sacrilegious person which doth prophane it we must not wonder if Love which is the holiest Passion of our Soul meet with impious persons which corrupt it and who contrary to its own inclination make it serve their designs for love seeks only the Summum bonum she is not without some sort of violence made to love her own particular good which is but the shadow of what she desires to abuse it therefore sin must disorder nature and turn natural love into self-self-love making the Spring-head of good the original of all our evil For during the state of innocency men had no love save only for good and nature was so well temper'd with grace as that all her inclinations were holy In this happy condition charity and self love were the same thing and a man feared not to injure his neighbour by loving himself but since his disobedience his love changed Nature he who looked upon another mans advantage and his own with the same Eye began to separate them and forgetting what he ought to God he made a god of himself He confounded all the Laws of Innoceney and as if he alone had been in the world he forsook the sweets of Society he took a resolution to rule his affections by his own interests and to love no longer any thing but what was useful and pleasing unto him This mischief like poyson disperst it self throughout the whole fabrick of Nature and Reason cannot defend her self against it without the assistance of Grace The gallantest actions lost their lustre by this irregularity Philosophy by all her precepts could not reform a disorder which was rather in the bottom of Nature than in the Will She put some of her might to fight against this Monster and spying a glimering of light amidst the darkness with which she was blinded she confessed that man did not belong so much to himself as to his Country and that he ought endeavour more the glory of the State than the good of his own family She thought that the love of our neighbour should be formed upon the love of our selves and believed that in willing us to treat them as our selves she had corrected all the abuse of Humane Nature But this malady lying not only in the Understanding her advice was not sufficient to cure it so as she was enforced to confess that there was none could reform man but he that made him Thus shall we find no remedy for our misfortunes but by the assistance of Grace and our desires have had no freedom save since Jesus Christ came into the world to banish self-love from out our souls for his coming had no other motive nor his Doctrine any other end than the ruine of this dreadful Monster He setteth upon it throughout all his Maxims and hardly doth any word proceed from his divine mouth which gives it not a mortal wound He protests he would admit of no Disciples who have not changed their selflove into an holy aversion and that he will not suffer any Subject in his Kingdom who are not ready to lose their lives for the glory of their Soveraign He condemns the excess of riches and the love of honour only for that they nourish this inordinate Passion and he obligeth us to love our enemies only to teach us to hate our selves Mortification and Humility which are the ground-works of his doctrine tend only to destroy this inordinate affection which we bear unto our Souls or our Bodies In fine he hath appointed us charity only to overthrow self-self-love and he died upon the Cross only to make his enemy die which is the cause of all our quarrels and divisions We ought also to confess that this evil includes all others and that there is no disorder in the world which doth not acknowledge this for its original and I am of opinion that a man cannot only not make a good Christian of one that doth too excessively love himself but I hold that according to the laws of Policy and Morality one cannot make a good man nor a good Statesman of such a man for Justice it absolutely necessary in all manner of conditions and this Virtue cannot subsist with self-self-love Justice will have a man endued with Reason to prefer the inclinations of the soul before those of the body and that he preserve all the rights of authority to the Soveraign Self-love which leans always towards the flesh will have the slave to govern his Master and that the Body command over the Soul Justice will have a good man not to wish for any thing which exceeds his merit or his birth and she instructeth him that to be happy and innocent he must prescribe bounds to his designs Self-love commands us to follow our own inclinations and to govern our desires only according to our Vanity it flatters our Ambition and to insinuate it self into us it gives us leave to do what we please Justice will have a good Statesman prefer the publick interest before that of his own house that he be ready to lose his wealth and to sacrifice his own person for the preservation of his Country she perswades him that there is no death more glorious than that which is suffered for the defence of a mans Country and that the Horatii and Scaevola's are famous in the Roman History only for having sacrificed themselves to the Glory of their Common-wealth though there be nothing more natural to a man than to love his Children some men have been found whom Justice hath made to lose this affection to preserve the like of good Statesmen who solicited by this Virtue have butcherd those whose fathers they were teaching by so rigorous an example that the love to a mans Country ought to exceed the love to his own flesh and blood A State cannot be happy wherein there 〈◊〉 any doubts made of these Maxims as oft 〈◊〉 the publick interest shall give way unto thâ—â— particular it shall always be near ruine anâ— shall have no less trouble to defend it selâ— against its subjects than against its enemies Self-love this mean while makes a man labour only for his own pleasure or glory 〈◊〉 makes this the end of all his actions anâ— doth so bind man up within himself as 〈◊〉 suffereth him not to consider the publick if he do his Country any service it is in order to his own particular good and wheâ— he seems most busie for the good of thâ— State he wisheth the slavery thereof 〈◊〉 conspires its ruine Marius Scilla do witness these truths Pompey and Caesar haâ—â— made us see how dangerous such Statesmen are who love themselves better than thâ— Common-wealth and who so they maâ— preserve their own power fear not to 〈◊〉 press their Countries liberty In Religion this unjust Passion is 〈◊〉 more fatal and Piety can never agree wiâ—â— self-Self-love For there is no man that understands any thing who will not affirm thâ— to be godly a man must submit himself 〈◊〉
the will of God That with like submissiâ— we ought to receive punishments and rewards at his hands that we must adore the thunder wherewith he smiteth us and have as great respect unto his Justice as to his Mercy that we must be cruel to our selves to be obedient to him That it iâ— Piety to â—mmolate the innocent to him when he demands them and that as there is no creature which owes not his being to his Power there is none who is not bound to lose it for his Glory Then what man is he who will submit to these truths if he be a slave to self-love and how shall he be faithful to God if he be in love with himself I conclude then that this inordinate affection is the undoing of Families the ruine of States and the loss of Religion that to live in the world a man must denounce war to this common enemy of Society and that imitating the elements which force their inclinations to exclude a vacuum we must use violence upon our desires to overcome a Passion so pernicious to Nature and Grace From this Spring-head of mischief flow three rivers which drown the whole world and which cause a deluge from the which it is very hard to save ones self for from this inordinate love arise three other loves which poyson all souls and which banish all Virtue from the earth The first is the love of Beauty which we term Incontinencie The second is the love of Riches which we call Avarice The third is the love of Glory which we call Ambition These three capital enemies of mans welfare and quiet corrupt all that belongs to him and render him guilty in his soul in his body and in his goods It is hard to say which of these three monsters is hardest to overcome for to boot with their natural forces they have Auxiliaries which they draw from our inclinations or from our habits and which make them so redoubted that they are not to be overcome without a miracle To consider them notwithstanding in themselves Ambition is the most haughty and the strongest Voluptuousness the most mild and soft and Avarice the basest and most opinionated These are fought against by divers means and all Morality is busied in furnishing us with reasons to defend our selves against them The Vanity of Honour hath cured some that have been thereof ambitious For when they come to know that they laboured after a good which happened not to them till after death and that from so many dangerous actions they could only expect to have their sepulchers adorn'd or some commendation in History they have ceased to covet an Idol which rewardeth ill the slaves that serve it and that for a little applause which it promiseth them obligeth them many times to shed their own bloud or that of their neighbour The infamy of the voluptuous the mischiefs which accompany them the displeasures which follow them and the shame which never forsakes them have oft-times cured men to whom sin had left a little reason Age may likewise be a cure for this it is a disorder in nature to find a lascivious old man and it is no less strange to see love under gray hairs than to see those mountains whose heads are covered with snow and whose bowels are full of flames The misery of riches the pain that is taken in accumulating them the care in preserving them the evils which they cause to their owners the ease which they afford to content unjust desires and the sorrow caused by their loss are considerations strong enough to make those contemn them who are not as yet become slaves thereunto But when they shall exercise their tyranny upon the spirits I esteem their malady incurable Age which cures other Passions encreaseth this Covetous men never love riches more than when they are near losing them and as love is then most sensible when it apprehends the absence of the party beloved Avarice is most violent when it apprehendeth the loss of its wealth But without medling with another mans work I shall content my self with saying that to preserve a mans self from all these evils he must endeavour to forgo self-love For as natural love causeth all the passions inordinate love causeth all the Vices and whosoever shall be vigilant in the weakning of this Passion by repentance and charity shall find himself happily freed from Avarice Ambition and Incontinency But to arrive at this high degree of happiness we must remember that in whatsoever condition Providence hath placed us we are not for our selves but for the publick and that we must not love our selves to the prejudice of our Soveraign We are in nature a portion of the Universe in civil life a part of the State in Religion we are the Members of Jesus Christ. In all these conditions self-self-love must be sacrificed to universal love In nature we must die to give place to those that follow us In the State we must contribute our goods and our bloud for the defence of our Prince and in Religion we must kill the old Adam that Jesus Christ may live in us The THIRD DISCOURSE Of the good Vse of Love MOrality considers not so much the goodness of things as the good use of them she neglects natural perfections and puts a valuation only upon their rational employment Metals are indifferent to her nor doth she consider them otherwise than earth whose colour the Sun hath changed But she blames the abuse and commends the good husbanding thereof she is troubled when wicked men abuse them to oppress the innocent to corrupt Judges to violate the Laws and to seduce Women She is well pleased when good men make use thereof to nourish the poor cloath the naked to set Captives at liberty and to succour the miserable There is nothing more glorious than the vivacity wherewithal Nature hath endued men nobly endued 'T is the key which opens unto them the Treasury of Science be it either to acquire them or to distribute them to others 't is that which is acceptable to all companies and 't is a quality which is as soon beloved as seen Yet doth not Morality esteem it otherwise than as it is well husbanded and S. Augustine who acknowledged it for a Grace confesseth it hath been pernicious to him by reason of his ill employment thereof and because he had entertained it amongst his errors Love without all question is the holiest of all our Passions and the greatest advantage which we have received from Nature since by the means thereof we may fasten our selves to good things and make our souls perfect in the love thereof 'T is the spirit of Life the Cement of the whole world an innocent piece of art by which we change condition not changing Nature and we transform our selves into the party whom we love 'T is the truest and purest of all pleasures 't is a shadow of that happiness which the blessed
earth there was no need to inhibit Vice nor to recommend Virtue but since corruption hath crept into Nature and that â—an out of too much love to himself beâ—an to hate his Neighbor it was necessary to â—ave recourse unto Laws and to reduce â—â—ose by Fear which were not to be gain'd by Love Gallowses were erected to frighten the guilty punishments were invented to make death the more terrible and that which was a tribute due to Nature was made the chastisement for sin All of innocence that remains in us is an effect of Fear all inclination to Good and aversion from Evil would be razed out of our Will did not this Passion by her threats detain them there and all Rights Divine and Humane would be violated did not she preserve the Innocent by punishing the guilty In fine she is the greatest occasioner of our quiet and though she be timorous all Politicians acknowledge her for the Mother of Security I know very well that the Stoicks have cry'd her down but what Passion hath ever been able to defend it self against their calumnies they will have us banish Love from off the earth because it makes some unclean and consider not that being the ligament of Society a man must cease to live if he were forbidden to love Religion is preserved only by Charity which is a kind of love and God would never have made men had he not meant to make them lovers of him The same Philosophers will stifle Desires because they cannot moderate them and are like to those who out of Despair kill themselves to cure a malady They condemn Hope and to perswade us â—hat they possess all things they will hope for nothing they are of the humour of that poor Athenian who was only rich in that â—e was foolish and who cared not to heap 〈◊〉 wealth because he thought all the Ships â—n the Haven belong'd to him They flatter â—hemselves with a vain Soveraignty which â—he Wise-man claims over the world and as â—hey think to have gotten wisdom they think that all her portion too belongs to â—hem They laugh at Fear and to their Reasons add Reproaches to make her contemptible or ridiculous they make her the enemy of our quiet and to hear them speak of this harmless Passion one would think they painted out a Monster to us so dreadful do they make her they say she is ingeâ—uous for our misery that by nature she is â—mpatient and that she will not tarry till the evil do happen that she may make us suffer â—t that she hath a malign foresight and which penetrates into the secrets of Futuriâ—y only to make us therein to meet with our torment that she contents not her self with present evils but that to oblige all the differences of Time to conspire mischief â—gainst us she calls to mind what is past she vexes her self with what is to come anâ— unites pains together which all the crueltâ— of Tyrants could not bring to a contracâ— They add that as she laboureth to forestaâ— our misfortunes she takes delight in increaâ— sing them and never representeth them unâ— to us but when she hath made them greateâ— than they are to astonish us that if shâ— threaten us with death 't is always with thaâ— which is most full of horrour that if shâ— make us apprehend a malady 't is alwayâ— the most cruel and that if she make us exâ—pect any displeasure 't is always the mosâ— angersom so as we find that she is morâ— insupportable than the evil which she foreâ— sees and that of all imaginable torments that which she makes us suffer is always the most rigorous that also there are not many that would not rather once die than always fear death and who do not prefer a violent punishment before a languishing apprehension I know not whether the Stoicks Fear be so fierce as they make it but I know very well that there is a more moderate sort of Fear and that this Passion in the purity of its nature doth more good than harm 't is true she seeks out evil but 't is that she may shunâ— it and she is so far from delighting to increase it that on the contrary she qualifies â—t by anticipating it and lessens the rigour â—hereof by giving us notice of its arrival Do not the Stoicks confefs with us that blows foreseen hurt not so much as do others and that the greatest part of our sufferings comes from being surprized by evil wherefore do they then blame foresight in Fear wherefore do they condemn that in this Passion which they approve of in Wisdom and wherefore do they make that pass for a fault which she hath in common with so noble a Virtue Nature gives us to understand that she hath not endued us with Fear to torment us since her pleasure is not that the evil which Fear considers be inevitable for those who have well ponder'd the humour of Fear confess that she is always accompanied by Hope and that she never foresees other than such great evils from which she may defend her self if they be common she is so noble-minded as she deigns not to busie her self about them but leaving them to Eschewing to be kept aloof from she remains quiet if they be inevitable and such as Wisdom it self knows not how to evade she troubles not her self with thinking how to withstand them and knowing that useless means are blameable she adviseth Sadness to beaâ— them but if they be of such a nature aâ— they may be overcome she advertiseth uâ— of them and though Audacity intrench ofâ— upon her rights she forbears to awaken her and to crave succour from her to beat back the enemy which presents it self Who will not judge by these conditions that Fear is a friend to our Quiet that she labours for our security that being far from procuring what may dislike us sâ—e takes notice of our misfortunes only to chase them away gives the alarm only that we may bear away the victory I confess there are evils which are so great so sudden as they put the soul into disorder hinder Fear from foreseeing or evading of them the first raise astonishment the second bring an agony upon us both the one the other of them throw us into Despair if they be not readily repuls'd but since there are mischiefs which Wisdom cannot divine and which Valour it self cannot overcome we must not wonder if there be some which surprize Fear and bear down a Passion after having triumph'd over two Virtues Mans power is limited and though no disaster happen which he may not make use of yet his natural weakness needs the assistance of Grace and she must inanimate Passion and Virtue to make them victorious But it may suffice us to know that Fear is not unprofitable and it remains that we consider what sins she may favour in her disorder and what Virtues she may be serviceable unto if well used
HENRICUS Dom. CARY Baro. de Loppington Com de MONMOVTH The VSE of PASSIONS Written in French by J. F. Senault And put into English by Henry Earle of Monmouthâ— 167â— Passions araing'd by Reason here you see As shee 's Advis'd therein by Grace Divine But this yowll say 's but in Effigie Peruse this Booke and you in ev'ry line Thereof will finde this truth so prov'd that yow Must Reason contradict or grant it True THE USE OF PASSIONS Written in FRENCH By I. F. Senault AND Put into ENGLISH BY HENRY EARL of MONMOVTH LONDON Printed by W. G. for Iohn Sims at the Kings-Head at Sweetings-Alley end next House to the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1671. THE AUTHORS Dedication of his Work To our Saviour Jesus Christ. IT is not without reason adored JESUS that I offer up unto thee this Work wherein I endevor to teach thy Servants how to use their Passions For to boot that all our thoughts are due unto thee because thou art the Eternal Thought of the Father and that whatsoever our Soul produceth are as so many Images of thine This belongs to thee by a double Title and cannot without some sort of Injustice be Dedicated to any other than thee Passions in that state whereunto they are brought by sin are Monsters which ought to be immolated upon thy Altars this Sacrifice succeeds those of the Old Testament As thou delightest in receiving a heart struck through with sorrow and consumed with love so dost thou with joy receive such Passions as Grace and Reason do consecrate unto thee neither dost thou despise the Motions of our soul when they are enlightned by Faith and inanimated by Charity thou art well pleased that being Priests and Victimes for thy Glory as thou hast been for our salvation we find some feelings in ourselves which we may immolate unto thee that in obedience to thy just Laws we sacrifice unto thee our love and our desires and that courageously suffocating our anger and our hatred we appease thy Iustice by the death of a part of our selves Thou likewise dost permit that without shedding the blood of these savage Beasts we tame them to make them serviceable to thy designes and that we employ our hopes and fears to overcome Vice and acquire Virtue But assuredly we cannot undertake this Combat nor hope for Victory therein without thy assistance for passions hold of thy Empire and since these slaves are become Rebels they are only to be reduced by thy Grace Thou by thy eternal Birth art the primitive Reason and the same term which we make use of in all Languages to express thy Personal proprieties teacheth us that thou art as well the Reason as the Word of thy Father To thee it belongeth to regulate all the Passions and if wise men have any command over theirs 't is for that their Reason flows from thine They are only wise in that they are reasonable and they are reasonable only in that they have the honour to be thy Images Grace it self whence the strength and light of thy Saints do derive flows from thy divine Person those great ones are not only Gods but Sons of God they bear thy Character in their Souls and the Father who looks upon them as thy Brethren loves them as his Children This Divine Quality makes them triumph over their Passions they owe all their victories to thy Alliance and if they tame the motions of their souls 't is because they have the honour to unite as thou dost Reason and Grace in their personages and to be by priviledge that which thou art by Nature Thy Actions since thou hast vouchsafed to become Man serve us for Instructions and we find examples in thy life which we may securely imitate Before thy temporal Birth we had no model which was not imperfect Virtue and Vice were intermingled in all men and the greatest Saints did no good works which were not accompanied with some defects Their Passions out-ran their Wisdom the first motions of them were so sudden and so violent that they could neither foresee them nor hinder them When they were once up and that Reason gathering her forces together gave them battel these Rebels joyned Insolence to Fury and argued Authority with their Soveraign Thus thy faithfullest Servants needed forgiveness in the war which they made against their passions and it behoved thy goodness to give light to illuminate these blind men Wisdom to conduct these giddy-headed People and Fortitude to overcome these Rebels But in thy sacred Person passions have no defect These wild Beasts are tamed these troublesom Seas are always calm these revolted Subjects are alwayes Obedient and by a Miracle as Rare as Illustrious these Enemies of our Reason do always agree with thine They raised themselves when thou ordainedst them so to do their first motions were in thy power they waited thy leave to be troubled Sorrow seized not on thy Heart Tears distilled not from thine Eyes and red-hu'd Anger or pale Fear appeared not in thy Face before thy Will which ruled all their motions had given them Permission They were so well instructed in all thy Designes as they seemed to be indued with Reason and Reason found such Obedience in the Inferior part of thy Soul that no Clouds were gathered together there which she her self had not there formed In the world Tempests are raised from the lower Elements Thunder-claps which make so hideous a noise in the Clouds take their original from the Valleys or the Rivers and all those Storms that trouble the clearness of the Ayr proceed from Vapors of the Sea or Exhalations of the Earth In men that are composed of Mud and Dirt their passions arise from their bodies their Revolts proceed from the senses and all these Tempests which molest their quiet take their vigour from Flesh and Bloud but in thy divine soul it fares clean otherwise thy Passions sprung from thy Reason it was the Soul that wrought upon the Body it was the Superior part that inanimated the Inferior and it was the primum Mobile that gave motion to all the other Spheres which did depend thereon Hence came it that thou didst enjoy a profound peace that thy Victories were without Combat or thy Triumphs without Victories Thou feltest no Disorders in thy Person all was calm in thy soul and even when sadness was grown to such a height as it was able to cause thee to die it was so submiss to Reason that to obey her it agreed with Ioy its Enemy Thou wert the most content and the most afflicted of all men Thou wert able to cause Envy in the most happy Compassion in the most miserarable and Astonishment in them both Love and Hatred were never at odds in thy heart These two contraries bear respect to each other Thy Reason had such absolute power over them that they preserved their opposition without losing their good Intelligence and men were astonished to see that thy Soul which was
and evil may be considered in themselves without any Circumstances and that from hence arise Love and Hatred or that a man may look upon them as absent and that then they produce either Fear or Desire or as difficult and that then they cause Hope Audacity and Choler or as impossible and that then they raise despair or in fine as present and that then they pour into the soul either delight or pain Though these reasons may content the understanding yet do they not vanquish her and without offence to Philosophy a man may differ from the opinions of Plato or Aristotle for as it appears to me they give several names to one and the same thing they divide the unity of Love and take her different effects for different Passions So after having well examined this business I am inforced to embrace the opinion of Saint Augustine and to maintain with him that love is the only passion which doth agitate us or hath operation in us For all the motions which molest our soul are but so many disguised loves our Fears and Desires our Hopes and Despaires our Delights and Sorrows are Countenances which Love puts on according to the events of good or bad success and as the Sea carries divers names according to the different parts of the Earth which are thereby watered so doth Love change her name according to the different estates wherein she finds her self But as amongst the Infidels every perfection of God hath past for a several Deity so amongst Philosophers the different qualities of love have been taken for different Passions And these great Masters have opinioned that as oft as Love hath changed guidance or imployment she ought also to change nature and name but if this their reasoning were good the soul must lose its unity as oft as it produceth different effects and the Soul which digests Meat and distributes the Bloud into the Veins must not be the same which speaks by the tongue and lissens by the Ear. Reason therefore will have us to believe that 〈◊〉 but one Passion and that hope and 〈…〉 and joy are the motions or proper◠of love and that to paint her in all her colours we must term her when longing after what is loved Desire when possessing what is desired Pleasure or Delight when shunning what is abhorred fear And when after a long and bootless withstanding inforc'd to suffer grief or sorrow Or to express the same thing more clearly desire and eschewing hope and fear are the motions of Love by which that which is agreeable is endeavoured and the contrary shunned Boldness and Choler are the Combatants which are made use of to defend that which is loved Joy is Loves triumph despair her weakness and sadness her defeat Or to make use of Saint Augustines words desire is the course of Love fear is her flight sorrow is her torment and joy her rest Love draws near to good by desiring it flies from evil by fearing it is sad by resenting sorrow rejoiceth in tasting pleasure but in all her different estates or acceptions she is alwaies her self and in the variety of her effects preserves the unity of her essence But if it be trne that Love causeth all our Passion it follows that she must sometimes transform her self into her contrary and that by a Metamorphosis more incredible than that of the Poets she converts her self into Hatred and produceth effects which will give the Lie to her Humour For Love delights in obliging Hate in the contrary Love is generous and takes pleasure in pardoning Hate not so and studies nothing but revenge Love gives life unto her enemies Hatred endeavours the death of her most faithful friends and it seems more easie to reconcile Vice with Virtue than Love with Hatred This Objection hath much of apperance but little of solidity and those who frame it do not remember that oft times one and the same cause doth produce contrary effects That heat which makes Wax melt dries mud and dirt that the motion which draws us nearer Heaven draws us the further from earth that the inclination we have to preserve our selves is an aversion from any thing that may destroy us So the love of good is the hatred of evil and the same Passion which useth sweetness to those who oblige it useth severity to those who offend it It imitateth Justice which by the same motion punisheth sin and recompenseth virtue It resembles the Sun which by the same Light makes the Eagles see and blinds the Owles And if it be lawful to mount up into the Heavens it hath an influence upon God himself which only hates a sinner out of love unto himself If so many good reasons cannot perswade to so manifest a truth they ought at least prevail thus much with our adversaries that if there be divers Passions Love is the Soveraign thereof and that she is so absolute in her Kingdom as that her Subjects undertake nothing but by her directions She is the primum Mobile which carries them about and as she gives them motion so she gives them rest she by her aspect doth irritate and appease them and her examples do prevail so much over all the affections of our soul that her goodness or her malice renders them either good or evil The FOURTH DISCOURSE Which is the most violent of all the Passions of Man IF the knowledge of a disease be requisite to the cure it is no less necessary to know the Passions that we may the better govern them and to know which of them doth assail us with most fury Philosophers who have treated hereupon agree not in their opinions but are so divided upon this Subject that reason hath not been able to reconcile their difference Plato hath left us in doubt and sounding the Question to the bottom he contents himself with saying there are four passions which seem to surpass the rest in violence The first is Voluptuousness which belies its name and which breathing forth nothing but sweetness ceaseth not to be extream furious and to fight against reason with more violence than doth grief or anguish The second is Choler which being nothing else according to its definition but a boiling of the Blood about the heart cannot be but excessively violent and did not nature which is careful of our preservation make it die as soon as it is born there were no mischief whereof it were not capable nor do I know whether the world were capable to defend it self against the fury thereof or no. But let us attribute what violence we please unto it I esteem it more reasonable than Voluptuousness for as Lions are sooner tamed than Fish an angry man is sooner appeased than a voluptuous man converted and experience teacheth us that of these two Passions the more mild is the less tractable and the more furious the less opinionated The third is the desire of honour which is so powerfully imprinted in the heart
alwaies waited that Reason might make them serve his Designs Ours for the most part do surprize us and are so ready to be moving that the wisest men cannot keep back their first motions they are so given to disorder as the â—east occasion sets them on fire their sleep is so unquiet as the least matter will awaken them they are so given to war that upon the least provocation they take up Arms and make more spoil upon their own Territories then would an enemies army do Their disorder proceeds not so much from their Objects as from their humour and it fares with their storms as it doth with those who being at the bottom of the Sea mount up again by their proper motion But they caused no tempests in Iesus Christ or if sometimes their waves went high they were led on by Reason which alwaies kept the power to appease the trouble she had caused As their birth depended upon his Will so made they no Progress or advancement but by his permission and their moving proceeded alwaies from some reasonable cause Men betake themselves to things which merit not their Love and have oft times strong Passions for weak and woful Subjects Imprudency seeks them in Choler and not weighing the difference of faults they punish a word as rigorously as they do a Murderer their ambition is blind their desires unruly their sadness ridiculous and who shall compare all their Passions with the causes which produce them will find them all to be unjust A Consul made a slave be eaten by Lampreys for having broken a Glass A Princes anger caused a Town to be drowned in the bloud of its Inhabitants and to revenge an injury done to an Image of Brass or Marble made 7000 men the lively Image of God lose their lives Sorrow hath made Idols to comfort her Fathers not able to raise agaiâ— their dead Children have deified them through an excess of love and sorrow have built Temples unto them after they had taken them out of their Graves In fine all the motions of our souls are irrational we cannot measure or bound our joy nor our displeasures our hatred exceeds our injuries our love is more ardent than the subâ—ect which sets it on fire and we ground â—irm hopes upon perishable things But the Passions of the Son of God were so reguâ—ated as in their motions a man might observâ— the worth of the subject which caused â—hem to arise he was not angry save only â—o revenge the injuries done unto his father â—r punish the impieties of those who proâ—haned his Temple he had no affection â—â—ve for those that did deserve it if he saw â—o perfection in his friends he loved such â—s he would place there and loving them he â—ade them worthy of his love he never â—â—rrowed save upon great occasion and â—hough the cross was a sufficient object of â—rief I verily believe his soul was more â—arrowly touched with the horror of our â—s than with the shame or cruelty of his â—unishment Such regulated Passions ceaâ—d when he pleased and their continuâ—ce was no less subject to his Empire than was their Progress We are not masters of our Passions as in their birth they set at nought our advice they laugh at our Counsels during their course they never stay till they be weary and we owe not our quiet so much to their Obedience as to their Weakness When they are violent our care cannot overcome them and there are some of them so stifâ—necked as they will not die but together with us therefore we ought to suppress them in their birth and to advise with Reason whether it be to any purpose to draw Souldiers into the field who when they have their Weapons in their hands despise the Authority of their chief Commander The beginning of War depends oft times upon two Parties but the end thereof depends alwaies upon the victory and he is not easily brought to a peace when he finds his Advantage lies in the continuance of War All these rules prove false in the Passions of Iesus Christ. He did even exceed therein when the Subject did deserve it though they were chafed they becamâ— calm as soon as he would have them so tâ— be Their heat as it was reasonable so waâ— it as soon extinguished as kindled so as joy did immediately succeed sadness and onâ— might at the same time see pleasingness take the same place in his countenance which Choler had possest It is peradventure for this reason that Saint Ierome could not resolve to call the agitations of the soul of our Saviour Iesus Christ Passions believing that to name them as Criminals was to injure their innocence and that there was injustice in giving the same name to things the conditions whereof were so different But every one knows that qualities change not nature and that the Passions of the Son of God were not less natural for being more obedient than are ours In my opinion it is a new obligation which we have to his goodness that he hath not despised our weakness he will eternally reproach us if we desire not his glory since he coveted our welfare if we fight not against his enemies since he hath overcome ours if we shed not tears for injuries done unto him since he hath shed his blood for our sins And he will have just occasion to complain upon our Ingratitude if our Passions serve not â—o witness our Love to him since he hath â—mployed all his to assure us of his Charity The Second Treatise Of the disorder of Passions in Man The FIRST DISCOURSE Of the corruption of Nature by Sin THough there be many wonderful things in man which deserve consideration that his qualities witness unto us the greatness power of his Creator there is nothing more remarkable in him than his constitution for he is composed of a body and soul he in his person unites Heaven and Earth and being more monstrous than are the Centaures in the Fable he is both Angel and Beast as the power of God appeareth in the uniting of these two so different parties his wisdome is no less evidently seen in the good intelligence they hold for though they had contrary inclinations that the one should bow downward towards the earth whereof it was formed and that the other should raise it self up towards heaven from whence it had its original yet God did so well temper their desires and in the diversity of their conditions so streightly united their wills by original justice as the soul shared in all contentments of the body without any injury to her self and the body served to all the designs of the soul without doing any violence to its self In this happy estate the soul commanded with mildness the body obeyed with delight and whatsoever object presented it self these two parties did always agree But this happiness continued no longer than our first father was obedient to God
but sees that the understanding is engaged in the Errour and that it confusedly receives falshoods and truths that the will applies it self more to appearing than to real good that her interests are the rules of her inclinations and that she loves not that which is good save that she is therewithal delighted that by experience she finds she hath lost much of her liberty and that if sin hath not taken from her all the love she had to good it hath left her but weak helps and useless desires to come by it As her forces are but small to atchieve what is good she hath yet smaller power to rule her Passions and though she approve not of their disorders she knows not how to remedy them Oft times by a strange misfortune she foments their sedition which she ought to hinder and that she may not afflict her Subjects she becomes guilty of their crimes The Christian Philosopher is therefore bound to employ aid from Heaven to overcome these Rebels and confessing that his Reason is weakned he must look for help from without himself and beg favour from him who hath permitted the unruliness of Nature for the punishment of Sin But that we may not be said to be enemies to the greatness of man and that we make his disaster greater than it is we confess that nature is good in her foundation and that very sin is an excellent proof thereof for as it is but a Non Ens it cannot subsist by it self for its preservation it must needs fasten it self to some subject that may uphold it and which may impart unto it part of its essence So evil is ingraffed upon good and sin is upholden by nature which is much endamaged by so evil a guest but doth not therefore lose all the advantages thereof For since she conserves her own being she must likewise conserve unto her self some goodness since she is not annihilated for being become criminal she must amidst her misery enjoy some good fortune and amidst her faultiness some tincture of innocence must remain And this is it which Saint Augustine affirms in as learned as eloquent terms The being of man is certainly praised though the sin thereof be blamed and no better reason can be given for the blaming of sin than by making it appear that by the contagion thereof it dishonoureth what was honourable by nature If we consider her then in her ground-work or foundation she hath lost nothing of her goodness but if we look upon her under the tyranny of sin she hath almost lost her use and she can make no more use of her faculties unless freed from the enemy which possesseth her methinks she may be compared to the birds that are taken in nets they have wings but cannot fly they love liberty but cannot regain it So men in the state of sin have good inclinations but they cannot pursue them they have good designes but cannot put them in execution and more unfortunate than the aforenamed Birds they love their prison and agree with the Tyrant that doth persecute them In this sad condition they have need of Grace to comfort them and to strengthen them if not totally to free them from the enemy which pursueth them at least to give them liberty of operating and to put them into a capacity of practising virtue of contesting with vice and of ruling their Passions This necessity which we impose upon man of receiving Grace ought not to appear so harsh since even before his disorder he stood in need of a forreign succour and that in his natural purity he could not avoid sin without a supernatural aid For he is so composed that in all his motions he is forced to have recourse unto God and since he is his Image he cannot operate but by his Spirit Though humane Nature saith Saint Augustine had continued in the integrity wherein God created it yet could it not have preserved it self against Sin without Grace and drawing a consequence from this first truth he with a great deal of reason adds since man without Grace could not preserve the purity which he had received how can he without the same recover the purity which he hath lost he must then resolve to submit himself to his Creator if he will assubject his Passions and he must become pious if he will be reasonable For ought there to be any relation between our welfare and our loss Passions did not revolt against the understanding till that had revolted against God there is reason to believe they will never obey the underdanding till that be obedient to God and as our mischief hath taken â—ts rise from our rebellion our good must take its beginning from our assubjection If prophane Philosophers object unto us â—hat Reason was in vain allowed us to moderate our Passions if she have no power â—ver them and that nature is a useless guide â—f she her self have need of a Conductor â—e must satisfie them by experience and â—each them without the holy Scripture that â—here are disorders in man which Reason aâ—one cannot regulate and that we are subâ—ect unto maladies which Nature without â—race cannot cure The THIRD DISCOURSE That the disorder of our Passions considered Grace is requisite to the Government thereof THose who are instructed in the mysteries of Christian Religion confess that the grace which Iesus Christ hath merited for us doth infinitely surpass that grace which Adam by his fall deprived us of The advantages thereof are such as do exceed all our desires and the most ambitious of mankind could never have wished for the good which we hope for thereby For to boot that we are thereby raised to a pitch far above our condition and that we are thereby promised an happiness equal to that of the Angels we have Iesus Christ thereby given us for our Head and we are thereby so straightly joined unto him as that his Father is bound to admit us for his children But all these priviledgeâ— regard rather the future than the present And though we have the pledges of these gracious promises we do not as yet enjoy all the effects thereof The grace which purchaseth this right for us resides in the depth of our soul the which she sanctifieth leaving the body engaged in sin She begins the work of our salvation but doth not finish it she divides the two parts whereof man is composed and giving strength unto the Spirit she leaves the flesh in its weakness But by a stranger miracle she parts the soul from the Spirit and worketh a division in their unity for to take her aright 't is only the superior part of the soul which doth fully resent the effects of Grace and which in Baptism receives the virtue of that divine character which gives us right to Heaven as to our inheritance Hence it is that one Apostle terms us but imperfect workmanship and the beginning of a new creature We belong unto Iesus Christ only
above a mortal condition and to put storms and thunder under their feet She boasts to cure them of all their evils and to free them from those vexatious disorders which molest the Souls tranquility all those fair promises have brought forth none effects and these proud billows after having made such noise are turned to foam Certainly we owe thanks to Providence which hath rendered their endeavors vain for if they had made good their words they had deprived us of all those aids which nature hath endowed us withal to make us virtuous and the inferior part of our soul hath remained without either exercise or merit for the passions are the motions thereof they carry her whither she mindeth to go and without loosning her from her body they join her to the Objects which she looks after or keep her aloof from those she desires to shun Joy is her blooming and displaying sorrow is her contraction and pain desire is her seeking and fear her eschewing for when we are merry our soul dilates it self when afflicted she contracts her self when we desire she seems to advance and when we fear she seems to retire insomuch as those who will take the Passions from the soul take away all her motions and under colour of rendring her happy make her unprofitable and unable I know no rational man that would purchase felicity at so dear a rate and I know no true man that would promise it upon so hard a condition For if happiness consist in action and if to be content a man must taste the good which he possesseth there is none but will avow That Passions are necessary to our soul and that joy must perfect the Felicity which desire hath begun Those who side with the Stoicks will tell us peradventure That these Philosophers condemn not such desires as arise from the love of virtue nor the joy that accompanies the fruition thereof but that they blame only those irregular wishes that we make every day for Riches and Honour and that consequently they blame the vain contentment which their accomplishment brings us This answer weakens their Maximes and confirms ours for it admitteth of Passions and only forbids their excess It admits of desires and hopes and only rejects their disorder and to end all in few words It healeth the malady of our affections and doth not destroy their nature But the Stoicks were not so just and their Philosophy had in it so much of severity and so little of reason as it would have a man seek out virtue without wishing for it possess it without relishing it and that being as happy as God himself he should be void of desire hope or joy In brief it had vowed the death of our Passions and yet this proud Sect did not consider that in destroying them they caused the death of all Virtues for they are the seeds thereof and by taking a little pain in trimming and pruning of them they may be made advantageous to us Though man be not born virtuous and that art which teacheth him to become so be as difficult as it is glorious he seemeth notwithstanding to know before he learneth it that his understanding hath the principles of Truth and his will the seeds of Virtue That as science according to the Platonicks is but a remembrance or calling to mind her good habits are but natural inclinations For all his Passions are budding Virtues and if he take a little care to perfect them they become compleat Virtues Is not fear which foresees evil and shunneth it natural wisdom Is not Choler which takes up arms in the behalf of good against the enemy thereof a shadow of Justice Is not Desire which serves us from our selves to join us with somewhat that is better an Image of Charity which takes us from the Earth to raise us up to Heaven What must be added to Boldness to make thereof true Fortitude And what difference is there between Sorrow and Repentance save only that the one is the meer workmanship of Nature and the other the production of Grace but both of them are afflicted with evil and they oft-times mingle their tears to bewail the same sin In fine There are no Passions which may not become Virtues and as they have inclinations to what is good and aversions from what is evil they need but a little Government to make them change Conditions The good Application of a mans Love is sufficient to make all his Passions innocent and without taking so much pain to love aright is only requisite to make us happy in this world Since Virtue faith St. Augustine is the habit of a well governed mind we are but to moderate our Affections that they may be changed into Virtues for when our hatred and our love which are the Spring-heads of all other Passions shall be wisely modestly strongly and justly guided they will become rare Virtues and will be converted into wisdom temperance fortitude and justice Is it not then a barbarous thing to go about to strangle Passions which have such affinity with Virtue and which without much labour may be raised to so noble a Condition Is it not ingratitude to mistake the advantages which we have received from Nature and is it not injustice to give infamous names to these innocent Subjects which being well managed by Reason might merit such glorious Titles 'T is then an indubitable Maxim amongst the Philosophers That Passions are the seed of Virtues and that they have no more noble employment than to arm themselves in their behalf to fight their quarrels and to revenge them of their enemies As mothers are never more couragious than in the defence of their children the affections of our soul are never more vigorous than when they defend their products against Vices This praise puzzles the brains of all the Stoicks And Seneca could not endure that Virtues Army should be composed of souldiers that could mutinie he will not have us employ Passions in her service because some few have been found which have injured her authority Certainly if all Princes were so obdurate as is this Philosopher they would find few souldiers and they must cashier all their troops because formerly they have found some of them unfaithful The negligence of Princes is oft-times cause why the souldiers mutinie and the weakness of Reason is almost alwayes the cause of the revolt of Passions In true Philosophy the soul must be rather accused than the body and the Soveraign rather blamed than the Subjects Who sees not that fear is watchful for virtue that she always mingles her self as a Spy amongst the enemies to find out their designs that all her reports are faithful and that we are for the most part unhappy only for having neglected them who knows not that hope strengthens us and that she encourageth us to the understanding of glorious and difficult designs who doth not confess that Boldness and Choler despise danger suffering hardness and setting
change Choler into Mildness or fear into generousness would endeavour an impossibility and would have ill success in all his labours but that his designes may succeed well he must study the nature of every Passion and use all his means to turn each passion into such a virtue as it hath least aversion unto and this ought not to seem strange since the most rational of all men hath been of opinion that in the opposition which Nature hath placed between vice and virtue they had notwithstanding somewhat of resemblance one with the other for all men will confess that prodigality hath more relation to liberality than avarice and that it is not hard to reduce a prodigal man to be a liberal man every one is bound to confess that Rashness sides more with Courage than with Cowardice and that it is easier to make a rash man than a Coward couragious Therefore do Philosophers agree that of the two extreams which do environ virtue one of them is alwaies more favourable unto her and a little care being had will easily take her part and defend her interest Following the same Maxime we must confess that there are some passions which have more of affinity with some virtues than with some others and which by the help of Morality may easily become virtues That fear which foresees dangers which laboureth how to shun them which looks far into what is to come that it may find a remedy may easily be changed into wisdom provided the distraction which accompanieth it and which doth most commonly abuse us in our deliberations be taken away That hope which makes us taste a good which we do not yet enjoy which comforteth us in our misfortunes and which through our present evils shews us a future happiness may easily be converted into that virtue which we call Assurance That Choler which punisheth faults and arms us to revenge our friends injuries differs not far from Justice for provided it be not too violent and that the self interests thereof leave it light enough to guide it self it will wage war with all the wicked and take all that are innocent into its protection That boldness which encourageth us to the combate which gives assurance in danger and which makes us prefer a glorious death before a shameful retreat will become exact Valour if we suppress its inclination to fury and if we mingle a little light with the too much heat thereof Love and Hatred Desire and Eschewing are rather Virtues than Passions when governed by Reason Provided they love nothing but what is lovely and hate nothing but what is hateful they deserve praise rather than reproach Sadness and Despair Jealousie and Envy are indeed more cried down they seem to be enemies to our quiet that the Heavens have made them Ministers of their Justice and that they supply the places of those revengeful Furies which Poets feign to punish the faulty Yet may they be useful to Reason if well managed and under those hideous faces wherein they appear they hide good meanings which are of use to virtue A good emulation may be framed out of a well-regulated Envy Discreet zeal may be shaped out of moderated Jealousie without which neither prophane nor sacred yet love undertakes any thing of Generous Sorrow hath so many praises given her in the holy Scripture as it is easie to judge that if she be not amongst the number of the virtues she may be advantageously made use of to their service She loosens us from the earth and by a despising all the contentments of the world she makes us thirst after eternal delights she appeaseth Gods anger she furnisheth us with tears wherewithal to wash away our sins and to water his Altars She is always a faithful companion to Repentance and no sin in Christian Religion was ever forgiven before Sorrow and Repentance had obtained pardon Despair hath but the name of terrible but who shall well consider her effects will avow 't is a wise invention of nature which cures the greatest part of our maladies by taking away from us the hope of remedy for then we make virtue of necessity we draw force from our weakness we turn our fear into fury and our desires into contempt we set upon enemies whose approach we dare not expect and we misprize objects which we cannot abandon Thus shall we find many men who owe their quiet more to Despair than to hope and who shall well examine the humour of these two Affections will be forced to acknowledge that the one makes us miserable by her promises the other happy by her refusals that the one nourisheth our desires the other causeth them to die that the one cozeneth us and the other disabuseth us that we are lost by the flatteries of the one and saved by the others affliction This is the Reason why the greatest Poet in the world hath affirmed that Despair is that which raiseth up the Courage of the conquered and which restores unto them the Victory which Hope and Rashness had berest them of But whatever advantage I attribute to these Passions I confess they have their errors and that to make them virtuous they must be carefully cleansed And because so profitable an affair cannot be too often treated of I shall willingly observe their chiefest enormities to the end that discerning them as in a Looking-glass every one may be careful how to eface them Take blindness from love and he will be no more faulty for it is permitted to love such subjects as deserve love and there is no less injustice in denying it to personages of excellency than to grant it to deformed persons Exempt errour from hatred and hatred will become consonant to Reason for it is not just to confound the sinner with his sin and who can make this distinguishment may boast to hate with justice desire and eschewing are innocent provided they be moderated joy and sorrow are only blameable in their excess and the same Reason which permits us to taste with pleasure a good which we wish for doth not forbid us sorrowing for an evil which we apprehend Hope is only then unjust when she measureth not her forces and despair is only then faulty when it takes its rise rather from our remissness than from our weakness Boldness is then praise-worthy when it grapples with a danger which it may overcome and fear is wisdom when it shuns a danger it cannot overcome Choler is an act of justice when born against sin and provided it be not judge in its own cause it pronounceth none but lawful decrees Envy is generous provided it excite us unto virtue and that it lay before us the good qualities of our neighbour only so far forth as that we may imitate them Jealousie is only hateful because it hath in it too much of love yet this fault is pardonable when not accompanied with suspition and if the beloved cannot cure it they are bound to endure
it seemed the hearts of Princes were in the hands oâ— Orators and that Monarchy was become a slave to Eloquence they committed notwithstanding gross faults in their government and by having too oft excited the motions of the souls inferior part they overthrew the Empire of the superior and could not cure the wounds which they had made nor quench the flames which they had kindled For thinking to flatter a Prince in his vanity they made him insolent and whilst they thought to move him to revenge they made him cruel and fierce They could not keep the mediocrity whereof Virtue is composed and desiring to raise up one Passion that they might abase another they gave it so great strength as it was no longer in their power to assubject it to Reason This in my opinion is the misfortune which they run into who that they may be pleasing unto Princes flatter such an inclination as doth tyrannize over them and not considering the evil that may ensue thereon oppose that inclination to all others and by victories make it insolent The contrary way had been the better for since the Passion which they endeâ—ored to raise was most violent they should have employed all the rest to weaken it and have made them all conspire together to bring it low But because eloquence is oft-times interessed she neglects the good of her Auditors and is not troubled though her praises wound their souls so long as she may obtain what she desires Thus did Cicero treat with Caesar and being desirous to save a guilty person whose cause he pleaded he opposed the pride of this Conqueror to his revenge to destroy one Passion which was prejudicial only to one particular man he awakened that which had ruined the Republick and opprest the liberty of Rome Wherein certainly he was to blame and sinn'd against the laws of Eloquence which was not so much invented to perswade men as to make them virtuous and which ought not to endeavour so much to move affections as to re-establish Reason in her Empire Policy seems to have better intentions than Rhetorick for when she excites fear or hope in man by promises or by threats she endeavours the welfare of particulars as the publick quiet if she sometimes punish the faulty by dreadful punishments 't is but in desperate evils and when she hath to no purpose tried all mild means yet I believe she might handle Passions better than she doth and that without violating the respects wdich is due to Soveraignty too easie to gain the hearts of the Subjects by hopes and to reduce them to their duties rather by love than fear This is that which we shall consider in the following Discourse after having concluded in this that all Sciences are defective in the government of Passions that to regulate them well they must implore help from morality that they must consider the precepts she giveth us to overcome enemies which are as opinionate as insolent The THIRD DISCOURSE That Princes win upon their Subjects either by Love or Fear ALl Politicians agree that recompense and punishment are the two pillars which uphold all States and that to the end the people may be peacefully governed their hopes or their fears must be excited by promises or threats to say truth we never yet heard of any Republick or Monarchy which from its beginning did not ordain honours and chastisements for Vice and Virtue He who feared to instruct Vice by forbidding it and to teach subjects paricide by punishing it was forced to have recourse to this common remedy and to propose recompenses and sufferings to men thereby to awaken their hopes or their fears Experience shewed that to gain their good will their Passions must be won upon and that the lower part of their souls must be mastered so to assubject the higher part thereof God himself governs the world by this harmless piece of cunning for though being infinitely more absolute than all Kings he may treat with the soul without the interposition of the senses he rules himself according to mans condition and knowing that they are composed of a Soul and Body he undertakes nothing upon the former but by the means of the latter he renounceth his own rights that he may adapt himself to the weakness of his Creatures and not using the power his Soveraignty affords him he terrifieth them by threats or comforteth them by promises His bare will should serve us for a Law and the knowledge of his intentions oblige us to form whatsoever design notwithstanding he allureth us by proposing a Paradise unto us he terrifieth us in representing us with a Hell and as if he were much interessed in our Souls health or in our damnation he employs all his Graces to purchase our love and to shun our hatred when he treated with the Iews as with his subjects when through his excessive goodness he disdained not to own the quality of their Soveraign when he gave them Laws by the mouth of Moses and when he governed them by the wisdom of their Judges who were but his Images he terrified them many times by his Chastisements and sent plagues and famine into their habitations to reduce them to obedience by fear He many times also promised them to enlarge their Borders to assist them in their Battels and to give them advantage over their enemies to the end that soliciting their hopes by his promises he might by their Passions win their good wills In fine all the world confesseth that Polititians like Orators cannot more violently nor yet with more sweetness win mans consent than by awakening the motions of his Soul and by dexterously insinuating themselves into him by the hopes of Honour or fear of punishment but they do not agree which of these two passions ought to be employed to reduce him the more assuredly to his duty Those who take part with fear say that this passion being by nature servile seems to be the portion of subjects that this their relation cannot be taken from them without taking away their condition and without reducing them into the quality of children or friends they add that it is in the power of the Soveraign to make himself be feared not to make himself be loved that punishments make greater impression upon the souls of such as obey than rewards that love is always voluntary and that fear may be enforced that contempt which is the capital enemy to Monarchy may proceed as well from love as from familiarity that fear can only produce hatred which injureth more the reputation than the power of Kings that since wisdom will have us to chuse the lesser of two evils we must resolve to lose the love of the people to preserve their respect and say with that ancient Author Let him hate me provided that he fear me They confirm all these reasons by examples and make it appear that the most severe Empires have flourished the most that punishments have always exceeded
rewards and that in the Roman Common-wealth where they gave but an oaken Garland to such souldiers as had mounted a Breach they made them pass the Pikes for having gone out of their Rank or forsaken their Colours that God himself whose government ought to serve for an example to all Princes governed his people with more severity than lenity that he had been constrained to express himself by the voice of Thunder to work obedience to him that he had not preserved his authority by the death of Rebels and that notwithstanding whatever inclination he had to Mercy he was enforced to have recourse to Justice Briefly they say Soveraignty is somewhat hateful that Love and Majesty agree not well together that one cannot rule over men and be beloved that men are so jealous of their liberty as they hate all things that obviate it and that Princes according to the Maxime in the Gospel have no greater enemies than their Subjects Those who take part with love have no less specious reasons and much more true ones for they say that the Soveraign being the Father of his people he is bound to treat them as his Children that fear makes them only Masters of the Body and that love makes them rule over the Heart That such as fear their Masters seek an end of their servitude and that such as love them dream not of recovering their Liberty That such Princes as govern with rigour cannot live securely that of necessity those who cause fear must themselves be subject thereto and that they must fear their peoples revolt who only obey them through constraint That if nothing that is violent be of continuance an Empire which is only grounded upon violence cannot long subsist and to answer the reasons objected unto them they reply that love enters much better into the heart than doth fear that if there be angersom ways to make a man be feared there be innocent Charms to make him be beloved that in generously-minded men recompenses make greater impressions than punishments and that the promises of a Prince more animates his subjects than doth his threats that contempt cannot arise from love since love ariseth from valuation and is always accompanied by respect that the justest Monarchies and not the severest have flourished the most and that if in the Roman Common-wealth punishments exceeded recompenses it was not for that fear made deeper impressions in the souls of men than love but because Vice hath not so much of ugliness as virtue hath of beauty and that it is not necessary to propound honour unto her who finding all her glory within her self is as well satisfied with silence as amidst all acclamations and applause That if God dealt rigorously with his people 't was contrary to his inclination and that his lenity had been greater than his severity because the latter could not purchase him all Iudaea and the former hath submitted unto him the whole world St. Paul represents us with the difference between these two laws often in the holy Scripture the one of which hath made slaves the other hath produced children the one of which hath fortified sin the other hath destroyed the tyranny thereof They add that Soveraignty is not odious since it was consecrated in the person of Jesus Christ who desirous to serve as an example to all Kings on earth never used his power but in order of service to his mercy and never did any miracle unless to help the afflicted In fine that subjects did not repine at the loss of their liberty since that being voluntary they like it that Princes are not the objects of fear since they are the images of God and that some Princes have been found even among Infidels who have been their peoples delight whilst alive and their sorrow when dead Though these answers be so pertinent as they are not be gainsaid yet methinks both the parties may be reconciled and their difference so taken away as that each of them should therein find their advantage for though lenity be to be preferred before rigour and that a State be better grounded upon love than upon fear there are occasions wherein a Prince ought to let his clemency give place to his severity wherein he is obliged to quit the quality of a Father that he may exercise the like of a Judge He ought to govern his humor according to the humor of his Subjects if they be giddy-headed or proud he must use rigour to teach them obedience and fidelity if troublesom and prone to Rebellion he must make examples and by the punishment of a few frighten more if unquiet and desirous of novelty he must punish them by keeping them in continual employment but amidst all these punishments he must not forget that he is the head of his State that his subjects are a part of himself and that he ought to be as sparing in punishing them as a Physitian in cutting off the Arm or Leg of a diseased person If nothing be done in his Kingdom which enforceth him to Rigour if all things be peaceable and if the people under his government have no other motions than his own will he ought to deal gently with them afford them just liberty which may perswade them that they are rather his children than his subjects and that reserving to himself the marks only of Soveraignty he permits them to gather all the fruits thereof In brief he ought not to use Rigor but when Clemency is bootless in his government as well as in the like of God mildness must precede severity and all the world must know that he punisheth not the faulty out of his own inclination but forc'd thereunto by necessity The power of a Prince is sufficiently dreadful by reason of his greatness he need not make it odious by his cruelty One word of theirs terrifies all their subjects the punishment of one guilty person astonisheth all the rest their anger maketh even the innocent to quake and as a Thunderbolt does little harm yet frightens much so great men cannot punish a particular personage without infusing terror throughout their whole Dominions I therefore am of opinion with the wisest Politicians That Soveraignty ought to be tempered with lenity and that being accompanied with all qualities that may make it be feared it ought to seek out all such means as may make it be beloved The FOURTH DISCOURSE What Passions ought to reign in the power of a Prince ONe of the greatest Misfortunes which can befall Religion is the liberty which men take to frame unto themselves such a Divinity as liketh them best In the first age every one adored the workmanship of his own hands and made an Idol unto himself which had its worth from the industry of the Workman or from the excellency of the Materials in pursuit of time as mens spirits grew more refined Poets made the gods sensible and gave them all such affections as
by unlawful wayes and as some make fortunate faults pass for Virtues these took glorious pieces of injustice for heroick Actions The first Caesar held this Maxime his ambition perswaded him that nothing was infamous that could purchase him honor and that he ought not to consider whether an enterprise were just or unjust provided that it might add unto his reputation and make his Name look big in Story His Son in Law was of the same opinion and though he had fairer pretences for his designs his motives thereunto were no better for under colour of preserving the Common-wealth he increased his particular authority and by a detestable piece of Art he made use of the Senate to establish his tyranny There needs no great policy go to the observation that so unruly a Passion is disadvantageous to States and that this is not that which ought to precede in the soul of Princes I shall therefore willingly side with those who attribute this honour to the zeal of Justice and who will have the hearts of Monarchs animated by this harmless affection for since the welfare of their people is the end of all their labours the justice that must produce and preserve it must be the scope of their desires and they must maintain a well grounded quiet in the variety of conditions whereof their States are compounded Who is not indued with this virtue knows not how to reign and though he have all the rest he deserves not to bear a Scepter since he wants that which makes Kings good and Kingdoms happy I cannot end this Discourse without taking notice of the excessive obligation which we have to Divine providence who hath given us a Prince of so pure inclinations as he seems to have no part in this sin which hath put our nature out of order and who loveth Justice so passionately as he would be therewithal adorn'd and chose the title of just as the only recompence of all his heroick virtues He might have assumed unto to himself the title of happy as well as Sylla since the Sea hath born respect unto his endeavours that the Alpes have humbled themselves and their Snow dissolved to make way for his victorious forces and that upon a thousand occasions the Elements have fought in his behalf he might have taken the title of Great as well as Alexander since his Actions have exceeded our hopes and that he hath undertaken and effected designs which all his predecessors have thought unpossible Lastly he might have challenged the name of Victorious as well as Trajan since men may number his Victories by his Battels since his souldiers were never worsted in his presence and since good success hath alwayes accompanied his Enterprizes But knowing that Justice is the Virtue of Kings he hath contented himself with the Title of Iust and hath preferred it before those of Happy Great or Victorious to teach all Monarchs that Zeal of the publick good is the passion which chiefly ought to rule in them The end of the First Part. The Second Part of the Vse of PASSIONS Of Passions in particular The First Treatise of Love and Hatred The FIRST DISCOURSE Of the Nature Properties and Effects of Love DIvinity teacheth us that there is nothing more hidden yet nothing more known than the God whom we adore his Essence fills the world and his Immensity is such as he can produce nothing which he encloseth not all creatures are the Images of his greatness and the proofs of his power one cannot see them without knowing him and they by their motions discover unto us what the Prophets have declared unto us in their Writings yet is there nothing more secret than he he is every where and he is no where he makes himself to be felt yet will not suffer himself to be touched he environeth us yet will not permit us to approach him all people know he is and no Philosophers know what he is The belief that we have that he is is so ingraven in the very ground-works of our Essence as to eface it were to annihilate our selves yet cannot our understanding comprehend him and this Sun casts about so much light as dazles the eyes that would behold him Though love be but a Passion of our Soul yet hath it this advantage common with the Divine Essence that it is as secret as it is publick and that there is nothing in nature more evident yet nothing more hidden Every one speaks of Love as of the soul that preserves the Universe and as the secret knot which entertains the Society of the world our desires declare it and a man that wisheth witnesses his love our hopes divulge it and all our Passions do discover it yet is it retreated too within the bottom of our hearts and all the marks that it giveth of its presence are as many clouds which hide it from our understandings men feel the power thereof yet cannot explain its Essence even they who live under its Empire and who reverence the Laws thereof are ignorant of its nature Poets who interest themselves in its greateess will have it pass for a god lest men may blame the violence of Love they give it a stately name and endeavour to excuse the true fury thereof by a false Piety The Platonicks make Love a Spirit and attribute unto it so absolute a power over the Passions as they will have even Hatred it self to obey its Will and will have Hatred change all her Rage into Mildness that she may please Love The Stoicks term Love a Fury and judging of its nature by its effects they cannot believe that that motion of our soul be well ruled which is as direful to us as Hatred and which hath so little government as it most commonly offendeth even those whom it intendeth to oblige The Peripateticks dare not give it any name at all for fear of being mistaken and Aristotle who defineth the most hidden things contents himself with the description thereof leaving us in a despair how to know a Passion which he knew not Sometimes he terms it sympathizing sometimes an inclination sometimes a complacency and teacheth us by these different terms that the nature of Love is no less obscure than is the nature of the Soul Amongst so many doubts some Philosophers affirm that it is the first impression which the Bonum sensible makes in the heart of man that 't is a pleasing wound which man hath received from a fair Object that it is the Beam of a Sun which warms him that it is a Charm whose virtue is attractive and that it is the first motion which carries him either to what appears to be good or to what truly is so But if I may be permitted to differ from common opinions that I may follow the more true I will say that Love is all the Passions that according to its different conditions it hath different names but that custom hath so prevailed as in its
birth it beareth the most glorious name for when an inclination is formed in the heart and that a pleasing object doth with delight stir up the Will we call it Love when it sallies forth from it self to join with what it loves we call it Desire when it grows more vigorous and that its strength promiseth good success we call it Hope when it encourageth it self against the difficulties it meets withal we call it Choler when it prepares to fight and seeks out weapons to defeat its enemies and to assist its Allies we call it Boldness But in all these conditions 't is still Love the name which Philosophers have given it in its birth agrees not less with it in his progress and if when but a Child it merit so honourable a title it deserves it better when it is grown greater by Desires and strengthened by Hopes 'T is true that Loves first condition is the rule of all the rest and that as all rivers derive their greatness from their Spring-head all the Passions borrow their strength from this first inclination which is termed Love for as soon as it is taken with the beauty of an object it kindles its desires excites its hopes and carries the fire into all the passions which hold of its Empire 't is in the Will as in a Throne where it gives orders to its subjects 't is in the bottom of the soul as in a strong Hold from whence it inspireth courage into its souldiers 't is like the heart which giveth life to all the members and the power thereof is so great as it cannot be well expressed by any example Kings oft times meet with disobedience in their subjects the most valiant Commanders are sometimes forsaken by their Souldiers and the heart cannot always disperse its spirits throughout all the members of the Body but Love is so absolute in his dominion as he never finds any resistance to his will all the Passions get on foot to execute his commandments and as the motion of the Moon causeth the ebbing and flowing of the Sea so doth the motions of Love cause peace or trouble in our soul. Now this Love the nature whereof is so hidden hath divers branches and may be divided into natural and supernatural the latter is that which God disperseth into our wills to make us capable of loving him as our Father and of pretending unto glory as to our inheritance the former is that which Nature hath imprinted in our souls to fasten us to those objects which are delightful to us and this is divided into spiritual and sensible love spiritual love resides in the will and rather deserveth to be stiled a Virtue than a Passion sensible love is in the lower part of the soul and hath so much commerce with the Senses from whence he borrows his name as he always makes impression upon the Body and this it is which is properly termed Passion In fine these two lovers are divided again into two others the one of which is called the love of Friendship the other the love of Interest The first is the more noble and he who is touched therewith respecteth nothing but what may be advantageous to whom he loveth he wisheth him well or procureth what is good for him and having no consideration but honour and his friends content he sacrificeth himself for him and thinks himself happy if he lose his life to assure his friend of his affection This noble Passion is that which hath done all the glorious actions which are observed in History 'T is she that hath filled Tyrants with admiration and who hath made these enemies to Society wish to love and to be beloved judging aright that Soveraigns are better guarded by their friends than by their souldiers and that all their forces were but weak were they not supported by the love of their Subjects The second sort of Love which we term the love of Interest is as common as unjust for the greatest part of affections is grounded upon utility or upon pleasure those who suffer themselves to be carried away thereby have not so much friendship as self-love and if they will speak their minds they will confess that they love themselves in their friends and that they love them not so much for any virtue which they observe in them as for the good they hope to reap by them thus we may see that such like affections last no longer then they are either useful or pleasing and that the same interest which gave them life makes them die they betake themselves to the fortune not to the person and these are commerces which last no longer than they are entertained by hopes of profit or of pleasure Of so many sorts of love which Philosophy hath marked out unto us we will here consider none but that which resides in the inferior part of the soul let it have either virtue or interest for its foundation And since we know the nature thereof we will examine the qualities the first whereof is that it always seeks what is good and never betakes it self to an object which either is not good or appears not so to be for as nature is the workmanship of God she cannot have strayed so much out of the way but that she must preserve some remainder of his first inclinations insomuch as having been destinied to enjoy the Summum bonum she longs after it by an error which may very well be excused she fastens her self to all that hath but the likeness thereof and by an instinct which remains in her though in disorder she suffers her self to be charmed by all things which have in them any thing of beauty or of goodness As if she had found what she seeks after she indiscreetly betakes her self thereunto and by a deplorable misfortune she oft-times takes a falshood for a truth she committeth Idolatry whilst she thinketh to perform actions of Piety and attributing that unto the work which is only due unto the workman she runs into the same error which a lover should do who by a strange malady should forget the Mistress which he vows service to and passionately adore her Picture This fault ought rather to be imputed to man than to his love for love being blind follows his inclination not being able to discern between appearances and truth he loves the good which offers it self unto him that he may not miss of what he looks for he betakes himself to what he finds and is only to blame in being too faithful but man cannot excuse his sin since Reason is his guide and that he may learn by her that all those goods which are touched by the senses or are the objects of the senses are but the shadows of that which he ought to love He must correct his love and keep it from betaking it self to objects which though they be indeed beautiful are not the Soveraign good or Summum bonum which he seeks after When he
thinks the qualities they are endued withal may work a change in him he might shun them as snares and use violence upon himself to get free from the creatures lest they make him forget his Creator From this propriety of Love ariseth a second which is that he never is at quiet but goes always in pursuit of what he loves for seeing so many shadows of that supream beauty which he adores he is always in action leaving one to take another he seeks in all what he cannot find in one alone and his change is not so much a proof of his fickleness as of their vanity he becoms wise at his own cost when he meets not with what he expects in the beauty which he idolatrizeth he repents him of his fault betakes himself to another subject which he is forced to forgo again because he enjoys but one part of that universal good wherewithal he is taken his inconstancy would last as long as his life did not reason teach him that what he covets is invisible and that the abiding place wherein we are is not destined for the passion but for the hope thereof he then sets at nothing what he so much esteemed and considering that natural beauties are but steps whereby to raise us to supernatural beauty he loves them with reservedness and useth them as means whereby to purchase what he seeks after The powerful impression which this beauty makes upon Love causeth Loves third propriety which is that he cannot live in quiet and that being solicited by his desires he is always busie he is of the nature of the constellations which are in a perpetual motion the end of one trouble is the beginning of another and he hath not so soon ended his first design but he frames a second he is like those conquerors who egged on by ambition prepare always for new combats never tasting the pleasure of victory I cannot therefore approve of the Poets invention who have feigned Love to be the son of Idleness for if his genealogy be true we must confess he is not of his mothers humour That unfortunate Poet who was Loves Martyr and who saw himself justly persecuted for having forged Weapons against womens Chastity avows that this passion is working and that it is so far from being at rest as it obligeth its partakers to be souldiers and that to love a man must resolve to wage war Hence it is that St. Augustin mixing sacred Love with prophane makes them both equally operative and acknowledgeth that a true affection cannot be idle Ambition which is the love of honour is a good proof of this since it makes such impression upon the hearts of those that are ambitious as they have not much more rest than have the damned and that they are always cause of more trouble to themselves than to those whom they oppress Avarice which is the love of money doth authorize this truth no less than doth Ambition since those wretchmen which are therewithal possessed rend up the bowels of the earth that they may not be unuseful and seek out Hell before their death that they may not be exempt from pain whilst alive This propriety is so peculiar to Love as it is not found in any other of the Passions For though our desires be the first rivulets that derive from this Spring-head yet do they give us some respit and when they are weary of seeking after a far distant good they suffer us to take a little rest we oft-times dry our tears and if we make not peace we conclude a truce with our sorrow we do not always meditate upon revenge and choler as so much less lasting as it hath more of impetuosity and violence Our hatred is sometimes laid asleep and requires a new injury to awaken it our joys are so short as the longest of them endure but for a moment and they love idleness so much as they cease to be pleasing when they begin to be operative But Love is always in action it tarries not till age give it strength to work it formeth designs as soon as it is born though abandoned by desires and hopes it ceaseth not to think of what it loveth and to entertain it self to no purpose with the thought of good success which it never shall enjoy In fine activity is so natural unto it as the life thereof consists in motion and as the heart it ceaseth to live when it ceaseth to move From hence proceeds its fourth propriety which is the strength which doth accompany it in all its designs for though but new born it is vigorous if true and giving proofs of its courage it tameth Monsters which it is not yet acquainted withal it measures its strength by its desires thinks it self able to do whatsoever it will it is not astonished with difficulties If one propound them to Love that they may stay the careir thereof he thinks 't is done to try its Will and solicited by glory it endeavoureth to overcome them Love neither accepts of nor makes excuses It will try all its forces before 't will acknowledge an impotency and it doth oft-times overcome enemies which the most generous virtues durst never set upon Hence it is that the holy Scripture compares it to death not only for that it separateth us from our selvs to join us to the things we love but because nothing can resist it for of so many pains which Divine Justice hath found out wherewith to punish us there is none but death which we may not defend our selves from We save our selves from the injuries of the Weather by Cloaths and Houses we overcome the Barrenness of the Earth by our excessive labour we correct nourishments by the help of Physick we reduce wild Beasts to our obedience by art or forces we oft-times turn our pains into pleasure and we draw advantages from the misery of our condition which we should not have found in the state of Innocency But nothing can resist death and though Physitians have found out secrets to prolong our lives yet do they in vain seek out means to defend themselves against death which makes havock throughout the whole earth pardons neither age nor sex and Palaces which are environed with so many guards cannot keep Kings from the reach thereof So Love finds no difficulties which it overcomes not no pride which it lays not low no power which it tameth not nor no rigour which it doth not allay Briefly by another propriety which is not less considerable than the former Love charmeth troubles mingleth pleasures with pain and to encourage us to difficult actions finds out inventions to make them either pleasing or glorious Hunting is rather a business than a diversion 't is an image of war and men who pursue wild Beasts seem as if they studied how to overcome their enemies the Victory is therein doubtful as well as in combates and honour is therein purchased sometimes by the loss of life
yet all these troubles are the hunters pleasures and their passion to this Exercise makes them term that a pastime which Reason would term a punishment There is nothing of delight in war the very name thereof is odious were it not accompanied with injustice disorder and fear it would notwithstanding have horrors enough to astonish all men death makes her self be there seen in a thousand different shapes there is no exercise in war wherein the danger doth not exceed the glory and it never furnisheth souldiers with any actions which are not as bloudy as glorious yet those that love it make it their delight they esteem all the deformities thereof beauties and by an inclination which proceeds rather from their love than from their humour they find delight in dangers and taste the pleasantness of peace in the tumults of war This it is which made St. Augustine say That Lovers troubles are never troublesom and that they never find pain in serving what they love or if they do they cherish it But we shall never make an end if we would observe all the proprieties of Love I therefore pass on to the effects thereof which being so many pictures of Love will represent unto us its nature and will discover unto us what it is able to do The first of its miracles is that which we call Extasie for it frees the Soul from the Body which she inanimates that she may join to the Object which she loveth it parts us from our selves by a pleasing violence and what the holy Scripture attributes to the Spirit of God befals this miraculous division so as a lover is never at home with himself if you will find him you must seek him in the person that he adores He will have people know that contrary to the Laws of wisdom he is always without himself and that he hath forsaken all care of his own preservation since he became a slave to love The Saints draw their glory from this extasie and truth it self which speaks by their mouths obligeth them to confess that they live more in Jesus Christ than in themselves Now as a man must die to himself to live in another death accompanieth this life and as well sacred as prophane lovers cannot love unless they be bound to die 'T is true that this death is advantageous to them since it procures unto them a life wherewithal they are better pleased than with that which they have lost for they live again in those that they love by a miracle of love they like the Phenix take life again from their ashes and recover life in the very bosom of death He who doth not conceive this truth cannot understand those words by which S. Paul teacheth us that we are dead unto our selves and alive in Jesus Christ. This effect produceth another which is not much less admirable for as lovers have no other life than what they borrow from their love it infallibly falls out that they transform themselves thereinto and that ceasing to be what they were they begin to be that which they love they change condition as well as nature and by a wonder which would surpass all belief were it not usual they become like unto that which they cherish 'T is true that this power shines much more gloriously in divine than in prophane Love for though Kings abase themselves in loving their Subjects and that they forgo their greatness as soon as they engage themselves in friendship yet do they not raise those up into their Throne whom they love Jealousie which is inseparable from Royalty will not suffer them to give their Crown away to him who possesseth their heart But if they should arrive at this excess the Maxim would only be true in them and their Subjects could not change conditions by the force of their love for the love of greatness makes not a Soveraign nor is a man the more accommodated though he love riches the desire of health did never yet cure a sick man we have not found that the bare Passion to know hath made men wise But divine Love hath so much power as it raseth us up above our selves by a strange Metamorphosis it makes us be that which it makes us love It renders the guilty innocent it makes slaves children changeth Demons into Angels and that we may not diminish the virtue thereof whilst we think to heighten it let it suffice to say that of men it makes Gods It doth not therefore become us to complain of our misery and to accuse our Creator for not having equalled our condition to that of Angels for though those pure spirits have great advantages over us and that we hope for no other good than that which they possess yet are we happy enough since we are permitted to love God and that we are made to hope that our nature being by love transformed into his nature we shall lose what we have of mortal and perishable to acquire what is incorruptible and eternal This is the Consolation of divine Lovers and this is the only means how to aspire without blame to that happiness which Lucifer could not do but with impiety I cannot end this Discourse without justly reproaching those that whilst they may love God engage their affections on the earth or on earthly things and deprive themselves of that immense felicity which divine love promiseth them for in loving of the creatures they cannot share in their perfections without doing the like in their defaults after having laboured much they oft-times change an obscure and peaceable condition into a more glorious but a more dangerous one So there is always hazard in the love of the creatures and the advantage that may be drawn from thence is never so pure but that it is mingled with somewhat of misfortune For whatsoever passion we have for the creature we are not sure the creature hath the like for us yet this miraculous change which passeth for the principal effect of love is made in this mutual affection and in this correspondency of friendship But we run not these hazzards in consecrating our love to God his perfections are not accompanied with faults and we know it cannot be disadvantageous to us to make a change with him Our love is never without this acknowledgment since it is rather the effect than the cause of his and that we love not him till he hath first loved us He is so just as he never denies our affection the recompense which it deserves he is not like those misbelieving Mistresses who amongst the numbers of their Lovers prefer him who is best behaved before him that loveth best in the commerce which we hold with him we are sure that he that hath most charity shall have most glory and that in his Kingdom the most faithful lover shall be always the most honoured The SECOND DISCOURSE Of the Badness of Love SInce there is nothing so sacred but meets with some
enjoy Earth would be Hell if Love were vanisht thence and it would be a great piece of rigour in God if he should permit us to see handsom things and forbid us to love them But that we may the better govern this Passion we must learn of Morality what Laws to prescribe unto it and what liberty we must allow it There are three objects of our Love God Man and Creatures deprived of Reason Some Philosophers have doubted whether we could love the first or no they were perswaded his greatness did rather require our adoration than our love but though this be a religious opinion and that it merits the greater esteem since it proceeds from the prophane we cannot deny but that we were endued with love to unite us to God for to boot with our thorough sense of this inclination to boot that it is imprinted by Nature in the very ground-work of our wills and that uninstructed by our Parents or our Teachers we labour after the Summumbonum Reason teacheth us that he is the Abyss of all perfections and the Center of all love so as a man need not fear committing any excess in loving him with all his might He is so good as he cannot be loved so much as he ought to be and let a man do his utmost he is obliged to confess that the goodness of God doth far exceed the greatness of mans Love Such Souls as are elevated and approach nearer unto him complain of their coolness and wish that all the parts of their Bodies were turned into Tongues to praise him or into Hearts to love him They are troubled that since his greatness is so well known his goodness is no more loved and that having so many subjects he hath no more that love him We must not then prescribe any bounds to this Passion when it hath respect unto God but every one ought to make it his sole desire and to wish that his heart were dilated that he might infinitely love him who is infinitely lovely but we must take great heed not to rob him of what doth so justly belong unto him and we must remember that though his goodness should not force his duty from us we should be bound to render it unto him in order to our own interest For our love is never content but when it rests in God It fears infidelity in the creatures is never so assured of them but that there remains some rational doubts and though it should have such proofs of their good will as that it were constrained to banish all suspition yet would it fear lest death might take from it what good fortue hath given in one or other of these just apprehensions it could not shun being miserable But it knows very well that God is immutable that he never forsaketh us till we have forsaken him it knows that God is eternal and that death being no less distant from him than change his affection cannot end but through our infidelity 'T is true there are carnal souls who complain that he is invisible and who cannot resolve to give up their hearts to a Divinity which doth not content their eyes But all things are full of him his greatness is poured out in all the parts of the Universe every Creature is an Image of his perfections he seems to have made these pictures only to make himself be thereby known and loved and if he should not have used this piece of skill we need only consult with our own Reason to know what he is Error cannot corrupt her and in the souls of Pagans she hath verified Oracles Those very men who offered Incense unto Idols knew very well that there was but one God when Nature spake in their mouths she made them speak like Christians and they confess'd those truths for which they persecuted the Martyrs For as Tertullian observes their soul was naturally Christian when they were surprized with a danger they implored the succour of the true God and not that of their Iupiter when they took an oath they raised up their eyes towards heaven not towards the Capitol so as we must not complain that God is invisible but we must wish that he may be as much loved as he is known And moreover this complaint is no more to be admitted of since the mystery of the Incarnation where God became man that he might treat with men where he hath given sensible proofs of his presence and where clothing himself with our nature he hath suffered our eyes to behold his beauty our hands to touch his body and our ears to hear his voice Since that happy moment he is become our Allie and he who was our Soveraign is become our Brother to the end that this double quality might oblige us to love him with more ardor and might permit us to accost him with more freedom we cannot then fail in the use of that love which we owe unto him but by being either too much reserved or too unfaithful But the love we render to men may be defective in two manner of ways and we may abuse it either in loving them too much or not enough as shall be shewn in the pursuit of this Discourse Friendship is certainly one of the chief effects of Love and the harmlessest delight which men can take in Society Very Barbarians did reverence the Name thereof those who despise the Laws of Civility put an estimation upon the laws of friendship and cannot live within their Forrests without having some whom they trust who know their thoughts who rejoyce at their good fortune and who are afflicted when any ill besals them Thieves who intrench upon the publick liberty who make war in time of peace and who seem desirous to stifle that love which Nature hath placed in mankind cease not to bear respect to friendship they have a certain shadow of society amongst them they keep their word though with prejudice to their condition tortures cannot sometimes make them violate their Faith and they will rather lose their lives than betray their Companions In fine people subsist only by virtue hereof and who should banish friendship from off the earth must raze Towns and send men into Desarts She is more powerful than the Laws and who shall have well established her in Kingdoms need neither tortures nor punishments to contain the wicked within their duties But to be just she must have her bounds to be true she must be founded upon Piety those who will love one another must be united in faith and must have the same sense of Religion their friendship must be a study after Virtue and they must labour to become better by their mutual communication their souls should rather be mingled than united from this mixture a perfect community of all things must arise their goods must be no more divided and the words thine mine which cause whatever there is of division in the world must be totally
impression on their senses than Virtue they must imitate the Prophet which had sentenced his eyes not to look upon those innocent countenances which seemed not to infuse other than chaste thoughts In fine they should resolve never to approach near those malign Constellations which burn more than they do enlighten and which raise more tempests than they shed light abroad To remedy these evils we must implore aid from Charity for it is she that purifies Love that reforms the excesses and amends the errors thereof she will not have it to be excessive neither will she that it be confined to our own persons or to our families she knows that Love is disperst throughout all the world that when it goes from us it passeth into our enemies It takes its birth saith St. Augustine in marriage and enlargeth it self upon the children that proceed from thence But in this condition 't is carnal That Passion is not to be commended amongst men which is observed to be in Tigers and a man cannot praise such natural affections in reasonable creatures as are seen in the most savage beasts In its progress it extends it self to our Kindred and begins to be rational for though he that loves his Parents loves his Bloud and that though his love forgo his own Person it doth not forgo his Family yet is his love more expiated than is the love of Fathers and communicates it self to personages which are not so near unto him as are his Children in the vigour thereof it passeth even unto strangers it receives them into its house it makes them share of what it hath and not considering either their humors or their languages their very having the aspects of men is sufficient to make them the objects of its liberality in this acceptation Love is well waxen but to be perfect it must descend even to our enemies and induing us with strength to overcome our inclinations it obligeth us to do good to them who endeavour to do us harm When it is arrived at this pitch it may hope for reward but if it stop in the middle of its Carier it must expect nothing but punishment These words comprehend all the use of this Passion and I can add nothing thereunto which will not prove weak or useless passing therefore forward I come to the last Object of our Love which is Creatures void of Reason I wonder that in this point all men joyn not with the Stoicks and that their opinion passeth not for a law among all the people of the world for they hold that Creatures which want reason do not deserve our love and that our will is given us only to tie us to God or to man Truly if this Maxim be a Paradox I hold it extreamly rational for what appearance is there that we should bestow our affection on Creatures which not knowing it cannot be obliged to us for it and having no obligation cannot be conscious of our affection In my opinion no man can be more prodigal than is the avaritious man since he engageth his affection to an insensible Metal and that he loves without hope of being re-beloved I think no man more irrational than he who ties his love to the beauty of a flower which for all its odour and splendor is not sensible of the adoration that is given it I cannot endure those extravagant men who place all their Passions upon a Dog or a Horse which do them no other service than what they are carried unto either by instinct or by necessity I therefore think the profit which we reap by them should be the rule of the affection we bear them or to speak more correctly we must rather love ourselves in them than them for our selves for they are too much beneath us to deserve our love and though some shadow of fidelity be observed to be amongst Dogs and some sparks of love amongst horses yet both of them being void of reason they are uncapable of friendship To set our hearts on things insensible is to prophane them It is not just that the same soul which may love the Angels love dumb beasts that the soul which may unite himself to God join itself to Metals and that it lodge in the same heart the noblest of all spirits with the most imperfect of all bodies I would then make use of Gold yet not love it I would be Master thereof yet not Slave thereunto I would keep it for my occasions not adore it I would teach the whole world that it hath no valuation but what the good employment thereof bestows upon it and that it is no less useless in the bowels of the earth than in the Coffers of the Avaritious But not to be mistaken in so important an affair we must use some distinction and say that the Creatures may be considered in a threefold acceptation either as ways that lead us to our last end and thus they ought to be loved or as nets which stay us on the earth and thus they ought to be shunned or as Instruments which Divine Justice makes use of to punish us withal and thus they ought to be reverenced for when the Creatures lead us unto God that they express unto us his beauty and that their perfections raise us up to the consideration of him that is their fountain there is no harm in loving them and it were a piece of injustice not to acknowledge in them him whose Images they are God himself hath invited us so to do when he made them he praised them and having given them his approbation he obligeth us to give them our love yet this our love must be moderate and must unite us no further to them than they may unite us to the Creator we must look upon them as Pictures which we love not but only for his sake whom they represent we must consider their beauties as the shadows of the like in God and never permit that their perfections engage us so strongly that we reserve not freedom enough to forgo them when our Souls health or the glory of Jesus Christ requires it If the Devil make use of them to seduce us and if by the permission which he hath received from God he employ them to tempt us If he will make the Stars serve to make us Idolaters if he will corrupt our innocence with gold if he make our pride swell or sooth our vanity with riches and if by beauty he will rob us of our continency we must shun them as nets spred abroad in the world to surprize us and as things which since the fall of man seem to have changed their inclination since they labour now to undo him as they formerly laboured for his welfare If in fine they be serviceable to the justice of God if through a zeal to his honour they pursue his enemies if the earth quake underneath our feet if the thunder roar above our heads and if the fire and water
agree to declare war unto us we must suffer them with respect and love them with so much ardency as we may with less danger for in this acceptation they have nothing of charm in them which may flatter or abuse us they are rather hateful than loving they cause in us rather a fear of God than love of our selves and by an happy effect they loosen us from the earth and raise us up to heaven this counsel comprehends all that Religion teacheth us touching the use of the creatures and whosoever shall upon occasions make use thereof will by experience find that they are never less dangerous than when most cruel and that they never oblige us more than when they punish us most severely The FOURTH DISCOURSE Of the Nature Properties and Effects of Love THose who judge of things by their appearances imagine there is nothing more contrary to man than Hatred and that since he takes his name from Humanity he should not tolerate a passion which breathes forth nothing but bloud and finds no delight but in murder Yet it is a part of his being and if he need love to fasten him unto objects which may preserve him he hath need of hatred to drive him from those that may destroy him These two motions are so natural to all Creatures as they subsist not but by the love of their like and by the hatred of their contraries The world had been ruined ere this had not the Elements whereof it is composed kept it in being by their oppositions and accords did not water by reason of the coldness thereof resist fire fire would ere this have reduced all into ashes and having no further fuel to nourish it it would have consumed it self our humors which are nothing but tempered elements preserve us by their natural Antipathies and Choler would have dried up our whole body were it not perpetually watered with flegm so as the great and little world consist only by the contrariety of their parts and if the author which hath produced them should appease their difference he would overthrow all his work which would cease to love one another if they ceased to hate their contraries What is seen in Nature is observed in Morality where the soul hath her inclinations and aversions to preserve and to defend her self to fasten her self to things she likes and to make her keep aloof off from what she likes not And had not God indued her with these two Passions she would be reduced to a necessity of suffering all the evils which assail her not having power to oppose them or hope to defeat them Hatred is then as requisite as Love we should have reason to complain of Nature if having given us inclinations to what is good she should not likewise have given us an aversion from the contrary and if she had not indued our souls with as much vigour to shun objects which are prejudicial to her as to draw near to these that are useful These two inclinations differ then only in their objects and to speak exactly we must say that Love and Hatred make but one and the same Passion which changes name according to their different uses which is called Love when it hath a liking to what is good and Hatred when it abhors what is evil Leaving here the first effect of Hatred which we have already considered we will now examine the second and will see what the nature properties and effects thereof are Hatred in her birth is nothing else but a meer aversion in us from whatsoever is contrary unto us 'T is an antipathy of our Appetite to a subject which displeaseth it 'T is the first impression which a true or an appearing evil makes in the lowest part of our soul 't is a wound which we have received from a displeasing object and it is the beginning of that motion which our Soul makes to keep aloof off or to defend it self from an enemy which pursues it She hath this in common with Love that she oft-times prevents Reason and shapes her self in our will not consulting with our judgment She takes offence at divers things which are not unpleasing in themselves and many times one and the same object causeth Hatred and Love in two different personages Sometimes it so falls out that according to the divers dispositions of our minds we like what formerly we have disliked that which did hurt us cures us and becomes the remedy of the evil which it caused she hath this of different with Love that she is much more sensible For Love is oft-times formed in our Souls before we are aware our friends must give us notice thereof and those whose company we keep must teach us that we do love we must reflect upon our selves to know this Passion in its birth and as it is extreamly delightful it wounds us so pleasingly as we do not feel the hurt till by process of time it become an incurable Ulcer But Hatred discovers it self as soon as it is conceived because it proceeds from an Object wherein we are only concern'd as it hurteth us it makes us suffer in its birth and from the time that it possesseth us it becomes our punishment It is as readily formed as Love a moment serves to produce it in our wills notwithstanding the little care we have to entertain it It disposeth its flames abroad into all the faculties of our Soul and as the most active of all the Elements it feeds upon whatever it encountereth but it hath this of misfortune that it is not so soon efaced as is Love when it hath once taken root in the heart there is no tearing of it out time which hath produced it preserves it and Philosophy is defective of sufficient reasons to cure a man who is affected with this troublesom malady Religion it self is never more troubled than when she oppugns so opinionated a passion the Son of God seems to have descended upon earth only to teach us to subdue Hatred and to pardon our enemies Neither did he oblige us to this duty till he had suffered death for his enemies he believed that to establish so strange a Doctrine it must be confirmed by his example authorized by his death and signed by his own bloud Thus did he declare war to a passion which hath this advantage over other Passions as that it endeth not with our self it is so dearly esteemed of by men as it is their sole entertainment It serves to divert them when they are displeased and though it corrode their Bowels it gives content to their heart I have heard of a Princess who after having lost her Kingdom and her Liberty found comfort in the hatred she bore her enemies and confessed she was not so much possess'd with sorrow for her past happiness as by her desire of revenge We see fathers who having their souls hanging upon their lips and who being no longer able to live do yet think how to continue
contribute to their punishments and that Divine Justice makes use of their Enlightnings and Beauties to make them the more miserable but this consideration hinders not that their nature be not good and that God see not in the Ground-work of their Being Qualities which he loveth and conserveth as he sees in the ground-work of their Wills qualities which he detests and punisheth Therefore 't is that hatred seemed useless and that to exercise it a man must go out of this world to seek for creatures which may be the object of his indignation for there is nothing neither in Heaven nor in Earth which is not lovely if we meet with any thing which crosses our inclinations we must attribute it to our ill humor or else we must blame sin for it which having disordered our will hath given it irrational antipathies and forceth it to hate the workmanship of God I know there are natural aversions between insensible creatures and that it is no little wonder that the worlds peace is caused by the discord of the Elements If their bodies of which all other bodies are compounded had not some difference amongst them Nature could not subsist anh 't is Gods will that their warfare be the worlds quiet but to boot that their quarrels are innocent and that they set not upon one another to destroy but to preserve themselves their Combats are caused through their defaults and their bad intelligence proceeds from their being imperfect for those other bodies which are more noble and which natural Philosophers call perfectè mixta do not wage war they cease not to love though they have different inclinations and they oft-times use violence upon themselves that they may not trouble the worlds tranquility whence I infer that if a man bear a dislike unto his neighbour he ought to blame his own misery and confess that his hatred is an evident proof of his defaults for if he could reconcile the particular differences of others he would love in them what he should find in himself and he could not hate that in their persons which he should observe to be in his own but he cannot tolerate their advantages because he himself is not Master thereof the bonds which Nature hath prescribed unto him close him in within himself and separate him from all others If he were an universal good he would love every particular good and if he were indued with all the perfections that are found in all men he would find none that would contrary him but he is unjust because he is poor and his aversion takes its original from his poverty God suffers not these unfortunate divisions his infinite love cannot be bounded as he is the summum bonum he loves all things that bear any badge of goodness as he gathers up within himself all these perfections which are disperst abroad in his workmanship he cherisheth them all together and he hath no aversion because he hath no defaults Hatred is then a weakness in our nature a proof of our indigence and a Passion which a man cannot with Reason employ against the handy-works of God Self-love is the secend cause of its disorder for if we were more regulate in our affections we should be more moderate in our aversions and not consulting with our own interests we should hate nothing but what is truly odious but we are so unjust as we judge of things only by the credit we bear them we condemn them when they displease us we approve of them when they like us and by a strange blindness we esteem them good or evil only by the satisfaction or displeasure which they cause in us we would have them change qualities according to our humours that like Camelions they should assume our colours and accommodate themselves to our desires we would be the Center of the world and that all creatures had no other inclinations than what we have The fairest seem ugly to us because they are not pleasing to us we are offended with the brightness of the Sun because the weakness of our eyes cannot tolerate it the beams of Virtue dazle us because that virtue condemns our defaults truth which is the second object of Love becomes the object of our indignation because she censures our offences there is nothing of truly glittering but her light she discovers all the beauties of nature which would to no use have produced so many rare Master pieces had not truth taught us how to know them Truth hath more lovers saith St. Austin than Hellen of Greece all Philosophers court her she is the subject of all their contestations she infuseth Jealousies into them and they dispute with as much heat to possess her as do two Rivals to enjoy a Mistress every one seeks her out by several ways Divines in her Fountains head which is Divinity Naturalists in the bowels of the earth Alchymists in the bosom of Metals Painters and Poets under Colours and Fables yet this beauty which causeth so much love to the whole world ceaseth not to have enemies she angers those she would oblige she loseth her friends in thinking to preserve them if she make her self be beloved of them by instructing them she makes her self be hated by reprehending them and she then becomes odious when she ought to be most beloved It is therefore extreamly dangerous to employ a Passion which assails Virtue oftner than Vice and which contrary to the design of him that indued us therewithal undertakes good and wages war with it because having some shadow of evil it crosses our interests or our delights For remedy of this evil I would advise to consider well the things which we hate and to look on them on that side which may render them agreeable unto us for as they are good in their foundation we shall always find some quality in them which will oblige us to love them and we shall observe even in our enemies some advantages which will force an estimation from us the injuries they have done us and whereupon we ground the justice of our resentments will furnish us with reasons to excuse them and if we will calmly examine them we shall confess that there is hardly any injury which bears not with it its excuse for that I may make use of Seneca's words and to confute Christians by Infidels methinks there can no outrage be done which may not be sweetned when a man shall consider the motive or the quality thereof Hath a woman offended you you must pardon the weakness of her sex and remember that she is as subject to do amiss as to change Is it a Child that hath injured you you must excuse his age which suffers him not yet to distinguish between what is good bad Hath your enemy used outrage to you it may be you have obliged him so to do and in this case Reason wills that you suffer your turn about for what you have made him suffer Is it your
King that undertakes you if he punish you you must honour his Justice if he oppress you you must give way to his Fortune does a good man persecute you disabuse your self and forgo that Error and give him no longer a quality which his fault hath made him lose Is it a naughty man that hath offended you wonder not at it effects hold of their causes you will find some body that will revenge you and without that wish you are already revenged and he is already punished since he is faulty The SIXTH DISCOURSE Of the good use of Hatred SInce Nature makes nothing unuseful and that of so many things that she produceth there is not any one which hath not its employment Hatred must find out its use and this Passion which is born in us together with Love must find out some objects upon which it may innocently discharge its fury but since nature loves her workmanship since this common Mother bears an affection to all her Children and that she keeps them in so good a correspondency as that those who violate it pass for Monsters Hatred must likewise bear a respect unto them and must go out of the world to find a Subject which may provoke its indignation it must fight with the disorders of our soul and must charge such enemies as would destroy Virtue yet must it take great heed lest it be deceived by appearances and that thinking to do an act of Justice it commit not parricide for good lies oft-times hidden under the bark of evil and things seem evil unto us because they are contrary to us their contrariety is notwithstanding a perfection that which thwarts our humour may agree with the humours of others and what is not pleasing to our eyes contribute to the beauty of the Universe This difference of affection makes it appear that the evil which we hate is rather imaginary than true and that we must rather lay the fault upon opinion than upon nature Sin is therefore the only object of hatred to use it aright we must govern our hatred according to Gods Example we must declare war against this Monster sin which God hath chased out of Heaven which he pursues upon the Earth and which he punisheth in Hell for this Passion is the chastisement of the greatest crimes it is the punishment of Paricides who defend themselves contrary to the Justice of men It besiegeth tyrants in their Palaces sets upon them in the midst of their Guards and maugre the fortune which protects them it exacts reason for all the violences which they have committed for they are not unpunished who are hated by all people and sin is not without punishment which draws publick Hatred upon the Author thereof But as we are not made Judges of other men and that Gods Justice demands not an accompt of us for other mens sins methinks our own sins are the only legitimate objects of our hatred our neighbors sins may admit of some excuses we ought to suspend our judgments and withhold our aversions since we know not their intententions when they are become so publick as they can be no longer dissembled they should rather excite compassion in us than hatred and should rather draw tears from our eyes than reproachs from our mouths since God excuses them we ought not to condemn them and since he hides them we ought not to publish them I should not notwithstanding blame a man who preferring Gods glory before the Creatures welfare should wish that the guilty might be punished or who not being able to tolerate them should avoid their company and make his indignation be thereby known for the hatred of sin is an act of justice the zeal which makes us detest sinners is an effect of Charity David gave over praising of God that he might make imprecations against the wicked and thought to assure God of his love by assuring him of the hatred which he bore unto his enemies but that this aversion may be pleasing unto him it must be perfect as was that of David and to be perfect it must have two conditions which his had it must hate sin and love nature it must detest the work of the creature and cherish the work of God by reason of Wisdom and Justice it must not love sin for the mans sake neither must it hate the man for the sins sake with these restrictions a man may make good use of hatred This guilty Passion becomes innocent it takes part with two excelent virtues and guided by grace it is serviceable at once both to justice and charity But it is much safelier exercised against our selves and we run much less danger in hating our own imperfections than in hating the like of our neighbours for self-love keeps us from exceeding therein and notwithstanding any whatsoever holy fury Charity inspires in us it is moderated by the inclination which we have to love our selves Therefore 't is that the Son of God wills that the hatred of our selves be the foundation of his Doctrine He receiveth no Disciples into his School whom he teacheth not this Maxime he seems to have a Design to banish self-self-love from off the earth and to turn this irregular affection into an holy Aversion He teacheth us that we are criminal and that entring into the zeal of divine Justice we should hate that which it hates and punish that which it chastiseth He would have us to be all â—ce for what concerns our selves and all fire for what concerns our friends In fine Hatred and Love Aversion and Inclination are the two virtues which we learn in his School but he will have us husband them so as that bestowing all love upon our neighbours we reserve nothing but hatred for our selves 'T is true that this Commandment is more rigorous in appearance than in effect for whatsoever severity he witnesseth he breaths nothing but sweetnes He hides the name of Love under that of Hatred and by obliging us to hate our selves he ordaines us to love our selves well But all people do not agree in the manner that must be held to observe this I am offended to see that Christians do not better explicate this Maxim than prophane men do and that they confound Seneca's Doctrine with that of Iesus Christ for the greatest part of Interpreters imagine That the Son of God presupposing that we are composed of two parts which fight one against the other will have us to take part with the more noble against the more ignoble that we prefer the inclinations of the soul before those of the body and that living like Angels and not like Beasts all the imaginations of our hearts be rational certainly had he had no other design than this we must a vow that he flies no higher a pitch than does Seneca and that banishing only the love of the body which is the more gross and less faulty he should have left the love of the Soul which
is the more delicate and the more dangerous For this Philosopher pleads always for the Soul against the Body all his gallant Maximes tend only to re-establish Reason in her Empire and to give her absolute power over the Passions He cannot endure that a Subject should become a Soveraign and pride which enlivens all his Doctrine furnisheth him with strong reasons to oppose voluptuousness He will have the Soul to treat her Body as her slave that she grant unto it nothing but things necessary and abridge it of all superfluities He will have her nourish the Body to the end that it may be serviceable to her He will have her love it only as a faithful servant that she employ it to execute her designes But he wills likewise when Reason shall require it she abandon it to the flames expose it to savage beasts and that she oblige it to undergo deaths as cruel as shameful All these are bold cogitations we must confess they proceed from a generously minded man and that he makes good use of the vanity of the Soul to overcome the delights of the Body but by curing one evil he causeth a greater by closing up a slight wound he opens a deeper by chasing self-love from the Body he drives it into the Soul and to prevent a man from becoming a beast he endeavours to make him a Devil these who side with this Philosopher are enforced to confess this Truth and if they who hold his Maximes would examine themselves well they will confess that they rather puffe up than heighten Courage and that they inspire the soul with more of vanity than strength But the Doctrine of Jesus Christ produceth a clean contrary effect for it subdues the body without making the soul insolent it sets at one and the same time both upon Pride and voluptuousness and whilst it ordains mortification to submit the senses to Reason it commands abnegation to subject the will unto God Therefore if it be lawful for me to explain the intentions of Jesus Christ and to serve him as an interpreter I believe that the Hatred which he requires from us should pass from the Body to the soul and that to be perfect it should extend it self to all the disorders that sin hath wrought in us for nature hath lost her purity and the two parts whereof we are composed are become equally criminal the inclinations of the soul are not more innocent than are those of the body the one and the other of them have their weaknesses let Philosophers say what they please they are both corrupted the understanding is clouded by darknesses ignorance is natural thereunto it learns with difficulty forgets easily though truth be its object it forgoes truth for falshood and is enforced to acknowledg by the mouth of the wisest man in the world that there are some errors which is easilier perswaded unto than to some truths Memory is not more happy though she pass for a miracle of Nature that she keeps deposited all the species she is trusted withal that she boasts to represent them without confusion and to be the enlivened treasure of all wise men yet since our disobedience she is become unfaithful by reason of a contagion which hath infected all the faculties of the Soul â—â—e fails us at our needs and furnishes us rather with unuseful than with necessary things the Will as most absolute is also most criminal for though it have so strong inclinations for the Summum bonum as that sin hath not been able to eface it yet she indifferently betakes her self to all objects that delight her not listning to the advice of Reason she follows the errors of opinion and is guided by the report which the senses make which are ignorant and unfaithful messengers so as man is bound to make war as well against his Soul as his Body and to extend his hatred to both the parts which go to his composition since they are equally corrupted and to obey Jesus Christ he must fight against the darkness of his understanding the weakness of his memory the wickedness of his will the error of his imagination the perfidiousness of his senses and the rebellion of all the parts of his Body These evil qualities which spoil the workmanship of God are the true objects of our aversion 't is the evil we may hate with innocence and with Justice punish 't is the enemy we are obliged to fight with and to overcome for to comprehend in few words the intentions of Jesus Christ and the obligation of Christians we must hate in our selves all those sins which disorder hath placed there and which grace could not suffer there we must destroy in our selves all that grace will have destroy'd but very well knowing that in this combat the victory is doubtful we must humbly intreat the Son of God who prepares Crowns for the Victor to endue us with Charity to the end that thereby self-love may be diminished in us and the detestation of our selves augmented THE SECOND BOOK OF Desire and Eschewing The FIRST DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of Desire AS Good is the only Object of Love it never changeth form but it obligeth this Passion to undertake new Customes she depends so absolutely upon it as she changeth names and offices as oft as it changeth condition when it is present and discovers unto her all its Beauties she swims in pleasure when it runs any hazard she is seized on by fear when it is assaulted by enemies she takes up arms and grows cholerick to defend it when it is parted from her she is afflicted and suffers her self to be over-born with grief when it is absent she consumes her self in wishes and chargeth her desires to go find out an object the far distance whereof causeth all her anxieties for Desire is nothing els but the motion of the soul towards a good which she already loveth but doth not as yet possess she extends her self that she may arrive at it she endevors to forsake her body and to separate her self from her self that she may join her self to what she seeks after she forgets her own delights that she may not think of any thing save her beloved object she forceth her self to overcome Nature and Fortune and in spite of them to render present the absent good which she desires By this Definition it is easie to observe the proprieties of Desire the first whereof is restlesness which will not suffer the soul which hath conceived it to taste any true contentment for this soul is in a violent condition she fights with the body which she inanimates that she may unite her self to an object which she loveth Nature detains her in the one and Love carries her to the other she is divided between these two powerful Soveraigns and she feels a torment little less rigorous than death Thus have we seen men who to free themselves thereof have
not in themselves The greatest praise which the Holy Scripture gives to God is that whereby they are taught that he is all-sufficient in himself and that possessing all things in the immensity of his Essence he is not tied to wish for any thing nor to forgo his repose to seek for contentment in his creatures the world contributes nothing to his greatness if the worlds place should be supplied by a vacuity and that there were no Angels nor men to know and love him his felicity would be no whit the less intire and all the praises which we now give him add nothing to his glory when we offer sacrifices unto him when we make the earth resound with the noise of his praises when we burn Incense upon his Altars and enrich his Temples with the spoyls of our Houses we are bound to protest that all our Presents are of no use to him that he obligeth us in accepting them and that we offer up nothing to his greatness which we have not received from his liberality Desire is then a mark of indigence and whatsoever creature wisheth declares its poverty But not to dishonour this Passion totally we must confess it is also a proof of our dignity for it extends it self to all things and pretends some right to whatsoever can enter into our imagination it seeketh out effects in the bosom of their Causes perswades it self it may aspire unto whatsoever may be conceived and that it may add unto the number of its riches all the goods which as yet it doth not possess it is humored with whatsoever is possible it is of so great a reach as it embraceth all that fortune promiseth and nothing hath at any time happened to the most fortunate men in the world which it thinks not it may with some sort of Justice expect A Father of the Church hath therefore said that the Apostles forgoing nothing had yet forgone very much since they had forgone their own desires and that despoyling themselves of a Passion which in their greatest poverty gave them a right to all riches they might boast to have forsaken all things for Jesus Christ for the heart of man hath an infinite capacity which can only be filled with the Summum bonum it is always empty till it possess him that made it whatever else of good makes it the more hungry and not being able to satisfie it they irritate the desires thereof but do not appease them hence it is that we cannot bound our desires but that the accomplishment of one begets another and that we run from one object to another to find him out of whom the rest are all but shadows Hence proceed all the unruly desires which gnaw upon the hearts of the greatest Monarchs hence did Alexander's ambition proceed who thought the earth too little and who was offended that his Conquests should be bounded by the limits of the world hence did Croesus his avarice derive who thought himself poor though he were the richest of all the Romans that he passed over hideous Desarts to war against a people whose riches were their sole fault These disorders have no other rise than the capacity of our heart the infinity of our desires which pursuing the good which solicits them and finding none that can satisfie them go always in search for new ones and never prescribes any bounds unto them for though our understandings be not sufficiently enlightned to know the supreme truth in all his extent and that our wills have not force enough to love the Summum bonum as much as he is lovely yet the one and the other of them cease not to have an infinite capacity which all the things of the earth cannot fill a natural truth how elevated soever it be serves but as a step to our understandings whereby to raise us up yet to an higher truth a created good how rare soever it be doth only enlarge our heart and dilate our will to make it capable of what is yet more excelent so do our desires perpetualy change objects they despise such as they formerly valued and advancing still forwards they become at last sensible that nothing can stop them but he that can satisfie them From these three proprieties which we have explained it is easie to observe the effects which our desires produce in us or forth of us for since they separate the soul from the body they cause all these extasies and ravishments which are attributed to the excess of Love since they arise from indigence they oblige us to demand and consequently render us importunate to our friends and since they suppose that our hearts are fathomless we must not wonder if they be not satisfied with all that can be granted them and if after having pursued after so many different objects they grow weary of pursuing and seek for their rest in the Summum bonum who is the end of all lawful desires The SECOND DISCOURSE Of the bad use of Desires THose who would take the people for Judges in this Affair would doubtlesly imagine that there is no more solid nor more harmless pleasure in the world than to see our desires changed into effects since it is the ordinary wish which our friends make for us and certainly if all their wishes were well regulated nothing would be more pleasing nor more useful to us than their accomplishment and we should have reason to think our selves happy if after a long pursuance we should at last accomplish them but as they are almost always unjust their success is oft-times prejudicial to us and for my part I am of Seneca's opinion and hold with him that the greatest part of our friends do innocently wish us ill and make vows in our behalf which are most pernicious to us than the imprecations of our enemies If we will be content we must pray to God that nothing may befall us that is wished unto us our very Parents contribute to our misfortune through an excess of affection and during our infancy they draw down the anger of heaven upon us by the unjustness of their desires so as we must not wonder if when we are further advanced in years so many misfortunes befall us since those that love us best have been the causers of it There are three causes for the irregularity of our desires the first is self-self-love which not being able to eface out of our Souls the inclination which we have to the Summum bonum doth turn it aside after such good things as are perishable and maketh them to be wish'd for with as much fervencie as if they were eternal for our heart longs always after God though the good desires thereof be weakned they are not quite stifled they betake themselves to what is good sin hath not been able to bereave them of an inclination which is natural unto them but Reason which ought to rule them being clouded with darkness they mistake and
expects till mischiefs come the other goes to seek them out the one is mild the other severe the one to speak properly suffers pains which she cannot shun the other endures torments which she easily might eschew But amongst all these differences they have this of common that they cannot subsist without Hope 't is the soul which gives them life and these two beaÌ„tiful virtues would not attract the eyes of men and Angels were they not encouraged by this Passion which regards futurity For vain-glory is not able to inspire us with the contempt of sorrow and the Sect of the Stoicks as proud as it is hath been able to make but few Philosophers generously suffer the violence of tortures and the Hang-mans cruelty but Christian Religion hath produced multitude of Martyrs who have overcome Flames and Savage Beasts and triumphed over Pagan Emperours Their Fortitude was grounded upon the virtue of Hope whilst men went about to corrupt them with promises to affright them with threats and to vanquish them with toâ—ments they raised up their spirits to heaven and considered the recompenses which God prepares for those that serve him faithfully 'T is doubtless out of this reason that the great Apostle hath given such glorious titles to hope that he employs all his divine eloquence to express the wonderful effects thereof for sometimes he calls it an Anchor which stops our Vessel in the Sea which makes us find tranquility in the midst of a storm and which fixeth our desires on heaven and not on earth sometimes he terms it a Buckler under the shelter whereof we beat down the blows which our enraged adversary makes against us sometimes he calls it our Glory and represents it unto us as an honorable title which blotting out our shame makes us hope that after having been Gods enemies we shall become his children and that in this acception we shall share in his inheritance By all these praises he teaches us that we have need of Hope in all manner of conditions and that we may usefully employ her in all the occurrences of our life that it is our security in storms our defence in combats and our glory in affronts But let us observe that she is not of this world that she forbids us the love thereof and that she promiseth unto us another more glorious and innocent to be the object of our desires Let us neglect such a good as is perishable that we may acquire that which is eternal let us remember that it is hard to have pretences at the same time both to heaven and earth and that we must set at naught the promises of the world if we will obtain those of Jesus Christ. The FOURTH DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of the good evil use of Despair OF all the Passions of man Despair is that which hath been most honour'd and most blam'd by Antiquity for she hath past for the last proof of courage in those famous men who have made use of sword or poyson to free themselves from the insolence of a victorious enemy Poets and Orators never appeared more eloquent than when they describe the death of Cato and they do so artificially disguise that furious action that did not faith perswade us that it is an execrable attempt we should take it for an Heroick action Seneca never praised Virtue so much as this crime he seems by the high Excomiums he gives it to perswade all men to Despair and to oblige all unfortunate people to commit Paricide he imagines that all the gods descended into Vtica to consider this spectacle that they would honour a Stoick Philosopher with their presence who not able to endure Caesars government though he had born with the like in Pompey plung'd his dagger into his breast tore his entrails and that he might taste death rent his soul from his body with his own hands But truly I do not wonder that Seneca would make a murder pass for a Sacrifice since he hath approved of Drunkenness and that he hath made it a Virtue that he might not be constrained to blame Cato who was accused thereof Others have absolutely condemn'd Despair and because some men giving themselves over unto fury have dipt their hands in their own bloud they have been of opinion that this Passion ought to be banisht from out our soul and that nothing could befal us in this life wherein it was lawful to follow the motions thereof Both these opinions are equally unjust and do violate the Sense of Nature for let the disaster be what it please which Fortune threatens us withal and whatsoever great mishap she prepareth for us we never may attempt against our own life our birth and our death depend only upon our Lord God and none but he who hath brought us into the world can take us out of it he hath left unto us the disposal of all the conditions of our life and hath only reserved to himself the beginning and the end we are born when he pleaseth and we die when he ordaineth it to hasten the hour of our death is to intrench upon his rights and he is so jealous of it as he oft-times doth miracles to teach us that it belongeth unto him But if Despair be forbidden us upon this occasion there are many others wherein it is permitted and I am of opinion that Nature did never more evidently shew her care over man than in enduing him with a Passion which may free him from all the evils for which Philosophy hath no remedy For though Good be a pleasing Object and that by its charm it powerfully attracts the Will yet it is sometimes environed with so many difficulties that the Will cannot come nigh it its beauty makes her languish she consumes away in Desire and Hope which eggeth her on obligeth her to do her utmost in vain the more she hath of Love the more she hath of Sorrow and the more excellent the good which she seeks after is the more miserable is she that which ought to cause her Happiness occasioneth her punishment and to speak it in few words she is unfortunate for that she cannot forbear loving an object which she cannot compass This torment would last as long as her Love did not Despair come in to her succour and by a natural wisdom oblige her to forgo the search of an impossibility and to stifle such Desires as seem only to afflict her As this Passion takes us off from the pursuit of a difficult good which surpasseth our power so are there a thousand occasions met withal in mans life wherein she may be advantageously made use of and there is no condition how great soever in the world which needs not her assistance For mens powers are limited and the greater part of their designs are impossible Hope and Boldness which animate them have more of heat than government led on by these blind guides they would
strength before he set upon the enemy for Virtue is too rational to engage us in an impossibility she exacts nothing from us but what is in our power and she will have us in all our enterprizes to observe whether our means to be answerable to the end endeavoured There is nothing more glorious than conquest of the Holy Land and if the greatness of our Monarch might beincreas'd by wishes we would desire that to his other August Titles that of The Deliverer of the Land of Palestine might be added but he who should engage himself in that Design would be more rash than couragious if before putting to Sea he had not quieted all his own Dominions if he had not raised forces enough to fight with those of the Infidels and if he had not by his Intelligences caused an Insurrection in the Eastern parts thereby to work a powerful diversion To boot with all these conditions Christian Audacity ought to have two more the first is Humility which agrees very well with greatness of Courage since her enemy Vain-glory is always accompanied with Faint-heartedness The second is Hatred of our selves for he that hath not overcome his own inclination must not expect to overcome his delights and he who hath not warred against his own body is but ill prepar'd to denounce war against Sorrow Let us then use our strength against our selves that we may employ it to purpose against our enemies and let us vanquish Self-love if we will overcome the fear of death The FOURTH DISCOURSE Of the Nature Proprieties and Effects of Fear THere are some Passions whose Names belie their Natures and are nothing less inwardly than what they outwardly appear to be The name of Hope is pleasing but her humour is violent and she is cause of as much evil as she promiseth contentment the name of Despair is odious but her nature corresponds with Reason and we are obliged unto it when it makes us forgo the pursuit of a good which we cannot compass The name of Boldness is glorious we no sooner hear thereof but we conceive a greatness of courage which despiseth Pain and seeketh out Death but the inclination thereof is Savage and if it be not withheld by Wisdom it engageth us in dangers which cause much mischief to us and little glory The name of Fear is contemptible and errour hath so cried down this Passion as 't is taken for the mark of a Coward but her humor is wise and if she warn us of our misfortunes it is to free us from them For Nature seems to have given us two Passions to our Counsellors in the divers adventures of our life Hope and Fear the first is doubtless the more pleasing but the second is the more faithful the first flatters us to deceive us the second frightens us to secure us the first imitates those inteâ—essed Counsellors who in all their advices have respect rather to the Fortune than Person of their Prince and who by a dangerous flattery prefer his contentment before the welfare of his State the second resembles those faithful State-Ministers which discover a mischeif that they may cure it and who stick not to anger their King a little to purchase him a great deal of glory In fine the first is oft-times useless and the number of what is good being small enough she hath not many employments and if she undertakes any thing which belongs not to her she makes us lose our labour and our time the second is almost always busied and the number of evils being infinite she is never out of exercise she looks far into what is to come and seeks out the evil which may happen not to make us miserable before the time as she is unjustly accused but to secure our happiness and to disperse all the disasters which may bereave us of it For Fear is a natural Wisdom which oft-times frees us from danger by making us apprehensive thereof she spreads her self over all the actions of our life and is no less useful to Religion than to a Common-wealth if we will believe prophane Authors 't is she that made the gods and though there be some impiety in this Maxim a man may notwithstanding observe some shadow of Truth in it for 't is the fear of eternal punishment which perswaded men they were to appease the incensed gods 't is she that hath made Sacrifices builded Temples set up Altars and immolated Victimes 't is she that keeps the Just within their duties and which after a fault committed makes them lift up their hands to heaven and witness their sorrow for it Though men talk of generosity in Religion and boast that they are won rather by Promises than by Threats yet it must be confest that Fear hath sav'd more guilty people than Hope so is she termed in the holy Scripture the beginning of Wisdom that is to say the prop of Virtue the foundation of Piety Sin would grow insolent were it not supprest with this Passion all laws would be unuseful had not Nature imprinted Fear in the soul of offenders she is therein engraven in characters which Time cannot deface they apprehend the punishment of a secret sin and though they know the Judges can punish only such as they come to the knowledge of they tremble in the midst of their friends they awake affrighted and this faithful Minister of Gods Justice suffers them not to find assurance neither in Towns nor yet in Desarts 'T is a proof that Nature is not wholly corrupted since there remains in it horrour for sin and dread for the punishment thereof for let a sinner hide himself in what part he pleaseth he carries Fear about with him and this uncorruptible Passion teacheth him that there is a Divinity which sees our secret faults whilst we live and punisheth them when we are dead Often doth she convert Libertines and by an unconceiveable miracle she perswades them unto truths which they would not have believed lest they should be obliged to fear them she stings even the most opinionated and of as many as acknowledg Jesus Christ there are few that owe not their Love to their Fear they endeavour not to gain heaven save to free themselves from hell and they love Gods goodness only because they fear his Justice I very well know that this resentment is not pure and that a man who should stop at Fear would be in danger never to acquire Charity but it is much that she opens the gate of Salvation to Infidels and shews the way of Virtue unto sinners If she be profitable to Religion she is no less necessary to a Common-wealth which could not subsist by Recompenses if it did not terrifie the guilty with Punishments we â—â—ve not now in those innocent times wherein the people were united by friendship which renders the use of Laws bootâ—ess every one loved his Neighbor as himself and Love banished Injustice from off the
shadow and its Felicity is but a false appearance but the mind is really happy the contentment thereof is solid and the goods it possesseth essential The SECOND DISCOURSE Of the bad use of Pleasure OF so many several ways that Sin hath invented to abuse Pleasure there are four which I undertake to discover and enter combat with because they have been approved of by famous men and some honest men have taken upon them their defence The first is Voluptuousness which seems to derive her name from Pleasures Self and pretends to be enemy to Virtue for though there be great difference between them and that to preserve the one we are oft-times enforced to abandon the other yet heretofore there arose up a Sect of Philosophers that would reconcile them and who out of a good intent did much injure Virtue for finding that the Difficulty which did accompany her made her odious to faint and lazy souls and that the labour that went to the acquisition thereof made them lose the longing after her they strove to perswade them that she was delightsom and that under a severe countenance she did hide a pleasing humor upon their word men began to court her and thinking to find Voluptuousness in her train they made love to the Mistress hoping to enjoy her Waiting-woman but when they were aware that this Pleasure was as severe as Virtues Self and that remaining in the bottom of the soul it made no impression upon the Senses they changed their design and made open love to Voluptuousness In fine a height of impudency they would make use of Philosophy to authorize their Injustice and gave a glorious name to a base Rebellion they endeavour'd to make men believe that Virtue did never forgo Voluptuousness and that they were not to be parted without Violence their cousenage was soon discovered and the true Philosophers loaded them with so many Reproaches that poor Epicurus could never acquit himself of for though his design was excusable and that he never would have proposed Voluptuousness to men but to make them in love with Virtue yet because the success was unhappy he could not avoid Calumny the zeal of his adversaries confounded his Opinion with his Disciples Errour yet was not he in fault save only in seeming to endeavour to equal Voluptuousness to Virtue and to make the Soveraign and the Slave fit upon the same Throne he deserved publick indignation only for distrusting the power of Virtue and because to procure her Lovers he had adorn'd her with the trims of Voluptuousness if his Opinion innocent as it is hath not escaped blame that of his Disciples is too guilty to keep me from arguing against it 't is enough that it is condemned by the whole world and that the abettors thereof dare not publickly defend it it is sufficiently punish'd since 't is ashamed and seeks out Obscurity as well to hide it self as to take its pastime it may suffice to know that no honest man did ever take upon him to defend it and that even the most shameless amongst men took not its part till they had forgot Reason The Devil perceiving that this piece of â—unning was smelt out and that it would â—educe none but such souls as not staying for Suggestions would lose themselves of their own proper motions bethought himself of a wile which was so much the more dangerous as being cover'd with a Fair Pretence For he would perswade men that true pleasure consisted in Honour and that there was nothing glorious which was not pleasing in Perfection he made them believe that Glory was the recompense of Virtue that the peoples approbation was the Kings Happiness that if Conquerors did at any time endeavour to win upon the Liberty of Strangers it was to deserve praise and if they did them any Mischief it was to get Honour thereby All the great ones follow'd this Faction and perswaded by Reason which had more of shew than of solidity they courted Glory they became her Martyrs and engaged their lives liberties to purchase reputation From this pernicious Maxime arose a great mischief for men preferring Honour before Virtue divided two things which ought to be inseparably united and through the malice of the Devil they became proud and ceased to be virtuous they ran after glorious sins they neglected Bashful Virtues and with an injustice which merited exemplary chastisement they for sook a Soveraign to court her slave assuredly they were ignorant of her height of merit since they sought after another recompense than what they find that enjoy her and they differ much from the humour of her true lovers who forgo Glory to preserve Virtue and who are never more faithful to her than when they are proffer'd preferment to corrupt them or laden with reproaches to affrighten them But not to engage my self in the defence of a party so reasonable I will argue with them that gainsay it out of their own interests I will make them confess that that which men call Honour cannot cause a true pleasure and that he who is Rich in Glory is Poor in Contentment For how can he find his Happiness in a thing he possesseth not How can he build his Felicity upon a Good which is distributed with so much injustice and which is oftenâ— given to Vice than to Virtue What satisfaction shall he enjoy when his Conscience shall give the lie to his Reputation And that he shall blame those actions which the world doth not approve of save only because it knows not their motives How â—an he find rest in the diversity of mens opinions which do not agree even in those things that are most certain and who according to the Passions wherewith their minds are agitated condemn a Virtue which they have formerly valued and value a vice which they have formerly condemned Pleasure to be Solid ought to be constant and if any glory can be the reward of a good action it is not that which we expect from the people but what we receive from our own Conscience 'T is then an abuse to Virtue to place her in so frail a thing and to seek a happiness in Mens Mouths which ought to reside in our Heart is to prefer an Appearance before a Truth Philosophers who thought to find her in Science seem to have gone upon better Ground for besides that the desire of Knowledge is more natural to us than is that of Glory and that truth makes much stronger impression on our soul than doth Honour it is a benefit we cannot be rob'd of as being Intrinsecal to us Tyrants who take our lives from us cannot bereave us of our Knowledge and Calumnie which may stain our Reputation cannot obscure our Understanding We are learned iâ— despight of our enemies these precious riches accompany us in prison follow uâ— in Exile and leave us not till death We carry them with us where-ever we go and Fortune which ravisheth Honour from
or after death spring up again But pleasures are sought for with pain and we are oft-times enforced to pay more for them than they are worth Sorrows are sometimes entirely pure and touch us to the quick as they make us incapable of consolation but pleasures are never without some mixture of Sorrow They are always dipt in bitterness and as we see no Roâ—es which are not environed with Prickles we taste no Delights which are not accompanied with Torments but that which makes the misery of our condition evidently appear is that we are much more sensible of Pain than of Pleasure for a slight Malady troubleth all our most solid contentments a Fever is able to make Conquerors forget their Victories and to blot out of their minds all the pomp of their Triumphs Yet is it the truest of all our Passions and if we believe Aristotle it makes the greatest alterations in our Souls the rest subsist only by our imagination and were it not for the intelligence we hold with this Faculty they would make no impression upon our Senses Desires and Hopes are but deceitful good things and he very well knew their nature who termed them the Dreams of Waking men Love and Hatred are the diversions of idle souls Fear is but a shadow and it is hard for the Effect to be true when the Cause is imaginary Boldness and Choler form Monsters to themselves that they may defeat them and we must not wonder if they so easily ingage themselves in the Combat since their enemies weakness assures them of the victory but grief is a real evil which sets upon the Soul and Body both at once and makes two wounds at one blow I know there are some sorrows that wound only the mind and exercise all their might upon the noblest part of man but if they be violent they work upon the body and by a secret contagion the pains of the Mistress become the diseases of the Slave the Chains that bind them together are so streight that all their good and bad estate is shared between them a contented Soul cures her body and a sick body afflicts its soul this noble Captive patiently endures all other incommodities which befall her and provided that her prison be exempted from pain she finds reasons enough to chear up her self with She despises the loss of Riches and bounding her Desires she finds contentment in Poverty she neglects Honour and knowing that it only depends upon Opinion she will not ground her happiness upon so frail a good she passeth by Pleasures and the shame which accompanies them lesseneth the sorrow which their loss brings her as she is not tied to these adventious goods she easily forgoes them and when Fortune hath robbed her of them she thinks her self more at Liberty and thinks her self not the poorer but when the body is assaulted and that it suffers either excessive heat or the injuries of the Season or the rage of Sickness she is constrained to sigh with it and the Cords which fasten them together make their miseries common she apprehends Death though she be Immortal she fears wounds though she be Invulnerable and she resents all the evils suffer'd by the prison which she gives life to though she be Spiritual The Stoicks Philosophy which valueth not a glorious enterprize unless it be impossible would have inderdicted the commerce between the Soul and the Body and in a strange madness hath endeavour'd to separate two parts whereof one and the same whole are compounded she forbad her Disciples the use of Tears and breaking the holiest of all Friendships she would have the Soul to be insensible of the Bodies sufferings and that whilst the Body was burning in the midst of flames the Soul should mount up to Heaven there to contemplate the Beauty of Virtue or the wonders of Nature This Barbarous Philosophy had some Admirers but she never had any true Disciples her Counsels made them despair all that would follow her Maxims suffer'd themselves to be miss-led by Vanity and could not fence themselves against Grief Since the Soul hath contracted so straight a society with the Body she must suffer with it and since she is shed abroad into all the parts thereof she must complain with the mouth weep with the eyes and sigh with the heart-Mercy was never forbidden but by tyrants and this Virtue will be praised as long as there be any that are miserable yet the evils which afflict her are strangers to her and those whom she assists are for the most part to her unknown wherefore then shall we blame the Soul if she have compassion on her own body Wherefore shall we accuse her of Abjectness if she share in the sorrows that assail it and which not being able to hurt her in her own substance set upon her in her Mansion-house and revenge themselves on her in that thing which of all the world she loves best For while she is in the body she seems to renounce her Nobility and that ceasing to be a pure spirit she interesses her self in all the Delights and all the Vexations of her Hoste his health causeth contentment in her and his sickness is grievous to her the most worthy part suffers in the less worthy and by a troublesom necessity the Soul is unhappy in the miseries of her body They say that Magick is so powerful that it hath found out a secret how to torment men in their absence and to make them feel in their own persons all the cruelties which she exerciseth upon their Images these miserable men burn with fire which toucheth nothing but their Picture they feel blows which they do not receive and the distance of place cannot free them from the fury of their enemies Love which is as powerful and not much less cruel than Magick doth this Miracle every day when it joyns two souls together it finds a way to make their sufferings common men cannot offend the one but the other resents it each of them suffers as well in the body which it loves as in that which it inanimates Since Love and Magick work these wonders we must not marvel if Nature having fastned the Soul to the Body do make the miseries common and if by one only wo she makes two Parties miserable the participation of each others Good and Bad is a consequence of their Marriage and the Heavens must do a miracle to give them a Dispensation from this necessity The joy of Martyrs was no meer effect of Reason when they tasted any pleasure amidst their Torments it must needs be Grace that sweetned the rigour thereof and he that in the fiery Furnace changed Flames into pleasing gales of Wind must have turned their Torments into Delights or if he did them not this favour he did them a greater and by making the Soul not sensible of the Bodies sufferings he taught the whole world that he was the Soveraign Lord of Nature