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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	worship_v	write_v	year_n	137	4	4.4883	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51674	Father Malebranche his treatise concerning the search after truth The whole work complete. To which is added the author's Treatise of nature and grace: being a consequence of the principles contained in the search. Together with his answer to the animadversions upon the first volume: his defence against the accusations of Monsieur De la Ville, &c. relating to the same subject. All translated by T. Taylor, M.A. late of Magdalen College in Oxford.	Malebranche, Nicolas, 1638-1715.; Taylor, Thomas, 1669 or 70-1735.; Malebranche, Nicolas, 1638-1715. Traité de la nature et de la grace. English.	1700 (1700)	Wing M318; ESTC R3403	829,942	418

if he has 't was to very little purpose And so he became a Genteel Pedant or a Pedant of a species entirely new rather than a Rational Judicious and a Worthy Man Montagne's Book contains so evident Proofs of the Vanity and Arrogance of its Author as may make it seem an useless Undertaking to stand to remark them For a Man must needs be very conceited that like him could imagine the World would be at the pains of reading so large a Book meerly to gain some acquaintance with its Author's Humours He must necessarily distinguish himself from the rest of the World and look upon his own Person as the Miracle and Phoenix of Nature All created Beings are under an indispensable obligation of turning off the Minds of such as would adore them towards the only One that deserves their Adoration And Religion teaches us never to suffer the Mind and Heart of Man whom GOD created for himself to be busied about us and to be taken up with loving and admiring us When St. John prostrated himself before the Angel of the LORD the Angel forbad him saying I am thy fellow Servant and of thy Brethren Worship GOD. None but the Devils and such as partake of their Pride are pleas'd with being worshipp'd To require therefore that others should be affected and taken up with our particulars what is it but to desire not only to be worshipp'd with an outward and apparent but also with a real and inward worship 'T is to desire to be worshipp'd even as GOD himself desires it that is in Spirit and in Truth Montagne wrote his Book purely to picture himself and represent his own Humours and Inclinations as he acknowledges himself in the Advertisement to the Reader inserted in all the Editions I give the Picture of my self says he I am my self the Subject of my Book Which is found true enough by those that read him for there are few Chapters wherein he makes not some Digression to talk of himself and there are even some whole Chapters wherein he talks of nothing else But if he wrote his Book meerly to describe Himself he certainly Printed it that his own Character might be read in it He therefore desir'd to be the Subject of the Thoughts and Attention of Men though he says there is no reason a Man should employ his time upon so frivolous and idle a Subject Which words make only for his Commendation For if he thought it unreasonable for Men to spend their time in reading his Book he himself acted against Common Sense in publishing it And so we are oblig'd to believe either that he Thought not what he said or did not what became him But 't is a pleasant Excuse of his Vanity to say he wrote only for his Friends and Relations For if so how chance there were publish'd three Editions Was not one enough for all his Friends and Relations Why did he make Additions to his Book in the last Impressions but no Retractions but that Fortune favour'd his Intentions I add says he but make no Corrections because when once a Man has made his Book of publick right he has in my Opinion no more pretence or title to it Let him say what he can better in another but let him not corrupt the Works already sold. Of such as these 't is folly ●o purchase any thing before they are dead Let them think long before they publish Why are they in such haste My Book is always one and the same He then was willing to publish his Book for and deposite it with the rest of the World as well as to his Friends and Relations But yet his Vanity had never been pardonable if he had only turn'd and fix'd the Mind and Heart of his Friends and Relations on his Picture so long time as is necessary to the reading of his Book If 't is a Fault for a Man to speak often of himself 't is Impudence or rather a kind of Sottishness to praise himself at every turn as Montagne does This being not only to sin against Ch●●stian Humility but also Right Reason Men are made for a sociable Life and to be form'd into Bodies and Communities But it must be observ'd that every particular that makes a part of a Society would not be thought the meanest part of it And so those who are their own Encomiasts exalting themselves above the rest and looking upon others as the bottom-most parts of their Society and themselves as the Top-most and most Honourable assume an Opinion of themselves that renders them odious instead of indearing them to the Affections and Esteem of the World 'T is then a Vanity and an indiscreet and ridiculous Vanity in Montagne to talk so much to his own Advantage on all occasions But 't is a Vanity still more Extravagant in this Author to transcribe his own Imperfections For if we well observe him we shall find that most of the Faults he discovers of himself are such as are glory'd in by the World by reason of the Corruption of the Age That he freely attributes such to himself as can make him pass for a Bold Wit or give him the Air of a Gentleman and that with intent to be better credited when he speaks in his own Commendation he counterfeits a frank Confession of his Irregularities He has reason to say that The setting too high an Opinion of one's self proceeds often from an equally Arrogant Temper 'T is always an infallible sign that a Man has an Opinion of himself and indeed Montagne seems to me more arrogant and vain in discommending than praising himself it being an insufferable Pride to make his Vices the Motives to his Vanity rather than to his Humiliation I had rather see a Man conceal his Crimes with Shame than publish them with Impudence and in my Mind we ought to have that Vnchristian way of Gallantry in abhorrence wherein Montagne publishes his Defects But let us examine the other Qualities of his Mind If we would believe Montagne on his word he would perswade us that he was a Man of No Retention that his Memory was treacherous and fail'd him in every thing But that in his Judgment there was no defect And yet should we credit the Portraicture he has drawn of his own Mind I mean his Book we should be of a different Opinion I could not says he receive an Order without my Table-book and if I had an Oration to speak that was considerably long-winded I was forc'd to that vile and miserable necessity of learning it word for word by Heart otherwise I had neither Presence nor Assurance for fear my Memory should shew me a slippery trick Does a Man that could learn Memoriter word for word long-winded Discourses to give him some Presence and Assurance fail more in his Memory than his Judgment And can we believe Montagne when he says I am forc'd to call my Domestick Servants by the Names of their Offices or their

Sensibility of Men the Corruption of the Senses and the Passions dispose them to the desire of being struck with it and provokes them to strike others with it also I am then of Opinion that there is no Author more fit than Seneca to exemplifie that contagious Communication of a great many Men who go by the Name of the Fine and Bold Wits and to shew how these strong and vigorous Imaginations domineer over the Weak and Unenlightened Minds not by the force and evidence of their Reasons which are the Productions of the Mind but by the Turn and lively way of Expression which depend on the Strength of Imagination I know well enough that this Author's Reputation is considerable in the World and ' will be look'd upon as a rash attempt to have treated him as a very Imaginative and Injudicious Author But 't was chiefly upon the Account of his Esteem I have said so much of him here not out of any Envy or ill Humour but because the Estimation he is in will more sensibly touch the Mind of the Reader and more closely apply it to the Consideration of the Errors I have attack'd For we should as far as possible bring the most Eminent Instances when the things we say are important it being sometimes an Honouring a Book to Critizice upon it But yet I am not the only Man that finds fault with the Writings of Seneca for not to mention some Famous Men of our own Age 't is near six hundred Years ago that a most Judicious Author observ'd there was little Exactness in his Philosophy little Judgment and Justice in his Elocution and his Reputation was rather the result of the Heat and indiscreet Inclination of Youth than the Consent of Learned and Judicious Men. Publickly to engage the grossest and most palpable Errors is labour lost there being no contagion in them 'T would be ridiculous to advertise Men that Hypocondriack People are deceiv'd 't is visible to all the World But if those very Men they have the greatest Opinion of should chance to be mistaken 't is a piece of service to admonish them lest they should imitate them in their Errors Now 't is plain that the Spirit of Seneca is a Spirit of Pride and Vanity And whereas Pride according to the Scripture is the Origine of Sin Initium Peccati Superbia The Spirit of Seneca cannot be the Spirit of the Gospel nor his Morals be allied to the Morals of our SAVIOVR the only true and solid Morals True 't is that all the Notions of Seneca are not false nor dangerous And he may be read with profit by such as have an exactness of Thought and are acquainted with the Foundation of Christian Morality Good use has been made of him by Great Men and I have no intent of blaming those who to accommodate themselves to the Weakness of others that had an excessive Esteem for him have drawn Arguments from his Works whereby to defend the Morality of our LORD and oppugn the Enemies of the Gospel with their own Weapons The Alcoran has many good things in it and some true Prophecies are to be found in the Centuries of Nostradamus The Alcoran is made use of to oppose the Religion of Mahomet and Nostradamus's Prophecies may be of use to convince some Fantastick and Visionary People But what is good in the Alcoran can't make it a good Book nor can some true Explications in Nostradamus's Centuries make him ever pass for a Prophet neither can it be said that all who make use of these Authors approve them or have for them any real Esteem A Man ought not to go about to overthrow what I have said about Seneca by alledging abundance of Quotations out of him which contain in them nothing but solid Truths and consonant to the Gospel For I grant many such are met with in that Author and so there are in the Alcoran and other mischievous Books Nor would he be less to blame who should overwhelm me with the Authority of those great Numbers who have made use of Seneca since use may be made of what we think an impertinent Book provided those we speak to judge otherwise of it than our selves But to ruine intirely the Wisdom of the Stoicks we need only know one thing which is sufficiently prov'd by Experience and by what we have already said which is that we are link'd and fasten'd to our Body our Relations our Friends our Prince and our Country by such ties as we neither can break nor could for shame endeavour it Our Soul is united to our Body and by our Body to all things Visible by so potent an Hand that 't is impossible by our own force to loosen the Connection 'T is impossible our Body should be prick'd but we must be prick'd and hurt our selves because the state of Life we are in most necessarily requires this Correspondence between us and the Body which we have In like manner 't is impossible to hear our selves reproach'd and despis'd but we must feel some discontent thereupon because GOD having made us for sociable converse with other Men has given us an Inclination for every thing capable to bind and cement us together which Inclination we have not strength enough of our selves to overcome 'T is Extravagance to say that Pain does not hurt us and that words of Contumely and Contempt are not at all offensive to us as being above such things as these There is no getting above Nature without being assisted by Grace nor was there ever any Stoick who despis'd Glory and the Esteem of Men through the meer Strength of his Mind Men may indeed get the mastery of their Passions by contrary Passions They may vanquish their Fear or their Pain by Vain Glory I mean only that they may abstain from Flying or Complaining when seeing themselves in the midst of a multitude the desire of Glory supports them and stops those motions in their Bodies which put them upon Flight In this manner they may conquer them but this is no Conquest or Deliverance from their slavery 't is possibly to change their Master for some time or rather to put on a longer and an heavier chain 'T is to grow wise happy and free only in appearance but in reality to suffer an hard and cruel bondage The natural union a Man has still with his Body may be resisted by that union he has with Men because Nature may be resisted by the strength of Nature GOD may be resisted by the forces He himself supplies us with but GOD cannot be resisted by the strength of a Man 's own mind Nature can't be perfectly vanquish'd but by Grace because GOD cannot if I may be allow'd so to speak be overcome but by the special auxiliaries of GOD himself And thus that so much celebrated and vaunted Division of all things in such as depend not on us and such as we ought not to depend on is a Division that seems agreeable to Reason

management of Life that 's too trite and vulgar it not being their purpose to be useful to others or themselves but only to be reputed Learned They either alledge no Reasons of things which they advance or if they do they are so mysterious and incomprehensible as neither themselves nor any body else can evidently conceive Clear Reasons they have none but if they had they would not use them because they surprize not the Mind are thought too simple and common and suited to the Abilities of all Mankind They rather bring Authorities to prove or with pretence to prove their Notions for the Authorities employ'd seldom prove any thing by the Sense they contain but only by being Greek and Arabick But perhaps it will be pertinent to speak something of their Quotations which will acquaint us in part with the disposition of their Mind It is methinks manifest that nothing but a falsly-term'd Learning and a Spirit of Polimathy could bring these Citations into fashion as they have formerly been and are still at this day with some of the Learned For 't is usual with some Authors to be perpetually quoting long Sentences without any Reason for it whether because the things they advance are too clear to be doubted of or that they are too intricate and obscure to be made out by the Authority of their Authors since they could know nothing of them or lastly because the Citations inserted are inserviceable to adorn and beautifie their Discourse 'T is repugnant to common Sense to bring a Greek Passage to prove the Air transparent because 't is evident to all the World to employ the Authority of Aristotle to persuade us that Intelligences move the Heavens because we are certain Aristotle could not know it and lastly to mingle strange Languages Arabian and Persian Proverbs with French English or Latin Books written for every body forasmuch as these Citations cannot be ornamental at least are such fantastical Ornaments as disgust most Persons and can satisfie but very few Nevertheless the greatest part of those who would fain be thought Learned are so extreamly pleas'd with this kind of Gi●●rish that they blush not to quote in strange Tongues which they do not understand and tug might and main to draw into their Books an Arabick Passage which they cannot so much as read Thus they puzzle themselves strangely to effect a thing repugnant to good Sense but that sacrifices to their Vanity and makes them esteem'd by So●s One very considerable Fault is still behind which is that they are but in little care to seem to have read with Choice and Judgment all they desire being to be reckon'd great Readers especially of obscure Books that they may seem more Learned of Books that are scarce and dear that they may be thought to have every thing of wicked and impious Books which honest Men are afraid to read with much the same Spirit as some boast to have acted Crimes which others dare not Hence they rather cite very Dear very Rare very Ancient and Obscure Books than other more Common and Intelligible Astrological Cabalistical and Magical Books than such as are good and wholesome as if they did not see that Reading being a kind of Conversing they should rather desire to seem industriously to have sought the Acquaintance of Good and Intelligible than Wicked and Obscure Authors For as no Man in his Senses would chuse out for ordinary Converse People that want an Interpreter when the same things that are to be learn'd of them might be known another way so 't is ridiculous to read Books not to be understood without a Dictionary when the same things may be had in those that are more intelligible And as it is a sign of a deprav'd Nature to affect the Company and Conversation of the Impious so 't is the Criterion of a corrupt Heart to delight in reading Wicked Books But 't is an extravagant Pride for a Man to pretend to have read those which he has not which yet is a thing of very common occurrence For we find Men of Thirty Years standing quote more ill Books in their Works than they could have read in many Ages whilst they would have others believe they have very exactly read them But most of the Books of some of these Learned Gentlemen owe their Birth to the kind Dictionary and all their Reading may be reduc'd to the Indexes of the Books they quote and some Common Places heap'd together from out of different Authors I venture not to enter into the Particulars of these things nor to give Instances to prove them for fear of provoking Persons so fierce and cholerick as these Learned Pretenders as not caring to be revil'd in Greek and Arabick Besides that 't is needless more sensibly to evince what I have said by particular Allegations the Mind of Man being ready enough to tax the Management of others and make particular Application of this Discourse In the mean time let them hug themselves and feed upon this vain Fantom of Greatness and give one another the Applauses which we deny them For we have been perhaps already too troublesome by molesting them in their so seemingly sweet and grateful Enjoyments CHAP. IX How the Inclination for Honours and Riches conduces to Errour HOnours and Riches no less than Vertue and Science which we have already spoke of are principal Acquirements to give us the Ascendant over other Men. For there seems to accrue to our Being a Growth and Enlargement and kind of Independency from the Possession of these Advantages So that the Love we have for our selves naturally streaming out to Honours and Riches every body may be said to have some sort of Inclination for them We will explain in brief how these Inclinations obviate the Discovery of Truth and engage us in Falshood and Errour It has been shewn in several places that much Time and Labour Assiduity and Contention of Mind must go to the clearing up Compound Truths surrounded with Difficulties and depending on many Principles Whence it is easie to conclude that Men of publick Characters of great Employments who have large Estates to look after and great Affairs to manage and whose Hearts are fix'd upon Riches and Honours are not the fittest Enquirers after Truth and that they commonly err in point of all things difficultly known whenever they pretend to judge of them And that because First They have little time to lay out in the Search of Truth Secondly They take but little Pleasure in this Search Thirdly They are very incapable of Attention because the Capacity of their Mind is divided by the multitude of the Ideas of the things they wish for which take up their Thoughts whether they will or no. In the fourth place They fancy they know every thing and can hardly be induc'd to believe their Inferiours have more Reason than themselves some Matters of Fact they may vouchsafe to learn of them but are above being taught by them solid and