different from them both As they make diverse species their proprieties do no whit agree together the Passive Generation cannot be attributed to the Father nor the procession to the Son without confounding the power of the Father the wisdom of the Word and the love of the Holy Spirit Yet notwithstanding they are all Three reconciled in one and the same Divinity and the diversity of their Persons is no hindrance at all to the unity of their Nature What appears so difficult to the conception in Theology seems evident in the Morall The Good that is the object of it and which makes the Glory of all its instructions is expanded in all its branches its Division stands not in opposition to its Unity and if it makes use of different Names it neither changes Quality or Condition It is every way agreeable the Pleasure makes its principal difference and it never does attract the Mind before it has stirr'd it up by its surprising Charms Vtility which is as the soul of Polititians appears always under its habits and Philosophers are not such courtiers of Honesty but that they hope from it to receive Satisfaction But the better to mix this confusion we must observe that the Desire is continually under disquietudes that its violence keeps us in suspence and its Languishing does often equal the vigor of the most rigorous Distempers For it is as Shame-fac'd as it is Cruel and we ought to confess our Miseries as oft-times as we make any Wishes Nothing but their accomplishment can afford us satisfaction and put us into a Sedate and quiet temper Indeed we swim in Pleasure when our desires change into Effects when we possess whatsoever we did propose for our Content and when we see our Fears vanished and our Hopes established But this Joy is of no longer a continuance then whilst we are ingaged in the search of a Good It lessens it self by its possession and we cease to be satisfied and contented as soon as we see our greedy desires in repose and our ambitions have their satisfaction He who to secure himself from Poverty passes the Seas despises dangers finds out Lands Incognito with the hazard both of his Safety and his Life and all to get him Riches is no longer affected with the pleasure of them then whilst he is heaping them up and as the profitable Gain does charm his Travels so is his delight of them lost and gone as soon as they are loâ—k'd up in his Coffers He languishes after the Treasures he has not and disregards what are in his own possession and only those good things which he hopes for can give his Thoughts contentment The Ambitious Man is as much unhappy as him that is Covetous for when he is sweating with the pains he takes to get himself Honors imploying the credit of his Friends hat so he may come to be above them and often taking on him an undecent humility that at last he may arrive at some Eminency in the World the Glory only then appears delightful to him when he beholds it as the recompence of all his Labors and Humiliations But no sooner are his desires accomplish'd and he has made his Inferiors of his Equals but he languishes in the midst of his Honors he only regards those that are yet wanting to him and being push'd on by the inquietude of his desires he does acknowledg no other happiness then that which promises him the Dignity and Preferment he earnestly thirsts for What is the joy of a Philosopher when he is become conqueror of his Passions and master of those slaves that would oppress his Liberty he does no violence to himself but such as gives him Pleasure all his pains are agreeable to him and he reckons all his Combats happy ones since they lead him unto Victory But has he excluded Vice from his breast is the object of his affection become that of his hate and has he subjected that which before did Tyrannize over him His vertue is forsaking him his pleasures dwindle and he must combat with new Difficulties if he would procure to himself Delights This Principle granted it is no hard task to prove that honesty and Profit are in affinity with Pleasure and it is only she that ingages us in their pursuit For the profitable good is not disireable only for its self sake since that the possession of it is Sterile and gives no satisfaction to those who are once made masters of it It must be Pleasure that moves them to it representing it under a form that is agreeable and appearing beautiful as well as profitable to make one be in love with it Eating which is so necessary to Man is ever follow'd with pleasure and I doubt whether we should be at the trouble of self-preservation if we were not invited to it by the contentment as well as by the necessity Riches which are made the Divinities of the world and which most Men idolize would be in little esteem amongst us if they did not discover the pleasures they give to those that have them ayeâ— and flatter them with an assured Felicity For they display all that possibly can make them divertive they show them stately Structures rich Habits Tables spread with all the varieties capable to please their Tast advanâ—agious Marriages and a vast retinue of Servants who attend their Persons and observe their Commands All this Pompous Gayety ravishes their Affections and makes them without any Difficulty consecrate their cares and diligence in the Acquest of those goods which promises them so many advantages 'T is true the seeking of that good we call Honest is more pure it is not beholding to strange â—avors to satisfie its Lovers and it is to do an injury to its Merit to desire any thing above its self But yet it ceases not to have its Charms as well as Profit it is the Glory as well as the Ornament of those who possess it all Mankind has a Reverence for it and as it has the Wicked for its admires so all good Men too load it with their Panegyricks Honor is its Appanage and portion all persons that regard it give it their praises and those spectators must become enemies to it that can refuse it this recompence Knowledg which is one part of it does it not create a bundance of delight and pleasure in the Learned And can they mount up into the Heavens make a discovery of the Stars sound Nature and penetrate into the Abysms of the Earth without a transport As she is the light of our Understanding she with it infuses joy into our Souls exalts us above our self and without ever changing our condition the seems to make us pass out of darkness into light from a Prison unto Freedom and from Death to Life None but those who are ignorant can question this truth and who having never been exempted from the phlegmy conceits of their dull and gross bodies are not sensible of its Sweetness and
into the arms of an Adulteress Nature knows no difference of Sex what is forbid the one is not permitted to the other and he unjustly exacts â—idelit in his Spouse who prophanes that he has promised her by Illegitimate and blamable Conversations Yea he does as it were make himself the Bawd to his Wife by his ill example and sollicites her to the Sin by the corruption of his own loose carriage and authorizes her flyings out and reproachful liberties when he approves of them in his own person He ought to be Chaste if he would have his Wife Continent and to have his life exempt from Scandal if he would with justice oblige her to an honest innocence When Heaven blesses their Marriage and bestows upon them Children to continue their Family Nature charges them to take care of their Nurture and to keep them after they have brought them into the World When Age has loosned their Tongue and Reason begins to discover its Vivacity and renders them capable of Instruction they ought to labor their Education and imprint upon those young plants Piety and Vertue Those that are failing in this Duty may very well pass for their Enemies and it may be doubted if they think them Legitimate since they so shamefully abandon them in their necessity An Infant receives nothing from his Father but his Body his Soul is God's production the Estate he ought to inherit is often fix'd to his Cradle and that person does but imperfectly deserve the name of Father that does not improve his Mind and implant commendable Sentiments into his Understanding and Judgment If Nature has been niggardly in her favors to him and denied him this address which is so necessary to the Education of Children he ought to have recourse to the Prudenâ—e of others to make choise of Masters of whose conduct he approâ—es and whose life is as void of unworthy Imputations as are his Manners Nothing makes a deeper impression on our Soul then that which is pour'd into it in our youth whatsoever is then sow'd takes root and as the young Twiggs of Trees bend according to the motions of the hand which turns them either up or down so without any Difficulty do we pursue the instructions of Masters who govern us Their words we make our Oracles we reverence all that comes from their mouths and considering them as representing the persons of our Fathers we imitate their Actions and often become their Copies and Images Though Servants are strangers in houses and they may rid themselves of them when ever they become unprofitable yet they make themselves a member thereof as well as the Children and though they are their inferiors they may in some measure boast of being their equals The Patres Familias are oblig'd to feed them they are as well their Procurators as their Masters and they must provide for them necessaries if they would get any service from them Also those that consider well their conditions look upon them as Men and not as Slaves they converse with them as with friends of an humble and contracted Fortune and considering that their servitude is equal and their dependance mutual they do not so much make use of Fear as Love to keep them to their duty They know that their birth though more obscure is not more vile then their own and that those Parents who brought them into the world might be as free and unrestrained as rational That they livâ—d under the same Constellations that Heaven is their Country that Air and 〈◊〉 arth are equally common with them and that Death which puts no differences between Princes and Porters crumbles into Dust the Masters and the Servants Familiarity makes them faithful those who speak at their Tables are silent in their Troubles and do not fear to expose their lives in concealing their Masters secrets Too much Rigor abates their courage and they will not be concern'd in the interests of those who are too insulting and imperious over them or who mistrust them of their Fidelity But if they are found such as Domineer over their Masters and abuse their Goodness to whom they owe Respect they must repress their Insolence with address and cunning and make them know they do not so much dislike their persons as their ill carriage To rule and govern this sort of People by harsh and rugged means except one has a recourse to Prudence and takes its measures one may easily fall into dangerous Extremities The Fourth Discourse That the Art of Governing States and Kingdoms has its dependance upon Prudence VVE can never see any thing more Illustrious in the world then Kings they are the Suns of the Earth the Arbitrators of Mankind the Rulers of their People and the visible Divinities whom they Adore Fortune seems to betyed to their Wills and according to the passions that animate them they make their Kingdoms miserable or fortunate Their Anger is constantly the fore-runner of Death and if they are offended 't is the sacrifice of some Life that must appease them But their goodness makes the Subjects felicity they esteem themselves happy under a Prince's conduct that is mild and courteous they receive his Commands with respect and his Words are no less sacred to them then his Laws and Injunctions Nothing can be seen in their Persons but what begets Veneration and represents this Puissance primitive from whence they borrow their Authority But to administer so absolute a charge as to render ones self worthy the name of a Soveraign it is requisite that there be qualities more then ordinarily eminent in him that he exceed the rest of Men in his Perfections as well as in Grandeur The Examples of Princes is a light that shines into all their Subjects a burning Mirroir that reflects upon their hearts filling it with Vertue or Vice as they themselves are just or debauched For what people is there that count it not their glory to imitate their Soveraigns and reckon Lawful and Authoritative whatsoever they remark in His Person As they believe he is the Soul of the Republick over which he rules they admit of all his Movements and count it an honor that it is permitted them to imitate his Actions Do we not see the imperfections of Princes become the faults of their Subjects what offends the one wounds the other the evil that gives the former a diversion is agreeable to the latter and not distinguishing between good and bad Actions they think they may close with any thing that they authorize by their Example It concerns Kings to be Vertuous if they would not bring down upon their heads the curses of Heaven and render themselves responsible for all the disorders of their People But Piety would be little benificial to them if they were not Just and Upright and did not observe the Faith giv'n to their Nieghbor after they had paid their duties to their Creator Perfidiousness is the crime of base Spirits never
they loved and serv'd upon Earth If 't is objected that we are the Children of God that the Eternal Father has admitted us into His family and that it only belongs to Slaves and Hirelings to look for the price of their labors we shall not offend the sentiments of Nature if we say a Child loves his Father with so much the greater affection as the favors he has received have been multiplied upon him and as he promises himself after his death the possession of his Estate A Slave would dispute this glory with him had he but the same assurances from his Master and possibly this Son whose affections seem so sincere would convert his love into hatred if his Father should drive him out of his house and make a shew of deputing another to be Heir in his place In short who would trouble himself with adoring God if he did not take care of his creatures why should we bestow on him our affections since he neglects to take any cognisance of them and why should we afflict our bodies and curb our inclinations and imploy our whole life in the defence of his interests if our combats were to have no rewards and our victories no Lawrels Also Almighty God who knows our weakness and that we act but through interest allures us by the hopes of Felicicy he promises his glory to those who will keep his Commands and he ingages himself to make them pertakers of his happiness He assures his votaries that all the powers and faculties of their Souls shall be satisfied that their understandings shall behold the truth of what they have believed that their minds shall injoy the good they have sought after and that their memories shall be filled with the bounties they have been entertained withal during the time of their residence upon Earth But though we should have Sentiments sufficiently purified as not to consider the glory that attends us in Heaven that all our desires were terminated in God and that we hoped for nothing from him but only the honor of giving him our whole love we could not deny but there was abundance of sweetness and contentment in this duty that his commands are mixt with pleasures and that He who obliges us to render him our affections does invite us to it by innocent and harmless Delights He assures us that his Law is very agreable that there is great satisfaction in the doing of his Will and that Peace and Glory ever do attend those who ingage themselves in his service The Charity he influences in our hearts and the Grace whereby he prevents our desires give a charm to the difficulties which are incountred by us they make our Fear give place to Love and thrust us on to imbrace with eagerness and pleasure that which Nature looks upon with horror There is nothing able to Astonish us when we are seconded by his power and can see him as Coadjutor in all the rencounters of our life Martyrs do laugh at Tyrants and contemn the cruelty of Butcherly executioners when they are animated with his Spirit They account their Punishments in the number of their greatest favors and are so charm'd with the pleasure it pours into their Souls that they are often fearful least the mildness of their Passion should be a prejudice to their Merit We see them likewise extended upon the Cross as upon a Throne imbracing their Tormentors as their Benefactors acknowledging the indulgence of their Tyrants when they are sentencing them to death and preferring the most violent Torturs to those that are most gentle and easy 'T is this same pleasure that takes away Children from the arms of their Parents that makes them choose a Cloyster to be buried there alive to be spoil'd of their rich and costly Habits to cloth themselves with Cords and Sack-clothes and to quit their delicate and sumptious Dishes only to feed upon Roots and Pulse 'T is this innocent satisfaction and pleasure that animates Christians against themselves that obliges them to the mortifying of their bodies to bring them unto the subjection of the mind which stirs them up against their proper passions and which forces them with much agreeableness to make an absolute and intire Sacrifice of themselves for the glory of their Redeemer The Yoke of Jesus Christ is only uneasy to sinners the hardness of their hearts makes the weight of it heavy to them and they do not account his commands grievous but because they are the vow'd slaves of the Devil But have they broken off with this enemy of Mankind has grace taken possession of their hearts and are they left charm'd by its attractions then they perceive their Pains converted into Delights what seem'd before impossible to observe appears now facile and easy and they are amaz'd that they have stood out so long the bearing of a burden which gives them such Pleasure and Contentment Love finds nothing difficult to be conquer'd it charms the affliction that attacques it and as if it had borrow'd the secrets of Magick it changes pains and miseries into very pleasing and agreeable Divertisments It meets with sweetness in suffering it treats its persecutors with the name of friends and never reckons its self more happy then when it becomes passive for the cause that it reveres It is delighted with difficulty because it is a proof and tryal of its Constancy the labors and travel it indures relieves its faithfulness and the joy it looks for from its possession shall compleat and end its happyness The Third Discourse That Repentance is a chastisement very agreable and advantagious THere is no necessity at all to have a notable piercing and discerning judgment to find out that Sin is the greatest of all Evils that it perverts the Nature changes the Man to become bestial and makes of a Child of God the Slave of the Devil Neither need we be learned in Theology to know that Malice is prejudicial and bloody to the Soul that it reduces it to nothing and brings death to a Spirit that God hath made Immortal Holiness which is the form of it quits it as soon as it receives this Monster and makes a divorce with Grace to fall into the embraces of its enemy It s empire would be Eternal if that Almighty God did not come to our succour and furnish us with weapons to expell this Usurper Oft by an excess of bounty he adds his favors to our deliverance and renders us happy after he has redeemed us from Servitude For Repentance which abolishes our crimes stifles our evil inclinations and reinstates us into Grace and favor with our Maker does contribute our felicity and obliges us to call our faults happy ones because it changes our Pride and Insolence into Modesty causes innocence to succeed our malice and equals our condition to that of the greatest things that ever have been upon the face of the Earth The Holy Scripture observes none more famous then St. John the Baptist
in Heaven after it has made them Martyrs and Anchorites Virgins and Angels upon Earth The Fourth Discourse That Friendship augments the happiness of a wise Man THe wise Man now is become so advanced above the dominion of Fortune and the vertue which causes his happiness is so little depending upon its empire that he may very well glory in the contempt of all its favors The brightness of Honors the Pomp of Riches the charms of Pleasures and Delights no whit concern him and if at any time they strike his Imagination they have never power to imprint themselves upon his Will He is content with those Goods Nature has given him for his own all his Glory springs from his advantages and he esteems himself a happy Man so long as he has the liberty to converse with himself But yet he does not reject the conversation of a Friend the severity of his disposition does not render him rude and Savage and though he be satisfied with his own perfections he will avow that the company of a person he honors may inlarge and heighten his Happiness Indeed nothing seems more profitable in the World then Iâ—riendship 't is the bond of Nature the support of Humane Society the sweetness of Life and the most reasonable Pleasure we meet with here below Nothing is more essential unto Man then Unity 't is the difference that seperates him from all those of his Species and according to the Language of Logitians it ceases to subsist in the world as soon as it is confounded in their Community And yet does Friendship every day overthrow this principle it unites the Souls of those who are in Love one with another distance of places does not hinder their approaches and we may affirm they are inseperable though they are at a great remoteness each from other Their number does not at all combat with their unity and they do but one and the same thing though they be of different Natures Though their Riches do replenish their outward Man yet have they no assured Master those that share in their friendship may pretend some kind of right in them and presume to dispose of that which their affection has acquired to them Their goods and their evils are common what wounds the one grieves the other and their Wills are in so strict a union that even one and the same thing does equally both rejoyce and afflict them They are ignorant what Dissimulation is their words are the interpreters of their thoughts their Heart makes its residence upon their Tongue and if they but conceal the minutest secrets to themselves they believe that they betray that Vertue which unites them Some have most unwisely thought that Friendship was the only consolation of reasonable and intelligent Creatures that Darkness was preferrable to its absence and that they ought rather to desire they might be deprived of the light of the Sun then to live and not be Friends The malice of an Enemy may render them blind Justice may bannish them into obscure holes and bury them quick under Earth But Miseries can make friends flock together they support and stay themselves in what place soever they find them the diversity of their conditions does no whit alter their Virtue but they do cherish them under misfortunes as well as in prosperity What is there can befal a Man more to his heart's desire then to have a confident to whom he may discover his thoughts who knows his Secrets are safe in his breast who less fears his friends Conscience then his own and who is assured that he as much interesses himself in his disgraces as happiness Yet we meet with but a few of this sort of People in the World and I dare affirm it is long since that true affection has been bannish'd from it Orestes and Pylades are dead and those who would succeed them to this day are no otherwise then Apes and Imitators Flattery now among us keeps the place of sincere and loyal Friendship and that Person seems to enter farther into our Interests who can best accommodate himself to our Inclinations As Vices are ingenious they are brought in among us under the guise of Vertue Fear imitates Prudence Temerity takes upon it the name of Valour and Avarice covers it self under the mantle of Oeconomy Flattery borrows the attractions of Friendship it insinuates it self into the souls of those that harken to it and renders it self so much the more agreable as the Venom that it infuses into it is dangerous It is hard to know an enemy that carries himself towards us with an obliging respectfulness and who makes it the greatest part of his study to please us The Praises they give us are always dear and charming to us we easily swallow the belief that we are Vertuous that Honesty is born with us and that Prudence is familiar and at home in us and that no person comes near us but is sensible of our liberality though we know their words bely their thoughts and our Conscience reproaches us for our Injustice our Indiscretion and our Avarice Fatterers who may very well be called the Impostors and Pests of Humane Society have corrupted even the justest Men and have in sinuated into their hearts both Insolence and Presumption Princes who have hearkened to them have oft-times changed their Empire into Tyranny and ingaging themselves in unprofitable Wars have hazarded their Persons and their States They have broken the Peace that was necessary to the conservation of their Subjects they have attacqued enemies whom Policy has obliged them to respect and have yielded themselves rather to be overcome then forbear pursuing their Enterprizes To Conclude the Flatterer is a Devil that troubles the Soul of all those he approaches that disposes of their Wills and inspiâ—es them but with the motion of Pride and Vanity But the true Friend is Sincere in his words he discovers his Sentiments without Constraint he regards the Advantage of him He loves and not his Pleasure and Satisfaction and he should think himself unworthy of that name he bears if he should rather have a consideration for his Fortune then his Person He should believe he defended his faults if he permitted them and did render himself responsible for all the mischiefs that befell him if He did not oblige him to follow Reason rather then the motions of that passion which possesses him As he is a faithful councellor of the person he loves and interesses himself wholly in his happiness he rejects not his Advice but becomes without trouble his Disciple after he has been his Director and receives his Advertisments with the same tranquillity and ease of mind as he had given them to him From thence it is that Friendship is not found but among the Good and there is nothing but Vertue can make one Soul pass into two different Bodies As Love according to Plato is the bond of the Universe and causes that good Intelligence to arise