he arriv'd at Paris the Third of October 1603. and in a convenient time afterwards he went to pay his Respects to the Bishop of Bologne who receiv'd him with great Civility and Kindness and repeated his Offer of that Preferment merely to have him near himself and more within the Eye of the Court. Monsieur Charron return'd him many Thanks for the Honour he had done him and the good Intentions he was pleas'd to entertain for his Advancement And with his usual Freedom told an Advocate in the Parliament who was a particular Friend of his that he could be well pleas'd to accept that Preferment for some Years but that the Moisture and Coldness of the Air and its Nearness to the Sea did not only make it a Melancholy and Unpleasant Place but very Unwholsome and Rheumatick and Foggy too That the Sun was his visible God as God was his invisible Sun and therefore since he had no Hope of seating himself at Bologne with Safety to his Health he thought it much better not to venture thither at all During his Stay at Paris he lodg'd at one Bertand's a Bookseller that he might be near the Press and correct the new Edition of his Books of Wisdom of which he liv'd to see but Three or Four Sheets wrought off For on Sunday the Sixteenth of Novembber 1603. going out of his Lodging about one of the Clock at the Corner of St. John Beanvais Street he call'd to his Servants and complain'd he found himself Ill And immediately while they ran to hold him up he sell upon his Knees and with his Hands and Eyes lifted up to Heaven he expired upon the Spot without the least Agony or Appearance of Pain His Disease was an Apoplex and the Quantity of extravasated Blood was so great that no Humane Help could have preserved him The Body was kept Two Days but the Physicians being well satisfied that he was actually dead and the Blood too which settled about his Throat beginning to mortifie and grow offensive they buried him with great Decency and a very Honourable Attendance in St. Hilary's Church the Eighteenth of the same Month where his Father Mother most of his Brothers and Sisters and a great many other Relations were Interred The Day of his Funeral he had his Face expos'd to view and his Body drest in the Priest's Habit as if he had been going to Officiate at Mass And this was done by a particular Direction of his own for he had frequently left those Orders in Charge provided his Death happen'd to be such as wrought no mighty Change or Deformity in his Person As to his Person He was of a moderate Stature inclining to Fat of a smiling Countenance and cheerful Humor a large open Fore-head streight Nose pretty large downwards light blue Eyes his Complexion Fresh and Ruddy his Hair and Beard very White though he had not yet got through his Climacterick being about Sixty Two Years and a Half when he died The Air of his Face was always Gay without the least Allay of Melancholy his Mien Graceful his Voice Strong and Distinct his Expression Masculine and Bold His Health Firm and Constant he had no Complaints either from Age or Indispositions till about Three Weaks before his Death Then indeed he now and then while he was in Motion felt a Pain in his Breast and found himself opprest with Shortness of Breath But this presently went off again after a little Rest and fetching his Breath deep However he acquainted his Physician the eminent Sieur Marscot with his Case who advised him by all means to open a Vein assuring him that all his Illness proceeded from fulness of Blood and if some Course were not taken speedily to prevent it a Suffocation might ensue And accordingly it happen'd for in all probability the neglecting this Advice of bleeding quickly was the very thing that cost Monsieur Charrou his Life His Books of Wisdom and Christian Discourses were printed off after his Death by the Particular Care of an Intimate Friend whom he had charged with the Inspection of them in hiâ— Life-time And abundant Satisfaction was given to the World that the Author himself had in this Impression added and corrected several Passages Some particularly which not Others only but Himself also thought necessary to be changed from that first Impression at Bourdeaux in 1601 By these Alterations he hath explained his Meaning strengthened his Arguments softned many Expressions without any Material Alteration of the Sense All which was done Principally in Compliance with the World to obviate the Malice of Some and condescend to the Infirmities of Others The whole had been perused and approved by some very good Friends and Persons of sound Judgment and till They had declar'd themselves satisfied and pleas'd he could not prevail with himself to be so But above all he submitted his Writings to the Church and hop'd there was nothing there that might call for a just Censure or Minister ground of Offence either to Religion in general or to that Communion of which he was a Member in particular As to his peculiar Manner of handling the Subjects he undertook to treat of whether in Books or Sermons he was us'd to say that there are Three Ways of expressing and communicating a Man's Thoughts which bear Proportion and seem to be adapted to the Three Several Faculties of the Mind the Imagination the Memory and Vnderstanding One of these proceeds upon Rules of Art runs upon Etymologies and Distinctions of Words and Things Definitions Divisions Subdivisions Causes Effects Accidents and the like A Second collects together what other People have thought or said upon the Occasion and values it self upon the nicety of quoting Books and Chapters and Pages The Third is free and generous including and doing in a manner all that both the former pretend to but without any Ostentation of doing so or enslaving it self to Niceties of Method and Rules of Art The First of These he used to say was sit for Schools and to instruct young Beginners The Second too much in Vogue with Preachers and Orators who in Effect only tack together other Peoples Notions and those too very often after an affected and impertinent Manner for having nothing to say for themselves they make other People speak for them though never so little to the Purpose In respect of this Way he declar'd himself of a Judgment directly opposite to the generality of the World That to stuff a Discourse with Quotations was an Argument rather of Weakness and Ignorance than of Wisdom That Men took this Course in all likelihood to set themselves and their great Reading off to the World which after all amounts to no more than a good Memory And This if not attended with Judgment is no such mighty Commendation That These things are oftentimes brought in at random and all Adventures picked up from Common-place Books and Indexes where they find Stuff ready made up to their Hands and so
if they grudg'd their Children the Honour and Happiness of growing wiser and better and were sorry that they answer the End of their Creation A Folly so absurd so infinitely unreasonable that we may justly call them brutish and inhumane Fathers who are guilty of it Now in pursuance of this Second and properly Paternal Affection Parents shou'd by all means admit their Children so soon as they are capable of it to keep them Company They shou'd make them a competent Allowance fit for the Rank and Condition of them and their Family shou'd enter them into Business and let them see the World confer and consult with them about their own Private Affairs communicate their Designs their Opinions to them not only as their Companions but their Friends and not keep them in Darkness and Strangers to things which they have so great an Interest in These shou'd consent to and even condescend to assist in their becoming and innocent Diversions as Occasions shall offer and so far as any of these things can conveniently be done but still so as to preserve all due regard to their own Authority and the Character of a Parent For certainly such prudent Reserves may be us'd in this Case as wou'd in no degree diminish That and yet abundantly condemn that stern and austere that magisterial and imperious Countenance and Carriage which never lets a Child hear one mild Word nor see one pleasant Look Men think it now below them to hear of the Relation and disdain to be call'd Fathers when yet God himself does not only condescend to but delight in that Title above all others whatsoever They make it no part of their Endeavour or Concern to win the Love of their Children but prefer Fear and Awe and respectful Expressions of Distance before all the Endearments and Testimonies of a dutiful and tender Affection And to contain them in these Sentiments the better and to confirm them the more they shew their Power by holding their Hands and denying the Supplies that are necessary and sit for them make them as the Term is bite of the Bridle and not only live like Beggars or Scoundrels at present but threaten to keep them so by leaving their Estates from them when they die Now what Stuff is all this how sottish and ridiculous a Farce do such People act What is this but to distrust the Efficacy of that Authority which is real and natural and of right belongs to the Relation they stand in that so they may usurp a foreign and unjust Jurisdiction and frame an artificial and imaginary Authority to themselves An Authority which all serious and good Men do but pity or contemn nay which crosses and contradicts the very End of all this foolish Project for they destroy that very Reverence they would maintain and render themselves despicable in their own Families a Jest and Scorn even to those Children But if it have not this Effect which it too often hath of drawing such Contempt upon them yet is it a mighty Temptation to young People thus us'd to take to Tricks and little dishonest Shifts and without the least Remorse to cheat and impose upon such Parents Whose Business indeed shou'd have been to regulate and inform their Minds and shew them the Equity and Reasonableness of their Duty but by no means to have Recourse to such kind of Treatment as is much more agreeable to the Arbitrary Violence of a Tyrant than the Affectionate Regards and kind Care of a Father What says the wise Comedian to this purpose * Errat longè meâ quidem Sententiâ Qui imperium credit esse gravius aut stabilius Vi quod fit quam illud quod amicitiâ adjungitur Truly in my Mind that Man thinks much amiss Who believes that Government purely by Force Shou'd have more Authority and a better Foundation Than when 't is accompany'd with Tenderness and Respect As to the final Disposal of the Estate The best and wisest way all notable and extraordinary Accidents excepted will be to take our Measures from the Laws and Customs of the Country where we dwell For it ought to be presum'd that the Laws are wiser than We and that the Makers of them consider'd things more maturely than private Men are likely to do And if any Inconvenience shou'd afterwards happen from such a Distribution it will be much more excusable to Posterity that we have err'd in going by the common Road than if it had been by any particular Whimsie of our own But sure there cannot be a greater abuse of the Trust repos'd in us and the Liberty we have to dispose of our Fortunes as we please than to let little foolish Fancies and frivolous Quarrels or private Resentments weigh down the Obligations of a higher Nature and either endite or alter Articles in our Will And yet how many Instances do we see of Men who suffer themselves to be transported by a most unreasonable Partiality and are wrought upon either by some little officious Diligence or the Presence of one Child when the rest are Absent to make a mighty Difference where Blood and Duty have never made any at all who play with their Wills as if it were a jesting-matter and gratifie or chastise such Actions as do not deserve such an Animadversion for it ought to be something much more than common which excludes those who have a just Pretence to share in what we leave or that disposes us to a Division so unequal as should very much affect the Fortunes of our Children in prejudice to one another and leave no Mark whereby to know that they were Brothers and Sifters And if the Acting thus be a Fault the Threatning at a distance or promising such an Inequality is highly Wicked and Foolish and of most pernicious Influence in the Family And therefore I say still in despight of any supportable Defects in our Children the Flatteries and Officiousness of some or the pardonable Provocations of others let us sit down and consider that This as it is one of the last so it is one of the most important and serious Actions of our Lives and therefore Reason and Law and common Usage ought to take place in it For these are the wisest Guides we can follow and in conforming to Them we take the surest Gourse to answer the Obligations of our Character to vindicate our Proceedings to the World and to quiet and satisfie our own Consciences We are now come to that other general Division of this Chapter The Duty of Children toward their Parents Duty of Children than which there is not any more plainly and visibly writ in the Book of Nature or more expresly and positively enjoyn'd by Religion A Duty which ought to be paid them not as mere and common Men but as a sort of Demy-Gods earthly and visible Deities in this Mortal Flesh Upon this Account Philo the Jew tells us that the Fifth Commandment was written half of it in the First and
to such popular and mean Methods And accordingly there wants a great deal of that Freedom and Gaiety and if I may so say Cheerfulness and good Humour in this which you are to expect in Philosophy which yet must be so tempered as not to degenerate into Triste and Meanness but still continue to be truly Generous and Brave It must be allow'd that Philosophers have acquitted themselves admirably well in this particular not only in the Instructive but the Moving and Persuasive Part setting off all their Vntues to the best Advantage and taking Care that all the Heroick Excellence of them shall appear in its just Dignity and Proportions Vnder which Title of Philosophers I comprehend not only such as the World have thought sit to Dignify with the Fame of Wisdom as Thales Solon and those that were of the same Strain about the time of Cyrus Croesin and Pisistratus Nor them only of the next in Succession who taught and profest Wisdom publickly as Pythagoras Socrates Plato Aristotle Aristippus Zeno Antisthenes who are all of them Heads and Masters in their Art nor their Disciples and Followers who afterwards divided into particular Sects but I include likewise all those great Men who rendred themselves exemplary for Virtue and Wisdom as Phocion Aristides Pericles Alexander whom I 〈◊〉 dignifies with the Character of Philosopher as well as King Epaminondas and the rest of the brave Greeks The Fabricii Fabrii Camilli the Cato's the Torquati Reguli Lelii and Scipio's among the Romans most of them Military Men and Commanders of Armies Vpon this Account though I do not refuse or disregard the Authorities of Divines yet I have more frequent recourse to those of Humanists and Philosophers in the following Treatise Had I design'd to prepare Men for a Cloister or a Life of such Perfection as aspires above the Precepts and aims at the Perfection of Evangelical Counsels then indeed my Subject would have obliged me to keep close to those Authors But since I am training a Man up for the World and forming him for Business and mixt Conversation Humane and not Divine Wisdom is the proper Accomplishment for me to recommend and the Method of answering my Purpose Speaking therefore in general Terms and according to the Nature of the Thing We must in Agreement with Philosophers and Divines acknowledge that this Humane Wisdom consists in a Rectitude of the Man when every part within and without his Thoughts and Words and Actions and every Motion is Graceful and Noble and what is for the Honour of his Nature For this is the Excellence of a Man considered as a Man so that as we call That Piece of Workmanship Perfect which hath all its Parts entire and is finisht according to the niâ—est Rules of Art He is in like manner said to be a wise Man who understands upon all Occasions how to shew himself a Man by acting in perfect Conformity to the Fundamental and First Rules of Humane Nature Or to speak more Particularly He that is well acquainted with himself in particular and Mankind in general that preserves himself from all the Vices the Errors the Passions the Defects incident to him as well from the inward Causes of his own Mind as the outward proceeding from Custom and Common Opinion that asserts the Native Freedom of his Mind and hath a large universal Soul that considers and judges every thing without enslaving himself to any that directs all his Aims and Actions so as that they shall agree with Nature that is Pure uncorrupted Reason the Primitive Law and Light inspired by God and which shines still in every Breast The Model by which the wise Man squares his own private Judgment That in his outward Behaviour complies with the Laws and Customs and Ceremonies of the Country where he dwells that demeans himself toward others with Discretion and Prudence is always firm and consistent with himself pleased and contented without any discomposure of Mind expecting and entertaining any Accident whatsoever and especially Death the last and most terrible of them all All these Strokes or Lines which go to the making up this Idea may be reduced to Four that are the principal and most commanding of all the rest The Knowledge of a Man's self Free and Generous Largeness of Mind The acting in Conformity with Nature which is of an Extent so large as when rightly understood to be singly and by it self a Rule sufficient and true Content and evenness of Temper For these are Qualifications which never meet except only in the wise Man He that is defective in any one of them does not come up to the Character He that either mistakes his own Condition or whose Mind is in any sort of Bondage either to his own Passions or to the Common Vogue that is partial and ty'd up to any particular Notions cramps up his Thoughts and cuts himself out from his Native Right of examining and judging every Thing He that lives in Contradiction to Nature that is Right Reason upon what Pretence soever he forsake it whether he be seduced by Passion or Opinion He that trips and staggers through Trouble or Terror or Discontent and lives in dread of Death This Man is not cannot be Wise Thus you have in little the Piece which this following Treatise designs to draw in its full Proportions Particularly the Second Book which consists of the General Rules and a Description of Wisdom in the gross and this indeed is more properly mine than either of the others so peculiarly such and so full to my purpose that I once had Thoughts of sending it into the World alone And what I have here described in Words the Graver hath done with his Style in the Frontis-Piece of this Book which the Reader will find an Explanation of immediately after this Preface Now there are two Things which principally conduce to this Wisdom and help Men forwards in the Attainment of it The First of These is a Good Constitution or Temperament of the Brain which makes us capable of such Improvements as our own Care and Industry shall be able to acquire Of how very great Consequence this is and how far it falls under the Power of Men to contribute to it you will find at large in the XIII Chap. of the First and the XIV Chap. of the Third Book The Second is the Study of Philosophy not all the Branches of it equally but the Moral Part chiefly yet so as that the Natural be not wholly neglected 〈…〉 this is our Candle to enlighten our 〈◊〉 to arreâ—t our Rule to chalk out the Way for us It explains and gives us true Idea's of the Law of Nature and by this means furnishes a Man for every part of his Duty as a Man whether it concern him in Publick or in Private in Company or Alone as a Member of a Family or of a State it sweetens and takes off all the Beast in us makes us tame and gentle and good-natured fashions
they have better for the other side of the Question and such as will overthrew mine I am always ready to hear it and shall be both pleased and thankful for better Information But let them not think to run me down with Numbers and Authority for These have no weight with me except in Matters of Religion only and there Authority single is Argument sufficient to induce my Belief of things which my Reason cannot comprehend This is its proper Empire but out of these Territories Reason reigns and hath absolutely Jurisdiction as St. Augustin himself hath very truly and very ingenuously acknowledged 'T is a most unjust Vsurpation over our Native Rights and Liberties the very Madness of Tyranny and Rage to think to enslave us to All that either the Ancients have deliver'd or the Generality of the World entertained But especially the Latter since the greater Part of Mankind know neither what they do nor say None but Fools will suffer themselves to be led by the Nose at this rate and for such this Book I confess is not calculated if it should meet with Popular Acceptance I should suspect it did not answer its Character The Ancient Authors ought indeed to be heard and considered and duly respected but to be captivated by them is an Excess of Veneration they must not pretend to For though a Man should hear all and pay a Deference to some yet he must assent and yield up his Mind to none but Reason only And indeed put the Case we might and would be governed by Authorities yet I would be glad to know how this is possible to be done or how we shall find such an Agreement among them as shall enable us to say Authority is on our side Aristotle for Instance pretended to be the greatest Man that had then appeared in the World he took upon him to arraign and condemn all that had gone before him and yet he said and wrote more absurd things than all of Them put together had ever thought of Nay he is inconsistent with himself and many times does not know what he would be at of which his wild Notions concerning The Soul of Man The Eternity of the World The Generation of Winds and Waters c. are undeniable Testimonies And in truth a Man who considers the Matter will find that to have all People of the same Opinion would be infinitely more prodigious and amazing than to find them otherwise For Diversity of Opinions is as comely and beautiful in the Minds of Men as Variety is in the Works of Nature That Wise as well Inspired Apostle St. Paul allows a great Liberty in these Two Rules Let every Man be fully persuaded in his own Mind Rom. 14. iii v. and Let no Man condemn or despise others of a different Judgment and Behaviour And it is observable that these Directions are given in a Matter much nicer and of greater consequence than what we now treat of For they do not concern Actions merely Humane and External and civil Compliances in which I have declar'd that my Wise Man should not take upon him to be singular nor think it any Diminution of his Character to submit and conform to Custom and Prescription But St. Paul's Rules are of a Religious Consideration and relate to such Distinctions of Meats and Days as Men thought themselves bound upon a Principle of Conscience to make Whereas all the Hardiness and Freedom I contend for is only that which enlarges a Man's Thoughts and private Opinions from Captivity and Restraint and such as no other Person is or can be concern'd in but what a Man is entirely and solely accountable to himself for Fourthly However to give all reasonable Satisfaction even in this Point too In regard some things might seem too crude and hard for the weaker sort of People those of strong and sound Constitutions I am sensible will relish and digest them all very well in Tenderness and Condescension to such queasie Stomachs I have taken Care in this Second Edition to explain illustrate and soften any thing that might offend their seebler Judgments And accordingly do now present you with a Book diligently revis'd and considerably enlarged above what it was before Lastly I beg leave of the Reader who undertakes to pass a Judgment upon this Work that he will permit me to fore-warn him of Seven dangerous Mistakes which other Persons by falling into already have entertained a less favourable Opinion of the Former Edition than I have the Vanity to think it deserved The First is That he would make a Difference between Matter of Fact and Right and not from what is related as Done conclude That ought to be Done Secondly To make a great Difference between Acting and Judging and not conclude from any Liberty of Opinion maintain'd by me that I pretend to vindicate the same Liberty in Behaviorr Thirdly That he would not look upon all That as Resolved and Determined and Declared in Favour of which is only offered to Consideration Argued and Disputed Problematically and in the old Academick Way Fourthly That what I relate from or concerning other People be not imputed to Me or pass for my own Sense and Judgment of the Thing Fifthly That what is spoken of the Mind and its internal Qualifications be not appropriated to any Sort or Profession of Men or extended to outward and Particular Circumstances and Conditions Sixthly That what is spoken of Humane Opinion be not applyed to Religion and Matters of Faith And Seventhly That what belongs to Virtue and Actions merely Natural and Moral be not interpreted of Grace and Supernatural Operations Let my Reader but lay aside all Prejudice and Passion and take these Cautions along with him and I am well assured his own Scruples may be resolved by them the Objections raised by himself or others against this Treatise abundantly answered and the Design I had in it cleared from all Blame or Suspicion But if after all he be still dissatisfied let him come forth into fair Combat and attack me openly For to traduce and snarle and mangle an Author's Reputation in a Corner is I confess an casie but withal a Base and Pedantick Practice unworthy Men of Sense or Honour And since this Book makes particular Pretences to Ingenuity and fair Dealing I promise any generous Adversary either to do him the Honour of freely Acknowledging my Mistakes and submitting to his better Reasons or else to examine his Objections and endeavour to make both Him and the World sensible of their Impertinence and Folly An Explanation of the Figure in the Frontispiece of this Book AT the upper end of the Page and over the Title of the Book you have Wisdom represented by a beautiful Woman She is naked yet so that there is no offence given to the Chastest Eyes intimating that she needs not any Additional Beauties or the Assistance of Art to recommend her but is natural plain and simple yet so as in the midst of
Years together converted and establish'd many He never took any Degree or Title in Divinity but satisfy'd himself with deserving and being capable of the Highest and had therefore no other Title or Character but That of Priest only He never saw Paris in Seventeen or Eighteen Years and then resolv'd to come and end his days there but being a great lover of Retirement he had obliged himself by Vow to become a Carthusian and was absolved of it about the end of the Year 1588. He went from Bourdeaux coming by Xaintes and Anger 's where he made several learned Sermons and arriv'd at Paris at the time the States were conven'd at Blois Then he presented himself to the Prior of the Carthusians one John Michel a Person of great Piety who since dy'd Prior-General of the great Carthusian Monastery in Dauphiné To Him he communicated his Intention but it was not accepted by reason of his Age which was not less than Seven or Eight and Forty And all the most pressing Intreaties he could use were ineffectual for the Excuse was still this That That Order required all the Vigour of Youth to support its Austerities Hereupon he addrest himself to the Provincial of the Celestines in Paris but there too with the same Success and upon the same Reasons alledged for repulsing him Thus after having done his utmost to fulfil his Vow and himself not being in any degree accessory to its not taking effect he was assured by Faber Dean of the Sorbon Tyrius a Scotch Jesuite and Feuardent a Franciscan all very learned and able Divines that there lay no manner of Obligation upon him from that Vow But that he might with a very safe and good Conscience continue in the World as a Secular and was at large and at his own Disposal without any need of entring into any other Religious Order Hereupon in the Year 1589. he returned back by Anger 's where he preached the whole Lent to the great Admiration and Benefit of the People From thence he went back again to Bourdeaux where he contracted a very intimate Acquaintance and Friendship with Monsieur Michel de Montagne Knight of the Order of the King and Author of the Book so well known by the Title of Montagne's Essays For him Monsieur Charron had a very great Esteem and did from him receive all possible Testimonies of a reciprocal Affection For among other things Monsieur Montagne order'd by his last Will that in regard he left no Issue-Male of his own Monsieur Charron should after his decease be entituled to bear the Coat of Arms plain and as they belong'd to his Noble Family The Troublesome Times detaining Monsieur Charron at Bourdeaux from the Year 1589. to that of 1593. he composed his Book called Les Trois Veritez The Three Truths and published it in 1594. but without his Name to it This was received with great Applause of Learned Men and they printed it after the Bourdeaux Copy two or three times at Paris and afterwards at Brussels in Flanders under the Sham-Name of Benedict Valiant Advocate of the Holy Faith because the Third Part of that Book contains a Defence of the Faith in answer to a little Tract concerning the Church written formerly by the Sieur Plessis de Mornay The Publication of this Book brought him into the Acquaintance of Monsieur Antony d' Ebrard de S. Sulpice Bishop and Count of Caors who upon perusing and liking the Book sent for Monsieur Charron tho' he had never seen him before made him his Vicar-General and Canon-Theologal in his Church which he accepted and there he put out the Second Edition with his own Name to it in 1595. enlarging it also with a Reply to an Answer printed at Rochelle and written against what he called his Third Truth While he was at Caors the King was pleased to summon him to the General Assembly of all the Clergy of France held the same Year 1595. Hither he came in the Quality of a Deputy and was chosen first Secretary to the Assembly As he was in this Attendance an Invitation was sent him to preach at St. Eustache's Church the most populous Parish in the whole City of Paris which he did upon All-Saints-Day 1595 and two Days after As also the Six Sundays in Lent 1596. In 1599 he returned to Caors and in that Year and 1600. he composed Eight Discourses upon the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper as many others upon the Knowledge and Providence of God the Redemption of the World the Communion of Saints And likewise his Books of Wisdom While he was thus employing himself and enjoying that Retirement at Caors my Lord John Chemin Bishop of Condom presented him with the Chantership in his Church to draw him over into that Diocess But having at the same time an Offer from M. Miron Bishop of Angiers and being courted by Him to reside at Anjou this was most agreeable to his Inclination The making a determinate Resolution was a Work of Time for his Affection and Convenience drawing several Ways kept the Balance long in suspense Anjou he looked upon as the sweetest Dwelling the most delightful Retreat that France could give him but that Province being then embroyl'd in Civil Wars for Bretany was not then reduced and so like to make a very troublesome Neighbour Condom carry'd the Point It happen'd too that the Theologal Chair at Condom was just then void and this being tendred him by the same Bishop he accepted that and resolved to set up his Staff there To this purpose he bought a House which he built new and furnished to his own Fancy and Convenience resolving to give himself all the Ease and Diversion he could and make the best of his growing Years the Infirmities whereof would be soften'd at least by good Humour and a pretty Dwelling After he was setled at Condom he printed those Christian Discourses mention'd just now which were Sixteen in all and also his Books of Wisdom at Bourdeaux in the Year 1601. which gave him a great Reputation and made his Character generally known So that Monsieur Charron began from that time to be reckon'd among the Glories and topping Wits of France Particularly Messieur Claude Dormy Bishop of Bologne by the Sea and Prior of St. Martin's in the Fields at Paris wrote him several Letters upon that occasion expressing the great Esteem he had for Him and his Writings and as a Testimony of his Value and Opinion of him offer'd him the Theologal's Place in his Church These Letters made Monsieur Charron desirous to see Paris once more that so he might contract a Personal Acquaintance with and express his Acknowledgments for the Favours of this great Prelate and at the same time in hope to get an Opportunity of reprinting his Books and Discourses with the Addition of some new Tracts For indeed the Impression at Bourdeaux he thought wanted correcting and upon a Review was not at all to his Satisfaction In pursuance of this Design
they vend it without more to do Allegations indeed have their Uses and proper Seasons they are absolutely necessary in controverted Points where the Cause is to be decided by Authorities But then they ought to be used with Moderation and in Measure and good Care taken that they be home to the purpose that Prudence be used in the Choice of them for generally the Fewer and the Weightier to be sure the Better they are For it was his Opinion that of all the Three Manners of Expressing our Thoughts This was the least valuable As for the Third That indeed was infinitely the best and the Persons who make it their Method are by much the greatest and most significant Men. Antiquity and Authority were thus far of his side The Ancient Homilists being so many Examples of it in whose Writings and Orations you very seldom or never find a Quotation and in truth the old Authors of all Sorts and Professions seem to make sound Reason and good Sense their Business This being the proper the generous Food for entertaining Men desirous of Knowledge and of distinguishing Minds This relishes and shews more of Judgment and Understanding which are Nobler and more Exalted Parts of the Mind than Memory Lastly This is infinitely the most Free and Noble in it self and more Delightful and Improving to Hearers Readers and the Person who makes Use of it too than any other Method whatsoever For by this Men are rather made Wise than Learned and more accustomed to examine and make a Judgment of things Consequently the Will is directed and the Conscience informed this way whereas the rest are good for nothing but to stuff his Memory and Imagination with other Peoples Notions or little trifling Niceties This Account I thought not improper to trouble the Reader with because from hence he will guess what he is to expect in this Treatise and see withal what kind of Tast our Author had in Matters of this Nature As for what relates to his Temper Manners Conversation and Actions whether in Publick or Private I shall need to say only thus much That he made it his Constant Business to render them conformable to those Rules and Maxims contained at large in this Second Book of the following Treatise and was very successful and very accurate in the Undertaking What Persuasion and Church he was of his Three Verities abundantly declare as do likewise his Christian Discourses which were printed since his Death and make a convenient Volume by themselves How strict and conscientious he was may appear from this single Instance That though he were possest of several Theologal Canonries one after another yet he would never be prevailed with to resign any of them in Favour of any Person nor to name his Successor for fear of giving Occasion to the Censure of having upon private Respects put in an unqualify'd Man and One who was not worthy to fill such a Post But he constantly gave them up freely and clearly into the Hands of those Bishops who had collated him The last thing I shall mention upon this Occasion is his Last Will which was made and written all with his own Hand in January 1602. and after his Decease registred in the Office at Condom In This he first returns most humble Thanks to God for all the Mercies and Benefits which by His Bounty he had enjoyed in his Life-time begs him most earnestly for his infinite and incomprehensible Mercies Sake in the Name of his Well-beloved Son and our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ and for His Merits shed and multiplied upon all his Members the Elect Saints to grant him Favour and full Pardon for all his Offences to receive him for his own Child to assist and conduct him with his Holy Spirit during his Continuance in this World that he might ever remain in a sound Mind and the true Love and Service of Him his God and that at the Hour of Death he would receive his Soul to himself admit him into the Society and sweet Repose of his Well-beloved ones and inspire all his Holy and Elect Saints with a Pious and Charitable Disposition to pray and make intercession for him Then proceeding to the Legacies he bequeaths among other things To the Church of Condom provided his Corps be Interr'd there Two Hundred Livres Tournois upon Condition that every Year upon the Day of his Death High Mass shall be once said in his Behalf and Absolution once pronounc'd over his Grave He gives moreover to the Maintenance of poor Scholars and young Girls Two Thousand Four Hundred Crowns the yearly Income hereof to be distributed for ever the one Moiety to Three or Four Scholars the other to Three Four or Five young Maidens at the Discretion of his Executors of which he constituted Five The Master of St. Andrew's School and Rector of the Jesuites at Bourdeaux for the time being his Heir and Two of his Friends the Three Last to name some other Persons to succeed in this Trust after their Decease with This Qualification that they nominate such only as are well known and reputed for their Abilities Honesty and Charity And that any Three of these in the Absence of the rest might manage and dispose things as they should see convenient Likewise he gives and bequeaths to Mrs. Leonora Montagne Wife to the Sieur de Camin Kings Counsel in the Parliament at Bourdeaux half Sister to the late Sieur de Montagne the Summ of Five Hundred Crowns And her Husband Monsieur Camin he constitutes his sole Heir He paying the Charges and Legacies contained in his Will amounting in the whole to about Fifteen Thousand Livres Tournois in the Gross Summ. What hath been thus lightly touched upon is a sufficient Evidence how Religious and Conscientious a Person Monsieur Charron was that he feared God led a pious and good Life was Charitably disposed a Person of Wisdom and Conduct Serious and Considerate a great Philosopher an eloquent Orator a famous and powerful Preacher richly furnished and adorned with the most excellent Virtues and Graces both Moral and Divine Such as made him very remarkable and singular and deservedly gave him the Character of a Good Man and a good Christian such as preserve a great Honour and Esteem for his Memory among Persons of Worth and Virtue and will continue to do so as long as the World shall last OF WISDOM THE FIRST BOOK Which consists of the Knowledge of a Man 's own self and the Condition of Humane Nature in general An Exhortation to the Study and Knowledge of ones self The Introduction to this whole First Book THERE is not in the World any Advice more excellent and divine in its own Nature more useful and beneficial to us nor any at the same time less attended to and worse practis'd than that of studying and attaining to the Knowledge of our selves This is in Truth the Foundation upon which all Wisdom is built the direct and high Road to all Happiness And
Progress toward Virtue as to quit all other Vices yet there is but very little Hope or Appearance of its ever renouncing it self It pushes Men to Brave and Illustrious Actions I confess it and the Benefit of these Actions to the Publick is unspeakable but though Others may reap the Fruit and be the better for such Actions yet it will not follow that the Person who does them is one whit the Better for them These may be the Effect of Passion and not of Virtue or Principles and if they be so this Excuse is vain For at present it is not the Profit but the Intrinsick Goodness of such Exploits that we are inquiring into I know indeed this Passion shelters it self under that very excellent Maxime That We are not born for our selves alone but for the General Good of Mankind But how good a Sanctuary this is the Methods made Use of for rising in the World and Mens Behaviour after their Promotions and Successes must shew And These if they be nicely observ'd will give us Cause to suspect that the Men who talk at this Rate speak against their own Consciences and that private Interest is at least an equal if not a stronger Motive to the Generality of Mankind than the Good of others Men look nearer Home in all they do and That how large soever the Pretensions to it may be for we cannot wonder that Men should pretend at least to One of the best and most valuable Qualities in the World yet a truly Publick Spirit is very rarely to be found See Advice and Remedies against this Passion in particular Book III. Chap. 42. CHAP. XXI Of Avarice and the Passions opposite to it BY Avarice is to be understood an inordinate Love What it is and vehement Desire of Riches Tho' indeed it is not only the Love and Fondness for them that deserve this Name but all Sort of over-curious Niceness and sollicitous Concern about Riches will bear it very justly even the Care of distributing them and Liberality it self if it take up too much of our Time and Pains in ordering and making it exact In short All manner of Anxious Thought with Relation to Riches savours strongly of this Passion for they ought to be entertain'd and used with a becoming Negligence and to be looked upon as they really are not worth any earnest Attention of the Mind nor a sit Object of our Care and Trouble The vehement Desire of Riches and the mighty Pleasure of Possessing them is merely Fantastical a Creature of our own Imagination and hath no Being no Foundation in Nature at all 'T is a Canker or Gangrene in the Soul that spreads and mortifies and with its Venom corrodes and quite consumes all Our Natural Affections and fills us with noxious and virulent Humours in their stead No sooner hath This taken up its Dwelling in our Hearts but immediately all those Tendernesses and kind Concerns are banished thence which either Nature inspires or Virtue recommends and improves in us All the Duties and Regards we owe to our Relations to our Friends nay to our very Selves are no longer of any Consideration with us All the World when set in competition with Interest and Profit goes for Nothing and at last we come to that pass as even to over-look and despise our own Persons our Ease our Health our Bodies our Souls All are sacrificed to this Darling this adored Wealth and as the Proverb expresses it We sell the Horse to get the Provender Avarice is a mean sordid Passion the Temper The Folly and Misery of it or rather the Disease of Fools and Earth-Worms who esteem Riches as the Supreme Good and most exquisite Attainment Humane Nature is capable of and dread Poverty as the Last of Evils who cannot content themselves with a bare Competency or such Provisions as are necessary for their Subsistence which indeed are so small that very few want them They measure their Riches by the Bags and Weights of Bankers and Goldsmiths whereas Nature teaches us to make a different Judgment and directs us to the Standard of our own just Occasions Now is not this the very Extremity of Folly to fall down and worship That which Nature hath taught us to despise by casting it under our Feet and hiding it in the Bowels and dark Caverns of the Earth as a thing not fit for publick view but to be trampled and trod upon as a just Object of our Neglect and an Intimation of its own Worthlessness There it was Originally and there it had remained to all Eternity had not the Vices of Mankind ransack'd those dark Cells and with great Difficulty and Violence drawn it up And great their Reward of such Industry hath been For what have they gain'd by it but the Ground of Insinite Controversies and Quarrels and Blood-shed and Rapine a Fatal Instrument of devouring and destroying one another * In lucem propter quae pugnaremus excutimus non erubescim us summa apud nos haberi quae fuerunt ima Terrarum We take unspeakable Pains to fetch up that above Ground says one which when we have it serves us only to fight for Nay we are not out of Countenance to have those very Things in highest Esteem which God and Nature had made lowest and thought the deepest Mines of the Earth a Place Good enough for Nature indeed seems in some Measure to have given sure Presages how Miserable those Men should be who are in Love with Gold by the manner of its Growth and the Quality of the Soil that produces it For as That Ground where the Veins of this Metal are found is Unprofitable for other Uses and neither Grass nor Plants nor any other Thing of Value and Service to Mankind will grow there it is in this Respect a most lively Emblem of the Minds of Men which are enamour'd with it They being in like manner the most sordid and abject and abandoned Wretches cursed and condemned to Barrenness void of all Honour lost to all Virue and no kind of thing that is Good in it self or Beneficial to the World is to be obtained or expected from them What a horrible Degradation is this and how do we lessen and disparage our selves when we give up that Dominion and Liberty to which we were born by becoming Servants and Slaves to the very meanest of our Subjects * Apud Sapientem Divitiae sunt in Servitute apud Stultum in Imperio For Riches as is most truly observ'd are the Wise Man's Servants and the Fool 's Masters And in Truth the Covetous Man cannot be so properly said to possess Wealth as That may be said to possess Him He hath it indeed but he hath it in such a Sense only as he hath a Fever or some violent Disease which hath got an absolute Mastery over him and preys upon his Vitals and all his Faculties How extravagant is it to dote upon That which neither hath any Goodness of
Dominion of the Thing we hate and give it a Power to afflict and torment us The Sight of it disturbs our Senses ruffles our Spirits and makes the whole Body Sick and Disordered The Remembrance of it raises a Storm in our Minds and sleeping or waking sills us with Disquiet and Impatience The Ideas of such Objects are always hideous and shocking and we never entertain them without Indignation and Horror Spight or Grief some Resentment not easy to be exprest which puts us beside our selves and rends our very Heart asunder Thus we feel in our own Persons all that Torment we wish another and undergo the Punishment we think due to Him He that hateth is at this Rate the Patient and he that is hated the Agent Thus it certainly is to all Intents and Purposes excepting only that we think sit to express it otherwise and deceive our selves with Words and Names of Things For it is evident to common Sense that the Haler is in Pain and the Person beted in perfect Ease perhaps too in perfect Ignorance of the Matter But after all let us consider and examine this Point a little What is it that we hate Men or Things Be it the one or the other 't is plain we do not pitch upon the right Object For if any thing in the World deserves to be Hated heartily it is Hatred it self and such other Passions which like this breed Discords and raise Tumults in our Minds and rebel against that Power which of Right ought to Command and bear an absolute Sway in us For when our Enemies have done all they can still neither They nor any Thing else but such exorhitant Passions as these can do us any real and essectual Injury For Particular Directions against this Evil. See Bock III. Chap. 32. CHAP. XXVII Envy Envy is own Sister to Hatred as like as Two Twins in their Fierceness and Miserable Effects This is a wild outragious Beast indeed more exquisite in Torture than Ten Thousand Racks and of All that wretched Mankind feels best deserves the Title of a Hell upon Earth This lies perpetually corroding and tearing the Heart-strings and converts other Mens Happiness into an occasion of Our Misery And how Dreadful how Incessant must that Vexation be which both Good and Evil conspire to aggravate Of the many ill Effects this Passion hath That is a very considerable one That while Envious Men look awry upon the Prosperity of others and grudge them Their Comforts they unavoidably suffer their Own to perish and flip through their Fingers and have no Pleasure or true Enjoyment in all that the most bountiful Providence does or can beslow upon Themselves Directions and Remedies Proper for this Evil will be prescrib'de in Book III. Chap. 33. CHAP. XXVIII Jealousie THE Nature and the Effects of Jealousie have a mighty resemblance to that Passion of Envy last describ'd excepting only that they differ in this One Circumstance The Good of other Men is the Object of our Envy but our own Happiness is the Object of Jealonsie Some Good which we are desirous to ingross to our selves and which we apprehend belongs to Us alone for which Reason we dread and detest the Communication to any Person beside Jealousie is a Disease of the Soul an Argument of great Weakness an evil and a foolish Disease but withal a furious and terrible one It rages and tyrannizes over the Mind insinuates it self under the pretence of extraordinary Friendship and Tenderness But when it hath gotten Head and taken Possession it builds a mortal Hatred upon the Foundation of Kindness Vertue and Health and Beauty and Desert and Reputation which are the Attractives of our Love and Assection are likewise the Motives and Incendiaries of this Passion they kindle and minister fresh Fewel to both these Fires This is Wormwood and Gall to us It depraves and embitters all the Sweets of Life and commonly mingles it self with our most delightful Enjoyments and these it renders so sower and unpleasant that nothing can be more uneasie to us It tures Love into Hatred Respect into Disdain Assurance into Distrust It breeds a most unhappy Curiosity makes us busie and inquisitive to our own Ruin desirous and impatient to know what nothing but the Ignorance of can keep us tolerably easie under and what when we do know there is no Cure for but such as makes the Misfortune worse and more painful For Whither does all this Information tend but only to bring the Matter out of Darkness and Doubt into clear and open Day To have Demonstration of our own Unhappiness and to proclaim it to all the World To make our selves a publick Jest and to entail Shame and Dishonour upon our Families Advice and Remedies against this Passion are to be met with in Book III. Chap. 35. CHAP. XXIX Revenge THE Desire of Revenge is in the first place a cowardly and esseminate Passion an Argument of a weak and sordid a narrow and abject Soul and accordingly Experience teaches us that Women and Children and such others as have manifestly the feeblest Minds are ever the most malicious and dispos'd to Revenge Brave and Generous Minds feel little of these Resentments They despise and scorn it either because an Injury when done to them does not make any great Impression or that the Person who does it is not thought considerable enough to give them any Disturbance but so it is that they feel themselves above any Commotions of this kind as the Poet says * Indignus Caesaris Ira. A Wretch beneath the mighty Caesar's notice Hail and Thunder Hurricanes and Tempests and Earthquakes all these disorderly Agitations and loud Ratlings which we see and feel and hear are form'd in these lower Regions of the Air They never discompose or in any Degree affect the Heavenly Bodies and higher Orbs All there is quiet and constant and serene These frail and corruptible and grosser Bodies only are they that suffer by them And thus it is with the Rage and Folly the Noise and Brawlings the Impudence and Impotent Malice of Fools They never shake great Souls nor carry so far as lofty and generous Minds An Alexander or a Caesar an Epaminondas or a Scipio cannot be mov'd by all that such mean Wretches could do or say For all truly Brave Men and these in particular have been so far from meditating Revenge that on the contrary they were remarkable for doing good to their Enomies Secondly This is a very troublesome and restless Passion full of Heat full of Smart and Sting it boyls and bubbles in the Breast and gnaws the Heart like a Viper distracts the Men infected disturbs their Enjoyments takes off the Peace and Comfort of their Days and breaks the Sleep of their Nights It is also a Passion full of Injustice for it tortures an innocent Person and adds Grief and Pain to Him that was wounded and afflicted before It is properly the Party's Business who committed the Offence to labour
till he hath overtaken it But now we will take him in another Prospect affected with a Sense and weary of some particular Evil for even This does not happen always and many Miseries are endured without any uneasie Resentments at all And when his Mind is thus far awakened let us next observe how he endeavours to disengage himself and what Remedies are to be apply'd in order to a Cure And These are such in truth as rather fret and anger the Sore than heal it for by quitting one Evil he only exchanges it for another and oftentimes for a worse But still the very Change is pleasing or at least it sooths and allays the Pain a little He fancies one Evil may be cured by another and this Imagination is owing to a vulgar Errour that seems to have bewitch'd Mankind which makes them always suspect things that are easie and cheap and esteem nothing truly valuable and advantageous but what costs us dear and is attended with much Labour and Dissiculty And This again rises higher for it is not more strange than true and nothing can more fully prove that Man is exceeding miserable That let the Evils we lie under be what they will some other Evil is necessary for the expelling and subduing them and whether the Body or the Mind be the part affected the Case in this respect is much the same For the Diseases both of the one and the other are never to be healed and taken off but by Torture and Pain and great Trouble Those of the Mind by Penance Watchings and Fastings hard Usage and course Fare Confinements and Mortifications which notwithstanding the Voluntariness and Devotion of them must of necessity be afflicting and pungent because the whole effect of them would be lost if we could suppose them in any degree subservient to Ease and Pleasure Those of the Body require nauseous Medicines Incisions Causticks and severe Dietings as They whose Unhappiness it is to be oblig'd to a Course of Physick know by woful Experience They are got between the Millstones as they say ground and bruised on one side by the Disease and on the other by a Regimen as bad as the Disease Thus Ignorance is cured by long laborious Study Poverty by Sweat and Toil and Care and Trouble are as Natural in all the Provisions for Body and Mind both as it is for Birds to fly The several Miseries hitherto insisted on Miseries of the Mind are such as the Body suffers in or if not peculiar to that alone yet at least such as it bears a part in with the Mind and the highest they go is only to the meanest of our Faculties Imagination and Fancy But Those which next fall under our Consideration are of the most refined and Spiritual Nature such as are more truly deserving of that Name full of Errour full of Malignity their Activity greater their Influence more general more pernicious and more properly our own and yet at the same time less acknowledged less perceived by us And This enhances nay doubles Man's Misery that of moderate Evils he hath a quick and tender Sense but those which are greatest he knows not feels at not all Nor can he bear to be informed of them No Body dares mention them to him none will do the ingrateful good Office of touching this Sore Place so hardened so obstinate so lost is he in his Misery All therefore that can be allow'd us in the Case is to handle them with all imaginable Gentleness and just Glance upon them by the by or rather indeed to point them out at a distance and give him some little Hints to exercise his own Thoughts upon since of his own accord he is by no means disposed to take any notice of them And First In respect of the Understanding The Understanding Is it not a most prodigions and most lamentable Consideration that Humane Nature should be so universally tainted with Errour and â—â—indness Most Vulgar Opinions and commonly the more general in a more eminent manner are erroneous and false not exempting even those that are received with the greatest Reverence and Applause Nor are these so Sacred â—â—otion-False only but which is worse very many of them Mischievous to Humane Society and the Publick Good And tho' some Wise Men and they alas but very few think more correctly of these Matters than the generality of the World and have a truer Notion of them yet even These Men sometimes suffer themselves to be carry'd down with the Stream if not always and in every Point yet now and then and upon some Occasions A Man must be very firm and well fixed to stem the Tide very hardy and of a sound Constitution whom an Infection so epidemical cannot falsten upon For indeed Opinions that have got Footing everywhere and are entertain'd with general Applause such as searce any Body dares to contradict are like a sweeping Flood that bears down all before it * Proh superi quantum mortalia pectora caecae Noctis habent Good Heaven what Errours darken Human Sight And wrap our Souls in gross substantial Night †O miseras hominum mentes pectora caeca Qualibus in tenebris vitae quantisque periclis Degitur hoe aevi quodcunque est Lucret. Lib. 2. Blind wretched Man in what dark Paths of Strife We walk this little Journey of our Life Creech To instance in all the foolish Opinions with which the generality of Mankind are intoxicated were much too tedious an Undertaking But some few shall be just mention'd here and reserved to their proper places for a more full Enlargement upon them and such are These that follow 1. The forming a Judgment of Counsels and Designs and pronouncing them Prudent See Book III. Chap. 1. and Seasonable and Good or the direct Contrary according as they succeed Well or III. Whereas the Issues of all these things are in no degree at our own disposal but depend entirely upon a Higher Hand One who as his own Infinite Wisdom sees fit prospers the most unlikely Methods and defeats the Wisest Measures and most promising Attempts 2. The Condemning and utterly exploding all foreign and strange Things Manners Opinions Laws See Book II. Chap. 8. Customs Observances and looking upon them as barbarous and Wicked without ever examining into the Matter or knowing of what Nature and Consequence they are And all this for no other reason but that they are New to Us and practised only in remote Countreys and different from the Vogue and Usage of our own As if We were the common Standard for all the World to take Measures by and nothing could possibly be commendable or convenient but what hath been received and is in request in that little Spot of Ground where our particular Lot hath fallen 3. Somewhat distant from This See Book II. Chap. 10. is the esteeming and extolling Things because they are New or Scarce or Strange or Difficult which are the Four
Instance is applicable to all Here mention'd which are owing to the Love of our Selves and comparing our own Case with that of other People T is pleasant when the Seas are rough to stand And view another's Danger safe at Land Not ' cause he 's troubl'd but 't is sweet to see Those Cares and Fears from which our Selves are free Mr. Creech And sure there is a great difference between Malignity and Self-Love between Tenderness for our own Safety and a Malicious Joy in Calamities and Dangers In a Word To give you a true Representation of the greatness of our Misery 〈◊〉 of Spiritual Miscries I only add That the World abounds with Three sorts of Men which out-do all the rest both in Number and Reputation and those are The Superstitious The Formal and The Pedantick These tho' they are concern'd in different Matters move by different Springs and act upon different Stages for the Three principal Topicks are Religion Common Conversation and Learning and each of These is the Field appropriated to each of these Persons Religion to the Superstitious Common Conversation and the Dealings of Humane Life to the Formal and Learning to the Pedants But These I say tho' engag'd in Matters so distant are yet all cast in the same Mould and agree in their general Qualities and Characters That they are all weak and mean Souls extremely defective either in Natural or Acquir'd Abilities incapable or ignorant Men of dangerous Opinions sick Judgments nay sick of a Disease that scarce ever admits of a Recovery For all the Pains and Trouble you give your self to instruct these Men better is but so much Time and Labour lost upon them They are so much in the Wrong and so highly conceited that none who differ from them can be in the Right that no good is ever to be done If you will take Their Judgments none are comparable to themselves for Virtue or for Wisdom Obstinacy and Self-sufficiency which every where hath too great an Ascendent reigns Absolute here and is in its proper Kingdom Whoever hath once drunk in the Infection of these Evils there are little or no Hopes left of ever making him a sound Man again For what is there more exquisitely foolish what more stiff and inflexible than these Fellows They are secur'd by a double Barrier from the Conquests of Reason and Persuasion First by their Weakness and Natural Incapacity which disables them from seeing the Strength of Arguments and Reproofs and then by a false Confidence in their own Excellencies above the rest of the World which makes them despise all Others as their Inferiours unable to advise and unfit to reform Those who are already so much wiser and better than They. As for the Superstitious The Superstitious See Book II. Chap. 5. they are highly Injurious to God and dangerous Enemies to True Religion They disguise themselves with a Mask of Piety and Zeal and Reverence and Love for God and this Jest they carry so far as to teaze and torment themselves with Austerities and Sufferings that were never requir'd at their Hands And what is to be done with such infatuated Wretches as These who imagine that those voluntary Afflictions are highly meritorious that the Almighty is indebated to them and much oblig'd by Works which he never commanded and that all the rest ought to be released in consideration of These Tell them they take things by the wrong Handle that they stretch and pervert and misunderstand the Scriptures and lay Burdens upon themselves more and heavier than God ever laid Their Answer is that They intend well and that Intention they doubt not will Save them that what they do is from a Principle of Piety and Devotion and cannot want Merit and Acceptance upon that Account Besides there is something of Interest in all this which you can never prevail with them to part with for what Gain is to be proposed in Prospect what Satisfaction to be receiv'd in Present which can make them amends for the mighty Expectations and Raptures of that fond Notion that by this means God becomes Their Debtor and they merit at His Hands The Formalists are a sort of People entirely devoted of Form Formalists and Shew and Outside and These think themselves at liberty to indulge their Passions and gratifie any though never so unlawful Desires without Check and Controul provided they do not offend against the Letter of the Law nor omit any of those external Observances which are required in their Behaviour and lookt upon as the Rules of Living Here you shall see an old griping Jew that hath brought God knows how many Families to Beggery and Ruine but he hath done no hurt in all this For he never asked for more than his Own at least what he thought so and if upon these Demands Arrests and Suits and Prisons have ensu'd yet he only suffer'd the Law to take its Course and who can blame this honest Man for coming by his Right in the way of Justice But O Good God! how many good things are neglected and how many wicked and barbarous things done under the pretence of Forms and the Protection of the Laws Nothing can be truer than that Extremity of Right is Extremity of Wrong He that makes This the Rule of all his Proceedings and allows himself to take the Advantage of the Law upon every occasion is so far from an honest Man that he is one of the most dangerous Knaves Such Reason was there for that Saying us'd to this purpose God deliver us from the Formalists By Pedants I mean a sort of prating Fellows who first tumble over Books with great Pains and Study and afterwards let fly in all Companies and vend all they have pick'd up in their Reading with as much Impertinence and Ostentation and all this too to turn a Penny and promote their Interest or their Credit by it There are not in the World a Pack of more little Mercenary Wretches more unfit for Business and yet at the same time more forward and presuming and conceited of Themselves Hence perhaps it is that in all Countries and all Languages Pedant and Scholar are Terms of Ridicule and Reproach To do a thing aukwardly is to do it like a Scholar To behave one's self like a Clown and be ignorant of the World is to be a mere Scholar Such Scholars I mean as These I am now treating of for these Reflections do not concern Learned Men in general but such superficial Pretenders to it as are only walking and living Nomenclatures that have a Memory stuff'd full of Other Men's Knowledge but none at all of their Own Their Judgment their Will and their Consciences are not one whit improved by it They are never the wiser nor more prudent never the more dextrous in Business nor the more honest and virtuous for all the Schemes and Institutions they have run thro' They can repeat These but they have not digested them are Masiers
be gratified in a Desire which he cannot but entertain and indulge Where Providence confers the External Advantages of Life only the Greater and most valuable part is still behind Very few are more than half-blest and of Them who are or call themselves unhappy the Generality are miserable not from real Want of what they need but from an Incapacity of enjoying what they have Hence it is still accounted a Moot-point in Philosophy whether Prosperity or Adversity Plenty or Penury require greater management and address * Crates One of some Name we know among those Sages durst not so much as trust himself with the Temptation of Riches You Sir very justly reproach his behaviour with Rashness and Folly by shewing that not the Sea but a Soul large and diffusive as the Sea rather is necessary to deliver a man from the danger of a plentiful Fortune This does not only secure but render Him and It a publick Blessing by Acts of Goodness Munificence Hospitality By cultivating those Social Virtues whereby Mankind are sustained cemented endeared to one another and all those important and beneficial Ends accomplished to which the Giver of these Good Gifts designs they should be serviceable The Difficulties under which most Men miscarry are not avoided by abandoning the World but by using it in so masterly a manner as always to keep above it Ambition and Avarice sometimes inhabit the most retired Cloisters and are no doubt sometimes too absolute Strangers to Quality and Business and Fortune Every one is valuable in proportion as he is Useful but Useful They can be but very little who industriously decline the occasions of being so The Man of Conversation and Civil Society is therefore that Pattern of Wisdom designed and drawn by this Author And to the same purpose all perfect Systems of Morality enlarge upon the different Capacities of Men because the Offices resulting from thence make the chief part of Christian as well as Human Prudence These are the Talents peculiar to each person and his proper Business distinct from the rest of the World Now Sir when Charron accordingly treats of The true and genuine Use of Riches of a Mind capable of Stemming a full tide of Plenty of the Integrity of Magistrates in Distribution of Justice of the Fidelity and Vigilance of Wise and Worthy Patriots in the Service of their Country and Defence of its just Rights of the Tenderness and Prudence of Parents and the affectionate Deference and Duty of Children when I say These and other Descriptions passed through my hands there needed but little reflection to bring to a Relation's remembrance a very eminent Instance of these several Civil and Domestick Virtues Be pleased therefore Sir to assert your own Excellencies And what Your Example already recommends to the World proceed yet more to enforce by accepting a Treatise intended to draw Men to these Resemblances of Your self as an Argument of that respect with which I am SIR Your most Obedient Humble Servant George Stanhope THE PREFACE HAVING in the former Book explained and insisted upon the several Methods by which Man may be let into a competent knowledge of Himself and the Condition of Humane Nature which is the first part of our Undertaking and a very proper Introduction to Wisdom The next thing in order is to enter upon the Doctrines and Precepts of Wisdom it self Now That shall be done in this Second Book by laying down some General Rules and Directions reserving for the business of our Third and Last those that are more Particular and appropriated to special Persons and Circumstances according to which their Duties vary in proportion to their respective Conditions It was a very necessary Preamble in the mean while to call Mens thoughts home and fix them upon themselves to exhort and instruct them to handle probe and nicely to examine their Nature that so being thus brought to a tolerable knowledge and sense of their Infirmities and Defects and sadly convinced of the miserable Condition they are by nature in they may be put into a better Capacity of having those healing and wholsome Remedies applied which are necessary in order to their Recovery and Amendment And these Remedies are no other than the Instructions and Exhortations proper for the attaining true Wisdom But alas It is a prodigious and a melancholy thing to consider how stupid and regardless Mankind are of their Happiness and Amendment What a strange Temper is it for a Man not to be at all sollicitous to have the very Errand and Business he was sent into the World about well done Every body is infinitely fond and covetous of Living but scarce any body is concerned or takes any manner of Thought for Living as becomes him This is the very Art which should be our Chief our only Study and yet it is that which we are least Masters of least disposed to learn Our Inclinations and Designs our Studies and Endeavours are as Experience daily shews vastly different even from our very Cradles or as soon as we began to be capable of any They vary according to the Temper and Constitution of our Bodies the Company we keep the Education we are instituted by the infinite Accidents and Occasions of our Lives but still none of us casts his Eyes that way none makes it his Endeavour to manage these to the best Advantage none attempts heartily to improve in Wisdom nay we do not at all lay this most necessary Matter to heart we scarce allow it so much as a single Thought Or if at any time it comes in our way accidentally and by the by we hear and attend to it just as we would to a Tale that is told or a piece of News that in no degree concerns us The Discourse perhaps is pleasant and entertaining to some and but to some neither for many will not endure nor give it a patient hearing but even those who are contented nay delighted to hear it yet hear to very little purpose The words and sound tickle their Senses and that 's all they do For as to the thing it self That makes no impression gains no esteem kindles no desires at least in this so universally Corrupt and Degenerate Age of ours In order to the being made duly sensible of the true worth of Wisdom and how much it deserves from us there seems to be some particular Turn in our first Frame some Original Aptitude and Air in our Nature and Complexion If Men must take pains they will much more willingly employ their time and exert their Strength and Parts in the pursuit of Things whose Effects are gay and glittering external and sensible such as Ambition and Avarice and Passion propose to them But as for Wisdom whose Fruits are silent and gentle internal and unseen it hath no Attractives at all for them O wretched Men what false Measures do we take and how fatally are we deluded We prefer Winds and Storms for the sake of their Noise where
pleases for upon a Supposition of the Contrary we must affirm his Power to be but finite because this World is so And That were a Notion contradictory to the absolute Perfection of his Nature Let it also be considered how much we have learnt toward the Rectifying our Notions of this kind by the Improvement of Navigation and the Discoveries lately made of a New World in the East and West-Indies For by this we are plainly convinced that all the Ancients were in a gross Error when they imagined that they knew the utmost Extremities of the Habitable World and had comprehended and delineated the whole Extent of the Earth in their Maps and Books of Cosmography except only some few scattered remote Islands And that they were perfectly in the dark about the Antipodes For here all on a sudden starts up a New World just like our own Old one placed upon a large Continent inhabited peopled governed by Laws and Civil Constitutions canton'd out into Provinces and Kingdoms and Empires adorned and beautified with noble Cities and Towns larger more magnificent more delightful more wealthy than any that Asia Africa or Europe can shew and such they have been some thousands of Years And have we not reason from hence to presume that Time will hereafter make fresh discoveries of other Lands yet unknown If Pâ—olomy and the Ancient Writers were mistaken in their accounts heretofore I would be very glad to know what better Security any Man can have of being in the right who pretends that all is found out and fully discovered now If any man shall take the Confidence to be positive in this point I shall take my liberty in believing him Secondly We find the Zones which were look'd on as uninhabitable are very plentifully peopled Thirdly We find by experience that the things which we profess to value our selves most upon and pretend to have had the earliest Intelligence of have been received and practised in these lately-discovered Countries for a long time and perhaps as soon and as long as we our selves have observed or had notice of them I do not pretend to determine whence they had it And that whether we regard Religious Matters and such as come to us by Revelation from Heaven as for Instance the Belief of One Single Man at first the Universal Progenitor of all Mankind the Universal Deluge of a God that lived in human flesh and took the Substance of a pure and holy Virgin of a Day of General Judgment of the Resurrection of the Dead the Observation of Solemn Fasts the Ornaments of those that minister in Holy things the Surplice and the Mitre particularly the Respect paid to the Cross Circumcision like that of the Jews and Mahometans and Counter-Circumcision which makes it a point of Religion to prevent all appearance of any such thing upon their Bodies Or whether we regard Civil Constitutions as That of the Eldest Son inheriting his Father's Estate Patent Honours taking new Names and Titles and laying down that of their Families Subsidies to Princes Armories and Fortifications Diversions of Players and Mountebanks Musical Instruments and all kinds of Diversion in use in these parts of the World Artillery and Printing From all which it is very natural to deduce these following Inferences That this huge Body which we call the World is very different from the common Apprehensions of Men concerning it That it is not at all times and in all places the same but hath its Tides its Ebbings and Flowings in perpetual Succession That there is nothing so confidently asserted and believed in one place but is as generally received as peremptorily maintained nay as fiercely contradicted and condemned in another And that the Original of all this whether Agreement or Difference is to be resolve at last into the Nature of Man's Mind which is susceptible of Ideas of all sorts And that the World being in perpetual Motion is sometimes at greater and sometimes in less Agreement with it self in the several parts of it That all things are comprehended within the general Course of Nature and subject to the Great Director of Universal Nature and that they spring up are alter'd decay and are abolished according as He in his Wisdom thinks fit to vary them by the Change put upon Seasons and Ages Countries and Places the Air the Climate the Soil in which Men are born and bred and dwell And lastly That as our Predecessors were but Men so We are no more and since the Errors in Their Judgment of Things are manifest this should teach Us to distrust and suspect our own And when These Inferences are justly made the Result of them must needs be to be inseparably wedded to no Opinion to espouse none of our Arguments and Speculations too eagerly to be astonished at nothing though never so unusual not to lose our Temper upon any Accident But whatever happens or how violent soever the Storm may be to six upon this Resolution and satisfy our selves in it That it is but according to the Course of Nature and that He who governs the World works as he pleases and proceeds by the Rules of his own Wisdom and therefore all we have to do is to take a prudent Care that nothing may hurt us through our own Weakness or Inconsideration or Dejection of Spirit Thus much I thought sufficient and indeed necessary to be said upon this perfect Liberty of Judgment consisting of the Three Particulars so largely insisted on And indeed so largely by reason I am sensible it is not suited to the Palate of the World but denounces War against Pedants and positive Pretenders which are all of them Enemies to true Wisdom as well as to this Principle of Mine The Advantages whereof have been sufficiently represented already the Mischiefs it prevents and the Tranquillity it brings This was the particular Character of Socrates that Father and Chief of the Philosophers and universally acknowledged as such By This as Plutarch says though he had no Off-spring of his own yet he managed others so as to make Them fruitful and Midwif'd their Productions into the World This Temper is in some sense like that Ataraxie which Pyrrho's Sceptical Followers called the Supreme Happiness of Man But if that resemblance be a little over-strained yet it may very well bear being compared to the Neutrality and Indifference which the Sect of the Academicks professed And the Natural Effect of such a Temper is to be discomposed or astonished at nothing which Pythagoras thought the Sovereign Good and Aristotle called the True Greatness of Soul So Horace * Nil admirari prope res est una Numici Solaque quae possit facere servare beatum Horat. Epist 6. L. 1. Not to Admire as most are wont to do It is the only Method that I know To make Men happy and to keep them so Creech And is it not a most amazing perverseness that Men cannot be prevailed with to make the Experiment nay that
disability is Fear and Phlegm Coldness and Listlessness There is oftentimes not the least of Real Conviction or any Principle of Conscience in it And sure a feeble Body is a very unfit Conveyance to carry us to God and drive us to Repentance and our Duty For true Repentance is somewhat very different from all this it is a particular Gift of God by which we grow wise in good earnest a Remorse which checks our hottest Career even in the midst of Springhtliness and Courage and this is what must be created and cherished in us not by the want of opportunities or of power to use them not by the weakness of a Body broken and worn out and grown unserviceable to Vice any longer but by the Strength of Reason and Thought and the better consideration of a Resolute and Vigorous Mind For nothing more argues Greatness of Soul than the Correcting our former Follies and Steadiness in a new Course of Life notwithstanding all the Difficulties and Discouragements of an entire Reformation Now One fruit of true Repentance is a frank and conscientious Confession of one's Faults Of Confessing and Excusing Faults This is usually the Sign the Consequence and in some Cases so necessary a Qualification that all Professions of Penitence without it are Hypocritical and vain It is with the Mind in these Respects as with our Bodies For as in Bodily Distempers there are two sorts of Remedies made use of One that make a perfect Cure by going to the very Root and removing the Cause of the Disease Another which only sooth the Patient consult his present Ease and are properly termed Quieting Medicines and as in this case that former Application is much more painful but withal more powerful and effectual and better for the person than the latter So likewise in the Wounds and Sicknesses of the Soul the true Remedy is of a searching and a cleansing quality and This is such an Acknowledgment of our Faults as is full of Seriousness and Shame a being content to take the Scandal and the Folly of them upon our selves But there is another deceitful Remedy which only covers and disguises them its design is not to heal so much as to conceal the Disease and this consists in Extenuations and Excuses from whence we commonly say That Wickedness makes it self a Garment to cover its own Shame This is a Remedy invented by the Author of Evil himself and it answers the Malice of his Nature and his purposes by rendring the Party so much the worse and obstructing the Methods of his Recovery Such were the Shifts and Shufflings such the Covering of their Nakedness which the First Transgressors made the Fig-leaves and the Excuses were both alike and made the Matter but so much the worse while they laboured to mend it We should therefore by all means learn to accuse our selves and get that necessary Conquest over our Pride and Self-love as frankly and fully to confess the very worst of our Thoughts and Actions and not allow our selves in any reserves of this kind For besides that this would beget a brave and generous Openness of Soul it would likewise be a wonderful Check and effectual Preservative against all such Actions and Thoughts as are not fit to be publickly known and what a Man would be ashamed of if they were so For He that obliges himself to tell all he does will be sure to take care not to do any thing which shall need to be concealed But alas the Common Practice of this naughty World is the direct contrary to the Advice I am giving Every Man is discreet and modest and secret in the Confessing but bold and free from all restraint in the Committing part For as indeed the Confidence and Hardiness of the Crime would be very much curbed and abated so likewise would it be in some measure compensated by an equal frankness and hardiness in the accusing of our Selves and acknowledging what we have done amiss For whatever Indecency there may be in doing an ill thing not to dare to confess our selves in the wrong is ten thousand times more odious and base To this purpose we may observe that there are several Instances of Persons eminent for Piety and Learning such as St. Augustin Origen Hippocrates and the like who have taken pains to disabuse the World and to publish Books wherein they confess and retract their own Mistakes and erroneous Opinions and well were it if People could be brought to such a Degree of Sincerity as to do the same in point of Morals and Misbehaviour Whereas now they oftentimes incur a greater Guilt by endeavouring to hide and smother a less for a publick premeditated Lye seems to Carry some Aggravations along with it which render it more abominable and more Vicious than some other Facts committed in secret though these be such as in their own Nature are apt to raise a greater Abhorrence and Detestation in us All This does but inflame the Reckoning it either makes the first Fault worse or adds a fresh one to it and in either case the Guilt of the Man is not abated but increased and whether we count this Increase by way of Addition or of Multiplication the Matter comes all to one CHAP. IV. The Second Fundamental Point of Wisdom The Fixing to one's self a particular End and then chalking out some determinate Track or Course of Life which may be proper for leading us to that End AFter having spoken so largely concerning this first Fundamental Point the Real and Hearty Sincerity upon which Wisdom must be built we are now led to say some small matter of the Second Predisposition which is also necessary in order to living prudently and well And That is the Pitching upon and Drawing out to one's self some determinate Method or Course of Life that we may not live at large and at random but betake our selves to some particular sort of Business or Profession which may be proper and convenient for us My meaning is such as a Man 's own Temper and Natural Disposition qualifies him for and applies it self chearfully to with this Caution only that while we follow our own Nature in particular there be a constant Regard had to the Dictates of Human Nature in general which is and ought to be the Great the General the Governing Mistress of us all as you were told in the last Chapter For Wisdom is a gentle and regular Management of our Soul that moves and acts in due measure and proportion and consists in a constant Evenness of Life and Consistency of Behaviour It must then of necessity be a matter of very great momment This no eaâ—â— matter to manage our selves well in making this Choice with regard to which People behave themselves very differently and act with great confusion and perplexity by reason of the great variety of Considerations and Motives which they are influenced with and These many times such as interfere and confound one another
the Nature of true Religion and the Dignity of an Almighty Majesty these are capable of great Allowances and suit well enough with the Simplicity of the First Ages of the World To This I presume it may suffice to answer That the Case of Moral Duties and Religious Rites is very different The One are purely the result of a reasonable and thinking Mind The Other of a Nature which we must needs be much in the dark about For though Reason would convince me that God is to be worshipped yet He alone can tell me what Worship will be acceptable to him At least if I must beat out my own Track the Notions I entertain of God must direct me Now These might convince a Man that Purity and Sincerity Justice and Goodness and the like must needs please an Infinitely Perfect Being But which way could an Imagination so foreign enter into Mens heads as that God shold be pleased with the Blood and Fat of Beasts Admit These to have been the Chief of their Substance and devoted because as such fittest for them to express their Acknowledgments by that as devoted and entirely set apart to Holy Uses it could not without Sacrilege be partaken of by Men and that from hence the Custom of Burning the Sacrifice took its Original yet what shall we say to the Expiatory Oblations And how could Men by any Strength of Reason comprehend the Possibility of a Vicarious Punishment or hope that the Divine Justice should be appeased by Offerings of this kind and accept the Life of the Offender's Beast instead of the forfeit Life of the Offender himself These things seem to be far out of the Way and Reach of human Discourse it is scarce if at all possible to conceive what should lead the Generality of Mankind to such Consequences such Ideas of God as These And I think little needs be said to convince Men that the Difference is vastly great between such Religious Rites and those Moral Duties which have their foundation in the best Reason and are all of them so coherent so agreeable to sober and uncorrupted Nature that the more we attend and the closer we pursue them the greater Discoveries we shall be sure to make and the more consistent will be all our Actions with the first and most obvious Principles of the Mind So that no Parity of Argument can lye between these Two The Force of this Reason is sufficiently confess'd by the very Learned Asserter of that Other Opinion nor can he deny Spencer Lib. III. Cap. IV. Diss II. Sect. II. as some I think with a design to make short work of it have done that Expiatory Sacrifices were offer'd before the Law But then These are supposed to proceed not from any positive persuasion or good assurance of obtaining Pardon by that means but some Hope that God would have regard to the Pious Intention of the Person and consider and restore him upon that account Which Opinion Arnobius exposes in such a manner as plainly to shew that it generally prevailed and many Testimonies of Heathen Writers themselves confess that they looked upon God to be capable of being mollified and won over as Angry Men are by Submissions and Presents and other sweetning Methods All which Misapprehensions are conceived agreeable to the Darkness of Pagans and the Simplicity of Earlier Ages Now with all due Reverence to the Authority of those Great Men who urge it I can by no means satisfy my self with the Colour they give to these Arguments from the rude unpolished State of Men in the first Ages of the World This I know is a Notion very agreeable to the Heathen Philosophers and Poets and Their Accounts of the Original of this World the Progress of Knowledge and Improvement of Mankind And This might probably agree well enough with that Age when Abraham and his Seed were chosen out from the midst of a dark and degenerate Race But whether it agree with the Times of Abel and Noah and the Antediluvian Fathers will bear a great Dispute We fancy perhaps that before there was any Written Word all was dark but there is no Consequence in That nor will it follow because Arts and Prositable Inventions for the Affairs of this Life grew up with the World that Religion too was in its Infant Weakness and Ignorance in those early Days St. Chrysostom I am sure gives a very different account of the Matter Hom. 1. in Matth. He says the Communications of God's Will were more liberal and frequent then that Men lived in a sort of familiar Acquaintance with him and were personally instructed in Matters necessary and convenient much better enabled to worship and serve him acceptably and because they did not discharge their Duty and answer their Advantages that he withdrew from this Friendly way of conversing with Mankind and then to prevent the utter Loss of Truth by the Wickedness and Weakness of Men a Written Word was judged necessary and That put into Books which the Corruption of Manners had made unsafe and would not permit to continue clear and legible in Men's hearts In the mean while the Preference he manifestly gives both for Knowledge and Purity to the First Ages and compares the Patriarchs at the beginning of the World in this Point to the Apostles at the beginning of Christianity as Parallels in the Advantages of Revelation and Spiritual Wisdom infinitely superior to the succeeding Times of the Church And it is plain from Scripture it self that Enoch Noah and other Persons eminently pious signally rewarded for it and inspired with God's own Spirit were some of those early Sacrificers Persons to whose Character the pretended Simplicity and Ignorance of the first Ages of the World will very ill agree V. There is I must own a Great Prejudice against this Divine Institution of Sacrifices from the Book of Genesis being silent in the thing it being urged as a mighty Improbability that so considerable an Ordinance and One which grew so general should have no mention made of its first Command and Establishment especially when so many things of seemingly less moment are expresly taken notice of and by that means strengthen the Opinion which attributes a matter acknowledged on all hands to be of Consequence to some Original other than Immediately Divine Now if we consider the Design and Manner of the Book of Genesis it will by no means appear strange to us that many things should be omitted This being I conceive intended chiefly to give a short Account of the Creation and Fall of Man the Promise of a Redeemer and to draw down the Line of Descent to the Chosen Seed from whence our Saviour sprung and the People of the Jews the Figure of the Christian Church derived themselves So that Their History and Religion being the principal Subject of the Five Books of Moses we find very little Enlargement upon Particulars till after the Call of Abraham For if we consider the Three first
Chapters containing the Creation and Fall of our first Parents the VIth VIIth VIIth and IXth giving an Account of the Deluge and Preservation of Noah's Family there remain but four more before the Call of Abraham and in those the Succession from Adam to Noah the Dispersion of Noah's Posterity for peopling the World and the Occasion of that Dispersion are contained 'T is true some things are inserted which to Us seem of less moment but besides that some account may in reason be given why they should be mentioned the Holy Spirit who indited these Books was the best Judge of That But it is also true that several other things as considerable as This are omitted likewise which we do not upon that score disbelieve such particularly as Those of Times stated and Assemblies convened for the Publick Worship of God and certainly it is as necessary and as important at least to expect a Revelation for the Solemn Service of God as for any particular Mode of Serving or Addressing to him I have now laid before my Reader the State of the Case as They who alledge Human Invention for Sacrifices have put it and in the Answer to those Arguments have given some for the Contrary Opinion That the Authorities on that Side are considerable is acknowledged but the General Sense of the Christian Church seems to incline to Divine Institution And the most reasonable account of this Matter if I apprehend it rightly stands thus That Almighty God instructed Adam how he would please to be worshipped and Adam trained his Family and Posterity both by Example and Instruction in the same Solemn Methods of Serving and Addressing to God That from the Time of a Redeemer's being promised Expiatory Sacrifices were both instituted and practised partly as an Intimation to Men of their own Guilt and the final Destruction they deserved and partly as a Shadow and Prefiguration of that Vicarious Punishment which God had promised to admit for the Sins of Men in the Redemption of the World by the perfect Sacrifice of his Son That as no Age of the World can be instanc'd in when God did not afford Men some visible Signs and Sacraments of his Favour and the Covenant between Him and Them so the Ages before the Institution of the Jewish Law which abounded with very expressive and particular Significations of this kind had Sacrifices for that purpose That the Heathen Sacrifices were not pure Inventions of Men but Corruptions of a Divine Institution Which being propagated to all the Offipring of Adam was differently received and depraved by the Uncertainty of Tradition long Tract of Time the Artifice of the Devil and Mens own Vicious Affections Of which whoever reads the Apologies for Christianity will find Proofs in abundance and be convinced that the Pagan Idolatry was built originally upon the Worship of the true God vitiated and perverted and misapplied For we must in reason be sensible that the likeliest and most usual way by which the Devil prevails upon Men is not by empty and groundless Imaginations or Inventions perfectly new but by disguising and mimicking the Truth and raising erroneous and wicked Superstructures upon a good and sound Bottom It is therefore it seems at least in my poor Opinion most probable that the Jewish Ceremonies were indeed adapted to the Egyptian and other Pagan Rites which the Israelites had been acquainted with and were not then in a Condition to be entirely weaned from But withal that those Pagan Sacrifices were Corruptions of the old Patriarchal not entirely mere Inventions of their own but Additions only and Extravagant Excrescencies of Error to which the Truth and Positive Institution of God first gave the hints and occasions For though it can very hardly be conceived how Sacrifices should be of mere human Motion yet there is no difficulty in supposing that the Thing once Instituted and once Established might be abused and depraved to very prodigious and abominable purposes As it was no doubt very early in that universal degeneracy to Idolatry from which it pleased God to rescue Abraham and his Posterity One very Remarkable Circumstance contributing to the strength of this Opinion is that almost every where the Ceremonies in the Act of Oblation seem to be very much alike which is very Natural to an Exercise and Institution derived down from One common Head and originally sixed by a Positive Command but scarce conceivable of an Invention merely Human where Men in all likelyhood would have run into as great Diversity and thought themselves as much at Liberty as they do in the Affairs of Common Life But especially the Sacrificing Beasts by way of Atonement obtained universally and the Imagination of Their Blood being necessary and effectual for Pardon Which I confess if a Dictate of Reason and Nature only is certainly the strangest and most remote from any present Conceptions we are able to form of the Dictates of Nature of Any that ever yet prevailed in the World And therefore This is scarce accountable for any other way than from the Promise of a Redeemer and Sacrifice to come which the Sacrifices of Beasts were in the mean while appointed to represent That such an Institution agrees very well with all the Ends of Sacrifice is not to be denied For the Death of the Beast though not personally felt by the Offender would yet give him a full and very expressive Idea of the fatal Consequences of Sin and the Acceptance of that Life instead of his own which was forfeited and by that Act of Sacrificing acknowledged obnoxious to Divine Justice was a lively representation of the Mercy of God But still the Apostles Argument is founded in Reason and may be an Appeal to all Mankind It is not possible that the Blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away Sin And therefore not only Eusebius in his Xth Chap. of Demonstrat Evang. Lib. I. ascribes this Worship to Divine Inspiration but Aquinas says that before the Law Just Men were instructed by an Inward Instinct after what particular manner God would be Worshipped as they were afterwards under the Law by External Precepts So Plato says That no Mortal Capacity can Know or Determine what is fit to be done in Holy Matters and therefore forbids the Alteration of the Established Rites and Sacrifices as Impious And the Testimonies of St. Chrysostome and Justin Martyr Taylot's Ductor Dubit B. II. Chap. 3. N. 30. have been thought to mean not so much that all Sacrifice was a Dictate of Nature as that some Circumstances relating to it were left to the Dictates of Man's Reason So that when God had taught Adam and his Posterity that they should worship in their several Manners and what he would please to accept The Manner and Measure and such like considerations were left to Choice and Reason and Positive Laws In short the Religion of our Hearts and Wills our Prayers and Praises might be natural and the result of meer Reason but
and Brawling and contemptuous Usage for none but Slaves He that is once accustomed to these will come to very little But Reason and Argument the Gracefulness of the Action the Imitation of excellent Men the Honour and Respect and universal Approbation that attend their doing well the pleasing and generous Satisfactions of one's own Mind which result from a Sense of having done so and the Deference paid by others to such Persons and Actions The Deformity of an ill thing the Representations of its being unworthy and unbecoming a Reproach and Affront to Human Nature the Shame and Scandal the inward Upbraiding and Discontents and the General Dislike and Aversion it draws upon us how despicable and little it makes us appear both in our own Eyes and the Esteem of the World These are the Defensive Arms against Vice these the Spurs to Virtue that influence and quicken up all Children of good Tempers and such as give us any tolerable Hopes of making significant Men. These we shall do well to be perpetually ringing in their Ears and if such Arts as these prove ineffectual all the Methods of Rigour will do but little Good upon them What cannot be compassed by dint of Reason and Prudence and Address will either never be compassed by dint of Blow or if it be it will turn to very poor Account But indeed there is no fear of Disappointment if such Methods are taken in time and the Corruptions of Vice be not suffered to get beforehand with us For these Notions are commensurate and Proper to the Soul and the most natural that can possibly be while it is preserved in its Primitive Innocence and Purity I would not be mistaken in all this As if it were any part of my Intention to countenance or commend that loose and effeminate Indulgence which admits of no Contradiction no Correction at all but makes it a Principle to let Children have their Humour in every Thing for fear of fretting and putting them out of Temper This is an Extreme every whit as extravagant and as destructive as the other Such Parents are like the Ivy that certainly kills the Tree encircled by it or the Age that hugs her Whelps to Death with mere Fondness 'T is as if when we see a Man drowning we should stand by and let him sink for fear the pulling him out by the Hair of the Head should hurt him Against this Foolish Tenderness it is that the wise Preacher inveighs so largely and so smartly Prov. xiii 24. xix 18. xxiii 13 14. Ecclus xxx 8 9 12. He that spareth the Rod hateth his Son but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes Chasten thy Son while there is hope and let not thy Soul spare for his crying With-hold not Correction from the Child for if thou beatest him with the Rod he shall not die Thou shalt beat him with the Rod and shalt deliver his Soul from Hell An Horse not broken becometh Headstrong and a Child lest to himself will be wilfull Cocker thy Child and he shall make thee afraid Bow down his Neck while he is young lest he wax subborn and bring Sorrow to thine Heart And all this Advice is very consistent with what I recommended before for Youth must not be suffered to run wild and grow Lawless They ought to be contained in Discipline and good Order but then this Discipline should be so tempered and managed as becomes a Spiritual Human and reasonable Discipline and not fly out into Rage and Fury as if we were dealing with Brutes who have no Sense or with Madmen who have lost their Senses and must be bang'd into them again And now it may be seasonable for us to proceed in the Consideration of those Particulars mention'd lately Advice for forming the Mind and the Rules for Instruction and Education suited to each of them The First of these Particulars was said to consist in exercising sharpening and forming the Minds of young People And here we might take Occasion to lay down a great Variety of Directions But the First and Chief and indeed the Fundamental Rule of all the rest that which regards the Aim and End of all this painful Toil and which I am the more concerned to press and inculcate because it is very little observed but by an Epidemical and fatal Mistake Men are generally fond of the quite contrary Course this Rule I say which I would urge and presume to be infinitely the most concerning and material of any is That Men would employ the greatest Part by much and make it in a manner the Whole of their Business and Study to exercise and improve and exert That which is our Natural and Particular Excellence to brighten and bring to light the Treasure hid in every Man's breast rather than to heap up and make Ostentation of that which is a foreign Growth To aim at Wisdom rather than Learning and the quaint Subtilties of Speculative Knowledge to strengthen the Judgment and consequently give the true Bent and Turn to the Will and the Conscience rather than fill the Memory and warm the Fancy in a Word That they would labour to make the Persons committed to their Charge Prudent Honest and good Men and think this better Service and infinitely higher Accomplishments than the making them Nice Florid Learned or all that which the World calls fine Scholars and fine Gentlemen Of the Three predominant Parts of the Reasonable Soul Judgment is the Chief and most Valuable Book I. Chap. 19. as was shewn at large in the Beginning of this Treatise to which I refer my Reader But almost all the World are of another Opinion and run greedily after Art and acquired Learning Parents are at an infinite Expence and Children themselves at infinite Pains and trouble to purchase a Stock of Knowledge and yet Tacitus his Complaint may be ours at this Day That the Excess of Learning is our Disease and as it is in all other Excesses the World is not the better but the worse for it For in the midst of all this Fruitless Care and Charge they are in little or no Concern for that which would come at a much easier Rate the breeding them so that they may be Prudent and Honest and fit for Business Now though this Fault may be so general yet All are not Guilty of it upon the same Principle Some are blindly led away by Custom and imagine that Wisdom and Learning are either the same thing or very near of Kin to one another but to be sure that they constantly go together and that one of them cannot possibly be attained without the other These Men are under an innocent Mistake and deserve to have some Pains taken with them for their better Information Others are wilfully in the Wrong and know well enough the Difference between these Two But still they will have artifical and acquired Knowledge whatever it cost them And indeed as the Case stands now with our Western Parts
Learning Let us next enquire whether we can find Learning destitute of Wisdom and the Instances of this Part are no less obvious and numerous than the other Do but take notice of great part of the Men who make Learning their Study and Profession whose Heads are full of Aristotle and Cicero the Philosophers and the School-Men Are there any People in the World more aukward and uncouth in Business Is it not a common Proverb when we see a Man Odd and Clumsie to say He is a mere Scholar One would almost think that they had pored away their Senses and that excess of Knowledge had stunn'd and stupify'd them How many are there who would have made excellent Persons had they not sunk and dwindled into Pedantry and had been wiser Men if they had traded upon their own Natural Stock and never sat down to Books at all and how many of their own Brethren do we see who never had that Education and prove much shrewder Men and better Contrivers more quick and expert in all manner of Business Take one of your Nice Disputants or quaint Rhetoricians bring him into a debate at the next Corporation where any Matter of Government or Civil Interest is under Deliberation put him upon speaking to the Point and he shall Blush and Tremble turn Pale and Cough and Hem But it is Odds if he say any Thing to the Purpose At last perhaps you shall have a formal Harangue some Definitions of Aristotle or Quotations out of Tully with an Ergo at the End of them And yet at the same Meeting you shall have a dull plodding Alderman that chalks up all his Acounts behind the Door and can neither write nor read and yet this Fellow by seeing and knowing the World shall out of his own Observation and Experience come to better Resolutions and propose more feasible and proper Expedients than the subtilest and most refin'd Student of them all Were Matters indeed so managed that Men turned their Speculation into Practice and took Care to apply their Reading to the Purposes of Human Life the Advantage of Learning would be unspeakable and we see how illustriously such Persons shine in the World And therefore what I have said upon this Occasion is not to be stretched to the Prejudice of Learning in general but only to such a false Opinion of it as depends upon This alone for the most eligible and Only Qualification of the Mind of Man and so rests upon it and buries it in Inactivity This the foregoing Instances shew is frequently done and a very vulgar Error and consequently they prove the Point for the Illustration of which alone they are produced and that is That this Distinction between Wisdom and Learning is not Imaginary but grounded upon a real Differece and that in Fact these Two do not always go Hand in Hand nor meet in the same Person This I design to make appear more fully in the following Paragraphs of this Chapter for I have already promised not to content my self with urging bare matter of Fact but likewise to enter into the Reason of the Thing An Enquiry which I am the more Zealous and look upon my self obliged to satisfie that so I may prevent any Offence being taken at the former Reflection and cut off any Suspicious which some might be provoked to entertain concerning me as if I were an Enemy to Learning and thought it Insignificant and Despicable There is I confess ground sufficient for this Question why Wisdom and Learning should not go together for it is a very odd Case and seems foreign to the Reason of the Thing that a Man should not be very much the Wiser for being a better Scholar since Learning and Study is without Controversie the ready Road and a most Excellent Instrument and Preparation to Wisdom Take any Two Men equal in all other Respects let the One be a Man of Letters the Other not so 'T is plain He who hath employed his Time in Study ought to be a great deal Wiser than the other and it will be expected from him that he should prove so For he hath all the Advantages that the Unletter'd Man hath a Natural Capacity Reason and Understanding and he hath a great deal more besides too the Additional Improvements of Reading which have furnish'd him with the Examples Directions Discourses and Determinations of the Greatest Men that ever were in the World Must not this Person then be Wiser more Apprehensive and Judicious of a more exalted Virtue and greater Address than the other who is altogether destitute of such Helps Since he hath the same Stock to set up with and all these foreign Assistances acquired and transported to him from all the Quarters of the Universe besides Since as one says very truly The Natural Advantages when joyn'd and strengthened by the Accidental make a Noble and Complete Composition And yet in despight of all our Reasonings to the contrary Experience and undeniable Matter of Fact give us Ten thousand Instances of it's being otherwise Now the true Reason and satisfactory Answer to this Doubt stands really thus That the Methods of Instruction are not well ordered Books and Places of Publick Education furnish Men with admirable Matter but they do not imbibe and use it as they should do Hence it is that vast Improvements in Knowledge turn to so very slender Account They are Poor in the midst of Plenty and like Tantalus in the Fable starved with the Meat at their Mouths When they apply themselves to Reading the Thing they principally aim at is to learn Words more than Things or at least they content themselves with a very slight and superficial Knowledge of Things and He is reputed the best Scholar who hath made the largest Collections and cramm'd his Memory fullest Thus they are I earned but not with any Care of polishing their Minds and forming their Judgments or growing practically Wise Like a Man that puts his Bread in his Pocket and not in his Stomach and if he go on Thus he may be famish'd for want of Sustenance notwithstanding both Pockets are full Thus they continue Fools with a vast Treasure of Wisdom in their Brains They study for Entertainment or Ostentation or Gain or Applause and not for their own true Benefit and the becoming Useful to the World They are living Repertories and Common-place Books and would be rare Compilers of Precedents and Reports Cicero they tell you or Aristotle or Plato say Thus and Thus but all this while They say not one Tittle of their own Observation They are guilty of Two great Faults One is that they do not apply what they read to themselves nor make it their own by Meditation Reflection and Use so that all this while they have not advanc'd one Step in Virtue nor are One whit more Prudent more Resolute and Confirm'd in Goodness and thus their Scholarship is never digested and incorporated with the Soul but swims and floats about in the Brain
Proverb That he who never asks Questions will never be a Wise Man that is If a Man's Mind be not kept stirring it will rust and mould and nothing but constant Use and Exercise can cleanse and brighten it Now whatever of this Kind falls under his Consideration should be managed to the best Advantage applyed and brought home to himself discoursed and advised upon with others and that whether it be somewhat already past to discover what Defects there were and which were the false Steps in it or whether it be somewhat future that he may govern himself regularly be warned of any Hazards and Dangers that attend what he goes about and prevent Miscarriages and Inconvenience by growing wise in Time Children should never be left to their own idle Fancies to dare and trifle alone For their Age and Capacity not being of it self able to furnish Noble Matter of Thought will certainly dwindle into Vanity and feed upon Impertinencies and Whimsies of a Size with their Imaginations They should therefore be kept in constant Employment to exercise and give them a Manly Way of thinking and particularly to beget and excite this inquisitive Humor and eager Appetite of Knowledge which will be sure to keep their Souls always awake and busie and by inspiring them with a Noble Emulation be Eternally putting forward to fresh and larger Attainments And this Curiosity if qualified as I have here described it will neither be Vain and Fruitless in it self nor Troublesome or Unmannerly to any they converse with Thirdly Another necessary Care in the Instructing of Children is To frame and mould their Minds after the Model of Universal Nature taking the World at large for our Pattern to make the Universe their Book and whatever Subject lies before them to draw it in sull Proportion and represent the several Opinions and Customs which do or ever have prevailed with regard to it The Greatest and most Excellent Persons have always had the freest and most enlarged Souls For this indeed strengthens and confirms the Mind delivers it from Wonder and Surprise and fixes it in Reason and Resolution which is the highest Point of Wisdom This Particular and the Benefits of it as well as the Absurdity and great Uneasinesses of the Contrary hath been so largely insisted upon heretofore See Book II. Ch. 2. that I shall omit what might be said more upon it here adding only this Observation That such a large and universal Spirit must be the Business and Acquest of early Application and Diligence in the Master before the Prepossessions of his Native Country and Customs have taken too fast Hold upon his Scholar and when he is ripe for Travelling and Conversation that which will contribute most to the perfecting him in this Disposition is going abroad conferring much with Foreigners or if that cannot be yet informing himself at Home by reading such Books as give Account of Travels into remote Parts of the World and contain the Histories of all Nations Lastly Children ought to be taught betimes not to swallow things at a venture nor receive any Opinions upon Trust and the bare Authority of the Person who delivers them but to seek and expect all the Evidence that can be had before they yield their Assent The contrary Easiness of Mind is to suffer one's self to be led about hood-winked to renounce the Use of Reason quite and submit to the Condition of Brutes whose Business is only to know their Driver and go as they are directed Let every Thing therefore be fairly propounded let the Arguments on each Side be stated and set in their true Light and then let him choose as Judgment shall determine him If he be at a Loss which Side he should incline to let him deliberate longer and doubt on such a distrust and uncertainty of Mind is an excellent Sign more Safe more Promising than a rash Confidence which resolves Right or Wrong and thinks it self always sure though it can give no reason why The Perplexities and Dilemmas of a cautious and considerate Person are much to be preferred before even the true Determinations that are made in a Heat and by Chance But then as the Youth should be taught always to practise upon his own Judgment so should he learn likewise to have a Modest Diffidence of his Abilities and when any Difficulty interposes or the Resolution is of great Consequence to consult those who are proper to be advised with and never venture to come to a peremptory Determination merely upon the Strength of his own reasoning For As the being able to examine and compare Things is One Argument of Sufficiency so is the calling in Help Another and the refusing to rest upon one's own single Opinion is no Reflexion upon our Wisdom No Disparagement to what we think alone but rather the quite contrary Next after the Soul of Children Parents are obliged to take Care of their Bodies Advice for the Body and this is not to be deferr'd any more than the other It hath no distinct and separate Seasons but must go along with the Former and only differs in This that tho' we ought to express a constant Care and Concern for both yet we are not obliged to have that Concern equal for both But since Nature hath united these Two into One and the same Person we must contribute to the Good of each by our joynt Endeavours Now the Care of the Body will be most profitably Exprest not in the Indulging its Appetites or treating it tenderly as the Generality of those who pretend to resined Education do but by utterly abandoning all Softness and effeminate Nicety in Cloths and Lodging Meat and Drink to give it plain and hearty Nourishment a simple and wholesome Diet considering the Convenience of Health and Digestion more than the Pleasures and Delicacy of the Palate To support it in a Condition of Strength capable of supporting Labour and Hardship and accordingly inure it to Heat and Cold Wind and Weather That so the Muscles and Nerves as well as the Soul may be fortified for Toil and by That for Pain For the Custom of the Former hardens us against the Latter In a Word to keep the Body Vigorous and Fresh and the Appetite and Constitution indifferent to all forts of Meats and Tasts For the several Parts of this Advice are by no Means so insignificant as they may seem It were enough to say that they conduce mightily to the preserving and confirming our Health but That is not all for the Benefit extends beyond our own Persons and the Publick is the better for them as they enable and qualifie Men for the enduring Fatigues and so fit them for Business and the Service of their Country It is now Time to apply our selves to the Third Branch of this Duty Directions for Manâ—ners which contains a Parents Carey of his Childrens Manners in which Soul and Body both are very highly concern'd Now this Care consists of Two