This Mistake made their Arguments bear up with a more negligent Romantick sort of Bravery than otherwise they would have done But Religion which gives us a Prospect of Horror beyond the Grave should make us careful how we go thither Life was given for noble Purposes and therefore we must not part with it Foolishly It must not be thrown up in a Pet nor sacrificed to a Quarrel nor whined away in Love Pride and Passion and Discontent are dangerous Diseases to dye of We are Lifted under Providence and must wait till the Discharge comes To Desert our Colours will be of more than mortal Consequence He that goes into the other World before he is sent for will meet with no good Welcome On the other side a Man may be too backward as well as too forward in Resigning Life may be overvalued as well as other Things and he that buys it at the Expence of Duty purchases too dear Some People seem resolved to Spin out Life as long as they can They are for going to the utmost Extent of Nature And will not venture a single Pulse upon any Consideration But to dote upon Breathing for 't is little more at this rate is to turn Slave to all Sorts of Meaness and Vice Fright such a one but with the Fear of Death and you may make him say or do what you please though never so infamous or ridiculous And if his Cowardize is not tryed thus far yet this Lean Principle will be sure to keep him Servile and Insignificant He will never Touch at a great Proposal nor run any generous Hazards for his Friends or Country And is it worth ones while thus to value Life above the Ends and Purposes of Living The Resolution of Pompey was much more becoming who when he was disswaded from embarking because the Weather was tempestuous replied very handsomely Gentlemen make no more Words on 't My Voyage is necessary my Life is not so The true Estimate of Being is not to be taken from Age but Action A Man as he manages himself may dye Old at Thirty and a Child at Fourscore To nurse up the vital Flame as long as the Matter will last is not always good Husbandry 'T is much better to cover it with an Extinguisher of Honour than let it consume till it burns Blew and lies Agonizing within the Socket and at length goes out in no Perfume If the Sun were not to rise again methinks it would look bigger for him to tumble from the Sky at Noon with all his Light and Heat about him than to gain a Course of four or five Hours only to Languish and Decline in When a noble Occasion presents An Occasion that will bear a cool Debate and stand the Test of Reason and may be pleaded to Advantage in the other World When a Man is called upon to offer up himself to his Conscience and to Resign to Justice and Truth In such a Case one would think he should be so far from avoiding the Lists that he should rather Enter with Inclination and thank God for the Honour of the Opportunity He should then be more solicitous about his Behaviour than his Life Then Fortem posce animum mortis terrore carentem Let him pray for Resolution to act up to the Height of the Occasion That he may discover nothing of Meaness or Disorder nothing that may discredit the Cause tarnish the Glory and weaken the Example of the Suffering There are some Opportunities of going out of the World which are very well worth ones while to come in for The last Act of Life is sometimes like the last Number in a Sum Ten times greater than all the rest To slip the Market when we are thus fairly offer'd is great Imprudence Especially considering we must part with the Thing afterwards for Less But is it not a sad Thing to fall thus plumb into the Grave To be well one Minute and dead the next Not at all If we are prepared the shorter the Voyage is the better Is it not more eligible to come In with a smooth Gale than to be tossed at Sea with a Storm and then throwna Shore when the Vessel is wrack'd Is it so desirable a Condition to run through a long Course of Pain to consume by Inches and loose ones Blood by Drops A Death-bed Figure is certainly the most humbling Sight in the World To Set in so dark a Cloud and to go off with Languor Convulsions and Deformity is a terrible Rebuke to the Dignity of Humane Nature Besides People are frighted by Phantoms of their own raising and imposed on by Words and Things ill joyned together A Natural Death is generally the most Violent An Executioner does the Business more gently than a Disease He that can conquer his Imagination may possibly dye easier of a Faggot than of a Fever And had better chuse to have the Fire kindled without than within him To say Flesh and Blood cannot be reconciled to this is a Mistake People have sometimes too much Courage this way How often does Revenge and Poverty and Disappointment make Men force their Passage into the other State A Slave has Stomach enough to kill himself And he that is not Master of his Liberty will be Master of his Life There is no Age nor Sex no Passion or Condition so dispirited and low but affords Instances of the Contempt of Death The old Goths from whence the Saxons are probably Descended were so hardy that it was part of their Discipline and Religion to scorn their Lives If they were afraid of any Thing it was of dying in their Beds In Alexander's Time the Indian Philosophers when they were weary of Living used to lye down upon their Funeral Pile without any visible Concern And afterwards about the Reign of Adrian Lucian mentions one Peregrinus who jump'd into a fiery Furnace at the Olympick Games only to shew the Company how far his Vanity could carry him At this day the Heathen Women under the Mogul offer themselves to the Flames at the Death of their Husbands 'T is true the Mahumetans won't always let them have their Will But they think they are hardly dealt with when refused and make all the Interest they have for the Honour I need not mention the Primitive Christians whose Fortitude was both General and Extraordinary Insomuch that Lactantius and others observe That the Women and Children did not shew the least Signs of Complaint either in Looks Voice or Motion when they seemed to lye under the Extremity of Torture But it may be replied and that truly That These were supported by supernatural Strength However the former Instances may suffice to shew That there is a Greatness in humane Nature not to be over-awed by Death The way to be possess'd of this Quality to purpose is to live well There is no such Bravery as that of a good Christian. He that can look the other World in the Face needs fear nothing But as
hold Hyl. Yes or else we have nothing to trust to If clear and distinct Perception is not the infallible Mark of Truth 't is impossible to know any Thing For all Reasoning is at last resolved into Self-evident Principles Now these Magisterial Propositions don't dispute for Belief but demand it They flash Conviction so powerfully that 〈◊〉 there is no resisting them unless you will suppose our Faculties are false And then it will be Madness to argue about any Thing To return Don't you think the Whole is greater than any Part of it Luc. I allow it an indisputable Axiom what follows Hyl. Why as plain and as primary a Truth as it appears 't is but a Consequence of what I mentioned before Luc. What that a Distinction of Ideas infers a Distinction in Things Hyl. Yes For do but attend and you 'll find that the reason why you pronounce the whole bigger than a Part is because the first takes up a greater room in the Notion and includes a more comprehensive Reality than the later Luc. It seems then the Functions of Life and Reasoning proceed from an immaterial Substance and that the Body and Spirit are perfectly distinct Hyl. Nothing more certain And if a Spirit has no Extension it can have no Parts from hence it becomes indivisible and thence immortal Luc. I own these Consequences are very clear but then they are embarrassed with some appendant Difficulties which shock a Man's Understanding Hyl. Look you We must not let go manifest Truths because we cannot answer all Questions about them Objections are no good Evidence against positive Proofs This scrupulous way would make us deny our Senses For there is scarcely any thing we meet with but puts our Reason to a stand in some Circumstance or other But pray where does the Pinch lye Luc. Why by this Scheme all Communication between Soul and Body is cut off and yet nothing is more certain than that These two maintain a large Correspondence You see we move our Limbs at our Pleasure and receive various Impressions according to the Objects of Sense and the Habits of Constitution But how the Soul can move the Body or be affected by it without Extension is past my Comprehension For all Motion is perform'd by Resistance and Resistance supposes Contact and Contact requires a Superficies and this implies Extension so that where Extension is absent the other Requisites must fail of Course At this rate a Soul may as soon push down a Church Steeple as stir a single Atom Hyl. I confess I can't tell you how this Affair is managed 'T is possible the Soul does not move the Body at all Luc. How then comes it to pass that Motion is so perpetually consequent to our Will For the Purpose When I have a Mind to walk the Muscles are immediately put into a Posture of Travelling and do their Office at the least Notice imaginable Hyl. I believe this mysterious Correspondence depends on the Laws of the Union which by Sovereign Appointment are order'd to consist in a certain Reciprocation of Thoughts and Motions and so vice versa Luc. You mean when I would move my Finger God directs the Organ for such a Performance And on the other hand gives me Ideas suitable to the Presence of sensible Objects and to the State of the Union Hyl. Right Luc. But why do you make use of this Supposition Do you believe the Power of Exciting Motion exceeds the Force of the Soul Hyl. 'T is not improbable it may For if this Privilege lay within our reach one would imagine we should know something more of the Manner of using it But I don't pretend to determine any Thing Luc. You don't think it impossible for a Spirit to move Matter Hyl. By no means If it were there would be no such Thing as Motion For Extension implies no Necessity of being Moved It supposes no more than a bare Capacity for such an Event Now that Power which brings this Possibility into Act must be something distinct from Matter Besides The Regularity of Motion visible in the great Variety and Curiosity of Bodies and the constant and even Revolutions of some of them is a Demonstration that the whole Mass of Matter is under the Conduct of a Mighty Intelligence Luc. By your Reasoning I conceive you believe that the Power of Motion is either an incommunicable Perfection of the Supreme Being or else a sort of Prerogative Royal which he is pleased to keep in his Hands that we may be the more sensible of our dependance Hyl. I think that Opinion not improbable You know the Apostle tells us That in Him we Live Move and have our Being Which Words 't is likely will bear a more Literal Sense than is usually imagined Luc. May be so But to return If Matter be so uncapable of Thinking as seems to have been proved How comes it about that the Operations of Sense and Reason vary so much according to the Disposition of the Organs For if the Musick does not depend on the Instrument what 's matter whether 't is in Tune or not Now you know any considerable Degrees of Sickness or Age flat the Senses extinguish the Memory and weaken the Understanding So that the Vigour of the Mind seems almost stifled under these Corporeal Oppressions Hyl. I grant the Powers of Sensation are contracted or enlarged made keen or languid according to the Temper of the Body But 't is likely these Circumstances are no more than occasional Causes of this Variety My Meaning is That there is no natural Connexion between Thought and Matter and Motion Or that the Soul and Body do not act by direct Force upon each other 'T is true Sensations and Passions seem to depend upon a particular Set of Motions And the Body on the other hand seems to fall into different Postures by the Orders of the Mind yet these Effects may not result from any mutual Agency but meerly from the Will of a third Power That this Supposition is possible needs no proof ' That 't is matter of Fact seems likely because the two Parties are so essentially foreign and dissimilar that they seem uncapable of entertaining any Commerce by virtue of their own Strength Luc. If the Operations of Life have no immediate dependance on the Quality of the Organ why are our Senses worn up with Age and decay with the visible Parts of the Body Hyl. When the common Period of the Union is almost expired 't is likely Providence gives us notice of it by such sensible Declensions that we may disengage from the World by degrees and prepare the better for so great an Alteration Luc. Why does Pain follow from Obstructions Dislocation Discontinuity c. and Pleasure from those Actions which support the Frame Hyl. To encourage us to keep the Body in repair and to prevent Dissolution Luc. Your answering in the Final Cause makes me believe you are at a Loss for the Efficient Hyl. As to that 'T is
is very engaging A Face well furnish'd out by Nature and a little disciplined has a great deal of Rhetorick in it A Graceful Presence bespeaks Acceptance gives a Force to Language and helps to Convince by Look and Posture But this Talent must be sparingly used for fear of falling into Affectation than which nothing is more nauseous Of all the Appearances methinks a Smile is the most extraordinary It plays with a surprizing Agreableness in the Eye breaks out with the brightest Distinction and sits like a Glory upon the Countenance What Sun is there within us that shoots his Rays with so suddain a Vigour To see the Soul flash in the Face at this rate one would think might convert an Atheist By the way we may observe that Smiles are much more becoming than Frowns This seems a natural Encouragement to good Humour As much as to say If People have a Mind to be Handsom they must not be Peevish and Untoward Another Thing remarkable is the Obsequiousness of the Aspect It goes as true to the Mind when we please as the Dial to the Sun The Orders are publish'd as soon as given 'T is but throwing the Will into the Face and the inward Direction appears immediately 'T is true a Man cannot command the standing Features and Complexion but the Diversities of Passion are under Disposal The Image of Pleasure is never seen when Anger was intended No. The Sentiments are painted exactly and drawn by the Life within And since 't is in our Power not to give a wrong Sign we should not pervert the Intendments of Providence To wash over a coarse or insignificant Meaning is to counterfeit Natures Coin We ought to be just in our Looks as well as in our Actions for the Mind may be declared one way no less than the other A Man might as good break his Word as his Face especially upon some critical Occasions It may so happen that we can converse no other way for want of an Interpreter But though I cannot tell what a Man says if he will be sincere I may easily know what he Looks The Meaning of Sounds are uncertain and tyed to particular Times and Places But the Language of the Face is fixt and universal Its Consents and Refusals are every where alike A Smile has the same Form and Sense in China as with us If Looks were as arbitrary as Words Conversation would be more in the dark And a Traveller would be obliged to learn the Countenances as well as the Tongues of Foreign Countries And as the Language of the Face is universal so 't is very comprehensive No Laconism can reach it 'T is the Short-hand of the Mind and crowds a great deal in a little room A Man may Look a Sentence as soon as Speak a Word The Strokes are small but so Masterly drawn that you may easily collect the Image and Proportions of what they resemble Whether Honesty and Dishonesty are discernable in the Face is a Question which admits of Dispute King Charles the Second thought he could depend upon these Observations But with submission I believe an Instance might be given in which his Rules of Physiognomy failed 'T is true the Temper and inward Disposition is sometimes visible in the Countenance Thus Salust tells us Cataline had Rage and Defiance in his Looks even after he was dead However here the Impression was partly design'd and voluntary He had a Mind no question to appear as Fierce and Formidable as he could But in Insincerity the Case is otherwise for no Man is willing to be known for a Knave Whether Men as they say of Plants have Signatures to discover their Natures by is hard to determine Some People fancy an honest Man looks plain and open and all of a Piece And therefore when they see a shy and compounded Air a remote and absconding kind of Countenance they conclude it Cain's Mark. This in their Opinion is either a Caution given us by Providence or the natural Effect of a crafty and suspicious Mind A Knave say they is apprehensive of being Discover'd and this habitual Concern puts an Odness into his Looks But After all no Man's Face is Actionable These Singularities are interpretable from more innocent Causes And therefore though there may be ground for Caution there is none for Censure AGAINST DESPAIR THE trouble of Despair always rises in proportion to the Evil that is feared By consequence the greatest Agonies of Expectation are those which relate to another World But I shall leave this Consideration to the Pulpits and proceed upon a lower Object Now Despair as it respects the Business and Events of Life is an uneasy and impolitick Passion It Antedates a Misfortune and Torments a Man before his Time It spreads a Gloominess upon the Soul and makes her live in a Dungeon beyond the Notion of Pre-existence It preys upon the Vitals like Prometheus's Vultur and eats out the Heart of all other Satisfactions It cramps the Powers of Nature and cuts the Sinews of Enterprize and gives Being to many cross Accidents which otherwise would never happen To believe a Business impossible is the way to make it so How many feasible Projects have miscarried by Despondency and been strangled in the Birth by a cowardly Imagination If Things will not do of themselves they may let it alone for he that Despairs is resolved not to help them For who would work upon an Impossibility Such an Expectation crys one will never come to pass Therefore I 'll e'en give it up and go and fret my self How do you know that Can you see to the utmost Limits of Nature And are you acquainted with all the Powers in Being Is it an easy Matter to pronounce upon all the Alterations of Time and Accident And to foretell how strangely the Ballance of Force and Inclination may be turned Pray let us see whether 't will or no before we grow too positive and give Sentence against our Interest A very pretty Device you 'll say For at this rate a Man must never Despair while he lives And pray where is the Harm on 't if it should be so Is Despair so entertaining a Companion Are the Pleasures of it so inviting and rapturous Is a Man bound to look out sharp to plague himself And to take care that he slips no Opportunity of Being unhappy As long as there is Life there is Hope And if so 't is Prudence not to desert it Hope is a vigorous Principle 'T is furnish'd with Light and Heat to Advise and Execute It sets the Head and the Heart on work and animates a Man to do his utmost And thus by perpetual Pushing and Assurance it puts a difficulty out of Countenance and makes a seeming Impossibility give way At the worst if the Success happens to fail 't is clear Gains as long as it lasts It keeps the Mind easy and expecting and fences off Anxiety and Spleen 'T is sometimes so Sprightly and Rewarding a
avoid Old Age by nothing but Death our business is to make it as easy as may be If you ask me which way My answer is we must Guard against those Imperfections to which Old Age is most liable By Imperfections I mean Moral ones for the other are not to be fenced off In the second place let us consider that Age is not altogether Burthen and Incumbrance There are several peculiar Privileges and Dignities annext to this part of Life A short View of the Reason of these Advantages will help to relieve us under the Decays of the Body Phil. I am glad to hear it pray go on with your Method Eutrop. To begin then with the Imperfections Not that they are as unavoidable as Grey-Heirs or to be charged upon Age without Exception My meaning only is that without Care People are more in danger of them when they are old than at any other time The first I shall mention is a Forwardness to be displeased upon little occasions to take things by the wrong Handle and to put severe Constructions upon Words and Actions This unhappy Temper may be assigned to several Causes 1 st Old Persons may be over-suspitious of being contemn'd Long Experience has taught them that the World is generally unbenevolent and narrow-spirited that Self-Love and Ill-Nature are extreamly extreamly common and that the Pleasures of too many are drawn from the Misfortunes of their Neighbours These Remarks confirmed by repeated Instances make no kind Impression So that when a Man is conscious of his own Decay when he grows less active and agreeable when he can neither Oblige nor Punish with the usual Advantage When this happens he is apt to fancy younger People are more ready to divert themselves with his Declension than to pity it This Apprehension makes him interpret with Rigour conclude himself injur'd upon a remote Appearance and grow disgusted upon every Ambiguity Phil. By the way is Mankind capable of such Barbarity as this Jealousy supposes Can they misapply their Passions at so scandalous a rate Can they insult an unavoidable Infirmity and trample upon the Venerable Ruines of Humane Nature This Insolence is foolish as well as unnatural He that acts in this manner does but expose his own future Condition and laugh at himself before-hand Eutrop. You say well But very ill Things are often done And those who have seen most of them are most Apprehensive On the other side Those who are less acquainted with the Vanity and Vices of the World and have met with fewer Disappointments are inclin'd to a kinder Opinion Phil. A very charitable Ignorance However I think your Remark not ill founded for I have observed an unusual Sweetness of Temper in Children Nature usually makes a very obliging Discovery of her self in them They throw themselves with entire Confidence upon Conversation They act without Artifice or Disguise and believe others as kind and undesigning as themselves But when they once understand what a sort of World they are come into When they find that Easiness of belief betrays them and that they are losers by the openness of their Carriage Then they begin to be upon their Guard to grow cautious and reserv'd and to stand off in Jealousy and Suspition Like Birds that are shot at Nature grows wild by ill Usage and neither Loves nor Trusts so much as Before Eutrop. Most certainly unless Care be taken For this Reason if a Man does not use to reflect upon his Temper if he does not shake off his Spleen and check his Disgusts if he does not strive to sweeten his Blood and refresh his Generosity his esteem of Mankind will abate too fast This Humour unless prevented will slide into Indifferency and Disinclination and make him have a kindness for nothing but himself And because odd Discoveries Ruffles and Discouragements encrease upon him in his Journey the farther he Travels the less he will like the Company And since the World has lost his good Opinion a slender Presumption will be apt to awaken his Jealousy make him suspect hard measure and put the worst Interpretation upon Things Phil. May nor this Forwardness to be disobliged proceed from the Infirmities of Age The last part of Life is a perpetual Indisposition you are seldom free from the Pain or the Weakness of a Disease The Feaver of the Fit may sometimes intermit but then your best days are short of Health Such uneasy Discipline is apt to make the Spirits turn eager When a Man is loaden a Feather is felt and the least rub will make him complain Eutrop. I believe the difficulty of some Humours may be thus accounted for And where this Reason fails I think I could assign another Phil. What is that Eutrop. With Submission I 'm affraid old Persons may sometimes over-rate their own Sufficiency 'T is true generally speaking Knowledge is the Consequence of Time and Multitude of Days are fittest to teach Wisdom But this Rule like others has its Exception For all that People are apt to fancy their Understandings move upon an Ascent and that they must grow Wiser of course as their grow Older Thus they often take their Improvement upon Content without examining how they came by it As if the meer Motion of the Sun or the running of an Hour-glass would do the Business Now a Mistake in this Case makes them impatient of Contradiction and imagine themselves always in the Right To argue the Point and debate their Opinions is to injure them Younger Men ought to believe hard and take Authority for the last Proof To proceed Resting too much upon the Privilege of their Years may be the occasion of a second Imperfection i. e. Incompliance with the innocent Demands and Satisfactions of those who are Younger Their Opinions are the Standard of Truth and their Desires the Measure of Agreeableness This Partiality of Thought this indulging their own Inclinations makes them firm to Prepossession and difficultly removed from those Customs which first engaged them The bare Novelty of a Thing is enough to cast it They condemn the prudent Alterations of the present Age and are too kind to the Errors of the former Phil. Under favour I conceive this Method scarcely defensible 'T is true they are old when they maintain these Opinions but were they not young when they took them them up And why should they prefer the Judgment of their own Youth to that of a later Generation Is it such an advantage to stand first upon the Roll of Time Or does Sense and Understanding wear out the farther a Line is continued That a succeeding Age is born with the same Capacity with the former that it may use the same Industry cannot be deny'd Why then should we be barr'd the Privilege of our Fore Fathers Why may we not Pronounce upon the state of Truth upon the Decency of Custom and the Oeconomy of Life with the usual Liberty Is Humane Nature improved to the utmost or was Infallibility the Gift