and contentedly forgo them But the chief use we ought to make of so noble a Passion is thereby to raise us up to God and to make thereof a glorious chain to fasten us inseparably to him as he is the only object of Love he is also the only object of desires they miss of their end when they keep aloof from him they lose themselves when they seek not him and they stop in the midst of their course when they come not full home to him He is the Spring-head of all perfections and as they are without mixture of default there is nothing in them which is not perfectly wishable we see some creatures which have certain charms which make them be desired but then they have imperfections to make them be undervalued the Sun is so full of glory and beauty as it hath made Idolaters one part of the world doth yet worship it and Christian Religion which is spread over the whole earth hath not been able to dis-deceive all Infidels yet hath its weaknesses which teacheth Philosophers that it is but a creature the light thereof is bounded and cannot at one and the same time enlighten the two halves of the world it suffers Eclipses nor can it shun them it grows faint and sees it self obscured by a constellation not so great nor glorious as it self it hath benign influences it hath also malignant ones if it concur with the birth of man it doth the like to his death if it be the father of flowers it is also their Paricide if the brightness thereof serve to light us it doth also dazle us if the heat thereof warm Europe it scorcheth Africa so as the noblest of all constellations hath its defaults and if it cause desire in us it is also cause of aversions under-valuations but God hath nothing that is not lovely innumerable numbers of Angels see all his perfections and are destin'd to honor them they have immortal lovers which adore them from the beginning of the world men who know them desire them and wish death unto themselves that they may enjoy them this Summum bonum is that which we ought to seek after for him it is that our wishes were given us our heart is sinful when it divides its love and gives but one part thereof to him that deserves the whole Gods abundance and mans indigence are the first links of alliance which we contract with him He is all and we are nothing He is a depth of mercy and we are a depth of misery He hath infinite perfections and we faults without number He possesseth no greatness which is not to be wisht for we suffer no want which obliges us not to make wishes He is all desirable and we are all desire and to express our nature aright it will suffice to say that we are only a meer capacity of good there is no part of our Body nor faculty of our Soul which doth not oblige us to seek him we make Inrodes in the world by our desires we wander in our affections but after having considered the beauty of Heaven and the riches of the Earth we are constrained to return again unto our selves to fix our selves on him who is the ground-work of our being and to confess that none but God alone is able to fill the capacity of our heart Let us draw these advantages from our misery and let us rejoyce that Nature hath endowed us with so many desires since they have wings which raise us up to God and chains which fasten us to him Upon all other occasions desires are useless and after having made us Long a long time they furnish us not with what they made us hope for they torment us whilst they possess us and when despair causes them to die they leave us only shame and sorrow for having listned to so evil Councellors I know very well that they awaken the Soul and that they endue it with vigor to compass the good which it wishes for but the good success of our undertakings depends not upon their efficacy and should the things that we love cost us nothing but desires all ambitious men would be Kings all covetous men rich and we should hear no Lovers complain of the rigors of their Mistresses or of their infidelity women would take their Husbands from their Graves Mothers would cure their sick children and captives would regain their liberty we should do as many Miracles as make wishes and all mischief would be banish'd from off the earth since men can wish but experience shews us they are for the most part impotent and that their accomplishment depends upon the supream providence which at its pleasure can turn them into effects those that concern our souls health are never useless fervency in wishing is sufficient to make a man good our conversion depends only upon our will our desire animated by Grace blots out all our sins and though God be so great he hath only cost them wishes that possess him this Passion dilates our soul and makes us capable of the good we wish for she extends our heart and prepares us to receive the happiness which she procures us In fine she gets audience of God makes her self be understood without speaking and she hath such power in heaven as nothing is denied to her demands she glorified Jesus Christ and the Saints Christ takes from them the most ancient of his Names and before he was known by that of Saviour of the world he was already known by that of the desired of all the people His Prophets honoured him with this title before he was born He who shewed us the time of his coming took his title from his wishes and merited to be called the man of Desires His Vows did advance the Mystery of the Incarnation the like of the Virgin did obtain the accomplishment thereof ours will taste the effect thereof if they grow not weary in begging them at Gods hands The FOURTH DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of the good evil use of Eschewing NAture would have failed us at our need if having endued us with Love to good things she had not furnished us with desire to seek after them These good things which now are cause of our happiness would cause all our punishments if being permitted to love them we should be forbidden to wish for them the Summum bonum would only serve to make us miserable and the virtue which it hath to attract hearts would contribute to our misery if we wanted a capacity of atchieving it We should have equal reason to complain of her charity if having imprinted in our hearts the hatred of evil she had not likewise engraven therein that Passion which we call Shunning or Eschewing to make us keep aloof from it for we should see our enemy and not have the power to defend our selves from him we should have an aversion from vice yet should be enforced to
birth it beareth the most glorious name for when an inclination is formed in the heart and that a pleasing object doth with delight stir up the Will we call it Love when it sallies forth from it self to join with what it loves we call it Desire when it grows more vigorous and that its strength promiseth good success we call it Hope when it encourageth it self against the difficulties it meets withal we call it Choler when it prepares to fight and seeks out weapons to defeat its enemies and to assist its Allies we call it Boldness But in all these conditions 't is still Love the name which Philosophers have given it in its birth agrees not less with it in his progress and if when but a Child it merit so honourable a title it deserves it better when it is grown greater by Desires and strengthened by Hopes 'T is true that Loves first condition is the rule of all the rest and that as all rivers derive their greatness from their Spring-head all the Passions borrow their strength from this first inclination which is termed Love for as soon as it is taken with the beauty of an object it kindles its desires excites its hopes and carries the fire into all the passions which hold of its Empire 't is in the Will as in a Throne where it gives orders to its subjects 't is in the bottom of the soul as in a strong Hold from whence it inspireth courage into its souldiers 't is like the heart which giveth life to all the members and the power thereof is so great as it cannot be well expressed by any example Kings oft times meet with disobedience in their subjects the most valiant Commanders are sometimes forsaken by their Souldiers and the heart cannot always disperse its spirits throughout all the members of the Body but Love is so absolute in his dominion as he never finds any resistance to his will all the Passions get on foot to execute his commandments and as the motion of the Moon causeth the ebbing and flowing of the Sea so doth the motions of Love cause peace or trouble in our soul. Now this Love the nature whereof is so hidden hath divers branches and may be divided into natural and supernatural the latter is that which God disperseth into our wills to make us capable of loving him as our Father and of pretending unto glory as to our inheritance the former is that which Nature hath imprinted in our souls to fasten us to those objects which are delightful to us and this is divided into spiritual and sensible love spiritual love resides in the will and rather deserveth to be stiled a Virtue than a Passion sensible love is in the lower part of the soul and hath so much commerce with the Senses from whence he borrows his name as he always makes impression upon the Body and this it is which is properly termed Passion In fine these two lovers are divided again into two others the one of which is called the love of Friendship the other the love of Interest The first is the more noble and he who is touched therewith respecteth nothing but what may be advantageous to whom he loveth he wisheth him well or procureth what is good for him and having no consideration but honour and his friends content he sacrificeth himself for him and thinks himself happy if he lose his life to assure his friend of his affection This noble Passion is that which hath done all the glorious actions which are observed in History 'T is she that hath filled Tyrants with admiration and who hath made these enemies to Society wish to love and to be beloved judging aright that Soveraigns are better guarded by their friends than by their souldiers and that all their forces were but weak were they not supported by the love of their Subjects The second sort of Love which we term the love of Interest is as common as unjust for the greatest part of affections is grounded upon utility or upon pleasure those who suffer themselves to be carried away thereby have not so much friendship as self-love and if they will speak their minds they will confess that they love themselves in their friends and that they love them not so much for any virtue which they observe in them as for the good they hope to reap by them thus we may see that such like affections last no longer then they are either useful or pleasing and that the same interest which gave them life makes them die they betake themselves to the fortune not to the person and these are commerces which last no longer than they are entertained by hopes of profit or of pleasure Of so many sorts of love which Philosophy hath marked out unto us we will here consider none but that which resides in the inferior part of the soul let it have either virtue or interest for its foundation And since we know the nature thereof we will examine the qualities the first whereof is that it always seeks what is good and never betakes it self to an object which either is not good or appears not so to be for as nature is the workmanship of God she cannot have strayed so much out of the way but that she must preserve some remainder of his first inclinations insomuch as having been destinied to enjoy the Summum bonum she longs after it by an error which may very well be excused she fastens her self to all that hath but the likeness thereof and by an instinct which remains in her though in disorder she suffers her self to be charmed by all things which have in them any thing of beauty or of goodness As if she had found what she seeks after she indiscreetly betakes her self thereunto and by a deplorable misfortune she oft-times takes a falshood for a truth she committeth Idolatry whilst she thinketh to perform actions of Piety and attributing that unto the work which is only due unto the workman she runs into the same error which a lover should do who by a strange malady should forget the Mistress which he vows service to and passionately adore her Picture This fault ought rather to be imputed to man than to his love for love being blind follows his inclination not being able to discern between appearances and truth he loves the good which offers it self unto him that he may not miss of what he looks for he betakes himself to what he finds and is only to blame in being too faithful but man cannot excuse his sin since Reason is his guide and that he may learn by her that all those goods which are touched by the senses or are the objects of the senses are but the shadows of that which he ought to love He must correct his love and keep it from betaking it self to objects which though they be indeed beautiful are not the Soveraign good or Summum bonum which he seeks after When he
thinks the qualities they are endued withal may work a change in him he might shun them as snares and use violence upon himself to get free from the creatures lest they make him forget his Creator From this propriety of Love ariseth a second which is that he never is at quiet but goes always in pursuit of what he loves for seeing so many shadows of that supream beauty which he adores he is always in action leaving one to take another he seeks in all what he cannot find in one alone and his change is not so much a proof of his fickleness as of their vanity he becoms wise at his own cost when he meets not with what he expects in the beauty which he idolatrizeth he repents him of his fault betakes himself to another subject which he is forced to forgo again because he enjoys but one part of that universal good wherewithal he is taken his inconstancy would last as long as his life did not reason teach him that what he covets is invisible and that the abiding place wherein we are is not destined for the passion but for the hope thereof he then sets at nothing what he so much esteemed and considering that natural beauties are but steps whereby to raise us to supernatural beauty he loves them with reservedness and useth them as means whereby to purchase what he seeks after The powerful impression which this beauty makes upon Love causeth Loves third propriety which is that he cannot live in quiet and that being solicited by his desires he is always busie he is of the nature of the constellations which are in a perpetual motion the end of one trouble is the beginning of another and he hath not so soon ended his first design but he frames a second he is like those conquerors who egged on by ambition prepare always for new combats never tasting the pleasure of victory I cannot therefore approve of the Poets invention who have feigned Love to be the son of Idleness for if his genealogy be true we must confess he is not of his mothers humour That unfortunate Poet who was Loves Martyr and who saw himself justly persecuted for having forged Weapons against womens Chastity avows that this passion is working and that it is so far from being at rest as it obligeth its partakers to be souldiers and that to love a man must resolve to wage war Hence it is that St. Augustin mixing sacred Love with prophane makes them both equally operative and acknowledgeth that a true affection cannot be idle Ambition which is the love of honour is a good proof of this since it makes such impression upon the hearts of those that are ambitious as they have not much more rest than have the damned and that they are always cause of more trouble to themselves than to those whom they oppress Avarice which is the love of money doth authorize this truth no less than doth Ambition since those wretchmen which are therewithal possessed rend up the bowels of the earth that they may not be unuseful and seek out Hell before their death that they may not be exempt from pain whilst alive This propriety is so peculiar to Love as it is not found in any other of the Passions For though our desires be the first rivulets that derive from this Spring-head yet do they give us some respit and when they are weary of seeking after a far distant good they suffer us to take a little rest we oft-times dry our tears and if we make not peace we conclude a truce with our sorrow we do not always meditate upon revenge and choler as so much less lasting as it hath more of impetuosity and violence Our hatred is sometimes laid asleep and requires a new injury to awaken it our joys are so short as the longest of them endure but for a moment and they love idleness so much as they cease to be pleasing when they begin to be operative But Love is always in action it tarries not till age give it strength to work it formeth designs as soon as it is born though abandoned by desires and hopes it ceaseth not to think of what it loveth and to entertain it self to no purpose with the thought of good success which it never shall enjoy In fine activity is so natural unto it as the life thereof consists in motion and as the heart it ceaseth to live when it ceaseth to move From hence proceeds its fourth propriety which is the strength which doth accompany it in all its designs for though but new born it is vigorous if true and giving proofs of its courage it tameth Monsters which it is not yet acquainted withal it measures its strength by its desires thinks it self able to do whatsoever it will it is not astonished with difficulties If one propound them to Love that they may stay the careir thereof he thinks 't is done to try its Will and solicited by glory it endeavoureth to overcome them Love neither accepts of nor makes excuses It will try all its forces before 't will acknowledge an impotency and it doth oft-times overcome enemies which the most generous virtues durst never set upon Hence it is that the holy Scripture compares it to death not only for that it separateth us from our selvs to join us to the things we love but because nothing can resist it for of so many pains which Divine Justice hath found out wherewith to punish us there is none but death which we may not defend our selves from We save our selves from the injuries of the Weather by Cloaths and Houses we overcome the Barrenness of the Earth by our excessive labour we correct nourishments by the help of Physick we reduce wild Beasts to our obedience by art or forces we oft-times turn our pains into pleasure and we draw advantages from the misery of our condition which we should not have found in the state of Innocency But nothing can resist death and though Physitians have found out secrets to prolong our lives yet do they in vain seek out means to defend themselves against death which makes havock throughout the whole earth pardons neither age nor sex and Palaces which are environed with so many guards cannot keep Kings from the reach thereof So Love finds no difficulties which it overcomes not no pride which it lays not low no power which it tameth not nor no rigour which it doth not allay Briefly by another propriety which is not less considerable than the former Love charmeth troubles mingleth pleasures with pain and to encourage us to difficult actions finds out inventions to make them either pleasing or glorious Hunting is rather a business than a diversion 't is an image of war and men who pursue wild Beasts seem as if they studied how to overcome their enemies the Victory is therein doubtful as well as in combates and honour is therein purchased sometimes by the loss of life
the will of God That with like submissiâ— we ought to receive punishments and rewards at his hands that we must adore the thunder wherewith he smiteth us and have as great respect unto his Justice as to his Mercy that we must be cruel to our selves to be obedient to him That it iâ— Piety to â—mmolate the innocent to him when he demands them and that as there is no creature which owes not his being to his Power there is none who is not bound to lose it for his Glory Then what man is he who will submit to these truths if he be a slave to self-love and how shall he be faithful to God if he be in love with himself I conclude then that this inordinate affection is the undoing of Families the ruine of States and the loss of Religion that to live in the world a man must denounce war to this common enemy of Society and that imitating the elements which force their inclinations to exclude a vacuum we must use violence upon our desires to overcome a Passion so pernicious to Nature and Grace From this Spring-head of mischief flow three rivers which drown the whole world and which cause a deluge from the which it is very hard to save ones self for from this inordinate love arise three other loves which poyson all souls and which banish all Virtue from the earth The first is the love of Beauty which we term Incontinencie The second is the love of Riches which we call Avarice The third is the love of Glory which we call Ambition These three capital enemies of mans welfare and quiet corrupt all that belongs to him and render him guilty in his soul in his body and in his goods It is hard to say which of these three monsters is hardest to overcome for to boot with their natural forces they have Auxiliaries which they draw from our inclinations or from our habits and which make them so redoubted that they are not to be overcome without a miracle To consider them notwithstanding in themselves Ambition is the most haughty and the strongest Voluptuousness the most mild and soft and Avarice the basest and most opinionated These are fought against by divers means and all Morality is busied in furnishing us with reasons to defend our selves against them The Vanity of Honour hath cured some that have been thereof ambitious For when they come to know that they laboured after a good which happened not to them till after death and that from so many dangerous actions they could only expect to have their sepulchers adorn'd or some commendation in History they have ceased to covet an Idol which rewardeth ill the slaves that serve it and that for a little applause which it promiseth them obligeth them many times to shed their own bloud or that of their neighbour The infamy of the voluptuous the mischiefs which accompany them the displeasures which follow them and the shame which never forsakes them have oft-times cured men to whom sin had left a little reason Age may likewise be a cure for this it is a disorder in nature to find a lascivious old man and it is no less strange to see love under gray hairs than to see those mountains whose heads are covered with snow and whose bowels are full of flames The misery of riches the pain that is taken in accumulating them the care in preserving them the evils which they cause to their owners the ease which they afford to content unjust desires and the sorrow caused by their loss are considerations strong enough to make those contemn them who are not as yet become slaves thereunto But when they shall exercise their tyranny upon the spirits I esteem their malady incurable Age which cures other Passions encreaseth this Covetous men never love riches more than when they are near losing them and as love is then most sensible when it apprehends the absence of the party beloved Avarice is most violent when it apprehendeth the loss of its wealth But without medling with another mans work I shall content my self with saying that to preserve a mans self from all these evils he must endeavour to forgo self-love For as natural love causeth all the passions inordinate love causeth all the Vices and whosoever shall be vigilant in the weakning of this Passion by repentance and charity shall find himself happily freed from Avarice Ambition and Incontinency But to arrive at this high degree of happiness we must remember that in whatsoever condition Providence hath placed us we are not for our selves but for the publick and that we must not love our selves to the prejudice of our Soveraign We are in nature a portion of the Universe in civil life a part of the State in Religion we are the Members of Jesus Christ. In all these conditions self-love must be sacrificed to universal love In nature we must die to give place to those that follow us In the State we must contribute our goods and our bloud for the defence of our Prince and in Religion we must kill the old Adam that Jesus Christ may live in us The THIRD DISCOURSE Of the good Vse of Love MOrality considers not so much the goodness of things as the good use of them she neglects natural perfections and puts a valuation only upon their rational employment Metals are indifferent to her nor doth she consider them otherwise than earth whose colour the Sun hath changed But she blames the abuse and commends the good husbanding thereof she is troubled when wicked men abuse them to oppress the innocent to corrupt Judges to violate the Laws and to seduce Women She is well pleased when good men make use thereof to nourish the poor cloath the naked to set Captives at liberty and to succour the miserable There is nothing more glorious than the vivacity wherewithal Nature hath endued men nobly endued 'T is the key which opens unto them the Treasury of Science be it either to acquire them or to distribute them to others 't is that which is acceptable to all companies and 't is a quality which is as soon beloved as seen Yet doth not Morality esteem it otherwise than as it is well husbanded and S. Augustine who acknowledged it for a Grace confesseth it hath been pernicious to him by reason of his ill employment thereof and because he had entertained it amongst his errors Love without all question is the holiest of all our Passions and the greatest advantage which we have received from Nature since by the means thereof we may fasten our selves to good things and make our souls perfect in the love thereof 'T is the spirit of Life the Cement of the whole world an innocent piece of art by which we change condition not changing Nature and we transform our selves into the party whom we love 'T is the truest and purest of all pleasures 't is a shadow of that happiness which the blessed
or after death spring up again But pleasures are sought for with pain and we are oft-times enforced to pay more for them than they are worth Sorrows are sometimes entirely pure and touch us to the quick as they make us incapable of consolation but pleasures are never without some mixture of Sorrow They are always dipt in bitterness and as we see no Roâ—es which are not environed with Prickles we taste no Delights which are not accompanied with Torments but that which makes the misery of our condition evidently appear is that we are much more sensible of Pain than of Pleasure for a slight Malady troubleth all our most solid contentments a Fever is able to make Conquerors forget their Victories and to blot out of their minds all the pomp of their Triumphs Yet is it the truest of all our Passions and if we believe Aristotle it makes the greatest alterations in our Souls the rest subsist only by our imagination and were it not for the intelligence we hold with this Faculty they would make no impression upon our Senses Desires and Hopes are but deceitful good things and he very well knew their nature who termed them the Dreams of Waking men Love and Hatred are the diversions of idle souls Fear is but a shadow and it is hard for the Effect to be true when the Cause is imaginary Boldness and Choler form Monsters to themselves that they may defeat them and we must not wonder if they so easily ingage themselves in the Combat since their enemies weakness assures them of the victory but grief is a real evil which sets upon the Soul and Body both at once and makes two wounds at one blow I know there are some sorrows that wound only the mind and exercise all their might upon the noblest part of man but if they be violent they work upon the body and by a secret contagion the pains of the Mistress become the diseases of the Slave the Chains that bind them together are so streight that all their good and bad estate is shared between them a contented Soul cures her body and a sick body afflicts its soul this noble Captive patiently endures all other incommodities which befall her and provided that her prison be exempted from pain she finds reasons enough to chear up her self with She despises the loss of Riches and bounding her Desires she finds contentment in Poverty she neglects Honour and knowing that it only depends upon Opinion she will not ground her happiness upon so frail a good she passeth by Pleasures and the shame which accompanies them lesseneth the sorrow which their loss brings her as she is not tied to these adventious goods she easily forgoes them and when Fortune hath robbed her of them she thinks her self more at Liberty and thinks her self not the poorer but when the body is assaulted and that it suffers either excessive heat or the injuries of the Season or the rage of Sickness she is constrained to sigh with it and the Cords which fasten them together make their miseries common she apprehends Death though she be Immortal she fears wounds though she be Invulnerable and she resents all the evils suffer'd by the prison which she gives life to though she be Spiritual The Stoicks Philosophy which valueth not a glorious enterprize unless it be impossible would have inderdicted the commerce between the Soul and the Body and in a strange madness hath endeavour'd to separate two parts whereof one and the same whole are compounded she forbad her Disciples the use of Tears and breaking the holiest of all Friendships she would have the Soul to be insensible of the Bodies sufferings and that whilst the Body was burning in the midst of flames the Soul should mount up to Heaven there to contemplate the Beauty of Virtue or the wonders of Nature This Barbarous Philosophy had some Admirers but she never had any true Disciples her Counsels made them despair all that would follow her Maxims suffer'd themselves to be miss-led by Vanity and could not fence themselves against Grief Since the Soul hath contracted so straight a society with the Body she must suffer with it and since she is shed abroad into all the parts thereof she must complain with the mouth weep with the eyes and sigh with the heart-Mercy was never forbidden but by tyrants and this Virtue will be praised as long as there be any that are miserable yet the evils which afflict her are strangers to her and those whom she assists are for the most part to her unknown wherefore then shall we blame the Soul if she have compassion on her own body Wherefore shall we accuse her of Abjectness if she share in the sorrows that assail it and which not being able to hurt her in her own substance set upon her in her Mansion-house and revenge themselves on her in that thing which of all the world she loves best For while she is in the body she seems to renounce her Nobility and that ceasing to be a pure spirit she interesses her self in all the Delights and all the Vexations of her Hoste his health causeth contentment in her and his sickness is grievous to her the most worthy part suffers in the less worthy and by a troublesom necessity the Soul is unhappy in the miseries of her body They say that Magick is so powerful that it hath found out a secret how to torment men in their absence and to make them feel in their own persons all the cruelties which she exerciseth upon their Images these miserable men burn with fire which toucheth nothing but their Picture they feel blows which they do not receive and the distance of place cannot free them from the fury of their enemies Love which is as powerful and not much less cruel than Magick doth this Miracle every day when it joyns two souls together it finds a way to make their sufferings common men cannot offend the one but the other resents it each of them suffers as well in the body which it loves as in that which it inanimates Since Love and Magick work these wonders we must not marvel if Nature having fastned the Soul to the Body do make the miseries common and if by one only wo she makes two Parties miserable the participation of each others Good and Bad is a consequence of their Marriage and the Heavens must do a miracle to give them a Dispensation from this necessity The joy of Martyrs was no meer effect of Reason when they tasted any pleasure amidst their Torments it must needs be Grace that sweetned the rigour thereof and he that in the fiery Furnace changed Flames into pleasing gales of Wind must have turned their Torments into Delights or if he did them not this favour he did them a greater and by making the Soul not sensible of the Bodies sufferings he taught the whole world that he was the Soveraign Lord of Nature
begins to have inclinations and notions she sees Objects by the Sense which their reports make unto the Imagination this trusts them or commits them to memory which obligeth her self carefully to keep them and faithfully to represent them From the Lights of the Soul arise her desires and from her knowledge her love or hatred she betakes her self to that which is agreeable unto her shuns that which likes her not and according to the divers qualities of good or evil which present themselves she excites differing motions which are called Passions In this degree she hath nothing of more lofty than the Beasts which discover Objects by Sense which receive the sorts thereof in their Imagination and preserve them in their Memory In the third estate she quits the Body and coming to her self she entertains her self with more Truths she treats with Angels and mounting by degrees even to Divinity it self she knows perfections and admireth greatness she reasons upon such subjects as present themselves she examines their qualities that she may conceive their essence she confers the present with what is past and from the one and the other of them draws Conjectures for what is to come The Faculty which doth all these wonders is termed Understanding Imagination â—nd Sense acknowledge her for their Mistress but she is not so absolute but that â—he dependeth upon a Soveraign and takes â—he Law from one that is blind whom she serves for a guide This which is called Will and which hath no other Object than good to follow it and evil to shun it â—s so absolute as Heaven it self bears a respect unto her freedom for it never useth violence when it hath to do therewithal â—it husbandeth the consentment thereof with address And its efficacious graces which never fail in producing their Effects may well undertake to convert but not to force Will. Heavens Orders are alwaies observed within its Empire the Subjects thereof may well be froward never rebellious and when it commands absolutely 't is alwaies obeyed True it is that motions or agitations are formed in the second acception of the soul which exercise her power for though they hold of her they forbear not to pretend to some sort of Liberty they are rather her Citizens than her Slaves and she is rather their Judge than their Soveraign These Passions arising from the Senses side alwaies with them whenever Imagination presents them to the Understanding he pleads in their behalf by means of so good an Advocate they corrupt their Master and win all their Causes The Understanding listens unto them weigheth their Reasons considereth their Inclinations and lest he may grieve them oft-times gives Sentence to their Advantage he betrayes the Will whereof he is the Chief Officer he couzens his Blind Queen and disguising the Truth makes unfaithful Reports unto her that he may draw unjust Commandments from her when she hath declared her self Passions become Crimes their Sedition begins to make head and man who before was but unruly becomes wholly Criminal for as the Motions of this inferiour part of the Soul are not free they never begin to be vitious but when they become voluntary As long as they are awakened by Objects solicited by the Senses and protected by Imaginations self they have no other Craft than what they draw from corrupted Nature But when the Understanding overshadowed by their obscurity or won by their solicitations perverts the Will and obliges this Soveraign to take upon her the interest of her Slaves she makes them guilty of her sin she changes their motions into rebellion and of the insurrection of a Beast makes the fault of a man It is true that when the understanding keeps within the bounds of duty and is faithful to the Will he suppresses their seditions and reduceth these Mutineers to obedience she husbandeth their humours so well as taking from them all their unruliness he makes rare and excellent virtues of them In this estate they are subservient to Reason and defend the party which they were resolved to fight against The good or the evil that may be drawn from them binds us to consider their nature to observe their proprieties and to discover their original to the end that arriving at the exact knowledge of them we may make use of them in our affairs Passion then is nothing else but a moâ—ion of the Sensitive Appetite caused by the Imagination of an appearing or veritable good or evil which changeth the Body against the Laws of Nature I term it motion because it hath a respect to good or evil as the Objects thereof and suffers it self to be born away by the qualities which she observes therein this motion is caused by the Imagination which being fill'd with sorts of things which she hath received from all the senses sollicits passions to discover unto her the beauties or deformities of such Objects as may move her The sensitive appetite is so partial to her as it sooths her in all her inclinations let her be never so little agitated she draws after her all other passions she raiseth tempests as winds do waves and the Soul would be at quiet in her interiour part were she not moved by this power but she bears so great a sway in this Empire as she there doth what she pleaseth Nor is it requisite that the good or evil which she represents to the appetite be true which relyeth on her fidelity and believes her councils without examining them having no other light but what is borrowed from her he follows hoodwink'd all the Objects which she proposeth and let them be but cloathed with any appearance of good or evil he impetuously either rejects or embraceth them He behaves himself so vigorously as he alwaies causeth alteration in the Body for besides that his motions are violent and that they do hardly deserve the name of Passions when they are moderated they have such access unto the Senses and the Senses have so much of communication with the Body as it is impossible but that their Disorders should cause an alteration therein In brief Passion is against the Law of Nature because she sets upon the heart which cannot be hurt without resentment of all the parts of the Body for they are Looking-glasses wherein one sees all the Motions of him that animates them And as Physitians judge of his Constitution by the beating of his Pulse and Arteries one may judge of the Passions wherewith â—e is transported by the colour of his face by the flame which sparkles in his eyes by the shaking of his Joynts and by all such other signs as appear in the Body when the Heart is agitated Now these are the Passions which we â—ndertake to reclaim and bring under the Empire of Reason and by the assistance of â—race to change them into Virtues â—ome have been satisfied with describing â—hem unto us not shewing how to regulate â—hem and have employed their eloquence â—nly in making us know our Miseries
weakned them Art which is not invented so much to perfect nature as to imitate her observes the same Rules and imploys nothing in her workmanship till it be tempered by her industry Painting would not be so cried up had it not found out the secret of reconciling black with white and so pacifie the natural discord of these two colours to compose all others thereof The riders of the great horse have no service from their horses till they have broke them and that they may be useful they must be taught to answer the Bridle and the Spur. Lions were never made use of to draw triumphant Chariots till they were tamed and Elephants bore not Towers upon their backs in fight till they were rid of the savage humour which they brought from the Woods All these examples are documents forthe government of our Passions and Reason ought to imitate nature if she will be advantaged thereby They mus◠〈◊〉 be employed till moderated and he who shall think to make them serviceable to virtue before he hath subjugated them by grace will ingage himself in a perillous design In the state of innocency when they had nothing of unruly in them one might make use of them as they were born they never surprized the will As original Justice was as well shed throughout the body as throughout the soul The senses made no false reports and their advices being uninteressed they were always conformable to the judgment of Reason But now that all things in man are faulty that the Body and the Soul are equally corrupted that the senses are subject to a thousand illusions and that Imagination favours their Disorders we must have great precaution in the use of Passions The first is to consider what troubles their revolt hath caused in our soul and in how many mischiefs these mutiniers have ingaged us when they have only been led on by our eyes or ears 'T is a piece of wisdom to reap advantage by our losses and to become wise at our own cost The justest choler flies out sometimes if not withheld by Reasonâ— though her motion was lawful in its birâ—â— it becomes criminal in the progress thereof It turns a good cause into a bad one for not having consulted with the superiour part of the soul and thinking to punish assight fault it commits a great one Fear hath oft-times astonished us for having only listned to the Senses she maketh us look pale upon a thousand occasions without any just cause and sometimes she hath engaged us in real dangers to make us shun those that were but imaginary As then our Passions have deceived us for our not having ask'd counsel of our Reason we must resolve never to believe them any more till we have examined whether that which they desire or that which they fear be reasonable and whether the understanding which sees further than our eyes cannot discover the vanity of our hopes or fears The second precaution is to oblige Reason to watch alwaies over such subjects as may excite our Passions and to consider their nature and motions to the end that she may never be surprized Harms foreseen hurt but a little and we are but seldom astonished at such accidents against which we are prepared A Pilot who sees a storm coming withdraws into the Haven or if he be too far from it he lanchâ—th into the deep and keeps aloof from Coasts or Rocks A Father who knows that his Children are mortal and that life hath no longer term than what it hath pleased God to give will never take on too much at their loss A Prince who considers that victory depends more upon Fortune than his Wisdom and more on Chances than on the Valour of his Souldiers will easily be comforted though he hath been beaten But we make not use of our understanding methinks if our Passions be out of order Reason ought to be accused thereof for not having foreseen the danger and for not having prepared our senses against their surprizals The third precaution is to study the nature of such Passions as we take in hand to moderate or govern For some must be rudely dealt withal and to reduce them to their duty severity and violence must be made use of others will be flattered and they must be gently dealt withal to make them obedient to Reason Though they be subjects they are not slaves and the understanding which governs them is rather their Father than their Soveraign Others would be cozened and though Virtue be so generous she is tied to accommodate herself to the weakness of Passions and to make use of wiles when force will not prevail Love is of this nature we must divert it not being able to banish it from out of our hearts we must lay before it legitimate Objects and make it virtuous by an innocent cozenage Choler would be flattered and who thinks to oppose this torrent by making a Dam hath but augmented its Fury Fear and Sorrow ought to be rudely dealt withal and of these two Passions the former is so faint-hearted as it is not to be overcome but by force and the second is opinionated as it is not to be brought within rule but by provocation These means being well observed the Affections of our soul may be sweetned These savage Beasts become domestick when they have lost their natural fierceness Reason makes good use of them and Virtue shapes no design which she executes without their mediation The FOURTH DISCOURSE That in what condition soever our passions be they may be governed by Reason THough Nature be so liberal she ceaseth not to be a good housewife and to employ with profit that which she hath abundantly produced all her parts have their use and amongst the infinite number of Creatures which do compose the world there is not any one which hath not its use Those which do us no service contribute to our pleasures the most beautiful and most delightful serve to adorn the world and the very deformed entertain her variety As shadows set off colours ugliness gives a lustre to Beauty and Monsters which are the defect of Nature make her chiefest works and miracles be esteemed There is nothing more pernicious than poison and were not sin barren one would take it for one of its production since it seems to agree with the other to make all men die Yet hath it its use Physick makes Antidotes thereof and there are certain sicknesses which cannot be cured but by prepared poisons use hath turned them into nourishment And if there have been Princes whom poison could not kill Beasts who bear it about in their bodies cannot live without it that which is pernicious to us is so necessary to them as they cannot be berest of it without loss of life This is that which makes all Philosophers grant with Saint Augustine that venom is no evil since it is natural to ScorpÃons and Vipers and that they die when they lose it as we do
it seemed the hearts of Princes were in the hands oâ— Orators and that Monarchy was become a slave to Eloquence they committed notwithstanding gross faults in their government and by having too oft excited the motions of the souls inferior part they overthrew the Empire of the superior and could not cure the wounds which they had made nor quench the flames which they had kindled For thinking to flatter a Prince in his vanity they made him insolent and whilst they thought to move him to revenge they made him cruel and fierce They could not keep the mediocrity whereof Virtue is composed and desiring to raise up one Passion that they might abase another they gave it so great strength as it was no longer in their power to assubject it to Reason This in my opinion is the misfortune which they run into who that they may be pleasing unto Princes flatter such an inclination as doth tyrannize over them and not considering the evil that may ensue thereon oppose that inclination to all others and by victories make it insolent The contrary way had been the better for since the Passion which they endeâ—ored to raise was most violent they should have employed all the rest to weaken it and have made them all conspire together to bring it low But because eloquence is oft-times interessed she neglects the good of her Auditors and is not troubled though her praises wound their souls so long as she may obtain what she desires Thus did Cicero treat with Caesar and being desirous to save a guilty person whose cause he pleaded he opposed the pride of this Conqueror to his revenge to destroy one Passion which was prejudicial only to one particular man he awakened that which had ruined the Republick and opprest the liberty of Rome Wherein certainly he was to blame and sinn'd against the laws of Eloquence which was not so much invented to perswade men as to make them virtuous and which ought not to endeavour so much to move affections as to re-establish Reason in her Empire Policy seems to have better intentions than Rhetorick for when she excites fear or hope in man by promises or by threats she endeavours the welfare of particulars as the publick quiet if she sometimes punish the faulty by dreadful punishments 't is but in desperate evils and when she hath to no purpose tried all mild means yet I believe she might handle Passions better than she doth and that without violating the respects wdich is due to Soveraignty too easie to gain the hearts of the Subjects by hopes and to reduce them to their duties rather by love than fear This is that which we shall consider in the following Discourse after having concluded in this that all Sciences are defective in the government of Passions that to regulate them well they must implore help from morality that they must consider the precepts she giveth us to overcome enemies which are as opinionate as insolent The THIRD DISCOURSE That Princes win upon their Subjects either by Love or Fear ALl Politicians agree that recompense and punishment are the two pillars which uphold all States and that to the end the people may be peacefully governed their hopes or their fears must be excited by promises or threats to say truth we never yet heard of any Republick or Monarchy which from its beginning did not ordain honours and chastisements for Vice and Virtue He who feared to instruct Vice by forbidding it and to teach subjects paricide by punishing it was forced to have recourse to this common remedy and to propose recompenses and sufferings to men thereby to awaken their hopes or their fears Experience shewed that to gain their good will their Passions must be won upon and that the lower part of their souls must be mastered so to assubject the higher part thereof God himself governs the world by this harmless piece of cunning for though being infinitely more absolute than all Kings he may treat with the soul without the interposition of the senses he rules himself according to mans condition and knowing that they are composed of a Soul and Body he undertakes nothing upon the former but by the means of the latter he renounceth his own rights that he may adapt himself to the weakness of his Creatures and not using the power his Soveraignty affords him he terrifieth them by threats or comforteth them by promises His bare will should serve us for a Law and the knowledge of his intentions oblige us to form whatsoever design notwithstanding he allureth us by proposing a Paradise unto us he terrifieth us in representing us with a Hell and as if he were much interessed in our Souls health or in our damnation he employs all his Graces to purchase our love and to shun our hatred when he treated with the Iews as with his subjects when through his excessive goodness he disdained not to own the quality of their Soveraign when he gave them Laws by the mouth of Moses and when he governed them by the wisdom of their Judges who were but his Images he terrified them many times by his Chastisements and sent plagues and famine into their habitations to reduce them to obedience by fear He many times also promised them to enlarge their Borders to assist them in their Battels and to give them advantage over their enemies to the end that soliciting their hopes by his promises he might by their Passions win their good wills In fine all the world confesseth that Polititians like Orators cannot more violently nor yet with more sweetness win mans consent than by awakening the motions of his Soul and by dexterously insinuating themselves into him by the hopes of Honour or fear of punishment but they do not agree which of these two passions ought to be employed to reduce him the more assuredly to his duty Those who take part with fear say that this passion being by nature servile seems to be the portion of subjects that this their relation cannot be taken from them without taking away their condition and without reducing them into the quality of children or friends they add that it is in the power of the Soveraign to make himself be feared not to make himself be loved that punishments make greater impression upon the souls of such as obey than rewards that love is always voluntary and that fear may be enforced that contempt which is the capital enemy to Monarchy may proceed as well from love as from familiarity that fear can only produce hatred which injureth more the reputation than the power of Kings that since wisdom will have us to chuse the lesser of two evils we must resolve to lose the love of the people to preserve their respect and say with that ancient Author Let him hate me provided that he fear me They confirm all these reasons by examples and make it appear that the most severe Empires have flourished the most that punishments have always exceeded
yet all these troubles are the hunters pleasures and their passion to this Exercise makes them term that a pastime which Reason would term a punishment There is nothing of delight in war the very name thereof is odious were it not accompanied with injustice disorder and fear it would notwithstanding have horrors enough to astonish all men death makes her self be there seen in a thousand different shapes there is no exercise in war wherein the danger doth not exceed the glory and it never furnisheth souldiers with any actions which are not as bloudy as glorious yet those that love it make it their delight they esteem all the deformities thereof beauties and by an inclination which proceeds rather from their love than from their humour they find delight in dangers and taste the pleasantness of peace in the tumults of war This it is which made St. Augustine say That Lovers troubles are never troublesom and that they never find pain in serving what they love or if they do they cherish it But we shall never make an end if we would observe all the proprieties of Love I therefore pass on to the effects thereof which being so many pictures of Love will represent unto us its nature and will discover unto us what it is able to do The first of its miracles is that which we call Extasie for it frees the Soul from the Body which she inanimates that she may join to the Object which she loveth it parts us from our selves by a pleasing violence and what the holy Scripture attributes to the Spirit of God befals this miraculous division so as a lover is never at home with himself if you will find him you must seek him in the person that he adores He will have people know that contrary to the Laws of wisdom he is always without himself and that he hath forsaken all care of his own preservation since he became a slave to love The Saints draw their glory from this extasie and truth it self which speaks by their mouths obligeth them to confess that they live more in Jesus Christ than in themselves Now as a man must die to himself to live in another death accompanieth this life and as well sacred as prophane lovers cannot love unless they be bound to die 'T is true that this death is advantageous to them since it procures unto them a life wherewithal they are better pleased than with that which they have lost for they live again in those that they love by a miracle of love they like the Phenix take life again from their ashes and recover life in the very bosom of death He who doth not conceive this truth cannot understand those words by which S. Paul teacheth us that we are dead unto our selves and alive in Jesus Christ. This effect produceth another which is not much less admirable for as lovers have no other life than what they borrow from their love it infallibly falls out that they transform themselves thereinto and that ceasing to be what they were they begin to be that which they love they change condition as well as nature and by a wonder which would surpass all belief were it not usual they become like unto that which they cherish 'T is true that this power shines much more gloriously in divine than in prophane Love for though Kings abase themselves in loving their Subjects and that they forgo their greatness as soon as they engage themselves in friendship yet do they not raise those up into their Throne whom they love Jealousie which is inseparable from Royalty will not suffer them to give their Crown away to him who possesseth their heart But if they should arrive at this excess the Maxim would only be true in them and their Subjects could not change conditions by the force of their love for the love of greatness makes not a Soveraign nor is a man the more accommodated though he love riches the desire of health did never yet cure a sick man we have not found that the bare Passion to know hath made men wise But divine Love hath so much power as it raseth us up above our selves by a strange Metamorphosis it makes us be that which it makes us love It renders the guilty innocent it makes slaves children changeth Demons into Angels and that we may not diminish the virtue thereof whilst we think to heighten it let it suffice to say that of men it makes Gods It doth not therefore become us to complain of our misery and to accuse our Creator for not having equalled our condition to that of Angels for though those pure spirits have great advantages over us and that we hope for no other good than that which they possess yet are we happy enough since we are permitted to love God and that we are made to hope that our nature being by love transformed into his nature we shall lose what we have of mortal and perishable to acquire what is incorruptible and eternal This is the Consolation of divine Lovers and this is the only means how to aspire without blame to that happiness which Lucifer could not do but with impiety I cannot end this Discourse without justly reproaching those that whilst they may love God engage their affections on the earth or on earthly things and deprive themselves of that immense felicity which divine love promiseth them for in loving of the creatures they cannot share in their perfections without doing the like in their defaults after having laboured much they oft-times change an obscure and peaceable condition into a more glorious but a more dangerous one So there is always hazard in the love of the creatures and the advantage that may be drawn from thence is never so pure but that it is mingled with somewhat of misfortune For whatsoever passion we have for the creature we are not sure the creature hath the like for us yet this miraculous change which passeth for the principal effect of love is made in this mutual affection and in this correspondency of friendship But we run not these hazzards in consecrating our love to God his perfections are not accompanied with faults and we know it cannot be disadvantageous to us to make a change with him Our love is never without this acknowledgment since it is rather the effect than the cause of his and that we love not him till he hath first loved us He is so just as he never denies our affection the recompense which it deserves he is not like those misbelieving Mistresses who amongst the numbers of their Lovers prefer him who is best behaved before him that loveth best in the commerce which we hold with him we are sure that he that hath most charity shall have most glory and that in his Kingdom the most faithful lover shall be always the most honoured The SECOND DISCOURSE Of the Badness of Love SInce there is nothing so sacred but meets with some
contribute to their punishments and that Divine Justice makes use of their Enlightnings and Beauties to make them the more miserable but this consideration hinders not that their nature be not good and that God see not in the Ground-work of their Being Qualities which he loveth and conserveth as he sees in the ground-work of their Wills qualities which he detests and punisheth Therefore 't is that hatred seemed useless and that to exercise it a man must go out of this world to seek for creatures which may be the object of his indignation for there is nothing neither in Heaven nor in Earth which is not lovely if we meet with any thing which crosses our inclinations we must attribute it to our ill humor or else we must blame sin for it which having disordered our will hath given it irrational antipathies and forceth it to hate the workmanship of God I know there are natural aversions between insensible creatures and that it is no little wonder that the worlds peace is caused by the discord of the Elements If their bodies of which all other bodies are compounded had not some difference amongst them Nature could not subsist anh 't is Gods will that their warfare be the worlds quiet but to boot that their quarrels are innocent and that they set not upon one another to destroy but to preserve themselves their Combats are caused through their defaults and their bad intelligence proceeds from their being imperfect for those other bodies which are more noble and which natural Philosophers call perfectè mixta do not wage war they cease not to love though they have different inclinations and they oft-times use violence upon themselves that they may not trouble the worlds tranquility whence I infer that if a man bear a dislike unto his neighbour he ought to blame his own misery and confess that his hatred is an evident proof of his defaults for if he could reconcile the particular differences of others he would love in them what he should find in himself and he could not hate that in their persons which he should observe to be in his own but he cannot tolerate their advantages because he himself is not Master thereof the bonds which Nature hath prescribed unto him close him in within himself and separate him from all others If he were an universal good he would love every particular good and if he were indued with all the perfections that are found in all men he would find none that would contrary him but he is unjust because he is poor and his aversion takes its original from his poverty God suffers not these unfortunate divisions his infinite love cannot be bounded as he is the summum bonum he loves all things that bear any badge of goodness as he gathers up within himself all these perfections which are disperst abroad in his workmanship he cherisheth them all together and he hath no aversion because he hath no defaults Hatred is then a weakness in our nature a proof of our indigence and a Passion which a man cannot with Reason employ against the handy-works of God Self-love is the secend cause of its disorder for if we were more regulate in our affections we should be more moderate in our aversions and not consulting with our own interests we should hate nothing but what is truly odious but we are so unjust as we judge of things only by the credit we bear them we condemn them when they displease us we approve of them when they like us and by a strange blindness we esteem them good or evil only by the satisfaction or displeasure which they cause in us we would have them change qualities according to our humours that like Camelions they should assume our colours and accommodate themselves to our desires we would be the Center of the world and that all creatures had no other inclinations than what we have The fairest seem ugly to us because they are not pleasing to us we are offended with the brightness of the Sun because the weakness of our eyes cannot tolerate it the beams of Virtue dazle us because that virtue condemns our defaults truth which is the second object of Love becomes the object of our indignation because she censures our offences there is nothing of truly glittering but her light she discovers all the beauties of nature which would to no use have produced so many rare Master pieces had not truth taught us how to know them Truth hath more lovers saith St. Austin than Hellen of Greece all Philosophers court her she is the subject of all their contestations she infuseth Jealousies into them and they dispute with as much heat to possess her as do two Rivals to enjoy a Mistress every one seeks her out by several ways Divines in her Fountains head which is Divinity Naturalists in the bowels of the earth Alchymists in the bosom of Metals Painters and Poets under Colours and Fables yet this beauty which causeth so much love to the whole world ceaseth not to have enemies she angers those she would oblige she loseth her friends in thinking to preserve them if she make her self be beloved of them by instructing them she makes her self be hated by reprehending them and she then becomes odious when she ought to be most beloved It is therefore extreamly dangerous to employ a Passion which assails Virtue oftner than Vice and which contrary to the design of him that indued us therewithal undertakes good and wages war with it because having some shadow of evil it crosses our interests or our delights For remedy of this evil I would advise to consider well the things which we hate and to look on them on that side which may render them agreeable unto us for as they are good in their foundation we shall always find some quality in them which will oblige us to love them and we shall observe even in our enemies some advantages which will force an estimation from us the injuries they have done us and whereupon we ground the justice of our resentments will furnish us with reasons to excuse them and if we will calmly examine them we shall confess that there is hardly any injury which bears not with it its excuse for that I may make use of Seneca's words and to confute Christians by Infidels methinks there can no outrage be done which may not be sweetned when a man shall consider the motive or the quality thereof Hath a woman offended you you must pardon the weakness of her sex and remember that she is as subject to do amiss as to change Is it a Child that hath injured you you must excuse his age which suffers him not yet to distinguish between what is good bad Hath your enemy used outrage to you it may be you have obliged him so to do and in this case Reason wills that you suffer your turn about for what you have made him suffer Is it your
King that undertakes you if he punish you you must honour his Justice if he oppress you you must give way to his Fortune does a good man persecute you disabuse your self and forgo that Error and give him no longer a quality which his fault hath made him lose Is it a naughty man that hath offended you wonder not at it effects hold of their causes you will find some body that will revenge you and without that wish you are already revenged and he is already punished since he is faulty The SIXTH DISCOURSE Of the good use of Hatred SInce Nature makes nothing unuseful and that of so many things that she produceth there is not any one which hath not its employment Hatred must find out its use and this Passion which is born in us together with Love must find out some objects upon which it may innocently discharge its fury but since nature loves her workmanship since this common Mother bears an affection to all her Children and that she keeps them in so good a correspondency as that those who violate it pass for Monsters Hatred must likewise bear a respect unto them and must go out of the world to find a Subject which may provoke its indignation it must fight with the disorders of our soul and must charge such enemies as would destroy Virtue yet must it take great heed lest it be deceived by appearances and that thinking to do an act of Justice it commit not parricide for good lies oft-times hidden under the bark of evil and things seem evil unto us because they are contrary to us their contrariety is notwithstanding a perfection that which thwarts our humour may agree with the humours of others and what is not pleasing to our eyes contribute to the beauty of the Universe This difference of affection makes it appear that the evil which we hate is rather imaginary than true and that we must rather lay the fault upon opinion than upon nature Sin is therefore the only object of hatred to use it aright we must govern our hatred according to Gods Example we must declare war against this Monster sin which God hath chased out of Heaven which he pursues upon the Earth and which he punisheth in Hell for this Passion is the chastisement of the greatest crimes it is the punishment of Paricides who defend themselves contrary to the Justice of men It besiegeth tyrants in their Palaces sets upon them in the midst of their Guards and maugre the fortune which protects them it exacts reason for all the violences which they have committed for they are not unpunished who are hated by all people and sin is not without punishment which draws publick Hatred upon the Author thereof But as we are not made Judges of other men and that Gods Justice demands not an accompt of us for other mens sins methinks our own sins are the only legitimate objects of our hatred our neighbors sins may admit of some excuses we ought to suspend our judgments and withhold our aversions since we know not their intententions when they are become so publick as they can be no longer dissembled they should rather excite compassion in us than hatred and should rather draw tears from our eyes than reproachs from our mouths since God excuses them we ought not to condemn them and since he hides them we ought not to publish them I should not notwithstanding blame a man who preferring Gods glory before the Creatures welfare should wish that the guilty might be punished or who not being able to tolerate them should avoid their company and make his indignation be thereby known for the hatred of sin is an act of justice the zeal which makes us detest sinners is an effect of Charity David gave over praising of God that he might make imprecations against the wicked and thought to assure God of his love by assuring him of the hatred which he bore unto his enemies but that this aversion may be pleasing unto him it must be perfect as was that of David and to be perfect it must have two conditions which his had it must hate sin and love nature it must detest the work of the creature and cherish the work of God by reason of Wisdom and Justice it must not love sin for the mans sake neither must it hate the man for the sins sake with these restrictions a man may make good use of hatred This guilty Passion becomes innocent it takes part with two excelent virtues and guided by grace it is serviceable at once both to justice and charity But it is much safelier exercised against our selves and we run much less danger in hating our own imperfections than in hating the like of our neighbours for self-love keeps us from exceeding therein and notwithstanding any whatsoever holy fury Charity inspires in us it is moderated by the inclination which we have to love our selves Therefore 't is that the Son of God wills that the hatred of our selves be the foundation of his Doctrine He receiveth no Disciples into his School whom he teacheth not this Maxime he seems to have a Design to banish self-love from off the earth and to turn this irregular affection into an holy Aversion He teacheth us that we are criminal and that entring into the zeal of divine Justice we should hate that which it hates and punish that which it chastiseth He would have us to be all â—ce for what concerns our selves and all fire for what concerns our friends In fine Hatred and Love Aversion and Inclination are the two virtues which we learn in his School but he will have us husband them so as that bestowing all love upon our neighbours we reserve nothing but hatred for our selves 'T is true that this Commandment is more rigorous in appearance than in effect for whatsoever severity he witnesseth he breaths nothing but sweetnes He hides the name of Love under that of Hatred and by obliging us to hate our selves he ordaines us to love our selves well But all people do not agree in the manner that must be held to observe this I am offended to see that Christians do not better explicate this Maxim than prophane men do and that they confound Seneca's Doctrine with that of Iesus Christ for the greatest part of Interpreters imagine That the Son of God presupposing that we are composed of two parts which fight one against the other will have us to take part with the more noble against the more ignoble that we prefer the inclinations of the soul before those of the body and that living like Angels and not like Beasts all the imaginations of our hearts be rational certainly had he had no other design than this we must a vow that he flies no higher a pitch than does Seneca and that banishing only the love of the body which is the more gross and less faulty he should have left the love of the Soul which
fasten themselves to all objects that are pleasing to them Man seeks after a beauty which time cannot alter which age cannot decay nor death it self eface assoon â—s he discovers the shadow thereof in a viâ—age he awakens his desires and thinks it â—s the eternal beauty wherewith he ought â—o be satisfied He longs after a good which puts an end to all his miseries which frees him from all his cares and which cures him of all the evils that oppress him when he is falsly perswaded by opinion that Gold is a Metal which assisteth us at all our needs which opens the gate to Honour which facilitates the execution of our Designs and which makes us triumph over all difficulties he commands his desires to purchase a good unto him from whence he expects all his happiness In fine man seeks after a solid and true Glory which serves as a recompense to virtue and which satiates him with honour which cannot be efaced by time nor injured by back biters when error hath once perswaded him that Battels are Heroick actions that conquests are the businesses of Soveraigns he orders his desires to go in quest of these glorious occasions and to undertake unjust wars he forms designs to throw down Towns to ruine States and to carry horror and death into all the parts of the world that he may look big in Story The remedy to all these evils is easie and since the Will hath not lost all her good inclination there needs no more than to clear the understanding to fortifie it by solid reasons which it may oppose to the false maxims of the world The second cause of the irregularity of our desires is Imagination which only makes use of its advantage to irritate them for they would be regular enough did not this embroyling power put them in disorder Nature seeks only how to free her self from incommodities that molest her she requires not magnificence in buildings and provided they save her from being injured by the ayr all their adornments are of no use to her she wisheth not for pomp in apparel provided they hide her nakedness and that they fence her body from the rigour of the Cold she is yet innocent enough to blame the disorder she seeks not after excessive pleasure in what she eats or drinks provided they sustain life and allay hunger and thirst she values not the delicacies which accompany them but Imagination which seems to have no other employment since the corruption of our Nature than to invent new delights to defend us from our ancient misfortunes adds dissoluteness to our desires and makes our wishes irregular she adviseth us to enclose fields and rivers within our Parks she obligeth us to build Palaces more glorious than our temples and greater than our forefathers Towns she employes all Artificers to cloath us she makes whole nature labour â—o satisfie our pride she dives into the Entrails of the earth and into the depths of the Sea to find out Diamonds and Pearls to deck us withal In fine she seeks out Delicates in food she will have no Viands which are not exquisite she misprizeth what is common and will try unknown Cates she awakens the appetite when it is asleep she confounds the seasons to afford us pleasure and maugre the heat of Summer she preserves Snow and Ice to mingle with our Wine In a word Imagination makes us wise in our coveted delicates she instructeth them to wish for things which they did not know and putting our natural desires out of order she makes them commit excuses which they are only guilty of in being obedient to her Thus our debaucheries arise from our advantages and we are more irregular than beasts only in that we are more enlightned for Aristotle distinguishing between our desires terms by a strange fashion of speech the most modest ones unreasonable because they are common to us with Beasts and the most insolent reasonable because they are proper and peculiar to our selves In my opinion 't is for this cause that Philosophers reduce us to the condition of Beasts and that they have propounded nature unto us for example believing her to be less irregular or unruly than Reason 't is for the same reason that they have divided our desires into necessary superfluous and that they have affirmed the one to be bounded the other infinite that such as were necessary would find wherewithal to content themselves in banishment and solitariness and that the superfluous would not find wherewithal to content themselves in Towns and Palaces Hunger is not ambitious she requires only meat which may appease her all those several services in preparing wherof so much care is had are the punishments of Gluttony which seeks out means how to provoke Appetite after it is satisfied for she complaineth that the Neck is not long enough to taste meats that the stomach is not large enough to receive them and that natural heat is not ready enough to digest them she likes not wine unless served in costly vessels nor can she resolve to take it unless prepared by a fair hand But natural desires are not accompanied with all these distastes we are almost always pleased with what is absolutely necessary for us And Nature which is a good Mother hath mingled pleasure with necessity for our refreshment let us make use then of a benefit which we may number amongst the greatest and let us believe that she hath never more apparently obliged us than when she hath freed all our natural desires of distaste The third cause of their disorder is our not sufficiently considering the quality of the things which we desire for we oft-times corrupt the nature of desire by extream violence we force it to seek out a thing which it ought to shun We only look upon objects as they appear we betake our selves indiscreetly unto them not considering their defaults and make our desires be succeeded by sorrow and grief to be the sequel of our delights We wish for real evils because they have some shadow of good and when after a long pursuit we possess them they begin to be unsupportable changing opinion we change our desires and accuse Heaven of having been too easie to us in granting them We know by experience that there be Vows which God doth doth exact at our hands unless he be angry and that we make wishes the accomplishment whereof is fatal to us We are like the Prince who repented his having wished for riches and who was afflicted for having obtained them his desire becomes his punishment he abhorred that which he desired and finding himself poor in the midst of plenty he prayed to be delivered from an evil which he himself had procured Absence puts a valuation upon almost all we have of good and their presence makes us despise them they appear great unto our Imagination when far off but when they draw nearer they lose their
reside in the inferior part of the Soul and cannot discourse they only consider their object and by a blind impetuosity they either draw near unto it or keep far from it they do not mark so much as the Circumstances which accompany it and not comparing the difficulties with their strengths they engage themselves indiscreetly in a war or shamefully run away their judgment is so ready as it is almost precipitate for after having listned to what the senses say they advise with their inclination and not expecting orders from Reason they bear away the whole man and enforce him to follow their motions Hence it comes that he oft-times repents him of his designs condemns what he formerly approved and cannot end what he had begun But of all Passions none is more unfortunate than Audacity for she betakes her self to powerful enemies and she grapples with Pain and Death Fighting is her ordinary exercise and she oft-times bathes her self in tears or bloud she is always encompassed with dangers and on what side soever she turns she sees nothing but ghastly images and fearful apparitions this mean while she borrows no aid nor takes no counsel save only of Hope and the same that hurries her into danger is she that counsels her she who sets her on work is she who puts weapons into her hands and who under vain promises engageth her in extream difficulties she also often sees the greatest part of her designs prove abortive and reaps nothing of all her useless endeavours but sorrow for having followed evil counsel oft-times she discourageth her self and seeing that her undertakings do exceed her strength she suffers her self to be astonished by Fear beat down by Despair and consumed by Sadness for these Passions do almost always succeed her and experience teacheth us that those who at the beginning of a fight have been more couragious than men have at the end thereof been found more fearful than Woman The fewel of Boldness soon takes fire but it is as soon extinguished and as the fury of waves turns into foam the violence of the Audacious turns into Fearfulness and for all the confidence they shewed in their designs all that remains unto them is Weaknesses as full of shame as of guilt 'T is true that Choler sometimes sides with Boldness and furnisheth it with new forces when the danger hath made it lose its own but this assistance is not always sure the souldier that engages himself in battel upon her weak succours is in as great danger of losing the victory as he who puts his hope in Despair and is no more assured of conquest than he that fights only because he cannot retire Desperate men have been seen to die with their weapons in their hands and if sometimes they have revenged their deaths they have not always preserv'd their lives Bold men have also often been seen who for being cholerick have not more luckily evaded the danger whereinto they had precipitated themselves Cholers forces are as well limited as are those of Boldness and unless the one and the otherâ— of them be guided by Prudence they oughtâ— not to expect any thing but dreadful consequences that which hath happened upon one occasion will not happen upon many others and the Heavens are not obliged to give the same success to all rash enterprizes Alexanders example ought not to serve for a rule to all Conquerors he lived not long enough to be certainly imitated the fortune which followed him in his youth would peradventure have forsaken him in his age his rashness would not always have been so fortunate and if he had begun his conquest in Europe he might not perhaps have carried them so far as Asia the birth of Rome would have staid the course of his victories and she that shut up Pyrrhus in his dominions would have driven him back into Macedonia For my part I am of Seneca's opinion believe that this Prince had more courage than wisdom and more rashness than courage in effect his fortune did oftner preserve him than his valour and if the Heavens had not made choice of him to punish the pride of the Persians he had been stopt in the first battel he would not take those advantages which the greatest Commanders do commonly make use of when their forces are not equal to those of their enemy he would not set upon Darius his army whilst favoured by the night but with a piece of rashness which deserved more blame than it hath received praises he would tarry till it were day and have thâ— Sun for witness of his victory he thoughâ— he should have stoln a victory if he shoulâ— have won it by night and though Parmenâ— advised him to prefer his Souldiers safetâ— before the glory of Arms he contemneâ— that advice and to shew that he owed aâ— his advantages to Fortune he rejected aâ— the Maxims of Prudence I do also firmlâ— believe that his confidence hath been thâ— undoing of as many Princes as have imitated him and that his guidance is more fatal to Conquerors than rocks and tempesâ— unto Mariners I know very well that Caesae adventur'd much and that he could not undertake the ruine of the Roman Common wealth without having conceived a greaâ— good opinion of his good Fortune whicâ— he was able to guide by Wrath and Virtue and we are bound to acknowledge that 〈◊〉 Victories were no less the workmanship oâ— his Wisdom than of his Fortune he sheweâ— no Audacity but upon such occasions wherâ— advice was useless and he boasted not oâ— his good Fortune but to conjure down thâ— tempests and put confidence in his Pilot Iâ— fine he made use of Hope in all his enterprizes he submitted it to Prudence and taught all Commanders that to be valiant a man must be more wise than rash The THIRD DISCOURSE Of the good use of Audacity or Boldness THough Passions be more faulty than iâ—â—ocent and that by reason of the irregularity of our nature they lean more to Vice than Virtue yet with a little help a man may make them virtuous their inclinations are good but their judgments precipitate they always seek for good and withstand evil but this is most commonly with a little too much ardency they imitate such Orators as defend a good Cause with bad Reasons or are like those unfortunate Innocents who when tortured and wanting perseverance confess faults which they never committed for in effect they become guilty through want of Patience and grow vicious by not being able to endure the absence of Good nor presence of Evil. Did not Hope pursue Honours which she cannot compass never would she bring the Ambitious to Despair and did not Boldness engage her self to fight against mischiefs which she cannoâ— overcome she would never be accused oâ— Rashness but the fault is not without remedy for if she will listen to Reason iâ— after having calmed the fury of her first motion she will suffer her self to be
strength before he set upon the enemy for Virtue is too rational to engage us in an impossibility she exacts nothing from us but what is in our power and she will have us in all our enterprizes to observe whether our means to be answerable to the end endeavoured There is nothing more glorious than conquest of the Holy Land and if the greatness of our Monarch might beincreas'd by wishes we would desire that to his other August Titles that of The Deliverer of the Land of Palestine might be added but he who should engage himself in that Design would be more rash than couragious if before putting to Sea he had not quieted all his own Dominions if he had not raised forces enough to fight with those of the Infidels and if he had not by his Intelligences caused an Insurrection in the Eastern parts thereby to work a powerful diversion To boot with all these conditions Christian Audacity ought to have two more the first is Humility which agrees very well with greatness of Courage since her enemy Vain-glory is always accompanied with Faint-heartedness The second is Hatred of our selves for he that hath not overcome his own inclination must not expect to overcome his delights and he who hath not warred against his own body is but ill prepar'd to denounce war against Sorrow Let us then use our strength against our selves that we may employ it to purpose against our enemies and let us vanquish Self-love if we will overcome the fear of death The FOURTH DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of Fear THere are some Passions whose Names belie their Natures and are nothing less inwardly than what they outwardly appear to be The name of Hope is pleasing but her humour is violent and she is cause of as much evil as she promiseth contentment the name of Despair is odious but her nature corresponds with Reason and we are obliged unto it when it makes us forgo the pursuit of a good which we cannot compass The name of Boldness is glorious we no sooner hear thereof but we conceive a greatness of courage which despiseth Pain and seeketh out Death but the inclination thereof is Savage and if it be not withheld by Wisdom it engageth us in dangers which cause much mischief to us and little glory The name of Fear is contemptible and errour hath so cried down this Passion as 't is taken for the mark of a Coward but her humor is wise and if she warn us of our misfortunes it is to free us from them For Nature seems to have given us two Passions to our Counsellors in the divers adventures of our life Hope and Fear the first is doubtless the more pleasing but the second is the more faithful the first flatters us to deceive us the second frightens us to secure us the first imitates those inteâ—essed Counsellors who in all their advices have respect rather to the Fortune than Person of their Prince and who by a dangerous flattery prefer his contentment before the welfare of his State the second resembles those faithful State-Ministers which discover a mischeif that they may cure it and who stick not to anger their King a little to purchase him a great deal of glory In fine the first is oft-times useless and the number of what is good being small enough she hath not many employments and if she undertakes any thing which belongs not to her she makes us lose our labour and our time the second is almost always busied and the number of evils being infinite she is never out of exercise she looks far into what is to come and seeks out the evil which may happen not to make us miserable before the time as she is unjustly accused but to secure our happiness and to disperse all the disasters which may bereave us of it For Fear is a natural Wisdom which oft-times frees us from danger by making us apprehensive thereof she spreads her self over all the actions of our life and is no less useful to Religion than to a Common-wealth if we will believe prophane Authors 't is she that made the gods and though there be some impiety in this Maxim a man may notwithstanding observe some shadow of Truth in it for 't is the fear of eternal punishment which perswaded men they were to appease the incensed gods 't is she that hath made Sacrifices builded Temples set up Altars and immolated Victimes 't is she that keeps the Just within their duties and which after a fault committed makes them lift up their hands to heaven and witness their sorrow for it Though men talk of generosity in Religion and boast that they are won rather by Promises than by Threats yet it must be confest that Fear hath sav'd more guilty people than Hope so is she termed in the holy Scripture the beginning of Wisdom that is to say the prop of Virtue the foundation of Piety Sin would grow insolent were it not supprest with this Passion all laws would be unuseful had not Nature imprinted Fear in the soul of offenders she is therein engraven in characters which Time cannot deface they apprehend the punishment of a secret sin and though they know the Judges can punish only such as they come to the knowledge of they tremble in the midst of their friends they awake affrighted and this faithful Minister of Gods Justice suffers them not to find assurance neither in Towns nor yet in Desarts 'T is a proof that Nature is not wholly corrupted since there remains in it horrour for sin and dread for the punishment thereof for let a sinner hide himself in what part he pleaseth he carries Fear about with him and this uncorruptible Passion teacheth him that there is a Divinity which sees our secret faults whilst we live and punisheth them when we are dead Often doth she convert Libertines and by an unconceiveable miracle she perswades them unto truths which they would not have believed lest they should be obliged to fear them she stings even the most opinionated and of as many as acknowledg Jesus Christ there are few that owe not their Love to their Fear they endeavour not to gain heaven save to free themselves from hell and they love Gods goodness only because they fear his Justice I very well know that this resentment is not pure and that a man who should stop at Fear would be in danger never to acquire Charity but it is much that she opens the gate of Salvation to Infidels and shews the way of Virtue unto sinners If she be profitable to Religion she is no less necessary to a Common-wealth which could not subsist by Recompenses if it did not terrifie the guilty with Punishments we â—â—ve not now in those innocent times wherein the people were united by friendship which renders the use of Laws bootâ—ess every one loved his Neighbor as himself and Love banished Injustice from off the
as a remedy found out by her to moderate our discontents for mans life is full of misery and had not the heavens sweetned them by Joy all Passions would end in Grief or in Despair we should be press'd to death under the burden of our misfortunes and losing the hope of vanquishing our enemies we should lose the desire of fighting with them To heighten our courage this wise Mother solicites us by Pleasure and equally mingling it with things that are Difficult and Shameful she obligeth us not to Despise the one nor to Fear the other but whatever Contentment she propounds to us 't is always with this Caution that it shall not be the end but that it shall serve us for a pleasing means to arrive the more contentedly thereat so that we are bound to taste of it with the same reservedness as Travellers look upon the goodly Fields which lie in their way they serve to unweary them they admire their largeness praise their Fertility value their Riches but they stay not to gather in the crop and knowing it is not lawful for them to enjoy them they are contented with such Recreation as thereby they receive which whilst they do they hasten their pace and continue on their journey so earthly Pleasures may well solace us but they are not totally to possess us When Nature intermingled them with our actions she meant them not for our Felicity but our Consolation and she intends not that they should stay us on Earth but that they should raise us to Heaven 'T is brutish to seek for nothing but Delight in Eating and to make that a Contentment which is nothing but a Remedy to love Sleep because it is accompanied with some sweetness and to place the happiness of Life in the Image of Death is to be void of Reason we must take it because it is necessary and thank divine Providence which being more lucky and powerful than Physick hath provided pleasing Remedies for us and cures our maladies without exercising our Patience to court Virtue only for Pleasures sake is to be unjust and not to value her she is too noble to be any thing but our end to seek out any other motive or hope for any other recompense than the possession of her is to injure her Pleasure which acompanies her is only for mean and poor souls which have not courage enough to follow her and her Difficulties she is never more glorious than when most difficult and her faithful lovers never think her more beautiful than when she is crown'd with Thorns yet doth not Nature forbid us to taste this sweetness which accompanieth the searching after her provided we look upon it as a succour to our weakness and that we take not that for a consummated felicity which is given us only for a refreshment this is notwithstanding the fault of all men and so general is this disorder that there is hardly any one who doth not seek after Pleasure and despise Virtue Every one will make his utmost end of a mean which is not honourable save only because necessary and all the world will have that a Passion which Nature hath placed in our Soul only to sweeten our misfortunes should be the height of our felicity men now respect nothing but what delights Glory gives place to pleasure and virtues self by a high injustice hath no more lovers unless she promise them delight insomuch as of all Passions not any one doth more prejudice her than joy doth For Desires are Noble Hopes are Generous Audacity and Choler assail Vice Hatred and Fear defend themselves from it but Joy is of a soft Nature and suffers it self to be corrupted when sollicited by Delights Other Passions are in perpetual motion and being always upon the Speed they never fix themselves so strongly on an Object but they may be staved off but Joy is at rest and making the good which she possesseth her Center she must be fought withal before she will part with it Therefore the Son of God knowing how hard it is to conquer this passion when it is grounded in a Soul forbids us to give it entertainment and counsels us to reserve it for such contentments as never shall have end He distinguisheth his Disciples from those of the world as well by Joy as by Love he employs all his Reasons to perswade us that temporal Joy cannot agree with Joy eternal and that to be happy in Heaven a man must be miserable on Earth he mingles Pain with our Pleasures sows Thorns amongst our Roses and poures Bitterness upon our Delights to make us distaste them He instructeth us that Pleasures are not only fading but painful and that they are not only Unprofitable but Faulty In fine they are the daughters and mothers of Sorrow and all those which promise us the greatest contentment subsist only by the Pain which precedes them Monarchs triumph not till after the victory they had not defeated their enemies had they not fought with them and Joy measureth it self so justly by Sorrow that the beauty of the Triumph depends upon the greatness of the Combat when it hath not been throughly disputed the pleasure is less and the glory is not so splendid Mariners never taste the sweetness of life more than when they have escaped Shipwrack and they are never more sensible of contentment than when after despair of safety a Tempest drives them upon the shore an only Son is never so dear to his Mother as when he hath run great hazards and hath cost her many a Tear she thinks she hath been brought a bed with him as many times as she hath wept for him her joy ariseth from her sorrow and the contentment of enjoying him would not be so great had she not fear'd to have lost him one must be hungry before he take delight in eating and as nothing sets forth Light better than Darkness so there is nothing adds more to Pleasure than the Pain that hath gon before it But out of another consequence as necessary more vexatious pleasure turns to Sorrow and that wherewith we were at first delighted in process of time becomes painful Too long sleep degenerates into a Lethargy the remedy which nature had found out to repair our strength when it is continual ruinates it Excess of meat suffocates the natural heat too violent exercise weakens our vigour and the innocentest Pleasures become Punishments when they are immoderate Temperance might cure us of these disorders if they went no father but experience teacheth us that what passeth for a Pleasure in the world is a Sin before God and that the greatest part of our joys cause sorrow in the Saints A Souldier rejoyceth in the murders he hath committed and men in this corrupt age call that Valour which in more innocent times would have been termed Cruelty A lustful person rejoyceth in having stollen away her that he loves and if he content
had never united the soul to the body had it had a purpose to hinder their communication These Philosophers when they made their proud boasts have in my opinion imitated those Orators who making Hyperboles lead us to Truth by Falshood and assure us of that which is Impossible that they may perswade us of that which is Difficult They did certainly believe that the mind ought to have some commerce with the Body and that the sufferings of the one ought to cause Grief in the other but lest the Nobler part should become slave to the less Noble they have endeavoured to preserve her Liberty by Rigor and to make her insensible to the end that she might always keep up her Soveraignty For who could imagine that men so judicious in all things should lose their Judgment in this and that to defend Virtue they should abandon Reason All the Glory of their Discourse tended only to maintain the Soul in her Empire and lest she might faint under the Weaknesses of the Body they have authorised her Power by Terms more Eloquent than True They conceited that to reduce us to Reason we must be raised a little above it and that to afford nothing of Superfluous to our Senses we must deny them what is Necessary They believe then with us that Grief may accord with Reason and that there are occasions wherein not to be afflicted is to be Impious But I know not whether or no we can perswade them that Repentance and Mercy are glorious Virtues and that after having bewayled our own Offences we are bound to lament our Neighbours Miseries These Philosophers are austere only because they are too Vertuous they condemn not Penitency save only because they love Fidelity and if they blame Repentance 't is because it presupposeth a Fault they would have us never to forsake Vertue and that we should deal more severely with vitious men than with those who desert the Discipline of War their zeal deserves some excuse but not being accompanied with Wisdom it produceth an effect contrary to their intent for it augmenteth the number of the Guilty whilst it thinks to diminish them it makes the weak wilful and taking away the Remedy it changeth their Infirmities into incurable Diseases Man is not so constant as the Angels and when he loves what is good he is not so firmly fixed thereunto but that he may be made to forgo it neither is he so opinionated as is the Devil and when he affects evil he is not so strongly engaged thereto but that he may be taken off from it If this Inconstancy be cause of his sin 't is also the Remedy thereof and if it assist to make him Guilty it contributes also to the making of him Innocent He is nauseated with sin he is weary of Impiety and he ows these good effects to the weakness of his Nature Had he more Strength he would be more Obstinate and Grace which converts him would find more Resistance were he more firm in his Resolutions Heaven makes this Defect serve for our Advantage and its Providence husbandeth our Weakness to work our Welfare thereby for when it hath touched the hearts of sinners and that preventing their Will by its Grace it makes them detest their Wickedness they end the work of their Conversion by the ayd of Penitence and in Sorrow seek out means to appease divine Justice they punish their Bodies to afflict their Souls they sentence the slave to bewail the sin of his Master because he is accessary thereunto and knowing that all the harm which either the Master or the Slave do to themselves proceeds from the too much Love they bear unto themselves they oblige them for their own good to hate themselves they oft-times punish them both with the same punishment because their offences are Reciprocal and do justly conjoyn those in the suffering which were not separated in the Fault Thus the whole man satisfieth God and the two parts whereof he is composed do by Sorrow find pardon for their sins I am not ignorant that Libertines laugh at these duties and that they place repentance in the number of those remedies which are as shameful as unprofitable for wherefore say they do you afflict your self for an evil that hath no more a Being wherefore do you revive it by your Sorrow wherefore with a greater piece of Imprudence would you change what is past and wish in vain that what is already done had not been done These bad Reasons will not divert sinners from Repentance and if wicked men have no better weapons wherewithal to fight against Piety they will never have much advantage over her Nature authorizeth daily the tears we shed for misfortunes past a sad remembrance draws sighs from us and we cannot think upon the evils which we have either escaped or undergone without some sense either of Delight or Sorrow As the time that is past makes the more certain part of our life so doth it likewise awaken the truest Passions and afford us the most sensible motions Time to come is too uncertain to vex ones self much about it and the events which it produceth are too hidden to make any great Impression upon our desires Time past is the source of our Sorrows and we have reason to afflict our selves for a thing which we cannot help if it did only threaten us we should endeavour to defend our selves from it and if it hung over our heads we should employ our wisdom to divert it but when it hath once happened we have no more to do but to be sorry for it and of as many Passions as may serve to comfort us in present evils or such as are to come There is none but this from whence we can draw consolation in our past afflictions Could we recall our friends from their Graves and revive their Ashes by our cares we would not consume our selves in our bootless Sorrows but since there is no cure for Death and that Physick which can preserve Life cannot restore it when it is lost we have so much the more reason to complain as our loss is more certain and our tears appear to be so much the more just as the evil which we suffer is the less capable of Remedy Thus Penitence is not to be blamed if not being able to remedy a fault already committed she yield her self up to Sorrow and if finding no means how to repair her offence she witness her sensibleness thereof by sighs she is the better grounded in this belief for that she knows Tears are not unprofitable for her and that mingled with the Blood of Iesus Christ they may wash away all her offences Upon other occasions they do no miracles if they comfort the living they do not raise up the dead again if they assure the afflicted of our love they do not free them from their troubles by thinking to aid the miserable they augment their number and instead