dejected with the Surprize of an unexpected Calamity Though this can't properly be said to be the Nature of the Passions but only the Imperfection of our present State because as they are acts of the Mind and have their chief Power from thence so they can have no separate Interest from it nor be really delighted with the Objects of Sense which can bring no true Satisfaction to the Mind yet so long as we are confin'd to this Mortal State and the Soul acts conjunctly with the Body it can never acquire such an Absolute Authority over it as not to comply and share with it in some of its Delights and Calamities But although we can't free our selves from the Objects of Sense yet however we ought by all means to endeavour to be as little subject to them as possible and to raise our Passions above the reach of their Temptations For as the Causes of Passions are generally from without so Nature has fortified us with sufficient Power within to resist the strongest Assault they can make upon us And here again we may observe that the true Use and Nature of this Passion of Grief as of all the rest consists in its Obedience to the Dictates and Prescription of Reason considered either in its Natural Light or assisted by the advantage of Revelation The first can convince us of our Errors but can't reform them the other not only discovers to us the Disorders and Imperfections of our Natural State but gives us Power and Strength to rectify them But besides that we may not be deceiv'd in Judging of our Passions whether they are agreeable to Reason or not it will be necessary to consider whether they are fix'd upon their due Object We must not look so much upon the Passions that we find in Good Men as the causes of them Anger Sorrow and Fear may proceed from just Occasions and may be designed to very great Ends. To be angry with a Sinner so as to correct and reform him To grieve with those in Misery and Affliction out of a Design to relieve and comfort them and to be afraid for those in danger so as to hinder them from perishing are all so far from being Crimes that they deserve to be number'd amongst the chiefest of Vertues In the next place we must consider whether our Passions are proportionable to the Object and whether we do not esteem things more or less than they deserve whether we do not pursue things indifferent with greater Ardency and Affection than we do those which are of greatest Concern and Importance to us By these Methods we may judge of the Conformity of our Passions to the true Nature and Designs of them And we may hence also observe what Progress we make in Vertue and Religion by considering of what Value and Esteem they are to us and whether They or the things of Sense have the First or chief place in our Affections Nature has disposed the Parts of Man in a due Subordination to each Other has subjected the Inferior as the Sensitive Appetite to the superior Faculty of the Vnderstanding And if this Harmony is not justly observed the Whole becomes disordered Thus when our Passions of Joy or Grief are carried away by outward Objects and rely only upon the Judgment of Sense without consulting the Precepts of Reason then is that Correspondence of the Faculties dissolved that Vnion which ought to be between them wholly destroyed Hence arises that Notion of dividing the Passions into Sensitive and Rational This depends upon Reason the other refuses its Conduct and denies its Authority Though our Passions are so far Regular as they are governed by Reasons yet herein also they may be disorderly unless we take care to inform our Reason aright Prejudice may have got the Ascendant over our Reason or else some wild extravagant Notions may have obscur'd it or led it Captive by an appearance of Truth And therefore we have a Rule to measure Reason by that it may not be disorder'd in it self or give occasion to the Inferior Faculties to run into Confusion And to this End as I before intimated Providence has took care of us and revealed to us the Will and Councel of Heaven it self to discover to us the difference of those things which ought to be the Objects of our Passions from those of our Indifference which we should not be much concerned for But to return This Passion of Grief depends in some upon the Constitution Frame or Habit of their Bodies And as these are disposed so is their Passion more or less strong and violent and the first Object it meets with produces some Alteration or Motion in them They are generally hurried on to the Aversion of an Object without any Thought or Deliberation and are often disturbed at Shadows and Trifles These are very Unhappy who are almost ever disquieted and therefore want the greatest Attention and Observance tomanage themselves rightly and have as much need of outward as inward Medicines to be applied to them Some are more apt to be passionate than Others and what will not move One is perhaps the cause of Misery to another Some again are more Thoughtful than Others and upon such Persons unless their Thoughts are fixt upon higher Objects that divert them Sorrow commonly falls more heavy and is more difficultly remov'd Their Spirits are generally low and consequently more easily opprest and where they have once fix'd their thoughts they become Obstinate and almost Immoveable For their Mind by long custome is reduc'd almost to the same habit with their Body and till this be cur'd and brought to the right use of the Senses it will be difficult to reduce the Mind to its power of Reason But of all the different kinds of Grief that is strongest and most violent which flatters it self with Reason to defend it For where the Mind thinks it may with Honour and Vertue engage its Affections to an Object as is apparent in Friendship it is apt to conclude that it may by the same reason lament the Loss of that which so happily cemented it and that it can't be too immoderate in lamenting its being depriv'd of that Happiness which Vertue and Religion so much approved of From this mistake it is that a great many People indulge themselves in Sorrow who have in all other Misfortunes of Life Reason and Religion enough to support them But how groundless this Opinion is may appear by considering that there are several Objects which we may highly esteem and admire while they are in our Possession which we ought patiently and submissively to resign when Providence thinks it convenient to require them of us For even Life it self which ought to be most Dear to us is to be no longer the subject of our Desires than Providence orders the Continuance and Preservation of it And if any End or Service of Religion commands our Resignment of it we ought to do it with the same
and can never get secure of them till Death comes at last and pays the Ransom for us There is no space of time that we enjoy with so much Freedom and Satisfaction as to pronounce our selves truly Happy We have always something or other either to fear or hope for We desire what we have not and are afraid lest what we are possest of should be snatcht away from us Though we know that true or false Notions of Things and the regulating of our Desires and all our other Passions are in a great measure in our own Power yet we often deceive our selves and suffer our Irregular Appetites to draw us aside against the clearest Convictions of Reason There are few of us that can be perswaded to forego an Enjoyment which we find no present Trouble or Inconvenience from though at the same time we are convinc'd that'tis a Crime in us to indulge it and that hereafter we shall be rewarded with a severe Punishment suitable to our Demerit If Nature has subjected us to many Troubles and Vexations we instead of redressing them add innumerable Others to them We live inconsiderately and as we are thoughtless of the lesser Misfortunes and miseries of Life so are we unprovided for the Greater whereby it happens that they overwhelm us and we frequently sink under the weight of them There are several other Causes of our Grief and Disturbance which every Day 's Experience gives us fresh Instances of but I have not time to take notice of them These which I have mentioned as I think they are the most Notorious so they may serve to convince us in general of the Necessity of looking higher for Help and Support under them And may also be of use to inform us what a poor indigent Creature Man is and how much he wants of finding Happiness while he expects it from himself or the Things of this Life Was Happiness to be obtain'd here certainly after all the Searches that have been made after it some One or other would possibly have found it But at last all ends in this Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity What Profit hath a Man of all his Labour which he taketh under the Sun Verily Man walketh in a vain Shadow and disquieteth himself in vain But though these Afflictions which I have mentioned be common to All yet are they terrible to None but such as depend upon this Life for their Happiness Hence it will appear that our false Opinions of Things and not the Things themselves are the Real Causes of our Misfortunes Nothing is uncertain and unconstant to him that is prepar'd against it Nor does any thing come unexpected to him that is provided for it He that is setled and unconcerned at the smiles or frowns of Fortune can never meet with Disappointments For he that makes use of those Assistances which the Great Author of Nature has provided us with whereby to mitigate if not wholly to subdue the force of Afflictions can never be wholly overcome by them Though Man as Tully observes Tull. Fragmen De Rep. comes into the World with a Body naked Frail and Infirm with a Mind subject to Cares and Troubles dejected by Fears impatient of Labour and prone to Lust yet there is a Divine Flame of Wit and Vnderstanding which lies as it were Obscure and overwhelm'd which with due Care and Diligence may be so improv'd as to fortify us against Troubles to prevent our Fears and subdue our irregular Appetites and rebellious Passions Had we no Misfortunes to graple with no Lusts or Passions to conquer we should have so little use of the Exercise of Vertue and Reason that they would hardly have so much as a Name amongst us But how far and by what methods we may both prevent our Miseries and remedy our Griefs will be now my Business to consider OF The REMEDY of GRIEF FReedom from Pain or Trouble is a Happiness we all aim at but are most of us mistaken in our Search after it We are apt to be-so much concerned for what is present as to neglect makeing Provision for Futurity Could we give our selves time to consider the extent and reason of Things we should find little cause to be excessive in our Enjoyments or cast down with our Misfortunes to be elevated with our Hopes or distracted by our Fears Nature that has endued us with Passions has also provided us with sufficient Power to Regulate them And though there are so many different Objects which are apt to hurry us away and biass our Inclinations yet we have a Judgment given us to distinguish between the Good and the Bad to fix in our Minds true notions of Things and apply them to those proper Uses to which they were design'd Man is a Compound of Body and Mind which have each a different Interest to manage and accordingly as either prevails so the whole Bent of our Passions and Inclinations turns were we either all Sense or all Reason we should have nothing to mislead us but should go on in a direct Tendency to whatsoever was most suitable to our Nature The one would want Judgment to know or value any Pleasure above that of Sense and the other could not conform it self to any Enjoyments below those of the Mind and the clear Knowledge of its own Perfections This is most like the Life of Angels who have only Spiritual Conversation to be delighted with the Other that of Brutes who can never raise themselves beyond the Apprehensions of their Sensitive Nature Which of these we ought to follow either the Dictates of Sense or Reason I should think had we no Prejudices that obscure our Understandings would be no difficult matter to decide If a far nobler Being deserves the Preference to a more Abject and Ignoble then must also the essential Difference of them be placed in the same Degree of Superiority But we are generally too much engag'd in the things of Sense to be at leisure to pass a true Judgment upon them and thereupon are inclin'd to believe that their Enjoyments are Real and agreeable to the Dictates of Reason And thus we deceive our selves till some cross Accidents or Misfortunes some Bodily Torment or Indisposition gives us another notion of Things and renders all those Pleasures nauseous and distastful to us which we before thought the only true Happiness of Life And this I think it is which discovers to us a sufficient difference beween Good and Evil that the Pleasure and Satisfaction arising from the one is durable and certain not to be changed by the inconstancy of Fortune or impairments of Health and Constitution whereas the other can be no longer Enjoy'd or so much as reflected upon with Comfort then the Body and the sensible Appetite is qualify'd and rightly disposed Was there no real Distinction between what we call Vertue and Vice in the foundation of Things why should the Reflection upon the One when we can no longersatisfy our selves with
Readiness that GOD Commands the Duty But although the Joys of the Mind are confessedly greater than those of the Body yet while they are thus united they must always partake together in the Enjoyment of an Object that 's Dear to them because their Joy can never be compleat or satisfying unless they both agree in the same Inclinations as is apparent in a great many sensual Delights which are attended with stings and gripes of Conscience because the Inward Dictates of Reason and Religion contradict them and whisper to us their unlawfulness so neither can they separate their common Sorrow for the loss of that which was an equal Satisfaction to Both. And hereupon it is that Joy and Sorrow are sometimes so very Affecting that there are several who have fainted and sunk away under Both. They are no better able to bear a sudden Surprize of Joy than they can moderate their Passions under an unlookt for Calamity Both over-power their Spirits and they prove too weak to bear up against them All which seem to concur in the Convincing us that the Soul is capable of Greater Joy and Sorrow than the Body is able to bear since this often faints away with an Excess of either and may also be of use to demonstrate to us that our Souls were designed for another State besides this since the Body in that Frame especially which it now is cannot come up to that Perfection which the Soul is endued with Thus have I shown what Grief is and wherein it consists I shall now search into the different Causes that produce it in the Minds of Men. And then I shall endeavour to offer some Preservatives and Helps against it whereby we may be able to regulate it prevent the Excesses of it and confine it within the limits of Reason and Religion If we take these for our Guides in all our Actions we shall be patient and content in all Conditions we shall neither ground our Hopes or Fears Joys or Sorrows on Uncertainties but shall at last find to our unspeakable Satisfactions that they will both conspire together in Leading us to the same End the Perfection of our Nature and the full and entire Possession of all Happiness But here it may be Objected that there are so many Miseries of Life such frequent and unthought of Dangers and Calamities which are continually thronging in upon us and which make this State uneasy and uncomfortable to us that it would be a Vain Attempt to think of Obtaining an absolute Conquest over them and preventing their being an Impediment to us in our Way to Happiness To this it may be answer'd That'tis our Weakness and Cowardice in resisting that makes these Enemies so formidable to us A vigorous Opposition would soon make them appear less Terrible The greatest Danger and Difficulty is in the first Encounter If we can withstand that Couragiously the Event must necessarily prove successful to us For all the Forces that these Enemies have are purely owing to our own Opinion and as that changes so will those disappear The Victory depends upon our own Will and Pleasure and if we have Resolution enough to Conquer we shall never want Force and Strength to do it And certainly that Happiness which this Victory will make us Masters of ought to engage us in the pursuit after it notwithstanding all the Dangers that may threaten us in the way to it Methinks a Comfortable and Contented Life such as every Reflection upon may create new Pleasure and Delight in us and at last a peaceable serene and chearful Death with a joyful Prospect of another Life is a Happiness that ought to be purchas'd at any Rate though at the first there may appear some Difficulties to encounter Miseries to undergo and Evils to suffer before we can arrive at the Possession of it But besides it may be Objected that there are some that never feel Miseries and have no Disappointmeents to grieve at and therefore Grief is not so General as we Imagine or at least the only Preservative against it is to follow the Examples of these Men who are never sensible of it To this I can only say That this Treatise was not designed for such For it would be a vain Endeavour to go about to perswade the Senceless Stupid and Unthinking that there is such a thing as Sorrow These know no Happiness beyond themselves their Thoughts are few and confin'd to a very narrow Compass They have no Joy or Sorrow but what some sudden and undesign'd change of Countenance draws from them and this perhaps without their own Knowledge or Observation To such as these it would be in vain to talk of Reason unless we could first make them understand what it is to-be Men. But if any One shall still urge that these are Happy I can only answer that Happiness would be a very mean Enjoyment if we should not be sensible of it For I think a rational Being can partake of no real Happiness but what by just and unprejudic'd Reason it finds to be so I suppose I may therefore pass on to shew the Causes of Grief and seek out wiser Methods for securing our selves against it than these Men take up with OF The CAUSES of GRIEF THe shortness of Man's Life in General as well as the Deaths of those who are most Dear to us is become the subject of our daily Complaint And yet was Man to live here for ever and be liable to the same Calamities Troubles and Vexations which even the Best of Men now labour under we should esteem it the Greatest of Miseries Every day brings some disquiet along with it and if we are so happy as to get rid of that we yet find still more Troubles that oppress us and a new succession of Grievances to complain of Every little Disappointment disturbs us and we can scarce get one minute of Ease before innumerable unthought of Calamities come thronging in upon us We can promise our selves Security in nothing that we Enjoy nor Certainty in any thing that we hope for When we imagine we are surrounded with nothing but the Comforts and Pleasures of Life a little Enlargment of Thought discovers to us that our Joys are not without a great mixture of Uneasiness We find our selves encompassed with Dangers and Disturbances which we must always be afraid of obnoxious to Infirmities which we can neither prevent nor redress subject to Wants which we cannot supply and liable to Fears which we are unable to provide against Jealousies Cares and Anxieties are the necessary Companions of all that we can here call our own Whilst we promise our selves an Age of Happiness in the fruition of something that is Dear to us the Fears that we find in our selves left we should be deprived of it will be often interrupting our Delights and so far prevail upon our Thoughts as to sink our Spirits and pall even our sweetest Pleasures in the very Enjoyment Had we nothing but
the Delights of it cause such Remorse Terror and Distraction within us and the Other entertain us with such infinite Pleasure whatsoever State of Life we happen to fall into Were all Actions the same and deriv'd their Nature only from the Opinions of Men why did it never happen that some Person or other should have repented of a Good Action as well as of a Bad one For the Reason would be the same since some Men's Opinions only of Good and Evil could never produce such violent Effects in the Minds of Others especially of those who Prosess to believe the Contrary But to come nearer 't is Afflictions alone which discover to us the Essential difference between the Impressions of Fancy and those of Reason These set things before us in their true Light and dispel those mists from our Eyes which long Prejudice and Unthoughtfulness had unhappily rais'd before them It is by this means we come to know and confess that the Pleasures of Sense can only satisfy the Sense and that the Mind hath no share in them For if it had instead of being dissatisfied it would please and divert the Body with the thoughts of them and when the Body is disabled it would relieve it with a grateful Remembrance of its past Enjoyments We find in our selves Reason to thank GOD for the Afflictions as well as the Comforts of Life when by these we are apt to forget our selves and the Relation we bear to another Life and to fancy our selves already as Happy as Heaven it self can make us and unexpected Affliction deprives us of our Imaginary Happiness and instead of that reduces us to the use of Reason makes us know our selves and consider the End and Design of our Being The more we are opprest with the Calamities and Troubles of this Life the more we are taught to prize and seek after the serene and undisturbed Joys of another For if we look into the Soul and observe the springs of its Motions we shall find that Afflictions are generally the first occasion of Mens conquering their Inclinations of ennobling their Minds of raising them to a due contempt of the Enjoyments of Sense and of keeping Humane Nature with all its Desires within the bounds of Reason and Vertue We are generally apt to think Afflictions the greatest Misery that could happen to us Yet did we consider the Uses we ought to make of them and apply our selves to that End we should at last find cause to acknowledge the Goodness of Providence therein to us And though they fall sometimes very severe upon us yet thereby we may be taught to live more Considerately and better provide ourselves against them for the time to come Did we leave all our Concerns to Providence and were contented to submit our selves to all its Dispensations we should find few Afflictions threatning us but which we might easily overcome But we are so very fond of our present Ease that we are unwilling to be at any trouble in providing against a future Evil And are generally so careless that we never regard a Misery that 's coming upon us till 't is too late to apply a Remedy We are willing to be Happy but yet would be at no Pains and Trouble whereby to make our selves so We seldom think of Afflictions till we are opprest by them and then we are not able to resist the Weight of them If this be our case when unprovided against the Calamities of this Life it well deserves our utmost Care and Diligence since we can't prevent them to try by what means we may make them most easy and useful to us that in the End we may grow both wiser and better by them In order therefore to the Remedying our Griefs and the supporting our selves under all Afflictions it will be necessary for us in the first place to consider the Nature of those things which we generally make the Causes of our Sorrow In the next place to fix in our Minds true Notions of Religion And lastly it will be our Duty to consider what Dangers we expose our selves to if we indulge our Sorrow and take no care to correct the Abuses of it If we try these Expedients we shall never be wanting in our Duty either to GOD or our selves but shall make our Lives Comfortable and Pleasant as well as Religious First of all then for the fixing in our Minds the true Notions and Nature of those things which we have a Concern for whereby to guide our selves by the Rules of Wisdom and Prudence and to keep our Judgments steady and inflexible so as not to be drawn aside by the Violence of our corrupt Affections it will be necessary to consider whether they are Certain Durable and Constant or of a perishing Nature and short Continuance what Relation it is that they bear to us whether they are such as we can call our Own or at the disposal of Others and such as we may at any time be deprived of As also what is the Use and End of them Whether they were given us to be our only Happiness or lent us upon Conditions to see what Improvements we could make of them And then it will be our wisest way to value or esteem them accordingly and set that price upon them which we find the Nature of them deserves Reason was given us for this End to form our Judgments a right and so far to direct us in our way to Happiness that we may not make that the Object of it which is altogether Insufficient for it that we may not be deceiv'd with Shadows nor mistaken in those things which are of greatest Importance to us We can easily pardon and pass by an Error in a small matter both in our selves and Others but we ought to he very Careful and Cautions how we fall into mistakes where the Consequence is dangerous and when our Peace or Misery depends upon it When we act most Rationally we generally value Things according to the Duration and Continuance of them as well as to the Propriety we have in them What is not our own though we may admire it yet we can't doat upon it nor be much concerned what becomes of it because we bear no Relation to it nor are we very Sollicitous about any thing that we our selves cannot Enjoy And though it be something that we have a Right to and which we may Enjoy yet if we are sure that it will be only for a very short inconsiderable time it is little more Satisfaction to us than the not Enjoying it at all since we cannot enjoy it always Hence we may gather what uncertain things all Worldly Enjoyments are and how little there is here Below that we can call our Own as also what Value to set upon things which we have no certain or lasting Right to and how unbecoming it is to a Rational Being to contract an Eternal Passion for what can endure but a moment Since he can't avoid being