Captivity whence the Legislator covers and shrouds himself as it were with this Benefit in order to draw them to the Obedience they owe to him I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Aegypt out of the house of Bondage thou shalt have none other Gods c. 'T is plain that this Motive has not the same Force upon the Heart of those Men who did not partake of this Deliverance 't will be to no purpose to say that tho' they did not all partake of the Temporal Deliverance of the Israelites yet have they been Spiritually deliver'd from the Egypt of Sin Mystical Senses are good in a simple Doctrine design'd to instruct but are of no use in a Precept which requiring an exact Obedience cannot be conceived in Terms too precise or too proper And again what a number of People are there in the World to whom God hath certainly given the Natural Law as well as to other Men who yet have never heard of the Deliverance of the Israelites by the Ministry of Moses and who consequently cannot find an Emblem of their Spiritual Deliverance 2. The Israelites being in a Desart where they could have no other Drink but Water nor other Meat but Manna had no need of any Instruction or Precept to incline them to Sobriety by making them to avoid Drunkenness and Gluttony No other reason can be given of this why the Lawgiver has not forbidden this kind of Intemperance in the Decalogue which hath always pass'd for a Capital Vice 3. The Canaanites who had incurr'd the Displeasure of God and born the Punishment of their own Sins did nevertheless seem accursed outwardly and interpretatively as the Schools speak by occasion of the Crime of Cham who discover'd his Father's Shame and was punished by this Prophetick Malediction which presag'd the Ruine of Canaan's Posterity The Son of the Impious One It cannot be deny'd but that the Decalogue manifestly alludes to this in the Fifth Commandment conceiv'd in these Words Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy Days may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee 'T is certain that by the Land must be understood not the Land of the Living in general but this Land which had been allotted to the Israelites which evidently appears from this Expression which the Lord thy God giveth thee And doubtless the sense of the Law is That they ought to avoid the Crime of Cham who became fatal to his Posterity and endeavour to obtain by an opposite Conduct and Behaviour the Benediction of God who is able to confirm them in their Possessions 4. 'T is certain that Nature teaches us to Consecrate a part of our Life to the Service of God For since we receive from him every moment of our Duration Gratitude and Justice require us to Dedicate some of them to Him and particularly to set apart some certain Seasons for Piety and Devotion But to observe the Seventh Day and to extend the Observation of it even to Beasts is an Injunction that bears no relation to Nature but to the Condition of this People at that time God was not willing the memory of the Benefit of the Creation should be forgotten thro' neglect of observing a Feast that had been instituted with a design to perpetuate the Remembrance of this great Event It appears by all these Characters That the Law of the Decalogue doth not differ from the Law of Nature as to its Essence and first Principles but only as to its manner and the Extension which were requisite to be given it to adapt it to the Condition and Exigencies of the People of Israel This is evident from a general Observation which may be made upon this Subject namely That the grand Motives which support the Precepts of this Law in general are Temporal Benedictions and Maledictions Motives which the Soveraign Law-giver imploy'd to make himself obey'd he who could menace Men with eternal Punishments design'd for the Wicked and promise to those who observ'd his Law an eternal and most happy Life how does he come to suppress these powerful Motives these dreadful Objects or at least to declare them but darkly and confusedly whilst he takes all the Force of his Promises and Threats from the greatness of Bodily Goods and Evils 'T is because he proportions his Law to that present State of the Israelites the Time being not yet come for clearly revealing Life and most Blessed Immortality in Jesus Christ who among other Characters of his Divine Vocation was to have this of a clear and abundant Revelation CHAP. III. Where we continue to make certain Reflections upon the Decalogue considering it as the Expression of the Law of Nature accommodated to the State of the Israelites THe first Precept which it contains is of so great Importance that it seems of it self to be a Compendium of Morality and Religion It includes a Command and a Prohibition the Command is to love God with all our Heart with all our Strength and with all our Mind the prohibition is not to have any other God before the Lord. For the better understanding of this precept 't is to be observ'd in general that a Man may love Three ways by Sense or by Reason or by Sense and Reason both together To love by Sense is to love One for the Good he doth us or for the Pleasures he creates to us To love by Reason is to love Perfection for Perfection's sake To love by Sense and Reason too is to love One both upon the account of the Merit and Perfection wherewith he is endued and of the Good which he does or is capable of doing us Love of Reason seems not essentially to differ from Esteem and it imports no more than an Esteem interess'd in the behalf of the Object esteem'd which searches for Occasions of doing it Good or wishes it Well Thus we love extraneous and remote Desert such as no way relates to us but as we shall see hereafter Love of this Character is rarely to be found We love our selves on the contrary by Sense and not by Reason The Love of our selves precedes the Judgment which we make that we ought to love our selves and tho' we should propose a thousand Arguments against this Inclination yet for all that we should not cease to love our selves Lastly God loves Himself both by Reason and Sense by Reason because He knows His proper Perfections by Sense because He tasts His infinite Beatitude And in like manner we are obliged to love Him both by Reason and Sense by Reason because he is endued with all Perfections by Sense because He communicates to us all the Goods we can enjoy and possess God seems here to demand the Love of Sense He doth not say I am the God of all Perfections c. But I am the Eternal thy God who brought thee out of the Land of Egypt c. And 't is remarkable that this Character is
God contemn the Injury of the Elements and the persecution of Men suffer with so great Constancy as if they suffer'd in a Body which was not their own transported with Joy in the midst of consuming Flames and triumphing to see the Dissolution of that Compound which is so preciously and carefully preserved by other Men because they are supported and encouraged by the Idea of Eternity whereof the Divine Mercy has given them a distinct Knowledge Not but the Law of Moses includes some Relation to Eternity for this Law had at least the Shadow of good things to come also it cannot be deny'd but that the Gospel supposes the Idea's of Man's Vileness and Mortality for it includes all our Remedies and Consolations against it but thus much is true that the Law of Moses regards the present Life directly and Eternity indirectly whereas the Gospel regards Eternity as its principal Object and the present Life indirectly As for Nature that is equally discover'd under both Oeconomies The Gospel if I may so speak is hidden in in Nature Nature in the Gospel but we must here understand the immortal Nature and that will put us in a way to unravel some Difficulties which might possibly intangle and perplex us Indeed it seems contrary to Nature to love our Enemies to look upon Adversity as a Blessing and Afflictions as a subject of Joy and so far to yield up the Cudgels to Justice as to render not only as much but even more than it demands which are Maxims of the Gospel I confess all this goes against the Grain of the Corruptible Nature which measures every Thing according as it stands related to this present Life but 't is far from being opposite to the Interests of the immortal Nature which values not Time and exerts all its Actions in a prospect of Eternity Our Enemies are an Obstacle to the establishment of our Fortune in the World but nothing except the Hatred we may possibly bear them is an hindrance to our Salvation and this is the Thing which the immortal Man considers he despises those little Reasons of Hating which Concupiscence suggests to our Heart and regards those eternal Relations we have to Others in God who is our common Father as the most powerful Motives of the Love we have for our Neighbour Plenty and Prosperity charm such a Heart as hath limited the utmost of its Hopes and Pretensions to the transitory World but the immortal Man finds in that State so much more subject of Fear as there is more of Sense he dreads these imaginary Goods which buisy us and never satisfy these lively Sensations which hinder the Knowledge of his real Interests He looks upon Prosperity as the Reign of the Passions which seduce and misguide us He 's perswaded that Afflictions by depriving us of these agreeable Sensations do but only chase an infinite Troop of Impostors from the Territories of our Soul And he does not think that Worldly Goods deserve our Envy and to make us rival each other in pursuing them especially when Religion assures him that these Hatreds and Contestations which are occasion'd by the corruptible World are capable of doing him an Eternal prejudice For which Reason tho' Man has a Right of demanding what belongs to him God having for this End establish'd Tribunals in Society which would be but an union of Robbers and a succession of Murthers and Villanies without the Exercise of Justice yet the prudence of the immortal Man permits him not to exact his Rights with rigour and severity when he sees but the least probability of injuring by that means the Interests of his Soul Whence we may conclude That the Morality of the Gospel is but purely the Expression of the immortal Man's Heart but we shall have an Opportunity to speak more of this elsewhere We have seen that the Perfections of Man roll upon his Immortality which alone can render him capable of Happiness and we have just now seen that this Immortality founds the Extent of our Duties and Obligations We proceed to shew that 't is this also that makes the Strength of our Soul or the Weight that can determine us to well-doing CHAP. V. â—f the moral Strength of Man or the Motives which he finds in himself for determining him in his Actions HAd God been an Enemy to Man He would have fix'd Pain to all those Obâ—ects whereunto it pleas'd Him to fix Delight â—nd Pleasure he could have done One as easiâ—y as the Other and then Man would have â—een his own Enemy whereas now he is naturally a Lover of himself For it needs must follow by an essential Consequence that he who feels Pain hates â—t and if this Pain be constant and inseparaâ—le he hates his own Being as knowing veâ—y well that unless he existed he should not â—ndure this Pain 'T is very easy to conceive That the damn'd Spirits hate themselves for â—heir Punishment and that tho' Self-love has been in this World the Source of their Corruption Hatred of themselves becomes hereafter Instrumental to their Punishment Moreover we conceive that 't is impossible to have a Sense of Pleasure without loving it and wishing the preservation of this Self which is the Subject of it Pleasure makes 〈◊〉 love our Existence because without our Existence this pleasure cannot subsist Thence it follows that 't was in the power of God when He form'd Man either to make him love or not love Himself since it depended upon His Will to affix or not affix Pleasure to certain Objects Thus the Love of our selves is in it self a natural Inclination 't is Nature that causes us to love Pleasure and hate Pain and 't is Nature that makes us love our selves This Inclination does not wait for intellectual Reflections to give it Birth in our Soul it precedes all our Reasonings The Stoicks have justly deserv'd to be scorn'd and ridicul'd by all posterity if they really held those Opinions which are usually attributed to them They pretended that the way for a Man to be Wise was to put off Humanity this at the first dash was a very great piece of Extravagance but they fail'd no less in conceiving a kind of Infirmity and Baseness in the most natural Spring of our Heart Secondly Self-love is an Inclination most Divine in its Original We love our selves for this very Reason because God has loved us Had God hated us we should likewise hate our selves therefore 't is unreasonable and groundless to cry down all those Actions which Self-love excites us to as if they were so many Crimes and Infirmities according to the dangerous Morality of some who have pretended to annihilate the Excellency of all the Vertues upon this principle That they all proceeded from the Womb of Self-love and were grounded meerly in Interest a very bad Consequence since Self-love is an Inclination of a most Divine and Heavenly Extraction Lastly the Love of our selves is a necessary Inclination it must not be imagin'd
at once but Self-love is mistaken for we are so far from losing all our five Senses that 't is certain we do not really lose one of them we don't become uncapable of Seeing Hearing and Speaking 'T is not the Nature of Things but the free Institution of God that hath affix'd these Perceptions of our Soul to the Organs of our Body to which they had naturally no more Relation than to the Matter which is hidden in the Center of the Earth howsoever Men may be prejudic'd in this Matter Would we say such a Man has lost his Sight the natural Disposition of whose Faculties God should have so chang'd as to have order'd that his Eyes should have no more Priviledge than the rest and that all the parts of his Body should be capable of Seeing This is the Idea of a Man that loses one way of perceiving and sees this infinite Abyss of Sensibility which is naturally in him adequately fill'd These Losses which prejudic'd Nature imagines it is at by Death become so much the more sensible as they are unavoidable and impos'd by a fatal Necessity which cannot be resisted Men have always look'd upon â—his Necessity as a dreadful Misery the irâ—egular Inclination they have to love forbidâ—en Things with so much the greater arâ—our which caused One to say Define vitiae â—rritare vetando augments and encreases â—heir Love of Life by the Impossibility they â—nd themselves under of extending its Liâ—â—its and makes 'em look upon Death with â—o much the more horour as they are uncaâ—able of avoiding it But had the Wisdom â—f God impos'd upon Men the necessity of â—iving as it has the necessity of Dying we â—ay be almost assur'd that in time they would â—e as much afflicted and troubled at the â—houghts of their Immortality as now they â—re at those of their Mortality Now the neâ—essity of Dying makes them attend more to â—â—e Pleasures than the Crosses of Life but â—â—en the necessity of Living would cause â—â—em to apply more regard and attention to â—â—e Evils than to the Agreements and Pleaâ—â—res of Life Our Soul assuredly owes a great part of its Repugnancy and Unwillingness to leave the Body to Custome and Prejudices to see this we need only reflect upon our past Life remark and muster up together all its Pleasures and seriously ask our selves whether all that countervails our past Grief and Trouble On one side what if it pleas'd the Author of Nature to endow a Soul which is form'd to animate a Body with a most distinct Knowledge of the Dignity and Perfections of its Nature the Grandeur of its End and the Nobility of its Extraction and on the other it were inform'd distinctly of all the Infirmities of all the base and painful Dependances which it goes to espouse by espousing this Body pray would not the very first Moment of its Life certainly seem the beginning of Death So for this reason 't was necessary that the confus'd Sensations of Nature which alligate and fasten us to Life should precede the distinct Ideas which are proper enough in themselves to free and loosen us from it and that the former should be naturally of greater Force and Activity than the latter For tho' God would not have us be excessively fond of Life yet the Author of Nature was oblig'd to interess and engage us in the Preservation of Corporeal Nature without which there would be no Society Death has two very different and also very opposite Aspects as we consider it with reference to the Soul For Life and Death may both be said to make the Debasement and Glory of Man Life makes the Glory of the Body and the Debasement of the Soul 't is by Life that the Body is extended to the just and natural Proportion of its Parts Life gives it Health Strength Agility Beauty and makes in a word all its Perfections But Life causes the Debasement of our Soul it confines it to such Objects as are no ways related to its natural Excellency it makes this Mind buisy it self in trivial Affairs and place its whole Concern in the management of a Family a Field a Vineyard and the most abject and sordid necessities of the Body as if this immortal Mind was made for no higher and nobler Imployment but to prolong for some Moments the Duration of this frail Machine to which it is united If Life makes the Glory of the Body and the Debasement of the Soul Death may be said to make the Glory of the Soul and the Debasement of the Body The Body falls but the Soul rises up and soars as it were to its native Heaven The Body consumes and in process of time relapses into Dust but the Mind extends and enlarges it self like a Divine Sphere which becomes greater and greater proportionably to the nearness of its Approach to God The Body is depriv'd of its former Motion the Soul acquires such Knowledge as it had not before The Body mingles it self with the Earth the Soul is re-united to God The Debasement which ensues upon Death lights upon an insensible lump of Matter A Carcass gnaw'd by devouring Worms endures no Pain it smells not those noisom Odours it exhales is not terrify'd with the surrounding Darkness nor is out of Conceit with it self even when 't is nothing else but an horrid Miscellany of Blood and Dirt of Bones and Putrefaction 'T is an Illusion and Cheat of prejudic'd Nature that makes us affix our proper Ideas and Perceptions to such Objects as do only occasion them Matter when depriv'd of Life and Sense is plac'd in its natural State this is no Imbasement or Degradation to it all the seeming Dishonour and Turpitude is meerly in our Fancy But the case is not the same in respect of that Imbasement and Degradation to which Life exposes us This is not the natural State of such a Soul as ours and doubtless the Author of Nature had never abandon'd it to such a Condition but upon the account of Sin Man indeed would have liv'd but his Life would have been more Noble and Excellent 'T is a great mistake to pretend that Man's Death commences the Punishment of his Corruption Life has already punish'd criminal Man by those sad Dependances which alligate and confine the Thoughts Cares Desires and Affections of so great and noble a Soul to the support and preservation of this sordid Mass of Clay which we term our Body Yet such is the Imbecillity and Weakness of Man that he would needs fancy himself Debased where really he is not and is not willing to perceive himself Debas'd where really he is so An imaginary Debasement frightens and terrifies him and yet he cannot see a proper and real Debasement But what if the Body be truly Degraded so the Gain of the Soul does infinitely preponderate the Losses of the Body Are we so weak as to think that our Happinessness is so confin'd and fix'd to certain Affairs Possessions Offices Housholds and a
ADVERTISEMENT THE Translator by thâ— Author's Advice râ—trench'd from the former Paâ—â— of this Treatise certain obscuâ—â— and Metaphysical Passages which may be seen in the â—riginal In doing which he haâ— cut off rather superfluous anâ— useless Branches than any mâ—terial or necessary Part aâ—â— has render'd it more agreeablâ— and fitted to every Capacity April 29. 1694. THE ART OF Knowing One-self OR An ENQUIRY into THE Sources of MORALITY Written Originally in French By the Reverend Dr. ABBADIE In Two PARTS OXFORD Printed by Leonard Lichfield for Henry Clements and John Howell Booksellers 1695. TO MY MUCH Esteemed Friend Mr. HENRY LEVET I SHALL not excuse my Adventure by extolling this Author's Worth lest I should seem both Unjust and Impertinent For should I go to enumerate his Praises I might fail of rendering him all that is his Due and to repeat his Fame whom the World sufficiently knows and this very Work not a little commends would be foolishly Vain and Impertinent I hope by my pouring his fragrant Essences into a new Vessel they are better expos'd to the Sense of my Country-men and have not Lost much of their genuine Odour However I am pretty well assur'd That the Majesty of the Sense will shine thro' the Meanness of my Expression and that so whilst it gathers new Praises to its Author 't will obtain at least a Pardon for me 'T is not my Design in presenting you with a Treatise of this Kind either to Inform your Mind or Reform your Manners since I doubt not but you already understand the Rules for Knowing Your-self and carefully Transcribe 'em into Practice I offer it to you as a Part of that Homage which all Men Owe and those that Know you justly Pay to your real Merit and particularly as a Token of Gratitude to that Generous and Friendly Temper which I always Admir'd and frequently Experienc'd in you As you have hitherto even in Prosperity freely embrac'd an useful Knowledge of your Self as related both to God and the World surely the Heavens will see no Reason to Frown upon you with whom their Smiles have been so prevailing and that they never may is the hearty Prayer of SIR Your most Humble and Most Obedient Servant T. W. THE TABLE Of The CHAPTERS The First PART CHAP. I. WHere we give a general Idea of the Vileness and Misery of Man which are the first of his Qualities that occur to our Mind Pag. 11 â—hap II. Where we endeavour to know Man by considering the Nature and Extent of his Duties Pag. 24 â—hap III. Where we continue to make certain Reflections upon the Decalogue considering it as an Expression of the Law of Nature accommodated to the State of the Israelites Pag. 32 â—hap IV. Where we shew the Extent of the Law of Nature by considering it in the Gospel and with Relation to the Immortal Man Pag. 39 â—hap V. Of the Moral Strength of Man or the Motives which he finds in himself to determine him in his Actions Pag. 43 Chap. VI. Where we explain what Effect the sense of Immortality is capable of working upon our Heart Pag. 4â— Chap. VII Where we continue to shew whaâ— the Sense of our Immortality can work upoâ— our Heart Pag. 6â— The Second PART CHAP. I. WHere we enquire after the Source of our Corruption by handling the first of our Faculties which is the Vnderstanding Pag. 9â— Chap. II. Where we continue to shew that thâ— Source of our Corruption is not in the Vnderstanding Pag. 10â— Chap. III. Where we search after the manner how the Heart deceives the Mind Pag. 10â— Chap. IV. Where we consider the mutual Illuâ—ons which pass between the Heart and thâ— Mind and how GOD alone destroys 'em by his Grace Pag. 11â— Chap. V. Where we continue to search for thâ— Sources of our Corruption by considering thâ— Motions and Inclinations of the Heart Pag. 12â— Chap. VI. Where we examine the Faults â— Self-love Pag. 12â— Chap. VII Where we shew that Self-love kindles all our Affections and is the generaâ— Principle of our Motions Pag. 13â— Chap. VIII Where we continue to shew that Self-love is the Principle of our Affections Pag. 147 Chap. IX Where we consider the most general Inclinations of Self-love and in the first place the Desire of Happiness Pag. 166 Chap. X. Where we consider the Cheats which Self-love puts upon it self to correct the Defects it finds in the Happiness it aims at Pag. 180 Chap. XI Where we consider the general Inclinations of Self-love the Second whereof is a Desire of Perfection Pag. 193 Chap. XII Where we treat of the general Vices which flow from Self-love and first of Pleasure Pag. 201 Chap. XIII Where we continue to consider the divers Characters of Pleasure Pag. 209 Chap. XIV Where we treat of the general Disorders of Self love and particularly of Pride Pag. 221 Chap. XV. Where we examine all those Irregularities which are Ingredients of Pride Pag. 227 Chap XVI Where we consider the Second Irregularity of Pride Pag. 237 Chap. XVII Of the Third Irregularity which goes to make up Pride which is Vanity Pag. 240 Chap. XVIII Where we continue the Characters of Men's Vanity Pag. 252 Chap. XIX Of the Two last Characters of Pride which are Ambition and the Contempt of our Neighbour Pag. 265 BOOKS lately Printed by Leonard Lichfield and Sold by Henry Clements John Howell A Defense of the Christian Sabbath Part the First In Answer to a Treatise of of Mr. Thomas Bampfield Pleading for Saturday-Sabbath Price 1 s. The 2 Edit A Defense of the Christian Sabbath Part the Second Being a Rejoinder to Mr. Bampfield's Reply to Doctor Wallis's Discourse concerning the Christian Sabbath Price 1 s. 6 d. Both by John Wallis D. D. And Professor of Geometry in the University of Oxford An Essay on Grief With the Causes and Remedies of it Price bound 1 s. Poems on several Occasions Originals and Translations Price 1 s. Guilelmi Oughtred Aetonensis Quondam Collegii Regalis in Cantabrigia Socii Clavis Mathematicae Denuo Limata sive potius Fabricata Cum aliis quibusdam ejusdem Commentationibus quae in sequenti paginae recensentur Editio Quinta auctior emendatior Ex Recognitione D. Johannis Wallis S. T. D. Geometriae Professoris Saviliani Octavo The ART of KNOWING ONE-SELF Or An Enquiry after the Sources OF MORALITY MORAL Philosophy or the Knowledge of Manners is the Art of regulating One's Heart by Vertue and of rendering One-self Happy by Living well This Science which the Ancients call'd by the Name of Wisdom and which One of them boasts of having brought down from Heaven hath not always been Treated of either in the same Method or with the same Success For it seems to have taken the Tincture of the different Prejudices of Men which every Time has produc'd and of the divers States thro' which their Mind hath passed Paganism in general had taken from it its Force its Motives and its Examples 'T
is easy to conceive That Men did not find themselves very much dispo'sd to Live well by the Motives of a Religion which they lookt upon as a Collection of Ridiculous Dreams and a prodigious Complication of Fictions that were Incredible even to the grossest of the Vulgar Juv. Sâ—t 2. Esse aliquos maneis subterranea regna Et contum stygio ranas in gurgite nigras Atque una transâ—re vadum tot millia cymba Nec pueri credunt nisâ— qui nondum aere lavantur The Philosophers who made Profession of a more refin'd Doctrine have nevertheless not made a much farther Progress in this respect For some of them have not had any true Idea of the natural Dignity of Man whom they took delight to confound with the Beasts that they might with an equal freedom plunge themselves without scruple in the Ocean of Pleasure Others have waver'd on this account in perpetual Uncertainties which permitted them not to establish their specious Precepts upon very certain Foundations Even the Morality of the Stoicks the most pure and sublime of all as they themselves imagin'd hath not been without some Defect It could Elevate Man but failed to Humble him One may say of all these Philosophers what was said of One of them who despis'd the Vanity of the Others with too much Ostentation They Trampled upon Pride with a yet greater Pride They acknowâ—edg'd the Defects of Humane Nature that â—ey might lay hold of an Occasion to extol â—heir own Wisdom that had freed 'em from â—em and renouncing such a Life as other â—en led they dared prefer themselves beâ—â—re the Greatest of their Gods The Morality which springs from the Old â—nd New Testament hath Characters altoâ—ether opposite to those we have just now â—emark'd It hath certain Principles it folâ—â—ws the Light of Truth it is supported by â—ost powerful Motives and most perfect Exâ—mples it considers Man as coming from â—OD returning to GOD and having no â—ss than an Eterniâ—y in view It lifts up â—an abased by his Passions vilified by Suâ—erstition and degraded by the Infamy of his â—pplications and which is admirable it â—ises him in such a manner as not to puff â—m up with Pride and humbles him so as â— make him lose nothing of his proper Digâ—â—ty It divests him of his Pride by comâ—unicating to him real Glory and raises his â—xcellency in forming his Humility by this â—ivine Commerce of our Souls with GOD â—hich Religion acquainted us with in â—hich GOD descends quite to our lower â—egion without losing any thing of His â—randeur and we mount up to GOD withâ—t remitting any thing of that Abasement â—hich we owe to his Presence This Science which not only teaches us to Live well but also to obtain an Eternity of Happiness by Living well is so Important a part of Religion that GOD was not willing it should be in our Power to pretend the Ignorance of it And whereas we have no other means of attaining to the Knowledge of most things but either by Reason Sense or Faith He was willing that the Morality of His Gospel should be known after all these ways Faith makes us embrace it because Jesus Christ and the Apostles have taught and practis'd it the inward Sense oâ— Conscience makes us approve of it because â— satisfies raises and comforts us Reason aâ— last gives its Suffrage unto it because it contains nothing but what is Comformable to the Maxims of good Sense whether in the Principles whereupon it is established or in the Rules which it prescribes unto us GOD goes almost the same way to Work when the Soul is to be Nourished as he dotiâ— when the Nourishment of the Body is performed He doth not only give us a Facultâ— of Reasoning to provide for the Subsistencâ— of the latter For altho' this Rational Faculty be necessary yet 't is not sufficient tâ— determine us to take the Aliments that aâ— design'd for our Preservation in such a Regularity as is requisite to make them producâ— their Effect He thought good to add the Faculty of Sense whereby we perceive theâ—â— Aliments to be agreeable and the Faith we â—ave in those who fed us with 'em before â—e were capable of making an Enquiry into â—m our selves For the Author of Nature who knew how inconvenient it was to send Men to Eat and Drink so as that they â—ould have known by Reasoning how the â—liments are changed into Chyle the Chyle â—nto Blood the Blood into Flesh Bone c. â—nd how the Effluxes and Wastings of Corâ—oreal Nature which are caused by Tranâ—piration are repair'd by Nourishment â—â—ought fit to engage Men to take their Food â—y a more Compendious way which is that â—f Sense whereunto may be added the â—aith they have in their Parents the Imitaâ—â—on of whom is to them a Natural Reason â—hich saves them the Discussion and parâ—â—cular Enquiry It may likewise be said That were it neâ—â—ssary for Man to know by Reason the â—â—mortality of his Soul his End and his Duâ—â—es which are the most general Principles 〈◊〉 Morality in order to capacitate himself â—r the Performance of the Duties it enjoins would be requisite he should be a Philosoâ—â—er before he can be an honest Man GOD â—ho is the Author of Religion as well as of â—ature hath therefore abridg'd and shorten'd â—r way in this respect by Exhibiting to us â—ro ' Faith the Principal Truths of Moâ—â—lity and by giving us a Tast of them thro' Channel of Sense For the Faith we have in Jesus Christ tells us that we ought to be Conformable unto him in time in order to partake of his Glory in Eternity and Conscience makes us perceive in the Piety which it prescribes unto us an agreeable Feeling and a Divine Tast which engages us to practice it But as Reason is not useless to the Conservation of the Body in Nature neither is it so to the Sanctification of the Soul in Religion it supports Faith and confirms Sense They who desire to know Morality by Faith need but read the Gospel They who desire to know it by inward Sense need but search for it in their own Hearts with the help of Revelation which GOD directs them unto and the Conjunction of these Two Methods will not fail to furnish them with all the Principles of the Science of Living well But 't is to he hop'd That no One will blame our Design in this Writing of Conducting Men by Reason as far as it shall be possible towards that End whereunto Religion conducts us by Faith and Conscience leads us by Sense Reason as well as Faith and Conscience is a Gift which GOD hath bestow'd upon us Its Lights do assuredly proceed from the Father of Lights the Author of every excellent Gift and I know not what better use we can make of our Mind then by employing it in the Consideration of what is of greatest Importance and Concernment to us This Study is none of the shortest in
order to the pure Learning of these Duties but it is extreamly proper to nourish the Gratitude which we ought to bear to the Author of our Being to confirm the Faith we have in Jesus Christ and to remove from the Incredulous this haughty Prejudice That our Morality is calculated only for such Persons as have not Wit enough to avoid Deception And lastly To elevate our Mind and Heart by shewing us the Ways of GOD in the Inclinations of Men and the Duties of Man in the the Ways of GOD. We shall see thro' this Meditation the Divine Relations that are between Nature and the Gospel and that Reason leads us to the Confines of Religion We shall learn that Natural Light when it is pure and exempted from Prejudices doth of it self conduct us to the most sublime Duties of Man and represent unto us his lofty Destinies and the Glory of his Condition We shall endeavour to say Nothing but what relates to the Principles of our Faith which we will evince to be the same with those of Nature as far as they concern the Knowledge of Manners and if we be oblig'd at first to insist upon abstract Truths we shall do this no farther than as they conduct us to sensible Truths In a word We will search not only after Truth but also for Advantage and Profit in our Discoveries remembring the Design of the Science which we treat of Indeed Morality being to our Soul the same that Physick is to our Body and having for its End and Scope the curing us of our spiritual Maladies it must apply it self principally unto Two Things First to know the Evil and afterwards to search for Remedies that may effect the Cure These two Designs do divide Morality but they are too vast and would lead us too far wherefore we confine our selves to the former waiting till Providence put us in a way to handle the other We do here search for the Knowledge of Man but not as Physick Anatomy Metaphysick Logick Medicine which consider him as a Corporeal Being or simply as a Spiritual Substance as an Animal or as a reasonable Animal We shall consider him only as a Creature capable of Vertue and Happiness and which finds it self in a State of Corruption and Misery Not but this respect under which Morality obliges us to consider our selves engages us to borrow from some of these other Sciences certain Principles which we shall take from what is most evident in them For in order to have a perfect Knowledge of the Corruption and Misery of Man 't is necessarily requisite we should have some Knowledge of his Nature his End and his Excellence But if what we have to say on this subject seem in some places somewhat Abstract above the ordinary Capacity of Men it ought to be remember'd that we treat of the Sources of Morality and if it be perceived that we do not always accomodate our selves to vulgar Opinions it must be consider'd that this is not a fit place for respecting Prejudices since we write meerly to disentangle the Confusion of our Idea's and to justify by Reason that which we perceive by Sense This Work must therefore be divided into Two Parts In the First We will shew what Man is to what is Obliged and for what he is Able that is to say We will treat of his Nature his Perfections his End his Duties and natural Obligations his Strength Motives and Objects that may principally determine him in his Actions In the Second We shall treat of his Irregularities in general and particular we shall search for the Original of his Corruption we shall consider the Rivulets flowing thence we shall view the Force of his Applications the Extent of his Passions the Principle of his Vices and all along we shall shew the Rule in order to make known the Irregularities and we will justify the Greatness of our Fall by shewing the Degree of our Rise and Elevation May GOD who is the Master of Minds purify mine by his Grace to the end That I may say nothing but what refers to his Glory and is conformable to the Holy and Eternal Truths of his Gospel Amen The FIRST PART Wherein we Treat of the Nature of MAN of his End his Perfections his Duties and his Strength CHAP. I. Wherein we give a General Idea of the Vileness and Misery of Man which are the First of his Qualities that occur to our Mind IT is certain That Man seems to be a very inconsiderable Being when we judge of him thro' the Prejudices of the Senses We are not far from finding him uncapable of Vertue when we consider his Vileness and uncapable of Happiness when we reflect upon his Misery The Smallness of his Body is the first that occurs to the Eyes the Scripture dedenotes it by telling us That Man has his Foundation in the Dust That he dwelleth in a Tabernacle of Clay and That he is consumed at the meeting of a Worm And Nature moreover so clearly represents it to our Understanding that 't is impossible for our Pride to contest or dispute it 'T is true That as we are accustom'd to measure every thing with Relation to Our Selves we use to look upon our selves as the Center of Perfection and to think the Bodies that surround us either too great or too little according as they are more or less proportion'd to the Bulk of our own But you need but only change your State and view things with other Eyes than your own or consider them in a sense of Opposition in order to disabuse your self on this account Go up a Mountain and tell how big those Men appear who stand in the Vallies beneath Suppose the Heavenly Bodies were Animated with such a Mind as yours and that they had Eyes to look upon you pray what would your Body seem to them Or compare the Dimensions of this Body to these vast Spheres wherewith you are environ'd with these moveable and luminous Worlds which the Hand of the Creator seems to have planted round about you to convince you more throughly of the Smallness of this Tabernacle of Flesh which you inhabit The Infirmity of Man is proportion'd to his Smallness and his Meanness to his Infirmity and the one and the other was in the Mind of the Prophet when he cry'd out speaking to GOD Wilt thou shew thy Strength against a Leaf which the Wind carries away Or in the Mind of the Psalmist when he said by a kind of Hyperbole fraught with Sense and Truth That if Man should be weighed with Nothing we should find that Nothing would turn the Scale We may indeed say That Nothing does encompass Man on every side By the Time past he is no more by the future he does not yet Exist by the present he partly is and partly is not In vain does he endeavour to fix the past by Memory and to anticipate the future by Hope that he may stretch the present to a greater
length He 's a Flower that springs in the Morning spreads at Noon and withers in the Evening Man consider'd in his various States is a Creature constantly Miserable Who as an Ancient very well says Meets with Sin in his Conception Labour in his Birth Pain in in his Life and Despair of an inevitable Necessity in his Death All his Ages bring him some Infirmity or some particular Misery Infancy is meerly an Oblivion and Ignorance of One self Youth a durable Passion a long Madness and Old Age nothing but a Death languishing under the Appearances of Life with so great a Troop of Infirmities is it attended There are few things round about him but what do put him in Mind of his End he discovers the Principles of his Death which he dreads above all things both in the Air which he breaths in the Aliments which he receives and in the Sources of his Life which consumes and gnaws away its own Bowels And such is his Fate that after having shun'd the greatest Dangers Fires Shipwracks and Diseases he at last finds all these pretended Deliverances terminated by Death His Body is the Center of Infirmities his Mind is fill'd with Errors and his Heart with irregular Affections He suffers both by the Consideration of what is past which is Irrevocable and of the future which is Inevitable In vain does he desire to stay himself a while that he may have leisure to Tast some Pleasures which present themselves in his Way Time is like a Whirl-pool which carries him away inexorable to his Regrets and Complaints When we are alone we cannot endure the View of our selves and of the Necessity that is imposed upon the Pleasures of the World of passing away in a Moment United with others in Society we do but multiply our Selves as I may so say into other selves in order to a greater Participation of the common Misery of Mankind 'T is a very grievous thing to a Creature that loves it self so well to behold it self continually Dying and to perceive Life no more than proportionably as it loseth it Infancy is Dead to make way for Youth Youth for Ripeness of Years Ripeness of Years for Advanc'd Age and this latter for extream Old Age We are Dead in respect of those many well-belov'd Persons whom we have lost and in respect of many Pleasures and Advantages which following the Fate of the World are consum'd away by their own proper Use no Relick thereof remaining unto us but only a slight Remembrance which is uncapable of yielding us any Satisfaction and is very proper to vex and torment us Suppose the Life of Man were very long and durable yet the appendant Happiness of it would be inconsiderable and were the Felicity which we meet with here in these lower Regions as full as it is Defective yet 't would be very insignificant seeing it must be cut off at last by the fatal Sword of Death What then will this be when we are convinced of the Deceitfulness of these Advantages and of the shortness of Life which is such that to speak the down-right Truth 'T is hardly long enough to give us time to regulate our Affairs to take leave of one another and in a fit manner to make our Will Man who is naturally convinc'd of these Truths enquires after Means of solacing himself at these Calamities to which the Quality of Man exposes him therefore he avoids the Representation of himself to his own View and the putting himself forward under this Quality He would fain be look'd upon only as a Being invested with certain external Advantages which make the difference of Conditions and the distinction of Persons But if there be so much Dignity in Man as Religion represents to us there would be a Thousand times greater Grounds for Valuing himself upon the Qualities which we have in common than upon those which characterise and distinguish us And if on the contrary the Possession of these external Advantages were so Honourable as the World would make us believe Man in himself must needs be a very trivial and inconsiderable Being which we cannot think without betraying not only the Honour of our Nature but also the Sentiments of our Vanity Methinks we may give this Definition of the Worldling who to cure or comfort himself at his Poverty and natural Misery loves to cloath himself with Imaginary Goods A Phantome that walks among such things as have only an Appearance I call a Phantome not the Man of Nature compounded of a Body and Soul which GOD hath framed but the Man of Concupiscence compounded of the Dreams and Fictions of Self-love I call the Things which have only an Appearance and this after the Psalmist the Advantages which the World seeketh after with so great Passion and Ardour these great Vacuities taken up with our own Vanity or rather these great Nothings which occupy so great a space in our extravagant Imagination When we endeavour to Annihilate and Destroy this Phantome of Pride and Concupiscence which we discover'd in Man 't is not our Design to subscribe to the Eternal Arrest of our Misery and Vileness Let us make a deep Search into these Appearances which seem'd at first so sad and dismal and we shall find some Reason to comfort our selves but in order to discover that which we desire we must search for Man in Man and not in these external Differences which Concupiscence seeketh after with such a passionate Desire For it is not the design of GOD to raise one Man or a certain Order of Men to a proper and particular Happiness Concupiscence deceives in the very first Step it makes you take in your Search of the Supream Good You enquire after a particular Happiness a distinguished Glory so much the worse for you if you chance to find it since the true Good whereunto you ought to Aspire is a common Felicity which should be participated by an Infinity of Creatures that ought to make up the Family of GOD. Having consider'd the Man of Concupiscence who made himself let us now con-consider the Man of Nature who is the Work of the Creatour and to that end take a Survey of the Faculties of his Soul We shall not insist upon the Faculty of Imagination which properly speaking is nothing but a Collection of weak Sensations that do still subsist in our Soul by occasion of the Traces which outward Objects left in our Brain A Collection I say of Sensations which the Soul disposes and afterwards makes use of in the Perception of other Objects But we cannot sufficiently admire this Intellect of Man which rectifies the Senses corrects the Fancy purifies and enlarges Bodily Perceptions which unites together various Ideas in the Judgment it frames of Things and various Judgments in Discourse which weighs compares examines enquires and by the Relation it finds between Things makes the Dependance of Arts Sciences Governments and produces all the Wonders of reasonable Society Is it not a piece
transient â—nd finite Happiness For no less than an â—nfinite succession of Duration bears a proâ—ortion to this infinite succession of Percepâ—ions Thoughts and Desires of which Man â—nds himself naturally capable Let us then conclude That 't is in the Immortal Man that we discover the Nature the Perfections and the End of Man which make up his natural Dignity But as the Nature and Perfections of Man have given us a prospect of his End so his End informs us what are his Duties and natural Obligations which we shall consider in the following Chapter CHAP. II. Where we endeavour to know Man by considering the Nature and Extent of his Duties OUr Duties flow from Nature and owe not their Birth to Education as some Men imagine To make out this we need but suppose Two Principles The First is That we naturally love Our selves being sensible of Pleasure hating Evil desiring Good and taking care of our Preservation The Second is That together with this Propensity to love our selves Nature hath given us a Faculty of Reason to conduct and guide us We love our selves naturally this is â— sensible Truth We are capable of Reason this is a Truth of Fact Nature inclines us to make use of our Reason for directing this Love of our selves this most necessarily rises from the Principles of this latter it being impossible for us to love our selves really without employing all our Lights to search for what is agreeable to us Now from thence that Nature orders us to search for our own Good it follows that Man cannot be said without an evident Contradiction to be void of Duty and Law We must grant an Essential Difference beâ—wixt Moral Good and Evil since the former consists in obeying the Law of reasonaâ—le Nature the other in breaking it This natural Law in general may be diâ—ided into Four others which are its parâ—icular Species the Law of Temperance which obliges us to avoid Excesses and Deâ—aucheries that ruine our Body and injure â—ur Soul the Law of Justice which inclines â—s to render unto every Man his due and â—o by others as we would they should do by â—s the Law of Moderation which proâ—ibites Revenge knowing that we cannot do 〈◊〉 but at our own Cost and that to respect â—n this case the Rights of God is to take â—are of our selves and lastly the Law of â—eneficence which engages us to do Good â—o our Neighbour 'T is certain that the Immortality of Man â—akes the Perfection and Extent of these â—our kinds of Laws He who knows himself under the Idea of an immortal Being will not place his End in those Pleasures which the Author of Nature affixes to that which causes the Preservation or Propagation of the Body We shall not desire to injure other Men if we do not only fear a return of Justice in this Life but if moreover we dread the doing to our selves by that means an eternal Prejudice Whosoever is buisy'd as he ought about his Natural Dignity which undoubtedly raises him far above the Abuses he can possibly receive will be so far from satisfying himself at the Expence of God's Glory that he will hardly conceive any Resentment how ill soever he be dealt with Lastly if this Natural and Temporal Communion which we have with Men in Society be capable of producing any mutual Benevolence which is intended and encreas'd according to the Degree of the Temporal Commerce we entertain with them what Motives of Love and Beneficence do we not discover in the Idea of this Eternal Society which we ought and can have with them Thus the Natural Law is in Man but the Perfection and Extent of this Law is in the Immortal Man But these Four kinds of Laws do constitute what we call the Law of Nature which is the most Ancient most General most Essential of all and the Foundation of the rest 'T is the most Ancient Seeing that the Love of our selves and Reason are antecedent in us to all manner of Inclinations and Laws 'T is the most General For there have been many Men who never heard of Reveal'd Right but never did any come into the World without this Law which inclines 'em to search for their proper Good 'T is the most Essential For this is neither the Jewish nor Christian simply taken it is the Law of Men it does not belong only to the Law or simply to the Gospel but to Nature in what State soever it be Lastly 't is the Foundation of all the rest This plainly appears if we consider That all other Laws are nothing else but the Law of Nature renewed and adapted to certain Conditions of Men you discover the Natural Law in that which God gave to our First Parents The Legislator does there suppose that Man loves himself seeing that his Law is grounded upon Promises and Threatnings Good and Evil are set before him he is enlighten'd to know the one and the other He is engag'd to the Acknowledgment and Gratitude which Nature it self prescribes to us God requires an Homage of him in token of those many Favours he bestows upon him and this Homage consists in abstaining from â—he Fruit of One only Tree the Duty of his preservation is prescribed to him In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye the Death As also the Law of Justice for what is more just than to yield to the Creator the Empire and Dominion over his Creatures and not to gape at the use of his Creatures whether he will or no. This then is the Law of Nature accommodated to the Condition wherein Adam was at that time placed Indeed he could not be as yet prohibited the use of Idols which were unknown to him nor Blaspheming the Name of the Lord when he had but just began to Bless it nor to rest one Day of the Week who was to rest always nor the Killing his Neighbour that was not yet in Being nor committing Adultery when there was but one Woman in the World nor Stealing when he was Master of all Things nor bearing false Witness when he could bear it against no one but himself nor Coveting since all Things were his own But when Men were multiplied upon the Earth as their Condition chang'd God from time to time made new Editions of this Natural Law and gave it to Men under another Form because it was to be proportion'd to their particular Circumstances for which Reason it must not be imagin'd that when we say the Decalogue contains the Law of Nature we mean that it includes nothing else but these simple and common Principles which are to Guide the Conduct of all Men. I confess indeed the Decalogue is the Natural Law renewed and fresh drawn to the Eyes of the Israelites but withal it is certain that 't is the Natural Law accommodated to the State of the Israelites at that time The following Observations will set this Point beyond all doubt The Israelites had been delivered from the Egyptian
certain Circle of Persons with whom we have Society as that we cannot be Happy without all these things We have almost the very same Notions of Death as Children have when they fancy they shall be weary with abiding in the Grave and not dare to be alone in the Abyss of surrounding Darkness We terrify our selves with our own Phantomes and Chimaera's we make such a Confusion of our proper Perceptions with the Grave which is their Object that we are ready to imagine and resent that Horrour in the Sepulchre which is meerly a Creature of our own Fancy and exists no where else but in our own Soul We should not fear this pretended Solitude and apparent Privation which attend Death if substituting the distinct Ideas of Reason instead of the confused Perceptions of Nature we would consider that by Death we are not depriv'd either of the Subject or the Cause of those Delights which this World may have afforded us For the Subject is our Soul which still remains and the Cause is GOD who is immortal and immutable The reason why we regret and bemoan the loss of the Sky Earth Elements Society is because we invest these Things with those agreeable Sensations which they occasion'd not considering that we carry away with us the Colours Cloth Paint and Pencil which are necessary for drawing this admirable Picture and that if God fail us not we can nevâ—r want any thing Nor ought the Idea of Destruction which is included in Death to trouble us any more than this Idea of Solitude which we have been speaking of 'T is true Death seems to destroy Man several ways In his account it destroys the World it being certain that the Sun Moon Stars Air Earth Sea although they be not absolutely Annihilated in themselves may yet be said to be annihilated in respect of him seeing that he cannot enjoy any longer Use of them Man is not annihilated in himself but in the Nature which he admires and which perishes as to him in the Society he has been us'd to and which ceases to be any longer in his Account in his Body the Instrument of his Pleasures which perishes and moulders away in the Dust of the Grave Let us see whether there be any thing Real in either of these Three kinds of Destruction First then external Things cannot be said to be annihilated both in themselves and in respect of thei Use for how do we know but the same Institution in kind may still remain and be in Force tho' the manner of it cease Indeed there is no great likelyhood of our having such kind of Sensations after Death as we had during our Life for 't is no longer necessary that these Sensations should be proportion'd to the Condition and Preservation of a Body which in respect of us ceases to subsist The design which the Author of Nature hath had of engaging us in the Preservation of this Body by the Pleasure which the Aliments excite in us being accomplish'd and come to its intended Period we easily conceive that there being no longer Pleasure to be excited in us by Aliments Tasting has no place after Death and is not a proper Faculty for the Enjoyment of the other World unless God affix it to other Objects for different Ends. But methinks Hearing and Seeing being not only design'd for the Preservation of the Body but also for the Search and Pursuit of all that may nourish the Admiration and Gratitude we bear to the Creatour we have no reason to believe that these Sensations are terminated by Death Indeed I own we shall not see by the Motion of the Optick Nerve but yet we may be said to see for all that For pray what has the shaking of the Optick Nerve common with the Perception of Light These things have no natural Relation to each other and if we see Light and visible Things by the occasion of the Optick Nerve mov'd after a certain manner nothing hinders but we may have the same Sensations by the occasion of the Aethereal Matter which us'd to agitate the Optick Nerve which may be said proportionably of Hearing But suppose we should not have these very Sensations what does that signify since we shall certainly have Others and those of a more noble and elevated Kind For as by losing the Body we shall not be depriv'd of any thing but what confin'd and degraded us we ought not to fear that our Soul will lose any thing of the Purity and Excellency of its Operations by disentangling it self from the Embraces of Matter 'T is neither our Duty nor Interest to meddle and spend our Conjectures about those things which God thought fit to conceal from our Knowledge but I believe 't would not be a piece of too great Boldness and Presumption to conjecture That as the Imbasement and Vileness of Man during this Life consists in having his Reason subjected to Sense so the Glory that will follow Death consists in a perfect submission of Sense to the Empire of Reason Indeed at present as the Soul is descended from Heaven to inhabit a Tabernacle of Clay it buisies not it self in enlarging its Views or extending its Lights but on the contrary 't is employ'd in â—â—cking and confining 'em that it may not diâ—dain to use them in preserving the Body But then as the Soul will take its flight from these lower Regions to its Heavenly Station where it will have no longer need to care for the Support and Preservation of the Body but its whole Business will be to glorify God 't will no longer bestir it self to limit and confine but to purify and enlarge its Knowledge in order to render it more worthy of God about whom it will be conversant The second Destruction we apprehend in Death is no less Imaginary for tho' we see the Links which ty'd us to Society dissolve and break yet we ought not for all that to think we shall be exempted from all manner of Friendly Obligations The Society of Spirits does very well countervail the Society of Bodies whatever weak and prejudic'd Nature may think of it And when we shall put off these Eyes and Ears which are design'd for our Commerce and Conversation with Men we solace our selves with this Lenitive That we shall undoubtedly acquire other ways of Sensation and Knowledge by vertue of another Institution proportion'd to our future Condition Lastly I grant that One who still lives in this World and is depriv'd of the Members of his Body is to be pitty'd But when a Man is transported into another World sees another Oeconomy of Objects what should he do with these Senses which have indeed some Relation to this present World but not to his glorify'd State The Mischief arises from hence That in the ordinary Idea we have of our selves we attribute too much to the Body and too little to the Soul whereas following the distinct Ideas of Things we cannot ascribe too much to a Spirit nor
the Extravagancies of a Man pufft up with Presumption who prefers himself before those to whom he justly owes Respect and Veneration No by no means I know there is an Excess and a criminal Excess in this Disposition of Heart But perhaps this Excess may not consist in that wherein Men fancy it does And to declare my Opinion the Irregularity proceeds not so much from this That Men esteem themselves too much but that they value themselves at too low a Rate I say that they value themselves at too low a Rate and do not esteem themselves enough because they think they are preferable to other Men who have the same Nature and Perfections A Man that values himself upon any exterior Advantage that distinguishes him seems by that very Thing to renounce the Perfections of Humane Nature which are common to him with the rest of Mankind Such a Man's Condition is much like Nero's who being in a Capacity of valuing himself upon the Character of Emperour aspir'd at the Glory and Credit of seeming a good Coachman Nothing certainly is so noble in Man as Man He may be said in some Sense to despise himself that would set a Value on himself principally by those Advantages which make the Difference of Conditions and Distinction of Persons in Society since this is to despise what is most of all estimable in his Nature We must here reverse the Ways and Methods of Pride as Pride seems desirous of reversing and overthrowing the Methods of Providence External Advantages ought to be an Occasion of rendering to God the Homage that is due to him and not of derobing him of what is his Right Those who have Capacities and Opportunities of soaring above the level of their Brethren don't much value or mind these Things But when Fortune as they term it or the Injustice of Men has dispossess'd 'em of these Advantages Nature does not fail 'em and having no longer a Sense of this imaginary Grandeur which drew its Original from outward Things they still are sensible of their natural Grandeur and Excellency whose lawful Effect ought to be this To make 'em endure with a generous Indifferency the Contempt and Scorn of all the World but which notwithstanding thro' an Effect of their Corruption serves to render 'em inflexible and to sow in their Soul which does not deserve it the Seeds of a discontented Pride which though commanded by Fear to hold its Peace yet upon the least Opportunity of appearing bursts forth and shews that in whatsoever Condition Men happen to be they are no more tractable to bear the Contempt of a King than of a Beggar The Grandeur at which Pride aspires consists in two Things First to extend and enlarge and then to continue and perpetuate it self to enlarge it self maugre the narrow and limited Condition of Corporeal Nature and to perpetuate it self maugre the Fate of temporal Things which are allotted so short and transient a Duration 'T is not requisite to shew that our Vanity fails of obtaining these two Ends at which it aims This sufficiently appears to every Man since the Enlargement of Conquests is but an Enlargement and Extension of Injustice rather than Excellency and the Marbles which seem to perpetuate our Glory do for the most part but eternize our Vanity But Nature and Grace are more happy than Corruption Nature expands and spreads Man as it were over all the Universe by affixing his Senses to outward Objects and making by that means the Majesty Beauty Magnificence and Value of all those parts of the World which raise in us the greatest Admiration and Wonder Grace extends Man to yet larger Dimensions thro' the Commerce it procures him with God and on the account of Immortality we are not careful to make an imaginary Enlargement when we have a real One nor buisy and torment our selves that we may live in the Memory of other Men being assur'd of Living eternally in our selves and God So Death appointed and design'd by God to confound the Designs and Intrigues of our Pride this Minister of his Majesty and Justice which makes him so signal a Reparation and Satisfaction for the Insolency of our desire to glorify our selves even in despight of his Will does but confirm us in the Sentiment of this Elevation of the Man who follows Nature and is attended by Grace This is a vain Piece of Grandeur which accompanies a Prince when seated on the Throne but attends him not in the Bed of Infirmity which stands at his Elbow during Life and Health but disappears and vanishes at the moment of Death which is seen by us but not by the Eyes of his own Mind All the World remarks and sees in him the Master of other Men whilst he discovers in himself a Man wearied and afflicted and presently yielding to the Laws of Mortality Wherefore I will not cloath my self with Goods Riches Possessions Offices Dignities Glory Knowledge Eloquence memorable Actions Applause to aggrandize and augment the Phantome of Pride and to appear more Great and Excellent than the rest of mankind But I 'le cut off the Tumour the forc'd Grandeur and unnatural Extension by removing the Objects of Concupiscence and keeping my self at the common Level I shall get more by this humble Equality than a proud and haughty Preference would ever have done I 'le invest my self with all the Splendors of Heaven and Beauties of the Earth with the Blessings of Grace and the Treasures of Nature that I may render all these things to their bountiful Donor and find in this very Restitution such a Glory as I never could meet with in all my Usurpations I shall elevate my self above all outward Things by the distinct Idea of my own Perfections whereof they are in no wise capable but like a Ball I shall rebound so high only that I may descend and fall lower in his Presence who is the Author and Fountain of all my Perfections and who is also able infinitely to vary and diversify the Sentiments of my Excellency and his own Bounty Ambition thinks to be advanc'd to a lofty Pitch and to elevate it self beyond an Equality with other Men because it puts us in a State of commanding them and indeed 't is in the right of it according to the System of Pride which measures the Price of those Advantages it possesseth meerly by the Degree of that Elevation to which they raise it beyond the common Level of Men. But in the first place 't is certain that Humane Authority gives them not an Empire and Dominion over the Mind of their Fellows Tho' perhaps they themselves think otherwise supposing that those exterior Deâ—erences and Submission we give them seem â—o be address'd to their Person whilst â—hey are really directed to their Fortune They who judge best of this Matter reâ—pect the Order of God and the Methods â—f his Wisdom in their Elevation and Preâ—erment They submit their Bodies to Prinâ—es and Rulers because they submit
than Thoughts This Vertue as Defective and False as it is springs from a very good Source it certainly rises from a sense of our natural Excellency Had Nature design'd us for none but Animal Actions as we conceive Beasts to have no other End we should be as far from Blushing as they at those Actions which bear a Character of our Conformity and Likeness to them But Immortal and Incorruptible as Naturally we are 't is hard That notwithstanding that State of Vileness and Ignorance to which Sin has reduc'd us we should not see something of that Dignity which does so nobly Distinguish us and consequently that we should not have some sense of Shame at any Thing which seems to Vilify and Degrade us But Lastly this Vertue as we have already said does not rise very high when we exercise it only by the confus'd Sentiment of Nature and Education If you desire it â—hould purify your Heart as it does your Tongue you need only go out of this Horizon of Vanity and ascend to the Throne of God who is the Principle and Source of â—our Immortality The Commerce you 'll have with him will so elevate and raise you â—hat without any Difficulty and Violence you 'll feel your self dispos'd and inclin'd to â—enounce all unworthy and ignoble Affections Certainly 't is not the Property of the Carnal and Animal Man to Blush at the Vileness of Nature 't is the incommunicable Property of the immortal Man to be Confounded at this The Shame indeed of a Worldling may aspire at gaining the Esteem of other Men by an affected Purity but the â—mmortal Man seeks for Grounds where upon to Value himself if he fear that he shall not be in a Capacity of valuing himself in the View of his Perfections Indeed Debauchery â—ncludes a Doubt of One's true Condition Consummate Intemperance is the Prostitution of a Soul that renounces its own Dignity and implies That a Man becomes a Beast by renouncing Shame and abandoning himself to Sensuality Much the same is to be said of Modesty as of Bashfulness Were the Approbation of Men a sufficient Reward we should have no Reason to conceal and cloak our Design of attracting it nor the Joy wherewith it caresses and tickles us but as the Instinct that perswades us of our Excellency secretly convinces us That this Esteem is too trivial and inconsiderable for limiting all our Pretensions 't is not to be wonder'd if we take care to hide our Desire of being esteem'd or the Esteem and Value we have for our selves Yet if we look somewhat closely in the Matter we shall find that most commonly there is nothing but Falshood and Hypocrisy in this Vertue as 't is usually practic'd in the World Men that seem Modest when they are prais'd are not so when they are Blam'd and reprehended This is no wonder for that Vertue cannot be of any great Force which ows its Original to our Infirmity and we are not rais'd very high when we fall down again to the Center of our Vanity which makes an apparent Grandeur and real Debasement The Modesty which springs from the Knowledge of our immortal Condition and consequently of our Situation above the Sphere of that Esteem which ties and confines us to temporal Things has a much greater Forcc and Elevation It seems almost indifferent to Praise and Dis-praise and is ready to put 'em in an equal Ballance and makes us Esteem and Value none but those Things which relate to this grand Eternity which is the Rule whereby we measure the Price and Worth of all other Things And as we see that Persons very Eminent or who are so at least in their own Conceits seem more capable of Modesty than others because their real or imaginary Elevation and Advancement places 'em above the Sentiments of the Vulgar sort So may we more truly say That One well instructed by the distinct Ideas of Nature and the Promises of Religion concerning the lofty Destinies of Man has no great Temptation to be transported and dazzled at what Degree soever of Prosperity and temporal Glory he finds himself Advanc'd To this I add That Humility which is the very Soul of Modesty and all the other Vertues cannot proceed from any other Source than a sense of our Natural Excellency Whilst you make light of Man as Man you can Esteem only those weak and mean Advantages which make the Difference of Conditions and the Distinction of Persons and consequently cannot but contemn and despise those who fail of these Advantages deal with 'em Disrespectfully prefer your selves before 'em and Advance as it were above their Lowness which is the most dangerous Character of Pride But if you are perswaded that Man is the principal Thing which deserves Esteem in Man you 'll respect in your Neighbour whatever is common to him with you And tho' the Order of Society which is that of GOD Himself establishing a mutual Subordination assures you of his Submission and external Homages yet will you have for him an inward Respect and Veneration as he hath for you and discover thro' these narrow Dependances which make you his Superiour an Original and Eternal Grandeur which renders him your Equal in that which you look upon as the most estimable Part of your Nature Then indeed we may conceive Man to be moderate in the Abundance of temporal Goods constant in Adversity and magnanimous in all Conditions tho' the Moderation which Worldlings make a show of in the highest Elevations of Earthly Pageantry be but a secret Desire of seeming Greater than those things which raise 'em The Moderation of the immortal Man is purely a Sense of his own Excellency which truly raises him above all those things that seem'd capable of raising and advancing him 'T is the Property of Pride to disguise it self that it may hide the Disproportion betwixt what a Man is and what he believes is in the World Piety which looks on those things as Atomes which seem like vast Colossus's in the World's Eye need but bear it self up in the Height of its natural Situation to see under its Feet the vain Pomp of Humane Grandeur and the equally vain Multiplicity of Disgraces and Calamities which like a Whirl-wind agitate and toss this Lump of Clay and reverse these Tabernacles of Dust The Worldling can put on an affected Constancy to make People think him stronger than Adversity and that this Fortitude places him above the reach of bad Fortune This Sentiment becomes not a Man that includes all his Remedies in Time but is fitly plac'd in his Breast who finds himself made for Eternity without a counterfeit and feign'd Magnanimity Nature and Religion do sufficiently raise him for making him patient under all Afflictions and constant without Affectation Such a Man can fill and adequately answer the Idea and Model of the highest Valour when his Vocation calls him to expose his Person to the Dangers of War and to let Men see what they
consider'd the first of our Faculties and seen that the original Source of our Corruption is not in the Mind we must in the next place consider the Heart which is the Soul as it loves or the Seat of the Affections CHAP. V. Where we continue to search for the Sources of our Corruption by considering the Motions and Inclinations of the Heart AS there are first Principles or Notions in our Mind which are of an infallible Truth and Certainty and the Foundation of natural Light which is so far from deceiving that it puts us in a Way to return from our Errours so in our Heart there are certain primary and radical Affections which are necessarily Lawful Sentiments without which the Nature of Man cannot subsist and which are not only exempt from all Corruption in themselves but also serve when rightly directed to reclaim us from our Vices Such is the natural Love of Esteem and of Our-selves the Care of our Preservation the Desire of Happiness These Passions are good in themselves â—eeing they naturally relate to the Good of Man There are Two sorts of 'em the One are term'd by the School-men Prosequutivae because they incline us to Good the Other Adversativae because they remove and avert us from Evil. But yet as they tend to our Advantage by the Design and Intention of Nature thro' an Effect of our Corruption they are perverted to be instruments of our Damage and Prejudice which happens when false Goods excite in our Heart reall Affections When we are but coldly bent towards that which deserves the whole Application and Study of our Souls and on the contrary we desire with all the Ardour imaginable such Goods as deserve but a moderate and indifferent Affection For then we reverse the Order of Nature change the End into the Means and the Means into the End are rash and precipitate in our Actions err in our Conduct and a meer shadow of Good makes us lose the original Source of it and running after Appearances we miss the Truth Hence proceed all our Vices and Disorders in enquiring after which we must spend some time since 't is they that make the Corruption of the Heart Now as we search for the Source of our Irregularities we must not insist upon any particular One unless it has an Influence upon all the others 'T is evident that the Root of our Natural Evil consists not in a peculiar Disposition of the Temperament seeing that those who are of quite contrary Temperaments are corrupted for all that Nor is Interest the Principle of our Evil since that has commonly something in it incompatible with Pride neither is Pride seeing that is in some sort repugnant to Interest Yet 't is certain that there is something wherein the Vices are opposite and something wherein they agree They are in some respect opposite seeing that one serves as a kind of Remedy for the other and they agree in some respect since the Soul after it has fall'n into one has a further Inclination after another which seem'd of a quite contrary Nature This Truth will appear more plainly if we as it were Anatomize and Dissect the Heart by entering upon the Consideration of all its particular Passions Robbery springs from Injustice Injustice from Interest Interest from an Excess of Self-love Obstinacy is nothing but a strict Adherence which Self-love make us have to our own Fancies and Opinions Pride is a meer Drunkenness and Intoxication of Self-love which represents us to our own Imagination greater and perfecter than really we are Revenge is but a desire to defend our selves against those that hate us or to reap a kind of Self-satisfaction by punishing those who have offended us In a word Take a through Survey and Consideration of all the Vices and Passions of Man and you 'll find they terminate in Self-love 'T is this that gives 'em Birth forasmuch as all the Motives of Vice have this Foundation That we seek for every thing which flatters and relates to this Me which is the first Object of our Knowledge and Affections Upon this depends either their Life or Death for when two Passions violently Combat Fear for instance and Revenge the Soul retires into its own Tent and makes use of no other Counsel but that of Self-love to know which side it ought to take and according as Self-love judges or not judges Revenge to be necessary it pronounces in Favour either of Resentment or Moderation So that as Self-love first produc'd these two Passions so likewise it foments and causes the One to live and continue to the Prejudice of the Other Now what else can we say of that Passion to which all our irregular Inclinations tend in which all the Vices terminate by whose means they both Live and Die which stops and suspends their Career but that this general Disorder is undoubtedly the original Fountain of all the others and what we call'd the primitive Root of our Evil and Corruption And which may serve to confirm us in this Opinion at the same time we perceive all the Vices flattering and caressing Self-love we find all the Vertues unanimously opposing it Humility debases and pulls it down Temperance mortifies it Liberality as it were robs it Moderation discontents it Fortitude exposes it Magnanimity Piety and Zeal sacrifice it And indeed Self-love is so essential an Ingredient of the Definitions of the Vices and Vertues that without it we can't have a â—ight Conception either of the one or the other In general Vice is a Preference of One-self before other Men and Vertue seems to be a Preference of others before One-self I say it seems to be so Because in Effect 't is certain that Vertue is only a more noble and rational Mode of Loving One-self Now here there is a seeming Contradiction in our System For on One hand Self-love appears to be the Principle of our Irregularities and Disorders on the Other 't is certain that the Love of Our-selves is a Qualification for the Discharge of our Duties Corruption draws its whole Force from Self-love and GOD on the other side derives from it all the Motives He makes use of to incline us to the Study of our Sanctification For to what purpose would he have made Promises and Threatnings were it not with a Design to interest Self-love This Difficulty presently vanishes after we suppose the same thing touching Self-love which we have already said of the Affections of the Heart in general Namely That they have something of innocent and lawful which belongs to Nature and something of vicious and irregular which is attributed to their Corruption 'T is an Advantage of the French Tongue that it can distinguish betwixt L'amour propre and L'amour de nons mêmes the former signifies Self-love as 't is vicious and corrupted the latter denotes this Love as 't is lawful and natural Now our present Enquiry being after the Sources of Man's Corruption our Design here engages us
to examine wherein the Disorder of Self-love consists This Query is no less considerable for its being singular And I dare say that few Questions in Morality and Religion are more important as I hope will appear by the following Discussion CHAP. VI. Where we Examine the Faults of Self-love SElf-love can sin but only Two ways either in Excess or Direction its Irregularity must consist either in this That we love our selves too much or that we take not a right Method in shewing this Love to our selves or in both these Faults together Self-love does not sin in Excess as appears from this That we are permitted to love our selves as much as we please so it be with good and reall Love Indeed to love One-self is to desire One's Good to fear One's Hurt and to search for One's Happiness Now I confess that many times our Desire and Fear are too great or we are too eagerly addicted to our Pleasure or that which we look upon as our Happiness But you may observe that the Excess proceeds from the Fault that refers to the Object of your Passions and not from the too great Measure of the Love of our selves which appears from hence That you both can and ought to have an unlimited Desire of the Supream Good and a boundless Fear of Extream Misery And 't would be a Vice for us to desire an infinite Good but with a finite and limited Appetite Truly were Man oblig'd to love himself but to a certain Measure the Vacuity of his Heart ought not to be infinite and were not the Vacuity of the Heart infinite it would follow that he was not made for the Possession and Enjoyment of God but only for the Fruition of finite and limited Objects Yet we are taught the contrary both by Experience and Religion Nothing is more lawful and reasonable than this insatiable Desire which even after the Possession of worldly Advantages makes us still reach after the Supream Good which no Man ever found in the Objects of this Life Brutus who made a particular Profession of Wisdom believ'd he should not be mistaken if he search'd for it in Vertue but as he loved Vertue for its own sake whereas indeed it has nothing amiable and laudable but in Relation to GOD guilty of a Genteel and Spiritual Idolatry was no less mistaken then those who sought for Happiness in Temporal things and at his Death was oblig'd to acknowledge his Errour when he Cry'd out O Vertue I own that thou art nothing but a miserable Phantom c. Wherefore this insatiable Desire of Man's Heart is not Evil in it self 'T was necessary Men should be endu'd with this Inclination to qualify and dispose 'em for seeking after GOD. Now what in a Figurative and Metaphorical Idea we term an Heart that has an infinite Capacity a Vacuity which cannot be fill'd by the Creatures signifies in the proper and literal Notion a Soul that naturally desires an Infinite Good that desires it without Limits and cannot be satisfy'd till it has obtain'd it If then it be necessary that the Vacuity of our Heart should not be fill'd with created Goods 't is necessary that our Desires should also be infinite which is as much as to say that we ought to love our selves without Measure For to love One-self is to love One's Happiness And as we may be truly said not properly to love the Creature when we love it infinitely because then we place the Creature upon the Throne of the Creatour which is an Idolatry of the Mind and most dangerous of all so also may we be said not to love God as our Supream Good when we love him but finitely and conceive but moderate Desires after him for then we debase God to the Condition of the Creatures thro' an Impiety of the Heart no less Criminal than Idolatry Whether we look upon God as our Soveraign Good or represent him as a Being infinitely Perfect t is certain that our Application and Adherence to him ought to be unlimited and to this End the Creatour â—lac'd a kind of Infinity in Man's Knowledge and Affections to capacitate him in some measure for the Enjoyment of this Infinite Good I know very well that our Nature being finite is not capable exactly speaking of forming Desires intensively infinite But tho' these Desires be not infinite in this Sense yet they are so in another for 't is certain that our Soul desires according to the whole Extent of its Powers that if the Number of Spirits necessary to the Organ could be multiply'd in Infinitum the Vehemence of its Desires would encrease proportionably and that tho' the Act it self have not an Infinity yet the Disposition of the Heart has which is naturally insatiable I own if we lov'd our selves by Reason we might conceive that Self-love would be in a limited Measure in the Heart for we don't find in our Mind an Infinity of Reasons for loving our selves But the Author of Nature whose Wisdom judg'd it not requisite that Men should be Philosophers in order to take care of their Preservation thought fit that we should love our selves by Sense which is so true that 't is not even conceivable how we can feel Delight and Joy without loving this Self which is the subject of it so that as there is an unlimited Variety and an Infinity of Degrees in the Joy we are capable of tasting so in like manner there is not any measure or bounds in the Desire of that Happiness in the which this Joy essentialâ—â—â—â—ters nor consequently in the Love of our selves which is the Principle of this Desire I also grant That had Man been made to be a Rival of the Deity he would not be oblig'd to love himself without Measure because then Self-love would stand in Competition and interfere with the Love of God But Man naturally loves himself with so great Vehemency meerly that he may be capable of loving God The unmeasurable Measure of Self-love and these kind of infinite Desires are the only Links that tye and unite him to God since as I have already said finite and moderate Desires are capable of binding Man's Heart to none but the Creatures and we don 't properly love God but only a Chimaera which we form to our selves instead of God when our Love of him exceeds not a Mediocrity And indeed 't is a great Errour to oppose Self-love to Divine when 't is well regulated For pray what else is it duly to love our selves but to love God and to love God but duly to love our selves The Love of God is the right sense of the Love of our selves and that gives it Life and Perfection When Self love is diverted and carried to other Objects it no longer deserves the Name of Love 't is of more dangerous Consequence than the most cruel and savage Hatred but when 't is converted towards God it falls in and mingles with Divine Love And certainly Nothing is so easy as to
in exerting this Love All Men most certainly agree in the general Idea Desire and Sentiment of Happiness The Diversity of Philosophers Opinions touching the Nature of Happiness is not really so Great as at first it seems to be All their Sentiments are reduc'd to Epicurus's who plac'd the Essence of Beatitude in Pleasure which will appear very reasonable provided you separate pure noble durable â—ertain Pleasure from sensual which has quite opposite Characters and you distinguiâ—h betwixt Happiness and its Foundations â—hich Men have been pleas'd to confound tâ—gether that they might cavil and contraâ—ict one another meerly thro' a mistake in the Notion of Happiness For Boetius defines Happiness The Absence of all Evils â—nd the Possession of all Goods You must observe that his Design was to define a perfect and compleat not a defective and imperfect Happiness and yet this is to define Happiness by its Foundations The Absence of Evils iâ— necessary indeed to keep us from being miserable but does not render us happy The Possession of Goods is the Foundation of our Happiness but not Happiness it self for what would it signify to have 'em in our Power if we have not the Perception and Fruition of ' em That Fool of Athâ—ns who thought that all the Ships which arriv'd to 〈◊〉 belong'd to him tasted the Happiness 〈◊〉 Riches without possessing 'em and it may 〈◊〉 the reall Owners of these Vesselâ— possâ—sâ—d 'em without any Fruition or Pleasure â—eing intoxicated with their insatiable Aâ—rice or afflicted with Disquietudes which infallibly attend the Possession of Temporal Goods Wherefore 't is not the Possession generally speaking but the Sentiment and Fruition of the Goods we are possess'd of that constitutes our Happiness So when Aristotle places Happiness in the Knowledge and Love of the Supream Good its plain that his Intention was to define Happiness by its Foundations otherwise he would be under a gross Mistake for if you separate Pleasure from this Knowledge and Love you 'd find that something more would be requir'd to make you happy And on the other Hand if you suppose a lively and durable Pain to be conjoyn'd with this Knowledge and Love you 'd see that we should certainly be Miserable The Stoicks who thought Happiness consisted in Wisdom were not so senseless as to imagine that the Satisfaction wherewith this Wisdom inspir'd 'em was to be separated from the Idea of Happiness Their Joy proceeded from the Drunkenness and Infatuation of their Soul which applauded it self at a Fictitious Constancy Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere Causas Atque Metus omnes inexorabile Fatum Subjecit Pedibus strepitumque Acherontis avari All Men in general are necessarily agreed in this Principle and I wonder the Schools should set 'em at Variance about it The Covetous Man feeds himself meerly with Hopes of enjoying his Riches and of tasting the Pleasure of possessing 'em Indeed he never truly enjoys his Wealth but 't is his Delight to hoard it up and that 's his whole Fruition The Ambitious Man's aim in seeking after Dignities is to be rais'd in the World above the Level of his Brethren And the Revengeful would never make any Retaliation did he not hope to find Satisfaction in Vengeance This true Maxim is not opposite to the Religion and Morality of Jesus Christ for he says that he did not come to destroy but to perfect Nature He does not oblige us to renounce the Love of Pleasure but proposes to us more pure more noble more spiritual more certain and more lasting Pleasures than those which the World promises And he defines Happiness by its Sources This is Life eternal to know Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent And he very well knows that Happiness essentially consists in Joy and unspeakable Pleasures For 't is a Feast new Wine a River of Delights Torrents of Peace and Joy c. which Expressions under the Emblem of temporal Pleasures inform us of the eternal Pleasures of Paradise Men's Idea of Happiness assuredly proceeds from a sense of Pleasure The Vicious seeks after the Pleasures of Intemperance Vain-glory Revenge Ambition On the other Hand the Vertuous Man pursues the Pleasures of Vertue namely of Moderation Beneficence Temperance of Conscience and Piety He that should pretend to strip Vertue of the sense of Joy and Pleasure would certainly discourage our Heart and tho' possibly we might esteem yet we should not study and labour after it I confess that all Men don't relish the same Pleasure some are for gross others for delicate others for lively others for durable others for sensual others for mental and others for cordial Pleasure but all without exception are for Pleasure So say we that all Men agree in their general Desire to be Happy They may renounce all their Affections but they 'll never renounce this Inclination which is the primitive Source of all the others 'T is Happiness that Poor and Rich Young and Old Covetous and Liberal Temperate and Voluptuous do all aim at This Happiness is the Pleasure which they conceive and from the infinite Diversity of this Pleasure there arises a prodigious Variety of Passions and Applications The Irregularity consists in this that Men would fain tast and enjoy their Happiness before they have obtain'd it They wait not for the direction of Reason to conduct 'em to the Haven of Beatitude They begin with desiring to possess it as if they had regard to no other Pleasure but what they actually perceive These Disciples of the Senses want not Tutors to instruct 'em in the Art of Voluptuousness who tell 'em Non est mihi crede sapientis dicere vivam Sera nimis Vita est crastina vive hodie Mart. L. 1. Epig. 'T is no great Wonder that the most elevated Genius's of the Heathen World knew no other Good but the present and exhorted Men to enjoy the Delights that offer'd themselves for fear of losing 'em by Delays But 't is very much to be wonder'd that they who have the Knowledge of Eternity should be capable of the same Extravagance The Pleasure that constitutes our Happiness must have other Characters In the first place 't is requisite it should be spiritual Can one that tasts and enjoys Bodily Pleasure be in a State of Happiness if his Soul be at the same time fill'd with the Remorse of Fear and Sadness Secondly It must be durable Momentany Pleasures are more proper for rendering us miserable than happy because not only the Fruition of 'em is transient but they leave a durable Regret behind ' em And certainly Duration is so essential to Happiness that I dare say even the Felicity of Paradise would be inconsiderable were it possible for it to pass away in an Instant and that the Felicity of this lower World would be worth looking after were it but capable of lasting to Eternity For the former tho' it be never so great and transcendent would be swallow'd
their State and Elevation their Courteousness and Civility is owing to a confirm'd and as they think incontestable Opinion of their Superiority To be certify'd of this you shall see those very Persons which are so Affable and Modest to those that are extreamly Below 'em Haughty and Insupportable towards those who are almost their Equals the Reason is undoubtedly this That the Civilities they shew to those who are much their Inferiors seem to 'em of no unlucky Consequence they are sure their Civilities and Condescensions won't be taken in a literal Sense and they may gain the Name of Courteousness without blemishing their Rank But the Case is not the same when they have to do with such as may enter into a kind of Comparison with 'em as the Distance that separates 'em from these latter is not very great their Pride seeks to extend and enlarge it as much as lays in its Power and puts 'em upon doing a Thousand unreasonable and unnatural Things that they may cause all the World to take notice of that which they are afraid is not sufficiently remark'd There are certain Temporal Advantages which we take for Sources of Glory tho' in themselves and separately from the Use Men make of 'em they deserve neither Esteem nor Commendation but we must bring under this Head That Man oftentimes values himself upon such Qualities as render him ridiculous I don 't only mean those who affect such Accomplishments as they are not really endow'd with tho' 't is this that properly makes those we term ridiculous People or Naturals Men give this Quality to whom they please and laugh at the Cost of whom they think fit It may be if there were an Order of reasonable Creatures exempt from our Imperfections they 'd find the Ridiculousness of Humane Nature to be greater than we imagine Man indeed consider'd in his natural Excellency is assuredly a Work of God most worthy of Admiration But this is because he 's Admirable in one sense and Ridiculous in another Is there any Thing for Instance more unsuitable to our natural Dignity than the Vanity which is display'd in Luxury of Habits and Superfluity of Cloaths is it not a more Ridiculous thing than all that Men use to laugh and make sport at that Embroidery and Gilding should be Ingredients in the Formal Reason of Esteem that a Man well Dress'd should claim an Exemption from the Lash of Men's Tongues more than another that an immortal Soul should give its Esteem and Consideration to Horses Equipages Furnitures Liveries c. and that we should attribute that Glory to the Ornament of the Body which is the most glittering Jewel of the Soul Cicero reproaches it he calls One who left off the Glory of his Profession to follow this ridiculous Vanity Virum in dicendis causis bene vestitum But he need not have pass'd this flouting Jeer only upon one Man who follow'd the common Prejudice but in general upon all Mankind who may justly be reproach'd for being in so great want of Glory that they are put to the shift to seek for it even in that whose primitive Design was to serve for a covering of their Shame and Nakedness The Art of Danceing which some People seriously study is a Quality that would render us Ridiculous if consider'd in that high and lofty Situation wherein we are plac'd by Nature and Religion An immortal Soul Dancing and Capering is an Object equally odious and ridiculous I know indeed this Ridiculousness does not appear because 't is too general Men never laugh at themselves and consequently they are not much affected by this universal Ridiculousness wherewith all or at least the greatest part of Mankind are liable to be charg'd But their Prejudice does not change the Nature of Things and the wide Disagreement between their Actions and their natural Dignity is no less Real for being conceal'd from their Imagination But what is more grievous Men don't only value themselves upon Qualities which would make 'em Ridiculous could they but duely weigh and consider 'em but also seek to gain a Reputation by Crimes and Villanies We have said before that Men tye Reproach and Disgrace to Unfortunate but Esteem and Credit to Successful Crimes Theft and Murther which are Harbingers to the Gallows are disdain'd in a private Man but in a Potentate the greatest Robberies and most notorious pieces of Injustice which mount him to the Empire of the World are very well thought of Old Rome is a famous Example of this In her Birth she was a Colony of Rogues and High-way Men who fled to her Sanctuary for an Impunity of their Crimes Afterwards she was a Re-publick of Murderers who extended their Injustices far and wide over all the Earth So long as these Villains make it their Business to rob and plunder Passengers to banish Peace and Security from a little Corner of the World to enrich themselves at other Men's Cost they have no very creditable Reputation and indeed they don't so much as pretend to Glory But no sooner does a notable Prosperity put 'em in a Condition to rob whole Nations and signalize their Fury and Injustice by dragging Princes and Sovereigns to their Triumphal Chariots but they have no more to say of Impunity they pretend to Glory they don't only dare to justify but also consecrate their famous Robberies They assemble as it were the whole Universe in the Pomp of their Triumphs to expose to open View the success of their Crimes They open their Temples as if they 'd bring in Heaven it self for an Accomplice of their Ravages and Fury Moreover There are very many things which Men esteem meerly as they relate to some or other of their Infirmities Pleasure many times makes 'em think Debauchery honourable Riches are beholding to poor People's greedy Desires for all the Consideration they have in the World Puissance derives its Worth from a certain Power of doing what one list which is the most dangerous Present that can be made to Men Honours and Dignities draw their principal Lustre from our Ambition and so it may truly be said That our Depravation and Irregularity is the only Source of the Glory of most temporal Things CHAP. XVIII Where we continue to examine the Characters of Men's Vanity OUr Vanity is so palpable and manifest in all these Things that we need not be at any trouble to find it out For what a piece of Blindness is it for a Man to value himself upon those Advantages which don 't go to make up the Merit of his Person and upon such Things as render us ridiculous by shewing the extream Disproportion betwixt what we are and what we ought to be Or lastly upon criminal Things and consequently those which are essentially Shameful and Unworthy But methinks one may at first sight make quite another Judgment of the Qualities of the Soul which are reduc'd to intellectual Qualities that belong to the Understanding and Virtues that belong to
common to all His Revelations which he addresses to Men upon Earth this is to manifest Himself unto them cloathed with some of His Benefits that He may win their Heart by an Acknowledgment and Gratitude He was serv'd in the Old World under the Name of God who is and who is the Rewarder of them that call upon Him He was afterwards known under the Name of the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob. After that He gave His Law by declaring Himself the Lord who had brought this People out of the land of Egypt Afterwards a Prophet declares that the Time is come in the which Men will no longer say the Eternal is He who brought His People out of the Land of Egypt but the Eternal is He that hath brought up His People out of the Country of Babylon Lastly so soon as the time for Man's Redemption is accomplish'd God is no longer call'd by any other Name than the God of Mercy and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They therefore are very much mistaken who fancy 't is an Offence against God to love Him any otherwise than for the Love of Himself and His intrinsick Perfections and that there is no interested Motion in our Heart but what is Criminal In order to refute these Speculations we need but make reflection upon the Conduct of God who not only consents that we should love Him by the Motives of the Good which we find in the Possession of Him but also wills and proportions His Revelations to this Design and it may likewise be said that we glorify the Supream Good when we desire it ardently and feel no Repose or Joy but in Communion with it This grand Precept may be proposed to the Mortal Man to confound and baffle him by shewing him the Impossibility he lies under of fulfilling the Divine Law but 't is the Immortal Man alone that is capable of fulfilling this Duty 'T is not the dying Man that perceives himself under great Obligations to God but the Man that subsists to Eternity And 't is not in a heap of perishing Favours but in the Assemblage of incorruptible Goods that we find the Motives of such a Love and Gratitude as are worthy of God So also the Man of Nature consider'd as a Man that hath short and transitory Relations to other Men neither can nor ought to love others so much as himself Were we obliged to love an indifferent and unknown Person with the same degree of Affection that Children love their Parents certainly the whole World would be a Scene of Disorder and Confusion We ought to love our Children more than Persons that are indifferent to us now as it is the Love of our selves that makes this Inequality and this Variety of our Affections it follows that there is an Original Law of Nature which dictates that we should love our selves more than other Men. But the immortal Man hath other Views and Obligations all the divers kinds of Proximity and Relation which respect this Life disappear and vanish at the prospect of the Relations of that Eternal Society which we are to enjoy A Temporal Neighbour whom Nature points out to us is not so considerable as the Eternal Neighbour which Faith discovers in him But some persons love themselves to such an exorbitant Degree that 't is in no wise convenient they should be affected with the same Love if others as of themselves For pray tell me of One should say to a Man I wish you were Ungrateful Blind Passionate Revengeful Proud Voluptuous Covetous that you might take more Pleasure and Enjoyment in the World would he not have Reason to think that either we dote or have a Mind to make him a very course Compliment and yet this would be to love our Neighbour as we love our selves If we would love our Neighbour as our selves we ought to love him with Relation to Eternity None but the immortal Man is in a Capacity of observing this Precept strictly and well Perhaps the Question may be ask'd whether when the Law enjoyns us to love our Neighbour as our selves it means that we should love by the Motives of that Love we bear to God or of that which we have for our selves I answer by distinguishing still betwixt Rational and Sensual Love when we love our Neighbour with a rational Love 't is certain that the Motives of this Love ought to proceed from the Love we have for God When we love our Neighbour with a Love of Sense or sensual Love the Motives of Love should proceed purely from the Affection we have for our selves Thus it may be reply'd that we ought to love him by both these Motives and the Law of the Decalogue seems to confirm us in this Opinion for it puts the Precept which refers to our Neighbour immediately after that which refers to God to teach us that the One depends upon the Other and that we are obliged to love our Neighbour with the same kind of Affection that we bear to God And on the other side it calls him whom it recommends to our Love by the Name of Neighbour to intimate to us that we are concern'd to love him because he is a Person that belongs to us Reason tells us That God being the supream and infinite Beauty is Amiable for his own Sake and that all things become so for the Love of him It therefore requires us to love Objects according as they stand related to God The Experience we have of our own Being accompany'd with Joy and Delight obliging us to love our selves in the first place Nature teaches us to love Persons according to the degree of Proximity and Relation which they have to Us. These two Laws are not opposite to each other the One as I may say is the Law of Reason the Other is the Law of Sense the one is the Instinct of the mortal and perishing Nature the other of the immortal and incorruptible Nature the one relates to the short and transient Society which we ought to have one among another the other to the Eternal Commerce and Friendship we ought to have in God CHAP. IV. Where we shew the Extent of the Natural Law by considering it in the Gospel and with Relation to the Immortal Man IF the Law of Moses were the Law of Nature accomodated to the Condition of the mortal Man and to the State of the Israelites in particular the Gospel is the Law of Nature accommodated to the State and Relations of the immortal Man This sufficiently appears from the different Genius and Conduct of the two Oeconomies Under the Oeconomy of the Law God seems to make no farther Manifestation of Himself than to break thro' Walls open the Abysses of the Earth inflame Mountains send down Fire from Heaven menace the Body with his Judgments or to execute the Arrests of his Justice upon the perishing Nature but under the new Dispensation of Grace we see Persons animated with the Spirit of