Death I confess that they being better than are ours he repaired his strength more advantageously and that by prolonging the course of his Life they kept the hour of his Death farther off I affirm likewise that they kept away corruption from his Body and that they kept him in so perfect a health as that it could not be altered but then they must likewise grant me that if man had not used these remedies his natural heat had consumed his Humidum Radicale and that old age succeeding this Disorder he must inevitably have died All these Maximes are to serve as Saint Augustine is obliged to confess that if the use of the tree of life were permitted unto us in the condition wherein we are death would no longer domineer in the world and that man sinful as he is would not cease to be immortal If then Adam were capable of death because he had a Body and if he were incapable thereof because he had Grace methinks by like proportion one may say he had Passions since his Soul was ingaged in a material Subject but that they were tractable for original Justice did repress their motions and that in this innocent condition he had only just fears and rational desires I verily conceive there may be some Passions the use whereof were interdicted him and that though he were capable thereof he was not therewithal agitated because they would have troubled his quiet I am easily perswaded that all evil being banished from off the earth sadness and despair were likewise exempted from hiâ— heart and that during so high a pitch oâ— felicity reason was not bound to excitâ— such Passions as only belong unto the miserable but assuredly I am confident hâ— made use of all others and that thinkinâ— upon the Laws that were imposed upon hiâ— by his Soveraign Lord he was sometimes flattered by hopes sometimes astonished by fear and by them both joined together kept within his duty I doubt not likewise but that in the unhappy conference which our unwise Mother had with the Devil in the shape of a Serpent she was seized upon by as many Passions as usually People are who consult upon any important affairs that the Devils promises did stir up her hope that God Almighties Threats did cause fear in her and that the loveliness of the forbidden fruit did irritate her desire I know not whether some other may imagine this Dialogue could pass without some dispute but I know very well that Saint Augustine with whom I believe a man cannot be mistaken doth argue thus upon this subject 〈◊〉 and that he believes so great a bickering was not made in the earthly Paradise without the Womans making use of all her Passions either to defend her self or to suffer her self to be overcome 'T is true this authentical man seems to be of another opinion in his Ninth Chapter of the City of God but he who shall well examine his Reasons will find that he endeavours not so much to exclude Passions from out the soul of Adam as their disorder judging aright that their disorder could not accord with original Justice Therefore I am perswaded that man had our agitations in the state of innocency and he feared punishment and hoped for reward that as he made use of his Senses inasmuch as they made up a part of his Body he also used his Passions inasmuch as they were a part of his Soul and that in brief they did not differ from ours in nature but in obedience The SIXTH DISCOURSE Whether there were any Passions in our Saviour Christ and wherein they differ'd from ours NOt to know that the Son of God was pleased to take upon him our nature with all the weakness thereof and that set aside ignorance and sin which could not correspond with the sanctity of his person he hath vouchsafed to bear our miseries conversing with men in the likelihood of a sinner were to be ignorant of all the principles of Christian Religion Hence it came that during his term of mortal Life it behoved him to preserve himself by nourishment to repair his strength by rest to suffer his Body to sleep and to use all means which Providence hath ordained for these natural maladies He was subject to the injuries of time to the unseasonableness of seasons Men have seen him benummed with Cold during the violence of winter and bedewed with Sweat during the heat of Summer the Elements spared him not and if they reverenced him as God they persecuted him as man The same Creatures which obeyed his Word warred against his Body the Waves which grew calm at his awaking had assaulted the ship wherein he was Hunger which he had overcome in the Deâ—arts assailed him in Towns And upon the Cross he tasted the Terrors of Death from which he had delivered Lazarus Then as â—assions are the most natural Weaknesses â—f man he would not exempt himself â—rom them and he would have them to be â—s well witnesses of his love unto us as asâ—rances of the truth of his Incarnation He â—ingled his tears with those of Magdalen â—ough by his power he might have remedied her evils he would out of compassion resent them Before the doing of a miracle he would undergo a weakness and weep over a dead man whom he went about to revive He suffered sadness often to seize upon his heart and by a strange wonder he accorded joy with sorrow in his all-blessed soul. In fine according to the incounters of his life he made use of Passions He taught us that there was nothing in man which he contemn'd since he had taken his infirmities upon him and that he loved well the nature of man since he did cherish even the defects thereof For to believe that his resentments were but imaginary is in my opinion to clash against the mystery of the Incarnation to give the lye to truth it self and to give Iesus Christ a bootless honor make us doubt all the assurances of his love Since he had a true body he could have no false Passions and since he was veritably man he ought to be veretably afflicted A man gannot gainsay this truth without weakening our belief If it be permitted to suffer the tears of the Son of God to pass for illusions one may make his sorrow pass for Imposturism and under the pretence of reverency a man may overthrow the ground-work of our souls welfare But we must have a care left whilst we establish the love of the Son of God we commit no outrage upon his Greatness or Omnipotency and that whilst we allow him Passions we free them from their Disorders for we must not believe that they were unruly as are ours nor that they required all those virtues to tame them as are necessary for us He was their absolute Master and they in their Birth Progress and Continuance depended upon his Will In their Birth because they never raised themselves but by order from him but
banished when their conditions meet together friendship is not to be blamed nay the very excess thereof is to be prais'd since being more divine than humane more grounded upon grace than nature she should be freed from all those Laws which are only made for common friendship But in the one and the other of them the pains which accompany them must be endured and we must remember that as there is nothing so perfect in the world but hath its faults there is nothing so pleasing which hath not its dislikes Friendship is that which sweetens life and who is not therewithal endued cannot hope for happiness It is the most rational concord which this world can afford and of as many pleasures as are I find none more harmless nor more true but it hath its incommodity and who begins to love must prepare to suffer Absence is a short death and death is an eternal absence which entayles upon us as much sorrow as the presence of the beloved gives satisfaction A man who loseth his friend loseth one half of himself he is at once both alive dead and death accords not with life save only to make him more miserable But say they should be so fortunate in their fate as they should both die in one day they could not shun the miseries which accompany life they seem by being linkt together in affection to have given Fortune the greater hold of them and their soul seems to be in two bodies only that it may be the more capable of grief Aristotle therefore would not have a man to have many friends lest he should be bound to spend his whole life in bewailing their misfortunes or that exacting the same duty from them he might not trouble all their joy and make his friendship fatal 'T is true that these pains are pleasing and that by a just dispensation of love they are always mingled with some contentment Tears are sweet when Friendship is the cause of their shedding if they ease him that sheds them they comfort him for whom they are shed and they make them both taste of true pleasure in a common misery thus their malady bears the cure thereof about with it and deserves rather to be envied than pitied since the sufferer and bemoaner are equally assured of their mutual fidelity But 't is much the harder matter to regulate the love between men and women and to prescribe bounds unto a Passion which asks counsel only of it self and which thinks it self not true if it be not in excess Therefore the greatest part of our Divines do blame it and though it be not faulty but as it is dangerous they forbid the use thereof to shun the hazard To say true this virtue is never so pure but that it hath some clouds it easily slides from the soul into the body and grant it could be without danger it could never be without scandal The age is too corrupt to judge uprightly of these communications if they were publickly allowed of they would serve for a cloak to irregular affections and under pretence of friendship every one would assume the liberty to make Love I know very well there have been Saints in former ages but they have not been exempt from calumnies Paulinus bare no respect to the Empress Eudoxe save only for that she was learned he was enamoured of her mind not of her body and if he drew many times near to this fair Sun it was that he might be thereby enlightned not heated Yet their frequent conversation caused Jealousie in young Theodosius and an Apple as fatal as that of Paris wrought the death of Paulinus and Eudoxes banishment I know there is no Sex amongst Souls and that a mans mind may be found in a Womans Body I know that Virtue undervalues not the advantages of Beauty and that she is oft-times more eloquent in the mouth of a fair Maid than in the like of an Orator I know there have been Muses as well as Amazons and that men have no Endowments which women possess not with as much or more of excellency Augustus followed Livias Counsel and consulted with her in his most important affairs as oft as with Mecaenas or Agrippa Great Origen's School was open as well to women as to men he thought them no less capable of the Secrets of Learning or Mysteries of Religion than men so as a man may conclude for these Reasons and out of these Examples that the conversation of women is no less profitable than pleasing and that if there be danger in their friendships there is therein likewise advantage But notwithstanding whatsoever all these discourses may perswade us I am firmly of opinion that an honest woman ought to have no other friend than her Husband and that she gave a Divorce of friendship when she engaged herself in marriage She must have no more Masters nor Servants since she hath given away her liberty and she ought to suspect even the holiest affections since they may serve for colors to lewd desires Such complacencies as are found in those who are not of the same sex are seldom innocent the same discourse which entertains works upon their wills and love glides into the heart under the name of sutableness of disposition and of Civility The Malady is contracted before it be known men are oft-times in a Fever before they feel any distemper and poyson hath already infected the heart before we think the mouth hath swallowed it Briefly the danger is equal on all sides men make strong assaults and women weak defences The freedom of conversation makes men more insolent and the pleasingness thereof makes women less couragious I shall therefore never approve of such friendships as may cause more harm than advantage and which for vain satisfaction of the sense hazards the souls health We live under a Religion which commands us to forgo pleasures which are purely innocent we are taught by a Master which commands his Disciples to pluck out such eyes and cut off such hands as have been cause of scandal to them we are brought up in a School where we are forbidden to look upon the face of women yet under pretence of a naughty custom we will have it lawful for us to win their Affections and to contract Friendship with them which beginning by irregular inclinations are entertained by useless discourse and end in criminal delights Chastity runs hazzards enough and needs not to have new Gins laid for her The lustre of apparel freedom of conversation and that which is termed civility make sufficient open war against continency there needs no addition of Wiles or cunning to surprize her When men shall be Angels it shall be lawful for them to contract amity with women when death shall have severed them from their bodies they may without scandal converse together and satisfie their inclinations but as long as they shall have sense common with Beasts and that Beauty shall make more
is the more delicate and the more dangerous For this Philosopher pleads always for the Soul against the Body all his gallant Maximes tend only to re-establish Reason in her Empire and to give her absolute power over the Passions He cannot endure that a Subject should become a Soveraign and pride which enlivens all his Doctrine furnisheth him with strong reasons to oppose voluptuousness He will have the Soul to treat her Body as her slave that she grant unto it nothing but things necessary and abridge it of all superfluities He will have her nourish the Body to the end that it may be serviceable to her He will have her love it only as a faithful servant that she employ it to execute her designes But he wills likewise when Reason shall require it she abandon it to the flames expose it to savage beasts and that she oblige it to undergo deaths as cruel as shameful All these are bold cogitations we must confess they proceed from a generously minded man and that he makes good use of the vanity of the Soul to overcome the delights of the Body but by curing one evil he causeth a greater by closing up a slight wound he opens a deeper by chasing self-love from the Body he drives it into the Soul and to prevent a man from becoming a beast he endeavours to make him a Devil these who side with this Philosopher are enforced to confess this Truth and if they who hold his Maximes would examine themselves well they will confess that they rather puffe up than heighten Courage and that they inspire the soul with more of vanity than strength But the Doctrine of Jesus Christ produceth a clean contrary effect for it subdues the body without making the soul insolent it sets at one and the same time both upon Pride and voluptuousness and whilst it ordains mortification to submit the senses to Reason it commands abnegation to subject the will unto God Therefore if it be lawful for me to explain the intentions of Jesus Christ and to serve him as an interpreter I believe that the Hatred which he requires from us should pass from the Body to the soul and that to be perfect it should extend it self to all the disorders that sin hath wrought in us for nature hath lost her purity and the two parts whereof we are composed are become equally criminal the inclinations of the soul are not more innocent than are those of the body the one and the other of them have their weaknesses let Philosophers say what they please they are both corrupted the understanding is clouded by darknesses ignorance is natural thereunto it learns with difficulty forgets easily though truth be its object it forgoes truth for falshood and is enforced to acknowledg by the mouth of the wisest man in the world that there are some errors which is easilier perswaded unto than to some truths Memory is not more happy though she pass for a miracle of Nature that she keeps deposited all the species she is trusted withal that she boasts to represent them without confusion and to be the enlivened treasure of all wise men yet since our disobedience she is become unfaithful by reason of a contagion which hath infected all the faculties of the Soul â—â—e fails us at our needs and furnishes us rather with unuseful than with necessary things the Will as most absolute is also most criminal for though it have so strong inclinations for the Summum bonum as that sin hath not been able to eface it yet she indifferently betakes her self to all objects that delight her not listning to the advice of Reason she follows the errors of opinion and is guided by the report which the senses make which are ignorant and unfaithful messengers so as man is bound to make war as well against his Soul as his Body and to extend his hatred to both the parts which go to his composition since they are equally corrupted and to obey Jesus Christ he must fight against the darkness of his understanding the weakness of his memory the wickedness of his will the error of his imagination the perfidiousness of his senses and the rebellion of all the parts of his Body These evil qualities which spoil the workmanship of God are the true objects of our aversion 't is the evil we may hate with innocence and with Justice punish 't is the enemy we are obliged to fight with and to overcome for to comprehend in few words the intentions of Jesus Christ and the obligation of Christians we must hate in our selves all those sins which disorder hath placed there and which grace could not suffer there we must destroy in our selves all that grace will have destroy'd but very well knowing that in this combat the victory is doubtful we must humbly intreat the Son of God who prepares Crowns for the Victor to endue us with Charity to the end that thereby self-love may be diminished in us and the detestation of our selves augmented THE SECOND BOOK OF Desire and Eschewing The FIRST DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of Desire AS Good is the only Object of Love it never changeth form but it obligeth this Passion to undertake new Customes she depends so absolutely upon it as she changeth names and offices as oft as it changeth condition when it is present and discovers unto her all its Beauties she swims in pleasure when it runs any hazard she is seized on by fear when it is assaulted by enemies she takes up arms and grows cholerick to defend it when it is parted from her she is afflicted and suffers her self to be over-born with grief when it is absent she consumes her self in wishes and chargeth her desires to go find out an object the far distance whereof causeth all her anxieties for Desire is nothing els but the motion of the soul towards a good which she already loveth but doth not as yet possess she extends her self that she may arrive at it she endevors to forsake her body and to separate her self from her self that she may join her self to what she seeks after she forgets her own delights that she may not think of any thing save her beloved object she forceth her self to overcome Nature and Fortune and in spite of them to render present the absent good which she desires By this Definition it is easie to observe the proprieties of Desire the first whereof is restlesness which will not suffer the soul which hath conceived it to taste any true contentment for this soul is in a violent condition she fights with the body which she inanimates that she may unite her self to an object which she loveth Nature detains her in the one and Love carries her to the other she is divided between these two powerful Soveraigns and she feels a torment little less rigorous than death Thus have we seen men who to free themselves thereof have
strength before he set upon the enemy for Virtue is too rational to engage us in an impossibility she exacts nothing from us but what is in our power and she will have us in all our enterprizes to observe whether our means to be answerable to the end endeavoured There is nothing more glorious than conquest of the Holy Land and if the greatness of our Monarch might beincreas'd by wishes we would desire that to his other August Titles that of The Deliverer of the Land of Palestine might be added but he who should engage himself in that Design would be more rash than couragious if before putting to Sea he had not quieted all his own Dominions if he had not raised forces enough to fight with those of the Infidels and if he had not by his Intelligences caused an Insurrection in the Eastern parts thereby to work a powerful diversion To boot with all these conditions Christian Audacity ought to have two more the first is Humility which agrees very well with greatness of Courage since her enemy Vain-glory is always accompanied with Faint-heartedness The second is Hatred of our selves for he that hath not overcome his own inclination must not expect to overcome his delights and he who hath not warred against his own body is but ill prepar'd to denounce war against Sorrow Let us then use our strength against our selves that we may employ it to purpose against our enemies and let us vanquish Self-love if we will overcome the fear of death The FOURTH DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of Fear THere are some Passions whose Names belie their Natures and are nothing less inwardly than what they outwardly appear to be The name of Hope is pleasing but her humour is violent and she is cause of as much evil as she promiseth contentment the name of Despair is odious but her nature corresponds with Reason and we are obliged unto it when it makes us forgo the pursuit of a good which we cannot compass The name of Boldness is glorious we no sooner hear thereof but we conceive a greatness of courage which despiseth Pain and seeketh out Death but the inclination thereof is Savage and if it be not withheld by Wisdom it engageth us in dangers which cause much mischief to us and little glory The name of Fear is contemptible and errour hath so cried down this Passion as 't is taken for the mark of a Coward but her humor is wise and if she warn us of our misfortunes it is to free us from them For Nature seems to have given us two Passions to our Counsellors in the divers adventures of our life Hope and Fear the first is doubtless the more pleasing but the second is the more faithful the first flatters us to deceive us the second frightens us to secure us the first imitates those inteâ—essed Counsellors who in all their advices have respect rather to the Fortune than Person of their Prince and who by a dangerous flattery prefer his contentment before the welfare of his State the second resembles those faithful State-Ministers which discover a mischeif that they may cure it and who stick not to anger their King a little to purchase him a great deal of glory In fine the first is oft-times useless and the number of what is good being small enough she hath not many employments and if she undertakes any thing which belongs not to her she makes us lose our labour and our time the second is almost always busied and the number of evils being infinite she is never out of exercise she looks far into what is to come and seeks out the evil which may happen not to make us miserable before the time as she is unjustly accused but to secure our happiness and to disperse all the disasters which may bereave us of it For Fear is a natural Wisdom which oft-times frees us from danger by making us apprehensive thereof she spreads her self over all the actions of our life and is no less useful to Religion than to a Common-wealth if we will believe prophane Authors 't is she that made the gods and though there be some impiety in this Maxim a man may notwithstanding observe some shadow of Truth in it for 't is the fear of eternal punishment which perswaded men they were to appease the incensed gods 't is she that hath made Sacrifices builded Temples set up Altars and immolated Victimes 't is she that keeps the Just within their duties and which after a fault committed makes them lift up their hands to heaven and witness their sorrow for it Though men talk of generosity in Religion and boast that they are won rather by Promises than by Threats yet it must be confest that Fear hath sav'd more guilty people than Hope so is she termed in the holy Scripture the beginning of Wisdom that is to say the prop of Virtue the foundation of Piety Sin would grow insolent were it not supprest with this Passion all laws would be unuseful had not Nature imprinted Fear in the soul of offenders she is therein engraven in characters which Time cannot deface they apprehend the punishment of a secret sin and though they know the Judges can punish only such as they come to the knowledge of they tremble in the midst of their friends they awake affrighted and this faithful Minister of Gods Justice suffers them not to find assurance neither in Towns nor yet in Desarts 'T is a proof that Nature is not wholly corrupted since there remains in it horrour for sin and dread for the punishment thereof for let a sinner hide himself in what part he pleaseth he carries Fear about with him and this uncorruptible Passion teacheth him that there is a Divinity which sees our secret faults whilst we live and punisheth them when we are dead Often doth she convert Libertines and by an unconceiveable miracle she perswades them unto truths which they would not have believed lest they should be obliged to fear them she stings even the most opinionated and of as many as acknowledg Jesus Christ there are few that owe not their Love to their Fear they endeavour not to gain heaven save to free themselves from hell and they love Gods goodness only because they fear his Justice I very well know that this resentment is not pure and that a man who should stop at Fear would be in danger never to acquire Charity but it is much that she opens the gate of Salvation to Infidels and shews the way of Virtue unto sinners If she be profitable to Religion she is no less necessary to a Common-wealth which could not subsist by Recompenses if it did not terrifie the guilty with Punishments we â—â—ve not now in those innocent times wherein the people were united by friendship which renders the use of Laws bootâ—ess every one loved his Neighbor as himself and Love banished Injustice from off the
his Ambition by satisfying his Incontinence the more sins he commits the more pleasures he tastes A Tyrant rejoyceth in his Usurpation and if he reaps Glory by his Injustice he thinks himself more happy than a Lawful Prince A Cholerick man rejoyceth in Revenge though to obey his Passion he hath violated all the Laws of Charity he finds Contentment in his Crime and strangely blind the more faulty he is the more happy he thinks himself So that worldly joy is nothing else but wickedness unpunish'd or a glorious Sin Therefore when this passion becomes once faulty no less than a Miracle is required to restore it to its innocence For though such desires as rise up contrary to the Laws of God are unjust and that there are punishments ordained in his kingdom for the chastisement of irregular thoughts yet are these but begun offences and which have not as yet all their mischief though fond hopes be punishable and entertain our vanity yet are they not always follow'd by effects and oft-times by a fortunate Impotence they do not all the evil which they had promised unto themselves our boldness is fuller of inconsideration than of wickedness and an ill event makes it lose all its Fervour Our Sorrows and our Griefs are not obstinate they are healed by any the least help that is given them and as they are not well pleas'd with themselves they are easily changed to their contraries Our Fears are slitting the evil which caused them being once withdrawn they leave us at liberty and to conclude in a word there is no passion incurable but Joy But since it hath mingled it self with sin and that corrupting all the Faculties of Nature it takes delight in evil Morality hath no remedies more to cure it with 'T is a great disorder when a man glories in his sin and that as the Apostle sayes he draws his Glory from his own Confusion 'T is a deplorable mischief when together with Shame he hath lost Fear and that the punishments ordained by the Laws cannot hold him in to his duty but a strange irregularity is it when his sins have made him blind or that he knows them not save only to defend them but certainly when he takes delight in his sin when he grounds his Felicity upon Injustice and that he thinks himself Happy because he is Sinful this is the height of evil To punish this impiety it is that the Heavens dart forth Thunders The Earth grows barren for the punishment of this horrid disorder when war is kindled in a nation or that the Plague hath dispeopled Cities and turned Kingdoms into desolate places we ought to believe that these Judgments are the punishments of men who place their contentment in their offences and who violating all the Laws of Nature do unjustly mingle Joy with Sin Now because this mischief as great as it is ceaseth not to be common and that it is very hard to taste any innocent pleasure Iesus Christ adviseth us to forsake all the pleasure of the world and henceforth to ground our felicity in Heaven He bids us by the mouth of his Apostle not to open the doors of our hearts save to those pure consolations whereof the Holy Ghost is the Spring-head and arguing out of our own interests he obligeth us to seek only after that Joy which being founded on himself cannot be molested by the injuries of men nor the insolence of Fortune For if any think to place it in our Riches we are bound to fear the Loss thereof if we lodg it in reputation we shall apprehend Calumny and if like Beasts we put it in those infamous delights which slatter the Senses and corrupt the Mind we shall have as many subjects of fear as we shall see Chances that may bereave us of them Therefore following St. Augustines counsel which we cannot suspect since in the slower of his age he had tasted the delights of the world We should take care to lessen all sinful pleasures till such time as they may wholly end by our death and to increase all innocent pleasure till such time as they be perfectly consummated in Glory But you will peradventure say that our Senses are not capable of these holy delights and that Joy which is but a Passion of the Soul cannot raise it self up to such pure contentments that it must have some sensible thing to busie it self about and that whilst it is engaged in the body 't is an unjust thing to propound to it the felicity of Angels This exception is current only among such as think the passions of men to be no nobler than those of Beasts The affinity which they have with Reason makes them capable of all her Benefits when they are illuminated by her Lights they may be set on fire by her Flames When Grace sheddeth her influences into that part of the soul where they reside they labour after Eternity and forestalling the advantages of Glory they elevate the body and communicate unto it Spiritual feelings They make us say with the Prophet My body and my Soul rejoyce in the living God neglecting perishable delights they long after such only as are Eternal The FOURTH DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of Grief and Sorrow IF Nature could not extract good out of evil and did not her Providence turn our miseries into Felicities we might with Reason blame her for having made the most troublesome of our Passions the most Common For sadness seems to be Natural to us and Joy a Stranger All the parts of our body may taste Sorrow and Pain and but very few of them are Sensible of pleasure Pains come in throngs and assail us by Troops they agree to afflict us and though they be at discord among themselves they joyn in a confederacy to conspire our undoing but pleasures justle one another when they meet and as if they were jealous of good fortune the one of them destroys the other Our Body is the Stage whereon they fight the miseries thereof arise from their differences and man is never more unhappy than when he is divided by his Delights Griefs continue long and as if nature took pleasure in prolonging our punishment she indues us with strength to undergo them and makes us only so far Couragious or so far patient as may render us so much the more miserable Pleasures especially those of the Body endure but for a moment their death is never far off and when a man will make them of longer durance by art they occasion either torment or loathing But to make good all these reasons and to shew that Grief is more familiar to man than Pleasure we need only consider the deplorable condition of our life where for one vain contentment we meet with a thousand real sorrows For these come uncalled they present themselves of their own proper motion they are linkt one to another and like Hydra's heads they either never die
or after death spring up again But pleasures are sought for with pain and we are oft-times enforced to pay more for them than they are worth Sorrows are sometimes entirely pure and touch us to the quick as they make us incapable of consolation but pleasures are never without some mixture of Sorrow They are always dipt in bitterness and as we see no Roâ—es which are not environed with Prickles we taste no Delights which are not accompanied with Torments but that which makes the misery of our condition evidently appear is that we are much more sensible of Pain than of Pleasure for a slight Malady troubleth all our most solid contentments a Fever is able to make Conquerors forget their Victories and to blot out of their minds all the pomp of their Triumphs Yet is it the truest of all our Passions and if we believe Aristotle it makes the greatest alterations in our Souls the rest subsist only by our imagination and were it not for the intelligence we hold with this Faculty they would make no impression upon our Senses Desires and Hopes are but deceitful good things and he very well knew their nature who termed them the Dreams of Waking men Love and Hatred are the diversions of idle souls Fear is but a shadow and it is hard for the Effect to be true when the Cause is imaginary Boldness and Choler form Monsters to themselves that they may defeat them and we must not wonder if they so easily ingage themselves in the Combat since their enemies weakness assures them of the victory but grief is a real evil which sets upon the Soul and Body both at once and makes two wounds at one blow I know there are some sorrows that wound only the mind and exercise all their might upon the noblest part of man but if they be violent they work upon the body and by a secret contagion the pains of the Mistress become the diseases of the Slave the Chains that bind them together are so streight that all their good and bad estate is shared between them a contented Soul cures her body and a sick body afflicts its soul this noble Captive patiently endures all other incommodities which befall her and provided that her prison be exempted from pain she finds reasons enough to chear up her self with She despises the loss of Riches and bounding her Desires she finds contentment in Poverty she neglects Honour and knowing that it only depends upon Opinion she will not ground her happiness upon so frail a good she passeth by Pleasures and the shame which accompanies them lesseneth the sorrow which their loss brings her as she is not tied to these adventious goods she easily forgoes them and when Fortune hath robbed her of them she thinks her self more at Liberty and thinks her self not the poorer but when the body is assaulted and that it suffers either excessive heat or the injuries of the Season or the rage of Sickness she is constrained to sigh with it and the Cords which fasten them together make their miseries common she apprehends Death though she be Immortal she fears wounds though she be Invulnerable and she resents all the evils suffer'd by the prison which she gives life to though she be Spiritual The Stoicks Philosophy which valueth not a glorious enterprize unless it be impossible would have inderdicted the commerce between the Soul and the Body and in a strange madness hath endeavour'd to separate two parts whereof one and the same whole are compounded she forbad her Disciples the use of Tears and breaking the holiest of all Friendships she would have the Soul to be insensible of the Bodies sufferings and that whilst the Body was burning in the midst of flames the Soul should mount up to Heaven there to contemplate the Beauty of Virtue or the wonders of Nature This Barbarous Philosophy had some Admirers but she never had any true Disciples her Counsels made them despair all that would follow her Maxims suffer'd themselves to be miss-led by Vanity and could not fence themselves against Grief Since the Soul hath contracted so straight a society with the Body she must suffer with it and since she is shed abroad into all the parts thereof she must complain with the mouth weep with the eyes and sigh with the heart-Mercy was never forbidden but by tyrants and this Virtue will be praised as long as there be any that are miserable yet the evils which afflict her are strangers to her and those whom she assists are for the most part to her unknown wherefore then shall we blame the Soul if she have compassion on her own body Wherefore shall we accuse her of Abjectness if she share in the sorrows that assail it and which not being able to hurt her in her own substance set upon her in her Mansion-house and revenge themselves on her in that thing which of all the world she loves best For while she is in the body she seems to renounce her Nobility and that ceasing to be a pure spirit she interesses her self in all the Delights and all the Vexations of her Hoste his health causeth contentment in her and his sickness is grievous to her the most worthy part suffers in the less worthy and by a troublesom necessity the Soul is unhappy in the miseries of her body They say that Magick is so powerful that it hath found out a secret how to torment men in their absence and to make them feel in their own persons all the cruelties which she exerciseth upon their Images these miserable men burn with fire which toucheth nothing but their Picture they feel blows which they do not receive and the distance of place cannot free them from the fury of their enemies Love which is as powerful and not much less cruel than Magick doth this Miracle every day when it joyns two souls together it finds a way to make their sufferings common men cannot offend the one but the other resents it each of them suffers as well in the body which it loves as in that which it inanimates Since Love and Magick work these wonders we must not marvel if Nature having fastned the Soul to the Body do make the miseries common and if by one only wo she makes two Parties miserable the participation of each others Good and Bad is a consequence of their Marriage and the Heavens must do a miracle to give them a Dispensation from this necessity The joy of Martyrs was no meer effect of Reason when they tasted any pleasure amidst their Torments it must needs be Grace that sweetned the rigour thereof and he that in the fiery Furnace changed Flames into pleasing gales of Wind must have turned their Torments into Delights or if he did them not this favour he did them a greater and by making the Soul not sensible of the Bodies sufferings he taught the whole world that he was the Soveraign Lord of Nature
the Theatre where two so violent motions were formed should enjoy Peace amidst War In fine Fear and Audacity ended their differences in thy Person thou didst suffer these two affections to possess thy Heart without dividing it whilst thou wert in thine Agony in the Garden thou gavest confidence to thine Apostles and when the thought of death made such havock in thy Soul thou didst encourage Martyrs to the Combat thou preparest Crowns for their Victories and procuring them strength by thy weaknesses thou ordainest them to be the Champions of thy Church Militant But whatever help they received from thy Grace their Victories were never like thine they found more obedience in the World than in themselves and have confessed it cost them less to overcome wild Beasts than to vanquish their own Passions Famous Martyrs have been known who having overcome Lyons could not quell their own choler and have suffered themselves to be born away with Impatience after they had endured Tortures Their Combats were not always followed with good Success they were oft-times in one and the same day both Conquered and Conquerors They gave way to Voluptuousness after they had triumphed over Grief and having had courage enough to be Martyrs they wanted resolution to be continent How often have they wisht for Death that they might be freed from these domestick enemies and to that end sighed and made vows When thy Providence gave them over to their own weakness they despaired of their Salvation finding no support save in thy Goodness they begun all their wrestlings by Prayer and professed that to overcome their Passions they must be animated by thy Spirit and assisted by thy Power Thou art the sole Conqueror that wert never worsted in this War thy Affections never betrayd thy Reason and thy power hath been as absolute in thy Person as in thy Kingdom These Passions of our Soul changed nature in thine by the use thou madest of them they became Virtues Thou conceivedst no love which did not turn it self into Charity thou didst excite no Choler that was not just indignation and thou feltest no pity but it was transformed into Mercy All that in our Nature is Humane was Divine in thine and the unconfused Mixture of two Natures whereof thou art composed made thy passions to be rather Miracles than Virtues Thy Anger served as an Officer to thy Fathers Iustice thy Compassion was the Interpreter of His Mercy and thy Love an earnest of His Good will How happy was that distressed man that drew tears from thine eyes how rich was that poor one whose wants thou didst bewail how puissant was the oppressed whose interests thou maintainedst how innocent was that Offender whose Conversion was wrought by thy Tears and how glorious was the infamous Sinner to whom thou witnessedst thy Love by thy Complaints and Sighs Heaven had a regard to all the motions of thy Soul the eternal Father never denied any thing to thy Tears and his Thunder-bolts never failed to fall upon their heads on whom thy just Anger called for punishment Thy Passions were the Organs of thy Divinity thy Sighs were no less powerful than thy Words and without using either Prayers or Vows the Desires were sufficient to make known thy Will What Admiration did these Motions of thy Soul cause in the Seraphim with what astonishment were those pure Intelligences strucken when they considered that God taking our nature upon him took part of her feelings and no part of her weaknesses That he wept with the wretched without interessing his happiness That he was Angry at those that were injured without troubling his Quiet That with the needy he formed desires without loss of his Abundance And that with Lovers he felt the flames of Love without enduring their Disturbances What a miracle was it to see that Anger should be kindled in thy Soul without trouble thereunto That Pity should wound thy Heart without weakning it That it should be enflamed with Love yet not consumed That it should be eaten up with Sorrow yet not disquieted What can I do less in honour of so many Wonders than to consecrate our Passions unto thee What less submission can I make to thy adored Power than loudly to avouch that there is none but thou who can teach us the use of these Motions And that it appertains only to thy Wisdom to change our Anger into Indignation our Pity into Mercy and our Love into Charity Indeed it is thou alone who canst rule our passions thou art he only who workest our good out of our Evil and of Poysons composest Antidotes Thou knowest men by their Inclinations thou seest without studying them the motions of their hearts and making benefit thereof dost wisely conduct them to thy end Thou employest Fear to take off a covetous man from those perishable Riches which possess him thou makest a holy use of Despair to withdraw from the World a Courtier whose youth had been mis-imployed in the service of some Prince thou makest an admirable use of Disdain to extinguish there with a lovers flames who is enslave by a proud beauty thou employest Choler to disabuse a Souldier whom a dissembling General feeds with vain hopes thou makest excellent use of Grief to cure a sick man who sought for his Souls happiness in his Bodies health and lost the remembrance of Heaven by being to strongly fastened to the Earth In fine thou makest Chains of all our Passions to unite our Wills to thine thou minglest Grace with Nature and makest Angels by the same disorders as they would have been made Devils Sin is the Theatre of thy Power as well as Nothing thou makest thy greatest Works issue out of two Subjects whereof the one is Barren the other Rebellious Out of Nothing thou drawest Existence and out of Sin thou extractest Grace thou findest every thing in its contrary and by an effectual violence which can proceed only from an infinite Power thou compellest Nothing to produce men and sin to make Saints But after these two Miracles which are thy Master-pieces we see not any thing more wonderful than the use which thou art able to make of our Passions for the changing of our Wills thou makest that serve thy designes which did serve thine enemies thou savest men by those Weaknesses which would have been their undoing and bestowing on them a little Divine Love thou turnest all their Passions into Virtues For when once Charity begins to reign in their souls they fear nothing but sin they wish for nothing but Grace Thou art the end of their Desires as thou art the object of their Love They change Condition without changing Nature though they have Passions they commit no more Offences and losing neither Hope nor Despair neither Audacity nor Fear neither Love nor Hatred they are free from all the mischiefs which accompany these Passions when they are Faulty But certainly if thy Mercy appear in well husbanding the inclinations of thy Friends to their
make us faulty or miserable one might see them make love in their Writings fight in Fables and one might observe in them all the chief affections of those that had invented them Philosophers not able to endure so unjust gods formed more rational Deities and proposed unto the people the Idols of their own minds every one figured out unto himself a god according to his own inclinations and gave him what advantages may be imagined Some placed him in idleness and that they might not trouble his rest berest him of the knowledge or government of our affairs some made him so good as that he suffered all faults to go unpunisht and dealt as favourably with the guilty as with the innocent others made him so rigorous as it seemed he had created man only to destroy him and that he found no contentment but in the death of his Subjects this disorder hath passed from Religion into State-government and according to the ages wherein men have lived they have framed unto themselves divers Ideas of Kings personages and have placed in their Princes such perfections only as they were acquainted withal for in the beginning of the world when people preferred the body before the soul they chose such Kings as were of an extraordinary stature and who were as strong as Giants Nay it seemed that God would apply himself to this humor when he gave Saul unto the Israelites for the Scripture sayes He was higher by the head than all his subjects and when the Poets describe unto us their Heroes they never fail in giving them this advantage but when time had taught us that our good resided not in the body men begun to consider the mind of such men as they would make their Kings and cast their eyes upon such as had most of government in them or most of courage they observed their inclinations and knowing what power their inclinations have over their wills they esteemed them no less than Virtues But Opinions do so differ upon this Subject as a man may say that every Politician fancies unto himself a Prince according to his humour and indues him with that Passion which is most agreeable unto himself Some have wished that their Prince had no Passion at all and that being the Image of God he should be raised above the Creatures he should see all the motions of the earth without any alteration oâ— spirit but we know very well that his being in a higher condition than his subjects makes him not be of another nature and that since he is not exempt from the Diseases of the Body he cannot defend himself against the passions of the soul. Others have been of opinion that he ought to have aâ— passions that like unto the Sun and constellations he should be in a perpetual motion and employ all his care and all his thoughts upon the welfare of his State Some have thought that the desire of glory was the most lawful Passion in a King and that since Fortune had endued him with all the goods she could confer upon him he should only labour how to atchieve honour That virtue was only preserved by this desire and that he who valued not reputation could not love Justice that a Prince ought not to endeavour the eternizing of his memory by the pomp of glorious Buildings but by the gallantry of his actions that setting all other things at nought he should only study how to leave a happy memory of his reign after his death That nothing could more further him in this generous design than an insatiable desire of Glory that Riches were the goods of particular men but that glory was the humor of Kings and that he might well hazard all other things to compass it Others less glorious but more rational have thought that fear ought to reign in the soul of Princes and that as their wisdom exceeded their valour the apprehension of danger should in them also surpass the desire of glory for to boot that their fortune is exposed to a thousand mischiefs that the greater it is it runs the greater danger that it is the more brittle by how much the more glorious they are bound to prevent accidents by their watchfulness to withstand storms by their Constancy and to forgo their own happiness to share in the misery of their Subjects All these opinions are upheld by examples for there have been some Kings who have known so well how to moderate their passions as they seemed not to have any they have not been troubled at ill Successes and they would receive the news of a Defeat with the same countenance as the tidings of Victory The quiet of their mind was not altered by the divers functions they were obliged unto they punished faults with the same easiness as they rewarded Virtue and whatever alteration befell their States you should find none in them they seemed to be raised to so high a pitch of perfection as one might say in the weakness of man they had the assurance of a God There have been others whose government hath been no less happy and who have yet been of a quite different disposition for as their Empire was no less dear unto them than were their own bodies no alteration could happen therein which might not be read in their faces good success put them in good humor they were afflicted at unhappy accidents they were touched to the quick even with evils that threatned them from afar off and every thing that befel their State made so strong an impression in them as they seemed to live in two bodies and that having two lives to lose they had two deaths to fear I dare not blame this their restlesness since it was occasioned by an extream love and a body must be unjust to condemn a Prince that makes himself miserable for no other cause but that he may make his Subjects happy Augustus Caesar was of this humor and though he had endeavoured to compass so much constancy as not to be troubled at any thing yet could he not hear of any good or bad success which befel his Common-wealth without witnessing his resentment thereof by his word and actions Varrus his defeat cost him tears and this accident which he was not prepared for made him say such things as I do rather impute to his affection than to his weakness since upon other occasions he had given so good proof of his Courage Their number is great who have laboured after glory and who have had no other Passion but how to acquire honour Nothing seemed difficult unto them which bear with it the face of glory insomuch as by an inevitable misfortune they neglected virtue when in obscurity and put a valuation upon a glorious vice According to their Tenets it was as lawful to overthrow a State as to found one to oppress a Republick as to defend it and to undertake a War against Allies as well as against Enemies They run after glory
enjoy Earth would be Hell if Love were vanisht thence and it would be a great piece of rigour in God if he should permit us to see handsom things and forbid us to love them But that we may the better govern this Passion we must learn of Morality what Laws to prescribe unto it and what liberty we must allow it There are three objects of our Love God Man and Creatures deprived of Reason Some Philosophers have doubted whether we could love the first or no they were perswaded his greatness did rather require our adoration than our love but though this be a religious opinion and that it merits the greater esteem since it proceeds from the prophane we cannot deny but that we were endued with love to unite us to God for to boot with our thorough sense of this inclination to boot that it is imprinted by Nature in the very ground-work of our wills and that uninstructed by our Parents or our Teachers we labour after the Summumbonum Reason teacheth us that he is the Abyss of all perfections and the Center of all love so as a man need not fear committing any excess in loving him with all his might He is so good as he cannot be loved so much as he ought to be and let a man do his utmost he is obliged to confess that the goodness of God doth far exceed the greatness of mans Love Such Souls as are elevated and approach nearer unto him complain of their coolness and wish that all the parts of their Bodies were turned into Tongues to praise him or into Hearts to love him They are troubled that since his greatness is so well known his goodness is no more loved and that having so many subjects he hath no more that love him We must not then prescribe any bounds to this Passion when it hath respect unto God but every one ought to make it his sole desire and to wish that his heart were dilated that he might infinitely love him who is infinitely lovely but we must take great heed not to rob him of what doth so justly belong unto him and we must remember that though his goodness should not force his duty from us we should be bound to render it unto him in order to our own interest For our love is never content but when it rests in God It fears infidelity in the creatures is never so assured of them but that there remains some rational doubts and though it should have such proofs of their good will as that it were constrained to banish all suspition yet would it fear lest death might take from it what good fortue hath given in one or other of these just apprehensions it could not shun being miserable But it knows very well that God is immutable that he never forsaketh us till we have forsaken him it knows that God is eternal and that death being no less distant from him than change his affection cannot end but through our infidelity 'T is true there are carnal souls who complain that he is invisible and who cannot resolve to give up their hearts to a Divinity which doth not content their eyes But all things are full of him his greatness is poured out in all the parts of the Universe every Creature is an Image of his perfections he seems to have made these pictures only to make himself be thereby known and loved and if he should not have used this piece of skill we need only consult with our own Reason to know what he is Error cannot corrupt her and in the souls of Pagans she hath verified Oracles Those very men who offered Incense unto Idols knew very well that there was but one God when Nature spake in their mouths she made them speak like Christians and they confess'd those truths for which they persecuted the Martyrs For as Tertullian observes their soul was naturally Christian when they were surprized with a danger they implored the succour of the true God and not that of their Iupiter when they took an oath they raised up their eyes towards heaven not towards the Capitol so as we must not complain that God is invisible but we must wish that he may be as much loved as he is known And moreover this complaint is no more to be admitted of since the mystery of the Incarnation where God became man that he might treat with men where he hath given sensible proofs of his presence and where clothing himself with our nature he hath suffered our eyes to behold his beauty our hands to touch his body and our ears to hear his voice Since that happy moment he is become our Allie and he who was our Soveraign is become our Brother to the end that this double quality might oblige us to love him with more ardor and might permit us to accost him with more freedom we cannot then fail in the use of that love which we owe unto him but by being either too much reserved or too unfaithful But the love we render to men may be defective in two manner of ways and we may abuse it either in loving them too much or not enough as shall be shewn in the pursuit of this Discourse Friendship is certainly one of the chief effects of Love and the harmlessest delight which men can take in Society Very Barbarians did reverence the Name thereof those who despise the Laws of Civility put an estimation upon the laws of friendship and cannot live within their Forrests without having some whom they trust who know their thoughts who rejoyce at their good fortune and who are afflicted when any ill besals them Thieves who intrench upon the publick liberty who make war in time of peace and who seem desirous to stifle that love which Nature hath placed in mankind cease not to bear respect to friendship they have a certain shadow of society amongst them they keep their word though with prejudice to their condition tortures cannot sometimes make them violate their Faith and they will rather lose their lives than betray their Companions In fine people subsist only by virtue hereof and who should banish friendship from off the earth must raze Towns and send men into Desarts She is more powerful than the Laws and who shall have well established her in Kingdoms need neither tortures nor punishments to contain the wicked within their duties But to be just she must have her bounds to be true she must be founded upon Piety those who will love one another must be united in faith and must have the same sense of Religion their friendship must be a study after Virtue and they must labour to become better by their mutual communication their souls should rather be mingled than united from this mixture a perfect community of all things must arise their goods must be no more divided and the words thine mine which cause whatever there is of division in the world must be totally
their hatred they leave it as an inheritance to their Children they oblige them to eternal enmity and make imprecations against them if they be ever reconciled to their enemies In fine this Passion is immortal and as it resides in the bottom of the soul it accompanieth her whithersoever she goeth doth not forgo her no not when she is loosened from the Body This it is which the Poets who are the most excellent Painters of our affections would represent unto us in the persons of Eteocles and Polynices who continued their hatred after death and who went to end the combat in Hell which they begun on earth this Passion lived in their bodies deprived of Sense it passed by a secret contagion into their funeral Pile and waged war in the flames which were to consume them But I wonder not that this Passion is so opinionated since it is so daring and I think it not strange that it continues after death since it hath made men resolute to lose their lives for love of revenge and that it makes them find some contentment in death provided they see their enemies accompany them therein For Hatred ceases to be true when it becomes discreet and we may say a man is not wholly possessed therewithal when to spare his own bloud he dares not shed the bloud of his adversary When he hath given himself over to the tyranny thereof he thinks he can never purchase the pleasures of revenge at too dear a rate And propose whatever punishment you list unto him he is well-pleased therewithal provided his Passion may be satisfied Atreus wisheth to be overwhelmed under the ruine of his Palace provided it fall upon his brothers head and so cruel a death seems pleasing to him so as he be therein accompanied by Theistes In short Hatred is very puissant since all torments are endured to give it satisfaction and it useth strange tyranny upon such as it possesseth since there is no fault which they are not ready to commit in obedience to it If the proprieties of Hatred be thus strange the effects thereof are no less fatal For as Love is the cause of all generous and gallant actions Hatred is the rise of all base and tragical actions And those who are advised by so bad a Counsellor are capable of all the evil that can be imagined Murder and Paricide are the ordinary effects of this unnatural Passion 'T was this that made us see in the day-break of the world that a man might die in the flower of his age and that one brother was not secure in the company of another 'T was this that found out weapons to dispeople the world to ruinate Gods goodliest workmanship 'T was this that making man forget the sweetnes of his nature taught him to mingle poyson in drinks to shed humane bloud at Banquets to kill under pretence of hospitality 't was this that first instituted that fatal art which teacheth us how to murder with method how to kill men handsomly and which forceth us to approve of Paricide if it be done according to the laws of the world 'T was this in fine and not avarice which tore up the bosom of the earth and which sought within the bowels thereof for that cruel Metal wherewith it exerciseth its fury And to describe in a few words all the evils it is cause of it will suffice to say that Anger is her first Master-piece Envy her Counsellor Despair her Officer and that after having pronounced bloudy sentences as Judge it self puts them in execution as Hangman 'T is true that hatred never comes to these extremities till it grow unruly but this unruliness is almost natural thereunto and unless Reason and Grace labour jointly how to moderate this Passion it easily becomes excessive The fierceness thereof is oft-times augmented by resistance like an impetuous torrent it overthrows all the banks which oppose its fury and when it 's forbidden any thing it believes it may lawfully do all things therefore the remedy which is ordained for Love is no less necessary for Hatred and to heal an evil which becomes incurable by time early withstandings must be made lest gaining strength it grow furious and be the death of its Physitian for having been negligent in its cure The FIFTH DISCOURSE Of the bad use of Hatred THough the greatest part of effects produced by Hatred may pass for disorders and that after having described the nature thereof it may seem unprofitable to observe the ill use that may be made of it yet that I may not fail in the laws that I have prescribed unto my self I will employ all this discourse in discovering the injustice thereof and I will make it appear to all the world that of as many Aversions as molest our quiet there is hardly any one that is rational For as all creatures are the workmanship of God and bear in their Foreheads the Character of him that produced them they have qualities which render them lovely and goodness which is the principal object of Love is so natural unto them as it is not to be separated from the Essence to cease to be good they must cease to be and as long as they have a subsistance in nature we are obliged to confess that there remains some tincture of goodness in them which cannot be taken from them without an absolute annihilation Thus God gave them his approbation when they were first made he made their Panegyrick after they were created and to oblige us to make much of them he hath taught us by his own mouth that they were exceeding good so as the Belief of their goodness is an Article of Faith in our Religion whatsoever opposition they may have to our humors or our inclinations we ought to believe that they have nothing of evil in them and that their very qualities which hurt us have their imployments and their use Poysons are serviceable for Physick and there are certain maladies which are not to be cured but by prepared poyson Monsters which seem to be errors of nature or ordained by Providence which cannot do amiss they do not only contribute by their ugliness to heighten the beauty of other creatures but are presages which advertise us of our misfortunes and which invite us to bewail our sins the very Devils themselves have lost nothing of their natural Advantages and the malice of their Will hath not been able to destroy the goodness of their essence and though they are compleated in evil they cease not to possess all the good which purely appertains unto their nature they have yet that beauty which they did Idolatrize they enjoy all their lights which they received at the first moment of their creation they have yet that vigor which makes a part of their being and were they not restrained by the power of God they would form thunder raise storms spread abroad contagions confound all the Elements 't is true that these their advantages
voluntarily condemned themselves to fearful punishments and who have esteemed all remedies pleasing which could cure so vexatious a malady Banishment is certainly one of the cruellest punishments which Justice hath invented to chastise the guilty it separates us from all we love and seems to be a long Death which leaves us a little life only to make us the more miserable Notwithstanding we have heard of a Mother who chose rather to suffer the rigor of this torment than the violence of Desire and who would accompany her son in his banishment that she might not be necessitated to lament his absence and wish for his return Thus Nature which saw that Desire was an affliction ordained Hope to sweeten it for whilst we are upon the earth we make no wishes whereof our mind doth not promise us the accomplishment these two motions of our soul are only divided in hell where divine Justice hath condemned her enemies to frame Desires void of hope and to languish after a happiness which can never befall them They long after the Summum bonum whatever hatred they conceived against that God which punisheth them they cease not notwithstanding to love him naturally and to wish they might enjoy him though they are not permitted to hope they shall This Desire is cause of all their sufferings and this languishment is a more insufferable torment than the scorching flames than the company of the Devils and than the eternity of their Prison could they be without Desire they should be without anguish and all those other pains which astonish vulgar souls would seem supportable to them were they not adjudged to wish a happiness which they cannot hope for But it is not in Hell only that this Passion is cruel she afflicteth all men upon earth and as she serveth divine Justice as a means wherewithal to punish the guilty she is serviceable unto mercy as an holy piece of cunning wherewithal to exercise the innocent for Gods goodness causeth them to consume in desires they are in a disquiet which cannot end but with their lives they strive to get free from their bodies they call in death into their succour and say with the Apostle I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Justice employs Desires to revenge her self upon sinners and by a no less severe than rational guidance she gives them over to this Passion to torment them their desires tend only to afflict them and their soul frames unruly wishes which failing of effects leave them in a languishment which lasts as long as doth their life In fine Divinity knowing that this Passion is the cause of all our misfortunes hath thought that she could not describe Happiness better unto us than in teaching us it was the end of all Desires Philosophy would have said that it is the end of all our evils and the beginning of all our good that it makes us forget our miseries by the sweets of her delights but Divinity which very well knows that desires are the most violent punishments which we suffer here below is content to say that happiness was the period thereof that when we should begin to be happy we should cease to wish we must also confess that Desire fastens it self to all the other Passions of our soul and that it either furnisheth them with weapons wherewithal to fight or with strength to afflict us for those Passions which make most havock in our hearts would be either dead or languishing were they not animated with Desire Love is only cruel because it coveteth the presence of what it loveth Hatred gnaws not on our Bowels save only because it desireth revenge Ambition is only angersom because it aspires after Honour Avarice tortures the Avaritious only because it thirsts after riches and all Passions are only insupportable because they are accompanied by Desire which like a contagious Malady is shed abroad throughout all the affections of our Soul to make us miserable If it be thus cruel it is not much less shameful and we are obliged to confess that it is an evidence of our weakness and indigency for we never have recourse to wishes but when our power fails us our desires never do appear but when we cannot effect them they are marks of our impotency as well as of our love it teacheth Kings upon earth that their will exceeds their power and that they would do many things which they cannot I know that desires inheartens them to proud undertakings where difficulty is always mixt with glory I know they excite their courage and that they produce that general heat without which nothing of gallantry is either undertaken or effected but they likewise teach them that there is none but God alone who is able to do what he will that maketh not fruitless wishes and that it appertains to him to change when he pleaseth desires into effects he rather wills than wishes and doth rather resolve events than desire them but amongst Princes their impotency hinders oft-times the execution of their desires they are enforced to make Vows and to implore aid from Heaven when they fail of help on earth poor Alexander seeing his dear Ephestion die could not witness his love unto him but by his desires He who distributed the Crowns of Kings that he had conquered and who made Soveraigns Slaves could not restore health unto his Favourite the vows which he offered up to heaven for his amendment were as much evidences of his impotency as of his sorrow and taught the whole world that Princes wishes witness their weakness They are also publick marks in all men of hidden poverty for every soul that desires is necessitous the soul that desires forgoes her self to seek out in another what she finds missing in her she discovers her misery by making her desires known and teaches the whole world that the felicity which she possesseth is but in appearance since it satisfieth not all her desires Great Tertullian hath therefore worthily exprest the nature of this Passion when he says it is the glory of the thing desired and the shame of him that doth desire for a thing must be lovely to kindle our desires it must have charms which may draw us and perfections which may stay us but for certain likewise the will that doth desire must be indigent and must stand in need of somewhat which makes it seek out a remedy Desire then is the honour of beauty and the shame of the unchaste it is the glory of Riches and the Avaritious mans infamy the praise of dignity and the Ambitious mans blame and as oft as Princes are prone to this Passion it gives us to know that their fortune hath more of glittering in it than of real truth that she gives not all the contentments she promiseth since they are constrained to descend from their Thrones to quit their Palaces and by shameful prosecution to seek out a forreign good which they have
tolerate it and by an unfortunate necessity we must give lodging to a guest we should not be able to love but Nature hath well provided for this and her providence which always watches over her children hath given us a Passion which eschews evil with as much impetuosity as desire seeks after good This keeps at distance from all that can hurt us and following the inclinations of hatred whereof she is either the Daughter or Slave she flies from all objects that displease her and fights to defend it self against her enemies 't is the first succour we have received against evils 't is the first violence the first salley which the concupiscible appetite makes to free us from them Though this Passion be almost alwayes blameless and that she cannot be made criminal but by surprizal yet ceaseth she not to have her ill use and to be every day employ'd against the design of Nature Those therefore that would make use of her are bound to consider whether that which they endevor to eschew be truly so or be but so in appearance and whether opinion which easily seizeth upon the understanding hath not perswaded them unto falshoods instead of truths For it is apparent that of two things that bear the name of evil in the world there is but one of them which may properly be said to deserve it Sin and Punishment are the two most ordinary objects of eschewing and most men do so confound them as we know not which of them is most odious Punishment being more sensible than Sin it is more carefully shunned and there are not many people who do not love rather to be faulty than unfortunate We shun the Plague and seek out sin we keep far from all infected places the bad air whereof may work an alteration in our health and we draw near to evil company which may rob us of our innocency Religion obligeth us not withstanding to believe that Punishments are the effects of Divine Justice that they have Beauties which though austere ought not to be the less pleasing that God honours himself by punishing of his enemies and that he finds as much satisfaction in chastening the guilty as in recompencing the just The greatest Saints have known that our punishments were favours which did no less contribute to the welfare of man than to the glory of his Creator they have confessed that we must adore the arm which hurts us love the wounds because of the arm that made them and teach all the world that Heavens Thunders are just since those who are therewith struck adore them but sin is a true evil which hath nothing in it which is not odious its object is a soveraign good which it offendeth and if in the behalf of the committer the malice thereof be bounded on his behalf against whom it is committed it is infinite Sin violates all the Laws of Nature dishonoureth men and Angels and all the evils which we suffer are the just punishments of its disorders 'T was then for this dreadful evil that we were endued with aversion and this aversion cannot be more justly employed than in keeping us far from a Monster the abode whereof will be hell and death the eternal punishment Next to sin nothing ought to be more carefully eschewed than those that do defend it and who to enlarge the Empire thereof endeavor to make it appear lovely and glorious As Nature is the pure workmanship of God she cannot tolerate sin and that she may banish it from the earth she hath laden it with confusion and fear it dares not appear in full day it hides it self in darkness and seeks out solitary places where it hath none but such as are complices with it for witnesses But its partakers raise it up upon a throne and play all their cunning to win it glory they cover it with the cloak of Virtue and if it hath any thing of affinity with its enemy they strive to make it pass for Virtue They change their names and by one and the same action committing two faults they bereave Virtue of her honour that they may give it to Sin they term Revenge greatness of Courage Ambition a generous Passion Uncleanness an innocent pleasure and consequently they term Humility lowness of Spirit the forgiving of injuries faint-heartedness and continency a savage humor They spread abroad these false maxims they turn evils into contagious diseases and their errors into heresies they seduce simple souls and presenting poyson in Chrystal vessels they make it be swallow'd down by innocent people Those who are most couragious have much ado to defend themselves from them the best wits suffer themselves to be perswaded by their lewd Reasons we are therefore bound to have recourse to the succour that Nature hath given us to excite this Passion which keeps us aloof from what is evil and furnisheth us with forces to fight against it But her chief employment ought to be against Incontinence and the Heavens seem to have given a being to Aversion only to rid our hands of an enemy which cannot be overcome but by Eschewing All Passions come in to the aid of Virtue when she undertakes a war against Vice Choler grows hot in her quarrel Audacity furnisheth her with weapons Hope promiseth her Victory and Joy which always follows generous actions serves instead of Recompense but when she is to set upon Incontinency she dares not employ all these faithful souldiers and knowing very well that the enemy she is to fight withal is as crafty as puissant she fears lest he may seduce them and by his cunning draw them over to his side In truth Choler agrees easily with Love and Lovers quarrels serve only to re-kindle their extinct flames Hope entertains their Affections and Joy oft-times takes its rise from their displeasures so as Virtue can only make use of Eschewing to defend her self and of so many Passions which assist her in her other designs she is only seconded by Eschewing in her combate against Impurity But she thinks her self strong enough if succour'd therewithal and there is no such charming Beauty no so strong inclination nor so dangerous occasion which she doth not promise her self to overcome provided she be accompanied by this faithful Passion She is the cause why Chastity reigns in the world 't is by reason of her wisdom that men do imitate Angels and triumph over evil spirits in the frailty of the flesh But the greatest miracle which she produceth is when being subservient to Charity she separateth us from our selves and when preventing the violence of death she divideth the soul from the body for man hath no greater enemy than himself he is the cause of all his own evils and Christian Religion agrees with the Sect of the Stoicks that man can receive no true displeasure save what he himself procures he is therefore bound to keep at distance from himself and to hold no commerce with his Body
expects till mischiefs come the other goes to seek them out the one is mild the other severe the one to speak properly suffers pains which she cannot shun the other endures torments which she easily might eschew But amongst all these differences they have this of common that they cannot subsist without Hope 't is the soul which gives them life and these two beaÌ„tiful virtues would not attract the eyes of men and Angels were they not encouraged by this Passion which regards futurity For vain-glory is not able to inspire us with the contempt of sorrow and the Sect of the Stoicks as proud as it is hath been able to make but few Philosophers generously suffer the violence of tortures and the Hang-mans cruelty but Christian Religion hath produced multitude of Martyrs who have overcome Flames and Savage Beasts and triumphed over Pagan Emperours Their Fortitude was grounded upon the virtue of Hope whilst men went about to corrupt them with promises to affright them with threats and to vanquish them with toâ—ments they raised up their spirits to heaven and considered the recompenses which God prepares for those that serve him faithfully 'T is doubtless out of this reason that the great Apostle hath given such glorious titles to hope that he employs all his divine eloquence to express the wonderful effects thereof for sometimes he calls it an Anchor which stops our Vessel in the Sea which makes us find tranquility in the midst of a storm and which fixeth our desires on heaven and not on earth sometimes he terms it a Buckler under the shelter whereof we beat down the blows which our enraged adversary makes against us sometimes he calls it our Glory and represents it unto us as an honorable title which blotting out our shame makes us hope that after having been Gods enemies we shall become his children and that in this acception we shall share in his inheritance By all these praises he teaches us that we have need of Hope in all manner of conditions and that we may usefully employ her in all the occurrences of our life that it is our security in storms our defence in combats and our glory in affronts But let us observe that she is not of this world that she forbids us the love thereof and that she promiseth unto us another more glorious and innocent to be the object of our desires Let us neglect such a good as is perishable that we may acquire that which is eternal let us remember that it is hard to have pretences at the same time both to heaven and earth and that we must set at naught the promises of the world if we will obtain those of Jesus Christ. The FOURTH DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of the good evil use of Despair OF all the Passions of man Despair is that which hath been most honour'd and most blam'd by Antiquity for she hath past for the last proof of courage in those famous men who have made use of sword or poyson to free themselves from the insolence of a victorious enemy Poets and Orators never appeared more eloquent than when they describe the death of Cato and they do so artificially disguise that furious action that did not faith perswade us that it is an execrable attempt we should take it for an Heroick action Seneca never praised Virtue so much as this crime he seems by the high Excomiums he gives it to perswade all men to Despair and to oblige all unfortunate people to commit Paricide he imagines that all the gods descended into Vtica to consider this spectacle that they would honour a Stoick Philosopher with their presence who not able to endure Caesars government though he had born with the like in Pompey plung'd his dagger into his breast tore his entrails and that he might taste death rent his soul from his body with his own hands But truly I do not wonder that Seneca would make a murder pass for a Sacrifice since he hath approved of Drunkenness and that he hath made it a Virtue that he might not be constrained to blame Cato who was accused thereof Others have absolutely condemn'd Despair and because some men giving themselves over unto fury have dipt their hands in their own bloud they have been of opinion that this Passion ought to be banisht from out our soul and that nothing could befal us in this life wherein it was lawful to follow the motions thereof Both these opinions are equally unjust and do violate the Sense of Nature for let the disaster be what it please which Fortune threatens us withal and whatsoever great mishap she prepareth for us we never may attempt against our own life our birth and our death depend only upon our Lord God and none but he who hath brought us into the world can take us out of it he hath left unto us the disposal of all the conditions of our life and hath only reserved to himself the beginning and the end we are born when he pleaseth and we die when he ordaineth it to hasten the hour of our death is to intrench upon his rights and he is so jealous of it as he oft-times doth miracles to teach us that it belongeth unto him But if Despair be forbidden us upon this occasion there are many others wherein it is permitted and I am of opinion that Nature did never more evidently shew her care over man than in enduing him with a Passion which may free him from all the evils for which Philosophy hath no remedy For though Good be a pleasing Object and that by its charm it powerfully attracts the Will yet it is sometimes environed with so many difficulties that the Will cannot come nigh it its beauty makes her languish she consumes away in Desire and Hope which eggeth her on obligeth her to do her utmost in vain the more she hath of Love the more she hath of Sorrow and the more excellent the good which she seeks after is the more miserable is she that which ought to cause her Happiness occasioneth her punishment and to speak it in few words she is unfortunate for that she cannot forbear loving an object which she cannot compass This torment would last as long as her Love did not Despair come in to her succour and by a natural wisdom oblige her to forgo the search of an impossibility and to stifle such Desires as seem only to afflict her As this Passion takes us off from the pursuit of a difficult good which surpasseth our power so are there a thousand occasions met withal in mans life wherein she may be advantageously made use of and there is no condition how great soever in the world which needs not her assistance For mens powers are limited and the greater part of their designs are impossible Hope and Boldness which animate them have more of heat than government led on by these blind guides they would
throw themselves headlong into Praecipices did not Despair withhold them did not she by her knowledge of their weakness divert them from their rash enterprizes she is also a faithful Counsellor which never doth deceive us and which deserves not to be blamed if not being sent for till our affairs be in a sad condition she gives us more wholsome than honorable advice we must accuse Hope which engageth us too easily in a danger and praise Despair which finds a means to free us from it The greatest Princes are only unhappy for not having listned unto her for would they measure their forces before they undertake a war they would not be enforced to make a dishonourable peace to take the law from their victorious enemy but the mischief is they never implore Despairs assistance but when she cannot give it them and they never advise with this Passion till all things be reduced to an extremity yet is she not unuseful at such a time and her counsels cease not to be profitable though precipitate For when Princes know that their forces are inferiour to those of their enemies and that all the advantage lies on the enemies side Despair wisely managed causeth them to retreat and this Passion repairing the faults of Hope and Audacity makes them keep their souldiers till another time when they may assuredly promise themselves the victory for Despair is more cautious than couragious and aims more at the safety than glory of a Kingdom it makes use of the evils which it hath observed and thinks it self glorious enough if it can escape the fury of him that doth pursue it 'T is true that when it sees all ways of safety barred up and that it is on all sides environed by death it chuseth the most honourable and recalling Hope which it had chased away resolveth either to die or overcome Therefore 't is that good Commanders do never put the vanquished to Despair but knowing that this Passion becomes valiant when provoked they make her bridges of gold open all passages to her and suffer this Torrent to disperse it self abroad in the open Champion lest her fury swelling by resistance overbear such works as are opposed to her impetuosity Herein the nature of Despair is strange for it ariseth from Fear and its greatest wisdom consisteth in its timorousness in the good which it offers it self it rather considereth the difficulty which may astonish than the glory which may attract and be it that it be more cold or less courageous than Hope it hath not so much an eye to good as to bad events yet when the danger is extream and that the mischief is so great as it cannot be evaded it makes virtue of necessity and gives battel to an enemy which Hope it self durst not assail it oftentimes plucks the Lawrel from out the Conquerors hand and performing actions which may pass for miracles it exceeds Nature it preserves mens lives in making them contemn them and wins the victory by seeking after an honourable death By all these effects it is easie to judge of the nature of Despair and to know that it is a violent motion by which the soul keeps aloof from a difficult good which it thinks it cannot compass and by which likewise it sometimes draws near unto it rather to shun the evil which threatens it than to possess the difficult good for in its birth Despair is fearful and hath no other design than to divert the soul from the vain seeking after an impossible good but in its progress it becomes bold and when it sees that by keeping aloof from a difficult good it engageth it self in an infamous evil it resumes courage and employs all its power to gain a thing which it thought assuredly to have lost so as this is not a single Passion to explain the nature thereof well we must say that she is mixt of Fear and Hope and that as in the beginning she is more faint-hearted than the former she is in the end more generous than the latter But at both these times she hath need of government that she may be serviceable to Virtue she must shun two dangerous extreams which bear her name and stain her glory the one may be called Faint-heartedness the other Foolhardiness she falls into the former when not knowing her own strength she keeps at distance from a good which she might compass she falls into the second when not regarding her own imbecility or the greatness of the danger she undertakes an impossibilty and engageth her self in a design which cannot have any good success It belongs to Reason to govern her and to see when she may eschew without infamy and when she may charge without rashness if it be a lawful good which may with Justice be expected it must seldom or never be despaired of upon such an occasion Opiniatrecy is commendable and a man is not to be blamed who attempts even an impossibility to purchase a happiness which his duty requires him to seek after but if that which he wisheth for be hard to come by and perishable he must cure himself of his vain desires and foolish â—â—pes by a rational Despair But he must beware that though this Passion be in Nature oft-times innocent she is always guilty in relation to Grace for natâ—ral hope being grounded upon our proper forces it is lawful to forgo her to embrace Despair and there is nothing of inconvenience that man whose misery is so well known do quit his designs when he cannot compass them but supernatural hope being grounded upon divine power we must not forgo her and it is a capital fault to suspect God of falshood or of weakness Those therefore who despair of their souls health justle his highest perfections and make themselves unworthy to receive pardon of their sins from the time they cease to hope for since the holy Scripture teacheth us that God is good and all-powerful those who perswade themselves that he either will not or cannot save them commit outrage against his Power and Goodness and by one and the same fault give against his two most excellent qualities and if we will believe St. Austin they who despair imitate proud people and make themselves equal with God by losing the hope of their salvation for when they fall into despair they imagine that Gods Mercy is not so great as their sin is and by an injurious preferrence they raise their wickedness above his goodness they prescribe bounds to an infinite Love and bereave him of perfections who possesseth more than our souls can imagine True it is that if Despair be faulty in relation to Grace there is an excess of Hope which is not much less dangerous and there are certain Christians in the Church who are opinionated in their sins only out of a confidence they have of Gods Mercy they make use of his goodness only to injure him they think not of his favours to sinners save
to our Nature their excess doth oftentimes cause our death but say they should not produce all these mischiefs 'T wil be sufficient to undeceive us to know that they are always follow'd by Repentance Sorrow and Shame they dare not appear in publick and very well perceiving that they contribute not to the Glory of man they seek out Shade Solitariness and Silence they would blush were they enforced to shew themselves and the confusion which would cover their faces would trouble their contentment Maladies are the penance of their excess and Physitians would be useless could pleasure be regulated as long as man was content with such fruits as the earth yielded him and that without provoking his appetite with much-sought for Viands he did only eat to satisfie his hunger he had no superfluous humours to dry up no Defluctions to divert nor Fevers to cure Abstinence was all his remedy and the Diet that he used dreined off the source of all his diseases but since he hath dispeopled both Sea and Land to nourish him that he hath made the monsters of Nature his food that he would know what taste Tortoises and other creeping things had which the simplicity of our Ancestors confounded with Serpents since he would refresh Wine with Snow accord those elements in his Body which wage war with one another in the world mingle Fishes with Birds and place in one and the same Stomach things to which Nature hath appointed such different habitations sicknesses have assailed him in crowds and the unruliness of his mind hath caused the disorders of his Body the Gout hath stung his Nerve the Stone is formed in his Reins the Winds have committed a thousand Outrages in his Bowels and as if the Elements were sensible of the confusion he makes of their qualities in his debaucheries they for revenge have corrupted themselves and as the utmost which hate can produce they ruine themselves to kill their Enemy In fine by this definition we condemn all such pleasures as Nature requireth not unless seduced by Opinion for her contentments are as regular as her Desires and without looking after things unprofitable she is contented with what is necessary she wisheth for such good things only as she cannot be without as Necessity serves her for a Law so doth she consult with it in all her occasions and makes no wishes without the approbation thereof hence is it that they are not many and that she is contented with a little water of the Fountain sufficeth to quench her thirst fruits of the earth satisfie her hunger Sheeps Wool furnisheth her clothing and before Luxury bound him to make war upon all the Creatures I know not but that the trees did furnish her with Apparel and those that fed her with their fruits clothed her with their barks but this at least I know that in those innocent times men committed no Murders to adorn themselves neither acted any pranks of Injustice to enrich themselves nor did they violate Nature to procure to themselves sinful delicacies their houses were built without Curiosity and he that was the Contriver of them was also the Carpenter and the Mason the earth cover'd with Moss served him for a Bed and as he never lay down uninvited by sleep he slept without disturbance and awaked with content he knew no other Perfume than that of Flowers which being more pure than ours was more pleasing he was not acquainted with the use of Coaches his Journeys not being long he made use only of such aids as Nature had given him War being hateful to him and trafique useless he permitted horses to enjoy their liberty and employed not that noble Creature which Fury and Avarice have rendered necessary to us whithersoever he went the earth was sufficiently fruitful to nourish and to cloath him he found in the Desarts wherewith to satisfie his desires and that which we want in Cities he wanted not in places uninhabited In his happy age all delights were innocent and no man tasted any pleasure which was not true but now since they are no longer Natural they are no longer Rational they weaken the Body and destroy the Soul and experience teacheth us that the use of them is as pernicious as the want of them is profitable But lest I be accus'd to be an enemy to Pleasure and that I would bereave man of the remedies which Nature hath given him to sweeten his misfortunes I will say that the solid contentments are those of the Mind and that man cannot be satisfied unless the noblest part whereof he is composed be happy the knowledg of Truth and practice of Virtue ought to be his chiefest Diversions he must follow his holiest inclinations and be more careful in his own person to please an Angel than a Beast he must remember that the body is but the souls slave and that in the choice of Pleasures it is just that the Soveraign keep her precedency besides those which the soul relisheth are the truest and if any man be of another opinion we must believe that sin which hath berest him of Grace hath likewise berest him of Reason For the pleasures of the Senses are limited whereas those of the soul have no bounds the pleasures of the body are strangers those of the soul are natural the former may be taken from us without any great ado Death it self cannot bereave us of the latter which though it rob us of our riches cannot rob us of our virtues the one sort are in a perpetual succession as they hold of Time they cannot hold together and by a necessary law those that are past give place to them that are present and the present to the future so as the body never enjoys its contentment but in part it is poor amidst its riches whilst it thrives well on the one side it languisheth on the other and by a misfortune which is inseparable from its condition it finds no contentment which gives satisfaction to all its senses but those of the soul are never divided they present themselves all at once the same thought which enlightens the Understanding heats the Will and fills the Memory her joy is universal one faculty is never sad whilst the other are satisfied and as if there were a community amongst them in their contentments that which pleaseth the one delighteth all the rest In fine Spiritual pleasures are much more intimate than those of the Senses for the soul is wholly filled therewithal the blessing she eujoys penetrates her Essence as she changeth into her Self that which she knows so she transformeth her Self into that which she loves and by an admirable Metamorphosis she becomes her own Felicity but the Senses are joyn'd to their objects only by Accident they see the colours of things know not their Essences they understand the sound of words and conceive not the meaning of them so as the body is only content in Effigie its Bliss is but a
But howsoever all Philosophers agree that the Soul cannot be happy in a miserable body and that she cannot endue it with life without sharing in the miseries thereof if her noblest part be touched with Joy while the body languisheth with pain that which inanimates it must be sensible thereof to pay interests for the services she gets thence she must be miserable for company Even the Soul of Jesus Christ thrice-happy as it was failed not to be afflicted and a miracle was done in the order of Glory that the society might not be broken which Nature hath put between the Soul and the Body it is then agreed upon that these two parts that compose man cannot be separated in their suffering and that the torment of the one must of necessity be the others punishment they love too well to forsake one another in their afflictions and unless the violence of pain break the chains wherewith they are linked together their miseries must be common I should moreover think that the condition of the Soul is more deplorable than that of the Body for besides that to make her subject to sufferings be to injure her worth and that it is a piece of Injustice to force her to feel evils from which by Nature she is exempted she sentenceth her self to new sufferings and the love which she beareth to her Body obligeth her to resent with sorrow the pains which it endureth she together with it is sensible thereof seeing that she is the Original of Sense and as if this torment were not sufficient she draws another upon her self by compassion and afflicts her self with the Thought of all that which really torments it she makes much of its maladies after she hath shared in the suffering of them she grows sad with the conceit of them and of a single grief makes double Martyrdom true it is that this Faculty hath so much commerce with the Senses as she cannot resent their evils without communicating her pains unto them her trouble disquieteth them and as the sufferings of the Body are cause of the like in the Soul by a Law as just as necessary the pain of the Soul produceth the like of the Body This feeling is in my Opinion true Sadness which is nothing else but a dislike which is formed in the inferior part of the Soul by the fight of Objects which are displeasing to her Very strange are the effects of so Melancholick a Passion for when she is but in a mean she makes them eloquent without Rhetorick she teacheth them Figurative speeches to exaggerate their Discontents and to hear them speak the greatest pains seem to be less than what they suffer but when she is Extream by a clean contrary effect she astonisheth the Spirit she interdicts the use of the Senses she dries up Tears stifles Sighes and making men stupid she affords Poets the liberty of feigning that she changeth them into Rocks when she is of long continuance she frees us from the earth and raiseth us up to Heaven for it is very hard for a man in misery to covet life when it is full of pain and Sorrow and when the Soul hath great conflicts for a Body which doth continualy exercise her patience All men are not so poorly spirited as was that Favorite of Augustus who did so much covet life that Torments could not make him forgo the desire thereof who gloried in his Verses that he would have loved Life amidst Tortures that he would have been a Votary for the prolonging of it upon the Rack and that the cruellest sufferings that might be would have seemed swift to him so as he might therein have found Life I well believe that excess of pain would have made him be of another mind and that he would have confess'd that to die quickly is better than to live long in pain or had he persisted in his first Opinion we should be bound to confess that poorly-spirited men are more wilful than are those that are couragious and that the desire of Glory makes not so great impression in us as the desire of life But to return to my Subject when Grief is violent it loosneth the soul from the Body and causeth the death of the man for Sadness and Joy have this of resemblance in their difference that both of them attempt upon our lives when they are in extreams The heart dilates it self by Joy it opens it self to receive the good which is offer'd tastes it with such excess of pleasure as it faints under the weight thereof and meets with death in the midst of its Happiness It shuts it self up by Sorrow claps to the door upon the evil that besiegeth it and very improvidently delivers it self into the hands of a Domestick enemy to free it self from one that is a stranger for its Violence causeth its anguish and the care he takes to defend it self augments its pain and hastens its death Oft-times also its negligence makes it miserable it suffers it self to be surpriz'd by Sorrow for not having foreseen it and being no longer in a condition to defend it self when Sorrow arriveth it is forced to give way thereunto In fine Sadness makes us weep when it hath seized on our heart it wageth war with our Eyes it evaporateth by Sighes it glides down by Tears and weakens it self in the production thereof for a man that weeps easeth himself and comforts himself whilst he complains he finds somewhat of delight in his lamentations and if they be signs of his sufferings they are likewise the cure thereof As Choler dischargeth it self by Railing Sorrow being more innocent drops away by Tears and abandons the Heart when it gets up into the Face Having seen its effects it remains that we consider what use may be made thereof and in what conditions it may become Innocent or Offensive The FIFTH DISCOURSE Of the bad use of Pain and Sorrow THose who believe that Delight is Virtues most dangerous Enemy will never think that Sorrow can side with Vice and we shall have much ado to perswade them that there be some Sadnesses which are faulty yet we see but few of them that are innocent and most of those that draw tears from us are either unjust or unreasonable for man is become so esseminate that every thing hurts him Sin hath made him so wretched that he numbers the privation of pleasures amongst his pains and thinks he hath just cause to afflict himself when he possesseth not all that he desires the number of his evils is encreased by his abjectedness and he that in the first ages knew no other pain but Sickness and Death now vexeth himself for Disgrace and Poverty The witness of his Conscience is not sufficient for his Virtue and if he have not applause on Earth joyned to the approbation of Heaven he imagineth himself to be infamous the riches of Nature do not satisfie his Desires and though he have all things