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
as soon as he listened to the devil and that inticed by his promises he had took part with him his punishment was answerable to his fault and his disobedience was punished by a general rebellion for to boote that his creatures revolted against him and that his subjects that they might serve Gods justice became his enemies the revolt passed from his condition to his person the elements divided themselves in his body and his Body mutinied against his Soul This intestine war was the sooner kindled between these two parties for that their peace was not so much an effect of Nature as of Grace the hatred which succeeded their love was so much the more violent for that it was animated by sin which being but a meer disorder causeth divisions every where and satisfieth its own fury in executing the decrees of divine Justice so as we must not wonder if the rebellion which man suffers be so great since it takes its rise from two so puissant principles and that the parties which compose it are incouraged to the combat by the contrariety of their inclinations and by the malice of sin which doth possess them This mischief hath caused the greatest Saints to sigh The Apostle of the Gentiles finding no remedy for this malady but death wish'd for it as a favour and as such a one made suit for the most rigorous of our punishments he in his Writings hath prepared all Christians to this War and hath made them know that a man cannot hope for peace in this life since the body made enterprizes upon the soul and that the soul was obliged evilly to intreat her Body From this great disorder the like of our Passions have ensued for though they be the off-spring of the soul and body that being equally produced by these two parties they should endeavour their agreement yet these unnatural children augment their division and according as they hold more of the soul or the body take part with the one or with the other of them and perform no act of Obedience wherein there is not somewhat of Rebellion The concupiscible appetite doth almost always hold intelligence with the body and the irascible appetite sides always with the soul. The first engages us in delights and keeps us in a shameful Idleness the second arms us against sorrow and encourageth us to generous actions in this continual bickering the soul of man is never at quiet and man is constrained to nourish Vipers which do devour him Philosophers have indeed found this mischief but they thought it lay only in the Will and not in the Nature of man They were perswaded that opinion and ill breeding caused these disorders and that as one evil is cured by its contrary this might be remedied by wholsom doctrine and good education They founded Academies wherein they disputed about the Summum bonum They made Panegyricks in the behalf of virtue and Invectives against vice They declaimed against the unruliness of Passions and measuring their abilities by their desires they promised victory and tryumph to themselves But not finding the original of the malady by consequence they could never light upon the remedy amidst the weakness they underwent and their vain indevours they were enforced to accuse nature and to complain even of that soveraign Power which hath composed man of pieces which could not be made agree A glimpse of light would certainly have rectified them and a Chapter of Saint Pauls would have made them know the truth for since they agreed with us that God cannot be defective in his workmanship and that he is too just to require things at our hands which exceed our power they must have concluded that our disorder was the punishment of our sin and that the infirmity which we lament was not an effect of our nature but the correction of Gods Justice by thinking thus they would have endeavoured to appease him whom they had injured and confessing their infirmity they would have implored his assistance but pride blinded them and to make use of Seneca's words against himself they would rather accuse providence than acknowledge their own misery and rather impute their disorder to Gods rigour than to their own offences They either could not or would not comprehend what reason taught them before that faith had published by the mouth of Saint Paul and of Saint Augustine that the rebellion of the flesh against the spirit is not a condition of nature but the punishment of sin From what hath been said 't is easie to infer that since man is sinful since his Passions have revolted since the soul which ought to govern them is darkned and that the will which ought to moderate them is depraved he must of necessity have recourse to grace and beg that of mercy which justice hath bereaved him of The same power which formerly accorded our soul with our body must now end these differences If the condition of this miserable life be such as will not suffer us to enjoy a perfect peace we must seek for forces wherewithal to fight so if we cannot shun the misfortunes of war we may hope for the advantages of the victory The SECOND DISCOURSE The Nature alone is not sufficient to rule the Passions of Man THough the Stoicks be declared enemies unto Passions and that they cannot be judged in a cause wherein they are a party yet methinks their judgments have some colour of Justice and that it is with reason that they do mix our Passions with our Vices For in the condition whereinto Sin hath reduced us our apprehensions are no more pure our nature being corrupted all the inclinations thereof must needs be out of order and the rivers which run from a polluted Spring must needs be troubled I know Philosophers will not agree of this truth and they never permit us to accuse Nature of an error since they take her for their guide nor that we dishonour her all whose motions they esteem so regular They profess to follow her in all things and hold that to live happily a man must live according to Nature The Libertines plead this Maxim and will excuse their disorders by a Doctrine which they understand not for had they studied in the Stoicks Schools they would find that those Philosophers presuppose that Nature was in her first purity and that they took her not for their guide but for that they imagined she had preserved her innocency So banished they from their Sages and even from their Disciples all those Affections which they would have pass for natural and by a generous but a useless endeavour they would have us to be as well governed in the state of sin as in that of Original Justice But Christians who have learn'd by the Holy Scripture that nature is fallen from her first purity are bound to confess that the Passions have revolted and that to bring them again into subjection Reason must be assisted by Grace for there is no man
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
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
tolerate it and by an unfortunate necessity we must give lodging to a guest we should not be able to love but Nature hath well provided for this and her providence which always watches over her children hath given us a Passion which eschews evil with as much impetuosity as desire seeks after good This keeps at distance from all that can hurt us and following the inclinations of hatred whereof she is either the Daughter or Slave she flies from all objects that displease her and fights to defend it self against her enemies 't is the first succour we have received against evils 't is the first violence the first salley which the concupiscible appetite makes to free us from them Though this Passion be almost alwayes blameless and that she cannot be made criminal but by surprizal yet ceaseth she not to have her ill use and to be every day employ'd against the design of Nature Those therefore that would make use of her are bound to consider whether that which they endevor to eschew be truly so or be but so in appearance and whether opinion which easily seizeth upon the understanding hath not perswaded them unto falshoods instead of truths For it is apparent that of two things that bear the name of evil in the world there is but one of them which may properly be said to deserve it Sin and Punishment are the two most ordinary objects of eschewing and most men do so confound them as we know not which of them is most odious Punishment being more sensible than Sin it is more carefully shunned and there are not many people who do not love rather to be faulty than unfortunate We shun the Plague and seek out sin we keep far from all infected places the bad air whereof may work an alteration in our health and we draw near to evil company which may rob us of our innocency Religion obligeth us not withstanding to believe that Punishments are the effects of Divine Justice that they have Beauties which though austere ought not to be the less pleasing that God honours himself by punishing of his enemies and that he finds as much satisfaction in chastening the guilty as in recompencing the just The greatest Saints have known that our punishments were favours which did no less contribute to the welfare of man than to the glory of his Creator they have confessed that we must adore the arm which hurts us love the wounds because of the arm that made them and teach all the world that Heavens Thunders are just since those who are therewith struck adore them but sin is a true evil which hath nothing in it which is not odious its object is a soveraign good which it offendeth and if in the behalf of the committer the malice thereof be bounded on his behalf against whom it is committed it is infinite Sin violates all the Laws of Nature dishonoureth men and Angels and all the evils which we suffer are the just punishments of its disorders 'T was then for this dreadful evil that we were endued with aversion and this aversion cannot be more justly employed than in keeping us far from a Monster the abode whereof will be hell and death the eternal punishment Next to sin nothing ought to be more carefully eschewed than those that do defend it and who to enlarge the Empire thereof endeavor to make it appear lovely and glorious As Nature is the pure workmanship of God she cannot tolerate sin and that she may banish it from the earth she hath laden it with confusion and fear it dares not appear in full day it hides it self in darkness and seeks out solitary places where it hath none but such as are complices with it for witnesses But its partakers raise it up upon a throne and play all their cunning to win it glory they cover it with the cloak of Virtue and if it hath any thing of affinity with its enemy they strive to make it pass for Virtue They change their names and by one and the same action committing two faults they bereave Virtue of her honour that they may give it to Sin they term Revenge greatness of Courage Ambition a generous Passion Uncleanness an innocent pleasure and consequently they term Humility lowness of Spirit the forgiving of injuries faint-heartedness and continency a savage humor They spread abroad these false maxims they turn evils into contagious diseases and their errors into heresies they seduce simple souls and presenting poyson in Chrystal vessels they make it be swallow'd down by innocent people Those who are most couragious have much ado to defend themselves from them the best wits suffer themselves to be perswaded by their lewd Reasons we are therefore bound to have recourse to the succour that Nature hath given us to excite this Passion which keeps us aloof from what is evil and furnisheth us with forces to fight against it But her chief employment ought to be against Incontinence and the Heavens seem to have given a being to Aversion only to rid our hands of an enemy which cannot be overcome but by Eschewing All Passions come in to the aid of Virtue when she undertakes a war against Vice Choler grows hot in her quarrel Audacity furnisheth her with weapons Hope promiseth her Victory and Joy which always follows generous actions serves instead of Recompense but when she is to set upon Incontinency she dares not employ all these faithful souldiers and knowing very well that the enemy she is to fight withal is as crafty as puissant she fears lest he may seduce them and by his cunning draw them over to his side In truth Choler agrees easily with Love and Lovers quarrels serve only to re-kindle their extinct flames Hope entertains their Affections and Joy oft-times takes its rise from their displeasures so as Virtue can only make use of Eschewing to defend her self and of so many Passions which assist her in her other designs she is only seconded by Eschewing in her combate against Impurity But she thinks her self strong enough if succour'd therewithal and there is no such charming Beauty no so strong inclination nor so dangerous occasion which she doth not promise her self to overcome provided she be accompanied by this faithful Passion She is the cause why Chastity reigns in the world 't is by reason of her wisdom that men do imitate Angels and triumph over evil spirits in the frailty of the flesh But the greatest miracle which she produceth is when being subservient to Charity she separateth us from our selves and when preventing the violence of death she divideth the soul from the body for man hath no greater enemy than himself he is the cause of all his own evils and Christian Religion agrees with the Sect of the Stoicks that man can receive no true displeasure save what he himself procures he is therefore bound to keep at distance from himself and to hold no commerce with his Body
after a defeat by the strength of hope they charge enemies that have beaten them and promise unto themselves that Fortune will grow weary of always favouring one side In fine there is no so unfortunate condition which receives not comfort from this Passion though she be a Cheater she will appear to be faithful and even in her lightness she gives proofs of her constancy for she accompanies her slave ev'n to death she follows Gally-slaves to the Gallies she enters Prison with the Prisoners she goes upon the Scaffold with the guilty and with what bad success soever she may have paid our desires no man can resolve to abandon her But as there is no advantage in the world which is not mingled with some defaults Hope wants not hers and if she flatter men by her sweetness she astonisheth them by the fear which accompanieth it For the good which she purchaseth is absent and difficult the absence thereof disquieteth her and the difficulty astonisheth her She knows very well that what she seeks after is doubtful her very name teacheth her that the event of her undertakings is uncertain and as oft as she considers the dangers that threaten her she grows pale as well as fear she seems to be of the humor of that great Commander who always trembled when he began to give battel as if he apprehended the hazards whereinto his courage was like to throw him she fears her own endeavour and her boldness is the chiefest cause of her fearfulness This Maxime is so true as that a certain Philosopher was of opinion that our apprehensions sprung from our hopes and that to cease to fear we must cease to hope for though these two Passions seem to have a contrariety and that the soul which hopeth is full of assurance yet doth the one of them arise from the other and notwithstanding their ill intelligence they go hand in hand and seldom part they march together as do the prisoners with their Guards who are fastned with the same Chain and almost brought to the same servitude But I wonder not that they have so much affinity since they relate so much one to another and that the one and the other of them is the Passion which holds a man in suspence whom the expectation of what is to come continually disquiets When she hath not this unhappiness and that the knowledge of her strength assures her of good success in what she takes in hand she falls into another extremity and furnisheth our enemies with means to surprize us for she is naturally inconsiderate whatever good advice be given her she hath an eye unto the good which attracts her and considers not the evil which environs her she throws her self indiscreetly into danger and guiding her self only by appearances which deceive her she engageth her liberty to satisfie her inclination Thus we see fishes swallow the hook because 't is covered with some bait thus we see wild beasts give against the toils thinking to find some prey there and Souldiers fall into an Ambush thinking to get some advantage So as Hope is a rash Counsellor which in the obscurity of what 's to come sees only false lights and discovers no apparent good save only to throw us into hidden and real evils Therefore do Polititians always distrust her advices and those great men who govern States do not easily believe a Passion which hath more heat than light and more courage than wisdom But say she should make good all that she promiseth us and that the good fortune which she makes us expect should not be mingled with any displeasure yet should we have reason to complain of her since that in feeding us with what is to come she makes us forget what is past and obligeth us to build our contentment on the the most uncertain part of our life Time which measureth all things hath three differences the Past the Present and the Future the Present is but punctum a point it runs away so fast as there is no staying of it we are tane in a Lie whensoever we speak of it it never understands the beginning and ending of the same discourse when we think to make use of it for a witness or to alledge it for an Example it escapes our hands we find it is no longer Present and that it is already Past. The Future succeeds it but it is so hidden as the wisest men of the world cannot discover the first moments thereof the darkness of it is so thick as that the light of wisdom cannot dissipate it the success of things are shut up in the Abyss thereof and one cannot come to the knowledge of them upon smaller terms than entring into eternity a man must be a Prophet to penetrate its secrets and all is there in respect of us so doubtful and so confused as the days which we destine for triumph are oft-times destin'd for our defeat and we reserve for our Pastime those which Heaven hath ordained for our punishment The time Past is no more it flies us and we flie it our wishes which have somewhat of claim to what is to come pretend none to this they cannot dispose of that which hath no further a being and that soveraign power which all things obey will undertake nothing upon this part of Time save when the said power will new-mould the world and drawing our bodies from out the dust will render unto the present that which the past had taken from it 'T is true our Memory hath some jurisdiction over it she makes use thereof for our comfort she calls back our good days past to recreate us by a harmless piece of art she makes present happiness of our past evils she raises our friends from their graves that we may entertain our selves with them she converseth with the dead without horror and maugre the necessary laws of Time she revives what is past and restores unto us all the contentments which Time hath bereft us of It is likewise that part of our life which Philosophers love best 't is that over which Fortune hath no more power and which cannot be incommodiated by Poverty tormented by Fear nor abused by Hope 'T is a sacred time which accidents dare not touch 't is a treasure which cannot be taken from us and Tyrants who have power over the remainder of our life have none at all over that which is past the Passion thereof is peaceful and let the Destinies do what they please they cannot rob us of a good which we enjoy only by remembrance yet Hope deprives us of these harmless riches and busying her self only about what is to come she hinders us from thinking upon what is past she makes us poor to enrich us she takes from us a certainty to feed us with uncertainty and by an unjust extremity she draws us out of a calm to engage us in a storm I confess that Wisdom and Religion have an eye to what
both Wisdom and Power the Arm and the Idaea of his Father but amongst the creatures these qualities are separated and who hath much strength hath but little knowledg to make these two incompatible advantages meet Heaven must do a miracle and it is not more difficult to agree Fire Water than to unite Wisdom Fortitude It must also be confess'd that as Fear is fuller of Advisedness than of Generosity she hath likewise more Light than Heat and is far fitter for Counsel than for Combat In fine she is accused in taking things always in the worst sense and of making evils greater than they are She resembles say they those faint-hearted Spies which Moses sent to discover the Land of Palestine who thought by their false reports to have turned the Iews from so noble a conquest she makes a Mountain of a Mole-hill all beasts appear Monsters to her and she thinks all dangers which she sees inevitable 'T is true she doth almost always judge the worst and that she may be abused doth paint out evil in its proper deformity but surely in so doing she remembreth Wisdom the more which never adviseth of what is to come without fore-casting all the difficulties that may arrive without preparing forces to fight with such enemies as may assail her she doth not consider only what is done but what may be done when she sees an evil she will know the progress thereof and takes some little trouble to procure assured quiet The Stoicks have no better expedient to defend themselves against an evil that threatens them than to imagine it will happen and to withstand it in their minds that they may have the better of it in effect so as by the judgment of our enemies wisdom hath no other Maxim than Fear and this faithful servant moves not but as her Soveraign doth 'T is true that as she neighbours upon the Senses and resides in that part of the Soul wherein combustions are framed she always apprehends trouble and her judgments are almost always accompanied with commotion but the understanding may easily disabuse her and by the brightness of its fire may dissipate the Fogs which rise from the Imagination it must bind her to consider such objects as she is afraid of and make her the bolder by making her view the cause of her astonishment at a nearer distance she must take away that Solemnity from Punishments which makes them so dreadful and those complaints from Grief which make her so eloquent it must teach her that under those deceitful appearances there is but a common death which Children have endured which Souldiers have overcome and which Slaves have contemned the most appearing torments are not always the most violent a stopping of the Urine is more painful than being broken on the wheel one troubled with the Gout suffers many times more pain in his bed than an offender doth on the Rack a man whose head is cut off endures not so much as he that dies of a Fever it belongs then to the understanding to perswade fear that all those things which affright us are not those which harm us that the greatest appearing evils are not the most sensible and that those which appear least are oft-times cause of greatest pain Thus will she be fixt against evils and suffering her self to be guided by Reason she will have no more apprehensions than what shall be necessary to keep her from being surprized But if Fear may be serviceable to us in withstanding Vice she may be made use of to defend Virtue and this seems to be the chief end for which Nature hath ordained her for Shame is nothing but a Fear of Infamy and this innocent Passion is the protectress of all Virtues 't is to her that Judges owe their Integrities Souldiers their Courage and Women their Chastity 't is by her care that Piety is preserved and all the world must confess that not any Affection of our soul is more delectable or useful than is Shame Since we owe so much unto her 't is reason that we acknowledge it and that we give her the honour she deserves she carries the colour of Virtue and that blush which spreads it self over her face is a mark of her Innocence but she is so very nice that the least thing in the world may corrupt her she is like those Fruits new gather'd whose verdure is lost assoon as they are handled she her self destroys her self she is offended at the praises that are given her and women are made to lose her by being reproached for her If she be easie to be lost she is as hard to be regain'd for though she be of a mild nature yet she is Stately and being once banish'd she is very hardly recalled Hope doth oft-times succeed Despair Joy resumes the place which Sorrow had possest and sometimes Hatred turns to Love but Shame never appears upon a Face when once it is driven thence by Insolence and Impudence as this Passion is a companion to Purity so is she of her Disposition the loss of either is irreparable she so loaths Sin as she cannot endure the sight thereof she blushes at the very name of it and she summons in all the bloud of her heart to succour her in defence of her self against her enemy But she is never of more might than when she fights in the defence of Virtue for she doth such mighty things in her behalf as she always procures her glorious victories she obligeth all the Passions to second her she sets out guiltiness in so ghastly a manner to them as she augments their hatred thereof and so presents Innocence to them so beautiful as she augments their love thereof she awakens Hope encourageth Audacity irritates Desire and enflames Choler so as it is a Passion that disperseth it self into all other Passions and which endueth them with new strength to maintain Virtues quarrel though she be timorous she encourageth Souldiers they are only valiant in being Ashamed and if they despise Danger 't is only because they fear Infamy one fear drives out another and those who give not way to Valour suffer themselves to be overcome by Shame Though she be indulgent she makes Judges severe and when men go about to corrupt them with bribes or to frighten them with threats she keeps them within their bounds by fear of Dishonour though she be Weak she makes women couragious and whilst she displays her blush upon their visages she seatters a secret virtue into their hearts which makes them triumph over those dangerous enemies that pursue them This Sex hath no other strength than what it borrows from this innocent Passion it preserves it self only by the fear of Infamy and who should take this defence from it would easily bereave it of all its other advantages Nature it self which very well knows it loves Beauty as well as Virtue hath perswaded it that Shame makes it more approved of
reason with it or to speak more like a Christian there is nothing August but what is enlivened by the Grace of Jesus Christ. But to the end you may not believe I seek out hateful examples to take from Choler that greatness of courage which she boasteth of I will examine the reasons that are alledged in her defence consider her in a condition wherein she may challenge either praises or excuses Ought we not to be angry when all Laws Divine as Humane are violated may not one give himself over to Choler when she perswades us to revenge our Parents and is it not an action of Piety to be incensed against an impious â—retch who prophanes Altars and dishoâ—ors Churches I confess this Passion cannot have fairer pretexts that she is in her glory when she is irritated for so rational subjects but you will find that those who have been moved for the defence of their Countrey will have the same resentments for the preservation of their pleasures that they will be as angry for the loss of a horse as for the loss of a friend and that they will make it as great as business to correct a servant as to beat back an enemy it is not Piety but Weakness that excites this Choler and since she is highly mov'd as well for a word as for a murder we must conclude â—he is neither Courageous nor Rational the greatest part likewise of our Revenges are Injuries and we run hazard of committing a fault as oft as we will be Judges in our own cause our Interests blind us and our Self-love perswades us that the slightest injuries cannot be repaired but by the death of the guilty we are of the humour of Kings though we be not of their condition and imagine that all the wrongs that are done to us are as many High-treasons we would have neither Fire nor Gallows used save to punish our enemies are unjust enough to desire to engage the Justice of God in our Interests we could wish shâ— would let no Thunder fall but upon thâ— heads of such as have offended us and ouâ— of a height of impiety we would that thâ— Heavens were always in Arms in our quarrel But though we made no such wishes yeâ— would our Revenge be still irrational heâ— very name sheweth us that she is faulty and though she seem so pleasing to those that cherish her there is nothing more cruel nor more pusillanimous for she differs from Injury only in Time and if he that provoketh be Faulty he that Revengeth is not Innocent the one begins the fault the other ends it the one makes the Chalenge the other Accepts of it the second is not more just than the first save that the injury he hath receiv'd serves for a pretence to do another Therefore is it that our Religion forbids Revenge as well as Injury and very well knowing we cannot keep the Rules of Justice in punishing our wrongs she commands us to remit them into the hands of God and to leave the punishment thereof to him whose judgments are never unjust she teacheth us that to revenge Affronts done unto us is to intrench upon his Rights and that as all glory is due to him â—ecause he is our Soveraign Lord so all Reâ—enge belongs to him because he is our edge but that which is yet more admiraâ—e in her Doctrine and which surpasseth as â—ell the weakness of our Vertue as of our â—ind is that she will have us lose the deâ—re of Revenge and that stifling this reâ—entment which Nature thinks so just we â—ange our Hatred into Love and our Fury Mercy he will have us imitate His Goodness and that raised to a more than â—ortal condition we wish well to those â—hat do us mischief he will have us pray to 〈◊〉 for their Conversion and that accorâ—ing to the example of his only Son who â—btained Salvation for those that butcher'd â—im we ask pâ—rdon of him for our enemies he reserves his highest rewards for Charity and teacheth us that we cannot â—ope for forgiveness unless we shew mercy 〈◊〉 raiseth this Virtue above all others and â—eversing the worlds Maxims he will have 〈◊〉 to believe that greatness of Courage consisteth only in the forgetting of injuries all his endevours are to blot out of our â—ouls the memory of offences and hatred of our enemies to hear him speak you would â—hink his State were grounded on this Law only and that we cannot claim share in his Glory if we do not imitate his Clemenâ—cy Humane Philosophy hath not been ablâ— to attain to this degree of perfection yet shâ— hath observed that Hatred was unjust anâ— that Revenge was poorly condition'd shâ— hath made use of weak reasons to perswadâ— us to rare Virtues and when she hath noâ— been able to quite to abolish Choler she hatâ— endeavour'd to asswage it she hath shew'â— us that the world is a Republique whereâ—â— all men are Citizens that if the body werâ— holy the members thereof were sacred and that if it were forbidden to conspire aâ—gainst the State it was not lawful to atâ—tempt any thing against a man who madâ— a part thereof that it would be a strangâ— disorder if the Eyes should fight against thâ— Hands or that the Hands should declarâ— war against the Eyes that Nature whicâ— had united them in one and the same body had inanimated them with one and thâ— same spirit and that contributing to thâ— publick good they should mutually assiâ—â— one another lest the ruine of one part mighâ— draw on that of the whole that thus 〈◊〉 were bound reciprocally to preserve themselves for the welfare of the State knowing that Society subsists only by Love and thaâ— body cannot live when the members â—hereof are at discord All these maximes codemn Revenge Nature as corrupt as she 〈◊〉 teacheth us by the mouths of Philosoâ—hers that Jesus Christ hath commanded us â—othing which is not reasonable and if we â—eed his Grace to keep his Commandments it is not so much an argument of their difficulty as a mark of our unruliness as we â—aught to adore his Justice that punisheth 〈◊〉 we ought to adore his Mercy which forâ—ifieth our weakness and acknowledge that â—he imposeth no Laws upon us but that at the same time he gives us strength to observe them The THIRD DISCOURSE Of the good use of CHOLER THe Poet had reason to say That the way to Hell lay open to all the world and that all men were indifferently permitted to descend thither but that to get from thence when one was once entred there and to see the light again after one had been in darkness was a favouâ— which the Heavens granted only to thoâ—â— Grandees that had merited it by their glorious labours there is nothing more easâ— than to abuse Choler and engage onâ— self in the unjust resentments of Reâ—venge corrupt Nature hath taught uâ— these disorders and without other instruâ—cters than our
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
his Ambition by satisfying his Incontinence the more sins he commits the more pleasures he tastes A Tyrant rejoyceth in his Usurpation and if he reaps Glory by his Injustice he thinks himself more happy than a Lawful Prince A Cholerick man rejoyceth in Revenge though to obey his Passion he hath violated all the Laws of Charity he finds Contentment in his Crime and strangely blind the more faulty he is the more happy he thinks himself So that worldly joy is nothing else but wickedness unpunish'd or a glorious Sin Therefore when this passion becomes once faulty no less than a Miracle is required to restore it to its innocence For though such desires as rise up contrary to the Laws of God are unjust and that there are punishments ordained in his kingdom for the chastisement of irregular thoughts yet are these but begun offences and which have not as yet all their mischief though fond hopes be punishable and entertain our vanity yet are they not always follow'd by effects and oft-times by a fortunate Impotence they do not all the evil which they had promised unto themselves our boldness is fuller of inconsideration than of wickedness and an ill event makes it lose all its Fervour Our Sorrows and our Griefs are not obstinate they are healed by any the least help that is given them and as they are not well pleas'd with themselves they are easily changed to their contraries Our Fears are slitting the evil which caused them being once withdrawn they leave us at liberty and to conclude in a word there is no passion incurable but Joy But since it hath mingled it self with sin and that corrupting all the Faculties of Nature it takes delight in evil Morality hath no remedies more to cure it with 'T is a great disorder when a man glories in his sin and that as the Apostle sayes he draws his Glory from his own Confusion 'T is a deplorable mischief when together with Shame he hath lost Fear and that the punishments ordained by the Laws cannot hold him in to his duty but a strange irregularity is it when his sins have made him blind or that he knows them not save only to defend them but certainly when he takes delight in his sin when he grounds his Felicity upon Injustice and that he thinks himself Happy because he is Sinful this is the height of evil To punish this impiety it is that the Heavens dart forth Thunders The Earth grows barren for the punishment of this horrid disorder when war is kindled in a nation or that the Plague hath dispeopled Cities and turned Kingdoms into desolate places we ought to believe that these Judgments are the punishments of men who place their contentment in their offences and who violating all the Laws of Nature do unjustly mingle Joy with Sin Now because this mischief as great as it is ceaseth not to be common and that it is very hard to taste any innocent pleasure Iesus Christ adviseth us to forsake all the pleasure of the world and henceforth to ground our felicity in Heaven He bids us by the mouth of his Apostle not to open the doors of our hearts save to those pure consolations whereof the Holy Ghost is the Spring-head and arguing out of our own interests he obligeth us to seek only after that Joy which being founded on himself cannot be molested by the injuries of men nor the insolence of Fortune For if any think to place it in our Riches we are bound to fear the Loss thereof if we lodg it in reputation we shall apprehend Calumny and if like Beasts we put it in those infamous delights which slatter the Senses and corrupt the Mind we shall have as many subjects of fear as we shall see Chances that may bereave us of them Therefore following St. Augustines counsel which we cannot suspect since in the slower of his age he had tasted the delights of the world We should take care to lessen all sinful pleasures till such time as they may wholly end by our death and to increase all innocent pleasure till such time as they be perfectly consummated in Glory But you will peradventure say that our Senses are not capable of these holy delights and that Joy which is but a Passion of the Soul cannot raise it self up to such pure contentments that it must have some sensible thing to busie it self about and that whilst it is engaged in the body 't is an unjust thing to propound to it the felicity of Angels This exception is current only among such as think the passions of men to be no nobler than those of Beasts The affinity which they have with Reason makes them capable of all her Benefits when they are illuminated by her Lights they may be set on fire by her Flames When Grace sheddeth her influences into that part of the soul where they reside they labour after Eternity and forestalling the advantages of Glory they elevate the body and communicate unto it Spiritual feelings They make us say with the Prophet My body and my Soul rejoyce in the living God neglecting perishable delights they long after such only as are Eternal The FOURTH DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of Grief and Sorrow IF Nature could not extract good out of evil and did not her Providence turn our miseries into Felicities we might with Reason blame her for having made the most troublesome of our Passions the most Common For sadness seems to be Natural to us and Joy a Stranger All the parts of our body may taste Sorrow and Pain and but very few of them are Sensible of pleasure Pains come in throngs and assail us by Troops they agree to afflict us and though they be at discord among themselves they joyn in a confederacy to conspire our undoing but pleasures justle one another when they meet and as if they were jealous of good fortune the one of them destroys the other Our Body is the Stage whereon they fight the miseries thereof arise from their differences and man is never more unhappy than when he is divided by his Delights Griefs continue long and as if nature took pleasure in prolonging our punishment she indues us with strength to undergo them and makes us only so far Couragious or so far patient as may render us so much the more miserable Pleasures especially those of the Body endure but for a moment their death is never far off and when a man will make them of longer durance by art they occasion either torment or loathing But to make good all these reasons and to shew that Grief is more familiar to man than Pleasure we need only consider the deplorable condition of our life where for one vain contentment we meet with a thousand real sorrows For these come uncalled they present themselves of their own proper motion they are linkt one to another and like Hydra's heads they either never die