Grace at the bottom but by the Figure and all the outward appearances they make they very much resemble the Persons mentioned before who are so immoderately zealous for Religion that they have little or no concern for any thing besides marvellously satisfied with Themselves and merciless Censurers of all the World besides And these are the Men that make all manner of Probity and Good Actions to be a consequent and attendant upon Religion wholly to depend upon and entirely to be devoted to it and so they acknowledge no such thing as Principles of Natural Justice or Probity of Mind and otherwise than they are derived from and moved by the Springs of Considerations purely Religious Now the Matter is far otherwise for Religion is not only after it in Time but more limited and particular in its Extent This is a distinct Virtue and not the Comprehension and Sum of all Virtues and as the Instances of Pharisees and Hypecrites here prove may subsist without Them or that general good Disposition of Mind which we call Probity And so again may They be independent of Religion as the Examples of Philosophers and good Moral Heathens who we cannot say had ever any Religion properly so called shew on the other hand This is also according to the common Schemes of Theology a Moral Virtue a Branch of Justice which we know is one of the Four Cardinal Virtues and teaches us to give to All their Due according to their Quality and respective Claims Now God being Supreme the Maker and Master of the Universe we are bound to pay him the most profound Honour the most humble Obedience the most punctual and diligent Service This now is properly Religion and consequently it is a division under the General Topick of Justice Again These Persons as they mistake the Nature so do they likewise invert the Order of things for they make Religion antecedent to Probity But how can this be since as the Apostle says Faith cometh by Hearing and Hearing by the Word of God how I say can That which is the Effect of Revelation and Instruction be the Cause of a Thing originally rooted in Nature born with us and inseparable from us For such is that Law and Light of God kindled in every Man's Breast and interwoven with the Constitution of the whole Species This therefore is plainly disturbing the true Order of these matters and turning them out of all method They would have a Man Virtuous and entirely Good merely for the Prospect of Heaven to allure or the Terrors of Hell to affright and awe him into his Duty But methinks those Expressions carry a very ill sound and speak a mean and vulgar Virtue ' If the Fear of the Divine Vengeance and Everlasting Damnation did not restrain me I would do thus or thus O pitiful cowardly Wretch what Sense what Notion hast thou of thy Duty what Inclinations dost thou cherish all this while what Motives dost thou act upon what Thanks dost thou deserve for all that is done upon such constraint and against thy own Will Thou art not wicked because thou darest not be so for fear of the Rod. Now I would have thee so perfect as not to want the Courage but the Inclination to do amiss I would have thee so resolutely good as not to commit the least Evil though thou wer 't sure never to be chidden never to be called to an account for it Thou playest the part of a Good Man that thou may'st be thanked and rewarded for thy pains I would have thee be really so without any prospect of hire or gain nay though none but thy self should ever be conscious of thy Virtue I would have thee so because the Laws and Dictates of Nature and Reason direct and Command thee to be so For Nature and Reason in this case are but another word for God and These Principles and That Light and the Original Distinctions of Good and Evil are his Will and his Laws issued in a different manner Because the Order and Good Government of the World whereof thou art a part require this at thy hands because thou canst not consent to be otherwise without acting against thy self in contradiction to thy Being to thy Interest to the End of thy Creation And when thou hast thus satisfied thy duty and acted upon these motives never be solicitous for the Event but persevere in Virtue in despight of any Sufferings or Dangers that may threaten thee When I urge This as the best Principle of doing well I do not wholly disallow all others nor utterly condemn that Probity required and cherished by the external motives of Recompence and Punishment as if These were unlawful to be proceeded upon Doubtless they have their Use and Efficacy are very proper for the reducing of Ill Men who must be treated in a more slavish and mercenary way and the Foundations thus laid at first come frequently to noble Improvements But still I call this a poorer and meaner Principle and would have my Wise Man aspire to something sublimer and more worthy his Character For This requires a brighter stronger and more generous Probity than the Common sort of Mankind may be allowed to take up with And even Divines have generally represented such a Piety as Servile Imperfect accommodated to the weaker and more ignorant and fitter for Babes and Beginners than for Strong and Masterly Christians This farther is very certain that the Probity wholly depending upon a Spirit of Zeal and Religion and having no regard to the Principles of Natural Light besides that it must needs be accidental and unequal in its Operations and want that Evenness and Constancy which was there largely shewn to be one of its Properties I add that This is a very dangerous Principle and does frequently pruduce horrid and scandalous effects for it makes all the Rules of Common Honesty subservient to Zeal for Religion and opens a Door for all those execrable Villanies which the dear-bought experience of all Ages hath too sensibly convinced us are capable of being committed under the fair Shew and Colour of Piety And These are really so dreadful and detestable that we have reason to question whether any other occasion or pretence in the World have done more mischief than those false but specious professions of Religion The Cause and Honour of God is indeed the Greatest the Noblest and most worthy our Zeal and if it were not all this in its own nature the abuse of it could never be so fatal as it is For Brave and Valuable things only are subjects for Hypocrisy and what is little and despicable as the right use of it does no great good so the perverting it to wrong purposes can do no mighty harm It is not therefore any Disparagement to Religion but the confess'd Excellency of it above any other Subject whatsoever that the Corruption and false Pretences of it are so pernicious Were it less good the abuse of it must have been
The Causes from whence it arises are various Weakness of Judgment Its Causes which is most remarkable in Women and Children I. Aged and Sick People whom Experience shews to be of all others most fretful and peevish and easie to be provoked * Invalidum omne naturâ querulum est Every thing that is infirm is naturally disposed to be querulous and froward It is a Mistake as great as it is common to imagine that Fierceness and Rage is an Argument of Courage For all violent Motions are like the Essorts of Old Men and Children who run when they would walk and go faster because they have not Strength enough to go how There is not in the World any thing so feeble as an irregular and unsteady Motion and therefore Anger which is such in the Mind is rather a Mark of Infirmity and Cowardise It is a Distemper in the Soul which makes it tender and sore not able to endure Offences as Hurts and Wounds in the Body render the Smart of every little Blow intolerable Were it in a State of perfect Health and Soundness every Trifle cou'd not create so great a Disorder †Nusquam sine querel◠aegra tanguntur But when all is full of Aches and Diseases the gentlest Touch is treublesome and it is always complaining because always ailing A Miser will fume and storm for the loss of a Penny for the missing of some Advantage which he might have gain'd A jealous Husband will fall into a Rage for the most innocent Smile of his Wise or the least Glance of her Eye II. Luxury and Niceness or any particular Fancy that renders a Man Singular and Humorsom and Uneasie is apt upon the least Accident which crosses that Humour to put him into Passion and ‖ Nulla res magis Iracundiam alit quam Luxuria No one thing says a great Philosopher cherishes Anger more than this vain Temper III. So again does the being fond of any little trifling things not worth our Affection and Concern A Glass a Dog a Bird This is a Folly that gives us a great deal of Trouble and often exposes us to most unreasonable Passions the least of which is more than they can possibly deserve Another Cause is Curiosity IV. and a busie inquisitive Temper * Qui nimis inquirit seipsum inquietar He that asks too many Questions is sollicitous to disquiet himself This is so far from avoiding and conniving at that it is seeking Occasions hunting about and following the Scent and with great Eagerness and Pleasure running abroad after Provocations without having the Patience to stay till They come home to Us. Sometimes indeed says Seneca Anger comes to Us but not near so often as We go to It. V. Another is Credulity and Easiness the suffering our selves to be possest with the first Account and the first Chance-comer and not reserving an Ear free for the other side of the Cause nor suspending our Belief till more perfect Information But the Principal VI. and indeed the very formal Cause of Anger is an Opinion that we have been undervalu'd and ill us'd That some Word some Look for any thing will serve carried an Air of Contempt and was less respectful than it ought to have been This is always the Argument angry Men lay hold of in their own Justification And no wonder then that Proud Men are most Cholerick and fuller of Resentment than any others since no other Disposition makes Men think so much their Due and consequently inclines them to be so jealous of Affronts and Omissions in point of Respect For which Reason the Scripture tells us Prov. xiii 10. xxi 24. that Only by Pride cometh Contention in one Place and Stiles it most Emphatically Proud Wrath in another The Signs and Symptoms of this Passion are many and manifest Signs of it more and more visible than those of any other and so Strange and Strong that they make a mighty Difference in the Person alter the whole Temper and Frame both of Body and Mind transform and turn him into quite another Man Insomuch that * Ut sit difficile utrum magis detestabile vitium aut deforme it is not easy to say whether this Vice be more detestable or more deformed and disfiguring Some of these Changes and Symptoms are outward and apparent Redness and Distortions of the Face Fieryness of the Eyes a wild and enraged Look Deasness and Insensibility in the Ears Foaming at the Mouth Palpitation of the Heart Quickness and Unevenness of the Pulse Swelling and Bursting Fullness of the Veins Stammering in the Tongue Gnashing and Setting of the Teeth Loudness and Hoarsness in the Voice The Speech thick and indistinct and in short The whole Body is set on Fire and in a perfect Fever Some have been transported to such a Degree upon these Occasions that their very Veins have broke their Urine stopt and they have dropt down Dead being stifled and strangled with excess of Passion And what Condition can we suppose their Mind must be in in the mean while when the Disorders of the Body are so Violent and Dismal Anger at the first Brush quite banishes Reason and confounds the Judgment clears all before it and takes possession for it self alone and when it hath got it then it sills all with Fire and Smoke with Darkness and Confusion with Noise and Clamour It is like a Robber or an Enemy that first drives the Master out of Doors and then sets Fire to his House and that with such Fury and Madness as to destroy and burn it self alive in het Flames It is like a Ship that hath neither Rudder nor Pilot neither Sails nor Oars nor Ballast but floats about at Random and commits it self to the Mercy of Winds and Waves and that when the Sea rides Highest and the Storms are Loudest and most Raging And what can be expected in such a Case but Strandings and Shipwracks when there are so many Rocks on every Side to break her to Pieces so many Quick-Sands to swallow her up when she thus lets her self drive upon them This leads us to consider its Effects which are indeed very great and for the most Part Its Effects exceedingly Wretched and Deplorable I. For First Anger urges and exposes us to Injustice it takes Fire afresh and is rendred more Violent and Fierce by any Opposition though never so Reasonable and Fair and that too not only by Dispute from others but even from a Man 's own Senses and Reflection and the being Conscious to himself that he is Angry either without any just Cause or to a greater Degree than the Provocation deserved When a Man hath thus fusser'd his Reason to be shaken and disturbed let one with all the Calmness imaginable offer the clearest Vindication the justest Excuse any thing to remove or mitigate this Passion all is to no Purpose or to worse than none for Truth and Innocence
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
vain says the Psalmist And another Author that * Cogitationes mortalium timidae incertae adinventiones nostrae Providentiae The thoughts of Mortal Men are full of Fears and Misgivings their Inventions uncertain and all their Forecasts Dark and Confused And I for my own part am so fully possess'd of this Truth that I have order'd this Motto I know not Je ne scay to be engraved over the Gate of my little House which I built at Condom Now there are a sort of Persons who take it ill that Men should not submit themselves absolutely and fix on some certain Principles which ought they tell you never to be examined or controverted at all Now I allow that if These be such as manifest themselves to a Man's Reason they ought to be received but that merely upon the account of their Reasonableness and not for the pompous Name of Principles To impose any thing unconditionally is Tyranny and Usurpation and though upon due Consideration and the Approbation of my own Judgment I allow them yet if they will not admit me to try whether they be Sterling or Counterfeit before I take them for current Coin this is a Condition full of Hardship and such as I can never yield to For who I would fain know hath power to give Law to our Thoughts to enslave our Minds and set up Principles which it shall not be lawful to enquire into or admit any manner of doubt concerning them I can own no such Power in any but God and He hath it upon the account of his being Truth it self the Supreme Spirit and the only Principle and Source of all things which makes it as reasonable to believe Him upon his bare word as it is not to believe other people barely upon Theirs For this Foundation of our Belief being One of his Incommunicable Perfections it will unavoidably follow that no other thing is injured or disparaged by out refusing the same entire Resignation to it and challenging our Right of Examining before we yield our Assent If a Man requires my Belief to what are commonly stiled by the Name of Principles my Answer shall be the same with that of a late Prince to the several Sects in his Kingdom Agree among your selves first and then I will give my Consent too Now the Controversies are really as great about these Principles as they are concerning the Conclusions advanced upon them as many doubts upon the Generals as the Particulars so that in the midst of so many contending Parties there is no coming in to any One without giving offence and proclaiming War upon all the rest They tell us farther that it is a horrid uneasy state of Mind to be always thus upon the Float and never coming to any setled Resolution to live in Eternal Doubt and Perplexity of Thought nay that it is not only painful but very difficult and almost impracticable to continue long in such Uncertainty They speak this I suppose from their own Experience and tell us what they feel themselves But this is an Uneasiness peculiar to foolish and weak people To the Former because Fools are presumptuous and passionate and Violent espousers of Parties and Opinions full of Prejudices and strong Possessions fierce Condemners of all that differ from them never yielding the Cause nor giving out the Dispute though they be really convinced and supplying the want of Reason by Heat and Anger instead of ingenuous Acknowledgments of their Error If they find themselves obliged to change their Opinion you have them then as peremptory and furious in their new Choice as ever they were in their first Principles in short They know not what it is to maintain an Argument without Passion and when they dispute it is not for the sake of Truth or Improvement but purely for Contradiction and the Last Word and to assert their own Notions These Men I make no Scruple to call Fools for in truth they know nothing not so much as what it is to know so exceeding pert and confident are they and insult as if they carried Truth about in their Pockets and it was their own incommunicable Property As for Men of Weak Judgments and such as are not able to stand upon their own Legs it is very necessary they should not be left alone but seek a Support from persons of better and more discerning Abilities But These are not concerned in my present Rule it is their Misfortune to be born to Slavery and out of all Capacity to enjoy the Freedom I am treating of But as for Wise Men who are qualified for it Men of Modesty and Reserve and prudent Candor It is the most composed State of Mind that can be and puts us into a Condition of Firmness and Freedom of Stable and Uninterrupted Happiness * Hoe liberiores solutiores sumus quia integra nobis judicandi potestas manet We are so much less under Constraint than other Men by how much more our Minds enlarge themselves and the Liberty of judging is preserved entire This is a safe course to steer and keeps us off from many dangerous Rocks and Shelves which Warmth and Rashness and a Positive conceited Humour Drives Men upon It delivers us from the vain prepossessions of Fancy and Popular Mistakes from the Precipitation of thinking wrong at first and the Shame of retracting when we come to think better afterwards from Quarrels and Disputes and engaging in or becoming offensive to Parties For take which side you please you are sure to have a great many against you And a Zealous Espouser of any Cause must unavoidably live in a constant State of Wrangling and War In a Word This Suspension of the Judgment keeps us snug and under a Covert where the Inconveniences and Calamities which affect the Publick will seldom sensibly affect and scarce can ever involve us At a distance from those Vices and vehement Agitations which ruffle and discompose first Men's own Minds and then Human Society in general For this Fierceness and Peremptoriness is at once the Spawn and the Parent of Pride and Insolence Ambition and Vainglory and Immoderate Desires Presumption and Disdain Love of Novelty and Change Rebellion and Disobedience in the State Heresy and Schism in the Church Faction and Hatred and Contention in Both. These are all of the same lineage and descent These are begun fomented inflamed by your Hot and Positive and Opinionative Men not by the Modest and Doubting Men who are cautious and tender never Over-confident of themselves and content to believe that others are at least in a possibility of being in the right all which are but so many other Names for Wife and well-temper'd Men. I will advance yet one Step farther and venture to affirm that the Temper of Mind I am now recommending is so far from having any ill Influence upon Piety and Religion that it is extremely well calculated to serve and promote it whether we regard the first Propagation
to entertain must receive Satisfaction from the Second Question I insert this Caution by the way because it frequently falls out that a Man is staked down as it were to one party almost whether he will or no. For though he may not make it any part of his Choice and Design nay though in his own Private Judgment he cannot but disapprove it yet in despight of Intention Inclination and Good Sense he may find himself involved and intangled by some Considerations so Powerful that he cannot with any Decency break through them And these being such Bands as Nature hath ty'd him up in or such as Counterbalance all Motives to the contrary will at least carry a sufficient Excuse for his doing as he does Now this first Question hath several Arguments pro and con and abundance of eminent Instances might be produced of Persons who have behaved themselves directly contrary to each other with regard to it So that differing Judgments and Authorities as well as different Reasons minister just ground of Scruple in the Case The Resolutions which seem to me most convenient to be come to according to the different Circumstances of the Persons concern'd in this Debate are such as follow On the one Hand Nothing seems more agreeable to the Character of a Wise and a Good Man than to have nothing at all to do with the Follies and Factions of the World and therefore such a one cannot do better than to stand by and let them try it out by themselves Especially too if we consider what Account hath already been given of these Divisions how irregular and unlawful they are in their own Nature and first Causes what Wickedness Barbarity and Injustice of all sorts they engage Men in That these are inseparable Attendants of such practices and it is not possible to have any hand in them and continue Innocent I say If all these Considerations be fairly laid together it scarce looks any longer like a Matter of free Choice what a Man may or may not do but seems rather a Point of Duty than of bare Allowance and Permission absolutely to decline any Concern in them And accordingly it appears that several excellent Persons have had so great an abhorrence of these Things and such a Sense of the Personal Obligations they violate that no Considerations could prevail with them to come in particularly Asinius Pollio who the Historian tells us Velleius lib. 3. excused himself for these very Reasons to Agustus when he entreated his Company and Assistance in the Expedition against Mark Anthony But then on the other Hand What shall we say to those Reasons which enforce our Obligation to take part with good Men to protect and strengthen such as much as in us lies and to defend Equity and Right against all that oppose and encroach upon it The Great Solon was so strongly possess'd in Favour of these Engagements that he is for inflicting very severe Punishments upon Them that affect Ease and Obscurity and refuse to appear and act openly in such Exigencies of State And that rigid Professor of Virtue Cato govern'd himself by this Rule for he did not only declare and come into One Party in the Civil Wars of Rome but took a Command among the Malâ— contents under Pompey Now if we would know what Measures are fit to be taken where Judgments are so divided and Reasons probable and plausible enough for each to alledge in his own Justification my poor Opinion is This For Persons of Eminence and Character in the World such as are in publick Trust or great Reputation or extraordinary Abilities and are known to be leading and significant Men in the State These I conceive not only may fall into that Side which they in their Conscience think the best but so far as I am able to discern they are bound to do it For he is a very ill Pilot that steers the Ship in calm and favourable Weather and runs away from the Helm when it grows Foul and Stormy What shall become of the Vessel if the best Hands let her drive when there is the greatest Need of Working her and keeping her tight These Gentlemen ought in Extremities especially to stand in the Gap and act like Men of Honour the Care of the Government is upon them and its Safety or Ruine lyes at the Door But then for Persons in a private Capacity such as make none at all or but very inconsiderable Figure in the Government These are more at their own Liberty For as their Condition supposes all the Assistance they can contribute to be of no mighty consequence so the with-holding that Assistance can do no great Damage And therefore they may be allowed to retire into some Place of Security and seek their own Ease and Quiet at a Distance from the Noise and Clutter of the contending Parties But then both these kind of Men those that do and those that do not declare lie under an Obligation to demean themselves in such manner as I am going to prescribe In the mean while I add thus much only upon the present Subject concerning those who are disposed to come in and act That in the choosing what Party they should side with sometimes the Case is so plain that it is almost impossible they can be mistaken For where the Injustice of the Cause and other Disadvantages are so evident that they look one full in the Face and forbid him no Man of common Sense will go in thither But it often happens that there are Reasons on both Sides Each pretends Right and Justice and each hath Advantages to invite us and then the Difficulty of coming to a Resolution is very great because a Man must not only weigh the Arguments on both Sides and settle the Point of Right and Wrong first but he hath several other Considerations to attend to such as may and ought to carry some Weight with them though they have not immediately respect to the Justice of the Cause And now it may be Seasonable to proceed to the other Part of this Advice which relates to the Behaviour of the Persons under these several Capacities To all which I might satisfie my self with prescribing in one Word Moderation and Temper that they would particularly take Atticus for their Pattern whose Name hath been so much celebrated for his Prudence and Modesty in the midst of that boisterous Age in which he lived One who was always believed in his Judgment to favour the right Side and respected by all good Men for doing so but yet one who behaved himself so Prudently and Inoffensively that he never involved himself in the Common Confusions nor drew down the Displeasure of ill Men or any Inconvenience from that Party who were sensible enough he did not approve their Proceedings But to be a little more particular and first for Them who openly declare themselves It is certain that These ought by no Means to be violent or betray indecent Heats and