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
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
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
entring but into the hearts of infamous persons and for any to be unfaithful to their promises they must first absolutely renounce their Honor. Every time a Prince goes aside from His word or finds out any circuitous Tricks and Evasions to null His Contracts He showes a vanity that lesseâ—s His Grandeur and discovers His Fear or want of Power Who will give any heed to Their Promises that have once found them false and deceitful And how can They assure Their People that They will support them for the future if They are accounted faulty in Their Opinions Truth is the Appanage of Crowned Heads Kings ought to be the Lovers as well as the Defenders of It and they no less hazard their Reputation when they are Unfaithful to their Enemies then to their Allies If They write Patents with Their own Hands who will credit them Or who will receive them if they send Embassadors 'T is hard to deal with persons that have no Faith and that esteem nothing honorable but what is for their advantage Fraud is unworthy the Majesty of Kings and they cannot make use of it but they must betray their Fear or else acquire to themselves the Ignominious title of a Lyer They must be of the Nature of Scorpions that hide their Venome in their Tail and have their after Thoughts and mental Reserves when concerned to treat with Honor. If Princes ought to be true in their Words they ought not to be less just in their Actions their Authority does not exempt them from the Laws and though they be the Authors of them they cannot violate them publickly without incurring the Indignation of their People The excess of their Power is a Mark of their Dependance and if they may execute whatever they have a mind to it is forbidden them to will any thing but what they ought Justice has an Excellence above that of Diadems it judges of Kings as well as of their Subjects and appeals always from their Tribunals to Themselves when they have offended it It behoves them to follow the Orders they have made if they will command with Equity to submit to the Laws that they have prescribed to others and to establish them in their Hearts rather by their Example then by their Words and Writings They would easily execute this Design would they but reduce their Ordinances to a Reasonable Number and not multiply them without an evident Necessity Laws are the Medicaments of States and as the quantity of Remedies disorder the natural Bodies so multitude of Laws bring Confusion to the bodies Politique T is their excessive Number that begets all our Quarrels which ingages us in tedious Suits and often causes our â—euds to be perpetual T is their Number that feeds the Avarice of Lawyers and that furnishes these Blood-suckers with Tricks and Devises to filch our Purses T is their Number authorizes Injustice in Magistrates that stagger Judges and makes them find in their Codes and Pandects matter enough to favor the most feeble and guilty Causes T is their Number depopulates Countries wasts Armies decayes and ruins Traffick to fill up the Courts of Justice imploys so many loose Fellows in Jarrs and Bramblements and renders Tribunals the Retreats of Pyrates and Robbers The excess of good things is not always wholsom and I question whether Vice is more pernicious to a Common-Wealth then multitude of Laws Both do debauch Consciences corrupt Manners trouble Society and raise up Disorders and Enmities in States in the midst of Peace It were well then that a Monarch suffered but few Laws in His Kingdom if He would avoid all these disorders and content Himself with those He has received from His Ancestors if He would keep His Subjects in good Intelligence But as Justice is the happiness of States and Laws the more sacred the less profitable to it if not executed with Rigor and Severity Princes ought to watch over their Majestrates and see if those Subalterne Powers do act with Equity They ought to bethink themselves that they are God's Ministers that they hold His judgments in their hands and are not exalted above the quality of other Men but to chastize Offences and exercise Justice This is an imployment annex'd to their Puissance and they cannot discharge themselves thereof without renouncing their Dignity They ought to fillet down their Eyes to have no respect to Persons but whosoever should dare to sin against them ought to be esteem'd their Enemies and they prophane their Majesties in their partiality by making one and the same Action in two different Persons become both Innocent and Criminal The Third TREA-TISE OF TEMPERANCE The First Discourse Of the Nature of Temperance THe inferior sort of People could never yet conceive that Wise Men got any Advantage by Afflictions that they received any satisfaction at its approach and that those which griev'd the Body could transmit Delight and Pleasure into the Soul Whatâ— say they have Contraries allyed themselves in His Person and do Torments cease being sensible because they are supported and upheld by Vertue Effects have still relation to their principles and 't is to mistake the nature of things to make 'em depend on causes to which they are opposite Some Philosophers have had the same Sentiments of Temperance they can scarce comprehend that it produces Pleasure since it is still opposing of it and labors as much as can be to o'rthrow and ruin it But yet these two Paradoxes are true and it will be sufficient to give a Cursory Explanation of them that their Evidence might be the more clear and manifest The wise Man is sensible of Joy in the midst of Torments because he is wholly retired in his Soul does not at all communicate with his Body and places all his Glory and Felicity in his Vertue Temperance gives birth to his contentment in her resisting of Pleasure retrenching of Disorders and submitting her self to the Laws of Reason For Temperance is nothing else but a Controuling Power that She as Soveraign has over the concupiscible Appetite which governs those passions that are most agreeable and which gives us satisfaction from their Moderation or their Overthrow She represses the Desires and suffers not those Rovers to take their flights out of our Selves She restrains Hope and does not permit the ambitious seeking of Goods which are prejudicial or unprofitable to us She retains Love prescribes Laws to that Tyrant and qualifying its fury she keeps it from raising up Tempests that might be a trouble to our Repose But her chief work is to oppose Pleasure to suppress its unjust Violence and to hold the most dangerous of our Passions to its Duty She is a Persecuter of infamous Pleasures and knowing they are Scandalous and dare not produce themselves she chastizes them in the persons of their Slaves she moderates the lawful Ones and forbids the too frequent use of them and prevents those things that are permitted us from ingaging us in Sin The
which it is made keeps its strength with Delight and Pleasure But the immoderate use of it o'rthrows all this Beautiful and Comely Order it destroys the Memory and causes this Guardianess of Sciences to lose the Deposita which it was intrusted with It darkens the Judgment perverts the Understanding and those messengers which are so acquir'd to us then give us but unfaithful accounts when they are Obfuscated by those Vapours The Blood that nourishes our Bodies becomes then a Contagion it corrupts all the members that it gives heat and warmth to and leaves in it nothing that it does not weaken if not consume Someties it begets in us such Flames as prove our Destruction by engaging us into infamous Enormities that are not to be mentioned but with Horror A Drunkard is the most unhappy of all Men if sometimes he is exempt from Crimes he is not free from the torments that accompany them He is Agitated by Furies even when he sleeps his Repose is interrupted by Phantasms and Apparitions all that appears to him affrights and terrifies him and one needs not trouble themselves with Chastising his Intemperance since that he bears his Executioner in his own breast If the excess of Eating and Drinking alter the disposition of his Body if Debauches do disorder his Temper and produce all these Maladies to carry him to his Grave the Delicacy of his Viands is not more Pernicious to him and though it is the more to be excus'd t is not the less dangerous Those Dishes drest with so much Cost and Sumptuousness decay the natural heat and spreading a malignant fiery influence into all the Veins consume that Radical Moisture which is the principle of Life Who is ignorant that the weakness of the Body paleness of the Face and stinking Breath are not the effects of Delicacies which depraving the Stomach leaves therein such Superfluities as do infect it Health is the daughter of Abstinence one ought to be Sober to be full of Strength and Vigour and he very unprofitably hopes to see the Heat agree with the moisture and coldness of his Body who is never but filling it with curious and studied Rarities How happy was the Age that knew no Cooks but look'd upon them as the Adulterers of Nature as the enemies of Health and the Sorcerers that inchant Men to destroy them How pleasantly would he live that contented himself with the Provisions of the Earth that made his Meals of common Viands and that fed himself on what he found without Search and Difficulty and what he might purchase without Artifice As his body is dispos'd that the functions of his Soul should be sedate he wants no Potions to purge him Sobriety is to him instead of Physick and without any succour then that of Nature it conserves his Health and cures him of all sorts of Maladies That which advances a sober Man's Happyness and puts him above the Powers of the Earth is that he is unapprehensive of the Disgraces of Fortune and that he is as steady and assur'd in Poverty as when he does abound in Riches For what has he to fear that studies but to satisfy the necessities of Nature and in all places finds enough wherewithal to quench his Thirst and appease his Hunger that is pressing upon him None but the Effeminate are afraid of Misfortunes and who never think themselves happy unless they swim in Delights and Pleasures The Third Discourse That the Coelibate or Single Life is accompanied with Pleasure THe World owes its Conservation to Marriage 't is that which began humane Society which has populated Countries filled Cities formed States and given Inhabitants of the most remote parts of the Earth Our first Parent was ingag'd to it a little after His Creation his alliance preceded his consent and no sooner was he establish'd in his Earthly Paradice but he saw himself oblig'd to have one part of him the Object of his Affection Almighty God who wrought this Miracle fetch'd the Woman from his side during his Extasy that so those two Persons should make but one and the same All that their Bodies should be but one and the same Flesh and that their Minds should aspire but to one and the same felicity Marriage is an image of the Divinity the Unity does not Derogate from the plurality of their Persons they are but one though they be two and though they are of a different Sex they still have the same Nature This advantage heightens the glory of Marriage and there is no person but would boast that he resembled his Creator if he was not pursued with so vast a retinue of Miseries and if there was not an absolute necessity to be Miserable because he was of the Number of those that were Married The Wife is as it were the bought Servant of her Husband she loses her Liberty in becoming his Spouse and she obliges her self to serve and obey him from the time that she promises her self to be faithful to him As she makes but one and the same substance with him she ought to observe all his Motions be pleas'd in his Joys griev'd in his Afflictions and be a faithful Mirroir to represent in her Person all the passions that influence him The Portion she brings exempts her not from this Servitude She is poor as soon as she renounces her Liberty and unjustly usurps the name of Mistriss since she has nothing in her dispose That which still increases her unhappiness and renders her poverty more evident is that she is forbid to receive any Presents but in the presence of her Husband and must not accept of any private Sacrifices without making her self suspected and hazarding her Repution But though this Restraint should not be fixed to her conditâ—on and this Alliance she contracts with her Husband should not prejudice her Liberty yet she cannot secure her self against Troubles her being great with Child is Incompatible with her Health she is exposed to a thousand dangers during the time she carries her Fruit she runs the â—isque of losing her own life as often as she gives it to her Child The vows she makes for her deliverance and the horror the name of Mother gives her are the irreproachable evidences of her apprehensions which make her often repent her wishes and preferr Sterility to a fruitfulness that carries along with it so much both of Pain and Danger But consider her in some estates and she is never freed from the suspitions of her Husband He narrowly pries into her actions he examines the Sence of her words he watches the motions of her Eyes and often makes innocent Divertisements to pass for Criminal and blameable Entertainments Oh! what slavery is it to be oblig'd to live constantly with a Man who is possest with the spirit of Jelousy that mistruâ—â—s her Fidelity fears her being unconstant and often teaches her to be unfaithful to him by his diffidence That person must needs be an enemy to
from Pleasure the evils which attacque it were never yet capable to part them but she is happy though judg'd most miserable Those who fly from Affliction very much resemble those Children who are terribly frighted with the sight of those they love because they have got Vizards on and not considering their persons mind nothing but the Visage which makes them tremble Miseries are no otherwise then imaginarily Austere they conceal the Pleasure under an appearance of Evil and he is unacqainted with their merit who looks upon 'em but as the enemies of his happiness Infamous pleasures convert themselves into torments and our nature must needs be under a great depravation not to be sensible of their afflicting circumstances But the Christian makes Sufferings become pleasurable he esteems himself happy when he is accounted worthy to suffer any thing for his Saviour and Patience animating him for induring gives him a foreâ—ast of that Joy he looks for in Heaven When the Son of God sent His Apostles to the Conversion of the World he call'd them his Sheep and said He was their good Shephard he would have them receive this Mission as a favor and not as they were for it so much redevable to their Merit as to his Goodness and Bounty Yet notwithstanding he sent these Sheep among Wolves he expos'd them to the unmerciful fury of Tyrants he promised them nothing but Deaths and Tortures and to incourage them in this office he assured them that the executing it would cause the loss both of their Honor and their Lives To teach us that persecution is not without its delights that Miseries are the nourishment of the faithful that Torments keep vertue alive and in breath and that Infamy makes up the happyness of those that are miserable The Fourth Discourse That there is satisfaction in supporting ones self up under the deformities of the body VVHat invectives soever have been made against the beauty and comeliness of the Body and whatever Reasons have been deduced from the writings of Philosophers to abase its Pride it has been yet impossible to persuade the Women that it is dangerous and that that which does appear as a Divinity to our Eyes can be destructive and pernicious to Humane society They have recourse to the commendations of their Idolaters to authorize its Empire they say that it is an Emanation of the Soveraign-Good it is the beginning of Love and it has never yet met with any other enemies in the world then those that are bizarre and blind The Law allows its address and obliges us in some measure to preferr Beauty to Deformity if we will believe Plato who was its Panegyrist Love is not happy but because she is the object of its entertainment and does pleasantly flatter the Sences by insinuating its self into the mind But what praises soever may be given to Beauty we must acknowledg that it is not without its blemishes and imperfections and that the Philosophers were not altogether void of Reason when they many times preferr'd even unhandsomness to its perfections For not to instance that it is a frail gift of nature which decays with time deceives its admirers and is in the power of the least Distemper to do it outrage besides how it is fain to borrow the greatest part of its Charms from the opinion of the beholders that its Puissance is malignant that it makes impression only upon the purblind and its possession is not so much a true as it is an imaginary good It persecutes the Subject whose glory her self is and as if It had conjured his ruin it troubles his repose robs him of the greatest part of his life and fills him with thoughts only after infamous or criminal things It is an Enemy that accompanies him wherever he goes that torments him in his retreat as well as in puâ—lick and that after it has hood-wink'd his â—yes will not suffer him to discern between truth and false-hood nor to distinguish the vice that flatters him from the vertue he ought to aspire to Also those who are acquainted with its vanity with satisfaction suffers its loss and no whit are troubled to be deprived of an Ornament so prejudicial to their felicity They judg their body ought to be without attraction since it is the vilest part of them every day tending towards Corruption and that it is but justice it should be humbled since it was born to obey Reason is Man's only good it is an advantage that he can dispute with all other creatures and he may esteem himself happy being reasonable Beauty is a stranger to it that gives place to Flowers and Birds and we see even Insects dispute it with the most charming and powerful Beauties on Earth As Homeliness is a remedy against Love it puts out and extinguishes Concupiscence and by a wretched kind of happiness makes us often disesteem those persons we cannot affect without doing violence to our selves The deformity of the body is not an enemy to the beauty of the mind the most precious things are ordinarily such as are most hidden and they are most valuable from the obscurity of the places where they lye in Pearls are shut up in shells of Fishes Chrystal is buried in stones and Rocks Gold is lockt up in the barren ground and the Earth produces nothing that is choise and curious but what is embowelled in Dirt and Filth The mind is oft-times retired under a frightful deformity and if we will take Antiquity for our warrant the subtle Philosophers have made their Wisdom shine forth through the casements of most dreadfully hideous and deformed Bodies He who made the Beasts to speak and who in one little Volume has coutched up all humane pollicy was a Monster in appearance and approached nearer the shape of a Bear then of a Man and if his Reason should not have broke forth at his tongue he might have been taken for the debauch of a disorderly Father It does not depend upon us to be Handsom but it is in our power to be good Honesty is fixt to our will and whatever defects may happen to our bodies they cannot hinder us from being vertuous That person who does aspire to this glorious Title can easily laugh at the advantages of the body and as he knows that the mind is above that gross and heavy lump he contemns its imperfections that he may seek his Soveraign We have beheld some Virgins who have disfigur'd their Faâ—es to conserve their Chastity and have chosen rather to make themselves hated by Men then to get them be their humble Servants If Nature has rendred us deformed it has delivered us from this trouble it was willing to be her self the Tutress of our vertue and to learn us Purity by depriving us of the means that might put it into hazard It is always less glorious to be born Beautiful then to become so since the one is only the work of Fortune but the other is the production