common to all His Revelations which he addresses to Men upon Earth this is to manifest Himself unto them cloathed with some of His Benefits that He may win their Heart by an Acknowledgment and Gratitude He was serv'd in the Old World under the Name of God who is and who is the Rewarder of them that call upon Him He was afterwards known under the Name of the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob. After that He gave His Law by declaring Himself the Lord who had brought this People out of the land of Egypt Afterwards a Prophet declares that the Time is come in the which Men will no longer say the Eternal is He who brought His People out of the Land of Egypt but the Eternal is He that hath brought up His People out of the Country of Babylon Lastly so soon as the time for Man's Redemption is accomplish'd God is no longer call'd by any other Name than the God of Mercy and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They therefore are very much mistaken who fancy 't is an Offence against God to love Him any otherwise than for the Love of Himself and His intrinsick Perfections and that there is no interested Motion in our Heart but what is Criminal In order to refute these Speculations we need but make reflection upon the Conduct of God who not only consents that we should love Him by the Motives of the Good which we find in the Possession of Him but also wills and proportions His Revelations to this Design and it may likewise be said that we glorify the Supream Good when we desire it ardently and feel no Repose or Joy but in Communion with it This grand Precept may be proposed to the Mortal Man to confound and baffle him by shewing him the Impossibility he lies under of fulfilling the Divine Law but 't is the Immortal Man alone that is capable of fulfilling this Duty 'T is not the dying Man that perceives himself under great Obligations to God but the Man that subsists to Eternity And 't is not in a heap of perishing Favours but in the Assemblage of incorruptible Goods that we find the Motives of such a Love and Gratitude as are worthy of God So also the Man of Nature consider'd as a Man that hath short and transitory Relations to other Men neither can nor ought to love others so much as himself Were we obliged to love an indifferent and unknown Person with the same degree of Affection that Children love their Parents certainly the whole World would be a Scene of Disorder and Confusion We ought to love our Children more than Persons that are indifferent to us now as it is the Love of our selves that makes this Inequality and this Variety of our Affections it follows that there is an Original Law of Nature which dictates that we should love our selves more than other Men. But the immortal Man hath other Views and Obligations all the divers kinds of Proximity and Relation which respect this Life disappear and vanish at the prospect of the Relations of that Eternal Society which we are to enjoy A Temporal Neighbour whom Nature points out to us is not so considerable as the Eternal Neighbour which Faith discovers in him But some persons love themselves to such an exorbitant Degree that 't is in no wise convenient they should be affected with the same Love if others as of themselves For pray tell me of One should say to a Man I wish you were Ungrateful Blind Passionate Revengeful Proud Voluptuous Covetous that you might take more Pleasure and Enjoyment in the World would he not have Reason to think that either we dote or have a Mind to make him a very course Compliment and yet this would be to love our Neighbour as we love our selves If we would love our Neighbour as our selves we ought to love him with Relation to Eternity None but the immortal Man is in a Capacity of observing this Precept strictly and well Perhaps the Question may be ask'd whether when the Law enjoyns us to love our Neighbour as our selves it means that we should love by the Motives of that Love we bear to God or of that which we have for our selves I answer by distinguishing still betwixt Rational and Sensual Love when we love our Neighbour with a rational Love 't is certain that the Motives of this Love ought to proceed from the Love we have for God When we love our Neighbour with a Love of Sense or sensual Love the Motives of Love should proceed purely from the Affection we have for our selves Thus it may be reply'd that we ought to love him by both these Motives and the Law of the Decalogue seems to confirm us in this Opinion for it puts the Precept which refers to our Neighbour immediately after that which refers to God to teach us that the One depends upon the Other and that we are obliged to love our Neighbour with the same kind of Affection that we bear to God And on the other side it calls him whom it recommends to our Love by the Name of Neighbour to intimate to us that we are concern'd to love him because he is a Person that belongs to us Reason tells us That God being the supream and infinite Beauty is Amiable for his own Sake and that all things become so for the Love of him It therefore requires us to love Objects according as they stand related to God The Experience we have of our own Being accompany'd with Joy and Delight obliging us to love our selves in the first place Nature teaches us to love Persons according to the degree of Proximity and Relation which they have to Us. These two Laws are not opposite to each other the One as I may say is the Law of Reason the Other is the Law of Sense the one is the Instinct of the mortal and perishing Nature the other of the immortal and incorruptible Nature the one relates to the short and transient Society which we ought to have one among another the other to the Eternal Commerce and Friendship we ought to have in God CHAP. IV. Where we shew the Extent of the Natural Law by considering it in the Gospel and with Relation to the Immortal Man IF the Law of Moses were the Law of Nature accomodated to the Condition of the mortal Man and to the State of the Israelites in particular the Gospel is the Law of Nature accommodated to the State and Relations of the immortal Man This sufficiently appears from the different Genius and Conduct of the two Oeconomies Under the Oeconomy of the Law God seems to make no farther Manifestation of Himself than to break thro' Walls open the Abysses of the Earth inflame Mountains send down Fire from Heaven menace the Body with his Judgments or to execute the Arrests of his Justice upon the perishing Nature but under the new Dispensation of Grace we see Persons animated with the Spirit of
God contemn the Injury of the Elements and the persecution of Men suffer with so great Constancy as if they suffer'd in a Body which was not their own transported with Joy in the midst of consuming Flames and triumphing to see the Dissolution of that Compound which is so preciously and carefully preserved by other Men because they are supported and encouraged by the Idea of Eternity whereof the Divine Mercy has given them a distinct Knowledge Not but the Law of Moses includes some Relation to Eternity for this Law had at least the Shadow of good things to come also it cannot be deny'd but that the Gospel supposes the Idea's of Man's Vileness and Mortality for it includes all our Remedies and Consolations against it but thus much is true that the Law of Moses regards the present Life directly and Eternity indirectly whereas the Gospel regards Eternity as its principal Object and the present Life indirectly As for Nature that is equally discover'd under both Oeconomies The Gospel if I may so speak is hidden in in Nature Nature in the Gospel but we must here understand the immortal Nature and that will put us in a way to unravel some Difficulties which might possibly intangle and perplex us Indeed it seems contrary to Nature to love our Enemies to look upon Adversity as a Blessing and Afflictions as a subject of Joy and so far to yield up the Cudgels to Justice as to render not only as much but even more than it demands which are Maxims of the Gospel I confess all this goes against the Grain of the Corruptible Nature which measures every Thing according as it stands related to this present Life but 't is far from being opposite to the Interests of the immortal Nature which values not Time and exerts all its Actions in a prospect of Eternity Our Enemies are an Obstacle to the establishment of our Fortune in the World but nothing except the Hatred we may possibly bear them is an hindrance to our Salvation and this is the Thing which the immortal Man considers he despises those little Reasons of Hating which Concupiscence suggests to our Heart and regards those eternal Relations we have to Others in God who is our common Father as the most powerful Motives of the Love we have for our Neighbour Plenty and Prosperity charm such a Heart as hath limited the utmost of its Hopes and Pretensions to the transitory World but the immortal Man finds in that State so much more subject of Fear as there is more of Sense he dreads these imaginary Goods which buisy us and never satisfy these lively Sensations which hinder the Knowledge of his real Interests He looks upon Prosperity as the Reign of the Passions which seduce and misguide us He 's perswaded that Afflictions by depriving us of these agreeable Sensations do but only chase an infinite Troop of Impostors from the Territories of our Soul And he does not think that Worldly Goods deserve our Envy and to make us rival each other in pursuing them especially when Religion assures him that these Hatreds and Contestations which are occasion'd by the corruptible World are capable of doing him an Eternal prejudice For which Reason tho' Man has a Right of demanding what belongs to him God having for this End establish'd Tribunals in Society which would be but an union of Robbers and a succession of Murthers and Villanies without the Exercise of Justice yet the prudence of the immortal Man permits him not to exact his Rights with rigour and severity when he sees but the least probability of injuring by that means the Interests of his Soul Whence we may conclude That the Morality of the Gospel is but purely the Expression of the immortal Man's Heart but we shall have an Opportunity to speak more of this elsewhere We have seen that the Perfections of Man roll upon his Immortality which alone can render him capable of Happiness and we have just now seen that this Immortality founds the Extent of our Duties and Obligations We proceed to shew that 't is this also that makes the Strength of our Soul or the Weight that can determine us to well-doing CHAP. V. â—f the moral Strength of Man or the Motives which he finds in himself for determining him in his Actions HAd God been an Enemy to Man He would have fix'd Pain to all those Obâ—ects whereunto it pleas'd Him to fix Delight â—nd Pleasure he could have done One as easiâ—y as the Other and then Man would have â—een his own Enemy whereas now he is naturally a Lover of himself For it needs must follow by an essential Consequence that he who feels Pain hates â—t and if this Pain be constant and inseparaâ—le he hates his own Being as knowing veâ—y well that unless he existed he should not â—ndure this Pain 'T is very easy to conceive That the damn'd Spirits hate themselves for â—heir Punishment and that tho' self-Self-love has been in this World the Source of their Corruption Hatred of themselves becomes hereafter Instrumental to their Punishment Moreover we conceive that 't is impossible to have a Sense of Pleasure without loving it and wishing the preservation of this Self which is the Subject of it Pleasure makes 〈◊〉 love our Existence because without our Existence this pleasure cannot subsist Thence it follows that 't was in the power of God when He form'd Man either to make him love or not love Himself since it depended upon His Will to affix or not affix Pleasure to certain Objects Thus the Love of our selves is in it self a natural Inclination 't is Nature that causes us to love Pleasure and hate Pain and 't is Nature that makes us love our selves This Inclination does not wait for intellectual Reflections to give it Birth in our Soul it precedes all our Reasonings The Stoicks have justly deserv'd to be scorn'd and ridicul'd by all posterity if they really held those Opinions which are usually attributed to them They pretended that the way for a Man to be Wise was to put off Humanity this at the first dash was a very great piece of Extravagance but they fail'd no less in conceiving a kind of Infirmity and Baseness in the most natural Spring of our Heart Secondly Self-love is an Inclination most Divine in its Original We love our selves for this very Reason because God has loved us Had God hated us we should likewise hate our selves therefore 't is unreasonable and groundless to cry down all those Actions which self-Self-love excites us to as if they were so many Crimes and Infirmities according to the dangerous Morality of some who have pretended to annihilate the Excellency of all the Vertues upon this principle That they all proceeded from the Womb of Self-love and were grounded meerly in Interest a very bad Consequence since Self-love is an Inclination of a most Divine and Heavenly Extraction Lastly the Love of our selves is a necessary Inclination it must not be imagin'd
to examine wherein the Disorder of Self-love consists This Query is no less considerable for its being singular And I dare say that few Questions in Morality and Religion are more important as I hope will appear by the following Discussion CHAP. VI. Where we Examine the Faults of Self-love SElf-love can sin but only Two ways either in Excess or Direction its Irregularity must consist either in this That we love our selves too much or that we take not a right Method in shewing this Love to our selves or in both these Faults together self-Self-love does not sin in Excess as appears from this That we are permitted to love our selves as much as we please so it be with good and reall Love Indeed to love one-One-self is to desire One's Good to fear One's Hurt and to search for One's Happiness Now I confess that many times our Desire and Fear are too great or we are too eagerly addicted to our Pleasure or that which we look upon as our Happiness But you may observe that the Excess proceeds from the Fault that refers to the Object of your Passions and not from the too great Measure of the Love of our selves which appears from hence That you both can and ought to have an unlimited Desire of the Supream Good and a boundless Fear of Extream Misery And 't would be a Vice for us to desire an infinite Good but with a finite and limited Appetite Truly were Man oblig'd to love himself but to a certain Measure the Vacuity of his Heart ought not to be infinite and were not the Vacuity of the Heart infinite it would follow that he was not made for the Possession and Enjoyment of God but only for the Fruition of finite and limited Objects Yet we are taught the contrary both by Experience and Religion Nothing is more lawful and reasonable than this insatiable Desire which even after the Possession of worldly Advantages makes us still reach after the Supream Good which no Man ever found in the Objects of this Life Brutus who made a particular Profession of Wisdom believ'd he should not be mistaken if he search'd for it in Vertue but as he loved Vertue for its own sake whereas indeed it has nothing amiable and laudable but in Relation to GOD guilty of a Genteel and Spiritual Idolatry was no less mistaken then those who sought for Happiness in Temporal things and at his Death was oblig'd to acknowledge his Errour when he Cry'd out O Vertue I own that thou art nothing but a miserable Phantom c. Wherefore this insatiable Desire of Man's Heart is not Evil in it self 'T was necessary Men should be endu'd with this Inclination to qualify and dispose 'em for seeking after GOD. Now what in a Figurative and Metaphorical Idea we term an Heart that has an infinite Capacity a Vacuity which cannot be fill'd by the Creatures signifies in the proper and literal Notion a Soul that naturally desires an Infinite Good that desires it without Limits and cannot be satisfy'd till it has obtain'd it If then it be necessary that the Vacuity of our Heart should not be fill'd with created Goods 't is necessary that our Desires should also be infinite which is as much as to say that we ought to love our selves without Measure For to love One-self is to love One's Happiness And as we may be truly said not properly to love the Creature when we love it infinitely because then we place the Creature upon the Throne of the Creatour which is an Idolatry of the Mind and most dangerous of all so also may we be said not to love God as our Supream Good when we love him but finitely and conceive but moderate Desires after him for then we debase God to the Condition of the Creatures thro' an Impiety of the Heart no less Criminal than Idolatry Whether we look upon God as our Soveraign Good or represent him as a Being infinitely Perfect t is certain that our Application and Adherence to him ought to be unlimited and to this End the Creatour â—lac'd a kind of Infinity in Man's Knowledge and Affections to capacitate him in some measure for the Enjoyment of this Infinite Good I know very well that our Nature being finite is not capable exactly speaking of forming Desires intensively infinite But tho' these Desires be not infinite in this Sense yet they are so in another for 't is certain that our Soul desires according to the whole Extent of its Powers that if the Number of Spirits necessary to the Organ could be multiply'd in Infinitum the Vehemence of its Desires would encrease proportionably and that tho' the Act it self have not an Infinity yet the Disposition of the Heart has which is naturally insatiable I own if we lov'd our selves by Reason we might conceive that self-Self-love would be in a limited Measure in the Heart for we don't find in our Mind an Infinity of Reasons for loving our selves But the Author of Nature whose Wisdom judg'd it not requisite that Men should be Philosophers in order to take care of their Preservation thought fit that we should love our selves by Sense which is so true that 't is not even conceivable how we can feel Delight and Joy without loving this Self which is the subject of it so that as there is an unlimited Variety and an Infinity of Degrees in the Joy we are capable of tasting so in like manner there is not any measure or bounds in the Desire of that Happiness in the which this Joy essentialâ—â—â—â—ters nor consequently in the Love of our selves which is the Principle of this Desire I also grant That had Man been made to be a Rival of the Deity he would not be oblig'd to love himself without Measure because then self-Self-love would stand in Competition and interfere with the Love of God But Man naturally loves himself with so great Vehemency meerly that he may be capable of loving God The unmeasurable Measure of self-Self-love and these kind of infinite Desires are the only Links that tye and unite him to God since as I have already said finite and moderate Desires are capable of binding Man's Heart to none but the Creatures and we don 't properly love God but only a Chimaera which we form to our selves instead of God when our Love of him exceeds not a Mediocrity And indeed 't is a great Errour to oppose self-Self-love to Divine when 't is well regulated For pray what else is it duly to love our selves but to love God and to love God but duly to love our selves The Love of God is the right sense of the Love of our selves and that gives it Life and Perfection When Self love is diverted and carried to other Objects it no longer deserves the Name of Love 't is of more dangerous Consequence than the most cruel and savage Hatred but when 't is converted towards God it falls in and mingles with Divine Love And certainly Nothing is so easy as to
demonstrate beyond all Dispute what our Enquiries have taught us in this Matter I demand for instance Whether the Blessed Above who undoubtedly love themselves neither too much nor too little seeing that they are in a State of Perfection can love God with an infinite Affection and yet not perceive the Joy arising from the Possession of him I would know in the next place Whether we can feel Joy and Delight without loving One-self proportionably to this Perception Why then should we trouble our selves with such vain and contradictory Queries As whether the Saints love God better than themselves I had as live they 'd ask me Whether they love Themselves better than Themselves For these two Expressions have in reallity the same signification and not to love God is in some measure to hate one-One-self To let you see that this is but meer Punning and Quibling in words we must divide the Love of God into two Sorts a Love of Interest and a Love of pure Friendship as Divines call it I understand this latter to have no Intercourse at all with Self-love according to the common Notion of it but I would know which of these two Kinds of Love you mean when you ask me Whether the Love we ought to have of God be not greater than that of our selves If you understand by the Love of God Love of pure Friendship whose only Object is Known-Perfection I answer that this Love cannot be compar'd with the Love of our selves which is of quite another Nature since as I have already said we love not our selves by Reason but Sense and Corporeal or Spiritual Pleasure naturally engages us to love our selves even before we are capable of making Reflection But if by the Love we ought to have for God you mean Love of Interest which is ty'd to him as our Supream Good you don't apprehend that you oppose the same thing to it self seeing that to love one-One-self and the Soveraign Good is all one and does not make two distinct species of Love but are one and the same consider'd under different Respects namely in reference to its Principles and its Objects It therefore appears That the Irregularity consists not in this that we love our selves too much seeing we are allow'd to love our selves as much as we please with Relation to the Supream Good But herein lies the Evil that we take a wrong Method in exerting this Love that is we love our selves with relation to false Objects Self love simply taken is innocent and harmless It becomes corrupted when 't is diverted towards the Creatures and Holy when converted and steer'd towards God Pursuant to the fore-going Doctrine we may distinguish Three Hearts in Man the Heart of the Man the Heart of the Sinner and the Heart of the Faithful The Heart of the Man is the Soul as it naturally loves it self the Heart of the Sinner is the Soul as it loves the World and the Heart of the Faithful is the Soul as it loves God The Natural Heart is essentially included in the other Two and the natural Love of our selves which is the Principle of all our Affections the Mobile that actuates either Grace or Corruption and receives either the Love of God or the World The Heart of Man loves The Heart of the Worldling loves Vanity The Heart of the Faithful loves the infinite and eternal Good The first is the Heart of Man the second the Heart of the mortal Man the third is the Heart of the immortal Man CHAP. VII Where we shew that self-Self-love kindles all our Affections and is the general Principle of our Motions I Said before that Self-love is the Principle of all our natural Affections For all our Desires Fears and Hopes are the devoted Servants and Off-spring of Self-love I confess the Affection we have for other Men sometimes causes us to Desire Fear and Hope But what is the Principle of this Affection but the Love of our selves Do but throughly consider and weigh all the Sources of our Friendship and you 'll find they are reduc'd to Interest Gratitude Relation Sympathy and a delicate Agreement of that Vertue with Self-love which makes us think that we love it for its own sake whereas indeed we love it meerly for the sake of our selves and it wholly terminates in self-Self-love 'T is from hence that Relation borrows all its Rapture and Strength for kindling our Affections We love our Children because they are our Children Were they another Man's Children they would be indifferent to us Therefore we don 't properly love them but the Relation which links us to ' em 'T is true Children don't love their Parents with the same Degree of Affection as Parents do their Children tho' these two Affections seem to be founded upon the same reason of Relation but this Difference proceeds from another Cause Children see themselves Die in the Person of their Parents and Parents on the contrary see themselves Revive in the Person of their Children Now nature inspires us with the Love of Life and Hatred of Death Also Parents behold in their Children as it were other selves but other selves subject and dependant upon 'em They think it an Happiness to have brought 'em into the World they consider 'em with Delight because they consider 'em as their own Workmanship They are exceedingly pleas'd at having sacred and inviolable Rights over ' em This is their Magistracy Royalty and Empire But the same Pride which causes the Parents to love Superiority makes the Children hate Dependance Nothing lays so heavy a weight upon us as a Benefit when 't is too great because it depresses us to too great Submission We look upon it as a delicate but very strong Chain which links our Heart and constrains our Liberty This is the Mystery of that common Maxim Blood never rises But as there is a Relation of Blood Profession Religion Country c. the Affections are infinitely diversify'd according to these various Respects But woe be to Relation if it be combated by Interest For Interest will infallibly get the better That tends to us directly Relation only by Reflection Hence Interest is always more strong and prevalent than Relation but in this as in every thing else particular Circumstances very much alter the general Proposition What we commonly experience That no Hatred is more violent than that which happens between those who were formerly very great Friends is to be imputed to almost the same reason 'T is because these Persons found either Profit or Pleasure in loving one another This interested their Self-love but when they come to change their Sentiment the Motives of Love joyn themselves with the Motives of Hatred they revolt and rise up in Arms both by reason of the Idea of the Wrong that 's done 'em and of the Pleasures of that Friendship which they renounce and they suffer not only by the Hatred which is kindled but also by the Affection which is extinguish'd which
â—mpediment from Self-love as well as Admiration T will be to no purpose to make a wild and indefinite Answer that 't is the Corruption of our Heart which renders us uncapable of loving God purely for his own sake and his intrinsick Perfections whilst we suppose him not to love us This is to run into a Labyrinth of Generalities for avoiding the distinct Ideas of Things For our Corruption does not hinder the Admiration of our Soul it being certain that the Devils who far exceed us in Wickedness admire God tho' they are at the same time conscious of his being the Object of their Hatred and Aversion so neither can this Corruption hinder pure Friendship if that as well as Admiration derives its Birth from Known Perfection Nothing will better confirm this Truth than by seeing what 's the Use of Faith in Religion So long as Men live in a State of Ignorance which makes 'em imagine that God looks upon 'em with Indifferency and Disregard they in like manner seem to have but indifferent Sentiments of the Deity such were the Pagan Philosophers Whilst Men think they are the Object of God's Hatred they detest and abhor the Divinity The Romans who had already kindled the Fire of their Sacrifices to give Thanks to the Gods at the false Report of the Recovery of Germanicus run into their Temples with Fury and Rage when they hear the too true News of his Death they drag their Images in the Dirt throw 'em into Tiber and signalize their Grief by a Specimen of Impiety All Men seem to have the same inward Disposition which the Romans outwardly shew'd and the Violence which they â—s'd to the Images is an Expression of what Man would be willing to execute upon God when he thinks him his Antagonist and Enemy No sooner does the Gospel resound in the World for the Consolation of Men but as the Testimoines of the Divine Love to Mankind are every where manifested so likewise Men's ardent Love of God becomes universally Conspicuous Faith which assures us of this immense Charity of God is there look'd upon as the Key of our Heart and the first Degree of our Sanctification to this the Scripture attributes our Salvation When Faith has throughly perswaded us that we are the Objects of God's Love we are sufficiently dispos'd to affect and love Him But as our Affections essentially spring from self-Self-love our Hatred and Aversions proceed from the same Original We hate Men by Interest when they are our Competitors in the Pursuit of Temporal Goods We hate one that is Intemperate because he 'd rob us of our Pleasures we can't endure an Ambitious Man because he takes the upper-hand of us in Preferment and Honour nor can we love a Proud Man because 〈◊〉 contemns and tramples us under Feet nor a Miser because he hoards up the Riches that might possibly come to us nor an Unjust Man because he oppresses us We don't only hate those who actually prejudice and injure us but even those that have an Inclination to hurt us tho' they want fit Occasions or some Impediment hinder 'em from exerting their Malice Our Hatred reacheth as far as a Man's Power of doing us an Injury For which reason Power and Authority are many times the Incentives of Aversation and Ill-will and as there are few Persons in the World but meet with some who either actually do 'em a Mischief or would at least if it laid in their Power or were it for their Interest it must be own'd that secret Motives of Hatred do perpetually enter in our Heart and that nothing is more dangerous than the Temptations to which we are expos'd on this Account Indeed we are oftentimes Enemies to one another when we are ignorant of it We many times both love and hate the same Person because Self-love considers him under different Respects And it happens that we really hate those whom we think to be the Objects of our best Affection and sometimes those whom we have all the reason imaginable to love and esteem which appears from this That in all their Disgraces and Misfortunes there 's something that does not wholly displease us This unjust and unnatural Sentiment which the Vail of Pride hides from our Eyes proceeds from these two Principles Namely That we Our selves are not the Objects of this Disgrace which is a Reflection that Self-love instantly makes and that we see a Man degraded and pull'd down who in regard of his being a Man can't fail to rival us upon some Account or other a Sentiment which is chang'd into Compassion when either Death or some irrecoverable Adversity finally exempts him from the Number of those who pretend and aim at the Goods which are the Objects of our own Desire But Hatred is a turbulent Passion which puts the whole Body into a violent Commotion and all whose Effects are so sensible and obvious that 't is the most faithful Mirrour for discerning the Degree of Vehemence which attends all our other Affections If you would know how much you love Vain-Glâ—ry it may be your Heart gives you a false Intimation do but only consider the Violence of the Hatred which you conceive at One that has offended you in point of Honour this is the just Degree and Measure of it this Mirrour is your safest Guide for discovering and fathoming the Bottome of your Heart We hate by Interest Persons Things and Words If seeing an Abyss under our Feet we are put into Horrour and Consternation 't is the Image of our Destruction appearing before us that causes this trembling Motion and Reason is not so strong and prevalent as to correct and allay that Fear which a too lively Idea of our own Destruction exhibits to our Conceit Many People can't forbear swooning when they see the shedding of Man's Blood this proceeds not so much from a weakness of Temperament as an infirmity of the Heart Whatsoever represents to 'em the Ruines of Humane Nature threatens their Self-love and that which imbues the Fancy with Blood draws a livelâ— Picture of Death in the Soul and conducts it to that inward Recess by meer â—nt of Conceit where Reflection shuts the Doors against it CHAP. IX Where we consider the most general Inclinations of self-Self-love and in the first place the Desire of Happiness THe first Inclination of self-Self-love is a Desire to be Happy and I believe that in the Main these two Expressions do but signify the same Thing under different Ideas For what else is it to love one-One-self but to desire Happiness and to desire Happiness but to love One-self Truly he must be a very nice Subtiliser and Mincer of Things that can find any Difference As therefore the Desire of Happiness can't be too Great and it has always been reckon'd a Crime tâ— pursue a false and not ardently to affect a real Felicity it follows that we are not to be blam'd for loving our selves to Excess but for taking a wrong Method
ADVERTISEMENT THE Translator by thâ— Author's Advice râ—trench'd from the former Paâ—â— of this Treatise certain obscuâ—â— and Metaphysical Passages which may be seen in the â—riginal In doing which he haâ— cut off rather superfluous anâ— useless Branches than any mâ—terial or necessary Part aâ—â— has render'd it more agreeablâ— and fitted to every Capacity April 29. 1694. THE ART OF Knowing One-self OR An ENQUIRY into THE Sources of MORALITY Written Originally in French By the Reverend Dr. ABBADIE In Two PARTS OXFORD Printed by Leonard Lichfield for Henry Clements and John Howell Booksellers 1695. TO MY MUCH Esteemed Friend Mr. HENRY LEVET I SHALL not excuse my Adventure by extolling this Author's Worth lest I should seem both Unjust and Impertinent For should I go to enumerate his Praises I might fail of rendering him all that is his Due and to repeat his Fame whom the World sufficiently knows and this very Work not a little commends would be foolishly Vain and Impertinent I hope by my pouring his fragrant Essences into a new Vessel they are better expos'd to the Sense of my Country-men and have not Lost much of their genuine Odour However I am pretty well assur'd That the Majesty of the Sense will shine thro' the Meanness of my Expression and that so whilst it gathers new Praises to its Author 't will obtain at least a Pardon for me 'T is not my Design in presenting you with a Treatise of this Kind either to Inform your Mind or Reform your Manners since I doubt not but you already understand the Rules for Knowing Your-self and carefully Transcribe 'em into Practice I offer it to you as a Part of that Homage which all Men Owe and those that Know you justly Pay to your real Merit and particularly as a Token of Gratitude to that Generous and Friendly Temper which I always Admir'd and frequently Experienc'd in you As you have hitherto even in Prosperity freely embrac'd an useful Knowledge of your Self as related both to God and the World surely the Heavens will see no Reason to Frown upon you with whom their Smiles have been so prevailing and that they never may is the hearty Prayer of SIR Your most Humble and Most Obedient Servant T. W. THE TABLE Of The CHAPTERS The First PART CHAP. I. WHere we give a general Idea of the Vileness and Misery of Man which are the first of his Qualities that occur to our Mind Pag. 11 â—hap II. Where we endeavour to know Man by considering the Nature and Extent of his Duties Pag. 24 â—hap III. Where we continue to make certain Reflections upon the Decalogue considering it as an Expression of the Law of Nature accommodated to the State of the Israelites Pag. 32 â—hap IV. Where we shew the Extent of the Law of Nature by considering it in the Gospel and with Relation to the Immortal Man Pag. 39 â—hap V. Of the Moral Strength of Man or the Motives which he finds in himself to determine him in his Actions Pag. 43 Chap. VI. Where we explain what Effect the sense of Immortality is capable of working upon our Heart Pag. 4â— Chap. VII Where we continue to shew whaâ— the Sense of our Immortality can work upoâ— our Heart Pag. 6â— The Second PART CHAP. I. WHere we enquire after the Source of our Corruption by handling the first of our Faculties which is the Vnderstanding Pag. 9â— Chap. II. Where we continue to shew that thâ— Source of our Corruption is not in the Vnderstanding Pag. 10â— Chap. III. Where we search after the manner how the Heart deceives the Mind Pag. 10â— Chap. IV. Where we consider the mutual Illuâ—ons which pass between the Heart and thâ— Mind and how GOD alone destroys 'em by his Grace Pag. 11â— Chap. V. Where we continue to search for thâ— Sources of our Corruption by considering thâ— Motions and Inclinations of the Heart Pag. 12â— Chap. VI. Where we examine the Faults â— Self-love Pag. 12â— Chap. VII Where we shew that Self-love kindles all our Affections and is the generaâ— Principle of our Motions Pag. 13â— Chap. VIII Where we continue to shew that Self-love is the Principle of our Affections Pag. 147 Chap. IX Where we consider the most general Inclinations of Self-love and in the first place the Desire of Happiness Pag. 166 Chap. X. Where we consider the Cheats which Self-love puts upon it self to correct the Defects it finds in the Happiness it aims at Pag. 180 Chap. XI Where we consider the general Inclinations of Self-love the Second whereof is a Desire of Perfection Pag. 193 Chap. XII Where we treat of the general Vices which flow from self-Self-love and first of Pleasure Pag. 201 Chap. XIII Where we continue to consider the divers Characters of Pleasure Pag. 209 Chap. XIV Where we treat of the general Disorders of Self love and particularly of Pride Pag. 221 Chap. XV. Where we examine all those Irregularities which are Ingredients of Pride Pag. 227 Chap XVI Where we consider the Second Irregularity of Pride Pag. 237 Chap. XVII Of the Third Irregularity which goes to make up Pride which is Vanity Pag. 240 Chap. XVIII Where we continue the Characters of Men's Vanity Pag. 252 Chap. XIX Of the Two last Characters of Pride which are Ambition and the Contempt of our Neighbour Pag. 265 BOOKS lately Printed by Leonard Lichfield and Sold by Henry Clements John Howell A Defense of the Christian Sabbath Part the First In Answer to a Treatise of of Mr. Thomas Bampfield Pleading for Saturday-Sabbath Price 1 s. The 2 Edit A Defense of the Christian Sabbath Part the Second Being a Rejoinder to Mr. Bampfield's Reply to Doctor Wallis's Discourse concerning the Christian Sabbath Price 1 s. 6 d. Both by John Wallis D. D. And Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford An Essay on Grief With the Causes and Remedies of it Price bound 1 s. Poems on several Occasions Originals and Translations Price 1 s. Guilelmi Oughtred Aetonensis Quondam Collegii Regalis in Cantabrigia Socii Clavis Mathematicae Denuo Limata sive potius Fabricata Cum aliis quibusdam ejusdem Commentationibus quae in sequenti paginae recensentur Editio Quinta auctior emendatior Ex Recognitione D. Johannis Wallis S. T. D. Geometriae Professoris Saviliani Octavo The ART of KNOWING ONE-SELF Or An Enquiry after the Sources OF MORALITY MORAL Philosophy or the Knowledge of Manners is the Art of regulating One's Heart by Vertue and of rendering One-self Happy by Living well This Science which the Ancients call'd by the Name of Wisdom and which One of them boasts of having brought down from Heaven hath not always been Treated of either in the same Method or with the same Success For it seems to have taken the Tincture of the different Prejudices of Men which every Time has produc'd and of the divers States thro' which their Mind hath passed Paganism in general had taken from it its Force its Motives and its Examples 'T
length He 's a Flower that springs in the Morning spreads at Noon and withers in the Evening Man consider'd in his various States is a Creature constantly Miserable Who as an Ancient very well says Meets with Sin in his Conception Labour in his Birth Pain in in his Life and Despair of an inevitable Necessity in his Death All his Ages bring him some Infirmity or some particular Misery Infancy is meerly an Oblivion and Ignorance of One self Youth a durable Passion a long Madness and Old Age nothing but a Death languishing under the Appearances of Life with so great a Troop of Infirmities is it attended There are few things round about him but what do put him in Mind of his End he discovers the Principles of his Death which he dreads above all things both in the Air which he breaths in the Aliments which he receives and in the Sources of his Life which consumes and gnaws away its own Bowels And such is his Fate that after having shun'd the greatest Dangers Fires Shipwracks and Diseases he at last finds all these pretended Deliverances terminated by Death His Body is the Center of Infirmities his Mind is fill'd with Errors and his Heart with irregular Affections He suffers both by the Consideration of what is past which is Irrevocable and of the future which is Inevitable In vain does he desire to stay himself a while that he may have leisure to Tast some Pleasures which present themselves in his Way Time is like a Whirl-pool which carries him away inexorable to his Regrets and Complaints When we are alone we cannot endure the View of our selves and of the Necessity that is imposed upon the Pleasures of the World of passing away in a Moment United with others in Society we do but multiply our Selves as I may so say into other selves in order to a greater Participation of the common Misery of Mankind 'T is a very grievous thing to a Creature that loves it self so well to behold it self continually Dying and to perceive Life no more than proportionably as it loseth it Infancy is Dead to make way for Youth Youth for Ripeness of Years Ripeness of Years for Advanc'd Age and this latter for extream Old Age We are Dead in respect of those many well-belov'd Persons whom we have lost and in respect of many Pleasures and Advantages which following the Fate of the World are consum'd away by their own proper Use no Relick thereof remaining unto us but only a slight Remembrance which is uncapable of yielding us any Satisfaction and is very proper to vex and torment us Suppose the Life of Man were very long and durable yet the appendant Happiness of it would be inconsiderable and were the Felicity which we meet with here in these lower Regions as full as it is Defective yet 't would be very insignificant seeing it must be cut off at last by the fatal Sword of Death What then will this be when we are convinced of the Deceitfulness of these Advantages and of the shortness of Life which is such that to speak the down-right Truth 'T is hardly long enough to give us time to regulate our Affairs to take leave of one another and in a fit manner to make our Will Man who is naturally convinc'd of these Truths enquires after Means of solacing himself at these Calamities to which the Quality of Man exposes him therefore he avoids the Representation of himself to his own View and the putting himself forward under this Quality He would fain be look'd upon only as a Being invested with certain external Advantages which make the difference of Conditions and the distinction of Persons But if there be so much Dignity in Man as Religion represents to us there would be a Thousand times greater Grounds for Valuing himself upon the Qualities which we have in common than upon those which characterise and distinguish us And if on the contrary the Possession of these external Advantages were so Honourable as the World would make us believe Man in himself must needs be a very trivial and inconsiderable Being which we cannot think without betraying not only the Honour of our Nature but also the Sentiments of our Vanity Methinks we may give this Definition of the Worldling who to cure or comfort himself at his Poverty and natural Misery loves to cloath himself with Imaginary Goods A Phantome that walks among such things as have only an Appearance I call a Phantome not the Man of Nature compounded of a Body and Soul which GOD hath framed but the Man of Concupiscence compounded of the Dreams and Fictions of self-Self-love I call the Things which have only an Appearance and this after the Psalmist the Advantages which the World seeketh after with so great Passion and Ardour these great Vacuities taken up with our own Vanity or rather these great Nothings which occupy so great a space in our extravagant Imagination When we endeavour to Annihilate and Destroy this Phantome of Pride and Concupiscence which we discover'd in Man 't is not our Design to subscribe to the Eternal Arrest of our Misery and Vileness Let us make a deep Search into these Appearances which seem'd at first so sad and dismal and we shall find some Reason to comfort our selves but in order to discover that which we desire we must search for Man in Man and not in these external Differences which Concupiscence seeketh after with such a passionate Desire For it is not the design of GOD to raise one Man or a certain Order of Men to a proper and particular Happiness Concupiscence deceives in the very first Step it makes you take in your Search of the Supream Good You enquire after a particular Happiness a distinguished Glory so much the worse for you if you chance to find it since the true Good whereunto you ought to Aspire is a common Felicity which should be participated by an Infinity of Creatures that ought to make up the Family of GOD. Having consider'd the Man of Concupiscence who made himself let us now con-consider the Man of Nature who is the Work of the Creatour and to that end take a Survey of the Faculties of his Soul We shall not insist upon the Faculty of Imagination which properly speaking is nothing but a Collection of weak Sensations that do still subsist in our Soul by occasion of the Traces which outward Objects left in our Brain A Collection I say of Sensations which the Soul disposes and afterwards makes use of in the Perception of other Objects But we cannot sufficiently admire this Intellect of Man which rectifies the Senses corrects the Fancy purifies and enlarges Bodily Perceptions which unites together various Ideas in the Judgment it frames of Things and various Judgments in Discourse which weighs compares examines enquires and by the Relation it finds between Things makes the Dependance of Arts Sciences Governments and produces all the Wonders of reasonable Society Is it not a piece
transient â—nd finite Happiness For no less than an â—nfinite succession of Duration bears a proâ—ortion to this infinite succession of Percepâ—ions Thoughts and Desires of which Man â—nds himself naturally capable Let us then conclude That 't is in the Immortal Man that we discover the Nature the Perfections and the End of Man which make up his natural Dignity But as the Nature and Perfections of Man have given us a prospect of his End so his End informs us what are his Duties and natural Obligations which we shall consider in the following Chapter CHAP. II. Where we endeavour to know Man by considering the Nature and Extent of his Duties OUr Duties flow from Nature and owe not their Birth to Education as some Men imagine To make out this we need but suppose Two Principles The First is That we naturally love Our selves being sensible of Pleasure hating Evil desiring Good and taking care of our Preservation The Second is That together with this Propensity to love our selves Nature hath given us a Faculty of Reason to conduct and guide us We love our selves naturally this is â— sensible Truth We are capable of Reason this is a Truth of Fact Nature inclines us to make use of our Reason for directing this Love of our selves this most necessarily rises from the Principles of this latter it being impossible for us to love our selves really without employing all our Lights to search for what is agreeable to us Now from thence that Nature orders us to search for our own Good it follows that Man cannot be said without an evident Contradiction to be void of Duty and Law We must grant an Essential Difference beâ—wixt Moral Good and Evil since the former consists in obeying the Law of reasonaâ—le Nature the other in breaking it This natural Law in general may be diâ—ided into Four others which are its parâ—icular Species the Law of Temperance which obliges us to avoid Excesses and Deâ—aucheries that ruine our Body and injure â—ur Soul the Law of Justice which inclines â—s to render unto every Man his due and â—o by others as we would they should do by â—s the Law of Moderation which proâ—ibites Revenge knowing that we cannot do 〈◊〉 but at our own Cost and that to respect â—n this case the Rights of God is to take â—are of our selves and lastly the Law of â—eneficence which engages us to do Good â—o our Neighbour 'T is certain that the Immortality of Man â—akes the Perfection and Extent of these â—our kinds of Laws He who knows himself under the Idea of an immortal Being will not place his End in those Pleasures which the Author of Nature affixes to that which causes the Preservation or Propagation of the Body We shall not desire to injure other Men if we do not only fear a return of Justice in this Life but if moreover we dread the doing to our selves by that means an eternal Prejudice Whosoever is buisy'd as he ought about his Natural Dignity which undoubtedly raises him far above the Abuses he can possibly receive will be so far from satisfying himself at the Expence of God's Glory that he will hardly conceive any Resentment how ill soever he be dealt with Lastly if this Natural and Temporal Communion which we have with Men in Society be capable of producing any mutual Benevolence which is intended and encreas'd according to the Degree of the Temporal Commerce we entertain with them what Motives of Love and Beneficence do we not discover in the Idea of this Eternal Society which we ought and can have with them Thus the Natural Law is in Man but the Perfection and Extent of this Law is in the Immortal Man But these Four kinds of Laws do constitute what we call the Law of Nature which is the most Ancient most General most Essential of all and the Foundation of the rest 'T is the most Ancient Seeing that the Love of our selves and Reason are antecedent in us to all manner of Inclinations and Laws 'T is the most General For there have been many Men who never heard of Reveal'd Right but never did any come into the World without this Law which inclines 'em to search for their proper Good 'T is the most Essential For this is neither the Jewish nor Christian simply taken it is the Law of Men it does not belong only to the Law or simply to the Gospel but to Nature in what State soever it be Lastly 't is the Foundation of all the rest This plainly appears if we consider That all other Laws are nothing else but the Law of Nature renewed and adapted to certain Conditions of Men you discover the Natural Law in that which God gave to our First Parents The Legislator does there suppose that Man loves himself seeing that his Law is grounded upon Promises and Threatnings Good and Evil are set before him he is enlighten'd to know the one and the other He is engag'd to the Acknowledgment and Gratitude which Nature it self prescribes to us God requires an Homage of him in token of those many Favours he bestows upon him and this Homage consists in abstaining from â—he Fruit of One only Tree the Duty of his preservation is prescribed to him In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye the Death As also the Law of Justice for what is more just than to yield to the Creator the Empire and Dominion over his Creatures and not to gape at the use of his Creatures whether he will or no. This then is the Law of Nature accommodated to the Condition wherein Adam was at that time placed Indeed he could not be as yet prohibited the use of Idols which were unknown to him nor Blaspheming the Name of the Lord when he had but just began to Bless it nor to rest one Day of the Week who was to rest always nor the Killing his Neighbour that was not yet in Being nor committing Adultery when there was but one Woman in the World nor Stealing when he was Master of all Things nor bearing false Witness when he could bear it against no one but himself nor Coveting since all Things were his own But when Men were multiplied upon the Earth as their Condition chang'd God from time to time made new Editions of this Natural Law and gave it to Men under another Form because it was to be proportion'd to their particular Circumstances for which Reason it must not be imagin'd that when we say the Decalogue contains the Law of Nature we mean that it includes nothing else but these simple and common Principles which are to Guide the Conduct of all Men. I confess indeed the Decalogue is the Natural Law renewed and fresh drawn to the Eyes of the Israelites but withal it is certain that 't is the Natural Law accommodated to the State of the Israelites at that time The following Observations will set this Point beyond all doubt The Israelites had been delivered from the Egyptian
Captivity whence the Legislator covers and shrouds himself as it were with this Benefit in order to draw them to the Obedience they owe to him I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Aegypt out of the house of Bondage thou shalt have none other Gods c. 'T is plain that this Motive has not the same Force upon the Heart of those Men who did not partake of this Deliverance 't will be to no purpose to say that tho' they did not all partake of the Temporal Deliverance of the Israelites yet have they been Spiritually deliver'd from the Egypt of Sin Mystical Senses are good in a simple Doctrine design'd to instruct but are of no use in a Precept which requiring an exact Obedience cannot be conceived in Terms too precise or too proper And again what a number of People are there in the World to whom God hath certainly given the Natural Law as well as to other Men who yet have never heard of the Deliverance of the Israelites by the Ministry of Moses and who consequently cannot find an Emblem of their Spiritual Deliverance 2. The Israelites being in a Desart where they could have no other Drink but Water nor other Meat but Manna had no need of any Instruction or Precept to incline them to Sobriety by making them to avoid Drunkenness and Gluttony No other reason can be given of this why the Lawgiver has not forbidden this kind of Intemperance in the Decalogue which hath always pass'd for a Capital Vice 3. The Canaanites who had incurr'd the Displeasure of God and born the Punishment of their own Sins did nevertheless seem accursed outwardly and interpretatively as the Schools speak by occasion of the Crime of Cham who discover'd his Father's Shame and was punished by this Prophetick Malediction which presag'd the Ruine of Canaan's Posterity The Son of the Impious One It cannot be deny'd but that the Decalogue manifestly alludes to this in the Fifth Commandment conceiv'd in these Words Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy Days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee 'T is certain that by the Land must be understood not the Land of the Living in general but this Land which had been allotted to the Israelites which evidently appears from this Expression which the Lord thy God giveth thee And doubtless the sense of the Law is That they ought to avoid the Crime of Cham who became fatal to his Posterity and endeavour to obtain by an opposite Conduct and Behaviour the Benediction of God who is able to confirm them in their Possessions 4. 'T is certain that Nature teaches us to Consecrate a part of our Life to the Service of God For since we receive from him every moment of our Duration Gratitude and Justice require us to Dedicate some of them to Him and particularly to set apart some certain Seasons for Piety and Devotion But to observe the Seventh Day and to extend the Observation of it even to Beasts is an Injunction that bears no relation to Nature but to the Condition of this People at that time God was not willing the memory of the Benefit of the Creation should be forgotten thro' neglect of observing a Feast that had been instituted with a design to perpetuate the Remembrance of this great Event It appears by all these Characters That the Law of the Decalogue doth not differ from the Law of Nature as to its Essence and first Principles but only as to its manner and the Extension which were requisite to be given it to adapt it to the Condition and Exigencies of the People of Israel This is evident from a general Observation which may be made upon this Subject namely That the grand Motives which support the Precepts of this Law in general are Temporal Benedictions and Maledictions Motives which the Soveraign Law-giver imploy'd to make himself obey'd he who could menace Men with eternal Punishments design'd for the Wicked and promise to those who observ'd his Law an eternal and most happy Life how does he come to suppress these powerful Motives these dreadful Objects or at least to declare them but darkly and confusedly whilst he takes all the Force of his Promises and Threats from the greatness of Bodily Goods and Evils 'T is because he proportions his Law to that present State of the Israelites the Time being not yet come for clearly revealing Life and most Blessed Immortality in Jesus Christ who among other Characters of his Divine Vocation was to have this of a clear and abundant Revelation CHAP. III. Where we continue to make certain Reflections upon the Decalogue considering it as the Expression of the Law of Nature accommodated to the State of the Israelites THe first Precept which it contains is of so great Importance that it seems of it self to be a Compendium of Morality and Religion It includes a Command and a Prohibition the Command is to love God with all our Heart with all our Strength and with all our Mind the prohibition is not to have any other God before the Lord. For the better understanding of this precept 't is to be observ'd in general that a Man may love Three ways by Sense or by Reason or by Sense and Reason both together To love by Sense is to love One for the Good he doth us or for the Pleasures he creates to us To love by Reason is to love Perfection for Perfection's sake To love by Sense and Reason too is to love One both upon the account of the Merit and Perfection wherewith he is endued and of the Good which he does or is capable of doing us Love of Reason seems not essentially to differ from Esteem and it imports no more than an Esteem interess'd in the behalf of the Object esteem'd which searches for Occasions of doing it Good or wishes it Well Thus we love extraneous and remote Desert such as no way relates to us but as we shall see hereafter Love of this Character is rarely to be found We love our selves on the contrary by Sense and not by Reason The Love of our selves precedes the Judgment which we make that we ought to love our selves and tho' we should propose a thousand Arguments against this Inclination yet for all that we should not cease to love our selves Lastly God loves Himself both by Reason and Sense by Reason because He knows His proper Perfections by Sense because He tasts His infinite Beatitude And in like manner we are obliged to love Him both by Reason and Sense by Reason because he is endued with all Perfections by Sense because He communicates to us all the Goods we can enjoy and possess God seems here to demand the Love of Sense He doth not say I am the God of all Perfections c. But I am the Eternal thy God who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt c. And 't is remarkable that this Character is
at once but Self-love is mistaken for we are so far from losing all our five Senses that 't is certain we do not really lose one of them we don't become uncapable of Seeing Hearing and Speaking 'T is not the Nature of Things but the free Institution of God that hath affix'd these Perceptions of our Soul to the Organs of our Body to which they had naturally no more Relation than to the Matter which is hidden in the Center of the Earth howsoever Men may be prejudic'd in this Matter Would we say such a Man has lost his Sight the natural Disposition of whose Faculties God should have so chang'd as to have order'd that his Eyes should have no more Priviledge than the rest and that all the parts of his Body should be capable of Seeing This is the Idea of a Man that loses one way of perceiving and sees this infinite Abyss of Sensibility which is naturally in him adequately fill'd These Losses which prejudic'd Nature imagines it is at by Death become so much the more sensible as they are unavoidable and impos'd by a fatal Necessity which cannot be resisted Men have always look'd upon â—his Necessity as a dreadful Misery the irâ—egular Inclination they have to love forbidâ—en Things with so much the greater arâ—our which caused One to say Define vitiae â—rritare vetando augments and encreases â—heir Love of Life by the Impossibility they â—nd themselves under of extending its Liâ—â—its and makes 'em look upon Death with â—o much the more horour as they are uncaâ—able of avoiding it But had the Wisdom â—f God impos'd upon Men the necessity of â—iving as it has the necessity of Dying we â—ay be almost assur'd that in time they would â—e as much afflicted and troubled at the â—houghts of their Immortality as now they â—re at those of their Mortality Now the neâ—essity of Dying makes them attend more to â—â—e Pleasures than the Crosses of Life but â—â—en the necessity of Living would cause â—â—em to apply more regard and attention to â—â—e Evils than to the Agreements and Pleaâ—â—res of Life Our Soul assuredly owes a great part of its Repugnancy and Unwillingness to leave the Body to Custome and Prejudices to see this we need only reflect upon our past Life remark and muster up together all its Pleasures and seriously ask our selves whether all that countervails our past Grief and Trouble On one side what if it pleas'd the Author of Nature to endow a Soul which is form'd to animate a Body with a most distinct Knowledge of the Dignity and Perfections of its Nature the Grandeur of its End and the Nobility of its Extraction and on the other it were inform'd distinctly of all the Infirmities of all the base and painful Dependances which it goes to espouse by espousing this Body pray would not the very first Moment of its Life certainly seem the beginning of Death So for this reason 't was necessary that the confus'd Sensations of Nature which alligate and fasten us to Life should precede the distinct Ideas which are proper enough in themselves to free and loosen us from it and that the former should be naturally of greater Force and Activity than the latter For tho' God would not have us be excessively fond of Life yet the Author of Nature was oblig'd to interess and engage us in the Preservation of Corporeal Nature without which there would be no Society Death has two very different and also very opposite Aspects as we consider it with reference to the Soul For Life and Death may both be said to make the Debasement and Glory of Man Life makes the Glory of the Body and the Debasement of the Soul 't is by Life that the Body is extended to the just and natural Proportion of its Parts Life gives it Health Strength Agility Beauty and makes in a word all its Perfections But Life causes the Debasement of our Soul it confines it to such Objects as are no ways related to its natural Excellency it makes this Mind buisy it self in trivial Affairs and place its whole Concern in the management of a Family a Field a Vineyard and the most abject and sordid necessities of the Body as if this immortal Mind was made for no higher and nobler Imployment but to prolong for some Moments the Duration of this frail Machine to which it is united If Life makes the Glory of the Body and the Debasement of the Soul Death may be said to make the Glory of the Soul and the Debasement of the Body The Body falls but the Soul rises up and soars as it were to its native Heaven The Body consumes and in process of time relapses into Dust but the Mind extends and enlarges it self like a Divine Sphere which becomes greater and greater proportionably to the nearness of its Approach to God The Body is depriv'd of its former Motion the Soul acquires such Knowledge as it had not before The Body mingles it self with the Earth the Soul is re-united to God The Debasement which ensues upon Death lights upon an insensible lump of Matter A Carcass gnaw'd by devouring Worms endures no Pain it smells not those noisom Odours it exhales is not terrify'd with the surrounding Darkness nor is out of Conceit with it self even when 't is nothing else but an horrid Miscellany of Blood and Dirt of Bones and Putrefaction 'T is an Illusion and Cheat of prejudic'd Nature that makes us affix our proper Ideas and Perceptions to such Objects as do only occasion them Matter when depriv'd of Life and Sense is plac'd in its natural State this is no Imbasement or Degradation to it all the seeming Dishonour and Turpitude is meerly in our Fancy But the case is not the same in respect of that Imbasement and Degradation to which Life exposes us This is not the natural State of such a Soul as ours and doubtless the Author of Nature had never abandon'd it to such a Condition but upon the account of Sin Man indeed would have liv'd but his Life would have been more Noble and Excellent 'T is a great mistake to pretend that Man's Death commences the Punishment of his Corruption Life has already punish'd criminal Man by those sad Dependances which alligate and confine the Thoughts Cares Desires and Affections of so great and noble a Soul to the support and preservation of this sordid Mass of Clay which we term our Body Yet such is the Imbecillity and Weakness of Man that he would needs fancy himself Debased where really he is not and is not willing to perceive himself Debas'd where really he is so An imaginary Debasement frightens and terrifies him and yet he cannot see a proper and real Debasement But what if the Body be truly Degraded so the Gain of the Soul does infinitely preponderate the Losses of the Body Are we so weak as to think that our Happinessness is so confin'd and fix'd to certain Affairs Possessions Offices Housholds and a
out of Conceit with Pleasure than Greatness and Ambition calls 'em back to their former State as appears in the Case of Tiberius who after having given up the Empire to his Favorite that he might with more Quiet and Tranquillity tast the Excess of Sensuality is at length tempted to quit his Pleasures for the sake of the Empire the Cares of which he again finds fault with after the Death of Sejaâ—s being as much discontented at Rome as he was at Capreae always having an insatiable and restless Heart This Picture represents the Heart not only of Tiberius but of all Mankind who are in a perpetual and as it were necessary Tossing and Agitation whilst they fix themselves upon Worldly Objects God has endu'd Man with a Capacity proportionable to his Immortality Namely an infinite Capacity 'T is therefore impossible he should be satisfy'd with corruptible and transitory Goods what is finite can by no means fill him But perswade him once of his Immortality and give him Goods Eternal like himself and you 'll presently see him contented and satisfy'd Having endeavour'd to know the Nature Duties and the most powerful Motives or moral Force which naturally determine the Heart of Man 't will not be amiss in the next place to pass to the Consideration of his Irregularities the Spring of which we shall consider first in order to know the Rivulets that flow from it The End of the First Part. The SECOND PART Where we Enquire after the Source of our Corruption and Treat of Self-love of the Force of its Applications the Extent of its Affections and Irregularities in General and in Particular CHAP. I. Where we Enquire after the Source of our Corruption by handling the First of our Faculties which is the Understanding I Don't take the common School-Distinction oâ— Understanding and Will Mind and Heart Reason and Appetite to be proper for disentangling and clearing our Ideas but we must be forc'd to follow this too much receiv'd Custome We call Understanding Mind or Reason the Soul as it knows that is as it conceives judges reasons remembers reflects and methodizes its Knowledge We term Heart Will or Appetite the Soul as it has the Affections of Love Hatred Desire Fear Joy Hope Despair or any other of the Passions I think we shall not be much out of the Way if we define the Mind the Soul as it knows and the Heart the Soul as it loves For as Conceptions Judgments and Discourses are but different Modes of Knowledge so 't is certain that Desire Fear Hope and in general all other Affections are only Modes or different Manners of Love but this is not to be insisted upon at present Our Business here is to know Whether the Original Source of our Corruption be in the Mind or in the Heart Whether the first Spring of our Evil be in the Knowledge of our Soul or in its Affections We answer That 't is not in the Mind because then the Mind would have been order'd to conduct and regulate it self by the Dictates of the Heart whereas we see the Heart has been order'd to regulate it self by the Mind For 't would be unreasonable that what is less Corrupted should be guided by that which is more irregular and disorderly and that the Source of our Corruption should be the Rule of our Conduct and indeed were it so A Man would not be oblig'd to steer and guide himself by his Reason 'till he should have been assur'd that God had extraordinarily enlightned him and he must wait for an Enthusiasm and immediate Inspiration before he could have Right to act in the Quality of a Rational Creature Also the Holy Scripture always attributes the Offuscation and Darkness of the Mind to the evil Affections of the Heart If our Gospel be hidden says St. Paul 't is hidden to them that perish whose Understandings the God of this Age has blinded 'T is easy to conceive That by the God of this Age he means the Demon of Concupiscence And upon almost the like Account our Saviour said to the Jews How can ye believe seeing that ye seek for Glory one of another Certainly were the Mind the Original of our Depravation 't would always and in all Circumstances have its natural Obscuration and Darkness 't would be as blind in the Study of the Sciences as of Religion and 't would succeed no better in knowing such Objects as are indifferent to it than those which interess and concern it When an Eye is cover'd with a Web or clos'd up by an Obstruction 't is not in a Condition to see one Object more than another but when its Darkness proceeds from the Obstacle of Clouds Fog or any exterior Veil 't is easier for it to perceive distant Objects and 't will see very clearly when the extraneous Impediment is remov'd without receiving any Change or Alteration in it self So say we if the Understanding were in it self naturally darken'd 't would be as liable to Error in its curious and needless Enquiries as 't is in those which import and concern it for its Darkness would be Uniform and always the same But because 't is cover'd only with Fogs and Mists which rise from the Seat of the Affections no Wonder if its Obscuration ends so soon as the Heat of Passion ceases This is a common Matter of Fact One that has a Rectitude of Mind and Exactness of admirable Reason for apprehending what is most abstruse and intricate in the Sciences who knows when to doubt and suspend his Assent to things that are Dubious to affirm true Things and deny False to have a simple Opinion of probable Things to demonstrate those that are Certain who will not mistake True for False nor one Degree of Truth for another will no sooner have a Point of Interest to manage but his former Rectitude of Mind forsakes him his Reason bends to the Humour of his Desires and Evidence is confounded with Utility and Profit Whence proceeds this Darkness From the Objects No For these Objects are easier and clearer than those of the sublime and lofty Sciences which he so well-penetrated and understood Is it from any natural Defect of the Mind No From this much less than the other That has reason'd perfectly well touching Matters of Speculation and put it to Discourse of secular Concerns provided they be not its own but another Man's 't will reason about 'em with the same Exactness But if after you have carried the Mind of this Man from the Objects of the Sciences to the Affairs of Life you call it again from thence to the Consideration of the Truths of Religion you 'll perhaps find his Mind yet more obnoxious to Falshood and Illusions Because a greater Interest does also produce a greater Errour Such a Passion as Interest is of very great Prevalence and Force in obscuring the Light of Reason but yet those Passions which directly oppose Reason are more capable of producing this ill Effect For 't
consider'd the first of our Faculties and seen that the original Source of our Corruption is not in the Mind we must in the next place consider the Heart which is the Soul as it loves or the Seat of the Affections CHAP. V. Where we continue to search for the Sources of our Corruption by considering the Motions and Inclinations of the Heart AS there are first Principles or Notions in our Mind which are of an infallible Truth and Certainty and the Foundation of natural Light which is so far from deceiving that it puts us in a Way to return from our Errours so in our Heart there are certain primary and radical Affections which are necessarily Lawful Sentiments without which the Nature of Man cannot subsist and which are not only exempt from all Corruption in themselves but also serve when rightly directed to reclaim us from our Vices Such is the natural Love of Esteem and of Our-selves the Care of our Preservation the Desire of Happiness These Passions are good in themselves â—eeing they naturally relate to the Good of Man There are Two sorts of 'em the One are term'd by the School-men Prosequutivae because they incline us to Good the Other Adversativae because they remove and avert us from Evil. But yet as they tend to our Advantage by the Design and Intention of Nature thro' an Effect of our Corruption they are perverted to be instruments of our Damage and Prejudice which happens when false Goods excite in our Heart reall Affections When we are but coldly bent towards that which deserves the whole Application and Study of our Souls and on the contrary we desire with all the Ardour imaginable such Goods as deserve but a moderate and indifferent Affection For then we reverse the Order of Nature change the End into the Means and the Means into the End are rash and precipitate in our Actions err in our Conduct and a meer shadow of Good makes us lose the original Source of it and running after Appearances we miss the Truth Hence proceed all our Vices and Disorders in enquiring after which we must spend some time since 't is they that make the Corruption of the Heart Now as we search for the Source of our Irregularities we must not insist upon any particular One unless it has an Influence upon all the others 'T is evident that the Root of our Natural Evil consists not in a peculiar Disposition of the Temperament seeing that those who are of quite contrary Temperaments are corrupted for all that Nor is Interest the Principle of our Evil since that has commonly something in it incompatible with Pride neither is Pride seeing that is in some sort repugnant to Interest Yet 't is certain that there is something wherein the Vices are opposite and something wherein they agree They are in some respect opposite seeing that one serves as a kind of Remedy for the other and they agree in some respect since the Soul after it has fall'n into one has a further Inclination after another which seem'd of a quite contrary Nature This Truth will appear more plainly if we as it were Anatomize and Dissect the Heart by entering upon the Consideration of all its particular Passions Robbery springs from Injustice Injustice from Interest Interest from an Excess of Self-love Obstinacy is nothing but a strict Adherence which Self-love make us have to our own Fancies and Opinions Pride is a meer Drunkenness and Intoxication of Self-love which represents us to our own Imagination greater and perfecter than really we are Revenge is but a desire to defend our selves against those that hate us or to reap a kind of Self-satisfaction by punishing those who have offended us In a word Take a through Survey and Consideration of all the Vices and Passions of Man and you 'll find they terminate in Self-love 'T is this that gives 'em Birth forasmuch as all the Motives of Vice have this Foundation That we seek for every thing which flatters and relates to this Me which is the first Object of our Knowledge and Affections Upon this depends either their Life or Death for when two Passions violently Combat Fear for instance and Revenge the Soul retires into its own Tent and makes use of no other Counsel but that of Self-love to know which side it ought to take and according as Self-love judges or not judges Revenge to be necessary it pronounces in Favour either of Resentment or Moderation So that as Self-love first produc'd these two Passions so likewise it foments and causes the One to live and continue to the Prejudice of the Other Now what else can we say of that Passion to which all our irregular Inclinations tend in which all the Vices terminate by whose means they both Live and Die which stops and suspends their Career but that this general Disorder is undoubtedly the original Fountain of all the others and what we call'd the primitive Root of our Evil and Corruption And which may serve to confirm us in this Opinion at the same time we perceive all the Vices flattering and caressing Self-love we find all the Vertues unanimously opposing it Humility debases and pulls it down Temperance mortifies it Liberality as it were robs it Moderation discontents it Fortitude exposes it Magnanimity Piety and Zeal sacrifice it And indeed self-Self-love is so essential an Ingredient of the Definitions of the Vices and Vertues that without it we can't have a â—ight Conception either of the one or the other In general Vice is a Preference of one-One-self before other Men and Vertue seems to be a Preference of others before One-self I say it seems to be so Because in Effect 't is certain that Vertue is only a more noble and rational Mode of Loving One-self Now here there is a seeming Contradiction in our System For on One hand Self-love appears to be the Principle of our Irregularities and Disorders on the Other 't is certain that the Love of Our-selves is a Qualification for the Discharge of our Duties Corruption draws its whole Force from Self-love and GOD on the other side derives from it all the Motives He makes use of to incline us to the Study of our Sanctification For to what purpose would he have made Promises and Threatnings were it not with a Design to interest Self-love This Difficulty presently vanishes after we suppose the same thing touching Self-love which we have already said of the Affections of the Heart in general Namely That they have something of innocent and lawful which belongs to Nature and something of vicious and irregular which is attributed to their Corruption 'T is an Advantage of the French Tongue that it can distinguish betwixt L'amour propre and L'amour de nons mêmes the former signifies Self-love as 't is vicious and corrupted the latter denotes this Love as 't is lawful and natural Now our present Enquiry being after the Sources of Man's Corruption our Design here engages us
excellently confirms our System and shews that there 's no Affection kindled in our Heart independently from Self-love We shall be further convinc'd of the Truth of this Opinion by considering not only that Relation is a Source of Friendship but also that our Affections vary and differ according to the Degree of Relation that we have to those Persons who are the Object of ' em The Quality of Man which we all bear makes this general Benevolence which we term Humanity Homo sum humani nihilà me alienum puto 'T is certain that if there were but only Two Men in the World they would have a tender Affection for each other but this general Relation being mingled and confounded with the infinite number of those different Relations we have one among another it happens that this natural Affection which it first produc'd is lost in the rabble and throng of the Passions which so great a Variety of other Objects produce in our Heart We don't see in our Neighbour the Quality of Man whereby he resembles us whilst we see in him a Rival an Emulator and Enemy of our Welfare and Prosperity as we are of his A proud Man who esteems nothing but himself who by the Lustre of his Qualities and Accomplishments attracts the Esteem and Attention of the World and puts us in Obscurity and Dis-repute and who by his Passions is continually buisy'd in circumventing us and encroaching upon our Properties But no sooner has Death uncloath'd his Person of these odious Relations but we find in him that general Relation which made us love him never thinking him a Man till he ceas'd to be a Mortal and then at last willing to enroll him in the Number of our Friends when Death has retrench'd him from the Society of the Living The Relation of Country usually inspires Men with a kind of Benevolence whereof they are insensible whilst they dwell in their own Nation because this Relation is weakned and too much divided by the Number of those that have a Title to it but becomes very sensible when two or three Natives of the same Country happen to meet in a strange Climate Then Self-love standing in need of some Supports and Consolations and finding 'em in the Person of those whom a parallel Interest and like Relation ought to inspire with the same Disposition never fails to make a perpetual Attention to this Relation unless it be prevented by a more powerful Motive of its own Interest Relation of Profession commonly produces more Aversion than Friendship by the jealousy it causes Men to have one of another But that of Conditions is generally accompany'd with Benevolence and Love 'T is no wonder that Grandees have no great Affection for ordinary People the reason is because looking with the Eyes of Self-love they see them at a great distance off they look not upon 'em as Neighbours they are very far from perceiving this Proximity and Nearness whose Mind and Heart are wholly concern'd about the Distance that separates and removes 'em from other Men and who make of this Object the Delights of their Vanity Yet must it be granted That Relation of Blood is usually more prevailing than any other tho' it be a common Saying That a Good Friend is better than many Parents and this be true in it self yet 't is certain that Men naturally prefer their Parents before their Friends and especially upon any great and important Occasion The Reason of it is because they consider their Parents as necessary Friends that can by no means be dis-united from 'em and their Friends as voluntary Parents whose Affection reaches no farther than their Pleasure Now tho' free and unconfin'd Friendship be of greater Obligation than necessary yet 't is not regarded as such by the Eyes of Self-love It may indeed inspire us with a greater degree of Gratitude but can't so much touch our Interest The Barbarous Constancy that appear'd in Brutus when he caus'd his Children to be Kill'd before his Eyes is not so Dis-interested as it seems to be The best of Latin Poets discloses the Motive of it in these Words Vincet amor Patriae laudumque immensa Cupido But he has not dis-entangled and laid open all the Reasons of Interest which caus'd the apparent Inhumanity of this Roman Brutus was like other Men He lov'd himself above all Things in the World His Children were guilty of a Crime that tended indeed to Rome's Destruction and Ruine but much more to Brutus's If Paternal Affection excuses Faults self-Self-love aggravates 'em whenever 't is directly wounded Rome undoubtedly owes the Honour of Brutus's Exploits to the Love of himself and his Countrey accepted the Sacrifice which he Offer'd to the Idol of his own Affection and rather Infirmity than true Fortitude was the Motive of his Cruelty Interest is the Sovereign Empress of Souls we seek it in the Object of all our Applications and as there be various Kinds of Interest so may we distinguish a Variety of Affections which Interest causes in Society An Interest of Pleasure causes Gallant Friendship an Interest of Ambition causes Politick Friendship an Interest of Pride causes Noble Friendship an Interest of Avarice causes Profitable Friendship Generally speaking our only Motives of Loving Men are either Pleasure or Profit but if these different Interests happen to be all united together to kindle our Affection for a Person then we are presently his very humble Servants and stick to him as close as a Burr The Vulgars who declaim against interested Friendship understand not what they say Their Mistake lies in this because generally speaking they know but one sort of Interested Friendship which is that of Avarice whereas there are as many Kinds of Interested Affections as there are Objects of Desire Moreover they find fault with Men for Loving by Interest and that this is the main Principle and Bâ—ass of their Affection and Kindness not apprehending that to love by Interest is to love One-self directly whereas to love by any other Principle is to love One-self only reflexively They don't perceive that Men find fault with interested Friendship in the Heart of another but never in their own Lastly They think it criminal and blamable for a Man to be Interestâ—d not considering that 't is Disinterestedness not Interest that ruines and destroys us If Men would offer us Goods that are great enough to satisfy the Desires of our Soul we should do well to love them with a Love of Interest and no One ought to blame us for preferring the Motives of this Interest before those of Relation and every Thing else Even Gratitude it self so highly valu'd in the World and so much commended in Morality and Religion cannot claim an Exemption from this Traffick of Self-love For in the main what difference is there betwixt Interest and Gratitude No more but this That the latter is conversant about a past Good the former about a Future Graâ—ituâ—e is nothing but a delicate
Return oâ— Sâ—lf-love when it finds it self oblig'd 'T is in some sort an Elevation and Advancement of Interest We don't love our Benefactor becâ—â—se he 's amiable Gratitude at least of it â—elâ— goes not so far as that We love him because he lov'd us But to explain more particularly this Comparison between Gratitude and Interest we 'll 〈◊〉 that the Affection produc'd by Gratitude is more Noble and that which is caus'd by Interest is more strong and prevalent The former respects the Time past which is no more whereas Interest hath the Future for its Object of which it would make its best Advantage Gratitude loves even without Hope but Interest hopes and expects Gratitude loves the Benefit for sake of the Intention but Interest loves the Intention for sake of the Benefit Lastly the Idea's of Gratitude having Reference to the Time past are commonly rang'd among antiquated abstract Ideas and such as have no very prevailing Influence upon our Soul whereas the Ideas of Interest respecting the present Time are sensible and lively and such as more particularly import and concern us 'T is also certain that for this very reason there is some kind of Opposition betwixt the one and the other because all Men are as naturally Ungrateful as they are naturally Interested Ingratitude is always proportion'd to Interest because the more the Soul attends to the Idea's of the present so much the more it loses of that Application and Attention which it ought to have for what is past And in this respect the same is to be said of Dis-interestednesâ— as of Gratitude Namely that it consists very often in an outward Appearance and seldom rises in the Heart of Man unless Interest it self give it Birth or causes him as sometimes it falls out to endeavour to make a Shâ—w of it CHAP. VIII Where we continue to shew that Self-love is the Principle of all our Affections THe lively and real Perception we have of a Benefit at that very Instant when 't is bestow'd upon us never fails to produce a kind of Gratitude in our Heart which Mark wears out by little and little with the Memory of the Kindness receiv'd because 't is repugnant and goes against the Grain of the Heart to think often of those Things which put us in a State of Dependance and Submission the Case is not the same in respect of those Favours we have bestow'd upâ—n others as they give us a Title to the◠〈◊〉 Friendship and Gratitude And in a 〈◊〉 pull 'em down to â— kind of Subjection 〈◊〉 we revolve and think of 'em with Pleasure and Delight Whence it comes to pass that we are much more inclinable to love thâ—se that are beholding to us than those to whom we our selves are beholding They who think to insinuate and creep into great Men's Favour by laying Obligations upon 'em are often frustrated in their Design For certainly the only way to obtain their Love is for them to oblige others and not for others to oblige them Their Pride which is encreas'd by the Complaisance that Men use to 'em upon the account of their Greatness applauds it self at the Thoughts of having done you a Benefaction It considers with delight the Obligations you owe it and by that means inclines the Heart to have a Kindness for you But 't is dangerous to do very great Services when our whole Design is to insinuate into the Favour of those whom we oblige I tremble to think of this great Service said a Courtier to a Noble Man who told him he should never forget the Obligations he ow'd him and he was in the right of it Great Obligations do oftentimes prove great Offences and at least it always happens so then when either we cannot or will not acknowledge ' em Shall I tell thee Araspe He serv'd me too well Increasing my Power he has robb'd me of all But tho' the Heart has its reasons to forget Benefits yet has it others for making as if it remember'd ' em Gratitude is a Vertue very highly esteem'd the Appearances of it are fine and attract Respect and a Heart accustom'd to traffick in outward shews of Vertue to make a Commerce of vain Glory at the cost of Sincerity by seeking not what is in it self Estimable but what is valu'd by Men's Opinions is diligent in affecting an Appearance of Gratitude when it can by this means lay hold of the Estimation of Men. Also Gratitude is very subservient to the Designs of Interest because 't is a Means of drawing new Benefits· 'T is a Pleasure say they to oblige such a Man he has a sense of the Kindness one do him Gratitude mounts us as it were above the Benefit receiv'd when 't is prompt active and desirous to shew it self this is a fine and delicate Policy of an enlighten'd Self-love for avoiding the suspicion of Ingratitude because this Vice is a Mark of a sordid Baseness and as it were a forc'd Homage which we do to a Benefactor Ingratitude tho' it think of him with great Uneasiness being oblig'd to confess whether we will or no that we are under his Dependance and owe him more than we wish we did Moreover 't is very natural to a Man to let People see by his Carriage towards a Benefactor that he deserves the Benefit Lastly we are very glad to be deliver'd from the Remorse which attends Ingratitude which Remorse is more biteing and more natural than that which is consequent upon the Violation of Justice for tho' Injustice be repugnant to Reason as well as Ingratitude yet certainly 't is more opposite to the Dictates of Self-love to be Ungrateful than Unjust and doubtless that Remorse is greatest which arises not only from Reason but also the Love of our selves when its Laws have been transgressed Sympathy which we observ'd to be the â—ourth Source of our Affections is Twofold A Bodily Sympathy and a Sympathy of the Soul The Cause of the former is to be search'd for in the Temperament that of the latter is to be sought among the secret Spring that actuate and move our Heart And indeed 't is certain that what we believe to be a Sympathy of Temperament proceeds sometimes from the hidden Principles of the Heart For what reason pray do I hate such or such a Man at first sight tho' I have no Knowledge of him 'T is because he resembles some Person that has offended me this Resemblance affects and strikes upon my Soul and excites an Idea of Hatred tho' I reflect not upon it How come I on the contrary to love an unknown Person as soon as I see him without informing my self either of his Merit or unworthiness 'T is because he has some Conformity or Likeness either to my self my Children Friends or in a word to some One that I have an Affection for and without my making any distinct Reflection awakens an Amour which laid dormant in my Heart You see then how much Self-love is
a Veneration and Esteem for a Person whom you are assur'd you shall never be the better for meerly by considering in him the bare Power of doing you a good Turn is it at all to be wonder'd at that this same Principle causes you to love One who by his Vertue is dispos'd to be Beneficent to you tho' you very well know that he cannot actually exert this Inclination Say we then that the Heart has its Abstractions as well as the Mind and as this knows how to define Good in general tho' â—t can draw more to the Life in our Imagination any particular Good So the Heart loves these general Conformities and Agreements of Objects to it self tho' particular ones do infinitely more affect and touch it and it cannot but think well of a Vertuous Man by reason of these delicate Relations Vertue has to self-Self-love This is beyond all doubt because your Love of the Vertues increases proportionably to their Relation and Agreement to you We have naturally a better Opinion of Clemency than Severity of Liberality than Oeconomy and Thriftyness tho' they all equally partake of the Nature of Vertue which can be for no other reason but because our Affection is not altogether Dis-interested and we love in it the secret Relations it has to our selves But the Vicious and Exorbitant are not to be exempted from the Number of those who are thus enamour'd with the Beauty of Vertue On the contrary 't is certain that â—pâ—n the very Account of their being Vicious they are oblig'd to have a greater Affection and Opinion of Vertue Humility levels and smooths the Way for Pride and therefore 't is lov'd by an haughty Spirit Liberality is diffusive and free in Giving and therefore can't displease an Interested Person Temperance does not rob you of your Pleasures and therefore must needs be agreeable to a Voluptuary who would not willingly have either Rival or Combatant Could one think that the Affection which Worldlings testify themselves to have for Vertuous Persons should spring from so â—thy a Source and shall I make bold to advance this Paradox That our own Vices are often the Causes of our loving other Men's Vertues Nay more than that I dare say That self-Self-love bears no small Part in the most pure Sentiments which Religion and Morality give us of God Divine Love is commonly distinguish'd into three Species A Love of Interest a Love of Gratitude and a Love of pure Friendship Love of Interest according to the Vulgar Acceptation falls in with Self-love Love of Gratitude as we before observ'd is deriv'd from the same Source with that of Interest Love of pure Friendship seems to rise independently from all Interest and Self-love yet if you look narrowly into the Matter you 'll find that it has in the Bottom the very same Principle For first 't is observable that Love of pure Friendship rises not all at once in the Heart of a Man whom we instruct in points of Religion The first â—tep to Sanctification is a Detachment and â—nhampering from the World the Second is to love God with a Love of Interest by giving up our selves wholly to Him because we consider him as the Soveraign Good the Third is to have a due Acknowledgment and Gratitude for his Benefits the Last is â—o love his intrinsick Perfections 'T is certain that the first of these Sentiments disposes and makes way for the Second the Second for the Third and the Third for Fourth We can't throughly consider what a great Unhappiness and Misery it is to abandon and forsake God without desiring his Communion by Motives taken from our Interest We can't love God as the Principle of our Joy and Felicity without a grateful Acknowledgment of Benefits receiv'd at his Hands 'T is natural and even necessary that he who loves God as the Supream Good and as his great and eternal Benefactour should attend with Complacency and Delight to the Consideration of his adorable Perfections that this Meditation should excite in him Joy and Satisfaction and so bring him to love God in the View of his Excellencies and Vertues Now all the previous Dispositions to this last Affection which is the Noblest of all being taken from Self-love it follows that neither the pure Friendship which is conversant about God does â—se independently from it Also Experience teaches us that among the Vertues of God we particularly love those which have the nearest Agreement and Affinity to us We love his Clemency more than his Justice his Goodness than his Jealousy his Beneficence than his â—mensity c. Of which there can â—o other reason be given but that even this pure Friendship which seems to have for â—ts proper Object the Divine Perfections derives its principal Force from the Relation of these Perfections to Our Selâ—es Were there any entirely pure Friendship towards God in our Heart wholly â—empt from the Commerce of Self-love it would necessarily spring from Known Perfection and Excellency and not from our own Affections As Self-love would not produce so neither could it destroy this Friendship Yet the Devils know the Perfections of God without loving Him and Men before their Conversion know the Vertues of God tho' it can't be said that they have for him in that reprobate State the Affection which we term pure Friendship and consequently there must be some other Motives of this Love besides Known Perfection if Light be not sufficient to kindle it it must rise from the Flame of some Affection of our Heart since Affections and Knowledge are the whole Contents of our Soul Perhaps you 'll say that in order to capacitate a Soul for conceiving this Love of pure Friendship 't is not requisite that Self-love should directly produce it but only that it may not oppose and hinder it But I say if Pure Friendship arises from Known Perfection and nothing else be required to produce it the Opposition of Self-love is insignificant and as the Love of our selves can't derobe God of these Perfections nor hinder our Soul from knowing 'em so neither can it obstruct the Birth of this pure Affection Whilst we consider God as a Judge as a terrible Executioner of Vengeance and as standing ready with a Thunderbolt in his Hand we may indeed admire his infinite and adorable Excellencies but can't conceive an Affection for Him And 't is very certain that could we but any ways Evade even this Admiration of God we should be very cautious in applauding him with it for in this State we regard him as our Enemy render to him no more but what we needs must And whence can this Necessity of admiring God proceed unless it spontaneously arise from Known Perfection If then we conceive pure Friendship to have precisely the same Source with Admiration that is to say if we conceive it to have no other Origine but Known Perfection we may safely conclude that pure Friendship will arise in our Soul beyond all Possibility of any
up with the frightful and melancholy Thoughts of our going to lose the Foundation of an infinite Joy the Latter would be supported by a Comfortable Hope which connecting together an Infinity of Ages would make up that Deigâ—ht in the Duration of these Goods which they wanted in Quality Nothing is finer in Speculation than this Description which a Latin Poet gives of Temporal Happiness Res non parta Labore sed relicta Non ingratus Ager Focus perennis Lis nunquam Toga rara Mens quieta Vires ingenuae salubre Corpus Prudens simplicitas pares Amici Conâ—ictus facilis sine Arte Mensa Nox non ebria sed soluta Curis Non tristis Thorus attamen pudicus Somnus qui faciat breves Vmbras Quod sis esse velis nihilque malis Summum nec metuas Diem nec optes Mart. L. 10. Epig. But tho' this Definition of Happiness appear so reasonable as it had been Dictated by the Oracle of Wisdom her self yet but an indifferent Knowledge of Man's Heart and his natural State would suffice to shew its Faultiness in many Respects In the first Place 't is made up of such Goods as for the most part are not in our Power Res non parta Labore sed relicta non ingratus Ager Focus perennis Lis nunquam â—ires ingenuae salubre Corpus somnus qui faciat breves Umbras For who can give himself an Estate and cause it to descend from Father to Son or render his Field fruitful or avoid Brangles with injurious Persons 'T is not in our Power to sleep securely to have a healthy and vigorous Temper of Body and yet Nature it self teaches us that Happiness is in some measure in our Power For why should it have engraven upon the Heart of Man a Desire to be Happy if he were uncapable of arriving to that End But Men mistake in this Point because they don't understand a double Language which Nature speaks to 'em in this respect For on one Hand by shewing 'em so many Goods which they naturally desire and which are not in their Power it plainly declares to 'em that Happiness is not in their own Breast and on the Other by inspiring into 'em so natural a Desire of Happiness as that they can never deface or put it off in what State soever they be it teaches 'em that they are notwithstanding capable of obtaining that End But to return to our Poet I add that this Description of Happiness is not made up of Goods sufficiently noble and excellent certainly 't is not much above the Condition of Beasts of which it may be truly said that their Goods come by Succession that their Riches are not got by Labour that the Earth is fruitful to 'em and that they fail not of Cloaths agreeable to their State made by the Hand of Nature that they want not Health Strength and Rest that their Simplicity is prudent and tho' they seem uncapable of Reflection yet we see 'em most Ingenious and Discreet in the Sphere of those Objects which their Interest obliges 'em to know namely for the Propagation of their Species and Self-preservation that their Life is pleasant and sedate that they live without Trouble and Disquietude that their Cups are not mingled with the Wormwood of Suspicions and Jealousies that they are not troubled with Law-suits and which is most of all considerable that they neither fear nor hope for Death So that Beasts come very near to the Enjoyment of that Happiness which is represented to us as the most perfect and compleat of all Strange What a Misery then is it that we are born capable of Reason that the Quality of Rational should bar us from pretending to that of Happy that the Degree of our Perfection should make the Degree of our Misery that Beasts should be happy for not being Men and Men should be miserable because they are not Beasts Certainly this can never be true Nature is too Wise in all other Things for being so imprudent in this Particular and unless Men are willing to degrade themselves and to disparage the Excellency of their Nature they must needs acknowledge a Soveraign Good which may be found and does not cheat our Desires but is not to be met with in the Objects of this Life which will always deceive our craving Appetite Moreover the finest Strokes in the Poets Description of Humane Felicity are contradictory For if a Man be so far Happy as to be satisfy'd with his Condition and not to desire a better how can he choose but fear Death which puts a fatal Period to this Beatitude And if what it Deprives us off be so trivial and inconsiderable as that we neither desire nor fear to Die how is it possible we should be contented with that Condition This Fellow spoke at random He thought there was nothing in these Verses Quod sis esse velis nihilque malis Summum nec metuas diem nec optes A Man content with his Condition and not fearful of Death is the Philosopher's Stone in Morality Besides these Ideas destroy one another they annihilate the Naâ—ure of Man who as we have seen before necessarily loves himself beyond all Limits His Love of Happiness stays not at a Mediocrity and consequently he cannot be satisfy'd but in the Possession of an Infinite Good He dreads Misery above all Things and for that Reason cannot but fear Death till he is assur'd of his Immortality Also this is one of the greatest Defects of that Happiness which Men search after or the Pleasure which they so ardently pursue that the Foundations of it are uncertain it depends upon a Thousand Causes which are not in your Power What Reliance can you have upon the Health of a Body which every thing threatens with Ruine and Destruction and what Tranquillity can you build upon this if you behold the Image of its Death in every outward Object in the Aliments that nourish you in the Air which you breath in the Contagion of a sick Person whom you visit in an Insect that stings it and in a multitude of other secret Causes which we can neither prevent nor avoid who 'll assure me of the Possession of my Riches who 'll secure me of the Preservation of those Friends whom I love and delight in who 'll protect me and mine from the Accidents that are so ordinarily incident to Society The Fourth Defect of this Humane Felicity is that 't is not only corruptible but also transient and fading 'T is of a much shorter Duration than the Term of our Life Sleep which locks up our Senses exhausts a good part of it nor does it last so long as this Moiety of Life which we pass in Reflection and Awake for we are not continually buisy'd with tasting Pleasure Nay it subsists not so long as the Presence of those Objects which first give it Birth it lasts but for the momentany Passage from Privation to Enjoyment We perceive some Delight indeed in the
corruptible Things and as they are unable to perpetuate themselves they can't be capable of eternizing their Objects This would be but to perpetuate Shadows and how should they perpetuate the Sensation Nos quoque floruimus sed Flos fuit ille caducus I think we should not be guilty of a greater Extravagance if by the Effort of our Desires we should at length be brought to doubt of our Mortality than whilst by the Seduction of our Heart we search for so vain an Immortality I know indeed that no Man seriously denies himself to be subject to the Fate of Death but yet scarcely any Man perhaps tells himself in earnest that he shall Die For tho' these two Terms have too true a Relation yet no one is willing to joyn 'em together and if we do happen to consider 'em 't is with a Design to dis-unite and part ' em We shall be apt to consider Death without considering our selves or our selves without considering Death We never love to connect those Ideas both together and certainly nothing can be imagin'd let Men think what they please of it more extraordinary and more uneasy to the Heart than the Conjunction of these two Sentiments in our Imagination Yet this is not all self-Self-love undertakes to fix the Pleasure which rises from the Acquisition of temporal Goods with this Design it seeks to have a frequent Enjoyment of the Good it possesses whether by Thought representing it to its Mind as often and in as lively a manner as is possible or by endeavouring to invent new Methods of enjoining the Pleasure whereunto it is accustomed 'T was a great Extravagance in Caligula to propose the making his Horse Consul to have him led before the Senate in Consular Robes and the Bundles of Rods carried before him But this Extravagance which so much grates and contradicts the Mind was a Feast of Delights to such an Heart as being us'd to Supream Power and scarcely perceiving it now found out a Means of giving it self an Air of Novelty by the singularity of its Gust and the Fantasticalness of its Capricio Caligula in his Folly had the Pleasure of seeing how much other Men were subject to his Dominion Lastly Self-love which one would think ought to be dis-abus'd of the excessive Opinion it conceiv'd of temporal Goods when it sees what a great Vacuity they leave in our Heart yet puts upon it self a further Illusion For finding that this Measure of temporal Goods which it has obtain'd can't render it Happy it pre-possesseth it self with Thoughts of finding that Happiness in the Quantity which it could not meet with iâ— the Quality of these Advantages Thus a Rich Man who ought to have dis-abus'd himself as to the Vanity of Riches by the Experience he makes of 'em feeds himself with a Fancy that he shall be Happy when he has made a further Augmentation of his Treasures and as the Degrees of temporal Prosperity are not limited no wonder if in what State soever he be he form a Succession of new Desires And because our Soul sees that worldly Goods are less considerable by their Reality than Fictitiousness 't is so Ingenious as to deceive it self in this too it covets the Esteem of other Men and would fain be thought happy by the Mind 's of the Multitude that it may hereafter make use of this Esteem to cheat and warrant it self of Happiness upon the Word of those that don't know us Oh! 'T is a brave and delightful Object for a Grandee to behold the covetous and interested Rabble cringing at his Heels whose Officiousness plainly shews what Opinion they have of Greatness This perswades him that he is not mistaken in thinking that his lofty Elevation render'd him Happy And if the inward Experience he has of his Condition does not suit with his Conception he suspends the sad Reflections of his Mind and says to himself that doubtless so many Persons who esteem him Happy can't be mistaken and resolves to be satisfy'd with his Condition maugre all the Sense and Experience of his Misery I very well know that Men many times discourag'd by some Danger or present Misfortune which mâ—kes a lively and deep Impression upon their Heart dislike their own Condition and envy other Men's But this Dislike is quickly over it vanishes with the Object which gave it Birth and pleasant Ideas succeeding in the place of sad and unpleasant which had struck and as it were wounded our Soul by rushing impetuously into the Mind then we see none but the best side of our Condition and re-assume the Bent of our former Designs This is what one of the most Facetious Wits of Augustus's Time express'd with a great deal of Plainness and Elegance in one of his Satyrs Qui fit Maecenas ut Nemo quam sibi sortem Seu Ratio dederit seu sors objecerit illâ Contentus vivat laudet diversa sequentes O fortunati Mercatores gravis Annis Miles ait multo jam fractus membra Labore Contra Mercator navem jactantibus Austris Militia est potior quid enim concurritur horae Momento cita Mors venit aut victoria laeta Agricolam laudat Juris Legumque peritus Sub Galli cantu Consultor ubi Ostia pulsat Ille datis Vadibus qui rure extractus in VrbeÌ„ est Sâ—â—os felices viventes clamat in Vrbe And certainly 't is not greatly to be wonder'd that other Men's Conditions seem better than our own in the Eyes of Self-love seeing that we feel the Pressure of our own Evils and Miseries but not of theirs and their Enjoyments appear without any Allay of Unhappiness and Trouble because we see but the meer surface and out-side of their Condition But lastly whether it be the Idea of those temporal Goods which we our selves possess or the Image of other Men's Goods that so advantagiously Prejudices and Bigots us to the Esteem of worldly Enjoyments 't is certain that our Conception of 'em is very extravagant and herein Men commonly place their Supream Good For to do this 't is not necessary that our Mind should expresly and distinctly judge the World to be the Soveraign Good nor yet that our Mouth should openly pronounce so in plain Terms Man is naturally too Glorious and Proud to think or speak very gross and sensible Absurdities but he loves the World so much as to say it in his Heart tho' not in his Mind But 't will not be amiss to continue our Consideration of the most general Inclinations of the Heart which proceed from self-Self-love For we shall easily know the Rivulets after we have throughly discovered the Springs CHAP. XI Where we continue to consider the general Inclinations of Self-love the Second whereof is a Desire of Perfection HAppiness and Perfection are the Two general Goods which Man naturally desires but not without some Dependance and Subordination to each other for he desires not Happiness for the sake of Perfection but Perfection for the sake of
progress in Arts and Sciences at least according to the ordinary Course and for the Generality and the Examples of the contrary are too few to lay any great stress upon But she can be Honest and Modest for which reason nothing is more Honourable in a Woman than Chastity Also that Empire of Beauty which the World esteems the Glory of Women fails of adding the same Honour to Men who are naturally design'd for other Purposes than to make themselves Amiable and display some Skill in throwing the Darts of Cupid And sometimes it happens that a Vice well plac'd passes for a great Vertue and a Vertue ill plac'd is thought a great Vice Prodigality becomes Alexander very well who being Master of the World has in his Custody the Treasures of it Frugality suits very well with Hannibal who supports his Armies by a Miracle when block'd up in Italy on every side Even Cruelty it self which at another time would in no wise become him agrees with the Circumstances of that Condition But Wisdom Prudence Honesty Fidelity c. being Qualities which suit with all States and Conditions no wonder if the greatest part of Mankind are equally concern'd about 'em They don't endeavour to obtain these Vertues as being worthy of Man but as they match and agree with their States and Interests They seek for true Judgment and Prudence because 't is the Reality and not the bare Appearance of these Vertues that serves their turn and promotes their Advantage but they usually content themselves with a meer shew of Honesty because they think that outward Appearances of Sincerity are more for their Ends than the Vertue it self Men have sufficient reason to hate Hypocrisy and to be angry at this Imposture of Vice which seems desirous to make Fools both of God and Men by an execrable Traffick of Appearances and affected Out-sides But to speak the down-right Truth Hypocrisy is a Vice which seems common to Mankind All Men study to appear as may be most for their Advantage 'T is a mistake to imagine that there be Hypocrites or Dissemblers of none but Devotion there be Hypocrites of Honour Constancy Valour Liberality and there be more that counterfeit themselves in civil Life than who put on a Vizard in the Church 'T is pretty to see two Fellows that scrape Acquaintance or are going to swap Wares take each other for Cullies and soft-Heads and neither say nor do any thing but what is to carry on the Design of Cheating Men affect a shew of Complaisance Politeness Probity Honour meerly to be thought really endow'd with these Qualities All this assuredly proceeds from a too short View of Self-love and lest we should Err and go out of the way 't is necessary to return from the Road we went in before to search after Man whom we desir'd to avoid and taking for Perfection not whatsoever distinguishes us in the World but what suits with this natural Equality of Perfection and Excellency which we have in common with other Men to consider our selves not in Our selves but God The Perfections belonging to the Mortal Man are very inconsiderable But those of the Immortal Man are all worthy of Admiration he need not put on the Mask of Hypocrisy to counterfeit himself to the Eyes of Mankind He need only renounce the Fallacies of his Pride the vain Prejudices of the World and take off the Veil which intercepts the prospect of himself to find that he 's advanc'd above the Sphere of Admiration Even the Passions of Men set up for real Perfections when they have their just Extent in the Immortal Man and if you narrowly observe you 'll find that the Baseness we conceive in these Affections of our Soul proceeds from the too narrow Limits where unto Concupiscence and Self-love have confin'd 'em Give the Soul Liberty to take its whole flight let it act with the full extent of its Powers and you 'll find 't is a Divine Sphere that grows bigger and bigger the nearer it comes to GOD. CHAP. XII Where we Treat of the general Vices which flow from self-Self-love and first of Pleasure THere are Three sorts of Goods whereunto self-Self-love is principally apply'd the Full which is of it self sensible and this is Pleasure A Second which is Desirable for its own sake but becomes not sensible of it self this is Esteem A Third which is neither sensible nor desirable for its own sake and hath only as the Schools speak a Goodness of the Means and this is Riches to which we must add a Fourth Good which seems to include all those before-mention'd namely Dignities which according to the ordinary Notion Men have of 'em are a Compound of Pleasure Glory and Support in order to lead a commodious and agreeable Life The love of Pleasure is Natural that of Esteem is Lawful the Desire of Riches hath nothing Criminal in it self But all these Inclinations immediately commence Vices when they become head-strong and cease to be directed by the Dictates of Reason Self-love apply'd to irrational Pleasure is term'd Voluptuousness as it irregularly pursues Esteem it has the Name of Pride and when 't is conversant about Riches desiring 'em with an excessive Ardour 't is termed Covetousness Lastly Self-love eagerly aspiring at Dignities beyond the measures of right Reason and the Tenour of Justice is call'd Ambition But as worldly Goods are reduc'd to Pleasure and Glory so the most general Disorders of Self-love are reduc'd to Voluptuousness and Pride an Examination of which will be the Conclusion of our present Enquiries Pleasure may be consider'd in reference either to the Person who is the subject of it or in reference to Society or GOD for 't is undoubtedly necessary in these Three respects 'T is by Pleasure that the Author of Nature hath engag'd our Soul in the Preservation of the Body we should omit to repeat the use of Food had it not an agreeable Tast 'T is Pleasure that puts us upon mutual Commerce whether in Oeconomical or Political Society since the Union of Men and even the Propagation of Mankind is to be ascrib'd to this Sentiment Lastly 't is the Pleasure we find in loving and being lov'd by God in hoping for his Blessings in receiving his Benefits and in having a sense of his Peace and Favour that incites us to have our Conversation with him Hence it follows that Pleasure is Criminal either when 't is opposite to the Good of the Man who is the subject of it or to the Good of Society or the Commerce we ought to entertain with God The imbitter'd Pleasures which for a momentany Delight cost Men very durable and lasting Torments are to be rang'd in the first Order As the Goodness of God manifestly appears in this That he hath affix'd Sentiments of Pleasure to Food and other things which naturally relate to the Preservation of the Body so his Justice becomes most sensible in the rigorous Punishment and Scourge of Incontinence But we
which is not so easily seduc'd Wherefore because the Author of Nature was so pleas'd that other Men's Reason should be in some sort our Law and Judge as to moral Honesty and the Decorums of reasonable Nature Upon this very account he form'd us with a natural Desire of raising an Esteem of our selves in the Minds of others a Desire which assuredly precedes the Reflections of our Mind For tho' the Utility Pleasure and Desire of finding Confirmations of the Opinion we have of our selves c. may be capable of satisfying the Love of Esteem yet we have shewn that they are not the Cause of it And here we might distinguish Three Worlds which the Wisdom of the Creatour has founded upon Three natural Inclinations The Animal the Rational and the Religious World The first is a Society of Persons united by Sense the second of Persons united by Esteem the third of Persons united by natural Religion The first has for its Principle the Love of Pleasure the second the Love of Esteem the third Conscience All these three Principles are Natural and the Grounds of 'em is not elsewhere to be search'd for than in the Wisdom of the Creatour The first of these Worlds relates to the second the second to the third and the third to the last Wherefore these things are thus subordinated to each other Esteem regulates the Love of Pleasure and Religion ought to regulate the Love of Esteem and this Subordination is no less natural than these Inclinations The Love of Pleasure may truly be attributed to Nature But the Irregularities of Voluptuousness are to be reckon'd to another Account The Love of Esteem may be said to be Natural but yet we are not to suppose that the Extravagancies and Enormities of Pride arise from the Womb of Nature To this we may ascribe the Fear of God and the Love of Vertue But we ought not to give it an Appennage of all those Superstitions which Men have been pleas'd to ingraft upon the Principles of Nature and consequently 't is necessary that the Love of Pleasure of Esteem and Conscience should have their natural Law Rules and Limits But 't will not be amiss to insist upon the Love of Esteem CHAP. XV. Where we examine all those Irregularities which are the Ingredients of Pride IT seems that hitherto we have not had a very perfect Knowledge of Pride and doubtless the reason was because we have not throughly distinguish'd its several Parts nor with sufficient Attention examin'd all its Characters Pride in general may be reduc'd to Five principal Branches Namely to the Love of Esteem to Presumption Vanity Ambition and Haughtiness For tho' Men are wont to confound these Terms and use 'em indifferently to signify the same Thing 't is certain that these Expressions have somewhat different Significations The Love of Esteem is Natural and Lawful in it self as we before observ'd but 't is Vicious and Disorderly when it rises to Excess This is the most general Irregularity of Pride for when our Desire of Esteem is excessive 't is natural to romage in our selves for some estimable Qualities and finding we have none our Imagination presents us with some in Complaisance to the Inclinations of the Heart from whence arises Presumption Moreover this immoderate Love of Esteem makes us value our selves upon any Endowment whether good or bad and for want of real Sources of Glory to aim at an Esteem upon the account of those things which are in no wise Estimable unless in our own Fancy this is properly our Vanity For this Expression originally signifies the Emptiness of those Objects wherein we erroneously seek for Esteem and which are naughty Sources of Vain-glory. From this excessive Love of Esteem arises the Desire we have to raise our selves above other Men having a Perswasion that we can't attract a publick Esteem and Consideration whilst we are confounded with the Vulgar Rabble and this produces Ambition Lastly The Desire we have to make a great Show by distinguishing our selves from the common Rank makes us despise other Men seeking all possible means to degrade and pull 'em down that we may stand upon their Heads All the Irregularities of Pride being reduc'd to the excessive Love of Esteem as their first and original Principle we can't use too much Diligence in considering this latter The two general Faults of this Inclination are Excess and Irregularity the First consists in this That we love Esteem too much the Second That we love false Esteem as well as true In order to understand what is the Excess of thâ— Love of Esteem we must consider the Design of God in placing this Inclination in our Heart He gave it to us for the Preservation of the Body the Good of Society and the Exercise of Vertue I say for the Preservation of the Body seeing that the Love of Esteem defends us from those Extravagances of corporeal Pleasure which would presently tend to our Destruction and Death For who doubts that the Desire of raising an Esteem of our selves is a powerful Motive to stave us off from that excess of Debauchery and Sensuality to which we are drag'd by the Love of Pleasure and which is of so fatal Consequence even to our Body He plac'd in us this Inclination for the Good of Sciety for 't is this Desire to obtain an Esteem in the World that renders us Affable and Complaisant Obliging and Civil that makes us love Decency and Sweetness of Conversation And yet all this while who does not know that the finest Arts the most lofty Sciences the wisest Governments the most just Establishments in general most that is Admirable in reasonable Society proceeds from this natural Desire of Glory Let us not fancy that our own Corruption and Concupiscence brought this excellent Benefit to Mankind doubtless the wise Instructions of the Author of Nature had the chiefest Hand in this Matter Lastly 't is certain that the Design of God was to steer and incline us to honest and laudable Actions by giving us for the Judge of our Conduct not only our own Reason which is oftentimes brib'd by the Enticements of Pleasure but also the Reason of other Men who are not so partial in our Favour as we our selves Indeed God may be consider'd either as the Author of Society or Religion As the Author of Society he thought fit Men should enter into mutual Commerce during some Time and with this Intent he endow'd 'em with such Inclinations as were necessary to the Good and Preservation of Society Among these are to be reckon'd the Love of Pleasure and the Desire of Esteem This latter is the Spring of Humane Vertues which ought not to be so much cry'd down as usually they are for if they are not inservient to eternal Salvation yet are they design'd for the Good of temporal Society they proceed from the Intention of the Author of Nature they are a part of his Model and Platform Love of Esteem being
the means he makes use of to perfect Society as the Love of Pleasure is design'd to found it As for Religion that has more lofty Views for it undertakes to direct Men to the eternal and infinite Good Hence it follows that the Love of Esteem is Excessive First when it tends to destroy the Body instead of preserving it Secondly when it disturbs the good and order of Society instead of maintaining and supporting it Thirdly when it causes us to violate the Precepts of Vertue instead of putting us upon the Practice of ' em We find a pat Example of the first of these in the Fury of Duels That in my Opinion is a very extravagant point of Honour which would have us love Glory and yet despise Life which is the main Foundation and partly the End of it as we have already seen What will Men's Esteem signify to me when I am not in Being to enjoy it Without Life this Honour is nothing Life is something even without this Honour and God himself thought fit to let us know by his Conduct that the former is more Estimable than the latter for he incites us to the Love of Honour but by one bare Motive of Glory and makes us in love with Life by Pleasure and Glory too But if it be answer'd That 't is not so much the love of Honour and Esteem as fear of Contempt and Shame that makes a Man expose himself to revenge an Affront and that 't is natural to a Man of Honour to be unable to live under the pressure of Infamy this Reply is not satisfactory because as 't is a Weakness not to be able to endure Grief 't is no less One to be unable to suffer an unjust and groundless Contempt In the bottom we find the Love of Esteem as to this Example to be irregular in every Respect For this is to love Esteem too much To love false Esteem and that too more than Life and consequently more than the Preservation of the Body than Society which is depriv'd of one or many Members by the Fury of those infamous Combats And lastly more than Vertue since 't is to love it more than Humanity Justice Charity and Moderation I know when the Case is put to spend one's Blood for the good of Society and the Service of the Prince who is its Representative and has its Rights and Properties deputed into his Hands a Man ought not to make the least resistance or scruple to expose his Life but then 't is Vertue and not Esteem that he prefers before Life He pursues the Design of the Author of Nature conforms himself to his Model and Will since he that made us has plac'd us in a State of Subordination and Dependance All the Irregularity proceeds from this That Men have not a competent Knowlege of Honour and love it Blindfold they have only a confus'd Notion of it which Education Examples and the Judgment of other Men do incessantly change Honour in its ordinary Idea includes three Things 't is a Sentiment of one's Excellency a Love of Duty and a Desire to be Esteem'd A Man of Honour should be sensible of Vertue and Merit and consequently be grated and offended at any outward Contempt or Disrespect He should so far love his Duties as even to expose himself to the greatest Dangers rather than fail of observing 'em and he ought to love the Esteem of rational Persons and make it his endeavour to deserve it This general Idea is just and true but the Application Men make of it is ordinarily False for they attend not sufficiently to their real Merit which is far greater than they imagine in not having an Idea of their Duties which are of much larger Extent than they suppose and being unable to discern false Esteem from true which is the Thing to which they ought to aspire Nevertheless 't is probable that Men even in their Irregularities have a sort of confus'd Sentiment of their natural Dignity which joyning it self with their false Prejudices of Esteem and worldly Glory causes that Impatience or rather Fury at receiving Abuses and Affronts Would one whose Merit reaches no higher than that of a Mortal and Dying Man resent so great Horrour in Debasement And would he be so excessively vex'd at being reduc'd even to that Nothing which surrounds him on every side No certainly there 's an Instinct in Man which continually puts him in Mind of his Condition and renders him sensible of all that opposes the Idea of his Perfections But 't is certain that this Glory to which we aspire includes many different Sentiments which are the constituent Parts of it We may distinguish Four Namely Esteem Consideration Respect and Admiration Esteem is a Tribute we pay to a Man's proper Qualities and Personal Merit Consideration has for its Object not only the Merit of a Person but also his external Accomplishments as Birth Riches Power Credit Reputation and in general all those Advantages which make the Difference of Conditions and Distinction of Persons in Society Respect is nothing else but an high Consideration and Admiration is no more but a great Esteem The finest or at least the most proper Glory consists in Esteem and Admiration But the most sensible and conspicuous Glory consists in Consideration and Respect the reason of it is Because all the World are not capable of discerning a worthy and deserving Man from an unworthy whereas every one can distinguish a great Lord from a private Man 'T is certain that every Man which wears a Head may justly demand this Sentiment of us when we consider his Excellence and natural Dignity We owe Esteem and Admiration to those Perfections which GOD has pleas'd to endow a Man with We owe Consideration and Respect to the Rank and Station he has in the World But this original Glory of Man has been darken'd and almost defac'd by Sin and here we can't without Surprize and Amazement consider the prodigious Depravation and Irregularity of corrupted Man see his Pride as it were springing up from the Ruines of his Glory and his Humility ending where his real Vileness begins 'T is somewhat strange to see Men Complementing and Praising one another whilst they equally deserve an eternal Shame and Reproach But we need not wonder at it God being willing to preserve Society even after the Corruption of Man was not oblig'd to deprive us of this natural Inclination towards publick Esteem which makes as we said before the Perfection of civil Conversation The Example of those Philosophers is not to be minded whom we have seen despise Men's Esteem to such a Degree as even to count themselves Unhappy if they chanc'd to attract it It may be these Heroes in Humility did not really despise Glory but only made an appearance of despising it to the Eyes of Men. Cicero says that none of all those who wrote Books concerning the Contempt of Vain-glory ever forgot to put their Names to 'em this
of our Corruption neither will we set 'em up for true Sources of Esteem For pray What is Vertue taken in this Sence 'T is a Sacrifice of the inferiour Passions to the superiour 't is to offer up One's other Affections as Victims to Pride and the love of Glory Liberality is nothing else as we before observ'd but a Traffick of Self-love which prefers the Glory of giving before what it gives Constancy is but meerly a vain Ostentation of the Strength of One's Soul and a Desire to seem above the reach of Adversity Intrepidness is but an Art of hiding One's Fear or of putting off a natural Infirmity Magnanimity is only a Desire to make an outward Show of great and elevated Thoughts Love of One's Country which made the noblest Character of the Ancient Heroes was but a secret and by-road their Self-love took to arrive to Consideration Glory and Dignities and sometimes 't was only Ambition disguised under noble and venerable Names Cicero's Revenge Augustus's Ambition Lucullus's Interest would not have been very well taken by the Romans had they appear'd in their true and native shape they were oblig'd to cover 'em with this Pretext The Love of their Country There have also been Cases wherein Men having some confus'd Sentiment of their Perfections and seeking for natural Grandeur left no Stone unturn'd to give their Actions and Conduct such an End as was worthy of what they conceiv'd of their Excellency but wanting good Direction they diverted to false Objects Brutus commends Vertue and afterwards repents of it Cato sacrifices to his Country and considers not that under the specious Name of the Country he adores he works for a Company of Robbers and Usurpers and tho' a confus'd Idea of the Publick seem so Glorious a distinct ought to cover him with Shame and Confusion In a word there 's a Falshood in Humane Vertues which is obvious to all the World and hinders us from setting a Value upon 'em without a gross Extravagance Is there any more Sincerity in the Injustice of those other Heroes who became Ennobled by Crimes and Villanies and Renown'd by their injurious Exploits They Sacrifice their Lives and Fortunes as if all were their own Alexander is a lively Instance of this Disorder One would guess from the furious Conduct of this Prince that all Things were made for his Pleasure and Glory and that Mankind was good for nothing else but to serve his Desire He Burns Cities Ravages Provinces Reverses Thrones makes other Powers the Play-game of his own as if the Nation of the Earth were but Dust and Worms in his Sight Is it tolerable that a Man should make such Sacrifices to himself as he would dread to Offer to the greatest of his Gods CHAP. XIX Of the Two last Characters of Pride which are Ambition and the Contempt of the World THE excessive Love of Esteem produces another Irregularity which is Ambition because our too violent Ardour to make our selves Considerable in the World causes us to aspire at all that may render us eminent and great upon the Theatre of Humane Life Whilst we are confounded with the common Rabble others are equally respected by the Publick if we would draw Attention and a peculiar Deference we must depart from their Company Superiority challenges the Preferences of Consideration and Esteem and for this reason we are ambitious of attaining it Every One strives to excel in his Profession be it never so mean and that not because he loves the Excellency of his Art for its own sake but because he would become more Famous and Considerable than others They that expose themselves to War are not in love with the Dangers but the distinguisht Glory But lest the Distinction which proceeds from Merit and great Actions may pâ—ssiblyly hid be subject to Contestation or not expos'd to general View our Heart ambitiously covets another kind of Elevation which is Incontestable and acknowledg'd by all Men namely Grandeur Dignities and Power as we before observ'd The Fancy of Self-love is particularly tickl'd when it sees those whom it fear'd as Rivals in the Field of Vain-glory court and crouch under its Superiority 'T is charm'd and mightily taken with the Power that brings them under it and loves them so much the more as it less fears the Obstacle of their Competition But the same Sentiment of Pride which excites us to love those that are subject to our Empire so much tempts them to abhor the Necessity which puts 'em in a state of Dependance that no less than an heroick and eminent Vertue on our side can force them to hide their Malignity Lastly The same Reason that makes us endeavour to mount our selves to a distinguisht Rank that we may no longerly in the Obscurity and Confusion which hinder us from being Remarkt in the World inspires us with that Inclination we have to despise and contemn our Neighbour We are not contented to stand on Tip-toe to seem Taller than other Men but must also endeavour to Trip up their Heels and throw 'em down that we may seem Greater by their Fall and Debasement The Pleasure we take in Satyr and Comedy is not only to be imputed to our Spite and Malignity but also to our Pride 'T is Nuts to us to see other Men disgrac'd and pull'd down especially those Persons who hereby become uncapable of being our Rivals in the Suit of Vain-glory we take a particular Delight to see these Ridicule'd because this Debasement seems greatest and most incurable of all Men being asham'd to make those the Objects of their Esteem whom before they derided and reproacht How comes it to pass that Men who never Laugh to see a Stone or a Horse fall down can hardly forbear it when they see a Man fall since the One is undoubtedly in it self no more Ridiculous than the Other 'T is because our Heart is not at all concern'd or interested in the Fall of a Beast whereas we are so much interested in the Fall and Debasement of other Men that even the Image of it delights and pleases us Men think their Laughing is always innocent and indeed 't is always criminal and blamable This same Propensity inspires us with the Contempt of our Neighbour which is term'd Insolence Haughtiness or Arrogance according as 't is Conversant about Superiours Inferiours or Equals We are eager to Debase those who were beneath us before thinking we shall rise higher proportionably as they fall lower or to disparage and injure our Equals that they may no longer be at the same Level with us or to slight and undervalue our Superiours because the Lustre of their Grandeur extinguishes ours Herein our Pride visibly betrays it self for if others are an Object of our Contempt why should we ambitiously covet their Esteem Or if their Esteem be so much worth as to deserve the most passionate Desire of our Souls how can we despise ' em Is it not because the Contempt of our Neighbour is