caution is to be had of a Mans Actions and carriage to avoid them by how much they are apt insensibly to invade us in the best of our undertakings Wherefore I shall add no more here since somewhat will be said in the subsequent Section as to the other particulars SECT III. Discourse and Carriage REason it is a Gentleman of all Men should demean himself well and most exemplary which is no easie matter in this wicked Age wherein we live unless he be of a passing good Nature i. e. have an inclination to Virtue and an Habit which is indeed goodness it self and the chief of all other Virtues Such an one must be courteous and civil to all Men as well Strangers as Friends and Relations pityful to and of all in affliction and misery easie to forgive and pass by injuries and grateful for as well small as great favours guifts and obligations Hereby shall all manner of Vice be shun'd and Virtue daily increase Carriage then as it comprehendeth as well Discourse as the outward behaviour is and must be either to a Man's Superiours Equals Inferiours Relations Strangers Friends or Enemies or to Himself SUBSECT I. To Superiours AMong Superiours Kings and Princes are most to be Honoured especially thy own to whom thou owest Obedience Allegiance and all that thou hast or art We must needs be subject not only for wrath but Conscience sake 'T is the Ordinance of God and whosoever resisteth shall receive to himself Damnation Take Solomon's advice To Fear the Lord and the King and meddle not with them that are given to change For Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft and nothing so unseemly as to see any Man to pretend to Gentility and Honour and yet resist the fountain of both no pretence whatsoever can justifie such an Action Let thy speech to him be whether he be a Man of parts or no with that due Reverence his Dignity requireth and so thy Behaviour avoiding all unseasonable Discourses and Jests it being no less hazzardous to be too bold with such as are so far above thee then that of the Flyes playing with the Candle For other Superiours the Honour and respect their place and Quality requireth of thee thou art likewise to give them Yet keep thy distance so as thou mayst be rather beloved than slighted and seem to walk rather humbly than sneakingly Court especially such as are most likely to do you a kindness without casting more obligations on them than what are inevitable For great persons Love rather such whom they have obliged than such as have obliged them for they love not equall retributions by such as are not their Equals and so excite rather Shame or envy than love in them to their inferiours Although Impudence Confidence and Boldness be no Virtues yet the least of these will beggar them all The Italians have therefore a Proverb that speaks thus much in English the World was made for the Presumptuous If a Favourite to a Prince neither write nor speak his faults nor many times what thou knowest of him to be true especially if revealed unto thee as a secret lest by its coming to his eares thou beest ruin'd unawares for such men are more dangerous to be medled with then Monarchs themselves Kings being above all envy or punishment but Favourites knowing they stand in a slippery place as it is alwayes about the Throne creates not only a jealousie of all that can divulge their miscarriages but puts into them contrivances of mischief against all such if not final destruction 'T is not safe therefore to be privy at all to their secrets And whatever thou dost avoid all strife with thy Superiours putting thy hand to what is dangerous and not justifiable and making any great Mans Interest thine own who has lavisht his Estate Neither be perswaded by them to forfeit thy Allegiance to thy King on any pretence whatsoever which can't be without forfeiting a good Conscience towards God and in most likely-hood thy Soul to the Devil Be not therefore so fickle-pated to desire changes in State but satisfie thy self with this That Government is the care of Providence not thine If we rightly consider the condition of Kings we need not envy them they deserving rather our pity being at the best but miserable having but few things to acquire or aim at and many things to dread and afflict them But since we have hinted at this before it shall suffice SUBSECT II. To Equals MY advice is thou follow these few admonitions Make no comparisons Find no faults Meddle not with other mens matters Admire not thy self Be not Opinionative Neither arrogate nor derogate Be not proud nor popular Neither flatter lye nor dissemble Be constant Keep thy word and promise punctually though but in slight and small matters so shalt thou be believed in greater Keep thine own Counsel as to thy intentions and secrets Be respective to thine Equals but not Familiar Insult not Cast not off an old Friend Accuse no man Praise none rashly Give no man cause of offence Lay no wagers Mend in thy self what thou seest amiss in others Take time by the fore-lock Be temperate in these four things Lingua Loculis Oculis and Poculis Watch thine Eye Moderate thy Tongue and thy Expences Hear much but speak little Give no ear to Tale-bearers Be patient meek merciful and grateful Be not fond of fair words Maintain Friendship Do good to all Frquent good company Admonish thy Friend in secret and commend him openly Be not too curious Make not a Fool of thy self to make others merry Avoid contentious disputes but if thou canst not avoid them keep within moderation and charge not farther than thou canst make a safe and honourable retreat and in some Controversies 'twere not amiss to resolve thy Arguments into Questions ever remembring to keep a reserve within thy self that thou dost not discover all thy knowledge that on just occasion thou mayst deliver rather more than less than was expected which will make thee the more Respected 'T is good also sometimes to dissemble thy knowledge in what thou art known or thought to know whereby thou shalt be judged another time to know what perhaps thou knewest not Avoid conceitedness in either thy carriage words or looks seem not better greater or wiser than thou art lest thou beest rendred less than thou shouldest be How ridiculous is it in a Gentleman to seem to carry all with a grave Hum Nod or hard word which perhaps he himself understands as little as they that hear him And in Discourse to take that for granted which he cannot prove or barely on the account of his Quality to venture at what he knows he understands not and yet would fain perswade his Auditors he understands much more than he sayes These are pityful evasions and become none but shallow-witted Gentlemen * Yet many times with the Vulgar the Duil Hard-skull'd Man is taken to be grave when indeed 't is
must needs be driven to acknowledge a supreme hand and a GOD the first moving cause For all actions and mutations in the World are performed by motion which motion being traced through its causes will bring us to an eternal Being and the acknowledgment of a GOD as being the first mover and consequently that he 's Eternal whence 't is easie to prove the rest of his Attributes Causes of Atheism I shan't dispute with such as maintain there is no real Atheist denying GOD in the heart Since this wicked Age wherein we live doth sadly evince to us the contrary But this I shall affirm that hardly any Sect or Opinion in Religion is approved by any but the professors thereof as if they had no m Nulla firmior amicitia quám quae contrabitur hinc nulla Discordia major quám quae a Religione fit Montanus in Micah Charity presently account them Atheists which may be put as another cause of Atheism For none more like to be Atheists than such as place their Religion in this or that Opinion especially if they reflect on the Antipathy each have to other and consider seriously how all confidently conclude themselves in the Right backing their Tenets with Scripture Authority and Reason and that most things they hold as Truths to be but dubious at best unless he be a resolute Person not doubting at all in his Opinion and Sect. But if he waver and be doubtful changing from one Sect to another have taken exceptions at the defects of most 't is a wonder if he fall not out with all and fix on Atheism at last and despise all Religion as a cheat or policy to keep Men in good Order Another cause of Atheism may be Peace and Plenty in a time when Learning flourishes For Prosperity has damn'd more Souls than all the Devils in Hell It makes Men cast off fear of GOD and Man entangles Mens minds in Vanity blinds them in their pleasures and overwhelms them in Sin For whilst we thrive in the World we are apt to turn our backs on Heaven whereas Poverty and afflictions are the dispensations of Providence and the blessings of the Almighty to fit Sinners for Repentance inclining our minds more to true Devotion for the afflicted have God for the most part in their minds and mouthes An Habit of Scoffing and deriding the Scriptures may be another cause This Vain Idle and Phantastical Pityful Childish humour of Jesting proceeds which this Age so Super-abounds with among such as call themselves Gentlemen from Pride and Ostentation For they being generally Men of weak Judgments and unfit for matters of Substance and Solidity as being above their apprehension they immediately with a disdainful Jest scorn what they are uncapable of or proceeds from any that attempt noble things Wit may lawfully be used GOD having given nothing to us in vain but great care ought to be had it be not abused especially in jesting with Holy things for thereby they make a mock of Sin trifle with the wrath of GOD and play like Fools with Hell-fire whither without Repentance they are posting This way of fooling is beneath a Gentleman for it Hebetates the Reason and renders him empty flashy and Phantastical Another cause may be the Clergy live scandalously which is a great eye-sore and a main cause what can be more unseemly than to see such as should lead men to Heaven walk themselves as if there were no Hell That should be Instructers of others in Sobriety Humility and all Piety live loosely proudly in all Riot and Excess Drinking Whoring Lying Swearing Pride and Covetousness are odious in every one but especially in those that should teach otherwise are they aggravated Such are a dishonour to their Coat the scandal of the Church and an occasion of the Enemies Blaspheming Who will believe those are sins as they exclaim in the Pulpit if they themselves all the week after walk in them with delight A Gentleman though he shou'd with much indignation abominate such vile practices and if in power endeavour to suppress them yet shou'd not be so narrow spirited as therefore to neglect the Ordinances of GOD since the Author and Finisher of our Faith and Religion Commands the very Apostles themselves to hear the Scribes and Pharisees those whom he calls so often Hypocrites and against whom he pronounces so many woes only with this Restriction That they do not as they do However their Doctrine was good and therefore enjoyned To do as they say A Minister that has a Lawful Call ought rather to be reprehended than slighted He may be evil himself yet instruct others in good works These make large Rents in the Church Union of all things else ought to be desired therefore And why are there so many differences among us Either because we are wedded to our own wayes and Opinions or because we quarrel with shadows Order Ceremonies and things indifferent and not of Faith while we neglect the Substance and fundamentals in Religion Many times through weakness of Judgment violent contests arise between party and party and yet neither differ in the main and perhaps not in the thing it self neither which through their ignorance notwithstanding they know not how to Reconcile To Compose these Differences is by fair and gentle not foul and rigorous means according to the Laws A weak Brother is to be restored in the Spirit of meekness Consciences are not to be compell'd by Fire and Sword For that Religion which is established by the sword must needs bek in to Mahomet's let the pretences be what they will or worse As we have lately too wofully experimented in our blessed times of Reformation in which they did not stick in their Zeal to destroy the Lord 's Anointed If they had been men after Gods own heart as they were Saints their hearts would certainly have melted with sorrow and remorse as David's smote him for but cutting off the skirt of Saul's Garment and yet he never intended to cut his throat But their hearts were hardned if not seared Nothing more unbecoming a Gentleman than to oppose his Sovereign the fountain of Gentility or Government the Ordinance of GOD. Can any man be so stupid as to imagine there can be any Religion in Rebellion or Reformation in murthering of Kings subverting of Government and destroying many Families Innovations in Religion are dangerous unless gradual and by the steps of time for so they 'l hardly be perceptible No Innovation unless by the product of time can suit well with any well-governed Nation for long-continued Customs agree best together although perhaps in themselves bad whereas better being unused link not so well and therefore prove more troublesome So that great caution is to be had in Reformation that the Alteration be for Reformation and not the Reformation a pretence to Rebellion which a Gentleman in all publick Conferences Consultations and Counsels ought carefully to avoid Let all Discourses of Religion be
from Anger Wine Tobacco how occasioned For in Anger an earnest desire after any thing In Drunkenness by Wine other Liquors or Tobacco or extraordinary heat too many spirits being sent to the brain make such a confusion as they cannot regularly nor readily be sent thence into the muscles The Causes of Languishing Languishing is another and is felt in all the Members being a disposition or inclination to ease and to be without motion occasioned as Trembling for want of sufficient spirits in the nerves But in a different manner For Languishing is caused when the Glance in the Brain do not determine the Spirits to some muscles rather than others when Trembling proceeds from a defect of the Spirits 'T is also frequently the effect of Love joyned to the desire of any thing which cannot be acquired for the present For in Love the Soul being so busied in considering the object beloved all the spirits in the Brain are imployed to represent the Image thereof to her whereby all the motions of the Glance are stopt which were not subservient to this Design And so in Desire though it frequently Renders the Body active as was noted when the object is such as something from that time may be done for acquiring it Yet when there is an Imagination of the Impossibility of attaining it all the agitation of Desire remains in the Brain where being wholly imployed in fortifying the Idea of this object without passing at all into the Nerves leaves the rest of the Body Languishing And thus also Hatred Sadness and Joy may cause a kind of Languishing when they are violent by busying the soul in considering their objects But most commonly it proceeds from Love because it depends not on a surprize but requires some time to be effected Swoonings and the Causes Swooning is another effect of Joy and is nothing but a suffocation of the vital heat in the Heart some heat remaining that may afterwards be kindled again It may be occasioned several wayes but chiefly by extreme Joy in that thereby the orifices of the Heart being extraordinarily opened the blood from the Veins rush so impetuously and so copiously into the Heart that it cannot be there soon enough rarified to lift up those little skins that close the entries of those veins whereby the fire and heat thereof is smothered which used to maintain it when it came regularly and in a due proportion 'T is seldom or never the effect of Sadness though it be a Passion that contracts and as it were tyes up the orifices of the Heart because there is for the most part blood enough in the heart sufficient to maintain the heat though the Orifices thereof should be almost closed Subordinate to Joy and Sadness also is Derision Envy Pity Satisfaction Repentance Gratitude and Good Will Indignation and Wrath Glory and Shame Distrust sorrow and Light-heartedness Of Derision and its Causes When a Man perceives some small evil in another which he conceives him worthy of it occasions Derision Whence 't is apparently a kind of Joy mixt with Hatred But if the evil be great he to whom it happens cannot be thought to deserve it but by such as are very ill-natur'd or have much hatred against him When the evil comes unexpectedly being surprized with Admiration it occasions Laughter For Laughter as was said never proceeds of Joy unless it be very moderate and some little Admiration or Hatred be therewith complicated When the accident is good it excites Joy and gladness when anothers welfare is perceived by us And this Joy is serious and no ways accompanied with Laughter or Derision But when we account him worthy of it it occasions Envy as the unworthiness of the evil Pity and these two are the Daughters of Sadness Cause of Envy and Pity Envy is a Vice proceeding from a perverse Nature causing a Man to molest and vex himself for the goods of Fortune he sees another possessor of and so is a kind of Sadness mixt with Hatred and a Passion that is not alwayes vitious For I may Lawfully Envy the Liberal distribution of the goods of Fortune on unworthy Illiterate and base Fellows that no wayes deserve them inasmuch as my love of Justice compels me thereunto because its Laws are violated by an unjust distribution or the like Especially if it go no farther and extend not to the Persons themselves 'T is somewhat difficult to be so just and generous as not to hate him that prevents me in the acquisition of any commendable good which is frequently seen in Honour Glory and Reputation though that of others hinders me not from endeavouring their attainment also though it render them more difficult to be atchieved Wherefore Envy not thus qualified is no wayes becoming a Gentleman there being no Vice so hurtful both to the Soul and bodily health of him that 's possessed therewith What mischiefs does it not do by Detractions Lyes Slanders and several other wayes beneath the Action of a Gentleman Cause of Pity Pity is a mixture of Love and sadness towards such whom we see that we bear a kindness to suffer any evil which we think they deserve not So that its object is diametrically opposite to Envy and Derision considering it in another manner And although it proceed rather from the Love we bear to our selves then to the pityed those being most incident to it that find themselves impotent and subject to the frown of Fortune thereby fancying themselves possible to be in the same condition yet 't is no wayes unbecoming a Gentleman since the most high generous and great Spirits that contemn want as being above the frowns of Fortune have been known to be highly compassionate when they have heard the complaints and seen the failings of other men Besides to love and bear good will to all men is a part of Generosity and thus the sadness of this Pity is not extreme Nay none but evil mischievous pernitious and envious Spirits want Pity or such as are fraught with an universal hatred and destitute of love For 't is chiefly excited by Love whence it sending much blood to the Heart causeth many Vapours to pass through the eyes and then sadness by its frigidity retarding the agitation of those vapours condensing them into tears is the cause that Weeping often accompanieth it 'T is much more to be preferred in a Gentleman than Derision since the most defective in Body and Mind are the greatest Deriders of others desiring to see and bring all Men equally into disgrace with themselves This proceeds from Hatred that from Love Jesting exploded Nothing more vain then than Jesting so much now in use with such as assume the name of Gentlemen if thus grounded Wit in moderate Jesting for the detecting or reprehending vice may be allowed it being a seemly quality in the best and greatest thereby discovering the Tranquillity of the Soul and liveliness of the disposition Nay even to Laughter
at a Jest provided it be harmless for so it may be as the not doing it may be accounted stupidity or sottishness But to laugh at his own is ridiculous Wit may be used but not abused as was said to the injury slurr or affront of another in Body Name Quality or otherwayes or to the prophanation of Religion and goodness Of Satisfaction Satisfaction proceeds of some good which we have done our selves which being really good gives a most pleasant inward satisfaction and is the most delectable Passion For in such who follow the steps of Virtue it is the habit in the Soul which we call Tranquillity or Quietness of Conscience But when we acquire ought anew or have done any thing we think good there is a foolish sort of Joy the cause depending only on our selves and not on the real goodness of the thing And when it is not just or the thing vitious or not sufficient to deduce satisfaction from it 'T is most unbecoming a Gentleman it causing an impertinent Pride and arrogancy As we see by many in every Town and Countrey who whilst they believe themselves to be Saints and that the only ones are notwithstanding but Hypocrites all the while For whilst they hear Sermon upon Sermon three or four in a day besides Repetitions make long Prayers be against all Order and Government of the Church perform this and the other Family Duty they rest therein conclude themselves Saints and that God is bound to do for them all things since they have done so much as they think for him and so come up to the merits of the Papists whilst none farther off and at a distance from them as they idly fancy Nay some count whatever their Passions prompt them to Zeal though never so abominable illegal and impious As Murthering of Kings Rebellion Usurpation Betraying Cities nay their own Countrey Ruining of Families and whole Nations too and all because they are not of their Brain-sick opinion A weighty Reason Repentance is Diametrically opposite to Satisfaction and excited by evil it being a kind of Sadness arising from a belief we have done somewhat that 's evil Cause of Repentance 'T is the most grievous and tormenting of all Passions in that the cause arises from our selves yet serves to this good end to incite us to do better for the future It argues a weak Spirit when an Action is repented of before it be known whether it be evil or no only on their fancy of its being evil and so if it had not been committed they would also Repent of that too Of Good-will and Gratitude with tgeir Causes As Satisfaction is from some good that we have done our selves so Good-will proceeds from good that has been done by others for whether it concern us or no it causeth a good-will in us unto the Actor for it But if it be done unto or concern us in particular we thereunto add Gratitude which is a sort of Love stir'd up in us by that good Action of his to whom we are grateful and that too whether it be really so or no if we believe he has done us some good nay if he had but an intention to do it 'T is much stronger than good-will and includes all that it doth and this to boot that 't is grounded on an Action we are sensible of and desirous to requite Good-will may also in that 't is exercised towards any that does good though it concern not our selves be a kind of Love not Desire though it be still accompanied with a desire of good to happen to him we wish well to And is frequently the associate of Pity for when we see the disgraces that befall the unfortunate we are thereby constrained to make the more accurate inspection into their merits Of Ingratitude and Indignation Ingratitude is no Passion Nature having never put any motion of the Spirits so in us as to excite it 'T is only a Vice then directly opposite to Gratitude and accompanies only the more rude weak sottish and foolish barbarous and beastial Men being the greatest hinderance to humane Society and therefore mostly to be abominated by a Gentleman Indignation is opposite to good-will and although it be frequently accompanied with Envy or Pity yet its object is quite different from them For Indignation being a kind of aversion or Hatred to him that does some good or evil to any undeserving it But Envy is to him that receives this good and Pity to him that has the evil especially if he bear any good will towards him if ill 't is joyned with Derision Indignation is to the Agent Envy and Pity to the Patient and is more frequently in those that would seem Virtuous than those that are really so Indignation you see is not alwayes vitious but Envy can hardly be otherwise 'T is also frequently accompanied with Admiration as when things fall out contrary to expectation it surprizes us with Admiration And many times joyned with Joy but most frequently with Grief or Sadness As we are delighted when we consider the evil which we bear Indignation against cannot hurt us and that we would not do the like and hence many times this Passion is also accompanied with Laughter Wrath also is a kind of Aversion or Hatred against such as have done any evil against us or any of ours which we love whether it be real or only imagined or so apprehended and so comprehends Of Wrath Anger all that Indignation doth and this to boot that 't is grounded on an Action we are sensible of and which we desire to Revenge and so is directly opposed to Gratitude and is more violent being desirous to repell things hurtful and be Revenged In some it causeth Paleness and Tremblings in others Redness of Face and Weeping according to the several tempers of Men and the variety of other passions therewith complicated Whence Redness in Anger When wrath is so moved as that it only extends to words or looks for Revenge Redness of Face ensues especially in good Natures Whence Weeping in Anger and oft-times sorrow and pity through self-love that there can be no other Revenge occasions Weeping Whence Paleness in Anger as also Tremblings and Coldness But when a greater Revenge is resolved Sadness doth not only follow from an apprehension of the evil offered but Paleness Coldness and Tremblings also through fear of the evil that may ensue on the Resolution taken of Revenge So that such are more to be feared than they which at first are high-coloured Though these also when they come to execute their mischief and are warmed grow red in the Face Outward Momentary and sudden Anger Whence we may describe Two sorts of Anger or Wrath the one outward momentary and sudden of small efficacy and soon over presently manifest and most apparent The other more close occult and inward rooted and fixed more in the Heart producing oft-times most dangerous effects