who knows and is sensible of the Difference between them when he does it But this Misfortune happens generally from a blind Admiration of some apparent Good which so dazles our Eyes that either we do not at all discover the Evil it is attended with or if we do discern that yet we see the Thing through false Opticks such as magnifie the Good and lessen the Evil to the Eye Now it is a frequent and a reasonable Choice when we are content to take a greater Good with the Incumbrance of a less Evil As for Instance When we suffer an Incision or a Cupping and account the Evil of these Pains much too little to counterballance the Good there is in that Health which they restore to us Once more yet That all Things desire Good is farther plain from hence That supposing Evil to have a real Being and a Power of Acting whatever it did would be for its own Advantage that is in other Words for its own Good And thus much they who ascribe a Being and Operation to it confess for they pretend that it pursues after Good would fain detain it and uses all possible Endeavours not to let it go And if Evil be the Object of no Desire then is it not any primary and designed Nature But since the Condition of it is in all Particulars according to the Description here given of it it is most truly said to be an Accidental and Additional Thing superinducive to something that did subsist before but to have no Subsistence of its own Well says the Objector I allow what you say We will suppose that Evil is only an Accident a Defect and Privation of Good and an additional Disappointment of the first and original Intent of Nature And what of all this How are we advanced in the Question before us For let this be what or after what manner you please still it must have some Cause otherwise How in the Name of Wonder did it ever find the way into the World How then will you get out of this Maze You allow God to be the Cause of all Things you must grant that Evil hath some Cause and yet you tell me that God is infinitely Good and so cannot be that Cause This Objection hath been already considered and spoken to both at the Beginning of the Book where we explained this Author's Distinction of the Things that are or are not in our own Power and also in the Comment upon the XIII Chapter upon Occasion of those words Trouble not your self with wishing that Things may be just as you would have them c. But however I will speak to it once more here too and that briefly as follows God who is the Source and Original Cause of all Goodness did not only produce the highest and most excellent Things such as are good in themselves nor only those that are of a Rank something inferiour to these and of a middle Nature but the Extremes too such as are capable of falling and apt to be perverted from that which is agreeable to Nature to that which we call Evil. Thus As after those incorruptible Bodies which are always regular in their Motions and immutably good others were created subject to Change and Decay so likewise it was with Souls the same Order was observed with these too for after them which were unalterably fixed in Good others were produced liable to be seduced from it And this was done both for the greater illustration of the Wise and Mighty Creator that the Riches of his Goodness might be the more clearly seen in producing good things of all sorts as many as were capable of subsisting and also that the Universe might be full and perfect when Beings of all kinds and all Proportions were contained in it For this is a Perfection to want nothing of any kind And also to vindicate the Highest and the Middle sort which never decline or deviate from their Goodness from that Contempt which always falls upon the Lowest of any sort and such these had been if the Corruptible and Mortal things had not been Created and Supported the others Dignity by their own want of it And Corruptible they must be for it could never be that while the First and the Middle sort of Bodies continued as they are some Immutable both as to their Nature and their Operations others Immutable indeed as to their Substance but Mutable in their Motion it could not be I say that the Lowest and Sublunary Bodies should ever hold out while the violent Revolutions of the Heavenly ones were perpetually changing their Substance and putting them into unnatural Disorders For these Reasons certainly and perhaps for a great many others more important than these which are Secrets too dark and deep for us these Sublunary Bodies were made and this Region of Mortality where the Perverted Good hath its Residence For there was a Necessity that the lowest sort of Good should have a Being too and such is that which is liable to Change and Depravation Hence also there is no such thing as Evil in the Regions above us for the nature of Evil being nothing else but a Corruption of the Meanest and most Feeble Good can only subsist where that Mean and Mutable Good resides For this Reason the Soul which considered by her self is a Generous and Immutable Being is tainted with no Evil while alone in a State of Separation but being so contrived by Nature as to dwell in this lower World and be intimately united to Mortal Bodies for so the good Providence of our great Father and Creator hath ordered it making these Souls a Link to tye the Spiritual and Material World together joyning the Extreams by the common Bonds of Life it seems to bear a part in all those Distempers and Decays which Evil subjects our Bodies to by disturbing their natural Habit and Frame Though indeed I cannot think this to be Evil strictly speaking but rather Good since the Effect of it is so For by this means the simple Elements of which these Bodies are compounded come to be set free from a great Confinement and severed from other parts of Matter of a different Constitution with which they were interwoven and entangled before and so getting loose from the perpetual Combat between contrary Qualities are restored to their proper Places and their primitive Mass again in order to acquiring new Life and Vigour And if this proceeding be the occasion of perpetual Change yet neither is that Evil because every thing is resolved at last into what it was at the beginning For Water though evaporated into Air yet is by degrees congealed into Water again and so even particular Beings lose nothing by those Vicissitudes But that which ought to be a Consideration of greater Moment is that the Dissolution of Compound Bodies and the mutual change of Simple ones into each other contributes to the Advantage of the Universe in general by making the Corruption of one thing to become
give the finishing Stroke to Nature and be as perfect as our Condition is capable of being This is the Ground Epictetus goes upon which he does not at all attempt to prove but takes it as I said for a Fundamental Truth sufficiently plain and acknowledged before But the Method in which Socrates proceeds is this He makes use of clear and familiar Examples and tells us That a Man in Cutting for instance uses his Knife and he uses his Hand too Then inferring from hence that the Thing used considered as an Instrument is different from that which employs it he concludes that it is the Man which employs the Body as an Instrument Now in truth it is the Rational Soul and nothing else that imploys this Body in the Exercise of Arts and Trades and all manner of Operations From hence again he draws this farther Inference That that which employs the Body hath the Government and Diâ—posal of what it so employs And then he forms his Argument into this Disjunctive Syllogism Either the Soul alone or the Body alone or both together must needs be the Man Now if the Man have the command of the Body and the Body cannot command nor dispose of it self then it is evident that the Body alone cannot be the Man It is evident again that Body and Soul together cannot be the Man for the very same reason for if the Man have the Government of the Body and the Body it self have no part of that Government then it is plain this prerogative does not extend to Soul and Body both and therefore both cannot be the Man But in short if the Body in its own Nature be void of all Life and Motion and if it be the Soul which animates and moves it as we see in Handicraft Trades the Work-man is the Principle of Motion and the Tools have none but what they derive from him then it follows that the Body is to the Soul what a Tool is to the Artificer And consequently that the Soul being the Original of all Operation is truly and properly the Man So then whoever would make the Man his Care must consult the advantage and improvement of the Soul and pursue the Happiness peculiar to this For he that bestows his pains upon the Body does not it seems advance himself and his own Good properly speaking but only that of his Instrument Much more extravagant and absurd is it then to lay himself out upon Riches or any External Advantages of that kind because in so doing he pursues a very Foreign Interest one much more distant than the former For he neither makes the Man nor the Man's Instrument the Object of his Care but all terminates in those things which make for the Convenience of this Instrument only Epictet Enchiridion CHAP. I. All things whatsoever may be divided into Two Sorts those that are and those that are not within our own Power Of the former sort are our Opinions and Notions of Things * Affections This is the most convenient Rendring I could think of for the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which though the Latine Impetus may do right to yet I question whether any English Word will fully express it If any this of Affection which yet I do not so nicely confine my self to in this Translation as not to render it by Paraphrase in some Places But I must own that in the midst of my Doubts what to express it by generally the Authority of our Learned Gataker in his Latine and of Meric Casuab in his English Translation of Antoninus very much prevailed with me who hath both chosen this Expression for it in that Passage of his Book which seems very pertinent and directing to this purpose Lib. III. Sect. XVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gat. Affectus Casub Affections Our Affections our Desires and our Aversions And in short all our Actions of every kind are in our own power COMMENT HE calls those Things in our own power which we our selves are Masters of and which depend purely upon our own Disposal and Choice as we commonly say any thing is a Man 's own which he is not beholden to any body else for so as that it should fall within the compass of a Second Person to grant or deny it to permit or debar or any way hinder him in the Enjoyment of it Now such are the Motions and Operations of the Soul They are born and bred within us and owing solely to our own Judgment and our own Choice for indeed it is not possible for any thing without us to determine our Choice The Object of our Choice 't is confest is very often something without us but the Act of it and the Motions toward it are entirely our own and within us Such for instance are the particular Opinions we entertain and the Judgments we make of Things as that Riches or Death or the like are things in their own Nature Good or Evil or Indifferent And though we are often induced to take up this or that particular Opinion upon Trust and the Credit we give to what we hear other People say upon it yet is not their Authority or their Perswasion of such absolute efficacy as that the Opinion should not still be our own For at this rate we should make our selves as senseless Creatures as Parrots who when they call for a Cup of Sack know not what they say If we be allowed then to think at all the Opinion must be our own Act and Deed occasion'd 't is true sometimes by things without us and recommended and conveyed to us by the Instructions and Arguments of others but not infused so Mechanically as that we should be purely passive in the case Thus again The Object that moves our Affection is without us but the Affection itself is excited and arises within us For there is a great difference observable between the Internal Motion of the Mind and the External Motive or Inducement to it This Motion is not like that of Men thrust forward by another forcibly and against their Wills but such an one as when we move our own Bodies by our own Strength and of our own Accord The Case is the same with our Desires by which the Soul does as it were put her self forward and go in pursuit of the thing desired and so likewise with our Aversions too which are but a kind of turning aside or running away to avoid the Object that provokes them Now it is sufficiently manifest that of all these the First in order of Nature must be Opinion by which I understand such a Knowledge or Judgment of things as is grounded upon Reason and worthy the Character of a Man When this Opinion relates to any real or seeming Good or Evil which we apprehend our selves to be concern'd in then it presently excites either Desire or Averson and pursuant to either of these the proper Affections or Motions of the Soul For the Good must needs be desired before
And consequently That our Fears and Troubles concerning it do not come from the Thing it self but from a disquieting Persuasion of its being evil with which we possess and disorder our own Minds And such a Persuasion there may very well he though there be no Ground for it in the Nature of the Thing For Honey is not bitter and yet Men in the Jaundice that have their Palates vitiated from a constant Bitterness occasioned by the overflowing of the Gall are prejudiced against it as if it were so Now as the only way to bring these Persons to discern Tastes as they really are is to carry off that Redundancy of Choler which corrupts their Palate so in this Case we must remove the Distemper of the Mind correct our Notions of Things and make a right Judgment of what is really Good and Evil to us by just Distinctions between Things that Are and Things that Are Not in our own Power what is properly ours and what belongs not to us For according to this Rule if Death be none of the Things in our Power it cannot be evil and though it should be granted such with regard to the Body yet if it do not extend to the Soul nor do that any Harm it cannot be evil to us Plato indeed or Socrates as he is introduced by Plato goes a great deal farther and boldly affirms that it is Good and much to be preferred before this Life that we lead in the Body and this not only to some Persons and in some Circumstances as Men may be better or worse but in general and without Exception to all For thus Socrates expresses himself in his Phoedon It may possibly surprize you and seem a strange Paradox That this should be the only Accident that is good at all Times and without any Reserve but yet so it is In all other Cases nothing happens to a Man which as his Circumstances may alter he might not at another time better be without But no Time no Circumstance whatsoever can render it more for a Man's Advantage to Live than to Dye And Plato in his Book concerning Laws speaking in his own Person delivers himself to this purpose If I may be allowed to speak my Opinion freely it is really my Judgment that the Continuation of Soul and Body together upon no Consideration ought rather to be chosen than the Separation and Dissolution of them Now Epictetus 't is true hath drawn his Argument from that which is generally esteemed the most formidable Evil that we are capable of suffering But however since most of us when we lye under the present Smart of any Calamity straitway imagine it worse than Death for what can be more usual than for People in Pain and very often in no great Extremity of it neither to wish for Death to deliver them from it and when reduced to Poverty to tell us they had much rather be Dead than Live in Want upon this Account we may apply Epictetus's Argument to these Instances also As to Pain What Degree of it is there so violent that Men nay even those of low and vulgar Spirits are not content to go through to cure a dangerous Disease They do not only Endure but Chuse and Pray for it They thank their Physicians for putting them to Torture and look upon Cutting and Burning as Acts of the greatest Tenderness and Friendship Now though this makes it pretty plain that Men who are well pleased to purchase Life so dear must needs be of Opinion that no Pain is so terrible to Humane Nature as Death yet the principal Use I would make of this Observation is to shew that Men can really suffer with great Patience and Resolution can harden themselves against what they count very dreadful and meet it with a composed Countenance when once they are persuaded that the enduring it will be for their Advantage What prodigious Instances of Patience were the Lacedemonian Youths who endured Scourgings so barbarous as almost to expire under the Rod and all this merely for a little Ostentation and Vain-glory Now this it is evident they did not out of any Compulsion but freely and cheerfully for they offer'd themselves to the Tryal of their own Accord And the Reason why they held out so obstinately was not that their Sense of Pain was less quick and tender than other Peoples though more hard'ned too than People that indulge themselves in Effeminacy and Ease but because they thought it their Glory and their Virtue to suffer manfully and resolutely For the same Reason Epictetus would tell you that Poverty is no such formidable Thing neither because he can produce the Example of Crates the Theban to the contrary who when he disposed of all he was worth to the Publick and said Let others keep or mourn lost store Crates own Hands make Crates poor That Moment put an End to his Slavery and that his Freedom commenced from the time he had disburdened himself of his Wealth Now the manifest Consequence of all this is That nothing of this kind is terrible and insupportable in its own Nature as we fondly imagine so far from it that there may be some Cases when they are much more eligible and better for us I mean when they are converted to higher and more excellent Purposes for our own Selves by tending to the Advantage and Improvement of the Reasonable Soul The only Expedient to retain an Even Temper in the midst of these Accidents is to possess our Minds with just Notions of them and the regulating of these Notions is in our own Power consequently the preventing those Disorders that proceed from the Want of such a Regulation is in our own Power too And one great Advantage to Persons thus disposed will be The Learning how to manage those Things that are not at our Disposal as though they were For if it be not in my Power to prevent Defamation or Disgrace the Loss of my Goods or my Estate Affronts and violent Insults upon my Person yet thus much is in my Power to possess my self with right Apprehensions of these Things to consider them not only not as Evils but sometimes the Instruments and Occasions of great Good Now such an Opinion as this makes it almost the same Thing to a Man as if they did not happen at all or which is all one makes him think himself never the Worse but sometimes the Better for them when they do And I take it for granted that every Wise Man will allow it more for Our that is for the Souls Honour and Advantage to have behaved our Selves gallantly under Afflictions than never to have been afflicted at all And the greater these Afflictions were the greater in proportion still is the Honour and Advantage gained by them For as to Bodies that are able to bear it the violentest Motions exercise them best and make greatest Improvements of Health and Strength and Activity so the Mind too must be put upon sharp Tryals
is the Reason why our skilful and tender Physician mingles Bitter with our Sweets and makes what we are fondest of to become nauseous and painful to us he deals with us as Nurses do with sucking Children and puts Wormwood and Mustard upon the Breast to wean our Affections and make us loath Things that are no longer convenient for us In such Cases then the first Choices of our Minds are determined to the less of two Evils they prefer Death before Bodily Pain and Afflictions and had rather be quite out of the Body than miserable in it a Wish which no Man would ever make if he were always easie and prosperous And thus by Degrees we are wrought up to an Hatred and Aversion of present Pleasure by a Prospect and Dread of a much greater and more complicated Misery that attends it As Children are brought off from what is hurtful to them at first by a Principle of Fear Or a Man that loves any Meat or Drink prejudicial to his Health and hath found by Experience that it gives him Gripings or is offensive to his Stomach is content afterwards to forbear the gratifying his Palate provided that Abstinence will but secure his Ease and prevent the much more lasting Pains which that short Pleasure uses to bring after it This is the Case of most of us For alas How very few are there that will be content to forego even those Pleasures which they are satisfied ought not to be indulged so long as they find no Trouble or Inconvenience from them Now the Truth is this abstaining from Pleasure for fear of some greater Pain is not so properly the subduing or destroying our Passion as the exchanging of one Passion for another For we are willing to make a saving Bargain and barter the Pleasure of Enjoyment away for the Pleasure of Ease and Security And thus one Passion rises up in Succession to another But yet this is a very good Method to begin with while we retain our silly Childish Dispositions that we may grow jealous and fearful of those Things to which our Inclinations lead us most and when this Distaste is once given then by considering their Nature and observing that besides their being vicious the very Uneasiness and Troubles that attend them are more exquisite and more various than the Pleasures they afford and so returning to Reason and finding that our Happiness is really within our own selves and expected in vain from the Delights of the Body or the Advantages of the World and thus by degrees growing conscious of some Resemblance between Us and God and reverencing his Image in our Souls we thuse a wise and good Life now no longer out of Fear but from the more generous Principles of a vertuous and well-instructed Mind For even Children when they grow wiser come at last to decline and to do those Things out of Judgment and Inclination which at first nothing but Fear and the Rod could have driven them to And this is the Design of our good God and his tender Care over us That the Soul should neither cling too fast to the Body and its Pleasures and the Enjoyments of the World nor yet abstain from them when driven only by a Principle of Fear but from its own free generous Choice as considering that all our Good and all our Evil consists in our own Choice and our own Aversions So that all the healing Methods of his Providence are directed to no other purpose than this to restore the Soul to Reason and Prudence and the preferring a Vertuous Life Just as the most eminent Physicians when they proceed to such smarting Severities as Cutting and Burning and the like do it only with a Design to reduce the Body to its natural and healthful Temper and to enable the Parts that were before obstructed to perform their proper Functions again Now punishment is the best Cure for Wickedness and this is the peculiar Use and Benefit of those Calamities which we account Evils And as we are commonly very angry at our Physicians when they torture and put us to Pain so do Men likewise generally take it ill to have these sharper Remedies of Providence applied to them But they are only the Childish and Effeminate the Foolish and Unthinking Part of the World that do so For whoever will give himself the Trouble of making a diligent Observation of himself and others upon Occasion of the several Accidents that befall him and takes Notice of the Dispositions of his Soul by what Springs they 're moved and how they 're corrected and changed I make no question will readily acknowledge That Afflictions are generally the first Occasion of Mens conquering their Inclinations and coming up to a due Contempt of the Body and the World or as our great Author expresses himself of all those Things that are out of our own Power But as the Physick applied to our Bodies is of two sores the one Restorative the other Preservative one to purge off our Diseases and correct the Noxious Humours by Drugs of contrary Qualities the other to continue and confirm Health by convenient Diet due Regimen and moderate Exercise And as some Exercises require great Labour and Activity and are fit only for hardy and robust Bodies so this excellent Physician of our Souls does not only administer to the Sick and Diseased and recover them by Sufferings and Misfortunes but he exercises the Sound and Healthful and by so doing adds to their Strength and Vigour and renders their Virtue more conspicuous a Pattern to others and a Provocation to be good And this is but necessary for the Souls of Men even the Good and Vertuous stand in need of Exercise to confirm them no less than healthful Bodies do And Hippocrates's Maxim will hold good upon this Occasion too That Motion gives Strength but Sloth and Inactivity wastes it And the Reason is plain for those Things which are so ordered that they are continually as perfect as Nature intended them and are continually employed in such Operations as Nature appointed for them perform these Operations with great Readiness and Dexterity But those that are not thus continually must imitate and supply the Want of that perpetual Motion by their own Practice that so they may not forget by Disuse and find themselves at a Loss when any urgent Occasion calls for the exerting their Powers For whatever is sometimes in and at other Times out of Motion confesses its own Weakness of which this Vicissitude is the Effect and that Weakness must be worn off and Strength acquired by Action Now all Exercise consists in the same Acts frequently repeated the very same I say with that principal Act for the sake of which we use this Exercise Thus in the Olympick Sports the Exercise used to perfect them in Wrestling is Wrestling very often and that in order to the Caestus and Cuffing is the inuring themselves to Blows Thus Men learn the Art of War by imitating Action
the Rise and Birth of another And by this perpetual Round it is that Matter and Motion have been sustained all this while Now it is obvious to any observing Man that both Nature and Art as was urged heretofore do frequently neglect a part when the detriment of that in particular may conduce to the good of the whole The former does it as often as our Rheums and Ulcerous Humours are thrown off from the Vitals and turned into Sores or Swellings in any of the Extream Parts And Art imitates this Method of Nature as oft as a Limb is seared or lopped off for the preservation of the Body So that upon the whole Matter these Shocks and Corruptions of Bodies deserve rather to be esteemed Good than Evil and the Cause of them the Cause of Good and not Evil Events For those Sublunary Bodies that are Simples suffer no Injury because they are subject to no Decay or Destruction And for the Evil that the Parts seems to undergo this hath been shewn to have more Good than Evil in it both in Simples and Compounds even when considered in it self but if taken with respect to the Benefit which other Creatures reap by it then it is manifestly Good So that the Distempers and Decays of Bodies take them which way you will are not Evil but produce great Good But if any one shall be scrupulous upon this occasion and quarrel with that being called Good which is confessed to be no better than a perverting of the course of Nature let not this Nice Caviller take upon him however to call it Evil in the gross Sense and common Acceptation of the Word by which we understand something utterly repugnant and irreconcileable to Good But let him rather call it a Necessity or Hardship as being not desirable for its own sake but having some tendency and contributing to that which is so For were it simply and absolutely Evil it could never be an Instrument of Good to us Now that which I mean by Necessary though it have not Charms enough of its own to recommend it yet does it deserve to be accounted Good for leading us to that which is Good and that which can become a proper Object of our Choice under any Circumstance is so far forth Good Thus we choose Incisions and Burnings and Amputations nay we are content to pay dear for them and acknowledge our selves obliged both by the Prescription and the painful Operation all which were most ridiculous to be done if we thought these things Evil. And yet I own this is but a Qualified and an Inferior Good not strictly and properly so but only in a Second and Subordinate Sense Yet so that the Creator of these things is by no means the Cause of Evil but of a necessary and meaner Good but a Good still for such we ought to esteem it since it is derived from the same Universal Fountain of Goodness though embased with some Allays and Abatements And thus much I hope may be thought sufficient in Vindication of the Nature and Cause of that Evil which Bodies are concern'd in Nothing indeed can so truly be called Evil as the Lapses and Vices of the Soul of Man and of these too much hath been said before but however we will resume the Discourse upon this Occasion and enquire afresh both into the Nature and the Cause of them And here we shall do well to take notice That the Soul is of a more excellent Nature which dwell in the Regions above us are immutably fixed in Goodness and wholly unacquainted with any Evil. There are also the Souls of Brutes of a Baser alloy than ours and standing in the middle as it were between the Vegetative Souls of Plants and our Rational ones These so far forth as they are Corporeal are liable to that Evil to which Bodies are subject but so far as concerns their Appetites and Inclinations they bear some resemblance to the Humane and the Evil they are in this respect obnoxious to is in proportion the same so that one of these will be sufficiently explained by giving an account of the other Now the Humane Soul is in a middle Station between the Souls above and those below it partakes of the Qualities of both of those more Excellent ones in the Sublimity of its Nature and the Excellence of its Understanding Of the Brutal and inferiour ones by its strict affinity to the Body and Animal Life Of both these it is the common Band by its Vital Union with the Body and by its Habitual Freedom assimilates it self sometimes to the one sort and sometimes to the other of these Natures So long as it dwells above and entertains it self with Noble and Divine Speculations it preserves its Innocence and is fixed in Goodness but when it begins to flag and droop when it sinks down from that blissful Life and grovels in the Filth of the World which by Nature it is equally apt to do then it falls into all manner of Evil. So that its own Voluntary Depression of its self into this Region of Corruption and Mortality is the true Beginning and proper Cause of all its Misery and Mischief For though the Soul be of an Amphibious Disposition yet it is not forced either upwards or downwards but acts purely by an internal Principle of its own and is in perfect Liberty Nor ought this to seem incredible in an Agent which Nature hath made Free since even those Brutes that are Amphibious dwell sometimes in the Water and sometimes upon dry Ground without being determined to either any otherwise than by their own Inclination Now when the Soul debases her self to the World and enters into a near Intimacy with the Corruptible Body and esteems this to be the other consistent part of the Humane Nature then it leads the Life of Brutes and exerts it self in such Operations only as they are capable of It s Intellectual part degenerates into Sense and Imagination and its Affections into Anger and Concupiscence By these the wretched Mortal attains to Knowledge just of the same pitch with that of other Animals such as puts him upon seeking fresh Supplies for a Body that is continually wasting and upon continuing the World by Posterity to fill the place of one that must shortly leave it and upon making the best Provision he can for his own Preservation and Defence in the mean while For these Cares are what no Mortal would have were he not endued with Sensual Faculties and Passions For what Man that is any thing Nice and Considering would endure to spend so many Days and Years upon the support of this Body when the Burden of the whole Matter comes to no more than always filling and always emptying if Sensual Inclinations did not whet his Appetite Or who could undergo the tedious fatigue by which Succession is kept up if vehement Desires did not perpetually kindle new Flames and the prospect of Prosperity make us more easie to be warmed by
them These Arguments have been in some measure insisted on before and I take them to be abundantly clear in this point that though our Passions and Appetites be the Cause of Moral Evil yet they are extreamly Beneficial to the Creatures in which Nature hath implanted them as being necessary to their Constitution and giving a Relish to some of the most indispensible Actions of Life Upon all which accounts even these cannot with any Justice be called Evil nor God who infused them the Cause of it But the truth of the Matter is this The Soul is by Nature superior to this Body and Animal Life and hath a commanding power over them put into her Hands this Dignity and Power so long as she preserves keeping her Subjects under and at their due distance while she uses the Body as her Instrument and converts all its Functions to her own Use and Benefit so long all is well and there is no danger of Evil. But when once she forgets that the Divine Image is stampt upon her when she lays by the Ensigns of Government and gives away the Reins out of her own Hands when she sinks down into the Dregs of Flesh and Sense by preferring the Impetuous Temptations of Pleasure before the Mild and gentle Perswasions of Reason and enters into a strict Union with the Brutish part then Reason acts against its own Principles divests it self of its Despotick Power and basely submits to be governed by its Slave and this Confusion in the Soul is the Root of all Evil an Evil not owing to the more Excellent and Rational part while it maintains its own Station nor to the Inferior and Sensual while that keeps within its due Bounds but to the inverting of these the violent Usurpation of the one and the tame Submission of the other that is The perverse Choice of Degenerating into Body and Matter rather than forming ones self after the similitude of the Excellent Spirits above us But still all this as I said is Choice and not Constraint it is still Liberty though Liberty abused And here I would bespeak the Reader 's Attention a little to weigh the Reasons I am about to give why Choice and Volition must needs be the Souls own Act and Deed an Internal Motion of ours and not the Effect of any Compulsion from without I have already urged the Clearness of this Truth at large and that the Soul only is concern'd and acts purely upon the principles of her own Native Freedom in the Choice of the Worse no less than the Better part Thus much I apprehend to have been plainly proved from the Example of Almighty God himself the Determinations of all Wise Laws and well Constituted Governments and the Judgment of Sober and Knowing Men who all agree in this That the Merits of Men are not to be measured by the Fact it self or the Events of things but by the Will and Intention of the Person And accordingly their Rewards and Punishments their Censures and their Commendations are all proportioned to the Intention because this alone is entirely in a Man 's own power and consequently it is the only thing he can be accountable for From hence it comes to pass that whatever is done by Constraint and Irresistible Force though the Crime be never so grievous is yet pardoned or acquitted and the Guilt imputed not to the Party that did it but to the Person that forced him to the doing of it For he that used that Force did it Voluntary but he that was born down by it had no Will of his own concerned in the Fact but became the mere Instrument of effecting it against the Inclination of his own Mind Since then our own Choice is the Cause of Evil and since that Choice is the Souls Voluntary Act owing to no manner of Compulsion but it s own internal mere Motion what can we charge Evil upon so justly as upon the Soul But yet though the Soul be the Cause of Evil it is not the Cause of it considered as Evil for nothing ever is or can be chosen under that Notion But it disguises it self and deludes us with an Appearance of Good and when we choose that seeming Good we take at the same time the real Evil that lay concealed under it And thus much in effect was said before too And now having thus discovered the true Origine of Evil it is fit we proclaim to all the World That God is not chargeable with any Sin because it is not He but the Soul that does Evil and that freely and willingly too For were the Soul under any Constraint to do amiss then indeed there would be a colourable Pretence to lay the Blame on God who had suffered her to lye under so fatal a Necessity and had not left her free to rescue and save her self Though in truth upon this Presumption nothing that the Soul was forced to do could be strictly Evil. But now since the Soul is left to her self and acts purely by her own free Choice she must be content to bear all the Blame If it shall be farther objected That all this does not yet acquit Almighty God for that it is still his Act to allow Men this Liberty and leave them to themselves and that he ought not to permit them in the Choice of Evil then we are to consider that one of these Two Things must have been the Consequence of such a Proceeding Either First That after he had given Man a Rational Soul capable of choosing sometimes Good and sometimes Evil he must have chained up his Will and made it impossible for him to choose any thing but Good Or else that it ought never to have had this Indifference at all but to have been so framed at first that the Choice of Evil should have been naturally impossible One of these Two Things the Objector must say or he says nothing at all to the purpose Now the former of these is manifestly absurd for to what purpose was the Will left Free and Undetermined either way if the Determining it self one way was afterwards to be debarred it This would have been utterly to take away the power of Choosing for Choice and Necessity are things Inconsistent and where the Mind is so tied up that it can choose but one thing there properly speaking it can choose nothing As to the latter It must be remembred in the First Place that no Evil is ever chosen when the Mind apprehends it to be Evil But the Objector seems to think it were very convenient if this Freedom of the Will which is so Absolute in the Determining of it self sometimes to real Good and sometimes to that which deceives it with a false Appearance of being so were quite taken away Imagining it to be no Good to be sure and perhaps some great Evil But alas he does not consider how many things there are in the World that are accounted exceeding Good which yet are not really in any
Forms according to which those Productions and Motions are modelled and proportioned For if the constituent Forms are not in Bodies originally but derived immediately from some free Agent then certainly the Soul is the efficient Cause and assigns to each Body its particular Form Now these Forms in the Soul are exceeding pure and untainted As for example Beauty in the Body of an Animal consists in the Flesh and Skin and Vessels and Blood that make and fill up this Mass Now it does indeed to the best of its power temper and adorn these things but at the same time it is sullied and changed by them and sinks into their Deformity But now this Beauty in the Soul is free from all these Allays and is not only the Image and Representation of Beauty but pure substantial unblemished original Beauty not graceful in one place and not in another but perfectly and all over so From whence it comes to pass that when the Soul contemplates its own or another Soul's Beauty all bodily Graces lose their Charms and appear despicable and deformed in comparison And this instance hints to us the purity of all other original Forms as they are in the Soul Now it is very plain that as there are different Bodies moved by these Souls so there are likewise different sorts of Souls that move them and some of these are celestial and others sublunary For it were an intolerable absurdity to suppose that Bodies less refined and inferiour in Dignity and Duration should have Life and Souls and that those above should want both It is therefore in this case with Souls as with Bodies the heavenly ones are the Causes of the sublunary ones And indeed the Soul is a noble and most excellent Being especially the heavenly one advanced by Nature to the Prerogative of being a Principle though not the First and Highest in the Order of Causes For though the self-moving and self-existent Being is superiour to those whose Motion and Existence is derived from something else yet still even this is capable of being considered in a double Capacity as Active and Passive as a Cause and as an Effect and it is plain that Simples must have been before Compounds and One before Two Again Though this self-moving Agent depend upon no other for its Motion yet Motion it hath and Motion inferrs Mutation not an essential Change indeed but such as respects its Operations And neither are these Motions Local and Corporeal for in that respect it is immovable but Spiritual and peculiar to the Soul such as we call Consideration and Debate and Disâ—erning and Opinion and according as â—he is moved by these motions she impresses corporeal ones upon the Body Now whatever this Change be yet that which is mutable in any kind or proportion must have something besore it absolutely immutable that so those things that are mutable may still be preserved so For all motion and mutation â—oth above and in our lower Regions proceeds from the impression made by the First Cause But since all things undergo such various Changes and great motions are violent How come the heavenly Bodies to continue so much the same in their Constitution their manner of moving the Centre about which they roul their mutual Order and Position And whence is it that though the sublunary ones undergo more visible and frequent Alterations yet still there is a perpetual restitution and constant return to their first Form Thus we observe it plainly in Elements and Seasons and Plants and Animals For though these do not continue to be numerically the same as Celestial Bodies do yet they go round in a Circle till at last they return to the point from whence they set out at first Thus 〈◊〉 is convertâ—d into Air Air condensed into Water Water into Earth and then Earth 〈◊〉 into Fire again So the Year brings us first into Spring then to Summer after that Autuâ—n and at last Winter thaws into Spring again So again Wheat is turned into the Stem then the Blade after that the Ear and so ripe Wheat again So from Man proceeds first the Seminal Principle after that the Formation and Vital Nourishment and this at last comes to be Man again Now I would ask any one since motion is of it self always violent and always tending to Change how it comes to pass that the same Species and the same Course and Constitution of Nature is so exactly preserved Certainly this must needs be the Effect of some Superiour Cause which is it self Immoveable and Immutable and remains for ever in all Points exactly the same For even in mental Motions that Agent which is uncertain in his Motions and acts sometimes with ease and freedom and speed and sometimes slowly and with difficulty must needs have some other mind antecedent to it one whose Essence and whose Operations are always the same that brings all thingsto pass in an instant and at pleasure And no Man need be told how much such a Being as this which is fix'd and unchangeable not only as to his own Nature and Essence but as to his Influence too is more excellent than that which is still in motion and liable to Change though that Motion be from it self alone and Reason will convince us that those Beings which are most Noble and Excellent must needs have had an Existence before those that are indigent and depending Now we shall do well according to this Rule to ascend the whole Scale of Causes in our Thoughts and try whether we are able to find any Principle more Excellent than what is already fix'd upon and if we can do so then to drive that still higher till we come to rest at last in the loftiest and most majestick Notions that we are capable of entertaining and this is a Course we may boldly take nor is there any fear of going too far or overshooting the Mark by conceiving any Ideas too great and above the Dignity of this First Cause For alas the boldest Flights our Minds can aspire to are too low and feeble so far from surmounting that they fall infinitely short of his Divine Perfections This Contemplation upon God as it is the most Excellent so it is the only One in which we are sure not to be guilty of any Excess or an over-valuing the Object And when we have taken all imaginable pains to collect all the Ideas that are Great and Venerable and Holy and Independant and Productive of Good all these Names and all these Persections put together do yet give us but a very poor and impersect Notion of him only he is graciously pleased to pardon and accept these because it is not in the power of humane Nature to admit any higher and better When therefore our Consideration hath carried us from Self-moving Beings up to that which is Immovable and absolutely Immutable always the same in Essence its Power and its Operations fix'd for ever in a vast Eternity out of which Time and all
into this two-fold Inconvenience first to miscarry in what you have undertaken and then to lose the opportunity of undertaking somewhat else more proportionable to your ability in which you might have come off with Honour COMMENT VVE are not always to aim at that Good which is most noble and excellent in it self but that which we are best qualified for and is most suitable to our own Circumstances For there never comes any good of extravagant Undertakings So that we shall do well to proceed leisurely in the choice of the Figure we desire to make in the World and not aspire to things above us An eminent Orator or a Philosopher in a Common-wealth a Pilot or Master in a Ship a Prince or publick Magistrate in a State These are Characters that look great and gay but yet every body should not desire them because every body is not cut out for them And it is much more graceful for a Man to be in a lower Station where he fills his Post and tops his part than to be in a higher which he cannot come up to nor discharge the Duties of with that decency and applause that is expected Thus a Man had better be a good Usher and teach the first grounds of Learning well than an unable Master who cannot finish what is well begun And it is more desirable to be an honest and prudent Manager of a private Family than a bad Governour of a City or Nation For besides the prejudice such persons do themselves in not coming up to the Dignity of a Character too lofty for them which miscarriage I would have rated not by the Approbation or the Censure of the World but according to the real Nature of the Character it self they are unfortunate in another respect For they have not only come off very scurvily in attempting what they were not fit for but they have slipp'd an opportunity too of behaving themselves well and gaining applause in something else which they were fit for For it is in Humane Life as it is in a Play-house where the Praise is due not to the Part but to the Performance and he that plays a Servant well is look'd upon with more approbation and reputed a better Actor than he that attempts to play a Man of Honour or a Prince and does it ill This Chapter too seems to me to have a more immediate regard to Equity and Justice for it advises every body to be content with that part which Providence sees fittest for them upon this Stage of Life that they should not affect Characters above them nor be desirous of or dissatisfied with those that are assigned to other people CHAP. LX. As in walking it is your great Care not to run your Foot upon a Nail or to tread awry and strain your Leg so let it be in all the Affairs of Humane Life not to hurt your Mind nor offend your Judgment And this Rule if you observe it carefully in all your deportment will be a mighty security to you in your Vndertakings COMMENT THE Soul of Man is injured or wounded two ways Either when it is pricked with brutish Inclinations and vehement Passions which fasten it to the Body in which it makes some resistance but yet is overpowered by the prevailing force of Passion and yields at last though with reluctancy Or else when its Judgment is perverted and the Byass of sensual Objects draw it so strongly that it does not make any distinction betwixt its own rational Nature and the other inferiour and irrational parts which are the Seat of the Passions This excellent Guide therefore warns us to have a care of both these Inconveniences and to proceed warily in all the Affairs of Humane Life as we do when we would tread sure in walking That we decline those brutish Appetites which would gall and wound the Soul that fix wholly upon bodily Objects and flatten down the Soul to Body much stronger and closer than any Nail can possibly join material things for they make the Mind forget it self and mistake these Affections and the Body they serve for one and the same Substance This therefore is analogous to piercing the Foot with a Nail but the other Misfortune that of a perverted Judgment he resembles to treading awry and straining or putting out a Leg because this Error of the Mind proceeds from the Imagination that part which is lowest in the Soul as the Foot is in the Body and by which it holds correspondence with the corporeal and animal Life And the Advice he gives upon this occasion is that as we take care to keep our Body upright when we walk so we should be exceeding cautious and tender of the Soul when it goes abroad and concerns it self in the Affairs of the World That the Faculty of Reason which is predominant in our Minds and the very Character and Prerogative of Humane Nature make no false steps That it do not forget it self or its Authority that it be neither giddy through eagerness of Desire and heat of Passion or grow corrupt and dull and stupid through Sloth and Effeminacy And if we did but manage our selves with the same wariness in our Actions as we do in our steps If we would but look before us constantly and be sure to take good footing this he tells us would be a mighty security to us in all our Undertakings For though Humane Nature will be the same still and all our Vigilance cannot set it absolutely above Error and Frailty yet the ill Consequences of these Infirmities would be in a great measure prevented We might slip but we should never fall and the slips we did make would be but few and those easily recover'd too For thus we find that when through some little incogitancy we happen to touch upon a Nail or make a false step a small recollection will serve the turn to disengage our Foot before the Nail hath run in too deep and to correct that Trip which was but a slight one and made before we were aware of it CHAP. LXI The Necessities of the Body are the proper measure of our Care for the things of the World and those that can supply these are enough as the Shooe is said to fit the Man that answers to the bigness of the Foot but if once you leave this Rule and exceed those necessities then you are carried into all the Extravagancies in the World Then you do not value your Shooe for fitting the Foot unless it be gilded too and afterwards from gilding you go to a rich Purple and from that again to having it studded and set with Jewels For when once a Man hath exceeded the bounds of Moderation and Convenience he never knows where to stop COMMENT THere are two things to be considered in Cloths and Diet and Goods and Estate and whatever else is requisite for our Bodies that is the getting and the using of them He hath informed us already after what manner they are
the Next The Instructions he gives are built upon Humane Nature and the Foundation of them all is Man considered as a Rational Soul making use of the Body as its Instrument of Operation Upon this Account he allows all those innocent Pleasures which Nature requires and such as are necessary to keep up a Succession of Mankind in the World and so he does likewise the Enjoyment of such other Things as the Condition of the present Life makes desirable to us But then it is constantly with this Reserve that the Reasoning Faculty preserve its own Liberty so as not to be enslaved to the Body or any of its sensual Inclinations but be constantly raising it self up above these and aspiring to the Enjoyment of its own proper Happiness So that of all Outward Things which are commonly esteemed good those that can any way conduce to the promoting our real Happiness we may take the Advantage of provided it be done with due Temper and Moderation But as for such as are wholly inconsistent with that True Good we are absolutely forbidden the having any thing at all to do with them One very remarkable Excellency these Writings have That they render all who govern themselves by them truly happy in present and do not content themselves with turning Men over to a long Payment by distant Promises of their Virtues being rewarded in a Future State Not but that there most certainly shall be such a State and such Rewards For it is impossible that that Being which serves it self of the Body and its Appetites and Affections as so many Instruments to act by should not have a distinct Nature of its own a Nature that continues entire after these are lost and destroyed and consequently must needs have a Perfection of its own too peculiar and agreeable to its Essence and Nature Now though we should suppose the Soul to be mortal and that It and the Body perish both together yet he that lives according to these Directions will be sure to find his Account in them for he cannot fail of being a truly happy Man because he attains to the Perfection of his Nature and the Enjoyment of that Good which is accommodated to a Rational Soul And thus the Body of a Man which is confessedly mortal enjoys its own proper Happiness and can ask nothing farther when it attains to all that Vigor and Perfection that the Nature of a Body is capable of The Discourses themselves are short and sententious much after the manner of those Precepts which the Pythagoreans call their Memorandums or Moral Institutions Though among these indeed there is some sort of Method and Connexion and a mutual Relation almost all through as will appear hereafter when we come to consider them particularly And these Observations and Maxims though they be put into distinct Chapters are yet all upon one Subject and belong to the same Science viz. That of Amending the Life of Man They are all directed to one and the same End which is To rouze and invigorate the Reasonable Soul that it may maintain its own Dignity and exert all its Powers in such Operations as are agreeable to uncorrupt Nature The Expressions are perspicuous and easie but yet it may not be amiss a little to explain and enlarge upon them and that as well for the Writer's own sake who by this means will be more sensibly affected and carried to a closer and deeper Consideration of the Truths contained in them as for the Reader 's Benefit who perhaps not being very conversant in such kind of Writings will be led into a more perfect Understanding of them by these Explanations Now the first Thing to be cleared upon this Occasion is What sort of Persons these Instructions were designed for and what Virtues especially they are capable of cultivating in the Men that submit to be directed by them And first it is plain they are not proper for the Man of Consummate Virtue who hath absolutely purged away all the Dregs of Humane Nature for he so far as his mortal State will admit of such Perfection makes it his Business to divest himself of Flesh and Sense and all the Appetites and Passions that attend and serve the Body and is entirely taken up with the Improvement of his own Mind Much less can they sute the Circumstances of a speculative Virtue which is a Degree still higher than the former For such a Person is exalted even above the Rational Life and attains to a sort of God-like Contemplation They are adapted then more peculiarly to an inferiour Rank who lead their Lives according to the Dictates of Reason and look upon the Body as an Instrument of Action contrived for the Use of the Soul That do not confound these two nor make Either a part of the Other nor the Body and Soul both as equally constituent parts of Humane Nature For he that supposes the Man strictly speaking to consist of Body as well as Soul hath a Vulgar Notion of Things is deprest and sunk down into Matter hath no more Pretensions to Reason than a Brute and scarce deserves the Name of Man He that would answer that Character in good earnest and assert the Dignity and Prerogative of his Nature by which God hath distinguished him from Beasts must take care to preserve his Soul as Nature requires it should be in a State of Superiority over the Body so as to use and manage it not as a part of the same common Nature out as an Instrument wholly at its Government and Disposal And such a Person as this is the proper Object of those Moral and Political Vertues which the following Discourses are intended to excite Men to That the Real Essence of a Man is his Rational Soul Socrates hath undertaken to demonstrate in that Dialogue which Plato gives us between him and his beloved Alcibiades And Epictetus proceeding upon this Foundation directs his Scholars what sort of Practices and Conversation are proper to make a Man thus framed by Nature perfect For as the Body gathers Strength by Exercise and frequently repeating such Motions as are natural to it so the Soul too by exerting its Powers and the Practice of such things as are agreeable to Nature confirms it self in Habits and strengthens its own natural Constitution I would not have the Reader take it ill to be detained a little longer from the following Discourses only whilst I present him with so necessary an Introduction to them as the explaining a little this Notion which Epictetus all along takes for a granted Truth viz. That the Real Essence of the Man is his Rational Soul which makes use of the Body as its Instrument of Action For Epictetus sets before us the Operations peculiar to such a Person and becoming his Character and then makes it his Business to excite all his Scholars to get a perfect-Knowledge and employ themselves in the constant Practice of them That by such daily Exercise we may as I said
and described the Qualities peculiar to both sorts and what relation they bear to us That the things in our power are properly ours that those out of our power are anothers And now he advises that Men would manage themselves suitably to the Nature of these things and not be guilty of perverse and ridiculous Absurdities with regard to them For this is the true â—oundation of all the Happiness or the Wretchedness of our Lives The succeeding well in our Attempts attaining to the Good we aim at and restraining all the Mischief that could befal us makes us happy The being disappointed in our Hopes missing our Ends and Advantages or the falling into Mischiefs and Inconveniences are the things that make us Miserable But now if our Happiness consists in regular Desires and just Aversions and these Desires and Aversions are in our own power we must seek our Happiness here that we may be sure to find it and to find that Happiness which is properly ours and peculiar to us And we shall be sure to find it for how is it possible we should not when the Regulation of our Desires and Aversions depends entirely upon our selves Now if we place our Affections and Desires upon things not in our power and expect to find our Happiness in them this double Misfortune must needs follow upon it One way the Disappointment is unavoidable that though we should prove successful and obtain what we are so fond of yet still these things are not what we take them for nor can we meet with that which is properly our Happiness in them But besides it is agreeable to all the Reason in the World to believe that generally we must needs be disappointed of the things themselves for how should it be otherwise when a Man sets his Heart upon that which is anothers as if it were his own and when he must depend upon other Persons and Accidents whether he shall ever obtain it or no Now the natural Consequences of such Disappointments are the being interrupted and having all our Measures broken and a World of Grief and Remorse when we find our Pains have been employed to no purpose and that we are engaged in wrong Courses For as Pleasure and Joy are the Effects of Good Success the accomplishing what we wish and being delivered from what we dread so when we are overtaken by the Mischiefs we feared and defeated in our Endeavours after what we desired we presently fall into Trouble and Discontent and complain of every one that we think contributed to our Misfortune and spare neither Men nor sometimes Providence and God himself Besides There is another Mischief comes of this for by being so tenderly affected for things that are not in our power we lose sometimes those that are and he that deprives us of what he could take away robs us of what he hath no power to take from us Regular and Moderate Desires and Aversions But if we be disposed and affected as we ought and make a true Distinction between what is ours and what is not if we settle our Affections and bestow our Care not upon things which belong to another but upon our own our proper Happiness and what salls within the compass of our own Power that is upon the entertaining such Desires and Aversions as are agreeable to Reason and Nature then we may rest secure that we shall never be annoyed by any Constraint or Compulsion any Disappointment or Hindrance but shall have the sole Government and entire Disposal of such Desires and Aversions And if so then we shall have no occasion of Grief or Remorse for that can happen but in Two cases either the missing of what we wish'd or the falling into what we fear'd and would fain have avoided And we can never be frustrated in our Desires never be endamaged by any inconvenience we fear provided we will but make those things our care which are in our own power Consequently we can never live in awe and dread of any Man for the reason why we fear any body is because they may do us some prejudice or some way obstruct our Advantage But there is no Man alive that hath it in his power to offer Violence to our Desires and Aversions and these are the things in which the Man that lives according to the Dictates of right Reason places his Happiness So that at this rate we can have no Enemy neither for he is accounted our Enemy that does us mischief but no body can do this to a Man who is out of the power of all Mankind to hurt him By the same Reason such a Person will accuse no Man complain of nothing nor ever do any thing against his Will So that the Life of a Man thus untainted with Perturbation and Sensual Pleasure must needs be above all Grief and all Fear absolutely Free and exquisitely Happy And here we may observe farther how excellently well he proves the Life of a Wise and Good Man to be not only best and most for ones advantage but the pleasantest and most for ones satisfaction too For as Plato tells us Every Creature does by natural Instinct endeavour after Pleasure and run away from Pain Now some Pleasures attend those things that are truly good and advantagious to us and others those that are prejudicial and hurtful And this makes it necessary to take good heed what Choice we make that so we may embrace and pursue and accustom our selves to the Enjoyment of such Pleasures as may be beneficial to us For that Temperance for Example is really more delightful to a Vertuous Man than Extravagance and Licentiousness are to the Dissolute there needs no other proof than this that many Debauches leave their loose way of Living and turn Sober when they consider and come to a better Sense of things But there are no instances to be produced of any Temperate Persons who proceed upon wise and reasonable Considerations that ever abandoned themselves to Debauchery and Excess Now if this way of Living had not more than ordinary Pleasure in it Men would never choose it with so much eagerness and satisfaction And that such a Virtuous Life as this must needs be more easie and pleasant Epictetus demonstrates from its being Free and Uncontrouled above Checks and Contradictions above Hindrances and Disappointments but depending and doing all upon the Dictates of one's own Mind And thus they live who place all their Good and Evil in their own Actions and the use of that Liberty and Power that Nature hath given them CHAP. IV. Since therefore the Advantages you propose to your self are so valuable remember that you ought not to content your self with a cold and moderate pursuit of them but that some things must be wholly laid aside and others you must be content to suspend for a while But if you will needs be grasping at both and expect to compass these and at the same time attain unto Honours and Riches too there will
Bodies compounded of those Elements But farther If these Things contribute to some good Effect if by the infinite Revolutions of Matter and Motion the Corruption of one Thing produces the Generation of another how then can the Corruption of any single part be Evil when at the same time it conduces to the Benefit of the whole This is a Rule which Nature it self hath made evident to us and every particular Creature practises it in slighting the Advantage of its Parts in Comparison of the Good of the Whole Thus when any Noxious Humours are redundant in the Body Nature throws them off from the Heart or Bowels or Lungs or Brain and all the parts that are principally concern'd in the functions of Life into the Hands the Feet the Skin or any of the Extream Parts she raises Blisters and causes Putrefactions to remove the Humour and is content to corrupt some parts for the preservation of the whole This is sometimes I say the work of Nature and when it is not so we endeavour to supply it by art For when Physicians and Chyrurgeons draw Sores and Cup and Scarify and Sear and cut off Limbs to save our Lives they only imitate Nature and do that by Medicines which she was able to do without them And yet there is no Wise Man that blames these Methods nor thinks those Pains Evil which he suffers upon such good Accounts From hence it appears that if Bodies subsisted by themselves alone and whatever they endured had no relation at all to the Souls of Men none of the different Changes they undergo would be esteemed Evil So that if there be any real Cause for this Complaint it must be upon the account of the Souls in those Bodies Now some of these are Irrational perfectly of a piece with the Bodies and no more than the animating part of them Their Essence their Power and their Operations subsist in and depend entirely upon and are in inseparable Conjunction with the Body But others are Rational of a Nature superiour to the Body and distinct from it acting upon a free Principle of Motion and Choice a Principle of their own by which they dispose their own Inclinations and Desires as they see fit themselves all which hath been abundantly proved already Now the Irrational Souls have not the least Sign or Footstep of Free-Agency no manner of Tendency or Appetite from within but are only the principle of Life and Activity to the Body and Consequently their Being was ordained by the same Fate and is subject to the same Casualties with the Body They have no Dignity no Merit or Demerit of their own but are more or less valuable according to the Dignity of their respective Bodies and are as irresistibly disposed to their Motions as Shadows are to their Substances It is true indeed This is more peculiarly the Condition of Plants which have only a Vegetative Soul and want the Sensitive one and are not exercised with those Motions that accompany the Desires and vehement Impulses of the Soul But Beasts are in a higher Form and are endued with this also And therefore the Souls of Brutes being considered in a middle State in a Capacity Superiour to Vegetables and yet inferiour to such as Nature hath made free Agents must in all Reason have some Resemblance some Footsteps at least of Appetites and Affections arising from within and such as shall be moved sometimes in Agreement to the Nature of its particular Species and sometimes contrary to it As when a Lion hath that Courage and Fury agreeable to its kind and this is sometimes more and sometimes less than it ought to be And in this respect the Dignities and Degrees of such Souls are different and their Lives are so too according to the Disposition which Fate and Nature hath given them which is such that they are still moved mechanically and by external Impressions For it is necessary that whatever is placed between two Extremes should in some measure partake of each of these Extremes But now the Rational Soul which is a Free Agent and hath an absolute Dominion over her own Desires and Propensions derives its Dignity from Choice she uses the Body indeed but hath all its Appetites and Passions at her Devotion This Soul therefore when she makes use of the Body only as an Instrument of Action and maintains her own Superiority over it is obstructed in all those Operations in which the Body bears a part by the Sufferings and Diseases of the Body but is not it self at all affected with those Pains From whence it was that the great Socrates used to say the Anguish was in the Leg but not in the Mind But if the Soul contract too intimate a Familiarity with the Body and grow fond of it as if it were no longer its Instrument but a part of its self or rather its very self then it communicates in all its Afflictions degenerates into Brute and esteems all the Extravagancies of Anger and Desire its own is enslaved to them descends to little Trickings and is eternally contriving how to compass those Objects and being thus corrupted and diseased in such manner as a Soul is capable of being so stands in need of Physick and strong Remedies to cure these Distempers For it is a Rule in Application that one Contrary is cured by another And thus when the Desire is depraved by Lusciousness and Pleasure and hath conformed it self to the Body too much by the Love of Sensual Enjoyments and Riches and Honours and Preserments and Posts of Authority and the like there is a necessity of meeting with Crosses and Disappointments that so the subsequent Pain in the very same Instances may correct and chastise the Excess of Pleasure we formerly took in them And this is no where more requisite than in Bodily Pains and Pleasures For this is nearest to the Soul and its Torments are received with a quicker and more tender Sense than any other When therefore the Soul hath revolted from her Supreme Commander and forsakes her own Reason abandoning her self to the Body and the World and thinking their Enjoyments and their Happiness her own and by this means grows vitiated and distempered there seems no other way to be left of putting her out of Conceit with these Things and poising the Byass that carried her to them that so she may despise them and condemn her self and return to God and right Reason again and expect all her Happiness from an Obedience to these but by making her sensible both of the Evil of her former Courses and of the Smart that follows them This only can take off the Propensity to that Pleasure which she hath felt in and by them For so long as she continues to find this she continues fond of and fastened down to these Enjoyments And no Nail takes faster hold or fixes Things closer than Pleasure and the Allurements it brings do the Soul to the Objects that occasion it And this
That what we fear most shall certainly happen to us But the Question is What course we shall take to throw off these Passions and possess our selves with that Indifference To that he replies That the Consideration of those Things we enquire about will be able to effect it For we â—eed only reflect That they are external Accidents and Things out of our Power for no man is so sensless as to consult an Oracle upon the Events of those which his own Choice must determine Who ever enquired at a Shrine Whether he ought to regulate his Inclinations and Aversions to reduce them within just bounds or to fix them upon fit and worthy Objects The Quaries usually put are quite of another strain Whether a Voyage shall be prosperous Whether it be advisable to many Whether the purchasing such a parcel of Land would turn to good account And these being such things as we our selves are not made Masters of by Nature 't is plain our Desires and our Aversions ought not to have any concern in the Divination The only thing we want to be satisfied in is some particular Event this is the Soothsayer's Work and out of the compass of our own Knowledge But the Quality of that Event we know as well as he For Philosophy hath assured us That none of those matters which are out of our own power can be in themselves good or evil and by consequence no proper Object of our Inclination or Aversion Besides They that are skill'd in these Mysteries have a Notion That an extream Passion and Concern in the Person that applies to the Oracle disturbs the whole method of Divination and consounds the Omen So that this Calmness will be of advantage in that respect too and you will escape all immoderate sollicitude when you remember that be the Accident whatever it will you have it still in your power to convert it to your own Benefit and the more disastrous so much the more beneficial still will a prudent management render it to you And therefore come boldly says he and cast aside vain Fears and unnecessary Scruples when you prosess to ask Counsel of the Gods From that Expression he takes occasion to inform Men what is their Duty to the Gods in these Cases namely That when we have asked their Advice we should be sure to take it For he that consults God himself and yet reâ—uses to follow his Advice Whom will that Man be directed by And indeed there is not any more probable nor more frequent ground for our Stiffness and Disobedience than the Prepossessions we lie under and the strong Byass of our own Inclinations and Aversions So that from hence we have discovered one advantage more of approaching the Deity with a dispassionate and unprejudiced Mind For this will not only deliver us from all those Anxieties and Fears so inconvenient and so hazardous upon such occasions but it will also dispose us exceedingly to a ready Compliance and leave us free to resign our selves entirely to be governed by the Will and Directions of God The next Enquiry he goes upon concerns those things which are the proper Objects of Divination and these he declares to be such only Whose End is perfectly dark and unknown so that nothing but the Event it self can give us any light into it things so purely accidental that no humane Prudence no Rules of any particular Art no helps of Experience and long Observation can enable us to pronounce what they shall be Thus much is agreeable to Reason and common Sense for no body consults an Oracle whether it be fit for a Man to eat and Drink or Sleep because Nature teaches us the necessity of these Refreshments and we cannot possibly sâ—bsist without them Nor whether it be advisable for a Man to improve in Wisdom and lead a vertuous Life for every wise and good Man sees and feels the advantage of doing so Nor does he desire the Prophet to resolve him what sort of House he shall build because this is the Business of a Surveyer and his Schemes and Models are drawn by Rule and Art Nor does the Farmer desire to be satisfied whether he â—…ould sow his Corn or not 〈…〉 absolutely necessary to be done But he may perhaps enquire what Season or what parcel of Land or what 〈…〉 Plants will turn to best acc 〈…〉 still I mean that Experienc 〈…〉 natural Causes have not instruc 〈…〉 things before Or a Man may reasonably enough ask if it be proper to undertake such a Voyage especially if the Season of the Year or any other Circumstances contribute to the rendring it hazardous for him Nor would it be proper to enquire whether one should go abroad into the Market or to Westminster-Hall or walk a turn into the Fields For though it be true that even these trivial Undertakings are sometimes attended with very strange and very dismal Consequences yet generally speaking they fall out just as we intend and desire they should And where there is a very high Probability and such as is most commonly answered by the Event there all Divination is needless If it were not so nothing in the World could be exempt from it for the best concluding Reason and the surest Rules of Art do not always succeed right Nature sometimes works out of her common course and Choice does frequently mistake and fall short of what is designed But still there is no difficulty worthy an Oracle in these matters because we ought to rest satisfied in great Probabilities and not be disturbed at the few the very few Exceptions to the contrary otherwise we shall be over-run with idle Whimsies and superstitious Fears such as improve every little Accident into somewhat terrible and ominous and would make us utterly unactive and afraid ever to attempt any thing so long as we live But here arises a Quarie worth a little consideration and that is Whether the consulting of Oracles concerning matters within our own power be wholly disallowed As for instance What Opinion we ought to entertain of the Soul Whether it be mortal or immortal And Whether we should apply our selves to such a particular Master or not And the reason of this doubt is Because several of the Ancients seem to have consulted the Gods about some Difficulties in Nature and yet the making such or such a Judgment of Things is our own proper act and confessed to be one of those Things that come within the compass of our Will Now I must needs say with submission That whatever is attainable by Reason and Logical Demonstration ought to be learn'd that way for this will give us a clear and undoubted perception and the discovery of Effects from their Causes is the true scientifical Knowledge it leaves no Doubt behind it but satisfies our selves and enables us to instruct and convinâ—e others Now an assurance from Divine Testimony that the Soul is immortal may give us a firm belief of the thing and we should do ill
hath disclaimed and is running away from and that Vertue which he is moving towards the Perfection of In this State we cannot but suppose him frequently to reflect upon his former Misery and like a Patient who is in a way of Recovery but far from perfect Health to be exceeding jealous and tender fearful of a Relapse and cautious of indulging himself in any Liberties which may keep him back from a sound and confirmed State And therefore this Jealousie must needs make him a curious Observer of his own Actions and as severe in his Sentences upon them as if they were done by an Enemy And this Rigour is of excellent use because it srees the Mind of all that partial Fondness which we are too much inclined to and which oftentimes make us either wholly over-look our own and our Friend's Faults or at least pass very gentle and favourable Constructions upon them And indeed this is the only way to make us honest and sincere for a dissolute Man hath no Principles to restrain him but is * See Erasm Adag in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the Proverb A Limber Leather that will stretch and bend to any thing and you never know where to have him CHAP. LXXIII If you observe any Man value himself for understanding Chrysippus his Book thoroughly and giving a just Explanation of it represent to your self the intolerable Absurdity of such a Man's Pride by this single Reflection That if Chrysippus his Writings had not been obscure this Expounder would have had nothing to brag of Well but what is it that I think most worthy my Study Why my Duty resulting from the Condition of my Nature I Desire to know then who it is that can teach me this Duty and I am told Chrysippus can Vpon this Information I apply my self to the reading his Book I read but I do not understand him My next Care then is to look out a good Expositor In all this I have done no great Matter For when by the help of this Exposition I comprehend his Meaning yet still I want the Practical part and this in truth is the only valuable Progress For if I rest in the Author or the Commentator and content my self with a bare Vnderstanding or apt Explication I have forgot the Matter I took in hand and am no longer studying the Perfections of a Philosopher but those of a Grammarian The Difference is only this That whereas I have chosen Chrysippus to exercise my Talent upon he would have pitched rather upon Homer or some other Classick Author But this I am sure of that the more capable I am thought of explaining Chrysippus the more I ought to be out of Countenance if what I can teach others so well I do not take due care to practise as exactly my self COMMENT AFter having distinguished Mankind into three Classes and represented the Qualities proper to each of them and also made a short recapitulation of the Directions given before at large to his Proficient he now begins to enter upon the concluding Part inculcating in this and the following Chapters that Rule which alone can give Life and Energy to all the rest viz. That the reducing these Precepts into Practice must be our chief Study and Care and that the Good Works which they are excellently accommodated to produce is the genuine Fruit expected from them and the very End for which they were composed and communicated For what an Eminent Orator said once upon a like Occasion is extreamly applicable to the Case now in Hand That Words without Actions are but mere Air and empty Sound To this purpose he says a Man should reflect feriously with himself what his meaning is when he reads such Moral â—nstructions and puts his Mind upon a sedulous Enquiry after its true and proper Happiness The Answer to this Question will be That he intends to examine into Humane Nature and see what is the Constitution and true Condition of it And from thence to pursue his Enquiry farther and consider what Actions and what Sentiments are agreeable to this Nature what Impressions are fit for a Creature so framed to admit and indulge and what are to be stifled and restrained as incongruous and unseemly Well upon due Reflection I find that I have a Principle of Reason and a Body but these not equal in Authority or Value for my Reason is the Character of my Nature it challenges a Right over my Body and commands it as an Instrument subservient to it and over-ruled by it The Inference then from hence is plainly this That God and Nature designed I should live a Life of Reason and not of Sense and that all my bodily Passions should conform themselves to the Commands of their Lawful Superior that all my Fears and all my Desires should be reduced into due Order and pay Homage to the more illuâ—trious Perfections of the Soul But still I am at a loss how this is to be effected and am told That Chrysippus hath written an excelleat 〈◊〉 to this purpose I fall immediately to reâ—ding his Book but find it so abstruse and dark that I can make nothing at all of it I am directed to a good Commentary and by the help of this I understand him perfectly But all this while here is very little good done and but small praise due either to the intelligent Reader or the perspicuous Commentator For when Chrysippus wrote this he did not only intend to be understood and expounded but had a farther and much better End in it viz. That both his Reader and his Interpreter should practise what he had written If then I do this I attain to the Benefit the Writings were properly intended for and they have had their due and full effect upon me But if I delight in the Author or applaud the Expositor never so much if I am skill'd in all his Criticisms see through all his Intricaâ—ies admire the weight of his Sentences or the turn of his Style in short if I master every Difficulty and have every Attainment but only that of Practice I am not one whit improved in my Business The Title of a more nice and exact Grammarian I may indeed have some pretension to but can lay no claim at all to that of a Philosopher For this Talent of explaining an Author's Meaning is properly the Qualification of a Grammarian the only difference is That Chrysippus is an Author something out of his way and Homer a much more likely Man to come under his Consideration But there is another difference which is much more to my Disadvantage for a Man may read Homer or explain him and rest there and yet not be the worse if he be never the better for it Whereas with Chrysippus it is much otherwise for the unâ—difying Reader in this case cannot be innocent And those who do not mend by his Precepts contract a deeper guilt and incurr a juster and more severe Condemnation For would it