alwaies waited that Reason might make them serve his Designs Ours for the most part do surprize us and are so ready to be moving that the wisest men cannot keep back their first motions they are so given to disorder as the â—east occasion sets them on fire their sleep is so unquiet as the least matter will awaken them they are so given to war that upon the least provocation they take up Arms and make more spoil upon their own Territories then would an enemies army do Their disorder proceeds not so much from their Objects as from their humour and it fares with their storms as it doth with those who being at the bottom of the Sea mount up again by their proper motion But they caused no tempests in Iesus Christ or if sometimes their waves went high they were led on by Reason which alwaies kept the power to appease the trouble she had caused As their birth depended upon his Will so made they no Progress or advancement but by his permission and their moving proceeded alwaies from some reasonable cause Men betake themselves to things which merit not their Love and have oft times strong Passions for weak and woful Subjects Imprudency seeks them in Choler and not weighing the difference of faults they punish a word as rigorously as they do a Murderer their ambition is blind their desires unruly their sadness ridiculous and who shall compare all their Passions with the causes which produce them will find them all to be unjust A Consul made a slave be eaten by Lampreys for having broken a Glass A Princes anger caused a Town to be drowned in the bloud of its Inhabitants and to revenge an injury done to an Image of Brass or Marble made 7000 men the lively Image of God lose their lives Sorrow hath made Idols to comfort her Fathers not able to raise agaiâ— their dead Children have deified them through an excess of love and sorrow have built Temples unto them after they had taken them out of their Graves In fine all the motions of our souls are irrational we cannot measure or bound our joy nor our displeasures our hatred exceeds our injuries our love is more ardent than the subâ—ect which sets it on fire and we ground â—irm hopes upon perishable things But the Passions of the Son of God were so reguâ—ated as in their motions a man might observâ— the worth of the subject which caused â—hem to arise he was not angry save only â—o revenge the injuries done unto his father â—r punish the impieties of those who proâ—haned his Temple he had no affection â—â—ve for those that did deserve it if he saw â—o perfection in his friends he loved such â—s he would place there and loving them he â—ade them worthy of his love he never â—â—rrowed save upon great occasion and â—hough the cross was a sufficient object of â—rief I verily believe his soul was more â—arrowly touched with the horror of our â—s than with the shame or cruelty of his â—unishment Such regulated Passions ceaâ—d when he pleased and their continuâ—ce was no less subject to his Empire than was their Progress We are not masters of our Passions as in their birth they set at nought our advice they laugh at our Counsels during their course they never stay till they be weary and we owe not our quiet so much to their Obedience as to their Weakness When they are violent our care cannot overcome them and there are some of them so stifâ—necked as they will not die but together with us therefore we ought to suppress them in their birth and to advise with Reason whether it be to any purpose to draw Souldiers into the field who when they have their Weapons in their hands despise the Authority of their chief Commander The beginning of War depends oft times upon two Parties but the end thereof depends alwaies upon the victory and he is not easily brought to a peace when he finds his Advantage lies in the continuance of War All these rules prove false in the Passions of Iesus Christ. He did even exceed therein when the Subject did deserve it though they were chafed they becamâ— calm as soon as he would have them so tâ— be Their heat as it was reasonable so waâ— it as soon extinguished as kindled so as joy did immediately succeed sadness and onâ— might at the same time see pleasingness take the same place in his countenance which Choler had possest It is peradventure for this reason that Saint Ierome could not resolve to call the agitations of the soul of our Saviour Iesus Christ Passions believing that to name them as Criminals was to injure their innocence and that there was injustice in giving the same name to things the conditions whereof were so different But every one knows that qualities change not nature and that the Passions of the Son of God were not less natural for being more obedient than are ours In my opinion it is a new obligation which we have to his goodness that he hath not despised our weakness he will eternally reproach us if we desire not his glory since he coveted our welfare if we fight not against his enemies since he hath overcome ours if we shed not tears for injuries done unto him since he hath shed his blood for our sins And he will have just occasion to complain upon our Ingratitude if our Passions serve not â—o witness our Love to him since he hath â—mployed all his to assure us of his Charity The Second Treatise Of the disorder of Passions in Man The FIRST DISCOURSE Of the corruption of Nature by Sin THough there be many wonderful things in man which deserve consideration that his qualities witness unto us the greatness power of his Creator there is nothing more remarkable in him than his constitution for he is composed of a body and soul he in his person unites Heaven and Earth and being more monstrous than are the Centaures in the Fable he is both Angel and Beast as the power of God appeareth in the uniting of these two so different parties his wisdome is no less evidently seen in the good intelligence they hold for though they had contrary inclinations that the one should bow downward towards the earth whereof it was formed and that the other should raise it self up towards heaven from whence it had its original yet God did so well temper their desires and in the diversity of their conditions so streightly united their wills by original justice as the soul shared in all contentments of the body without any injury to her self and the body served to all the designs of the soul without doing any violence to its self In this happy estate the soul commanded with mildness the body obeyed with delight and whatsoever object presented it self these two parties did always agree But this happiness continued no longer than our first father was obedient to God
made him over-run the world commit spoiles throughout all Asia penetrate the Indies pass the Seas be angry with Nature which by the limits thereof did bound his conquests and force him to end his designes where the Sun finisheth his course Who is not affected with pity to see Pompey who drunk with love of a false greatness undertakes civil and foreign Wars Sometimes he passes into Spain to oppress Sertorius sometimes scoures the Seas to free them from Pyrats sometimes he flies into Asia to fight with Mithridates He ransacks all the Provinces of that great part of the world makes himself Enemies where he finds none After so many Fights and Victories 't is he alone that thinks himself not great enough and though men give him that name he thinks he deserves it not unless Iulius Caesar confess it Who hath not compassion for this man who was not so much the Slave as Martyr of Ambition For he prostituted his honour to get power he became slave to his Army that he might be Master of the Senate he vowed the destruction of his Countrey to revenge himself of his Son in Law Seeing no other State against which he could exercise his cruelty he employed it against the Republick and would merit the name of Patricide that he might obtain that of Soveraign He never had any motions save those that Ambition gave him If he pardoned his Enemies 't was but only out of vain-glory and if he bewailed the death of Cato and Pompey it was perhaps for that the honour of his Victory was lessened All his thoughts were ambitious When he saw the Image of Alexander he wept not save only for that he had not yet shed bloud enough Whatsoever offered it self to his Eyes awakened his Passions and Objects which would have taught others modesty inspired him with Pride and Insolency Briefly Caesar commanded over his Army and ambition commanded over Caesar she had such â—ower over him as the foretelling of his death did not make him change his Deâ—ign and doubtlesly he would have anâ—wered for himself to the Soothsayers as Agrippina answered for her Son to the Astrologers Let him kill me provided he may reign If servitude be so irksom in ambition 't is much more shameful in obscenity It must be confest That a man who is possest by this infamous Passion hath neither Reason nor Liberty and that being inslaved to Love he is no more Master of himself Did not Cleopatra govern Mark Anthony might not this Princess boast her self to have revenged Egypt upon Italy and to have subjected the Roman Empire by putting him under her Laws who governed it This unfortunate man lived only at the pleasure of this stranger he did nothing but by her motions and never did slave labour so much to win the good will of his Master as this effeminate Prince to win the like of his proud Mistress He gave all his Charges by her directions and the best part of the Roman Empire groaned under the government of a woman He durst not overcome in the batel of Actium and rather chose to forgo his Army than his Love He was the first Commander that abandoned his Souldiers and who would not make use of their courage to defeat his Enemy but what could one expect from a man who had no more any heart and who far enough from fighting could not so much as live if parted from Cleopatra In brief read the story of all the great ones and you will find their Passions have enflamed them and that in the height of their fortune they have made use of all the punishments that tyranny could invent to afflict those that she oppresseth Therefore ought all men to make use of Reason and Grace to shun the fury of these insolent Masters every one ought to resolve in his particular rather to lose his life than his liberty and to prefer a glorious death before a shameful servitude But without coming to these extreams in this Combat a will to overcome is sufficient to be victorious for God hath permitted that our good fortune depend upon our Will together with his Grace and that our Passions should have no further power over us than we shall give them since in effect experience teacheth us that they beat us not but by our own weapons and that they make us not their slaves but by our own consent The THIRD DISCOURSE That to govern Passions a man must moderate them THough Passions be ordained for the service of virtue and that there is not any one of them the use whereof may not be advantageous to us we must notwithstanding confess that we need dexterity to govern them and that in the state whereinto sin hath reduced our Nature they cannot be useful to us unless moderated that unhappy Forefather oâ— ours who made us to inherit his fault hath not left us so pure a being as he had wheâ— he received it from God The body and soul suffer pain and as they were both guilty so are they both punished The understanding hath its errors the will her irregular inclinations the memory her weakness The body which is the Channeâ— through which Original sin passeth into the soul hath its misery and though it be the less faulty yet is it the more unfortunate all that is in it is out of order the senses are seduced by Objects these help to abuse Imagination which excites disorders in the inferior part of the soul and raiseth Passions so as they are no longer in that obedience wherein Original Justice kept them and though they be subject to the Empire of Reason yet they so mutinie as they are not to be brought within the compass of their duty but by force or cunning They are born to obey the understanding but they easily forget their condition and the commerce which they hold with the senses is the cause why they oft-times prefer their advises at the commandments of the will They raise themselves up with such might as their natural motions are for the most part violent They are horses which have more of fury than of force They are seas which are oftner troubled than calm In fine they are parts of our selves which cannot serve the understanding till it hath allaied or tamed them This ought not to seem strange 〈…〉 that know what spoil sin hath 〈…〉 nature and the very Philosopher 〈…〉 fess that virtue is an art which 〈…〉 learn'd will not find it unjust that the Passions be not obedient unless governed by Reason To execute so great a design a man must imitate nature and art and consider what means they use to finish their work Nature which doth all by the Elements and who of these four bodies composeth all others never employs them till she hath tempered their qualities As they cannot suffer together and that their natural antipathy engages them to fight this wise Mother by allaing their aversions appeaseth their differences and never unites them 'till she hath
is the more delicate and the more dangerous For this Philosopher pleads always for the Soul against the Body all his gallant Maximes tend only to re-establish Reason in her Empire and to give her absolute power over the Passions He cannot endure that a Subject should become a Soveraign and pride which enlivens all his Doctrine furnisheth him with strong reasons to oppose voluptuousness He will have the Soul to treat her Body as her slave that she grant unto it nothing but things necessary and abridge it of all superfluities He will have her nourish the Body to the end that it may be serviceable to her He will have her love it only as a faithful servant that she employ it to execute her designes But he wills likewise when Reason shall require it she abandon it to the flames expose it to savage beasts and that she oblige it to undergo deaths as cruel as shameful All these are bold cogitations we must confess they proceed from a generously minded man and that he makes good use of the vanity of the Soul to overcome the delights of the Body but by curing one evil he causeth a greater by closing up a slight wound he opens a deeper by chasing self-love from the Body he drives it into the Soul and to prevent a man from becoming a beast he endeavours to make him a Devil these who side with this Philosopher are enforced to confess this Truth and if they who hold his Maximes would examine themselves well they will confess that they rather puffe up than heighten Courage and that they inspire the soul with more of vanity than strength But the Doctrine of Jesus Christ produceth a clean contrary effect for it subdues the body without making the soul insolent it sets at one and the same time both upon Pride and voluptuousness and whilst it ordains mortification to submit the senses to Reason it commands abnegation to subject the will unto God Therefore if it be lawful for me to explain the intentions of Jesus Christ and to serve him as an interpreter I believe that the Hatred which he requires from us should pass from the Body to the soul and that to be perfect it should extend it self to all the disorders that sin hath wrought in us for nature hath lost her purity and the two parts whereof we are composed are become equally criminal the inclinations of the soul are not more innocent than are those of the body the one and the other of them have their weaknesses let Philosophers say what they please they are both corrupted the understanding is clouded by darknesses ignorance is natural thereunto it learns with difficulty forgets easily though truth be its object it forgoes truth for falshood and is enforced to acknowledg by the mouth of the wisest man in the world that there are some errors which is easilier perswaded unto than to some truths Memory is not more happy though she pass for a miracle of Nature that she keeps deposited all the species she is trusted withal that she boasts to represent them without confusion and to be the enlivened treasure of all wise men yet since our disobedience she is become unfaithful by reason of a contagion which hath infected all the faculties of the Soul â—â—e fails us at our needs and furnishes us rather with unuseful than with necessary things the Will as most absolute is also most criminal for though it have so strong inclinations for the Summum bonum as that sin hath not been able to eface it yet she indifferently betakes her self to all objects that delight her not listning to the advice of Reason she follows the errors of opinion and is guided by the report which the senses make which are ignorant and unfaithful messengers so as man is bound to make war as well against his Soul as his Body and to extend his hatred to both the parts which go to his composition since they are equally corrupted and to obey Jesus Christ he must fight against the darkness of his understanding the weakness of his memory the wickedness of his will the error of his imagination the perfidiousness of his senses and the rebellion of all the parts of his Body These evil qualities which spoil the workmanship of God are the true objects of our aversion 't is the evil we may hate with innocence and with Justice punish 't is the enemy we are obliged to fight with and to overcome for to comprehend in few words the intentions of Jesus Christ and the obligation of Christians we must hate in our selves all those sins which disorder hath placed there and which grace could not suffer there we must destroy in our selves all that grace will have destroy'd but very well knowing that in this combat the victory is doubtful we must humbly intreat the Son of God who prepares Crowns for the Victor to endue us with Charity to the end that thereby self-love may be diminished in us and the detestation of our selves augmented THE SECOND BOOK OF Desire and Eschewing The FIRST DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of Desire AS Good is the only Object of Love it never changeth form but it obligeth this Passion to undertake new Customes she depends so absolutely upon it as she changeth names and offices as oft as it changeth condition when it is present and discovers unto her all its Beauties she swims in pleasure when it runs any hazard she is seized on by fear when it is assaulted by enemies she takes up arms and grows cholerick to defend it when it is parted from her she is afflicted and suffers her self to be over-born with grief when it is absent she consumes her self in wishes and chargeth her desires to go find out an object the far distance whereof causeth all her anxieties for Desire is nothing els but the motion of the soul towards a good which she already loveth but doth not as yet possess she extends her self that she may arrive at it she endevors to forsake her body and to separate her self from her self that she may join her self to what she seeks after she forgets her own delights that she may not think of any thing save her beloved object she forceth her self to overcome Nature and Fortune and in spite of them to render present the absent good which she desires By this Definition it is easie to observe the proprieties of Desire the first whereof is restlesness which will not suffer the soul which hath conceived it to taste any true contentment for this soul is in a violent condition she fights with the body which she inanimates that she may unite her self to an object which she loveth Nature detains her in the one and Love carries her to the other she is divided between these two powerful Soveraigns and she feels a torment little less rigorous than death Thus have we seen men who to free themselves thereof have
Nature ordained pleasure in all actions these two Virtues which go to the composure of a chaste and continent man would be likewise of no use Clemency sweetens Choler and did not this Passion animate Princes to revenge the virtue whereby it is moderated would not deserve praise But if Passions be so much befriended by so many several virtues they are not thereof unthankful for when instructed in their whole they repay them with use and serve them faithfully The best part of Circumspection is composed of Fear which though it be accused to seek out the evil before it happen it prepares us either quietly to undergo it or happily to evade it Hope is serviceable to Fortitude and 't is she that by her Promises doth encourage us to the undertaking of gallant Actions Boldness is Valour 's faithful Companion and all great Conquerors owe the glory of their Generosity to this Passion Choler maintains Justice and animates Judges to punish the Guilty Briefly there is no Passion which is not serviceable to Virtue when they are governed by Reason and those who have so cried them down make us see they never knew their use nor worth The SECOND DISCOURSE What the Nature of Passions is and in what Faculty of the Soul they reside GODS Greatness is so elevated as Man cannot attain to the Knowledge thereof without abasing it and his Unity is so simple as it is not to be conceived unless divided Philosophers gave him different Names to express the diversity of his Perfections and by calling him sometimes Destiny sometimes Nature sometimes Providence they introduced a plurality of Gods and made all men Idolaters The Soul being the Image of God the same Philosophers did likewise divide it and not being able to comprehend the simplicity of its Essence they believed it was corporeal They imagined it had parts as well â—s the Body and though they were more subtle they were not less veritable They multiplied the Cause with its Effects and â—aking her divers Faculties for different Naâ—ures they contrary to the Law of Reason gave divers forms to the same composure But Truth which together with Faith came down upon earth teacheth us that the Soul is but one in its Essence and that it hath undergone several Names only to express the variety of its operations for when it gives life unto the body and when by natural heat which proceeds from the heart as from its Center it preserveth all the â—arts thereof it is called Form when it discerns colours by the Eye and distinguisheth of sound by the Ear Sense When she raiâ—eth her self a little higher and by discoursing infers one Truth by another she is called Understanding When she preserves her thoughts to employ them about her own affairs or that she draws from forth her treasury the Riches which â—she had lock'd therein men stile her Memory when she loveth that which pleaseth her or hates that which nauseates her she is termed Will but all her several Faculties which differing in their employments do notwithstanding agree in their substance make but one Soul and are like so many Rivulets derived from the same Spring-Head Prophane Philosophy arriving at length to the knowledge of this truth makes use of divers comparisons to express her Now she represents the Soul in the Body as an Intelligence in the Heavens the virtue whereof is displayed through all the Spheres thereof Anon they figure her out unto us as a Pilot who guides his Vessel sometimes as a King who governs his State But Christian Philosophy hath been more fortunate when coming even to the original of the soul it hath made us know what effects she produceth in the Body by the very same which God produceth in the world For though this infinite essence depends not upon the world which he hath created and that without interessing his might he may undo his own workmanship yet is he shed abroad in all the parts thereof there is no intermedium which he fills not up He applies himself to all Creatures in their operations and without dividing his unity or weakning his power he gives light with the Sun he burneth with the fire he he refresheth with the water and he brings forth fruit with the trees He is as great on earth as he is in Heaven though his effects do differ his power is alwaies equal and the stars which shine above our heads cost him no more than the grass which we tread under our feet So is the soul dispersed in the body and penetrates all the parts thereof It is as noble in the hand as in the heart and though applying her self to the disposition of the Organs she speaks by the Mouth seeth by the Eyes and heareth by the Ears yet is she but one Spirit in her Essence and in her differing Functions her Unity is not divided nor her Power weakned 'T is true that not finding the same dispositions in every part of the Body she produceth not the same Effects and in this point this Illustrious Captive is infinitely inferiour to God for as he is infinite and was able to make all things out of nothing he can likewise make all things out of every Creature and without any respect to their Inclinations make them serve his Will. So we see he hath used the Fire to sweeten the pains of his Servants that he hath used the Light to blind his Enemies that he hath made the Flouds turn back to give passage to his Friends and that he hath made the Earth open to swallow those that rebell against him But the Soul whose power is limited cannot operate without dependance upon the Organs and though she be spiritual in her Nature yet is she corporeal in her Operations This is that which hath made the Philosophers consider her in three several estates which are so different the one from the other that if in the first she approach near the Dignity of the Angels in the second she is in no better condition than the Beast of the Field and in the last she differs not much from the Nature of Plants for in this acceptation she hath no other employment than to nourish the Body she is in to digest Food to convert it into Bloud and by a strange Metamorphosis to make one and the same Matter thicken into Flesh stiffen into Nerves harden into Bones extend into Branches and lengthen into Grisles she augments her Parts by nourishing them she in time perfects her Workmanship and by her pains brings it to its just Greatness Solicited by Providence she takes care to maintain the World she thinks how to restore what she hath received and to preserve her species produceth the like In this acception her workmanship is not more noble than that of Plants which nourish themselves by the Influences of Heaven grow up by the heat of the Sun and get root downward by their Succors and Moisture In the second estate she becomes sensible and
After the authority of Scripture a man must be very rash to oppose this opinion which it seems all things conspire to make veritable yet may it be replied upon and the very self same reasons which it produceth for its defence may serve to condemn it for though Jealousie be a mixture of Love and Hatred it follows not that she must be most violent of all our Passions the very same whereof she is composed would not agree together were they not sweetned And as the Elements cannot make one and the same Body unless their qualities be moderated so cannot all these Passions form our jealousie unless they be tempered and it must necessarily ensue that Love weakens hatred that joy moderates Sorrow and that Hope sweetens Despair It hath been observed that two Passions taken together lose their force and that serving as an Antidote one against another they do no mischief or if they do any they cure it again So in Jealousie Love is the Antidote to Hatred the jealous man suffers little harm because he hath many Passions and he may boast that by a strange destiny he owes his welfare to the number of his Enemies But since after having worsted a Falshood a Truth must be established let us say that according to our principles this question is not hard to resolve for as we acknowledge but one passion which is Love and that all the rest are but effects of her producing we are bound to confess that they borrow all their efficacy from their Cause and that they have no other violence than what is hers Love is a Soveraign which imprints his qualities in his Subjects a Captain which imparts part of his Courage to his Souldiers and 't is a Primum Mobile which bears about all the other heavens by its Impetuosity insomuch as Morality ought only endeavour how to govern Love for when this Passion shall be handsomly ruled all other will imitate her And he knows well how to love or how to love well shall have no evil desires nor vain hopes to moderate The FIFTH DISCOURSE Whether there were any Passions in the state of Innocency and whether they were of the same nature as are ours T Is so long since we lost our Innocency as there remains nothing unto us but a weak Idaea thereof and did not Divine Justice punish the Fathers fault in the Children we should likewise have lost the Sorrow for it Every one describes the felicity of that state according to his Imagination methinks a man may say that as many as speak thereof guide themselves according to their inclinations and that they place there such pleasures as they are acquainted with and do most desire Some say the whole earth was one Paradise that of the Seasons whereof our years are composed there was only Autumn and the Spring that all Trees had the property of Orange trees and that they were at all times loaded with leaves flowers and fruit others perswade themselves that no wind blew there but the South-west and that the ground uncultivated prevented our need and brought forth all things I think that without maintaining these Opinions a man may say that in this happy condition bad was not mingled with good and that the qualities of the Elements were so well tempered as that man did thereby receive all contentment and felt no Displeasure He had no disorders to reform no enemies to fight withal nor mischiefs to eschew all creatures conspired towards his felicity the beasts bare respect unto his person and it may be that even those which remained in the Forrests were not wild as the Earth bare no Thorns and all the parts thereof were fruitful and pleasing so had not the Heavens any malign influences and that Constellation which dispenseth Life and Death in nature had no aspect which was not innocent and favourable If there be so little certainty touching the state of man there is no more assurance for what regards his person we argue according to our understandings and as in the first ages Idols were made of all particulars every one shapes out a felicity for Adam and gives him all the advantages that may be imagined Amongst so many Opinions or Errors I see nothing more consonant to reason then that which Saint Augustine writes concerning this for though he determine nothing in particular he resolves so well for the general as there is none that appeals from his Opinion Though we cannot describe saith he neither the beauty of the place where man made his residence nor the advantages of his mind and body we are bound â—o believe he found in his habitation whatsoever he could wish and that he felt nothing in his body which could incommodiate him His constitution was excellent his health was unalterable and if time could weaken it he prevented that mischief by making use of the tree of life which repairing his forces furnish'd him with new vigor He was immortal not by Nature but by Grace and he knew that â—in could not bereave him of Life without making him lose his Innocence His Soul was no less happily constituted than was his Body for besides that he was infused with all Sciences that he knew all the Secrets of Nature and that he was not ignorant of any thing which could contribute to his Felicity his Memory was happy his will had alwaies good Inclinations his Affections were regulated and though he were not insensible he was of so equal a temper as nothing could trouble his repose The Passions which by their violence do anticipate Reason waited his Directions and never shewed themselves till they had received Commandment from him In fine his Passions were no less natural than are ours but they were more tractable and as his Constitution made him capable of all our motions original Justice exempted him from all our Disorders I know not whether I fall foul on the opinion of Divines but forasmuch as a man may see in this darkness I think I injure not the Truth for if man as being composed of a Body was Mortal and as being honoured with original Grace Immortal methinks one may consequently infer that not being a pure Spirit he had Passions but that being sanctified in all the faculties of his Soul all his Passions were innocent To give all the force that is requisite to this Assertion we must inlarge its Principle and prove with Saint Augustine that man might die losing Original Justice and that Immortality was rather a Grace from Heaven than a property of his Nature for if he had been truly immortal he had needed no sustenance and if death had not been natural unto him he had needed no priviledge to have secured him from it since he did eat to preserve Life it follows he might lose it and since he was obliged to defend himself against old age by the means of a miraculous fruit it follows necessarily he might die and that his Life as well as ours needed remedies against
and that all the assistance that man can hope for from Grace is so handsomly to manage Passions as that they may defend virtue and oppugn vice The FOURTH DISCOURSE That opinions and the senses do cause the disorder of our Passions THough sin be the original of all our mischief and that all the miseries we undergo are the punishments for our faults we seem to take pleasure in increasing them by our evil guidance and that we invent every day new penalties to which divine Justice had not condemned us we are not contented to know our Passions are revolted and that without the assistance of Grace Reason cannot regulate them we nourish their disorder and to make them the more insolent we admit of Opinions which raise them up at their pleasure For of a thousand Passions which are raised in our soul there are not any two that take truth for their guide and the evil which they apprehend or the good which they desire appear rather so to be than that they are so indeed To mend this disorder we must take cognizance of opinion mark her birth and progress Opinion is not so much a judgment of the understanding as of the Imaginations whereby she doth either approve of or condemn things which the senses represent unto her This is the most usual evil of our Life and if it were as constant as it is common our condition would be very sad but it changeth at every moment that which is the cause of its birth causeth likewise the death thereof And Imagination forsakes it with as much ease as she gave it entertainment It taketh its rise from our senses and from the reports of the world so as it is no marvel if the best grounded opinion cannot subsist long since the foundations thereof are so bad for our senses are liars and like inchanted glasses they present disguised Objects unto us Their Reports are seldom uninteressed and as they fasten themselves to objects they endeavour to engage Imagination When I consider the soul as a Prisoner in the body I bewail her condition and I wonder not if she so oft takes falshood for truth because it entereth by the gate of the senses this divine Spirit is inclosed in the body not having any other cognizance save what she borroweth either from the Eyes or the Ears thereof and these two senses which by nature seem so particularly appropriated to knowledge are such deceivers as their devices are for the most part but impostures blindness is to be preferred before their false Lights and they had better leave us in our ignorance than help us to such malignant and so doubtful knowledge They consider only the appearances of things they stop at accidents their weakness cannot penetrate into substances they are like the Sun and as they take all their light from him they endeavour to imitate him in their actions Every one thinks that this goodly Planet is extreamly useful to us when it comes about our Horizon and that it affords those beauties to nature which darkness had bereft it of But the Platonicks have found that the advantage we receive thereby equals not the prejudice it bringeth along with it for when it discovers the earth unto us it hides the Heavens from us when it exposeth Lilies and Roses to our sight it hinders us from seeing the Stars and takes from us the sight of the most beautiful part of the world So the senses take from us the cognizance of divine things to furnish us with the like of what is humane They make us only see the appearances of objects and hide their truth from us We remain ignorant under these bad Masters and our Imagination being informed but by their reports we can only conceive false opinions I find therefore that Nature is more severe unto us than is Religion and that it is much more difficult to be rational than to believe aright for though the truths which Religion proposeth unto us are of so high a nature as our understanding cannot comprehend them though she demand of us a blind obedience and that to believe her mysteries we must subdue our Reason and give the Lie to all our Senses yet this commandment is not injurious If she take from us our liberty she preserves our honour she frees our understanding from the tyranny of our senses she submits it to the legitimate Empire of the supream Intelligence which she illustrates unto us by her light she takes us from earth that she may raise us up to Heaven and takes not from us the use of Reason save only to make us acquire the merit of Faith But Nature ingaging our soul in our body makes her a slave to our senses and obligeth her in her noblest operations to consult with those that are blind and to draw her light from out their darkness Hence it is that all our knowledge is full of errour and that truth is never without falshood that opinions are uncertain and that our Passions which obey them are always out of order The worlds report is no surer a Guide and those who listen thereunto are likely never to enjoy true rest for this rumour is nothing else but the opinion of the people which is not the truer for being the more common That which seemeth to authorize it doth condemn it and nothing ought to make it more suspected than the great number of its partakers The nature of man is not so well regulated as that the best things be those that please most people ill opinions as well as good ones ground themselves upon the number of their approvers and when we would side with any opinions we ought not to number but to weigh the Votes The common people who gape after liberty delight to live in servitude never make use of Judgment and in worldly affairs which of all others ought to be the most free they are rather led by Example than by Reason they follow those who go before and not examining their Opinions they embrace they defend them for after having recived them they desire to divulge them as in factions they endeavour to engage others on their Party and to make their malady prove contagious In so much as Seneca's Maxime proves true That man is not only failing to himself but unto others and that he communicates his errors to all those that come nigh him When our Imagination is filled with ill Opinions she exciteth a thousand disorders in the inferior part of our soul and raiseth up Passions according to her pleasure for being blind they cannot discern whether the good or bad which is proposed to them be only likely or true and abused by the Imagination whose Empire they reverence they either draw nearer unto or fly further from objects their blindness serves them for excuse and they lay their faults upon that hath deceived them But to prevent this disorder the understanding must keep it self in its authority it must assubject Imagination to its
above a mortal condition and to put storms and thunder under their feet She boasts to cure them of all their evils and to free them from those vexatious disorders which molest the Souls tranquility all those fair promises have brought forth none effects and these proud billows after having made such noise are turned to foam Certainly we owe thanks to Providence which hath rendered their endeavors vain for if they had made good their words they had deprived us of all those aids which nature hath endowed us withal to make us virtuous and the inferior part of our soul hath remained without either exercise or merit for the passions are the motions thereof they carry her whither she mindeth to go and without loosning her from her body they join her to the Objects which she looks after or keep her aloof from those she desires to shun Joy is her blooming and displaying sorrow is her contraction and pain desire is her seeking and fear her eschewing for when we are merry our soul dilates it self when afflicted she contracts her self when we desire she seems to advance and when we fear she seems to retire insomuch as those who will take the Passions from the soul take away all her motions and under colour of rendring her happy make her unprofitable and unable I know no rational man that would purchase felicity at so dear a rate and I know no true man that would promise it upon so hard a condition For if happiness consist in action and if to be content a man must taste the good which he possesseth there is none but will avow That Passions are necessary to our soul and that joy must perfect the Felicity which desire hath begun Those who side with the Stoicks will tell us peradventure That these Philosophers condemn not such desires as arise from the love of virtue nor the joy that accompanies the fruition thereof but that they blame only those irregular wishes that we make every day for Riches and Honour and that consequently they blame the vain contentment which their accomplishment brings us This answer weakens their Maximes and confirms ours for it admitteth of Passions and only forbids their excess It admits of desires and hopes and only rejects their disorder and to end all in few words It healeth the malady of our affections and doth not destroy their nature But the Stoicks were not so just and their Philosophy had in it so much of severity and so little of reason as it would have a man seek out virtue without wishing for it possess it without relishing it and that being as happy as God himself he should be void of desire hope or joy In brief it had vowed the death of our Passions and yet this proud Sect did not consider that in destroying them they caused the death of all Virtues for they are the seeds thereof and by taking a little pain in trimming and pruning of them they may be made advantageous to us Though man be not born virtuous and that art which teacheth him to become so be as difficult as it is glorious he seemeth notwithstanding to know before he learneth it that his understanding hath the principles of Truth and his will the seeds of Virtue That as science according to the Platonicks is but a remembrance or calling to mind her good habits are but natural inclinations For all his Passions are budding Virtues and if he take a little care to perfect them they become compleat Virtues Is not fear which foresees evil and shunneth it natural wisdom Is not Choler which takes up arms in the behalf of good against the enemy thereof a shadow of Justice Is not Desire which serves us from our selves to join us with somewhat that is better an Image of Charity which takes us from the Earth to raise us up to Heaven What must be added to Boldness to make thereof true Fortitude And what difference is there between Sorrow and Repentance save only that the one is the meer workmanship of Nature and the other the production of Grace but both of them are afflicted with evil and they oft-times mingle their tears to bewail the same sin In fine There are no Passions which may not become Virtues and as they have inclinations to what is good and aversions from what is evil they need but a little Government to make them change Conditions The good Application of a mans Love is sufficient to make all his Passions innocent and without taking so much pain to love aright is only requisite to make us happy in this world Since Virtue faith St. Augustine is the habit of a well governed mind we are but to moderate our Affections that they may be changed into Virtues for when our hatred and our love which are the Spring-heads of all other Passions shall be wisely modestly strongly and justly guided they will become rare Virtues and will be converted into wisdom temperance fortitude and justice Is it not then a barbarous thing to go about to strangle Passions which have such affinity with Virtue and which without much labour may be raised to so noble a Condition Is it not ingratitude to mistake the advantages which we have received from Nature and is it not injustice to give infamous names to these innocent Subjects which being well managed by Reason might merit such glorious Titles 'T is then an indubitable Maxim amongst the Philosophers That Passions are the seed of Virtues and that they have no more noble employment than to arm themselves in their behalf to fight their quarrels and to revenge them of their enemies As mothers are never more couragious than in the defence of their children the affections of our soul are never more vigorous than when they defend their products against Vices This praise puzzles the brains of all the Stoicks And Seneca could not endure that Virtues Army should be composed of souldiers that could mutinie he will not have us employ Passions in her service because some few have been found which have injured her authority Certainly if all Princes were so obdurate as is this Philosopher they would find few souldiers and they must cashier all their troops because formerly they have found some of them unfaithful The negligence of Princes is oft-times cause why the souldiers mutinie and the weakness of Reason is almost alwayes the cause of the revolt of Passions In true Philosophy the soul must be rather accused than the body and the Soveraign rather blamed than the Subjects Who sees not that fear is watchful for virtue that she always mingles her self as a Spy amongst the enemies to find out their designs that all her reports are faithful and that we are for the most part unhappy only for having neglected them who knows not that hope strengthens us and that she encourageth us to the understanding of glorious and difficult designs who doth not confess that Boldness and Choler despise danger suffering hardness and setting
even upon death that they may be serviceable to Patience and Fortitude what virtues would not become weak were they abandoned by Passions how oft hath the fear of infamy infused courage into souldiers who were seeking how shamefully to run away how oft hath shamefastness preserved Chastity and kept both maids and married women within their duty when avarice and wantonness hath endeavoured to corrupt them how oft hath indignation encouraged Judges against the guilty who were made insolent in their misdemeanor by the protection of great ones Let the Stoicks then confess that virtues owe their welfare to Passions and let them not tell us any more that they are too generous to implore aid from their slaves But let us tell them they are too full of acknowledgment to despise such faithful friends and that they will never make a difficulty in accepting them for their allies when ever they will assail the common enemy Vice I had rather follow Aristotles opinion than Seneca's and rather govern Passions than destroy them This man out of an excessive pride will not have Virtue to stand in need of any thing and that the wise man who is thereof possest way be happy even contrary to the will of God himself he will have his happiness to be so firmly grounded that the Heavens cannot overturn it and to judge by his words it seems that insolency and impiety are the first requisite dispositions for the acquiring of wisdom the other on the contrary acknowledgeth his weakness useth such help as nature hath afforded him and knowing very well that he is composed of a Soul and Body he endeavoureth to employ them both in the exercise of virtue He confesseth we cannot undertake any thing of generous unless chafed by choler and that we faint and droop when we are not irritated But as he very well knows likewise that this Passion hath need of a bridle to hold it back he ranks it under Reason and makes not use thereof as of a General but as of a private Souldier Let us use our Passions thus let us teach the Stoicks that nature hath made nothing in vain and that since she hath endued us with fears and hopes she intends we shall make use of them to acquire Virtue and fight against Vice The FOURTH DISCOURSE That Passions are the seeds of Vice IT were to flatter Passions and deceive men if after having shewed the good they are capable of doing we should not shew the evil they can do our draught would be partial if having drawn their perfections we should not likewise set forth their defaults But that we may not be mistaken in so important a Subject and whereupon our happiness seemeth to depend we must know that Passions are neither good nor bad and that to speak properly these two qualities are only found in the superior power which governs them As that is only free it is only good or evil and as it is the Original of merit it is also the Spring-head either of wickedness or goodness But as the Sun spreads forth his light in the world and enlightens solid bodies though it penetrate them not So doth the will dispence abroad wickedness and goodness amongst the Passions and though she do not communicate them fully unto them yet giveth she them a slight tincture thereof which is sufficient to make them either innocent or criminal For if we examine the qualities that they have received from nature and if we consider them in that estate which pleads the use of the will we must acknowledge that they are as well the seeds of vice as of virtue and that those two contraries are so confused in them as they are hardly to be discerned They have an Inclination to good and thus they hold with virtue They are easily seduced soon moved and thus they resemble vice For we are now no longer in that happy estate of innocency where the Passions expected their orders only from Reason and where they never raised themselves till they had obtained leave they are become disloyal and no longer acknowledging the voice of their Soveraign they obey that first that commands them and take part assoon with a Tyrant as with their legitimate Prince This error whereinto they often fall obligeth us to confess that they are not much less inclinable to vice than to virtue and that if we may hope for great advantages by them we ought also to fear notable mischiefs from them For the same desires which raise us up to Heaven fasten us to the earth that which nature hath given us to set us at liberty casts us in prison and claps Bolts upon us The same hope which flatters us abuseth us and that which ought to sweeten our past misfortunes procureth us new ones the same choler which bringeth the couragious to the combate animates the faint-hearted to revenge and what is generous in war becomes cruel in peace In fine Passions are not farther distant from vices than they are from virtue as in the confusion of the Chaos fire was mingled with water so is evil mingled with good in the affections of the soul and from those fatal Mines Iron is as well drawn out as Gold man ought therefore to keep himself always upon his guard and knowing that he carrieth about in his bosom both life and death it behoveth him to be as circumspect in his comportments as those who handle poyson or who walk upon the edge of a Precipice But that which makes the danger the greater is that when these unruly Passions have brought forth a vice they put themselves in arms to defend it and serve it with more courage than do the innocent Passions obey virtue They are servants which are more cruel than are their Masters Officers which are more furious than the Tyrants that set them on work and they commit more of outrage upon Virtue than doth Vice it self All wars are occasioned by these insolent Affections and he who shall banish love and hatred from off the earth will find neither Murder nor Adultery there They furnish the subject of all Tragedies and though men accuse Poets of Fictions they have committed more Errors than the others have invented But they are never more prejudicial than when they meet in the person of a Prince and when they abuse Soveraign power to exercise their fury for then whole States groan under their tyranny the people are opprest by their violence and all parts confess that neither the Plague nor the Sword are so pernicious as are Passions when they have got the supream power An unlawful love put all Greece in Arms and the flames thereof reduced the goodliest City of all Asia to Ashes Jealousie between Caesar and Pompey was the loss of the lives of more than a million of men the world was divided in their quarrel their ambition put arms into the hands of all people their unjust war was the ruine of their Country and the loss of
yet all these troubles are the hunters pleasures and their passion to this Exercise makes them term that a pastime which Reason would term a punishment There is nothing of delight in war the very name thereof is odious were it not accompanied with injustice disorder and fear it would notwithstanding have horrors enough to astonish all men death makes her self be there seen in a thousand different shapes there is no exercise in war wherein the danger doth not exceed the glory and it never furnisheth souldiers with any actions which are not as bloudy as glorious yet those that love it make it their delight they esteem all the deformities thereof beauties and by an inclination which proceeds rather from their love than from their humour they find delight in dangers and taste the pleasantness of peace in the tumults of war This it is which made St. Augustine say That Lovers troubles are never troublesom and that they never find pain in serving what they love or if they do they cherish it But we shall never make an end if we would observe all the proprieties of Love I therefore pass on to the effects thereof which being so many pictures of Love will represent unto us its nature and will discover unto us what it is able to do The first of its miracles is that which we call Extasie for it frees the Soul from the Body which she inanimates that she may join to the Object which she loveth it parts us from our selves by a pleasing violence and what the holy Scripture attributes to the Spirit of God befals this miraculous division so as a lover is never at home with himself if you will find him you must seek him in the person that he adores He will have people know that contrary to the Laws of wisdom he is always without himself and that he hath forsaken all care of his own preservation since he became a slave to love The Saints draw their glory from this extasie and truth it self which speaks by their mouths obligeth them to confess that they live more in Jesus Christ than in themselves Now as a man must die to himself to live in another death accompanieth this life and as well sacred as prophane lovers cannot love unless they be bound to die 'T is true that this death is advantageous to them since it procures unto them a life wherewithal they are better pleased than with that which they have lost for they live again in those that they love by a miracle of love they like the Phenix take life again from their ashes and recover life in the very bosom of death He who doth not conceive this truth cannot understand those words by which S. Paul teacheth us that we are dead unto our selves and alive in Jesus Christ. This effect produceth another which is not much less admirable for as lovers have no other life than what they borrow from their love it infallibly falls out that they transform themselves thereinto and that ceasing to be what they were they begin to be that which they love they change condition as well as nature and by a wonder which would surpass all belief were it not usual they become like unto that which they cherish 'T is true that this power shines much more gloriously in divine than in prophane Love for though Kings abase themselves in loving their Subjects and that they forgo their greatness as soon as they engage themselves in friendship yet do they not raise those up into their Throne whom they love Jealousie which is inseparable from Royalty will not suffer them to give their Crown away to him who possesseth their heart But if they should arrive at this excess the Maxim would only be true in them and their Subjects could not change conditions by the force of their love for the love of greatness makes not a Soveraign nor is a man the more accommodated though he love riches the desire of health did never yet cure a sick man we have not found that the bare Passion to know hath made men wise But divine Love hath so much power as it raseth us up above our selves by a strange Metamorphosis it makes us be that which it makes us love It renders the guilty innocent it makes slaves children changeth Demons into Angels and that we may not diminish the virtue thereof whilst we think to heighten it let it suffice to say that of men it makes Gods It doth not therefore become us to complain of our misery and to accuse our Creator for not having equalled our condition to that of Angels for though those pure spirits have great advantages over us and that we hope for no other good than that which they possess yet are we happy enough since we are permitted to love God and that we are made to hope that our nature being by love transformed into his nature we shall lose what we have of mortal and perishable to acquire what is incorruptible and eternal This is the Consolation of divine Lovers and this is the only means how to aspire without blame to that happiness which Lucifer could not do but with impiety I cannot end this Discourse without justly reproaching those that whilst they may love God engage their affections on the earth or on earthly things and deprive themselves of that immense felicity which divine love promiseth them for in loving of the creatures they cannot share in their perfections without doing the like in their defaults after having laboured much they oft-times change an obscure and peaceable condition into a more glorious but a more dangerous one So there is always hazard in the love of the creatures and the advantage that may be drawn from thence is never so pure but that it is mingled with somewhat of misfortune For whatsoever passion we have for the creature we are not sure the creature hath the like for us yet this miraculous change which passeth for the principal effect of love is made in this mutual affection and in this correspondency of friendship But we run not these hazzards in consecrating our love to God his perfections are not accompanied with faults and we know it cannot be disadvantageous to us to make a change with him Our love is never without this acknowledgment since it is rather the effect than the cause of his and that we love not him till he hath first loved us He is so just as he never denies our affection the recompense which it deserves he is not like those misbelieving Mistresses who amongst the numbers of their Lovers prefer him who is best behaved before him that loveth best in the commerce which we hold with him we are sure that he that hath most charity shall have most glory and that in his Kingdom the most faithful lover shall be always the most honoured The SECOND DISCOURSE Of the Badness of Love SInce there is nothing so sacred but meets with some
guided by Wisdom she will alter her nature and of a simple Passion she will become a glorious Virtue Audacity and Fortitude consider the same object and their inclinations are so like as one may say that Fortitude is a rational Audacity and that Audacity is a natural Fortitude their enemies are common and they summon all their forces to fight with them they are agitated by the same motives and seek the same end For Fortitude according to her truest definition is a Science which teacheth us either to suffer or to beat back or to provoke injuries she constantly endures all the evils which Nature is subject to she will not be dispensed withal in general Rules and knowing that the necessity of death is a sentence pronounced against all men she never appeals from it with calmness of spirit she sees sickness approach the first remedy which she applies to cure them is to think that they arise from our constitution and that they make up a part of us contagion doth not astonish her be it either for that â—he looks upon it as a punishment of sin or that she considers it as an effect of Nature she accuseth not the stars of it and pretends not to be exempt from an evil which doth not pardon Princes with a noble neglect she beats back all such disasters as take all their strength from error and which do not offend our bodies but as they hurt our imagination she defends her self against Poverty by desiring only necessary things she despiseth Honours considering that they are oftner the recompense of Vice than of Virtue she laughs at Voluptuousness knowing that it is pleasing only in appearance and that under a specious name it hideth shameful and real pains she provokes sorrow to try her courage she seeks for calamity as an occasion to exercise her Virtue and if she had not tasted the disasters of life she would think her self ignorant of the better half of what she ought to know she hath rather a greediness than a desire after dangers and since the evil she undergoes contributes unto her glory she fore runs it thinking it a point of baseness to tarry expecting it In fine she hath overcome death in its most ghastly hue nor hath the cruelty of tyrants invented punishments over which Fortitude hath not triumphed Scoevola derided the flames and witnessed more constancy in seeing his hand burn than his enemies did in beholding it Regulus was an honour to the Rack whereon he died Socrates turn'd his Prison into a School his Executioners became his Disciples and the poyson which he swallowed made his innocence glorious Camillus suffer'd banishment calmly and Rome had remained captive had not this famons Exile restored unto her her liberty Cato slew himself and though he suffer'd himself to be overcome by impatience he may at least boast of having preserved his liberty But without making use of prophane examples where Virtue is always mingled with Vice we have no Martyr which hath not overcome some Tyrant in the severity of their sufferings given many proofs of their courage The Ignatii have provoked wild beasts and as if that Death had been a courtesie they sought after it with eagerness and endured it with pleasure the Laurences have vanquisht the flames and while their bodies distilled drop by drop upon the fire-brands their tongues reproached their Judges and gave praises to Jesus Christ the Clementâ— and Agathaes have wearied their Executioners their martyrdom endured thirty years the famousest Cities of the world have served for Theaters to their sufferings all the earth hath been water'd with their bloud and Heaven hath shewn a thousand miracles to prolong their lives and to make their Triumphs more famous But if Fortitude encouraged by Charity hath held out all these brunts and had the better of all these enemies Audacity may claim to a great share in the glory for it is she that maketh Martyrs and though Grace be more powerful than Nature yet doth she not despise the assistance thereof as the soul and body conspire together to practise Virtue Nature agrees with Grace to beat down sin Boldness is the ground work of all glorious actions and had not this noble Passion fill'd the heart of the first Christians Fortitude had not gotten such glorious victories they have so much of affinity between them as they cannot subsist asunder Fortitude languisheth without Audacity and Audacity without Fortitude is rash Virâ—â—e would be succor'd by Pasion Passiâ—â— guided by Virtue Audacity is the beginning of Fortitude and Fortitude is Auâ—â—cities perfection or to speak more â—early Audacity is an imperfect Virtue and Fortitude is an accomplisht Passion But to arrive at this perfection she must have three or four remarkable circumstances the first is that she be accompanied by Justice and Prudence for he that takes up arms to ruine his Countrey deserves not to be stiled Couragious his design dishonors his Passion and his Audacity becomes faulty for his not having chosen a lawful end Let Cataline take up arms let him encourage his souldiers to the battel by his examples let him be besmear'd with his own bloud mixt with that of his enemies let him die with his sword in his hand well advanced in the scuffle and let fury choler be seen in his visage even after death he shall never pass for a couragious man his Audacity was not discreet since trespassing against all the laws of Discretion he had undertaken so pernicious a design neither was it temperate since he won his souldiers good will only by satisfying their Avarice or Uncleanness of life it was not just because he had conspired against his Countrey and it was rather an obdurateness than a greatness of courage since to compass glory he committed Paricide The second is that the motive of Audacity be generous and that the daring man expose not his life upon a slight consideration for he very well knows his own worth and not born away with vain-glory he knows his life is precious he hath preserved it with much care and if he endanger it it must be for a subject that deserves it There is a great deal of difference between a valiant man and one that is desperate the latter seeks out death to free himself from misery but the other pursues it only to discharge his duty and content his inclination he will not then engage himself in danger to purchase a little honor he will not be guided by the example of the rash he values not those Maxims which are authorized by Folly and Indiscretion but he will go whithersoever the Trumpet summons him and will throw himself though single upon a Body of Horse if he have order so to do he will die a thousand times rather than forgo the station given him in charge and he will cover the place with his body which he is not able to defend with his sword The third is to try his own
or after death spring up again But pleasures are sought for with pain and we are oft-times enforced to pay more for them than they are worth Sorrows are sometimes entirely pure and touch us to the quick as they make us incapable of consolation but pleasures are never without some mixture of Sorrow They are always dipt in bitterness and as we see no Roâ—es which are not environed with Prickles we taste no Delights which are not accompanied with Torments but that which makes the misery of our condition evidently appear is that we are much more sensible of Pain than of Pleasure for a slight Malady troubleth all our most solid contentments a Fever is able to make Conquerors forget their Victories and to blot out of their minds all the pomp of their Triumphs Yet is it the truest of all our Passions and if we believe Aristotle it makes the greatest alterations in our Souls the rest subsist only by our imagination and were it not for the intelligence we hold with this Faculty they would make no impression upon our Senses Desires and Hopes are but deceitful good things and he very well knew their nature who termed them the Dreams of Waking men Love and Hatred are the diversions of idle souls Fear is but a shadow and it is hard for the Effect to be true when the Cause is imaginary Boldness and Choler form Monsters to themselves that they may defeat them and we must not wonder if they so easily ingage themselves in the Combat since their enemies weakness assures them of the victory but grief is a real evil which sets upon the Soul and Body both at once and makes two wounds at one blow I know there are some sorrows that wound only the mind and exercise all their might upon the noblest part of man but if they be violent they work upon the body and by a secret contagion the pains of the Mistress become the diseases of the Slave the Chains that bind them together are so streight that all their good and bad estate is shared between them a contented Soul cures her body and a sick body afflicts its soul this noble Captive patiently endures all other incommodities which befall her and provided that her prison be exempted from pain she finds reasons enough to chear up her self with She despises the loss of Riches and bounding her Desires she finds contentment in Poverty she neglects Honour and knowing that it only depends upon Opinion she will not ground her happiness upon so frail a good she passeth by Pleasures and the shame which accompanies them lesseneth the sorrow which their loss brings her as she is not tied to these adventious goods she easily forgoes them and when Fortune hath robbed her of them she thinks her self more at Liberty and thinks her self not the poorer but when the body is assaulted and that it suffers either excessive heat or the injuries of the Season or the rage of Sickness she is constrained to sigh with it and the Cords which fasten them together make their miseries common she apprehends Death though she be Immortal she fears wounds though she be Invulnerable and she resents all the evils suffer'd by the prison which she gives life to though she be Spiritual The Stoicks Philosophy which valueth not a glorious enterprize unless it be impossible would have inderdicted the commerce between the Soul and the Body and in a strange madness hath endeavour'd to separate two parts whereof one and the same whole are compounded she forbad her Disciples the use of Tears and breaking the holiest of all Friendships she would have the Soul to be insensible of the Bodies sufferings and that whilst the Body was burning in the midst of flames the Soul should mount up to Heaven there to contemplate the Beauty of Virtue or the wonders of Nature This Barbarous Philosophy had some Admirers but she never had any true Disciples her Counsels made them despair all that would follow her Maxims suffer'd themselves to be miss-led by Vanity and could not fence themselves against Grief Since the Soul hath contracted so straight a society with the Body she must suffer with it and since she is shed abroad into all the parts thereof she must complain with the mouth weep with the eyes and sigh with the heart-Mercy was never forbidden but by tyrants and this Virtue will be praised as long as there be any that are miserable yet the evils which afflict her are strangers to her and those whom she assists are for the most part to her unknown wherefore then shall we blame the Soul if she have compassion on her own body Wherefore shall we accuse her of Abjectness if she share in the sorrows that assail it and which not being able to hurt her in her own substance set upon her in her Mansion-house and revenge themselves on her in that thing which of all the world she loves best For while she is in the body she seems to renounce her Nobility and that ceasing to be a pure spirit she interesses her self in all the Delights and all the Vexations of her Hoste his health causeth contentment in her and his sickness is grievous to her the most worthy part suffers in the less worthy and by a troublesom necessity the Soul is unhappy in the miseries of her body They say that Magick is so powerful that it hath found out a secret how to torment men in their absence and to make them feel in their own persons all the cruelties which she exerciseth upon their Images these miserable men burn with fire which toucheth nothing but their Picture they feel blows which they do not receive and the distance of place cannot free them from the fury of their enemies Love which is as powerful and not much less cruel than Magick doth this Miracle every day when it joyns two souls together it finds a way to make their sufferings common men cannot offend the one but the other resents it each of them suffers as well in the body which it loves as in that which it inanimates Since Love and Magick work these wonders we must not marvel if Nature having fastned the Soul to the Body do make the miseries common and if by one only wo she makes two Parties miserable the participation of each others Good and Bad is a consequence of their Marriage and the Heavens must do a miracle to give them a Dispensation from this necessity The joy of Martyrs was no meer effect of Reason when they tasted any pleasure amidst their Torments it must needs be Grace that sweetned the rigour thereof and he that in the fiery Furnace changed Flames into pleasing gales of Wind must have turned their Torments into Delights or if he did them not this favour he did them a greater and by making the Soul not sensible of the Bodies sufferings he taught the whole world that he was the Soveraign Lord of Nature
But howsoever all Philosophers agree that the Soul cannot be happy in a miserable body and that she cannot endue it with life without sharing in the miseries thereof if her noblest part be touched with Joy while the body languisheth with pain that which inanimates it must be sensible thereof to pay interests for the services she gets thence she must be miserable for company Even the Soul of Jesus Christ thrice-happy as it was failed not to be afflicted and a miracle was done in the order of Glory that the society might not be broken which Nature hath put between the Soul and the Body it is then agreed upon that these two parts that compose man cannot be separated in their suffering and that the torment of the one must of necessity be the others punishment they love too well to forsake one another in their afflictions and unless the violence of pain break the chains wherewith they are linked together their miseries must be common I should moreover think that the condition of the Soul is more deplorable than that of the Body for besides that to make her subject to sufferings be to injure her worth and that it is a piece of Injustice to force her to feel evils from which by Nature she is exempted she sentenceth her self to new sufferings and the love which she beareth to her Body obligeth her to resent with sorrow the pains which it endureth she together with it is sensible thereof seeing that she is the Original of Sense and as if this torment were not sufficient she draws another upon her self by compassion and afflicts her self with the Thought of all that which really torments it she makes much of its maladies after she hath shared in the suffering of them she grows sad with the conceit of them and of a single grief makes double Martyrdom true it is that this Faculty hath so much commerce with the Senses as she cannot resent their evils without communicating her pains unto them her trouble disquieteth them and as the sufferings of the Body are cause of the like in the Soul by a Law as just as necessary the pain of the Soul produceth the like of the Body This feeling is in my Opinion true Sadness which is nothing else but a dislike which is formed in the inferior part of the Soul by the fight of Objects which are displeasing to her Very strange are the effects of so Melancholick a Passion for when she is but in a mean she makes them eloquent without Rhetorick she teacheth them Figurative speeches to exaggerate their Discontents and to hear them speak the greatest pains seem to be less than what they suffer but when she is Extream by a clean contrary effect she astonisheth the Spirit she interdicts the use of the Senses she dries up Tears stifles Sighes and making men stupid she affords Poets the liberty of feigning that she changeth them into Rocks when she is of long continuance she frees us from the earth and raiseth us up to Heaven for it is very hard for a man in misery to covet life when it is full of pain and Sorrow and when the Soul hath great conflicts for a Body which doth continualy exercise her patience All men are not so poorly spirited as was that Favorite of Augustus who did so much covet life that Torments could not make him forgo the desire thereof who gloried in his Verses that he would have loved Life amidst Tortures that he would have been a Votary for the prolonging of it upon the Rack and that the cruellest sufferings that might be would have seemed swift to him so as he might therein have found Life I well believe that excess of pain would have made him be of another mind and that he would have confess'd that to die quickly is better than to live long in pain or had he persisted in his first Opinion we should be bound to confess that poorly-spirited men are more wilful than are those that are couragious and that the desire of Glory makes not so great impression in us as the desire of life But to return to my Subject when Grief is violent it loosneth the soul from the Body and causeth the death of the man for Sadness and Joy have this of resemblance in their difference that both of them attempt upon our lives when they are in extreams The heart dilates it self by Joy it opens it self to receive the good which is offer'd tastes it with such excess of pleasure as it faints under the weight thereof and meets with death in the midst of its Happiness It shuts it self up by Sorrow claps to the door upon the evil that besiegeth it and very improvidently delivers it self into the hands of a Domestick enemy to free it self from one that is a stranger for its Violence causeth its anguish and the care he takes to defend it self augments its pain and hastens its death Oft-times also its negligence makes it miserable it suffers it self to be surpriz'd by Sorrow for not having foreseen it and being no longer in a condition to defend it self when Sorrow arriveth it is forced to give way thereunto In fine Sadness makes us weep when it hath seized on our heart it wageth war with our Eyes it evaporateth by Sighes it glides down by Tears and weakens it self in the production thereof for a man that weeps easeth himself and comforts himself whilst he complains he finds somewhat of delight in his lamentations and if they be signs of his sufferings they are likewise the cure thereof As Choler dischargeth it self by Railing Sorrow being more innocent drops away by Tears and abandons the Heart when it gets up into the Face Having seen its effects it remains that we consider what use may be made thereof and in what conditions it may become Innocent or Offensive The FIFTH DISCOURSE Of the bad use of Pain and Sorrow THose who believe that Delight is Virtues most dangerous Enemy will never think that Sorrow can side with Vice and we shall have much ado to perswade them that there be some Sadnesses which are faulty yet we see but few of them that are innocent and most of those that draw tears from us are either unjust or unreasonable for man is become so esseminate that every thing hurts him Sin hath made him so wretched that he numbers the privation of pleasures amongst his pains and thinks he hath just cause to afflict himself when he possesseth not all that he desires the number of his evils is encreased by his abjectedness and he that in the first ages knew no other pain but Sickness and Death now vexeth himself for Disgrace and Poverty The witness of his Conscience is not sufficient for his Virtue and if he have not applause on Earth joyned to the approbation of Heaven he imagineth himself to be infamous the riches of Nature do not satisfie his Desires and though he have all things
had never united the soul to the body had it had a purpose to hinder their communication These Philosophers when they made their proud boasts have in my opinion imitated those Orators who making Hyperboles lead us to Truth by Falshood and assure us of that which is Impossible that they may perswade us of that which is Difficult They did certainly believe that the mind ought to have some commerce with the Body and that the sufferings of the one ought to cause Grief in the other but lest the Nobler part should become slave to the less Noble they have endeavoured to preserve her Liberty by Rigor and to make her insensible to the end that she might always keep up her Soveraignty For who could imagine that men so judicious in all things should lose their Judgment in this and that to defend Virtue they should abandon Reason All the Glory of their Discourse tended only to maintain the Soul in her Empire and lest she might faint under the Weaknesses of the Body they have authorised her Power by Terms more Eloquent than True They conceited that to reduce us to Reason we must be raised a little above it and that to afford nothing of Superfluous to our Senses we must deny them what is Necessary They believe then with us that Grief may accord with Reason and that there are occasions wherein not to be afflicted is to be Impious But I know not whether or no we can perswade them that Repentance and Mercy are glorious Virtues and that after having bewayled our own Offences we are bound to lament our Neighbours Miseries These Philosophers are austere only because they are too Vertuous they condemn not Penitency save only because they love Fidelity and if they blame Repentance 't is because it presupposeth a Fault they would have us never to forsake Vertue and that we should deal more severely with vitious men than with those who desert the Discipline of War their zeal deserves some excuse but not being accompanied with Wisdom it produceth an effect contrary to their intent for it augmenteth the number of the Guilty whilst it thinks to diminish them it makes the weak wilful and taking away the Remedy it changeth their Infirmities into incurable Diseases Man is not so constant as the Angels and when he loves what is good he is not so firmly fixed thereunto but that he may be made to forgo it neither is he so opinionated as is the Devil and when he affects evil he is not so strongly engaged thereto but that he may be taken off from it If this Inconstancy be cause of his sin 't is also the Remedy thereof and if it assist to make him Guilty it contributes also to the making of him Innocent He is nauseated with sin he is weary of Impiety and he ows these good effects to the weakness of his Nature Had he more Strength he would be more Obstinate and Grace which converts him would find more Resistance were he more firm in his Resolutions Heaven makes this Defect serve for our Advantage and its Providence husbandeth our Weakness to work our Welfare thereby for when it hath touched the hearts of sinners and that preventing their Will by its Grace it makes them detest their Wickedness they end the work of their Conversion by the ayd of Penitence and in Sorrow seek out means to appease divine Justice they punish their Bodies to afflict their Souls they sentence the slave to bewail the sin of his Master because he is accessary thereunto and knowing that all the harm which either the Master or the Slave do to themselves proceeds from the too much Love they bear unto themselves they oblige them for their own good to hate themselves they oft-times punish them both with the same punishment because their offences are Reciprocal and do justly conjoyn those in the suffering which were not separated in the Fault Thus the whole man satisfieth God and the two parts whereof he is composed do by Sorrow find pardon for their sins I am not ignorant that Libertines laugh at these duties and that they place repentance in the number of those remedies which are as shameful as unprofitable for wherefore say they do you afflict your self for an evil that hath no more a Being wherefore do you revive it by your Sorrow wherefore with a greater piece of Imprudence would you change what is past and wish in vain that what is already done had not been done These bad Reasons will not divert sinners from Repentance and if wicked men have no better weapons wherewithal to fight against Piety they will never have much advantage over her Nature authorizeth daily the tears we shed for misfortunes past a sad remembrance draws sighs from us and we cannot think upon the evils which we have either escaped or undergone without some sense either of Delight or Sorrow As the time that is past makes the more certain part of our life so doth it likewise awaken the truest Passions and afford us the most sensible motions Time to come is too uncertain to vex ones self much about it and the events which it produceth are too hidden to make any great Impression upon our desires Time past is the source of our Sorrows and we have reason to afflict our selves for a thing which we cannot help if it did only threaten us we should endeavour to defend our selves from it and if it hung over our heads we should employ our wisdom to divert it but when it hath once happened we have no more to do but to be sorry for it and of as many Passions as may serve to comfort us in present evils or such as are to come There is none but this from whence we can draw consolation in our past afflictions Could we recall our friends from their Graves and revive their Ashes by our cares we would not consume our selves in our bootless Sorrows but since there is no cure for Death and that Physick which can preserve Life cannot restore it when it is lost we have so much the more reason to complain as our loss is more certain and our tears appear to be so much the more just as the evil which we suffer is the less capable of Remedy Thus Penitence is not to be blamed if not being able to remedy a fault already committed she yield her self up to Sorrow and if finding no means how to repair her offence she witness her sensibleness thereof by sighs she is the better grounded in this belief for that she knows Tears are not unprofitable for her and that mingled with the Blood of Iesus Christ they may wash away all her offences Upon other occasions they do no miracles if they comfort the living they do not raise up the dead again if they assure the afflicted of our love they do not free them from their troubles by thinking to aid the miserable they augment their number and instead
the Theatre where two so violent motions were formed should enjoy Peace amidst War In fine Fear and Audacity ended their differences in thy Person thou didst suffer these two affections to possess thy Heart without dividing it whilst thou wert in thine Agony in the Garden thou gavest confidence to thine Apostles and when the thought of death made such havock in thy Soul thou didst encourage Martyrs to the Combat thou preparest Crowns for their Victories and procuring them strength by thy weaknesses thou ordainest them to be the Champions of thy Church Militant But whatever help they received from thy Grace their Victories were never like thine they found more obedience in the World than in themselves and have confessed it cost them less to overcome wild Beasts than to vanquish their own Passions Famous Martyrs have been known who having overcome Lyons could not quell their own choler and have suffered themselves to be born away with Impatience after they had endured Tortures Their Combats were not always followed with good Success they were oft-times in one and the same day both Conquered and Conquerors They gave way to Voluptuousness after they had triumphed over Grief and having had courage enough to be Martyrs they wanted resolution to be continent How often have they wisht for Death that they might be freed from these domestick enemies and to that end sighed and made vows When thy Providence gave them over to their own weakness they despaired of their Salvation finding no support save in thy Goodness they begun all their wrestlings by Prayer and professed that to overcome their Passions they must be animated by thy Spirit and assisted by thy Power Thou art the sole Conqueror that wert never worsted in this War thy Affections never betrayd thy Reason and thy power hath been as absolute in thy Person as in thy Kingdom These Passions of our Soul changed nature in thine by the use thou madest of them they became Virtues Thou conceivedst no love which did not turn it self into Charity thou didst excite no Choler that was not just indignation and thou feltest no pity but it was transformed into Mercy All that in our Nature is Humane was Divine in thine and the unconfused Mixture of two Natures whereof thou art composed made thy passions to be rather Miracles than Virtues Thy Anger served as an Officer to thy Fathers Iustice thy Compassion was the Interpreter of His Mercy and thy Love an earnest of His Good will How happy was that distressed man that drew tears from thine eyes how rich was that poor one whose wants thou didst bewail how puissant was the oppressed whose interests thou maintainedst how innocent was that Offender whose Conversion was wrought by thy Tears and how glorious was the infamous Sinner to whom thou witnessedst thy Love by thy Complaints and Sighs Heaven had a regard to all the motions of thy Soul the eternal Father never denied any thing to thy Tears and his Thunder-bolts never failed to fall upon their heads on whom thy just Anger called for punishment Thy Passions were the Organs of thy Divinity thy Sighs were no less powerful than thy Words and without using either Prayers or Vows the Desires were sufficient to make known thy Will What Admiration did these Motions of thy Soul cause in the Seraphim with what astonishment were those pure Intelligences strucken when they considered that God taking our nature upon him took part of her feelings and no part of her weaknesses That he wept with the wretched without interessing his happiness That he was Angry at those that were injured without troubling his Quiet That with the needy he formed desires without loss of his Abundance And that with Lovers he felt the flames of Love without enduring their Disturbances What a miracle was it to see that Anger should be kindled in thy Soul without trouble thereunto That Pity should wound thy Heart without weakning it That it should be enflamed with Love yet not consumed That it should be eaten up with Sorrow yet not disquieted What can I do less in honour of so many Wonders than to consecrate our Passions unto thee What less submission can I make to thy adored Power than loudly to avouch that there is none but thou who can teach us the use of these Motions And that it appertains only to thy Wisdom to change our Anger into Indignation our Pity into Mercy and our Love into Charity Indeed it is thou alone who canst rule our passions thou art he only who workest our good out of our Evil and of Poysons composest Antidotes Thou knowest men by their Inclinations thou seest without studying them the motions of their hearts and making benefit thereof dost wisely conduct them to thy end Thou employest Fear to take off a covetous man from those perishable Riches which possess him thou makest a holy use of Despair to withdraw from the World a Courtier whose youth had been mis-imployed in the service of some Prince thou makest an admirable use of Disdain to extinguish there with a lovers flames who is enslave by a proud beauty thou employest Choler to disabuse a Souldier whom a dissembling General feeds with vain hopes thou makest excellent use of Grief to cure a sick man who sought for his Souls happiness in his Bodies health and lost the remembrance of Heaven by being to strongly fastened to the Earth In fine thou makest Chains of all our Passions to unite our Wills to thine thou minglest Grace with Nature and makest Angels by the same disorders as they would have been made Devils Sin is the Theatre of thy Power as well as Nothing thou makest thy greatest Works issue out of two Subjects whereof the one is Barren the other Rebellious Out of Nothing thou drawest Existence and out of Sin thou extractest Grace thou findest every thing in its contrary and by an effectual violence which can proceed only from an infinite Power thou compellest Nothing to produce men and sin to make Saints But after these two Miracles which are thy Master-pieces we see not any thing more wonderful than the use which thou art able to make of our Passions for the changing of our Wills thou makest that serve thy designes which did serve thine enemies thou savest men by those Weaknesses which would have been their undoing and bestowing on them a little Divine Love thou turnest all their Passions into Virtues For when once Charity begins to reign in their souls they fear nothing but sin they wish for nothing but Grace Thou art the end of their Desires as thou art the object of their Love They change Condition without changing Nature though they have Passions they commit no more Offences and losing neither Hope nor Despair neither Audacity nor Fear neither Love nor Hatred they are free from all the mischiefs which accompany these Passions when they are Faulty But certainly if thy Mercy appear in well husbanding the inclinations of thy Friends to their
but from Grace All the actions he did without her assistance were faulty and if we will believe Saint Austin all his good Works were sins for he failed both in the beginning and in the end not working by Grace he must needs work by Concupiscence and being possest with self-love he could propose no other end to himself but himself he labored either after Glory or Pleasure and in all his actions raised himself no higher than his own interests The Philosophers though they had a little more Light than others had no more Righteousness and whatsoever names they gave unto their virtues one might easily find that they were animated only by the desire of Honour or Voluptuousness All their Opinions likewise might be reduc'd to those of the Epicureans and of the Stoicks both which do infinitely differ from the belief of Christians For as saith Saint Augustine the Epicureans acknowledged no other Pleasure than Sensuality The Stoicks thought Virtue the only happiness and Christians allow of no felicity but Grace The first submit the soul to the body reduce men to the life of beasts the second fill the soul with arrogance and in the misery of their condition they imitate the pride of Devils the last acknowledge their weakness and finding by experience that Nature and Reason cannot deliver them they implore aid from Grace and undertake not to withstand Vices nor to acquire Vertues without Heavens assistances Therefore is it that in this Work I presuppose that Charity is absolutely necessary for the governments of our Passions and I acknowledg Christianity to be the only Moral Philosophy I very well know Philosophers have helped us to some maximes which may further our design but I likewise know very well that we cannot make use thereof to our advantage without the Grace of the Holy Ghost The goodliest truths are unuseful to us if he who is the eternal Light do not scatter them abroad in our souls and the best Reasons cannot prevail with us if he that holdeth our hearts in his hand do not touch them with his inspirations The very helps of Nature which we may call the ruines of Innocence cannot produce Virtue unless enlivened by Charity All those good inclinations which remained in us after the loss of original Righteousness are out of order and man is become so wholly corrupt that his very advantages make against him The Beauty of the Vnderstanding the Goodness of the Iudgment and the Faithfulness of the Memory are favours which have undone the Philosophers and if we now reap any profit thereby we owe it to Grace and not to Nature It fares with our soul as with the Earth the one and the other are accursed since sin and as the latter bears nothing but Thorns unless it be cultivated the other produceth nothing but sin unless she be illuminated by some supernatural Light To understand this Truth which is the pure Doctrine of the Gospel we must know that Grace be it in the state of Innocence or in that of Christianity makes up one part of man he is not accomplished when he is robed thereof and though he have Reason he is imperfect if he want Righteousness In both these estates he must be Righteous to be perfected and Innocent if he will please God Reason is not his chief advantage and if I may be permitted to say it she is not his final Difference he was never created to be only Reasonable and he cannot be saved unless together with Reason he possess Righteousness From so rare a Priviledg an extream Misfortune hath ensued For as Nature and Grace were united in the first man they could not be divided but by sin and he could not lose Righteousness but by Concupiscence being no longer under the Empire of God he fell under the Devils Tyranny and forsaking his lawful Soveraign he threw himself into the arms of an Vsurper As he acted heretofore by the motions of the former he works now by the motions of the second and as he did nothing then which was not Innocent and Rational he doth nothing now that is not Irrational and Sinful Reason is become a slave to sin and Nature losing Grace hath lost her Primitive Purity To deliver us from this shameful and cruel Servitude Iesus Christ must quicken us with his Spirit he must unite us to his Body and must restore those advantages to Reason which sin hath berest her of Whosoever works not by this principle is faulty and who hath not put off the old man cannot put on the new Therefore doth Saint Augustine condemn all the Virtues of the Pagans he confounds their good works with their sins and knowing that a man cannot be Righteous without Grace he assures us that their best actions were sinful All his Books are full of these Truths and his Doctrine which is drawn from the Gospel obligeth us to confess That to withstand Vice and govern our Passions we must of necessity have Charity Who acts by the motions of this Virtue cannot do amiss and who follows those of Concupiscence cannot be saved Charity raiseth us up to Heaven Concupiscence fastens us to the Earth Charity joyns us to God Concupiscence unites us to our selves Charity restores us our Innocence Concupiscence detains us still in sin Morality then if it will be Profitable must be Christian and the Virtues which ought to govern our Passions must be inanimated by Charity if they will discharge their duty yet may they have their particular employments and conducted by their Soveraign they may do their utmost to quell these Rebels and to teach them obedience They sweeten them by their dexterity they make use of cunning when force faileth they take them by their interests or win them by their inclinations When they cannot make them capable of the pure Mysteries of Religion they deal with them as with Infidels and perswade them by interessed Reasons if they be not touched with the Glory of Heaven they propose to them earthly Glory and if they are not to be wrought upon by Rewards they endeavor to frighten them with Punishments For these motions of our Soul are too much fastened to the Earth to be heightned to the purity of Divine love they feel not the beat thereof but by reflection and this Monarch is contented to reduce them to their duties by the interposition of Virtues that hold of his Empire He employes Temperance and Continence to overcome these Rebels he teacheth them how to reclaim these Slaves and gives them forces to tame these savage Monsters So that you must not wonder if I have sometimes followed the example of prophane Philosophers and made use of the Reason of Infidels to make the Passions obedient they are so engaged in their Senses as they can conceive nothing that is not sensible and they have so little commerce with Reason that they understand not her Commandments unless Imagination serve them for Interpreter 'T is this Faculty
begins to have inclinations and notions she sees Objects by the Sense which their reports make unto the Imagination this trusts them or commits them to memory which obligeth her self carefully to keep them and faithfully to represent them From the Lights of the Soul arise her desires and from her knowledge her love or hatred she betakes her self to that which is agreeable unto her shuns that which likes her not and according to the divers qualities of good or evil which present themselves she excites differing motions which are called Passions In this degree she hath nothing of more lofty than the Beasts which discover Objects by Sense which receive the sorts thereof in their Imagination and preserve them in their Memory In the third estate she quits the Body and coming to her self she entertains her self with more Truths she treats with Angels and mounting by degrees even to Divinity it self she knows perfections and admireth greatness she reasons upon such subjects as present themselves she examines their qualities that she may conceive their essence she confers the present with what is past and from the one and the other of them draws Conjectures for what is to come The Faculty which doth all these wonders is termed Understanding Imagination â—nd Sense acknowledge her for their Mistress but she is not so absolute but that â—he dependeth upon a Soveraign and takes â—he Law from one that is blind whom she serves for a guide This which is called Will and which hath no other Object than good to follow it and evil to shun it â—s so absolute as Heaven it self bears a respect unto her freedom for it never useth violence when it hath to do therewithal â—it husbandeth the consentment thereof with address And its efficacious graces which never fail in producing their Effects may well undertake to convert but not to force Will. Heavens Orders are alwaies observed within its Empire the Subjects thereof may well be froward never rebellious and when it commands absolutely 't is alwaies obeyed True it is that motions or agitations are formed in the second acception of the soul which exercise her power for though they hold of her they forbear not to pretend to some sort of Liberty they are rather her Citizens than her Slaves and she is rather their Judge than their Soveraign These Passions arising from the Senses side alwaies with them whenever Imagination presents them to the Understanding he pleads in their behalf by means of so good an Advocate they corrupt their Master and win all their Causes The Understanding listens unto them weigheth their Reasons considereth their Inclinations and lest he may grieve them oft-times gives Sentence to their Advantage he betrayes the Will whereof he is the Chief Officer he couzens his Blind Queen and disguising the Truth makes unfaithful Reports unto her that he may draw unjust Commandments from her when she hath declared her self Passions become Crimes their Sedition begins to make head and man who before was but unruly becomes wholly Criminal for as the Motions of this inferiour part of the Soul are not free they never begin to be vitious but when they become voluntary As long as they are awakened by Objects solicited by the Senses and protected by Imaginations self they have no other Craft than what they draw from corrupted Nature But when the Understanding overshadowed by their obscurity or won by their solicitations perverts the Will and obliges this Soveraign to take upon her the interest of her Slaves she makes them guilty of her sin she changes their motions into rebellion and of the insurrection of a Beast makes the fault of a man It is true that when the understanding keeps within the bounds of duty and is faithful to the Will he suppresses their seditions and reduceth these Mutineers to obedience she husbandeth their humours so well as taking from them all their unruliness he makes rare and excellent virtues of them In this estate they are subservient to Reason and defend the party which they were resolved to fight against The good or the evil that may be drawn from them binds us to consider their nature to observe their proprieties and to discover their original to the end that arriving at the exact knowledge of them we may make use of them in our affairs Passion then is nothing else but a moâ—ion of the Sensitive Appetite caused by the Imagination of an appearing or veritable good or evil which changeth the Body against the Laws of Nature I term it motion because it hath a respect to good or evil as the Objects thereof and suffers it self to be born away by the qualities which she observes therein this motion is caused by the Imagination which being fill'd with sorts of things which she hath received from all the senses sollicits passions to discover unto her the beauties or deformities of such Objects as may move her The sensitive appetite is so partial to her as it sooths her in all her inclinations let her be never so little agitated she draws after her all other passions she raiseth tempests as winds do waves and the Soul would be at quiet in her interiour part were she not moved by this power but she bears so great a sway in this Empire as she there doth what she pleaseth Nor is it requisite that the good or evil which she represents to the appetite be true which relyeth on her fidelity and believes her councils without examining them having no other light but what is borrowed from her he follows hoodwink'd all the Objects which she proposeth and let them be but cloathed with any appearance of good or evil he impetuously either rejects or embraceth them He behaves himself so vigorously as he alwaies causeth alteration in the Body for besides that his motions are violent and that they do hardly deserve the name of Passions when they are moderated they have such access unto the Senses and the Senses have so much of communication with the Body as it is impossible but that their Disorders should cause an alteration therein In brief Passion is against the Law of Nature because she sets upon the heart which cannot be hurt without resentment of all the parts of the Body for they are Looking-glasses wherein one sees all the Motions of him that animates them And as Physitians judge of his Constitution by the beating of his Pulse and Arteries one may judge of the Passions wherewith â—e is transported by the colour of his face by the flame which sparkles in his eyes by the shaking of his Joynts and by all such other signs as appear in the Body when the Heart is agitated Now these are the Passions which we â—ndertake to reclaim and bring under the Empire of Reason and by the assistance of â—race to change them into Virtues â—ome have been satisfied with describing â—hem unto us not shewing how to regulate â—hem and have employed their eloquence â—nly in making us know our Miseries
Laws it must take heed lest opinion endeavour to establish her self and must consult with Reason to defend it self against Errour and Falshood thus will Passions always be peaceable and their motions being regulated they will be serviceable unto virtue The FIFTH DISCOURSE That there is more disorder in the passions of man than in those of Beasts BEfore we resolve this question we must discuss another and examine whether beasts be capable of these motions which we call Passions For as our Adversaries confound them with vices and as they will have all the affections of the inferiour part of our soul to be criminal they hold that beasts are exempt from them and that having no freedom or liberty one cannot impute unto them either Virtue or Sin That they are led on by an Instinct which cannot err and if sometimes they seem to do amiss we must attribute it to providence which disordereth them for our punishment or which suffereth their unruliness to put us in mind of our wickedness 't is therefore that their motions serve for plagues to all people and that the Infidels took counsel by the flying of Birds and the Entrails of Victims that they might know what was to come or what Heaven had decreed But though Beasts be exempt from sin and that they owe their innocency to their servitude they are not notwithstanding insensible All Philosophers acknowledge they have inclinations and aversions and that according as objects give against their eyes or ears they excite desire or fear in their Imaginations In effect the nethermost part of our soul hath such correspondency with our senses as that she borrows her name from them and is called sensitive insomuch as it is almost impossible but that any thing that entreth by those passages with any contentment or detestation should cause either pleasure or pain in the soul. As beasts have these two faculties which give them feeling and life we must necessarily conclude That they have Passions that they approach to what is good out of desire and shun what is evil out of dislike that they taste the one with joy and suffer the other with sorrow This reason is confirmed by examples for we see every day how Horses are brought to manage through the fear of punishment that the Spur quickens their memory that the noise of Trumpets puts them in good humor and that very hurts do animate their courage Bulls fight for glory and joining craft with strenth dispute as hotly for the â—eading of an Herd as Princes do for the â—onquest of a Kingdom Lions in their â—ighting covet not so much revenge as â—onour when they see their enemy on the â—round their choler is appeased and having â—aken up Arms only for glories sake they â—ontent themselves with this advantage â—nd gives life to what yields the victory â—n fine they are netled as well by jealousie as by love they love faithfulness punish Adultery and wash this fault in the bloud of the guilty It cannot then be doubted but that beasts have Passions and that they are agitated with those furious motions which trouble our quiet but the difficulty is to know whether theirs or ours be more violent and whether they or we be less regulated in our motions Truth it self obligeth us to confess that our advantages are prejudicial to us and that when very Reason becomes a slave unto our senses it serves only to make our affections more unreasonable Beasts apprehend not evil but when it is nigh at hand they discern not what is to come and do not much remember what is past the present only can make them unhappy But men go about to find out casualties before they happen they seem to have a design to hasten their misadvantages and that to enlarge Fortunes Empire they will prevent the evils to which she hath not yet given birth Their fear is employed both in whaâ— is pasâ— and in what is to come and as they tremble at a missfortune which hath ceased to be so they grow pale at a disaster which hath yet no being There are but few objects wherein beasâ— are concerned set aside those things which are necessary for the maintenance of their life and you shall find they consider all other things as indifferent But men cannot bound their desires either â—y reason or necessity they extend them too beyond what is useful and seek out superfluities to increase their punishments all their Passions are so out of order as that nothing can content them That which ought to appease them incenseth them and that which is given them to satisfie their hunger serves often times only to provoke it so as one may not be said to lie if he affirm That man is only ingenuous to his own loss and that he employs the goodness of his wit only to make himself more unfortunate or more faulty Beasts are stupid their temperature which holds of the Earth makes them insensible and happily exempts them from all those evils which hurt not the body save in as much as they have hurt the Imagination Bulls must be goaded on to make them furious and these heavy lumps whose soul is but a body do little unirritated Elephants endure all things at their Masters hands they think not themselves hurt unless they see their bloud when the pain is over their choler is appeased and they become as tractable as they were before but man is of so delicate a constitution as the slightest pain offends him his blood which is of the the nature of fire is easily moved and being once moved it hurries fury throughout all his parts This fury doth its greatest outrages about the heart for she furnisheth it with such Spirits as oftentimes she causeth that to die which gives life to the whole body and to revenge her self of a particular injury she hazzards the publick welfare To compleat this mischief this Passion is so shy in man as the least matter is sufficient to provoke it A word troubleth it a motion of the head offendeth it silence sets it going not finding any thing to entertain it it devours her own Entrails and by an excess of despair turns all her rage against her self In fine The life of Beasts being uniform and nature having given them bounds narrow enough they have but a few Passions almost all their motions are caused out of a fear which possesseth them or a desire wherewith they are affected But as the life of man is more mingled and that in the course thereof it is subject to a thousand different inconveniences his Passions rise up in a croud and wheresoever he goes he finds subjects of Choler and of Fear of Pleasure and of Sorrow Therefore it is that the Poets have feigned That his soul passeth into the body of divers Creatures and that taking all their evil qualities he uniteth in his person the guile of Serpents the fury of Tygers Choler of Lions teaching us by this Fiction That man
make us faulty or miserable one might see them make love in their Writings fight in Fables and one might observe in them all the chief affections of those that had invented them Philosophers not able to endure so unjust gods formed more rational Deities and proposed unto the people the Idols of their own minds every one figured out unto himself a god according to his own inclinations and gave him what advantages may be imagined Some placed him in idleness and that they might not trouble his rest berest him of the knowledge or government of our affairs some made him so good as that he suffered all faults to go unpunisht and dealt as favourably with the guilty as with the innocent others made him so rigorous as it seemed he had created man only to destroy him and that he found no contentment but in the death of his Subjects this disorder hath passed from Religion into State-government and according to the ages wherein men have lived they have framed unto themselves divers Ideas of Kings personages and have placed in their Princes such perfections only as they were acquainted withal for in the beginning of the world when people preferred the body before the soul they chose such Kings as were of an extraordinary stature and who were as strong as Giants Nay it seemed that God would apply himself to this humor when he gave Saul unto the Israelites for the Scripture sayes He was higher by the head than all his subjects and when the Poets describe unto us their Heroes they never fail in giving them this advantage but when time had taught us that our good resided not in the body men begun to consider the mind of such men as they would make their Kings and cast their eyes upon such as had most of government in them or most of courage they observed their inclinations and knowing what power their inclinations have over their wills they esteemed them no less than Virtues But Opinions do so differ upon this Subject as a man may say that every Politician fancies unto himself a Prince according to his humour and indues him with that Passion which is most agreeable unto himself Some have wished that their Prince had no Passion at all and that being the Image of God he should be raised above the Creatures he should see all the motions of the earth without any alteration oâ— spirit but we know very well that his being in a higher condition than his subjects makes him not be of another nature and that since he is not exempt from the Diseases of the Body he cannot defend himself against the passions of the soul. Others have been of opinion that he ought to have aâ— passions that like unto the Sun and constellations he should be in a perpetual motion and employ all his care and all his thoughts upon the welfare of his State Some have thought that the desire of glory was the most lawful Passion in a King and that since Fortune had endued him with all the goods she could confer upon him he should only labour how to atchieve honour That virtue was only preserved by this desire and that he who valued not reputation could not love Justice that a Prince ought not to endeavour the eternizing of his memory by the pomp of glorious Buildings but by the gallantry of his actions that setting all other things at nought he should only study how to leave a happy memory of his reign after his death That nothing could more further him in this generous design than an insatiable desire of Glory that Riches were the goods of particular men but that glory was the humor of Kings and that he might well hazard all other things to compass it Others less glorious but more rational have thought that fear ought to reign in the soul of Princes and that as their wisdom exceeded their valour the apprehension of danger should in them also surpass the desire of glory for to boot that their fortune is exposed to a thousand mischiefs that the greater it is it runs the greater danger that it is the more brittle by how much the more glorious they are bound to prevent accidents by their watchfulness to withstand storms by their Constancy and to forgo their own happiness to share in the misery of their Subjects All these opinions are upheld by examples for there have been some Kings who have known so well how to moderate their passions as they seemed not to have any they have not been troubled at ill Successes and they would receive the news of a Defeat with the same countenance as the tidings of Victory The quiet of their mind was not altered by the divers functions they were obliged unto they punished faults with the same easiness as they rewarded Virtue and whatever alteration befell their States you should find none in them they seemed to be raised to so high a pitch of perfection as one might say in the weakness of man they had the assurance of a God There have been others whose government hath been no less happy and who have yet been of a quite different disposition for as their Empire was no less dear unto them than were their own bodies no alteration could happen therein which might not be read in their faces good success put them in good humor they were afflicted at unhappy accidents they were touched to the quick even with evils that threatned them from afar off and every thing that befel their State made so strong an impression in them as they seemed to live in two bodies and that having two lives to lose they had two deaths to fear I dare not blame this their restlesness since it was occasioned by an extream love and a body must be unjust to condemn a Prince that makes himself miserable for no other cause but that he may make his Subjects happy Augustus Caesar was of this humor and though he had endeavoured to compass so much constancy as not to be troubled at any thing yet could he not hear of any good or bad success which befel his Common-wealth without witnessing his resentment thereof by his word and actions Varrus his defeat cost him tears and this accident which he was not prepared for made him say such things as I do rather impute to his affection than to his weakness since upon other occasions he had given so good proof of his Courage Their number is great who have laboured after glory and who have had no other Passion but how to acquire honour Nothing seemed difficult unto them which bear with it the face of glory insomuch as by an inevitable misfortune they neglected virtue when in obscurity and put a valuation upon a glorious vice According to their Tenets it was as lawful to overthrow a State as to found one to oppress a Republick as to defend it and to undertake a War against Allies as well as against Enemies They run after glory
enjoy Earth would be Hell if Love were vanisht thence and it would be a great piece of rigour in God if he should permit us to see handsom things and forbid us to love them But that we may the better govern this Passion we must learn of Morality what Laws to prescribe unto it and what liberty we must allow it There are three objects of our Love God Man and Creatures deprived of Reason Some Philosophers have doubted whether we could love the first or no they were perswaded his greatness did rather require our adoration than our love but though this be a religious opinion and that it merits the greater esteem since it proceeds from the prophane we cannot deny but that we were endued with love to unite us to God for to boot with our thorough sense of this inclination to boot that it is imprinted by Nature in the very ground-work of our wills and that uninstructed by our Parents or our Teachers we labour after the Summumbonum Reason teacheth us that he is the Abyss of all perfections and the Center of all love so as a man need not fear committing any excess in loving him with all his might He is so good as he cannot be loved so much as he ought to be and let a man do his utmost he is obliged to confess that the goodness of God doth far exceed the greatness of mans Love Such Souls as are elevated and approach nearer unto him complain of their coolness and wish that all the parts of their Bodies were turned into Tongues to praise him or into Hearts to love him They are troubled that since his greatness is so well known his goodness is no more loved and that having so many subjects he hath no more that love him We must not then prescribe any bounds to this Passion when it hath respect unto God but every one ought to make it his sole desire and to wish that his heart were dilated that he might infinitely love him who is infinitely lovely but we must take great heed not to rob him of what doth so justly belong unto him and we must remember that though his goodness should not force his duty from us we should be bound to render it unto him in order to our own interest For our love is never content but when it rests in God It fears infidelity in the creatures is never so assured of them but that there remains some rational doubts and though it should have such proofs of their good will as that it were constrained to banish all suspition yet would it fear lest death might take from it what good fortue hath given in one or other of these just apprehensions it could not shun being miserable But it knows very well that God is immutable that he never forsaketh us till we have forsaken him it knows that God is eternal and that death being no less distant from him than change his affection cannot end but through our infidelity 'T is true there are carnal souls who complain that he is invisible and who cannot resolve to give up their hearts to a Divinity which doth not content their eyes But all things are full of him his greatness is poured out in all the parts of the Universe every Creature is an Image of his perfections he seems to have made these pictures only to make himself be thereby known and loved and if he should not have used this piece of skill we need only consult with our own Reason to know what he is Error cannot corrupt her and in the souls of Pagans she hath verified Oracles Those very men who offered Incense unto Idols knew very well that there was but one God when Nature spake in their mouths she made them speak like Christians and they confess'd those truths for which they persecuted the Martyrs For as Tertullian observes their soul was naturally Christian when they were surprized with a danger they implored the succour of the true God and not that of their Iupiter when they took an oath they raised up their eyes towards heaven not towards the Capitol so as we must not complain that God is invisible but we must wish that he may be as much loved as he is known And moreover this complaint is no more to be admitted of since the mystery of the Incarnation where God became man that he might treat with men where he hath given sensible proofs of his presence and where clothing himself with our nature he hath suffered our eyes to behold his beauty our hands to touch his body and our ears to hear his voice Since that happy moment he is become our Allie and he who was our Soveraign is become our Brother to the end that this double quality might oblige us to love him with more ardor and might permit us to accost him with more freedom we cannot then fail in the use of that love which we owe unto him but by being either too much reserved or too unfaithful But the love we render to men may be defective in two manner of ways and we may abuse it either in loving them too much or not enough as shall be shewn in the pursuit of this Discourse Friendship is certainly one of the chief effects of Love and the harmlessest delight which men can take in Society Very Barbarians did reverence the Name thereof those who despise the Laws of Civility put an estimation upon the laws of friendship and cannot live within their Forrests without having some whom they trust who know their thoughts who rejoyce at their good fortune and who are afflicted when any ill besals them Thieves who intrench upon the publick liberty who make war in time of peace and who seem desirous to stifle that love which Nature hath placed in mankind cease not to bear respect to friendship they have a certain shadow of society amongst them they keep their word though with prejudice to their condition tortures cannot sometimes make them violate their Faith and they will rather lose their lives than betray their Companions In fine people subsist only by virtue hereof and who should banish friendship from off the earth must raze Towns and send men into Desarts She is more powerful than the Laws and who shall have well established her in Kingdoms need neither tortures nor punishments to contain the wicked within their duties But to be just she must have her bounds to be true she must be founded upon Piety those who will love one another must be united in faith and must have the same sense of Religion their friendship must be a study after Virtue and they must labour to become better by their mutual communication their souls should rather be mingled than united from this mixture a perfect community of all things must arise their goods must be no more divided and the words thine mine which cause whatever there is of division in the world must be totally
false greatness all their advantages vanish away as shadows before the Sun and we turn our valuation into disesteem our love into hatred and our desires into detestation Prophane Philosophy desirous to find out a remedy to so many evils gives us counsel which makes us despair for she will have us to moderate our desires without reforming our Soul she inhibits us the use of wishes as if the mischief lay only in them and adviseth us to wish for nothing if we woul be happy she builds her felicity in the cutting off of this Passion She thinks to have pronounced an Oracle when by the mouth of Seneca she says that he who hath bounded his desires is as happy as Iupiter and that without increase of riches or addition to delight If we would find a solid contentment we need only lessen our desires But certainly in flattering us she abuseth us and promising us an Imaginary happiness she bereaves us of the means how to come by a true one For she leaves us in the indigency wherein sin hath plac'd us and forbids us the use of desires she leaves us with the Inclination which nature hath endowed us withal for the Summum bonum will not suffer us to seek after it she will have us to be poor and yet to have no feeling thereof and that to the misfortune of poverty we add the like of insolence and pride When we shall reign in heaven and shall find our perfect happiness in the fruition of the Summum bonum we shall banish all wishes But as long as we grovel upon earth and that we suffer evils which inforce us to seek for remedies we shall conceive just desires and shall learn from religion how to make use of them to the glory of Iesus Christ and salvation of our own souls The THIRD DISCOURSE Of the good use of Desire THough there be nothing more common than Desires there is nothing more rare then the good use thereof and of as many as make wishes there are but very few that know how to rule them well for this Passion is as free as Love and as she is in her first production she cannot endure to be constrained she is so glorious as that she receives no Laws but from the Summum bonum she sets not by the authority of Princes and knowing that she holds not of their Empire she is not affrighted at their threats nor is she moved by their promises Therefore Kings who sufficiently know the extent of their power offer not to intrench upon her liberty they punish actions forbid words but they leave thoughts and desires to his guidance who seeing them in the bottom of the heart can eternally recompense or punish them they make no laws to retain them they confess God is only able to suppress them and that he is the only Soveraign whose prerogative it is to say unto his Subjects you shall not covet They therefore are to be esteemed insolent who undertake to reform desires unassisted by his Grace and all the advices we can give to regulate them do necessarily presuppose his assistance but after having rendred this acknowledgment to him from whom we receive whatsoever we have of good me thinks we may prescribe certain conditions to the use of this Passion which may make it glorious and useful to us Nature hath endowed us with desires only to come by the good which we have not and which is necessary for us they are help in our need they are the hands of our will as those parts of the body labour for all the rest our desires take pains for all the Passions of our Soul and by their care oblige our Love and Hatred but this advantage would be prejudicial to us if being given us to assist our poverty we should make use thereof to increase it Therefore before we engage our selves in the pursuit of a good we must be well assured whether it be great enough or no to inrich us and if the enjoyment thereof will cause those desires to die to which the want thereof gave birth for if it do only irritate and if in lieu of healing our evils it make them worse a man must be mad to continue the desire I would then only desire those real good things which may free me from my miseries and to the end that my Passion may be rational I would only wish them as far forward as they ought to be wished I would weigh their qualities and I would fit my wishes to their merits I would endeavour riches not to serve my vain-glory but to supply my wants I would endeavour meat for sustenance not to provoke appetite I would endeavor honour as an aid to virtue in its birth and which hath need of some foreign help to defend it against vice yea I would endevor harmless pleasures but I would shun their excess and I would remember that they are of the nature of those fruits that are pleasing in tast but are harmful to the body thus moderated our desires would be rational if they fix us to things on earth necessity will serve us for excuse and we shall esteem the servitude glorious which will be common to us with Saints We must have a care likewise to have only weak desires for things perishable and to hold a hanck in such desires as may be violently taken from us The Stoicks Philosophy is too austere to be listned unto their maxims tend more to make us despair than to instruct us for it absolutely inhibits us the desire of such things as we may be bereft of and it employeth all its sophistical reasons to perswade us that the good which we come by by our desires cannot be a true good Christian Philosophy which knows very well that our felicity is not within us and that we must forgo our selves ere we fasten to the Summum bonum blames this Maxim but as she is not likewise ignorant that we may be bereft of other goods she ordains us to desire them without anxiety and to consider we are not so sure of their possession but that it may sometimes meet with interruption she prepars us for their loss when she permits us to seek after them she teacheth us that the desire of things perishable ought not to be eternal and that we must possess without too much of addition what ought to be forgon without sorrow she teacheth us that the goods of Fortune and of Nature depend upon divine Providence which doth not give us but lend us them which refuseth them to her friends and grants them to her enemies and which doth so bestow them as if they be not marks of hatred neither are they testimonies of her love by these good reasons she fairly perswades us that they ought not to be the principal objects of our desires and that to follow our Soveraigns intentions we must love them with coolness desire them with moderation possess them with indifferency
and contentedly forgo them But the chief use we ought to make of so noble a Passion is thereby to raise us up to God and to make thereof a glorious chain to fasten us inseparably to him as he is the only object of Love he is also the only object of desires they miss of their end when they keep aloof from him they lose themselves when they seek not him and they stop in the midst of their course when they come not full home to him He is the Spring-head of all perfections and as they are without mixture of default there is nothing in them which is not perfectly wishable we see some creatures which have certain charms which make them be desired but then they have imperfections to make them be undervalued the Sun is so full of glory and beauty as it hath made Idolaters one part of the world doth yet worship it and Christian Religion which is spread over the whole earth hath not been able to dis-deceive all Infidels yet hath its weaknesses which teacheth Philosophers that it is but a creature the light thereof is bounded and cannot at one and the same time enlighten the two halves of the world it suffers Eclipses nor can it shun them it grows faint and sees it self obscured by a constellation not so great nor glorious as it self it hath benign influences it hath also malignant ones if it concur with the birth of man it doth the like to his death if it be the father of flowers it is also their Paricide if the brightness thereof serve to light us it doth also dazle us if the heat thereof warm Europe it scorcheth Africa so as the noblest of all constellations hath its defaults and if it cause desire in us it is also cause of aversions under-valuations but God hath nothing that is not lovely innumerable numbers of Angels see all his perfections and are destin'd to honor them they have immortal lovers which adore them from the beginning of the world men who know them desire them and wish death unto themselves that they may enjoy them this Summum bonum is that which we ought to seek after for him it is that our wishes were given us our heart is sinful when it divides its love and gives but one part thereof to him that deserves the whole Gods abundance and mans indigence are the first links of alliance which we contract with him He is all and we are nothing He is a depth of mercy and we are a depth of misery He hath infinite perfections and we faults without number He possesseth no greatness which is not to be wisht for we suffer no want which obliges us not to make wishes He is all desirable and we are all desire and to express our nature aright it will suffice to say that we are only a meer capacity of good there is no part of our Body nor faculty of our Soul which doth not oblige us to seek him we make Inrodes in the world by our desires we wander in our affections but after having considered the beauty of Heaven and the riches of the Earth we are constrained to return again unto our selves to fix our selves on him who is the ground-work of our being and to confess that none but God alone is able to fill the capacity of our heart Let us draw these advantages from our misery and let us rejoyce that Nature hath endowed us with so many desires since they have wings which raise us up to God and chains which fasten us to him Upon all other occasions desires are useless and after having made us Long a long time they furnish us not with what they made us hope for they torment us whilst they possess us and when despair causes them to die they leave us only shame and sorrow for having listned to so evil Councellors I know very well that they awaken the Soul and that they endue it with vigor to compass the good which it wishes for but the good success of our undertakings depends not upon their efficacy and should the things that we love cost us nothing but desires all ambitious men would be Kings all covetous men rich and we should hear no Lovers complain of the rigors of their Mistresses or of their infidelity women would take their Husbands from their Graves Mothers would cure their sick children and captives would regain their liberty we should do as many Miracles as make wishes and all mischief would be banish'd from off the earth since men can wish but experience shews us they are for the most part impotent and that their accomplishment depends upon the supream providence which at its pleasure can turn them into effects those that concern our souls health are never useless fervency in wishing is sufficient to make a man good our conversion depends only upon our will our desire animated by Grace blots out all our sins and though God be so great he hath only cost them wishes that possess him this Passion dilates our soul and makes us capable of the good we wish for she extends our heart and prepares us to receive the happiness which she procures us In fine she gets audience of God makes her self be understood without speaking and she hath such power in heaven as nothing is denied to her demands she glorified Jesus Christ and the Saints Christ takes from them the most ancient of his Names and before he was known by that of Saviour of the world he was already known by that of the desired of all the people His Prophets honoured him with this title before he was born He who shewed us the time of his coming took his title from his wishes and merited to be called the man of Desires His Vows did advance the Mystery of the Incarnation the like of the Virgin did obtain the accomplishment thereof ours will taste the effect thereof if they grow not weary in begging them at Gods hands The FOURTH DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of the good evil use of Eschewing NAture would have failed us at our need if having endued us with Love to good things she had not furnished us with desire to seek after them These good things which now are cause of our happiness would cause all our punishments if being permitted to love them we should be forbidden to wish for them the Summum bonum would only serve to make us miserable and the virtue which it hath to attract hearts would contribute to our misery if we wanted a capacity of atchieving it We should have equal reason to complain of her charity if having imprinted in our hearts the hatred of evil she had not likewise engraven therein that Passion which we call Shunning or Eschewing to make us keep aloof from it for we should see our enemy and not have the power to defend our selves from him we should have an aversion from vice yet should be enforced to
The THIRD DISCOURSE Of the good use of Audacity or Boldness SInce the Nature of man is out of order and that she stands in need of Grace to recover the Innocence which she hath lost we must not wonder if Passions not succour'd by Virtue become criminal and if by their proper inclination they degenerate into some sins Effects are always answerable to their Causes the fruit holds of the tree and men for all their freedom draw their humors from the Sun that lightens them and from the earth that nourisheth them whatsoever can be taken to correct their defaults some marks thereof remain always and education is never powerful enough wholly to change Nature This is evidently seen in Fear for she leanâ— so much toward disorder as it is very hard to stay her and she is so giddy a humour that she oftner sides with Vice than with Virtue she is so unconstant that she produceth rather contrary than different effects and she takes upon her so many several shapes as it is hard to know her Sometimes she bereaves us of our strength and brings us to a condition of not defending our selves sometimes she infuseth a chilness throughout all our members and detaining the bloud about the heart she makes the image of Death appear in our faces anon she takes our speech away from us and leaves us only sighs to implore aid from our friends sometimes she fastens wings to our feet and makes us overcome them by our swiftness who overcame us by their courage sometimes she imitates Despair and paints out the danger so hideous to us on all parts as she makes us resolve to change a fearful flight into an honourable resistance she is sometimes so indiscreet as thinking to shun an evil she runs headlong upon it and oftentimes out of a strange fantasticalness she engageth her self in a certain death to shun a doubtful one If her effects be extravagant her inclinations are not more rational for unless she be guided by wisdom she easily degenerates into hatred despair or loathfulness we do not much love what we fear and as love is so free that it cannot endure constraint it is so noble as it cannot tolerate an outrage all that doth affright it irritates it when men will by violence overcome it it turneth to Aversion and changeth all its gentleness into choler hence it is that Tyrants have no Friends for being bound to make themselvs dreaded they cannot make themselves be beloved and their government being grounded upon rigour it cannot produce love those who are nearest them hate them the praises which men give them are false and of so many Passions which they endeavour to excite Fear Hatred are the only true ones likewise seeing that the mischief of their condition obligeth them to cruelty they renounce Love and care not though they be hated so they be feared God alone can accord the two Passions it is only he that can make himself to be feared of those that love him and loved of those that fear him yet do Divines confess that perfect Charity banisheth Fear and that those who love him best are those who fear him least But though it be usual for this Passion to turn it self into Hatred yet is she not always permitted so to do and this change is a sign of her ill nature there are some whom we ought to fear and cannot hate their greatness obligeth us to respect them and their justice forbids us to hate them that Majesty which environs them produceth fear but the protection which we draw from thence ought to make us love them so as the propensity to Hatred is a disorder in Fear and to follow her irrational inclination is to abuse this Passion She also easily changeth her self into Despair and though she march differing ways she fals into the same praecipice for she paints out dangers in so horrid a manner unto Hope as she makes her â—ose all her courage and this generous Passion suffers her self to be so far perswaded by â—er enemy that keeping aloof from the gâ—od which she did pursue they both of them turn to an infamous Faint-heartedness But of all the monsters which fear doth produce none is more dangerous than Slothfulness for though this vice be not so active as others and that her nature which is remiss suffers her not to frame any great designs against Virtue yet is it guilty of all the outrages that are done thereunto and seems to be found in all the counsels which are plotted to her prejudice it hath such an aversion to labour as it cannot endure Innocence because she is laborious and we may say that if it be not one of her most violent enemies it is the most dangerous most opinionated enemy that Innocence hath it produceth all the sins which cover themselves with darkness and to make them cease it would be only requisite to kill this their Father which gives them their birth 't is this that nourisheth uncleanness and Love would have no vigour were it not for it 't is this that entertains Voluptuousness and who to amuse her doth furnish her with shameful entertainments 't is this that authorizeth Poormindedness and which diverts it from those glorious labours that make men famous 'T is this in fine which loseth States which corrupteth Manners which banisheth Virtues and is the cause of all Vices mean while it assumes to it self a venerable name and to colour its laziness it causeth it self to be called honest Vacancy but certainly there is a great deal of difference between the rest of Philosophers and the idleness of the Voluptuous the former are always a doing when they seem to do least they are most busied and when men think they are unserviceable they oblige the whole world to their labours For they make Panegyricks on Virtue they compose Invectives against Vice they discover the secrets of Nature or they describe the perfections of her Author but the later are always languishing if their mind labour 't is for the service of the body if they keep from the noise of the world 't is that they may taste pleasure with the more freedom and if they banish themselves from the company of men 't is that they may be with lewd women these wretches know how to conceal themselves but they know nat how to live their Palaces are their Sepulchres and their useless rest is a shameful death The leisure-times of good men must be rational they must not withdraw themselves to solitariness but when they can be no longer serviceable to the State they must leave the world but not abandon it they must remember that they make a part of it that whither soever they retire themselves the Publique hath always a right in them those are not solitary but savage who forgo Society because they cannot endure it who keep far from the Court because they cannot endure to see their enemies
reason with it or to speak more like a Christian there is nothing August but what is enlivened by the Grace of Jesus Christ. But to the end you may not believe I seek out hateful examples to take from Choler that greatness of courage which she boasteth of I will examine the reasons that are alledged in her defence consider her in a condition wherein she may challenge either praises or excuses Ought we not to be angry when all Laws Divine as Humane are violated may not one give himself over to Choler when she perswades us to revenge our Parents and is it not an action of Piety to be incensed against an impious â—retch who prophanes Altars and dishoâ—ors Churches I confess this Passion cannot have fairer pretexts that she is in her glory when she is irritated for so rational subjects but you will find that those who have been moved for the defence of their Countrey will have the same resentments for the preservation of their pleasures that they will be as angry for the loss of a horse as for the loss of a friend and that they will make it as great as business to correct a servant as to beat back an enemy it is not Piety but Weakness that excites this Choler and since she is highly mov'd as well for a word as for a murder we must conclude â—he is neither Courageous nor Rational the greatest part likewise of our Revenges are Injuries and we run hazard of committing a fault as oft as we will be Judges in our own cause our Interests blind us and our Self-love perswades us that the slightest injuries cannot be repaired but by the death of the guilty we are of the humour of Kings though we be not of their condition and imagine that all the wrongs that are done to us are as many High-treasons we would have neither Fire nor Gallows used save to punish our enemies are unjust enough to desire to engage the Justice of God in our Interests we could wish shâ— would let no Thunder fall but upon thâ— heads of such as have offended us and ouâ— of a height of impiety we would that thâ— Heavens were always in Arms in our quarrel But though we made no such wishes yeâ— would our Revenge be still irrational heâ— very name sheweth us that she is faulty and though she seem so pleasing to those that cherish her there is nothing more cruel nor more pusillanimous for she differs from Injury only in Time and if he that provoketh be Faulty he that Revengeth is not Innocent the one begins the fault the other ends it the one makes the Chalenge the other Accepts of it the second is not more just than the first save that the injury he hath receiv'd serves for a pretence to do another Therefore is it that our Religion forbids Revenge as well as Injury and very well knowing we cannot keep the Rules of Justice in punishing our wrongs she commands us to remit them into the hands of God and to leave the punishment thereof to him whose judgments are never unjust she teacheth us that to revenge Affronts done unto us is to intrench upon his Rights and that as all glory is due to him â—ecause he is our Soveraign Lord so all Reâ—enge belongs to him because he is our edge but that which is yet more admiraâ—e in her Doctrine and which surpasseth as â—ell the weakness of our Vertue as of our â—ind is that she will have us lose the deâ—re of Revenge and that stifling this reâ—entment which Nature thinks so just we â—ange our Hatred into Love and our Fury Mercy he will have us imitate His Goodness and that raised to a more than â—ortal condition we wish well to those â—hat do us mischief he will have us pray to 〈◊〉 for their Conversion and that accorâ—ing to the example of his only Son who â—btained Salvation for those that butcher'd â—im we ask pâ—rdon of him for our enemies he reserves his highest rewards for Charity and teacheth us that we cannot â—ope for forgiveness unless we shew mercy 〈◊〉 raiseth this Virtue above all others and â—eversing the worlds Maxims he will have 〈◊〉 to believe that greatness of Courage consisteth only in the forgetting of injuries all his endevours are to blot out of our â—ouls the memory of offences and hatred of our enemies to hear him speak you would â—hink his State were grounded on this Law only and that we cannot claim share in his Glory if we do not imitate his Clemenâ—cy Humane Philosophy hath not been ablâ— to attain to this degree of perfection yet shâ— hath observed that Hatred was unjust anâ— that Revenge was poorly condition'd shâ— hath made use of weak reasons to perswadâ— us to rare Virtues and when she hath noâ— been able to quite to abolish Choler she hatâ— endeavour'd to asswage it she hath shew'â— us that the world is a Republique whereâ—â— all men are Citizens that if the body werâ— holy the members thereof were sacred and that if it were forbidden to conspire aâ—gainst the State it was not lawful to atâ—tempt any thing against a man who madâ— a part thereof that it would be a strangâ— disorder if the Eyes should fight against thâ— Hands or that the Hands should declarâ— war against the Eyes that Nature whicâ— had united them in one and the same body had inanimated them with one and thâ— same spirit and that contributing to thâ— publick good they should mutually assiâ—â— one another lest the ruine of one part mighâ— draw on that of the whole that thus 〈◊〉 were bound reciprocally to preserve themselves for the welfare of the State knowing that Society subsists only by Love and thaâ— body cannot live when the members â—hereof are at discord All these maximes codemn Revenge Nature as corrupt as she 〈◊〉 teacheth us by the mouths of Philosoâ—hers that Jesus Christ hath commanded us â—othing which is not reasonable and if we â—eed his Grace to keep his Commandments it is not so much an argument of their difficulty as a mark of our unruliness as we â—aught to adore his Justice that punisheth 〈◊〉 we ought to adore his Mercy which forâ—ifieth our weakness and acknowledge that â—he imposeth no Laws upon us but that at the same time he gives us strength to observe them The THIRD DISCOURSE Of the good use of CHOLER THe Poet had reason to say That the way to Hell lay open to all the world and that all men were indifferently permitted to descend thither but that to get from thence when one was once entred there and to see the light again after one had been in darkness was a favouâ— which the Heavens granted only to thoâ—â— Grandees that had merited it by their glorious labours there is nothing more easâ— than to abuse Choler and engage onâ— self in the unjust resentments of Reâ—venge corrupt Nature hath taught uâ— these disorders and without other instruâ—cters than our
to our Nature their excess doth oftentimes cause our death but say they should not produce all these mischiefs 'T wil be sufficient to undeceive us to know that they are always follow'd by Repentance Sorrow and Shame they dare not appear in publick and very well perceiving that they contribute not to the Glory of man they seek out Shade Solitariness and Silence they would blush were they enforced to shew themselves and the confusion which would cover their faces would trouble their contentment Maladies are the penance of their excess and Physitians would be useless could pleasure be regulated as long as man was content with such fruits as the earth yielded him and that without provoking his appetite with much-sought for Viands he did only eat to satisfie his hunger he had no superfluous humours to dry up no Defluctions to divert nor Fevers to cure Abstinence was all his remedy and the Diet that he used dreined off the source of all his diseases but since he hath dispeopled both Sea and Land to nourish him that he hath made the monsters of Nature his food that he would know what taste Tortoises and other creeping things had which the simplicity of our Ancestors confounded with Serpents since he would refresh Wine with Snow accord those elements in his Body which wage war with one another in the world mingle Fishes with Birds and place in one and the same Stomach things to which Nature hath appointed such different habitations sicknesses have assailed him in crowds and the unruliness of his mind hath caused the disorders of his Body the Gout hath stung his Nerve the Stone is formed in his Reins the Winds have committed a thousand Outrages in his Bowels and as if the Elements were sensible of the confusion he makes of their qualities in his debaucheries they for revenge have corrupted themselves and as the utmost which hate can produce they ruine themselves to kill their Enemy In fine by this definition we condemn all such pleasures as Nature requireth not unless seduced by Opinion for her contentments are as regular as her Desires and without looking after things unprofitable she is contented with what is necessary she wisheth for such good things only as she cannot be without as Necessity serves her for a Law so doth she consult with it in all her occasions and makes no wishes without the approbation thereof hence is it that they are not many and that she is contented with a little water of the Fountain sufficeth to quench her thirst fruits of the earth satisfie her hunger Sheeps Wool furnisheth her clothing and before Luxury bound him to make war upon all the Creatures I know not but that the trees did furnish her with Apparel and those that fed her with their fruits clothed her with their barks but this at least I know that in those innocent times men committed no Murders to adorn themselves neither acted any pranks of Injustice to enrich themselves nor did they violate Nature to procure to themselves sinful delicacies their houses were built without Curiosity and he that was the Contriver of them was also the Carpenter and the Mason the earth cover'd with Moss served him for a Bed and as he never lay down uninvited by sleep he slept without disturbance and awaked with content he knew no other Perfume than that of Flowers which being more pure than ours was more pleasing he was not acquainted with the use of Coaches his Journeys not being long he made use only of such aids as Nature had given him War being hateful to him and trafique useless he permitted horses to enjoy their liberty and employed not that noble Creature which Fury and Avarice have rendered necessary to us whithersoever he went the earth was sufficiently fruitful to nourish and to cloath him he found in the Desarts wherewith to satisfie his desires and that which we want in Cities he wanted not in places uninhabited In his happy age all delights were innocent and no man tasted any pleasure which was not true but now since they are no longer Natural they are no longer Rational they weaken the Body and destroy the Soul and experience teacheth us that the use of them is as pernicious as the want of them is profitable But lest I be accus'd to be an enemy to Pleasure and that I would bereave man of the remedies which Nature hath given him to sweeten his misfortunes I will say that the solid contentments are those of the Mind and that man cannot be satisfied unless the noblest part whereof he is composed be happy the knowledg of Truth and practice of Virtue ought to be his chiefest Diversions he must follow his holiest inclinations and be more careful in his own person to please an Angel than a Beast he must remember that the body is but the souls slave and that in the choice of Pleasures it is just that the Soveraign keep her precedency besides those which the soul relisheth are the truest and if any man be of another opinion we must believe that sin which hath berest him of Grace hath likewise berest him of Reason For the pleasures of the Senses are limited whereas those of the soul have no bounds the pleasures of the body are strangers those of the soul are natural the former may be taken from us without any great ado Death it self cannot bereave us of the latter which though it rob us of our riches cannot rob us of our virtues the one sort are in a perpetual succession as they hold of Time they cannot hold together and by a necessary law those that are past give place to them that are present and the present to the future so as the body never enjoys its contentment but in part it is poor amidst its riches whilst it thrives well on the one side it languisheth on the other and by a misfortune which is inseparable from its condition it finds no contentment which gives satisfaction to all its senses but those of the soul are never divided they present themselves all at once the same thought which enlightens the Understanding heats the Will and fills the Memory her joy is universal one faculty is never sad whilst the other are satisfied and as if there were a community amongst them in their contentments that which pleaseth the one delighteth all the rest In fine Spiritual pleasures are much more intimate than those of the Senses for the soul is wholly filled therewithal the blessing she eujoys penetrates her Essence as she changeth into her Self that which she knows so she transformeth her Self into that which she loves and by an admirable Metamorphosis she becomes her own Felicity but the Senses are joyn'd to their objects only by Accident they see the colours of things know not their Essences they understand the sound of words and conceive not the meaning of them so as the body is only content in Effigie its Bliss is but a
his Ambition by satisfying his Incontinence the more sins he commits the more pleasures he tastes A Tyrant rejoyceth in his Usurpation and if he reaps Glory by his Injustice he thinks himself more happy than a Lawful Prince A Cholerick man rejoyceth in Revenge though to obey his Passion he hath violated all the Laws of Charity he finds Contentment in his Crime and strangely blind the more faulty he is the more happy he thinks himself So that worldly joy is nothing else but wickedness unpunish'd or a glorious Sin Therefore when this passion becomes once faulty no less than a Miracle is required to restore it to its innocence For though such desires as rise up contrary to the Laws of God are unjust and that there are punishments ordained in his kingdom for the chastisement of irregular thoughts yet are these but begun offences and which have not as yet all their mischief though fond hopes be punishable and entertain our vanity yet are they not always follow'd by effects and oft-times by a fortunate Impotence they do not all the evil which they had promised unto themselves our boldness is fuller of inconsideration than of wickedness and an ill event makes it lose all its Fervour Our Sorrows and our Griefs are not obstinate they are healed by any the least help that is given them and as they are not well pleas'd with themselves they are easily changed to their contraries Our Fears are slitting the evil which caused them being once withdrawn they leave us at liberty and to conclude in a word there is no passion incurable but Joy But since it hath mingled it self with sin and that corrupting all the Faculties of Nature it takes delight in evil Morality hath no remedies more to cure it with 'T is a great disorder when a man glories in his sin and that as the Apostle sayes he draws his Glory from his own Confusion 'T is a deplorable mischief when together with Shame he hath lost Fear and that the punishments ordained by the Laws cannot hold him in to his duty but a strange irregularity is it when his sins have made him blind or that he knows them not save only to defend them but certainly when he takes delight in his sin when he grounds his Felicity upon Injustice and that he thinks himself Happy because he is Sinful this is the height of evil To punish this impiety it is that the Heavens dart forth Thunders The Earth grows barren for the punishment of this horrid disorder when war is kindled in a nation or that the Plague hath dispeopled Cities and turned Kingdoms into desolate places we ought to believe that these Judgments are the punishments of men who place their contentment in their offences and who violating all the Laws of Nature do unjustly mingle Joy with Sin Now because this mischief as great as it is ceaseth not to be common and that it is very hard to taste any innocent pleasure Iesus Christ adviseth us to forsake all the pleasure of the world and henceforth to ground our felicity in Heaven He bids us by the mouth of his Apostle not to open the doors of our hearts save to those pure consolations whereof the Holy Ghost is the Spring-head and arguing out of our own interests he obligeth us to seek only after that Joy which being founded on himself cannot be molested by the injuries of men nor the insolence of Fortune For if any think to place it in our Riches we are bound to fear the Loss thereof if we lodg it in reputation we shall apprehend Calumny and if like Beasts we put it in those infamous delights which slatter the Senses and corrupt the Mind we shall have as many subjects of fear as we shall see Chances that may bereave us of them Therefore following St. Augustines counsel which we cannot suspect since in the slower of his age he had tasted the delights of the world We should take care to lessen all sinful pleasures till such time as they may wholly end by our death and to increase all innocent pleasure till such time as they be perfectly consummated in Glory But you will peradventure say that our Senses are not capable of these holy delights and that Joy which is but a Passion of the Soul cannot raise it self up to such pure contentments that it must have some sensible thing to busie it self about and that whilst it is engaged in the body 't is an unjust thing to propound to it the felicity of Angels This exception is current only among such as think the passions of men to be no nobler than those of Beasts The affinity which they have with Reason makes them capable of all her Benefits when they are illuminated by her Lights they may be set on fire by her Flames When Grace sheddeth her influences into that part of the soul where they reside they labour after Eternity and forestalling the advantages of Glory they elevate the body and communicate unto it Spiritual feelings They make us say with the Prophet My body and my Soul rejoyce in the living God neglecting perishable delights they long after such only as are Eternal The FOURTH DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of Grief and Sorrow IF Nature could not extract good out of evil and did not her Providence turn our miseries into Felicities we might with Reason blame her for having made the most troublesome of our Passions the most Common For sadness seems to be Natural to us and Joy a Stranger All the parts of our body may taste Sorrow and Pain and but very few of them are Sensible of pleasure Pains come in throngs and assail us by Troops they agree to afflict us and though they be at discord among themselves they joyn in a confederacy to conspire our undoing but pleasures justle one another when they meet and as if they were jealous of good fortune the one of them destroys the other Our Body is the Stage whereon they fight the miseries thereof arise from their differences and man is never more unhappy than when he is divided by his Delights Griefs continue long and as if nature took pleasure in prolonging our punishment she indues us with strength to undergo them and makes us only so far Couragious or so far patient as may render us so much the more miserable Pleasures especially those of the Body endure but for a moment their death is never far off and when a man will make them of longer durance by art they occasion either torment or loathing But to make good all these reasons and to shew that Grief is more familiar to man than Pleasure we need only consider the deplorable condition of our life where for one vain contentment we meet with a thousand real sorrows For these come uncalled they present themselves of their own proper motion they are linkt one to another and like Hydra's heads they either never die
Parricide was ever committed without her counsel and of as many Cruelties as are imputed to Hatred or Choler the most Famous are the Works of Envy In the beginning of the world she armed Cains hand against his Brother she furnished him with weapons before she had forced Iron from out the bowels of the Earth In the age which succeeded next to that of Innocence she taught him to commit the first Murder and Death which was but the punishment of sin through her Counsels became a Crime she stirred up the Children of Iacob against their Brother Ioseph his future glory made them Jealous and that they might withstand the Designes of Heaven they made him a Slave whom Heaven had ordained to be a King she set on Saul against David and in a blind Fury perswaded him That nothing is more pernicious to Kings than the Greatness of their Subjects and that the Power of a Forreigner is not so dreadful to them as the Worth of a Domestick But to go higher yet and come even to the rise of all mischief it was she that animated the Devil against men that inspired him with the means how to be their ruine before they were born and to slay them in the person of their Father If she work thus much evil to her Enemies she is cause of no less to her self and she is as well her own punishment as Virtues for she sees no prosperity which doth not afflict her Her neighbors good fortune causeth her misery she bewails their good success and there needs but a happy man to make her eternally wretched She confounds the nature of good and evil to augment her dislikes and out of an irregularity which is just only because it is harmful to her she rejoyceth at mischief and afflicts her self at that which is good She sheds rivers of Tears when others make Bonefires and in publick calamities finds occasions for her self to Rejoyce for her self to Triumph She is pleased with her own loss so it draw along with it that of her Enemy and it is so natural to her to do unjust things as she buyes the pleasure of Revenge at the cost of her own life she is angry with Fortune complains of her own times and when she cannot hinder her Enemies good success Despair confines her to solitary places or else entertaining her self with her own Discontents she suffers the punishment due to all the faults she hath committed To comfort her self in her Misery she flatters her self with Nobleness and would perswade the World That if she blame other mens Virtues it is because she observes some Faults therein To hear her speak you would think that she hath derived her pedigree from Heaven and that the Earth hath not Crowns nor Scepters enough to honour her She believes that all honours are due to her and that she is robed of all the respects that are not given her In fine she is as Insolent as Virtue is Modest and her Language is as Impudent as that of her Enemy is reserved Nevertheless there is nothing more poor and mean that her Courage she is always in the dust and if blind Fortune sometimes raise her up she immediately abaseth her self and humbleth her self even beneath those things which she cries down For it is an approved Maxim that whatsoever causeth Envy is above us By our own judgment we give the advantage to our Equals when their Merit raiseth Jealousie in us A Prince becomes a slave to his Subjects when he begins to grow fearful of their Prosperity he descends from his Throne and falls from his greatness assoon as ever he wishes for what they possess when he conceives a Jealousie at their good Fortune he judgeth theirs in his opinion to be better than his own Therefore 't is that that famous man who made himself Illustrious by his Misfortunes and whose Innocence was exercised by so many heavy Visitations hath observed that Envy was the Passion of Abject Souls and that she consumes only such poor-spirited men as can undertake nothing of Generous For had they a more noble Heart and had Virtue given them a share of that Satisfaction that she always bears about her they would be content with their Condition and would not frame such Wishes as should discover their Misery If they observed any rare Perfection in their Equals they would give it such Praises as it deserves or in a noble Emulation strive to attain thereunto But as the Vice which tyranniseth over them creeps upon the Ground they conceive none but poor desires nay when they force themselves to look higher they do the more abase themselves and we find by experience that their appearing Greatness is but an effect of their real misery To all these mischiefs we may yet add that of Poverty which is not Envy 's least punishment for she hath this of Common with Avarice That her riches never content her She hath a thousand eyes to see her Neighbours Prosperity but is blind to see her own she only considers such Goods as may afflict her and weighs not those which may comfort her she thinks she wants whatsoever another doth possess and ingenious to her pain she augments anothers felicity to add unto her own misery So as to punish the Envious you need only leave them to their own Fury without going about to chastise their Insolence it will suffice to leave them to themselves and to suffer the Devil that possesses them to take vengeance for their fault These are the Excesses which Grief is capable of when not well guided Let us see now to what Vertues it may be Serviceable when she is Obedient to Reason and that following the motions of Grace she is afflicted for the Sins of the Wicked or for the Miseries of Good men The SIXTH DISCOURSE Of the good use of Grief VVE must not wonder if the Stoicks condemn grief since they approve not of those Virtues which it produceth and that they will have their wise man to taste so pure a Joy as shall not be mingled with the least dislike For they raise him above Storms and endevor to perswade us that he sees all Tempests formed under his feet and is not at all therewith agitated they assure us that upon the Sacking of a Town or ruine of a State he is no more moved than is their Iupiter at the Dissolution of the World and that placing all his Happiness in Himself he looks upon all the bad events of Fortune with an equal eye If he shed some Tears upon the Tomb of his Ancestors or chance to sigh for his perishing Countrey his Soul is no whit moved and he beholds all those disasters without any Disquiet Let this severe Philosophy say what it will I do not believe that her doctrine can destroy Nature nor that she ever made a Wise man of one from whom she takes the Feelings of man Wisdom is no enemy to Nature and Heaven