of both Soul and Body And one Glass will serve me for that end at this time Euist. Your Definition is very safe and usefull I think O Sophron. Sophr. And therefore my singular respects to you Euistor in this single Glass of Wine Cuph. See the virtue of good Canarie the mere steam of whose volatil Atoms has so raised Sophron's phancie that it has made him seem for to offer to quibble before the Glass has touched his lips Sophr. It is marvellous good Wine indeed I warrant you Euistor this will rub up your memory to the purpose if the recalling how many Cups grave Cato would take off at a time may warrant our drinking at any time more then is needfull or convenient I pray you tast it Euist. I thank you Sophron I should willingly pledge you though it were in worse liquour They have all of them had each man his Glass but Hylobares but have excogitated such pretty pretences to accost them they drank to that I finde I need to have my wit rubb'd up as well as my memory to hold on this ingenious humour Cuph. Do not you observe Euistor how studiously Hylobares has play'd the Piper all this time Take your Cue from thence Euist. Hylobares not to interrupt you my humble Service to you in a Glass of Canarie to wet your whistle Hyl. I thank you kindly Euistor but I profess I was scarce aware what I did or whether I whistled or no. Philop. Methinks those Airs and that Instrument Hylobares seem too light for the serious Discourse we have had so many hours together Hyl. But I 'll assure you Philopolis my thoughts were never more serious then while I was piping these easie Airs on my Flagellet For they are so familiar to me that I had no need to attend them and my minde indeed was wholly taken up with Objects sutable to our late Theme And even then when I was playing these light Tunes was I recovering into my memory as well as I could some part of a Philosophick Song that once I had by rote both words and tune and all which has no small affinity with the Matters of this day's Discourse Philop. It is much Hylobares you should be able to attend to such contrary things so light and so serious at one and the same time Hyl. That 's no more Philopolis then Euistor did in his Story of the Angel and the Eremite For I look upon the twisting of a man's Mustachio's to be as slight and triviall a thing as the playing on the Flagellet And yet I believe he was at it at least twenty times with his fore-finger and his thumb in his rehearsing that excellent Parable though his Minde I saw was so taken up with the weightiness of the sense that his aspect seemed as devout as that of the Eremite who was the chief Subject of the Story Euist. I pray you Hylobares take this Glass of Wine for a reward of your abusing your Friend so handsomely to excuse your self and see if it be so good for the rubbing up the memory as Sophron avouches it For then I hope we shall hear you sing as attentively as you have regardlesly whistled all this time Hyl. The Wine is very good Euistor if it be as good for the Memory But I believe I had already recalled more of those Verses to minde then what is convenient to repeat at this time Philop. I prithee Hylobares repeat but them you have recalled to memory it will be both a farther ratification of this unthought-of Experiment and a sutable Close of the whole day's Discourse Hyl. Your desire is to me a command Philopolis and therefore for your sake I will hazard the credit of my Voice and Memory at once Where 's now the Objects of thy Fears Needless Sighs and fruitless Tears They be all gone like idle Dream Suggested from the Body's steam O Cave of Horrour black as pitch Dark Den of Spectres that bewitch The weakned Phancy sore affright With the grim shades of grisly Night What 's Plague and Prison loss of Friends War Dearth and Death that all things ends Mere Buglears for the childish minde Pure Panick Terrours of the blinde Collect thy Soul into one Sphear Of Light and 'bove the Earth it bear Those wilde scattered Thoughts that erst Lay loosely in the World disperst Call in thy Spirit thus knit in one Fair lucid Orb those Fears be gone Like vain Impostures of the Night That fly before the Morning bright Then with pure eyes thou shalt behold How the First Goodness doth infold All things in loving tender Arms That deemed Mischiefs are no Harms But sovereign Salves and skilfull Cures Of greater Woes the World endures That Man 's stout Soul may win a state Far rais'd above the reach of Fate Power Wisedome Goodness sure did frame This Universe and still guide the same But thoughts from Passions sprung deceive Vain mortals No man can contrive A better course then what 's been run Since the first Circuit of the Sun He that beholds all from an high Knows better what to doe then I. I 'm not mine own should I repine If he dispose of what 's not mine Purge but thy Soul of blinde Self-will Thou straight shalt see God does no ill The World he fills with the bright Rays Of his free Goodness He displays Himself throughout Like common Air That Spirit of Life through all doth fare Suck'd in by them as vital breath Who willingly embrace not Death But those that with that living Law Be unacquainted Cares do gnaw Mistrusts of Providence do vex Their Souls and puzzled mindes perplex These Rhythms were in my minde Philopolis when the Flagellet was at my mouth Philop. They have an excellent sense in them and very pertinent to this day's Disquisitions I pray you whose Lines are they Hylobares Hyl. They are the Lines of a certain Philosophicall Poet who writes almost as hobblingly as Lucretius himself but I have met with Strains here and there in him that have infinitely pleased me and these in some humours amongst the rest But I was never so sensible of the weightiness of their meaning as since this day's discourse with Philotheus Philop. Well Hylobares if you ruminate on no worse things then these while you play on your Flagellet it will be an unpardonable fault in me ever hereafter to disparage your Musick Euist. I think we must hire Hylobares to pipe us to our Lodgings else we shall not finde the way out of Cuphophron's Bower this Night as bright as it is Hyl. That I could doe willingly Euistor without hire it is so pleasing a divertisement to me to play on my Pipe in the silent Moon-light Philop. Well we must abruptly take leave of you Cuphophron and bid you Good night Hylobares is got out of the Arbour already and we must all dance after his Pipe Cuph. That would be a juvenile act for your Age Philopolis Philop. I mean we must
things Philoth. Why then Hylobares if certain Prescience of uncertain things or events imply a Contradiction it seems it may be struck out of the Omnisciency of God and leave no scar nor blemish behinde for God will nevertheless be as omniscient as he is omnipotent But if it imply no Contradiction what hinders but we may attribute it to him Hyl. But it seems necessary to attribute it to him else how can he manage the affairs of the World Philoth. O Hylobares take you no care for that For that eternall Minde that knows all things possible to be known comprehends all things that are possible to be done and so hath laid such trains of Causes as shall most certainly meet every one in due time in judgement and righteousness let him take what way he will Hyl. I understand you Philotheus Philoth. And you may farther understand that according to some what you would attribute to God as a Perfection sounds more like an Imperfection if well considered Hyl. Why so Philotheus Philoth. Is it not the perfection of Knowledge to know things as they are in their own nature Hyl. It is so Philoth. Wherefore to know a free Agent which is undeterminate to either part to be so undeterminate and that he may chuse which part he will is the most perfect knowledge of such an Agent and of his Action till he be perfectly determinate and has made his choice Hyl. It seems so Philoth. Therefore to know him determined before he be determined or while he is free is an Imperfection of Knowledge or rather no Knowlâ—dge at all but a Mistake and Errour and indeed is a contradiction to the Nature of God who can understand nothing but according to the distinct Idea's of things in his own minde And the Idea of a free Agent is Vndeterminateness to one part before he has made choice Whence to foresee that a free Agent will pitch upon such a part in his choice with knowledge certain and infallible is to foresee a thing as certain even then when it is uncertain which is a plain Contradiction or gross Mistake Hyl. You do more then satisfie me in this Philotheus That to conceive things undeterminate determinately or that they will be certainly this way while they may be either this way or that way is an Imperfection or contradiction to the Truth But there is yet this piece of perplexity behinde that this pretence of perfection of Knowledg will necessarily inferr an imperfection or inability of Predicting future Actions of free Agents and take away Divine Inspiration and Propheciâ— Philoth. That is shrewdly urged and seasonably But you are to understand that so much Liberty as is in Man will leave room enough for millions of certain Predictions if God thought fit to communicate them so throngly to the world For though I question not but that the Souls of men are in some sense free yet I do as little doubt but there are or may be infinite numbers of Actions wherein they are as certainly determined as the brute Beasts And such are the Actions of all those that are deeply lapsed into Corruption and of those few that are grown to a more Heroicall state of Goodness It is certainly foreknowable what they will doe in such and such circumstances Not to adde that the Divine Decrees when they finde not men sitting Tools make them so where Prophecies are peremptory or unconditionate Bath What Philotheus has hitherto argued for the reconciling of the Divine Omniscience with the Notion of Man's Free will and the nature of Sin bears along with it a commendable plainness and plausibleness for its easiness to the understanding But in my apprehension for all it looks so repugnantly that there should be a certain foreknowledge of what is free and uncertain yet it seems more safe to allow that Privilege to the infinite Understanding of God then to venture at all to circumscribe his Omniscience For though it may safely be said that he does not know any thing that really implies a Contradiction to be known yet we are not assured but that may seem a Contradiction to us that is not so really in it self As for example To our finite Understanding a Quadrate whose Diagonial is commensurate to one of the Sides is a plain Contradiction and we conceit we can demonstrate it to be so that is to say that the Ratio of the one to the other is unconceivable and undefinable But dare any one be so bold as to â—ffirm that the Divine Intellect it self whose Comprehension is infinite cannot define to it self the Ratio of a Diagonial Line in a Quadrate to the Side thereof The Application is very obvious Philoth. It is so Bathynous For I suppose in brief you mean this That as the Diagonial Line and Side of a Quadrate which to our apprehension are incommensurate are yet commensurable to the infinite Comprehension of the Divine Intellect so a certain and infallible Prescience of uncertain Futurities that seems inconsistent to us may notwithstanding be deprehended abundantly consistent by the all-comprehensive Understanding of God A very safe and sober Solution of the present Difficulty I am very well contented it should be so Bathynous and that what I have offered at therein should pass as spoken by way of Essay rather then of Dogmatizing and according to the sense of others rather then mine own Philop. I never saw that saying so much verified any-where that Wisedome is easie to him that understands as in Bathynous and Philotheus's discourses Are you not throughly satisfied hitherto Hylobares Hyl. I must confess I am But now I come to the most confounding Point and which is such as that I fear it is fatal to me never to be satisfied in Philoth. What is that Hylobares Hyl. The Spirituality of God It is the proper Disease of my minde not to be able to conceive any thing that is not material or corporeal But I hope it is not a Disease unto death Philoth. God forbid it should be Hylobares so long as it is no impediment to the belief of the Existence of God and of all those Attributes that are requisite for the engaging a man's Soul in the pursuit of true Piety and Vertue God will at last bring such an one to the true knowledge of himself what-ever his Ignorance may be for the present And for my part I am not fond of the Notion of Spirituality nor any Notion else but so far forth as they are subservient to Life and Godliness that there may be as much Happiness in this life as humane affairs are capable of and that we may be eternally happy in the life to come Otherwise I have no such great solicitude that any should be such trim and precise Speculators of things as not to erre an hair's breadth in matters of great perplexity and obscurity Euist. I reade that some of the Fathers have been of opinon that God is a kinde of pure subtile Body Bath
of all That mankinde clothe themselves according to the Seasons of the year it is their Privilege not their Defect For brute Beasts when it is cold willingly apply themselves to the Fire But thus silly are ordinarily the Reasonings of those men that have a minde there should be no God Euist. I promise you Sophron you have laid about you very notably I think and though I am something taken with the Elegancy of the Poet yet I must confess I cannot but be convinced that his Reasonings are very weak Sophr. I have answered as well as I could thus extemporarily and if I have omitted any of the Objections Hylobares if he see it worth the while will resume them and propose them to Philotheus who is more exercised in these Speculations Philoth. None more able in this kinde then your self O Sophron And I cannot but commend your caution and discretion that you intimate that the Fulness and Solidness of the Cause we contend for is not to be measured from what we utter thus extemporarily in the defence thereof as if we in a moment could finde out all the richness of that Divine Wisedome that is couched in the Contrivance of Nature and in the ordering of the World It is sufficient that we shew that even to our present thought such Reasons occurr as are able to stop the mouths of them that are not partially affected and to give a tast how that if they would search farther into the Reasons of things without prejudice they will still finde Nature less faulty or rather more and more perfect at the bottom Philop. I think it is not without a special Providence O Hylobares that you are fallen into the company of so many skilfull and successfull defenders of Providence and therefore I desire you would produce the most considerable Scruples that ever diseased your minde For if any-where you will here finde a Cure Hyl. I shall produce all Philopolis and consequently the most considerable but in such order as they occurr to my memory And for the present these are those that swim uppermost in my thoughts viz. Diseases War Famine Pestilence Earthquakes and Death it self the sad effect of so affrightfull causes These methinks do not so well consist with that benignity of Providence that Philotheus contends for Philoth. These are indeed sad and terrible Names Hylobares but I hope to make it appear that the World in general are more scar'd then hurt by these affrightfull Bug-bears I will begin with that which is accounted the most horrid I mean Death it self For why should mankinde complain of this Decree of God and Nature which is so necessary and just I mean not onely in reference to our Lapsed condition which incurr'd the penalty of Death but that there is a becoming Sweetness in this Severity in respect both of the Soul it self as it is so timely released from this bondage of Vanity and also in regard of our peccaminous terrestriall Personalities here For I hold it an Oeconomy more befitting the Goodness of God to communicate life to a succeeding Series of terrestriall persons then that one constant number of them should monopolize all the good of the world and so stifle and forestall all succeeding Generations Hyl. I do not understand that Philotheus Why may not a set sufficient number of men equal to the largest number of the Succession be as meet an Object of the Divine Goodness as a continuall Succession of them For there is an equal communication of good in the one case and in the other Philoth. If there be this equality it argues an indifferency whether way it be and therefore it is no flaw in Providence what-ever way it is But yet I say that way that is taken is the best because that in this terrestriall condition there would be a satiety of the enjoyments of this life and therefore it is fit that as well-saturated Guests we should at length willingly recede from the Table Euist. I believe Philotheus alludes to that of Lucretius where he brings in Nature arguing excellently well against the â—ond Complaints of Mankinde Quid tibi tantopere est mortalis quòd nimis aegris Luctibus indulges quid mortem congemis ac fles Nam si grata fuit tibi vita ante acta priâ—rque Et non omnia pertusum congesta quasi in vas Commoda perfluxêre atque ingrata interiêre Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis Philoth. But my eye was most upon the following Verses Nam tibi praeterea quod machiner inveniámque Quod placeat nihil est eadem sunt omnia semper Si tibi non annis corpus jam marcet artus Confecti languent eadem tamen omnia restant Omnia si pergas vivendo vincere sêcla From whence I would inferr That there is more joy and pleasure arises to men in this way of Succession of mankinde then if there were the same men alwaies And the Theatre of the World is better varied and made more delightfull to the invisible Spectatours of it as also the Records of History to them that reade them For it were a dull thing to have alwaies the same Actours upon the Stage Besides that the varieties of mens Ages would be lost and the prettinesses of their Passions and the difference of Sexes which afford their peculiar pleasures and delights one to another And there is the same reason for Brutes who when they die though they finde not themselves in the other State as we do yet they no more miss themselves after Death then they sought themselves before they were born Hyl. I must confess Philotheus that the case is at least so disputable that a man cannot lay any just charge against Providence from this Topick Philoth. Besides Hylobares it seems to be of the very nature of terrestriall Animals to be mortal and that without the force of a Miracle they cannot endure for ever What therefore could Providence doe better then to make their Species immortal by a continued Propagation and Succession For that is the infirmity of our particular nature to dote upon Individuals But the Divine Goodness which is Vniversal is of a more released and large nature and since Individuals will be thus fading and mortal concerns her self onely in the Conservation of the Species To all which you may adde That unless you could secure this terrestriall World from Sin and sense of Grief and Pain not to be able to die to the generality of men oppressed and tormented by the Tyranny and Wickedness of others might prove the greatest Infelicity that could befall them Immortality Hylobares joyn'd with Pride and Ambition would easily bring the World to this pass And men now though mortal yet conceive immortal Enmities one against another Hyl. That 's shrewdly suggested Philotheus But admit the necessity of dying what necessity or conveniency of the frequentness of Diseases Which is an Head in Lucretius which Sophron forgot to speak to
Philoth. As for Diseases in general Hylobares they are as necessary Sequels of the terrestriall Nature as Death it self But as Death would visit us more slowly so would Diseases less fiercely and frequently if it were not for our own Intemperance and irregular Passions which we are to blame for what we finde most intolerable and not to tax Providence which has contrived all for the best and has let nothing pass without mature judgement and deliberation For Diseases themselves though the natural sequels of a mortal Constitution may well be approved of by the Divine Wisedom for sundry Reasons As first While they are inflicted they better the minde in those that are good and are but a just Scourge to them that are evil and the pleasure of Recovery doth ordinarily more then compensate the over-past misery in both So little cause have either to complain of the neglect of Providence in such visitations Bath Nay indeed I think that mankinde have so little reason to complain that they have rather a very high obligation to admire and extoll that Providence that suffers so many outward Evils as they are called to rove in the World For where they hit they frequently put us into such capacities of seriously bethinking our selves of the duties of Piety and Vertue as we should never meet with for all the boasts of our Free will unless these heavy weights were cast into the balance to poize against our propensions to follow the Lusts and Pleasures of life and the ordinary Allurements of the World Philoth. That is excellently well observed indeed Bathynous Hyl. But I pray you proceed Phiâ—otheus Philoth. I was observing in the second place That the sick being a spectacle to them that are wel make them more sensible of their own Health and should stir up in them thankfull Devotion towards God their Preserver and engage them to employ their Health to the best purposes And lastly That Diseases are a notable Object of man's art and industry and skill in Medicine The exercise whereof does very highly gratifie them that are either lovers of Mankinde or of Money That therefore that does naturally accrue to the condition of a terrestriall Creature why should God interpose his Omnipotency to disjoin it especially it bringing along with it such considerable Conveniences Nor must we think much that sometimes a Disease is invincible For thereby Sickness becomes more formidable to the Patient without which it would not prove so good Physick to his Soul and general success would lessen the estimate of the Cure and the pleasure of escaping the danger of the Disease as likewise it would diminish the Joys and Congratulations of Friends and officious Visitants For it is fit that things should be set home upon our Passions that our Delights thereby may become more poinant and triumphant Hyl. You come off jollily methinks Philotheus apologizing thus in the general But if you will more closely view the particular grim countenances of those more horrid Disasters of mankinde War Famine Pestilence and Earthquakes which I intimated before these one would think should abate your courage Philoth. Concerning these Hylobares I answer first in general That it is worth our taking notiâ—e of how Divine Providence has counted upon this extraordinary expense of man's bloud and life the Generations of men being not considerably scanted for all these four greedy devourers of them And therefore we ought to consider what a testimony of the Perfection of the works of God in Nature the greatest Disasters of the world are For if they did not appear we should think it liable to none but that it stood wholly on its own leggs But we now seeing it liable to so great ones and yet such as are perpetually triumphed over by that Wisedom and Counsel of God that is so peremptorily carried on in the nature of things we are thereby manifestly convinced of a Providence even from such things as at first sight seem most to contradict it To which you may adde that eminent use of the Calamitousness of this Scene of things if we must needs think it so namely the serious seeking after a Portion in those Regions that are not subject to such horrid Disasters those Sedes quietae as your Lucretius calls them Hylobares and in imitation of Homer that more religious Poet describes them very elegantly I believe Euistor could recite the Verses Euist. I remember them very well Philotheus Apparet Divûm numen sedésque quietae Quas neque concutiunt venti nec nuâ—ila nimbis Aspergunt neque nix acri concreta pruinâ Cana cadens violat sempérque innubilus Aether Integit largè diffuso lumine ridet Hyl. But I do not intend to be thus put off with an old Song Philotheus I desire to hear your account of those four more dismall Particulars I proposed Philoth. Why that is no such hard Province Hylobares For as for War and its effects it is not to be cast upon God but on our selves whose untamed Lusts having shaken off the yoke of Reason make us mad after Dominion and Rule over others and our Pride and Haughtiness impatient of the least Affront or Injury And for Famine it is ordinarily rather the effect of War then the defect of the Soil or unkindliness of the Season which if it were mens Providence and Frugality might easily prevent any more direfull ill consequences thereof and present necessities set mens wits on work And there is also that Communication betwixt Nations and Countries that Supplies are usually made in such like Exigencies I confess Plagues and Pestilences would seem more justly chargeable upon God did we not pull them down upon our selves as deserved Scourges for our Disobedience And though whole Cities be sometimes swept away with them as that of Athens and Constantinople yet we are to consider that such acute Diseases make quick dispatch which makes Earthquakes in like manner the more tolerable For whether they be Islands or Cities that are thus swallowed into the ground or sunk into the Sea it is a present Death and more speedy Buriall Thus perished those two famous Cities of Achaia Helice and Buris as also according to Plato and some others an ancient Atlantick Island sunk into the Sea But what more then ordinary mischief came to the Inhabitants For the Souls of the good having once left their Bodies would easily find way through the Crannies of the Earth or depth of the Sea and so pass to those Ethereall Seats and mansions of the Blessed And for the Souls of the bad what advantage the Atheist can make to himself by inquiring after them I know not If a man's phancie therefore be not suddenly snatch'd away these things are nothing so terrible as they seem at first sight nay such as we of our own accord imitate in Sea-fights which have sunk I know not how many thousands of floating Islands thick inhabited by the thunder and battery of murtherous Cannons But it is
represented to the sons of men in a more unusual disguise by hooting at it they may doe that piece of justice as to reproch themselves thereby who are upon their own cost and charges more reprehensibly wicked then they that never came within any capacity of being vertuous if there be any such and more outrageously mad and abominably sottish in the eyes of him that can judge rightly then any natural Fool or Bedlam or rather that using that seasonable reflexion which Plato somewhere commends upon the consideration of the ill carriage of others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they may finde by such analogies as I have hinted at that they are far worse Fools and Mad-men then are hooted at in the Streets and so for very shame amend their lives and become truly wise and vertuous For what can be more effectuall for the raising an horrour and detestation of what is ugly and dishonest in our selves then the reflexion that what we so abhorr in others is more in our selves both as to degrees and other circumstances and that whereas others may seem an Object of pity our selves deserve the highest reproof and scorn So that you see Hylobares that even in these pieces of Providence that seem most forlorn most dark and desperate a very comfortable account of the Divine Goodness does unexpectedly emerge and shine forth Which would still clear up into a more full satisfaction the more leisure and ability we had to search into things But if you cannot keep your Eye from being fixed on the black side of Providence rather then on the bright side thereof and must ruminate on the particular Evils of Plagues and Pestilences of War and Famine of devouring Earthquakes of that cruel and savage custome of both Birds Beasts and Fishes in preying and feeding one upon another which is a shadow of the most outrageous Violence and Iniquity imaginable if you will melancholize your Phancie with the remembrance of the groans of the maimed and sick the dread of ravenous Beasts and poisonous Serpents the destroying Rage of the Elements the outrageousness of the Distracted and the forlornness and desolateness of that forsaken Habitacle the Body of a natural Fool whom therefore we most usually call a mere Body this consideration also has its grand use and it is fit that so sunk a condition of mankinde as this terrestriall life is should be charged with such a competency of Tragicall Fatalities as to make the considerate seriously to bethink himself of a better state and recount with himself if he be not as they say in a wrong box if he be not stray'd from his native Countrey and therefore as the Platonists exhort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if he ought not seriously to meditate a return and to die betimes to this World that Death at last striking off the Fetters of this mortal Body the Soul may emerge far above the steam of this Region of Misery and Sin O praeclarum diem cùm ad divinum illud Animorum concilium coetúmque proficiscar cúmque ex hac turba ac colluvione discedam Euist. It is part of that excellent Speech of Cato to Scipio and Laelius What say you now Hylobares to Philotheus his assoiling these your last and most puzzling and confounding Difficulties about natural Evils Hyl. I say Philotheus discourses excellently well Euistor and beyond my expectation And I cannot deny but that there being such a Lapsed state of mankinde that Providence upon this supposition does manage things to the best even in those Phaenomena we call natural Evils and that the frame of things taking them in their full comprehension could scarce be better so far as my understanding reaches then it is But the greatest Difficulty of all remains touching this sinfull Lapse which is the second Head of Evils I had in my thoughts to propose to Philotheus That Providence should ever suffer so abominable so diabolicall and destructive a thing as Sin ever to appear on this Stage of the Universe a thing that has brought in such a Tragicall train of Miseries upon us and is in it self so detestable and hatefull both to God and man I know not how to make sense of these things Cuph. I am even glad at heart to see Hylobares so much puzzled with this Difficulty it giving me the opportunity with Philotheus his leave to raise him into as high a pleasure by the agreeableness and perspicuity of the Solution And methinks I finde upon me a very great impetus of spirit to doe him this friendly office Philoth. I pray you proceed then Cuphophron I hope your success will be the better Cuph. That I shall doe right willingly For I hold it a matter of great importance that mankinde have a right understanding of one another's actions and manners and that they be not over-harshly censorious and think every thing Infernall and Diabolicall that is not in so high a degree Good as the rest For my purpose is O Philopolis to clear unto the world such Principles as may sweeten the Passions of men or excite in them onely the sweet Passions and take off all Anger Hatred and Indignation against their mutuall carriages that seeing so little hurt done or meant they may live quietly and neighbourly one with another Philop. That is an excellent Plot O Cuphophron and very advantageous to as many of us Justices of Peace as desire to get as much time as we can to bestow upon the more profitable parts of Philosophy But I would rightly understand this Plot of yours Cuph. I perceive Hylobares which is a symptome of his great sense of Vertue looks upon that which we ordinarily call Sin or Wickedness to have such an essential and infernal Poison and hellish Perverseness in it so abominable and detestable and so contrary and repugnant to the nature of God that it seems a Contradiction that they should both coexist in the world together but that the wrath of the Almighty ought to have thunder-struck or stifled so horrid a Monster in the very birth not onely by reason of those natural Evils it unavoidably brings upon mankinde but even for its own diabolical Vgliness and Detestableness But for my part Gentlemen I commend his zeal more then his judgement in his adhering to so groundless an imagination Sophr. I wish Cuphophron you beginning so daringly that your judgement do not prove as little as your zeal You are such an extoller of the sweet Passions and so professed an enemy to those more grim and severe ones that I fear to bid adieu to them for the milder repose of our mindes you would persuade us to shake hands and be friends with Sin it self Cuph. You know not what I would Sophron nor I scarce my self but something I am very big of and desire your Assistence or Patience in my delivering of my self of it Hyl. I pray you let it be neatly then and a cleanly conveiance O Cuphophron Cuph. It shall be very
pray you Hylobares make your address to Philotheus you know how successfull he has been hitherto Philoth. If that would quiet your minde Hylobares I could indulge to you so far as to give you leave to think that although Sin be in it self absolutely evil as being an Incongruity or Disproportionality onely betwixt Things not the things themselves for all things are good in their degree yet the Motions Ends or Objects of sinfull Actions are at least some lesser good which I charitably conceive may be all that Cuphophron aimed at in that Enthusiastick Hurricane he was carried away with and all that he will stand to upon more deliberate thoughts with himself Cuph. Yes I believe it will be thereabout to morrow morning after I have slept upon 't And I return you many thanks Philotheus for your candid Interpretation Philoth. But methinks the Question is in a manner as nice Why God should suffer any Creature to chuse the less good for the greater as permit him to sin For this seems not according to the exactness of a perfectly-benign Providence Hyl. You say right Philotheus and therefore if you could but clear that Point I believe it will go far for the clearing all Philoth. Why this Scruple Hylobares concerning the Souls of men is much-what the same if not something easier with that concerning the Bodies of both men and beasts For the Omnipotency of God could keep them from diseases and death it self if need were Why therefore are they subject to Diseases but that the Wisedome of God in the contrivance of their Bodies will act onely according to the capacity of corporeal matter and that he intends the World should be an Automaton a self-moving Machina or Engine that he will not perpetually tamper with by his absolute power but leave things to run on according to that course which he has put in Nature For it is also the perfection of his Work to be in some sort like its Artificer independent which is a greater Specimen of his Wisedome Hyl. But you should also shew that his Goodness was not excluded the Consultation O Philotheus Philoth. No more is it so far as there is a Capacity of its coming in for any thing that humane reason can assure it self to the contrary For let me first puzzle you Hylobares with that Position of the Stoicks That the minde of Man is as free as Iupiter himself as they rant it in their language and that he cannot compell our Will to any thing but what-ever we take to must be from our own free Principle nothing being able to deal with us without our selves As a man that is fallen into a deep Ditch if he will not so much as give his fellow his hand he cannot pull him out Nor may this seem more incongruous or inconsistent with the Omnipotency of God then that he cannot make a Square whose Diagonial is commensurate to the Side or a finite Body that has no figure at all For these are either the very Essence or the essâ—ntial Consequences of the things spoken of and it implies a contradiction they should exist without them So we will for dispute sake affirm that Liberty of Will is an essential Property of the Soul of Man and can no more be taken from her then the proper Affections of a Geometricall Figure from the Figure unless she once determine or intangle her self in Fate which she cannot doe but of her self or else fix herself above Fate and fully incorporate with the simple Good For to speak Pythagorically the Spirits of men and of all the fallen Angels are as an Isosceles betwixt the Isopleuron and Scalenum not so ordinate a Figure as the one nor so inordinate as the other so these Spiriâ—s of men and Angels are a middle betwixt the more pure and Intellectual Spirits uncapable of falling from and the Souls of Beasts uncapable of rising to the participation of Divine Happiness Wherefore if you take away this vertible Principle in Man you would make him therewithall of another Species either a perfect Beast or a pure Intellect Hyl. This Opinion of the Stoicks is worth our farther considering of But in the mean time why might not Man have been made a pure Intelligence at first Philoth. Why should he so Hyloares sith the Creation of this middle Order makes the numbers of the pure Intellectual Orders never the fewer Not to adde that your demand is as absurd as if you should ask why every Flie is not made a Swallow every Swallow an Eagle and every Eagle an Angel because an Angel is better then any of the other Creatures I named There is a gradual descension of the Divine Fecunditie in the Creation of the World Hyl. This is notable Philotheus and unexpected But were it not better that God Almighty should annihilate the Individuals of this middle vertible Order as you call it so soon as they lapse into Sin then let such an ugly Deformity emerge in the Creation Philoth. This is a weighty Question Hylobares but yet such as I hope we both may ease our selves of if we consider how unbecoming it would be to the Wisedome of God to be so over-shot in the Contrivance of the Creation as that he must be ever and anon enforced to annihilate some part of it as being at a loss what else to doe and if they should all lapse to annihilate them all Hyl. Why he might create new in a moment Philotheus Philoth. But how-ever these would be very violent and harsh though but short Chasma's in the standing Creation of God I appeal to your own sense Hylobares would that look handsomely Hyl. I know not what to think of it Besides if that were true that some Philosophers contend for That all the whole Creation as well particular Souls and Spirits as the Matter and Universal Spirit of the World be from God by necessary Emanation this middle vertible Order can never be turned out of Being But that the Stability of God's Nature and Actions should not be according to the most exquisite Wisedome and Goodness would be to me the greatest Paradox of all Philoth. Why who knows but that it is better for them to exist though in this Lapsed state and better also for the Universe that so they may be left to toy and revell in the slightest and obscurest shadows of the Divine fulness then to be suddenly annihilated upon their first Lapse or Transgression For to be taken up with a less good is better then to be exiled out of Being and to enjoy no good at all Hyl. That it is better for them is plain according to the opinion of all Metaphysicians but how is it better for the Universe Philotheus Philoth. How do you know but that it is as good for the Universe computing all respects if it be not better And that is sufficient For Man is betwixt the Intellectual Orders and the Beasts as a Zoophyton betwixt the Beasts 〈◊〉 the Plants I
sundry respects And this native Freedom in it challenges of his Wisedome that she shew her best skill in dealing with a Creature that is free with as little violence done to its nature as may be Which we see the Wisedome of God has practised upon Matter as I noted awhile agoe And yet the defacement of rightly-organized Matter is as real an entrenchment upon or opposition of what is Intellectual or Divine I mean the Divine Idea's themselves as Vice or Immorality As the Divine Wisedome therefore forces not the terrestriall Matter beyond the bounds of its own natural capacity to fend all Animals Bodies from Diseases and Death no more should the Divine Goodness universally in all free Creatures irresistibly prevent the use of their own nature And therefore being free they ought according to the congruity of their condition be put to the triall what they will doe And if the miscarriage be upon very strong Temptations that did even almost over-power the strength of the free Creature this state of the case is a meet Object of the Mercy of God But if it have strength enough and has been often and earnestly invited to keep close to and to pursue after those things that are best and yet perpetually slights them and shuffles them off the party thus offending is a congruous object of the Divine Slight and Scorn it is but just that such an one be left to follow his own swindge and to finde such a fate as attends such wilde courses For it seems a kinde of disparagement to pin Vertue and divine Grace upon the sleeves of them that are unwilling to receive it It would be as unseemly as the forcing of a rich beautifull and vertuous Bride upon some poor slouching Clown whether he would or no. Hyl. But God may make them willing Philoth. That is Hylobares you may give the Clown a Philtrum or Love-potion But is not this still a great disparagement to the Bride Wherefore for the general it is fit that God should deal with free Creatures according to the freedom of their nature But yet rather then all should goe to ruine I do not see any incongruity but that God may as it were lay violent hands upon some and pull them out of the fire and make them potent though not irresistible Instruments of pulling others out also This is that Election of God for whom it was impossible for others that have arrived to a due pitch of the Divine Life But for those that still voluntarily persist to run on in a rebellious way against God and the Light that is set before them and at last grow so crusted in their Wickedness that they turn professed enemies of God and Goodness scoff at Divine Providence riot and Lord it in the world with the contempt of Religion and the abuse and persecution of them that profess it that out of the stubborn Blindness of their own hearts being given up to Covetousness Pride and Sensuality vex and afflict the consciencious with abominable Tyranny and Cruelty I think it is plain that these are a very sutable Object for Divine Fury and Vengeance that sharp and severe Modification of the Divine Goodness to act upon Hyl. Truly this is very handsome Philotheus and pertinent if not cogent Philoth. But lastly Hylobares though we should admit that the whole design of Divine Providence is nothing else but the mere disburthening of his overflowing Goodness upon the whole Creation and that he does not stand upon the terms of Justice and Congruity or any such punctilio's as some may be ready here to call them but makes his pure Goodness the measure of his dealing with both Men and Angels yet I say that it does not at all contradict but that God may permit Sin in the World he having the privilege of bringing Light out of Darkness and the nature of things being such that the lessening of Happiness in one is the advancement of it in another As it is in the Motion of Bodies what agitation one loses is transferred upon another or like the Beams of the Sun that retunded from this Body are received by another and nothing is lost So that in gross the Goodness of God may be as fully derived upon the Creation though not so equally distributed to particular Creatures upon his permitting Sin in the World as if he did forcibly and against the nature of free Creatures perpetually keep it out This is that therefore that I would say that the Vices of the wicked intend and exercise the Vertues of the just What would become of that noble Indignation of minde that holy men conceive against wicked and blasphemous people if there were neither Wickedness nor Blasphemy in the world What would become of those enravishing Vertues of Humility Meekness Patience and Forbearance if there were no Injuries amongst men What had the Godly whereupon to employ their Wit and Abilities if they had no enemies to grapple with How would their Faith be tried if all things here below had been carried on in Peace and Righteousness and in the Fear of God How would their Charity and Sedulity be discovered in endeavouring to gain men to the true Knowledge of God if they were alwaies found so to their hands Terrestriall Goodness would even grow sluggish and lethargicall if it were not sharpened and quickned by the Antiperistasis of the general Malignity of the World There are no generous Spirits but would even desire to encounter with Dangers and Difficulties to testifie their love to the parties they are much endeared to and it is an exceeding great accession to their enjoyments that they have suffered so much for them But if the World were not generally wicked for a time no Soul of man could meet with any such adventure and the History of Ages would be but a flat Story Day it self upon this Earth would be tiresome if it were alwaies Day and we should lose those chearfull Salutes of the emerging Light the cool breathings and the pleasing aspects of the Rosie Morning The Joys and Solemnities of Victories and Triumphs could never be if there were no Enemies to conflict with to conquer and triumph over And the stupendious undertakings of the Saviour of Mankinde and the admirable windings of Providence in her Dramatick Plot which has been acting on this Stage of the Earth from the beginning of the World had been all of them stopped and prevented if the Souls of men had not been lapsed into Sin And the sweetest and most enravishing Musicall touches upon the melancholized Passions so far as I know of both men and Angels had never sounded in the consort of the Universe if the Orders of free Agents had never played out of tune Nothing therefore of the Divine Goodness seems to be lost whenas the very Corruption of it as in a grain of Corn cast into the ground makes for its encrease and what of it is rejected by some is by the Wisedome of God
judgement of the Physician For they hold it the noblest kinde of Burial to be interred in the Belly of a man and not to be eaten by Worms To which if any expose the Body of his dead Friend they hold it a crime not to be expiated by any Sacrifice The Laws also of the Sardoans and Berbiecae which Aelian relates are very savage the one commanding the Sons to knock the Fathers o' th' head when they are come to Dotage the other prohibiting any to live above seventy years Hyl. Stop there Euistor let 's hear what excuse the Advocate of the Paynims can devise for these horrid Customes Cuph. Truly Hylobares these things must seem very harsh to any civil person especially at the first sight But yet there seems if we make farther search to be something commendable at the bottom of some of these For the Parricide that is committed by the Sardoans and Berbiccae seems to arise out of Compassion to their Parents they not enduring to see so sad a spectacle as helpless and wearisome Old age a heavy Disease and yet uncurable by any thing else but Death And those of Iava that sell either the Parents their sick Children or the Children their aged Parents to the Cannibals it is both to ease them of their pain and procure them as they think the most honourable Buriall And it is no small countenance to these barbarous Customes that S◠More 's Vtopia allows painfull and remediless Diseases to be shortened by some easie way of death Which seems to me another kinde of Midwifery to facilitate the birth of the Soul into the other world as Midwives do the entrance of the Body into this Which may be the reason why the Essedones are so jocund at the Funerals of their Friends they looking upon it as their Birth-day into the other State Euist. The Thracians do so indeed if we will believe Pomponius Mela who adds that their Wives contend who should be buried with their dead Husbands As also do the Indians And Acosta reports that the Kings of Peru and the Nobles of Mexico had their Wives nearest Friends and Servants killed at their Funerals to bear them company into the other World Cuph. This is harsh I must confess Euistor but it may be not so silly and unpolitick For this Custome might be begun for the safegard of Husbands and Kings from being poisoned by their Wives nearest Friends and Servants Euist. But what a mad Solemnity was that of the Funeral of the Great Cham of the Tartars which Paulus Venetus describes when his Body was carried to the Mountain Alchai For they slew every one they met in the way horse and man saying these words Ite Domino nostro Regi servite in alteravita It is thought no less then twenty thousand men were slain thus on this occasion at the Funeral of the Great Cham Mongu There seems not in this so much as any Plot or Policy Cuphophron but mere savage Barbarity Cuph. It is very wild indeed Euistor But the opinion of the Immortality of the Soul and personal distinctness of the deceased in the other life is both sober religious and Philosophicall and the Impression of the belief thereof on the spirits of the People very usefull and Politicall for the making them warlike and just and this Solemnity of more force to impress this belief then all the subtil Ratiocinations of the Philosophers Euist. But it is so barbarously cruel O Cuphophron Cuph. Who knows Euistor but most of these men were Voluntiers and had a minde to serve the Great Cham in the other World Otherwise they might have kept out of the way And the Ambition of living Princes sends more to Orcus then this Superstition about the dead Cham of the Tartars and methinks in more uncouth Circumstances For he that dies in the service of his living Prince leaves him he serves but he that dies in love to the deceased Cham goes to the Prince he loves Euist. Very elegantly answered Cuphophron Hyl. Cuphophron is such an Oedipus that he will stick at the Solution of no Riddle Euist. But I have one more to try his skill to the purpose an accustomary Cruelty of the people of Caraiam such as it is hard to say whether it be more ridiculous or barbarous Cuph. I prithee Euistor what is it I love to hear such Stories Euist. The forenamed Authour tells us that the people in this Country when a Traveller from forein Nations lodges with them the man of the house if he perceive the Stranger to be one of an excellent carriage and vertuous behaviour prudent and sober in his words and actions and very eminent for his Goodness and Honesty he will be sure to get up at midnight and kill him conceiting that thereby he shall for ever detain the Prudence Vertue and Honesty nay the very Soul of this Traveller in his house and that he will be a perpetuall Lodger there Bath Surely Euistor plays the Wag with Cuphophron and contrives a Story to pose him Euist. In the word of a Gentleman Bathynous I relate no more then what I read and what any one else may reade in M. Paulus Venetus his History of the Oriental Countreys in his second Book and the fortieth Chapter Cuph. I could easily suspect Hylobares of such a piece of Waggery but I believe Euistor will deal bonâ fide with me and play no tricks and therefore I am glad Hylobares has committed this Province to him But as for his Story of the Inhabitants of Caraiam I do not see that the Cause of the Paynims is much detrimented thereby It should seem these Pagans were as greedy after Vertue as the civilized Nations after Mony who ordinarily murther the Owner to make themselves masters of it They therefore were more ignorant but we more wicked But what farther Mystery there may be in the matter no man knows It may be they intended the deceased for some Lar familiaris whose Soul they would propitiate by some religious Ceremonies after they had trespassed so far on his Body which they had killed in honour and love to his Vertues though with small kindness to his Person But whether it be more tolerable to murther men out of love to their Vertues or out of hatred to them I leave as a new Disquisition to more subtil Casuists I am sure the Iews had no other cause then that to kill our Saviour although they lived under the Institutes of no less noble Law-giver then Moses himself and were then the choicest part of the Civilized World Hyl. You do but play with Cuphophron I pray you Euistor try what gusto he hath for the Diet of the Cannibals Euist. Had not you better resume your Province Hylobares and assault him your self Hyl. It cannot be in a better hand then yours Euistor who so particularly remember Stories Besides that Cuphophron is out of all jealousie of being abused by you which will
an affinity with these Bouzii and their Followers in their Life and Doctrine But I spare them But what instances have you of the over-severe method Euistor Euist. There is an odd example of the Indian Abduti who for a time lived very rigidly and severely but that Dispensation once being passed over they gave themselves up to all Dissoluteness and conceited they might doe so with authority Cuph. That is very easie to parallel to the condition of some Spiritualists who under pretence of having subdued the Flesh by more then ordinary Austerities and of having arrived to the Liberty of the Spirit return again to the gross Liberties of the Flesh to the great grief and scandal of the more sober Professours of Religion Euist. Some chast Votaries of the Turks set a great Iron ring on their yard using themselves as we do our Mares that they may not take Horse Those of Mexico slit that member for the same devout purpose Cuph. This is a sign that these hast Votaries are in good earnest But to pretend to undertake a Vow of Chastity more strong then iron or adamant and yet to lie with other mens Wives rather then to break it is such a mysterious Juggle or contradictious point of Hypocrisie that the very Pagans would be ashamed of it Euist. They might be so indeed Cuphophron nor does there any thing of importance occurr to my minde that looks like a sullen piece of Severity in Paganism but the same may be produced in the very same terms in the present Romanism as long and tiresome Pilgrimages voluntary Whippings and Scourgings immoderate Watchings and Fastings and the like These are the Exercises also even of them that serve Idols and worship the Devil as well as of them that pretend to be the genuine Servants of the Lord Iesus Hyl. But is there nothing observable touching their Opinions of the other State in order to which they may undergo these Hardships Euist. That is worth the noting that most of the barbarous Nations have some glimpse or surmize of the Soul's Immortality and of a State after this Life But it is often mixed with very feat Conceits As they of Peru hold that after death men eat and drink and wantonize with Women Cuph. Who knows but that they may understand that mystically as the Persians expound like passages in Mahomet's Alcoran Bath Besides these Europaeans seem to me in some sort to Peruvianize that think they can by bargain and contract buy future Happiness with Mony as we do Fields and Orchards in this life not considering that if Paradise be not opened within us by virtue of true Regeneration into the Divine Life all the Wealth in the Indies will not purchase an entrance into the eternall â—aradise in Heaven Euist. The Brammans also in the East-Indies have a most ridiculous conceit touching the Transmigration of Souls namely That the Reward of a vertuous Soul is that she may pass out of a Man's body into the body of a Cow Cuph. That 's ridiculous indeed if the expression be not Symbolicall and hint not some more notable thing to us then we are aware of For that the Transmigration of mens Souls into the bodies of Beasts has a Mysticall or Moral meaning both Plato and some of his Followers have plainly enough intimated Euist. And Goâ—ardus expresly writes that these Braâ—â—nanâ— had the knowledge of Pythagoras and of his Philosophy then which nothing was more Symbolicall I will produce but one observable more and then give Cupâ—ophron or rather my self no farther trouble For Cuphophron turns all off with sport and pleasantry Cuph. You have produced nothing yet Euistor at all hard or trouâ—â—esome Euist. Nor will I begin now For it is onely that they of S. Sebastian de la Platâ— have neither Image nor Idol Cuph It is a sign they are the more pure Worshippers of the Deity Euist. If they be not Atheists But that which I was going to adde was that fond imagination of theirs that after Death they should come into a pleasant place which they dreamed to be situated beyond certain Hills which they could point at with their fingers Cuph. It were a question worth the starting whether this American Elysium or the Scholastick Empyreum be the more likely Rendezvous of blessed Souls departed this life Hyl. I pray you what think you of that Cuphophron Cuph. I think the Coelum Empyreâ—m of the Schools is a childish Figment For what ground is there that the first Heaven should be Cubicall unless it be for the young Angelick shapes to whip their Gigs on the flat and smooth floor thereof Wherefore the rude Indians so far as I know may come nearer the mark then the subtil Schoolmen though they both seem to me widely enough to miss it Hyl. But I am for the Empyreum of the Schools rather then for that â—lyâ—ium of the Americans For the American Elysium is somewhere viz. beyond the Hills that those of S. Sebaâ—tian de la Plata use to point at But if the Empyreum of the Schâ—ols be a mere childish Figment it is no-where Cuph. There 's a reason indeed Hylobares how can it then be the real Rendezvous of separate Souls Hyl. Separate Souls are Spirits Cuphophron but Spirits are no-where where can they therefore more fitly have their Rendezvous then in the Scholastick Empyreum which is nowhere also Cuph. Shame take you Hylobares have you hit on that piece of Waggery once again Is this all the thanks I have for besâ—irring my â—elf so stoutly to ease your aggrieved imagination that was so oppressed and burthened with the consideration of the sad Scence of affairs in the Pagan World and Ages Hyl. For that friendly Office I return you many thanks O Cuphophron and must confess you have in your attempts shewn a great deal of Versatility of wit and nimbleness of phancy and that not without the mixture of some Solidity sometimes But the less there had been of that it had been the better Cuph. That 's a Paradox indeed why so I pray you Hylobares Hyl. For your endeavour being perpetually to shew that things were as ill in a manner in the Civilized parts of the World as in the Barbarous this was not to ease me of my sad perplexing thoughts but to redouble the burthen and make the waies of Providence appear to me twice as dismall as before Cuph. This Hylobares has a mind to baffle me and make me ridiculously unsuccessfull in every thing I attempt Did I not persist in the way thâ—t Philotheus himself seemed to point at viz. to undeceive your Phancy that was so horribly struck with the strange Enormities of the Pagan World by intimating that for the Civilized Nations that you had a better conceit of that the Heathen were in a manner little worse in their Opinions and Practices then they Hyl. Nay I confess Cuphophron that that was pretty well levelled at my Phancy But in thus quieting my
my Minde wide open in broad day the Reasonableness of this Hypothesis That the Souls of men did exist before they came into these terrestrial Bodies Philoth. And in this Day-light Hylobares all your Difficulties do vanish touching that part of Providence that respects the Moral Evils whose hue seemed so dismall to you out of History and their permission so reproachfull to the Goodness of God Hyl. They are all vanished quite and those touching Natural Evils too so far forth as they respect the Souls of Men. Philop. This is a good hearing We are infinitely obliged to Philotheus for his pains Are there any more Scruples behinde touching Divine Providence Hylobares Hyl. Onely those Objections fetch'd from Defects conceived to be in the Administration of Providence For though we be convinced that all things that are are rightly ordered yet it may be demanded why there are no more of them why no sooner and the like Sophr. Indeed Hylobares you seem to me hugely over-curious in such Inquisitions as these Is not the whole World the Alms-house of God Almighty which he had a right to build when he would and to place us his eleemosynary Creatures in it no sooner then he pleased He does but utisuo jure in all this And it is an outrageous Presumption to expect that he should not act according to his own minde and will but according to the groundless enlargements and expansions of our wanton and busie Phancies So long as we see that the things that are are well and rightly administred and according to the Laws of Goodness and Justice it is a marvellous piece of Capriciousness to complain that such things with the unexceptionable Oeconomie of them began no sooner nor reach no farther Bath You speak very gravely and soberly O Sophron and that which has very solid sense at the bottom if rightly understood For God has no obligation from the Creatures to make them sooner or more or larger and the like So that if he had made the World no larger then the vulgar phansy it a thought suppose above the Clouds or had stay'd the making of it till a year ago or had not made it yet nor ever intended to make it he did in all this but uti suo jure as you speak But in that he has made it much larger and sooner to what leading Attribute in God is that to be imputed O Sophron Sophr. Surely to his mere Goodness Bathynous Bath You acknowledge then his Goodness the leading Attribute in the Creation of the World and his Wisedome and Power to contrive and execute what his Will actuated by his Goodness did intend Sophr. Speaking more humano so it seems to be Bath But this is a marvell of marvells to me That the Goodness of God being Infinite the effects thereof should be so narrow and finite as commonly men conceit if there be no Incapacity in the things themselves that thus streightens them That one small share of the Divine Goodness should be active but that infinite Remainder thereof as I may so speak silent and inactive is a Riddle a Miracle that does infinitely amaze me Sophr. O Bathynous my very Heart-strings are fretted with fear and anxiety when you plunge us into such profound Disquisitions as these out of which there is never any hope to emerge I pray you Hylobares ask modestly touching these things I wonder you are not throughly satisfi'd about Providence already I am sure I am Hyl. And I desire but to be so too Sophron. What will satisfie one man will not satisfie another Philoth. That is very true Hylobares which I perceiving it forced me to mention the Golden Key of Providence to you For we do not wantonly and ostentatively produce those Keys but at a dead lift when no other method will satiâ—â—ie him whose minde is anxious and solicitous touching the Waies of God that by these Hypotheses he may keep his Heart from sinking Hyl. It is a very laudable custome Philotheus and such as I find the benefit of already For I find the very first Difficulties of this last and present Head I intended to propose to melt away of themselves in virtue of that light from the Golden Key I mean that of Pre-existence For I intended to have propounded it as an Objection against the Goodness of Divine Providence That whereas the Soul can live and subsist out of this terrestriall Body for so it does after death she should not be created before this terrestriall Mansion and enjoy her self before she come into the Body as well as afterwards But this Doctrine of Pre-existence has plainly prevented the Objection Another Objection also touching the Messias coming into the World so lately is in my own judgement much enervated by this Hypothesis For who knows but the Demerits of Humane Souls were such that it was consonant enough to the Goodness of God not to communicate the best Religion to the World till that time it was communicated Philoth. That is no inept consideration Hylobares But besides it is a strange Presumption to determine when it is just fit time for Providence to use her strongest Effort for reclaiming of straying Souls And to reclaim them as soon as they have strayed is next to the keeping them forcibly from ever straying which is to hinder a free Agent from ever acting freely Wherefore seeing the Souls of men were to use their own liberty there were certain pompous Scenes of affairs to proceed upon either supposition whether they stood or fell and not all presently to be huddled up in an instant And what Light Providence brings out of the Darkness of Sin I did more particularly intimate unto you in our yesterday's discourse Hyl. I remember it Philotheus and rest very well satisfy'd Philop. To expect that the Messias should have come into the World so soon as Adam had fallen is as incongruous as to expect the reaping of the Crop the very same day the Corn is sown or that Spring and Autumn should be crouded into the same months of the year Hyl. This is abundantly plain And another Difficulty also which I intended to propose touching the Plurality of Earths or Worlds quite vanishes while I contemplate the Paradigm of the World 's Systeme in the Silver-Key-Paper that bears me up as stoutly on the left hand from sinking as the other Hypothesis on the right Bath Do you not see Sophron that you are worse sâ—ar'd then hurt Do you not observe how these great and formidable Difficulties crumble away of themselves when a judicious eye has had once but a glance into the Truth Sophr. It 's well if all will come off so clear Hyl. But there are some little Scruples remaining Philotheus partly about the Extent of the Vniverse partly about the Habitableness of the Planets and Earths Sophr. I thought so Philoth. Propound them if you please Hylobares Hyl. Whether the Universe be Finite or Infinite For if it be Finite it is
aid for the increase of his Joy but rather for the regulating of it For in my apprehension he is in a very great Emotion of minde Philoth. Melancholick persons are sometimes in such a condition upon such like occasions Truth being to the eye of the Soul what Beauty is to that of the Body very transporting Sophr. I believe a solemn Lesson on the Theorbo would finely compose him and Bathynous I know has skill on that Instrument and can sing to it Philoth. You say right he can I pray you Bathynous give us a cast of your Skill Bath I am a very sorry Musician to venture to sing in such company I sing sometimes and play to my self in the dark some easie Songs and Lessons but have not the confidence to think others can be pleased with such mean Musick Cuph. You may play and sing in the dark here too Bathynous if you will The Moon 's light comes not so plentifully through the Leaves of the Arbour as to discover whether you blush or no in case you should be out Come I pray you be confident I 'll reach you the Theorbo Philop. I pray you Bathynous let 's hear what you can doe I know it will be gratefull to Hylobares Hyl. I shall like a Song of Bathynous his chusing I know it will not be impertinent to our present purpose Bath It 's an excellent Theorbo Cuphophron It deserves a more skilfull Hand to touch it then mine How sweet and mellow and yet how majestick is the Sound of it Hyl. O how that Flourish charms my Spirits You have a very good Hand on the Lute Bathynous Bath I 'll sing you a good Song Hylobares though I have but a bad Hand and a worse Voice and it shall be out of your own beloved hobbling Poet The Philosopher's Devotion Hyl. None better I pray you let us hear it Bath Sing aloud His Prâ—â—â—e reseâ—rse Who 〈◊〉 mâ—â—e the Vniversâ— He the boundless Heaven has spred All the vital Orbs has knâ—d He that on Olympus high Tends his Flocks with watchfull Eye And this Eye has multiply'd ' Midst each Flock for to reside Thus as round about thâ—y stray Toucheth each with out-stretch'd Ray. â—imbly they hold on their way Shâ—ping â—ut their Night and Day Summer Winter Autumn Spring Their inclined Axes bring Never slack they none respires Dancing round their Central Fires In due order as they move Echo's sweet be gently drove Thorough Heav'n's vast Holloâ—ness Which unto all corners press Musick that the heart of Jove Moves to Ioy and sportfull Love Fills the listening Sailors ears Riding on the wandring Sphears Neither Speech nor Language is Where their voice is not transmiss God is good is wise is strong Witness all the Creature-throng Is confess'd by every Tongue All things back from whence they As the thankfull Rivers pay Sprung What they borrowed of the Sea Now my self I do resign Tâ—ke me whole I all am tâ—inâ— Save me God from Self-desire Death's pit dark Hell's raging Fire Envy Hatred Vengeance Ire Let not Lust my Soul bemire Quit from these thy Praise I 'll sing Loudly sweep the trembling String Bear a part O Wisedom's Sons Freed from vain Religions Lo from far I you salute Sweetly warbling on my Lute India Aegypt Arabie Asia Greece and Tartarie Carmel Tracts and Lebanon With the Mountains of the Moon From whence muddy Nile doth run Or where-ever else you wone Breathing in one vital Air One we are though distant far Rise at once let 's sacrifice Odours sweet perfume the Skies See how Heav'nly Lightning fires Hearts inflam'd with high Aspires All the substance of our Souls Vp in clouds of Incense rolls Leave we nothing to our selves Save a Voice what need we else Or an Hand to wear and tire On the thankfull Lute or Lyre Sing aloud His Praise rehearse Who hath made the Vniverse Hyl. Your Judgement is very sound O Sophron this solemn Lesson on the Theorbo did not so much increase my Passion of Joy as regulate establish and fix it Methought I was placed in the third Heaven all the while I heard so sweet an Instrument so lively a Voice and so exalted Philosophy and Morality joyn'd together in one Harmony Cuph. You was a very great way off then Hylobares if you mean the Cartesian third Heaven Hyl. I mean an higher Mystery Cuphophron A man may be in the Cartesian third Heaven and yet be as silly a fellow as I was before I conferred with Philotheus Philop. You are the most rapturous and ecstaticall Company of people that ever I met with in all my life a kind of Divine Madness I think rules amongst you and the efficacy of your Converse is able to make others mad for Company I am sure when Philotheus comes to my beloved Theme if he manage it with the like success he has done this it will hazard my being at least inwardly as much transported as Hylobares Which I would willingly try to morrow more timely in the afternoon betwixt three and four of the Clock because my occasions will call me next day out of Town Philoth. I am sorry to hear of your so sudden departure Philopolis but we shall not fail at that time you appoint to give you the meeting here Sophr. And I hope Philotheus will manage your Theme Philopolis with a more steddy and secure Success then that of Hylobares For the truth is I have had many an aking Heart for you all in this doubtfull Dispute your Hardiness seeming to me as reprovable as theirs who when they may securely stand on the firm Land or safely pass over a strong-built Bridge will chuse to commit themselves to some weather-beaten Cock-boat when the Winde is very rough and the Waves high and tossing onely out of a careless Wantonness or desire to conflict with Danger Methought ever and anon I saw the Boat râ—ady to â—opple over and your selves put to swim for your lives or drown Philop. But Providence did marvellously assist her so earnest and affectionate Advocate O Sophron. Sophr. She did and I heartily congratulate your safe arrivall to Land Cuph. But this is but a dry and ineffectual Congratulation O Sophron. Come begin to them in a Glass of good Canarie to comfort their chill hearts after the perill of this Shipwreck and sad Sea-storm Hold I 'll open the Bottle Hyl. Stay your hand O Cuphophron There 's none so chill or cold at heart as you imagine I am sure I am all Joy and Warmth without the help of any such Liquour Cuph. It may be you are over-hot Hylobares Sack is good even in Fevers and it is not unlikely but that a Glass of it may cool you Hyl. All the heat that I have at this time be it never so much is so sacred and divine that I will not diminish it in the least degree upon any pretense Philop. I pray you Cuphophron keep your Bottle entire till another time I perceive it