love too much he being infinitely worthy of our highest Affection yet 't were our Happiness if we could dilate our Hearts and Souls wider to be more capable of this Passion for the most incomparable deserving Object of it The love we bear the Creatures is always restless and never perfect because attended with so many uncertainties Those whom we love most may or hate us or be treacherous to us but admitting they were all that we can desire they should be yet alas they are mortal and that Fidelity which they protested to us cannot exempt them from the Law of Nature As they were born so they must dye By consequence then where the Creature is the Object of our Love we cannot but be unhappy Fixing then our Love upon God can only secure our Felicity We are certain he will love us as long as we love him since he even lov'd us before the infiniteness of his Goodness and the immutability of his Nature may arm us against all Apprehensions He deserves the most to be belov'd since his Love to us can't change but with our Love to him and whenever we by transgression dissolve this union he is ready and willing to pardon us upon our Repentance and take us into favour again Friendship is one of the principal effects of Love between Man and Man even Barbarians esteem it and Nature could not subsist without it To banish it the World were to subvert Governments overthrow Cities and turn the Condition of Man into that of Beasts to live wild in the Desarts 't is the Band of humane Society and the greatest moral Contentment we find here on Earth However if it have its Charms it is not without its Cruelties too For as Nature has made nothing without some Blemish so there is no Pleasure so entire but has some Stings Absence is a short Death and Death an everlasting absence We are vulnerable in the Person of our Friend and often more sensible of his Miseries than of our own what Misfortunes fall upon him are by so much the more insupportable to us as the Person was esteemed Who loses a Friend loses the better half of himself surviving that part only to be the more sensible of his Misery Friendship between different Sexes as it is not to be contracted but with danger so 't is much better to avoid it For tho' there is no distinction of Sexes in the Soul yet such an amity cannot be without Scandal tho' it might be peradventure without a Crime The World is grown too corrupt and a strict familiarity between Man and Woman cannot be long entertain'd without sensible peril to both Nature will be mixing certain motions with those of Friendship which cannot but have fatal consequences When Man shall be an Angel he shall be permitted to converse with Woman For till he is divested of his Body he will not be without a Criminal desire Therefore we must resolve never to approach too near these glittering Stars whose malignant Influences ruin our Innocence and whose Rays do not so much enlighten as they burn We must not only love our Friends but Neighbours Every thing that is Man has a right to our Affections But the consummation of this Passion is when setting aside those base ignoble Considerations of Profit or Pleasure we arrive to that glorious pitch as to love even our very Enemies This is a real proof of the verity and ardour of our Affection and if it is not advanc'd so far it can't but be imperfect and so forfeit all its pretensions to the reward of a Virtue 'T is intolerable to see with what Idolatry the Miser beholds his Bags and how much Love he bestows upon a Metal that can make as few returns to his Affection as it is insensible of it With what extravagancy some admire a Flower which fades even whilst they smell it and which is irreparably lost if they crop it Others more Brutes than the very Dogs they follow postpone every thing to a Kennel of Hounds 'T is a shame for a rational Creature to place so much fondness on one that is insensible There is I know a feeble shadow of Fidelity in Dogs and of Love in Horses but as they are irrational they are not properly Objects of our Love we may esteem them answerable to the service we draw from them but more is unpardonable 'T is highly absurd indeed if we reflect seriously on it that that Noble Passion which was given us to constitute our Felicity should be so misplac'd as only to argue the highest Folly in us that can well be and that one Heart should love God and a Beast at the same time Of the Nature and Properties of Hatred ONE would think there were nothing in Nature more contrary to Man than Hatred is and since he derives his Name from Humanity he should never be reconcil'd to a Passion that breaths forth nothing but Blood and Cruelty However this is as much a part of his Essence as Love it self is And if he has occasion for Love to unite him to those things he desires he stands in no less need of Hatred to preserve him from those that might annoy him The whole Universe subsisteth but by the contrariety of the Elements If the Waters coolness did not allay the violence of the Fire the whole World had been long since in Cinders So is it with the lesser World of Man's Body did not the radical Moisture temper the natural Heat he would perish immediately without redress Hatred is as necessary a Passion as Love and we might justly accuse Nature of Cruelty or Neglect if having given us a propensity to Good she had not also taught us to hate and avoid what we thought not so Hatred is in its birth no more than an aversion to any thing that displeases us 't is an Antipathy of the Appetite or the impression that a disagreeable Object makes on the inferior part of the Soul It has this property in common with Love that it often prevents our Reason and is establish'd in our Will without asking advice of our Judgments And it has likewise this property different from Love that we perceive it even in its conception proceeding from an Object that wounds us she makes us suffer from her very birth and is not sooner establish'd in our Breast but she turns our Tormentor One moment only is enough to produce her and if she be not curb'd immediatly she casts Fire and Flame through all the Faculties of the Soul and like that active Element converts all it meets with to its Nourishment Her greatest Evil is that she dies not so soon as Love doth when once it hath taken root it laughs at all attempts of repressing it Philosophy that boasts such mighty Victories over the Passions could never cure this Frenzy I wonder not that Hatred when inveterate should make some Parents oblige their Children to a perpetual enmity with their Enemies and so expire cursing them if
observ'd of St. Austin touching the insolence of the Stoicks that they only differed from other Philosophers in an affected Arrogancy of terms and that although their expressions were more haughty yet were their sentiments no sublimer than those of other Sects In effect they blame not so much the Passions as their Excesses and if they vainly boasted some fond desire of smothering them yet they never had any hopes of effecting it It seems much less difficult to govern the Passions than the Senses for Love and Fear are sooner brought to reason than Hunger or Thirst so that in as much as we can command our Senses we may by reason subject our Passions likewise and render our desires and fears as virtuous as we make our fastings and watchings religious acts Reason is the great propriety of Man all other qualifications are but exotick and adventitious he loseth them without impoverishing himself and provided he be rational he can always stile himself Man This must be the great source of our felicity and by managing the motions of the inferiour part of the Soul we shall learn how all the Passions may serve to our advantage Fear proves our security and Hope animates us to generous Enterprizes by so much the more glorious as they seem to be environed with difficulties In short the Passions are not so predominant but that they may be subjugated by reason Virtue would want employ if she had not Passions to vanquish or at least to regulate Fortitude bridles in Fear Modesty measures our Desires Temperance represses the violent instigations of Voluptuousness Clemency moderates the efervescency of Choler and if it were not for this Princes would neither be merciful nor just If the Passions receive such great advantages from the assistance of Virtue after some training in her School they repay her richly and serve her as faithfully Fear is the greatest part of Prudence and tho' some tax her with anticipating Evils yet she doth not so much forestall dangers to make them more afflicting but by considering them at a distance she teaches us how we may happily avoid them or patiently undergo them Boldness attends Valour and the most illustrious Conquerors owe their Lawrels to the generosity of this Passion Choler supports Justice animating Magistrates to the punishment of Criminals so that there is not any one Passion but what is subservient to Virtue when it is guided by reason and those who have vented so much of their malicious Eloquence in crying down the Passions have only shewed they were ignorant both as to their use and merit We may define Passion then to be a motion of the sensitive Appetite occasioned by imagination of a real or an apparent good or evil In its birth it hath no other malignity than what it contracts from the Corruption of Humane Nature But when the understanding begins to be obfuscated with the fuliginous Clouds of their Vapours or else vanquish'd with the softer blandishments of their solicitations and so perverts the Will then and only then their motions turn rebellious and who was but irregular before is now become entirely criminal for as the impulses of the inferiour part of the Soul are no ways free of themselves they cannot be vicious but when they are voluntary These Passions we shall endeavour to bring under the Government of Reason and by the assistance of Grace happily transmute them into so many Virtues 'T is not enough here to know the Cause of our Malady unless we are instructed in the Cure too For these are distempers which charm and the Patient frequently fears nothing more than recovery We cannot destroy our Passions without making a rupture in the Oeconomy of our Nature yet we may draw great Service from them more than barely as some fancied by trying our Courage in repelling their too rapid violence or our constancy in supporting them patiently I hope to demonstrate that as Providence did work our Salvation out of our ruine so we may gather our tranquility and happiness out of that very mighty disorder which our Passions occasion in us Of the Number of our Passions SOme have made the Passions as 't were to flow from two different Springs which they term the Concupiscible and the Irascible Apetite Supposing that such contrary Motions could not be effected by one and the same Power or part of the Soul Yet with their leave I should rather follow the Opinion of St. Austin not believing that a diversity of Sentiments presupposes a diversity of Faculties too since one Man frequently desires Things contrary in themselves yet he conserves the unity of his Person in the variety of his Desires The Holy Father had a severe Tryal of this in his Conversion his Soul was distracted with differing Sentiments and the good Saint wonder'd that having but one Will he should be capable of forming such very opposite Resolutions so that the Passions may possibly flow all from the same individual Source since the Soul is not either divided or multiplied by its various Faculties preserving the unity of its Essence even in the multitude of its Operations The Philosophers themselves are divided in their Opinions concerning the Number of the Passions yet I can't but side with St. Austin in this particular likewise and hold that Love is the only Passion which agitates us For as the same vast Body of Water generally termed the Sea has distinct Names in every respective Part of the World through which it passes or as the Heaven 's made a different Divinity of each Attribute and Perfection of God so the various Effects of this one Passion has been the great occasion of Man's judging that there were many of several Natures supposing that it changed its Condition as often as it changed its Conduct Thus Reason confirms our Belief that there 's but one only Passion and what others have thought to be such were but only so many Properties of this one Desiring and Shunning Hope and Fear are the Motions of Love by which it seeks what pleases and flies what is disagreeable to it 'T is but a very frivolous Objection to this Hyyothesis That Love must of Consequence transform it self into its Contrary which is Hatred for even that very Motion of Love is reconcilable with Reason and Experience since one Cause produces contrary Effects the Sun melts wax and hardens Clay Justice punishes Crimes and rewards Virtue or if we may presume to fly a step higher God only hates sin because he loves himself Whether there were any Passions in the State of Innocence 'T IS so long a Tract of Time since Man lost his Innocence that we at present have but a faint Idea of what it was nay did not the Justice of God punish the Crimes of the Father in the Person of the Son peradventure we should hardly regret the loss as irreparable as it is Every one discribes the State of Innocence according to his own Imagination yet doubtless as the Earth brought
ever they should hearken to a reconciliation since it is so impetuous in its motions that it makes a Man despise his own life to prosecute his Revenge nay dye with Joy and Consolation if he can but crush his Enemy with his own Fall From hence we may learn the violence of Hatred that there is no Torment but it despises no Crime so enormous but it resolves on it presently to farther its furious Instigations If the Properties of this Passion are so very strange its Effects are fatal She is the occasion of all the Tragical Actions which swell up History and indeed he who follows her counsel is capable of committing any thing This Hellish Passion taught us that Man could dye in the Flower of his Age without any Distemper and that a Brother was not always safe in the company of his Brother She gave us first the Cursed Instructions of mixing Poison with Drink and murthering People under the colour of Hospitality 'T was she and not Avarice tore up the bowels of the Earth to furnish Instruments for her Cruelty She teaches us to kill Man decently and makes us approve of a Parricide if it be but according to Art In a word after she has pronounc'd most bloody Sentences as a Judge she will her self have the pleasure of executing them as a Hang-man The Good Use of Hatred ALL the Works of Nature are perfect and cannot without Jnjustice become Objects of our Hatred Another likes what I do not and what displeases my sight gratifies his smell And what Nature has produc'd of most unacceptable aspect is a foil to the most charming and illustrates the variety of the Created Beings All such things then must be exempted from the violence of this Passion Sin only can be its proper and legitimate Object and that with this reservation too that our own Offences be rather made so than those of our Neighbour We know not so well the Circumstances of his Transgression as our own We are not Judges over him therefore must not exercise our hatred with his failings It s greatest edge must be against our selves and there it can never prove excessive when we justifie God's Goodness by our implacable hatred of iniquity 'T is an act of Justice to abominate sin And David thought he shewed his Love to God when he demonstrated his hatred to his Enemies and therefore ceased praising him to curse the wicked and ungodly To make our Hatred meritorious as was that of the Royal Prophet it must have those two Conditions with it which his had That is we must hate Sin but not Nature We must detest the work of the Creature but cherish and admire that of God Thus by the assistance of Grace Hatred becomes a Virtue and assistant both to Justice and Charity But she is practised much more securely against our own Imperfections than those of our Neighbours Self-love here will tye up our hands that we shall never exceed in it what holy Fury soever our Love to God might inspire us with yet that natural inclination we have to our selves would hinder us from proceeding without any dangerous severity The hating our selves is one of the Foundations of Christ's Gospel We must deny our selves and follow him if we will be his Disciples Love and Hatred are taught in his School after an extraordinary manner For we are to give all our Love to our Neighbour and to reserve the same degree of Hatred for our selves This Command is more rigorous in appearance than effect For under the severity which it seems to carry along with it there is conceal'd the sweetness of Love for by a happy destiny attending this prosecution of Hatred we love our selves so much the more really by how much we hate our selves for sin This Doctrine of our Saviour extends to the Spirit as well as the Flesh and enjoyns us not only Mortification to repress the sawcy motions of the Body but Self-denial thereby submitting our very Will to that of God Our Hatred cannot be perfect if it reach no farthet than the Body alone for it must equally act against every disorder that is caus'd by sin And as Nature has lost her Original Purity so both the parts whereof she consisteth are become criminal The inclinations of the Soul are not more innocent than those of the Body they have both their imperfections and are both corrupted What thick Clouds of Error and Ignorance obfuscate our Understanding With what labour do we learn and how easily is it all forgotten our Memory which passes for a Miracle in Nature treasures up Idea's that are false as well as what are not so She is treacherous and leaves us at a pinch furnishing us rather with futilous unnecessary things than what are of moment to us Perfectly to practise this great Doctrine of Jesus Christ we must denounce War against both Soul and Body and Combate the Darkness of our Understanding the Weakness of our Memory the Malice of our Will the Error of our Imagination and the Perfidiousness of our Senses together with the Rebellion of every Member of our Body These ill Qualities which deface the Image of the Creator in the Creature are the proper Objects of all our Hatred we may abhor them with Innocence and punish them without Injustice In a word we must detest and abominate every thing that Sin produces and which Grace cannot suffer Of the Nature and Properties of Desire DEsire is the Motion of the Soul towards a good which it loveth but is not yet in possession of from this Definition we may gather its first and chiefest Property which is Inequitude There can be no real Contentment where this Passion is conceived Some have voluntarily condemned themselves to horrours and miseries thinking every Remedy pleasant that cur'd so intollerable a Malady Seneca tells us of a Woman who followed her Son into Banishment chusing rather the Torments of Exile than those of regretting her Son's Absence and desiring his Return But Nature who designed this Passion for a Plague hath given us Hope for to mitigate the Horrours which its Motions create for 't is the wretchedness of the damned to desire without Hope of ever obtaining and to languish after a Felicity which 't is impossible for them to possess This Torment alone is far more insupportable to them than the scorching of the inquenchable Flames or the Company of Devils nay more sensible than the very Eternity of their Damnation it self But 't is not in Hell alone that this Passion exerts it self in the Rigours of its Cruelty she afflicts Man here upon Earth and she is a Minister of Divine Justice she is also by a Holy Artifice subservient to Mercy The Innocent and Godly desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ This Passion gives Life and Motion to all the others in our Soul Hatred only tortures us because it desires Revenge Ambition because it thirsts after Honours Avarice because it longeth after Gold and all
the Passions are only insupportable because they are attended with Desires which like a Contagious Malady is spreading its fatal Poison through all the Faculties of the Soul to render Man so much the more miserable If Desire be so cruel she is as shameful for it is as much an Argument of our Indigence as our Affection for we never desire but Things that we have not Alexander the Great who could make Sovereigns of his Slaves could not accomplish his Desires in other Things He saw his dear Friend Hephestion at the Point of Death and could only specifie his Love to him in the Fervour of his unfeigned Wishes for his Recovery The Vows he made to Heaven for his Health were so many evident Proofs of his Weakness and Incapacity as well as of his Love and Sorrow Desires are so many Publick Marks of some Private Necessity for the Soul that wishes shews its Indigency This made Tertullian say That Desire is the Glory of Things desired and the Shame of the Party desiring the Honour of Riches and the Infamy of the Miser the Reputation of Dignities but the Scandal of the Ambitious Of the good Use of Desire ALthough there is nothing more frequent than Desires yet there is nothing more rare than their good Use For of so many who make Wishes how few know how to moderate them Nature has bestowed on us this Passion in order to the acquiring the Good we want and which is necessary for us We must be cautious and have only faint Desires for Transitory Things and be reserved in our wishing for what may be taken away from us with Violence The Fruition of no sublunary Felicity can be so fixed but by a Reverse of Fate it may be interrupted therefore we must love them without Ardour desire them with Moderation possess them with Indifference and part with them without Sorrow But the great and principal Use we ought to make of this Noble Passion is to elevate us to God and unite us inseparably to him for as he is the only and proper worthy Object of our Love so must he be of our Desires likewise The most glorious Things below are but imperfect at best and if they have some Charms to attract our Affection they have also many Faults which merit our Contempt The Sun with the beautiful Lustre of his splendid Rayes hath found People so Captivated with his Glory that they raised Altars to him Christianity which spread almost all over the Face of the known Earth has not been able to convince these of their Idolatry yet he has his Imperfections too which argue him but a Creature he cannot enlighten at once both the Parts of the World and though he goes round it every Day yet but the one half of it enjoys his Light He cannot avoid Ecclipses and see his Glories obfuscated by a Planet much inferior to him both in Magnitude and Beauty His Influences are not always propitious he is the Parricide as well as the Parent of Flowers If his Rays warm us here in Europe they scorch those in Africk But God has nothing which is not amiable in the highest Degree Millions of Angels sing forth the Honour of his Perfections which have had immortal Admirers paying Homage and Adoration to them from the very Infancy of the Creation This is that supream Good which we all long after he alone is able to fill the vast Immensity of our Desires with the Infinity of his Glories the Exuberancy of his Perfections and the unutterable Joys of his ravishing Beauties Let us then hug our Misery and rejoyce that Nature has given us this Passion since it may serve as Wings to elevate us to God and as Chains for to fasten us there too Our Wishes after Salvation can never be Fruitless the Object being Good their Virtue consisteth in their Ardour Our Converssion depends upon our own Will Desire animated with Grace blots out all our Transgressions and though Heaven be so glorious and so happy a Place yet it has cost little more than Desires to them who now enjoy it The Power of this Passion is so great that it makes us heard in Heaven even without speaking and nothing was ever refused there to the Importunity of its Demands It makes one of the glorious Appellations of Jesus Christ for before he was known by the Name of the Saviour of the World he was known by that of the Desired of all Nations Of the Nature and Properties of Eschewing VVE should have but too just Reasons of reprehending Nature in the dispensing of her Favours if after having given us an Impression whereby we covet Good she had not also given us one to avoid Evil for since we hate it 't would be a severe Affliction not to be able to fly it This Passion seems to be the Daughter of Hatred or her Hand-Maid at least she is as impetuous in running from any Object she apprehends as Love is in pursuit of what it desires Her Motions are generally innocent and rarely Criminal but by surprize We must then consider whether the Evil she labours to shun is really or apparently so and if Opinion has not perswaded her of an Error instead of a Truth There is properly but two things that may be termed Evil that is Guilt and Pain yet as we are much more sensible of the one than of the other so are we more diligent to avoid it and there are but few Men who had not rather be criminal than miserable We fly the Plague more than Sin and though we would not live in an Air that were prejudicial to our Health yet we run daily into Company that robs us of our innocence However Pain has this great advantage that it contributes equally to the Salvation of Man and the Glory of God For he is as much glorified in the punishment of the wicked as in the rewarding of the Just Therefore we must adore the Arm that strikes us and love the stripes for the dear Hand 's sake which inflicts them and teach the whole World that the Thunderbolts of the Almighty are just since they who are struck with them even adore them Sin is a real Evil and there ought our aversion to be irreconcilable There is no motion of it but what is odious the irregularity of the Will is its Cause and an infiniteness its Object it violates all Laws and dishonours both Angels and Man All the Miseries we suffer here are the punishments of its Disorders This is the great Evil we must eschew which has Hell for its place of residence and Eternal Death for its Chastizement Of all the Sins none seems more properly to stand in need of this Passion to curb it than that of Lasciviousness other Passions may jointly be employ'd to combat some Vices but nothing can be so efficaciously apply'd here as eschewing No Charms will be so powerful no Temptation so strong no Opportunity so favourable but that if we retire from
own Blood would by no means admit of our harbouring an Enemy that gave us such mortal Counsels Both these Opinions are equally unjust For Nature has shew'd her Care and Indulgence of Man in nothing more than in giving him this Passion since thereby he delivers himself from many Evils which oppress him and to which Philosophy it self could prescribe no Remedy Love makes us desire and that very Desire excites such anxious motions in our Breast whilst we do not compass what we so earnestly long for that we become miserable because we can't refrain loving a Good which we do not enjoy But Despair terminates this wretched uneasiness which otherwise would not terminate but with our Lives By a natural Prudence she obliges us to leave off the pursuit of what she finds impossible to attain and to kill those Desires which serve only to heighten our Misery We must accuse our Hope that too easily engages us in Perils and commend Despair that delivers us from them She is indeed more prudent than courageous and regards rather Safety than Glory yet when reduc'd to the last push and that a retreat is impossible she grows honourably Courageous resolving either to Dye or Conquer She has often snatch'd the Lawrels out of the Hands of the Victorious and by efforts which might almost pass for Miracles in surmounting Nature she preserves Man's Life by making him despise it and obtains for him glorious Triumphs whilst he sought an honourable Death But to make this Passion subservient to our Design we must keep it from those two dangerous Extreams Timidity and Timerity And tho' this Passion is sometimes innocent in Nature yet it is always criminal in Grace For our hope being founded on the veracity of God's Holy Word we can't despair without accusing him either of insufficiency or untruth In Religion Despair is the blackest Sin we can define and he shews that he merits not to have his Iniquity pardon'd who despairs that it will be 'T is a trampling the Blood of Christ under our Feet And what made Judas more criminal then the very betraying of his Master and Cain then in the murthering his Brother God has so equally mix'd his Promises with his Menaces his Blessings with his Maledictions throughout the sacred Scriptures that Man should neither Despair nor yet Presume To assure the former he has propos'd Repentance whose Door is open to all that will come in and to intimidate the latter who by their delays impose upon his Mercy he has made the hour of Death uncertain reducing them hereby to the necessity of apprehending that fatal Moment which being unknown to every living Creature may easily surprize us all Of Boldness IF the difficulties which accompany Virtues enhance their price and those are regarded as the most beautiful which are the most painful Boldness ought to be distinguish'd as the most glorious since she undertakes to encounter only with what the World produces of terrible and astonishing proposing no other benefit to it self of all the many Conquests it gains but the bare glory of having atchieved them Like generous Princes she leaves the Pillage to the Soldiers and is satisfied with Honour for her dividend As this Passion never takes any thing for its Object but what is both dangerous and difficult she is rather severe than charming It is easie to remark in the very Countenances of those Hero's whom she animates a certain austerity and fierceness which argues that her pleasure is in fatigues and her chiefest diversion consisteth in surmounting difficulties she has no Consolation but in glory and no nourishment but in hope with these feeble succours she attacks all her Enemies and gains almost as many signal Victories as she gives Battles she promises nothing but gives much and tries sometimes even Impossibilities to accomplish those Promises which Hope had made us and surmounts all meer difficulties that retard their execution She is generous in all her designs and tho' they are ever attended with hazards yet they are for the most part crowned with a happy but always with a glorious event And if the blind Piety of the Poets made them ascribe the softer impulses of Love to a Divinity which they styl'd Cupid the miraculous effects of this Passion has constrain'd them to raise Altars to her and offer up Sacrifices to her under the appellations of Pollas and Bellona To make the qualities of this Passion more evident we will subjoyn some Instances to all our antecedent Reasons Zerxes was the most puissant Monarch that ever was but gave the most palpable demonstration of his Power when he undertook the Conquest of Greece His Army consisted of no less than two Millions of Men The Rivers were too small to make so many but quench their thirst the Clouds of his Arrows obumbrated the Sun and this glorious Planet suffered Eclipses which the Astrologers could not foresee in the countenances of the Heavens All these mighty preparations were to subjugate a Country that was hardly sufficient to afford Quarters for such numerous Troops However Leonidas possessing himself of the Straits of Thermopile and entertaining himself between these Mountains resolv'd to give him Battle with only 300 Men. Without all dispute Hope and Fortitude elevated his Courage and animated this generous Warriour to an Enterprize equally difficult and glorious As Hope represented to him the Honour of having made head against the common Enemy and secur'd his Country's Freedom prevented their Altars from being raz'd and their Women from being ravish'd yet Fortitude more sincere in her Counsels shew'd him the greatness of the peril setting before Leonidas's Eyes that tho' his death was inviolable yet he ought not to quit his Post there was no necessity of his overcoming but there was of his dying and that he should do enough if in sacrificing his own Life he could but repel somewhat of the Enemies haughty Fury Following then the motions of this generous Passion he resolv'd to sustain the Charge of an Army which extended beyond the Horizon and so bid his Soldiers prepare for Combate and Death Thus we see that Hope feeds upon Pleasures which are imaginary but Fortitude upon pains which are real The Hope of Success was as much against Reason as the being overthrown was inevitable Yet we know that this small Handful of Men defended themselves so bravely and so long that tho' they fell there themselves yet they might be said to have conquered Zerxes's Army But at least we must allow that this was the Foundation of his total Defeat and the so happy event of this resolution so bravely executed encouraged all Greece and shewed them that so powerful an Enemy was not invincible if they durst dye The Power of a Prince may make him undertake great things yet nothing inspires so much boldness as Innocence For she thinks that Heaven it self is obliged to appear in her Cause in as much as she is without offence Of the good use of Boldness 'T
IS true that our Passions are oftner criminal than virtuous and the disorder of our Nature since the Sin of our first Parent has occasioned their greatest inclinations to be towards Vice yet with some assistances we may bring them from it This glorious Passion made all the Martyrs despise their Torments and whilst their Bodies distill'd drop by drop from the glowing Grid Irons their Tongues reproach'd their Persecutors and prais'd their God Grace we must grant to be more strong than Nature yet she doth not refuse the assistance of Nature Virtue stands in need of the succours of our Passions and they on the other hand require Virtue to be their Guide To make then this Passion a Virtue we must see she is accompanied with Justice He that takes Arms to ruin his Country is rather Criminal than Courageous and tho' he dye with his Sword in his Hand in the thickest of his Enemies yet the illegitimateness of his intentions will take from him the Character of Glorious We must likewise try our Forces before we begin to attack our Enemy Virtue is not so rigid as to exact impossibilities of us she requires but what is in our power and would have us in all undertakings weigh whether the Medium we use is proportionable to the end we propose But a Christian's boldness must have two other Conditions which are Humility and Hatred of our selves for he who has not conquer'd his Inclination cant hope to triumph over Pleasuress and he who has not declar'd open Wa against his Body is in no good condirtion of doing it against the sorrow of his Mind Let us then make use of our Forces against our selves that we may the better succeed when we employ them against other Enemies and let us surmount the love of our selves if we would surmount the fear of Death Of Fear THere are some Passions whose Names belie their Nature and which are nothing less within than what they appear without Hope hath an agreeable Aspect yet she procures us as many Miseries as she promises us Advantages Fear is look'd upon as the basest of all the Passions and is thought to be the pure result of an ignoble Spirit But there is a great deal of Error and Injustice in this Sentiment for she is prudent in effect only descrying Evils to shew us how to avoid them and as Man is expos'd to many Multitudes of various Dangers that may overwhelm him this passion is continually upon guard prying even into futurity it self to discover a possible danger which being cautiously warded off secures our Felicity at the same time it prevents any Disaster Fear then is a natural prudence which delivers us from an Evil by the very Apprehension alone she gives us of it and is not less useful in the Church than in State The fear of eternal Punishments first made Man seek to appease the irritated Gods to build Temples erect Altars burn incense and Immolate Sacrifices And tho' Religion bids us love God for his own worthiness sake yet 't is highly to be presum'd that Fear has made the most of his Votaries nay sav'd more guilty Souls than Hope it self The fear of God says the Divine Text is the beginning of Wisdom that is in other words the supporter of Virtue and the foundation of Piety Vice would grow insolent and the Law of no use had not Nature plac'd this Passion in Man's Soul and made the most hardy Criminal apprehend Punishment And the Judge can give Sentence but upon what he knows yet this faithful Minister of God's Vengeance makes the Guilty tremble in the midst of their Friends and enjoy neither rest nor security either in Cities or Deserts This may serve for one Instance that our Nature is not entirely corrupted since she retains still in the midst of all those Imperfections which environ her an abhorrence and hatred of Sin as well as a fear and dread of Punishment Wheresoe'er we hide our selves the secret remorses of our Consciences go with us assuring us that there is a Divinity which sees the most secret transactions of our Lives and punishes them after our Death Of those many thousands of Christians who confess and acknowledge Christ there are but few that stand not more indebted to their Fear than their Love and endeavour to purchase Heaven only to secure them from Hell loving God's Mercy because they fear his Justice And 't is no small matter that this Passion by its motions should open a Door of Salvation to the ungodly and shew Sinners the way to Virtue If she is thus beneficial in Affairs of Religion she is no less in Affairs of State We live alas no longer in that happy Age when Friendship united Mankind and superseded Laws when Love banish'd Injustice from the face of the Earth No now our Love to our selves is establish'd in hating our Neighbour and we must restrain them by Fear whom we cannot win by Affection We erect Gibbets to terrify the Criminal and invent Tortures to render Death more horrid that so what was an indispensable Tribute of Nature should by this means become a Chastizement of Iniquity Nature has not given us this Passion to be a Torment to us but a Security for she considers only those Dangers that are avoidable If once she finds them inevitable she leaves off the intentions of strugling with them vain efforts are to be condemn'd in every thing so we must support what we cannot shun Who would not judge Fear to be the Guardian of our Repose who studies nothing but our security and only gives us an Alarm that we may prepare to oppose an Enemy who cometh to invade it But as there are some Accidents which our Prudence can't fore-see nor our Courage vanquish we must not be astonished if some others surprize Fear and get the better of a Passion after having triumph'd over two glorious Virtues Of the good use of Fear FEar hath this property of Prudence that it is most especially busied about things to come and when she has discover'd a Danger at a distance calls in all her Forces to combat it Courage and Conduct is not every Man's Lot and hardly any Man 's in perfection for one is the property of fiery vigorous Youth and the other the tedious Lessons of a long Experience acquir'd only in an Age wherein we are no longer fit for Action our selves and therefore only proper to give Advice As Fear is more considerate than generous so is she more proper to deliberate than engage She may be as successfully applied in Vertue as against Vice What is Shame but the fear of Infamy and this innocent Passion protects all the Virtues How many Men would be look'd upon under a less glorious Character were it not for the Instigations of this Passion owing their Innocence to their apprehension of Scandal acting not to satisfie their Duty but to save their Reputations If we would encourage this Passion in our Souls we should keep
Jesus Christ and the Salvation of their own Souls We have Reason to fear the just Judgments of God and the Miseries of Damnation Our Desire is just when its Object is those innumerable and infinite Pleasures which are at God's right-hand for ever more That Grief is but innocent which we feel for the Loss of our Liberty by our first Parent and when we deplore those many Infirmities our Nature is at present subject to thereby eagerly panting after the Liberty of the Children of Grace 'T is a holy Joy with which we expect the Felicities prepared for us and by a firm Hope taste already the Promises of our great Master Thus being sorrowful for him and rejoicing in good Works we convert our Passions into so many glorious and sanctified Virtues The Government of our Passions is the Business of Virtue THE Condition of Man is so very wretched by sin that even his Advantages themselves reproach him with his Misery And his greatest Excellencies shew him that he is Criminal The nobler Habits which embelish his Soul have only slavish Employs being engaged in Combats not only difficult but dishonourable For the most singular Virtues of Man have no other Occupation than waging War with Vice That very Prudence which is our Guide shews us that we wander not only in Darkness but in an Enemy's Country too Temperance points out to us the Disorder of our Constitution and teaches us that Voluptuousness only flatters us to our own Ruine Justice obliges us to confess that we are not absolute Masters of those Goods we are actually in Possession of but that as they belong to another Proprietor so we are but so many Stewards Although the Virtues have many Employments here below yet the most Necessary is the governing the Passions Nature seems to have given them a Being only to tame these savage and terrible Monsters Some by Cunning others by Force some by Menaces and others by Promises using several Mediums to accomplish one and the same Design Prudence enters not into the List but is rather Moderator or Superintendant giving all necessary Orders to suppress their Motion even in its Infancy thereby to prevent Danger Temperance indeed must struggle hard and that with Enemies which are so much the more formidable as they are agreeable and is forced to maintain the Heat of the Action against all those Passions which flatter our Senses Yet when she finds her Forces too few for such powerful Adversaries she calls in the Assistance of Pennance and Austerity and by so severe Virtues she triumphs at last over those dissolute Enemies Fortitude makes us bear up against all the Attacks of Sorrow But as the Number of Troops are never disadvantagious provided they are well disciplined so the Aggregation of Virtues must needs facilitate our Victory if we dispose them right If Temperance can't regulate our immoderate Desires we must have recourse to Humility and Modesty perswading us that the Glory of the World is not due to us if we are Criminal nor worthy of us if we are Innocent When Sorrow proves too powerful and obstinate we must call in the Assistance of Hope and take the sweetness of her Promises to animate us to a Conquest Thus Nature fortified with the Succors of Grace makes Man Victorious in all these so doubtful Combats And Virtue regulating the Motions of his Passions he cannot but enjoy a Tranquility of Mind not much inferior to what our wretched Father by his Transgression deprived us of The End of the First Part. Of Passions in Particular The Second Part. Of LOVE LOve has this Property of the Divinity that we all know that it is but none know what it is The Philosophers gave it several Names all Infamous not knowing how to grant a good One to a Passion so disorderly and as the Poets made him a God so the Platonists thought him a Demon. Aristotle himself who defined the Soul would not undertake to do the same by this Passion leaving Posterity to despair of ever arriving to the Knowledge of a thing whereof he was Ignorant But in pursuit of our former Hypothesis we shall still respect Love as the only Passion his different Motions being but so many Attributes which have occasion'd some to think they were other Passions In his Infancy indeed he bears the most glorious Title for the first inclination which is form'd in the Heart when a charming Object sweetly imposes upon our Will is term'd Love when we sally as it were out of our selves to be united to that Object 't is call'd Desire when he is grown more vigorous and promises himself success 't is Hope when he is animated against those difficulties which oppose his satisfaction 't is Choler but in every one of these States 't is Love too His first Condition is the Rule of all the rest for as he is more or less violent in his birth or to speak more properly under that circumstance wherein he still retains the softer appellation of Love so are the other degrees of his motion more or less rapid like the Heart he distributes life and heat to all the depending Members and he commands with so despotick an Authority that nothing on Earth can parallel it He makes Monarchs neglect their States and Generals forget the nicety of Punctilio's of Honour Emperors have been disobey'd but Love never and as the Moon is the occasion of the ebbing and flowing of Rivers so this powerful tender Passion Love causes all the tranquillity and distraction in our Soul Of the good use of Love WE must not so much consider the natural perfections of things as the good use which may be made of them Gold is but condens'd Clay tho' the covetous Man's God Yet when 't is employ'd to relieve the Needy to redeem the Bond-Slave to Cloath the Naked and succour the Orphans who could disapprove of it tho' when it serves only to corrupt Judgges pervert Justice debauch Women and oppress the Innocent there is no Body but must Love is the most holy of all our Passions and the greatest Favour Nature has conferr'd upon us 'T is as much a Duty as 't is a Delight 't is an abbreviation of Humane Felicity in a word 't is what the Divine Eloquence has thought fit to term the Law and the Prophets By this innocent Artifice we change Condition without changing of Nature and transform our selves into the things we love it makes even toils and hardships agreeable and finds a pleasure in attempting Difficulties which it cannot surmount 't is the most unallay'd and real satisfaction Man enjoys here below and a shadow of that supreme Felicity which the happy Angels taste above But Morality must prescribe us Rules by which we must govern it For an absolute freedom may not be indulg'd to a Passion which is by so much the more dangerous as 't is charming and agreeable There are three Objects of our Love God Man and irrational Creatures The first we cannot