proposed to the Mortal Man to confound and baffle him by shewing him the Impossibility he lies under of fulfilling the Divine Law but 't is the Immortal Man alone that is capable of fulfilling this Duty 'T is not the dying Man that perceives himself under great Obligations to God but the Man that subsists to Eternity And 't is not in a heap of perishing Favours but in the Assemblage of incorruptible Goods that we find the Motives of such a Love and Gratitude as are worthy of God So also the Man of Nature consider'd as a Man that hath short and transitory Relations to other Men neither can nor ought to love others so much as himself Were we obliged to love an indifferent and unknown Person with the same degree of Affection that Children love their Parents certainly the whole World would be a Scene of Disorder and Confusion We ought to love our Children more than Persons that are indifferent to us now as it is the Love of our selves that makes this Inequality and this Variety of our Affections it follows that there is an Original Law of Nature which dictates that we should love our selves more than other Men. But the immortal Man hath other Views and Obligations all the divers kinds of Proximity and Relation which respect this Life disappear and vanish at the prospect of the Relations of that Eternal Society which we are to enjoy A Temporal Neighbour whom Nature points out to us is not so considerable as the Eternal Neighbour which Faith discovers in him But some persons love themselves to such an exorbitant Degree that 't is in no wise convenient they should be affected with the same Love if others as of themselves For pray tell me of One should say to a Man I wish you were Ungrateful Blind Passionate Revengeful Proud Voluptuous Covetous that you might take more Pleasure and Enjoyment in the World would he not have Reason to think that either we dote or have a Mind to make him a very course Compliment and yet this would be to love our Neighbour as we love our selves If we would love our Neighbour as our selves we ought to love him with Relation to Eternity None but the immortal Man is in a Capacity of observing this Precept strictly and well Perhaps the Question may be ask'd whether when the Law enjoyns us to love our Neighbour as our selves it means that we should love by the Motives of that Love we bear to God or of that which we have for our selves I answer by distinguishing still betwixt Rational and Sensual Love when we love our Neighbour with a rational Love 't is certain that the Motives of this Love ought to proceed from the Love we have for God When we love our Neighbour with a Love of Sense or sensual Love the Motives of Love should proceed purely from the Affection we have for our selves Thus it may be reply'd that we ought to love him by both these Motives and the Law of the Decalogue seems to confirm us in this Opinion for it puts the Precept which refers to our Neighbour immediately after that which refers to God to teach us that the One depends upon the Other and that we are obliged to love our Neighbour with the same kind of Affection that we bear to God And on the other side it calls him whom it recommends to our Love by the Name of Neighbour to intimate to us that we are concern'd to love him because he is a Person that belongs to us Reason tells us That God being the supream and infinite Beauty is Amiable for his own Sake and that all things become so for the Love of him It therefore requires us to love Objects according as they stand related to God The Experience we have of our own Being accompany'd with Joy and Delight obliging us to love our selves in the first place Nature teaches us to love Persons according to the degree of Proximity and Relation which they have to Us. These two Laws are not opposite to each other the One as I may say is the Law of Reason the Other is the Law of Sense the one is the Instinct of the mortal and perishing Nature the other of the immortal and incorruptible Nature the one relates to the short and transient Society which we ought to have one among another the other to the Eternal Commerce and Friendship we ought to have in God CHAP. IV. Where we shew the Extent of the Natural Law by considering it in the Gospel and with Relation to the Immortal Man IF the Law of Moses were the Law of Nature accomodated to the Condition of the mortal Man and to the State of the Israelites in particular the Gospel is the Law of Nature accommodated to the State and Relations of the immortal Man This sufficiently appears from the different Genius and Conduct of the two Oeconomies Under the Oeconomy of the Law God seems to make no farther Manifestation of Himself than to break thro' Walls open the Abysses of the Earth inflame Mountains send down Fire from Heaven menace the Body with his Judgments or to execute the Arrests of his Justice upon the perishing Nature but under the new Dispensation of Grace we see Persons animated with the Spirit of
God contemn the Injury of the Elements and the persecution of Men suffer with so great Constancy as if they suffer'd in a Body which was not their own transported with Joy in the midst of consuming Flames and triumphing to see the Dissolution of that Compound which is so preciously and carefully preserved by other Men because they are supported and encouraged by the Idea of Eternity whereof the Divine Mercy has given them a distinct Knowledge Not but the Law of Moses includes some Relation to Eternity for this Law had at least the Shadow of good things to come also it cannot be deny'd but that the Gospel supposes the Idea's of Man's Vileness and Mortality for it includes all our Remedies and Consolations against it but thus much is true that the Law of Moses regards the present Life directly and Eternity indirectly whereas the Gospel regards Eternity as its principal Object and the present Life indirectly As for Nature that is equally discover'd under both Oeconomies The Gospel if I may so speak is hidden in in Nature Nature in the Gospel but we must here understand the immortal Nature and that will put us in a way to unravel some Difficulties which might possibly intangle and perplex us Indeed it seems contrary to Nature to love our Enemies to look upon Adversity as a Blessing and Afflictions as a subject of Joy and so far to yield up the Cudgels to Justice as to render not only as much but even more than it demands which are Maxims of the Gospel I confess all this goes against the Grain of the Corruptible Nature which measures every Thing according as it stands related to this present Life but 't is far from being opposite to the Interests of the immortal Nature which values not Time and exerts all its Actions in a prospect of Eternity Our Enemies are an Obstacle to the establishment of our Fortune in the World but nothing except the Hatred we may possibly bear them is an hindrance to our Salvation and this is the Thing which the immortal Man considers he despises those little Reasons of Hating which Concupiscence suggests to our Heart and regards those eternal Relations we have to Others in God who is our common Father as the most powerful Motives of the Love we have for our Neighbour Plenty and Prosperity charm such a Heart as hath limited the utmost of its Hopes and Pretensions to the transitory World but the immortal Man finds in that State so much more subject of Fear as there is more of Sense he dreads these imaginary Goods which buisy us and never satisfy these lively Sensations which hinder the Knowledge of his real Interests He looks upon Prosperity as the Reign of the Passions which seduce and misguide us He 's perswaded that Afflictions by depriving us of these agreeable Sensations do but only chase an infinite Troop of Impostors from the Territories of our Soul And he does not think that Worldly Goods deserve our Envy and to make us rival each other in pursuing them especially when Religion assures him that these Hatreds and Contestations which are occasion'd by the corruptible World are capable of doing him an Eternal prejudice For which Reason tho' Man has a Right of demanding what belongs to him God having for this End establish'd Tribunals in Society which would be but an union of Robbers and a succession of Murthers and Villanies without the Exercise of Justice yet the prudence of the immortal Man permits him not to exact his Rights with rigour and severity when he sees but the least probability of injuring by that means the Interests of his Soul Whence we may conclude That the Morality of the Gospel is but purely the Expression of the immortal Man's Heart but we shall have an Opportunity to speak more of this elsewhere We have seen that the Perfections of Man roll upon his Immortality which alone can render him capable of Happiness and we have just now seen that this Immortality founds the Extent of our Duties and Obligations We proceed to shew that 't is this also that makes the Strength of our Soul or the Weight that can determine us to well-doing CHAP. V. â—f the moral Strength of Man or the Motives which he finds in himself for determining him in his Actions HAd God been an Enemy to Man He would have fix'd Pain to all those Obâ—ects whereunto it pleas'd Him to fix Delight â—nd Pleasure he could have done One as easiâ—y as the Other and then Man would have â—een his own Enemy whereas now he is naturally a Lover of himself For it needs must follow by an essential Consequence that he who feels Pain hates â—t and if this Pain be constant and inseparaâ—le he hates his own Being as knowing veâ—y well that unless he existed he should not â—ndure this Pain 'T is very easy to conceive That the damn'd Spirits hate themselves for â—heir Punishment and that tho' Self-love has been in this World the Source of their Corruption Hatred of themselves becomes hereafter Instrumental to their Punishment Moreover we conceive that 't is impossible to have a Sense of Pleasure without loving it and wishing the preservation of this Self which is the Subject of it Pleasure makes 〈◊〉 love our Existence because without our Existence this pleasure cannot subsist Thence it follows that 't was in the power of God when He form'd Man either to make him love or not love Himself since it depended upon His Will to affix or not affix Pleasure to certain Objects Thus the Love of our selves is in it self a natural Inclination 't is Nature that causes us to love Pleasure and hate Pain and 't is Nature that makes us love our selves This Inclination does not wait for intellectual Reflections to give it Birth in our Soul it precedes all our Reasonings The Stoicks have justly deserv'd to be scorn'd and ridicul'd by all posterity if they really held those Opinions which are usually attributed to them They pretended that the way for a Man to be Wise was to put off Humanity this at the first dash was a very great piece of Extravagance but they fail'd no less in conceiving a kind of Infirmity and Baseness in the most natural Spring of our Heart Secondly Self-love is an Inclination most Divine in its Original We love our selves for this very Reason because God has loved us Had God hated us we should likewise hate our selves therefore 't is unreasonable and groundless to cry down all those Actions which Self-love excites us to as if they were so many Crimes and Infirmities according to the dangerous Morality of some who have pretended to annihilate the Excellency of all the Vertues upon this principle That they all proceeded from the Womb of Self-love and were grounded meerly in Interest a very bad Consequence since Self-love is an Inclination of a most Divine and Heavenly Extraction Lastly the Love of our selves is a necessary Inclination it must not be imagin'd