Organ and this to render the Operation what it ought to be is the Air not in any wise changed or corrupted but free and in its Natural Purity and Disposition From hence we may gather That the Act of Sensation is perform'd when the Object or sensible Species presents it self by the help of a Medium dispos'd to convey this Representation to the proper Organ sitted to receive it and that the Animal Spirits lodg'd there do accordingly take the Impression and apprehend the thing So that here is Action and Passion both and the Senses are not purely Passive for notwithstanding that they receive an Impression and in that respect are acted upon yet do they likewise act in some Degree themselves so far as they perceive the Image and apprehend the Object propounded to them See the Advertisement at the End of the next Chapter The old Philosophy before Aristotle's Time made a very remarkable Difference between the Sight and the rest of the Senses Supposing This to be meerly Active and imagining that whereas the Others receiv'd the Object and Impression from without and so cou'd only be Passive The Eye quite contrary shot out its Rays of Light from within and made an Impression upon the Visible Object But ever since Aristotle this Account of Vision hath been better stated and all the Senses are allow'd to be equally Passive equally wrought upon from without All the Arguments of the Ancients to the contrary being very easily answer'd and set aside But now besides these Five particular Senses the Organs whereof appear outwardly there is Another which is call'd the Common Sensory within Here it is that the several Objects of every sort perceiv'd by the Corporeal Organs make their Rendezvous Hither they are brought to be examin'd compar'd sorted out and distinguish'd asunder For were there no such Office of Enquiry all wou'd end in Confusion This discerning Power is above the Capacity of any particular Organ of Sense for each of these is intent upon his own Business and whatever his Fellows do is out of His Sphere he knows nothing at all of the Matter nor can he be a competent Judge in it CHAP. X. Of the Senses which are the most Exalted and Noble Parts of the Body THE Ordinary way of being conducted to the Knowledge of Things Of what Consequence they are to us is by the Assistance and Ministry of our Senses so say the Schools but it is not universally true These are our first Instructers See Ch. xv 11. All our Learning begins with them and is at last resolv'd into them We can go no farther back than they lead us or give occasion for us to build Consequences upon Each of These is supreme within its own Territories and a large Dominion each of them possesses An infinite Number of Reflections and Notions arise from each nor does any One of them hold under depend upon or stand in need of the rest Thus the Power of them all is equally absolute though some of them have a wider Range and more Business and a longer Train of Consequences and Instructions than some others Nor are we to wonder at This since the Case is the same in other Instances For a Petty Prince is as independent as truly Sovereign within his own small Territories as the greatest Monarch upon Earth in Kingdoms of the largest extent It is a Maxim universally receiv'd Their Number That there are but Five Senses in Nature and that which inclines all the World to think so is because we can observe no more in our selves But possibly there may be more and some question may be made of it nay indeed some probable Reasons may be offer'd that there are more But supposing that there are it is certainly not in our Power to know it nor can we possibly assert or deny the thing positively For there is no way to discover the Want or Defect of a Sense we never had Several Brutes enjoy all the Advantages of Life that are necessary to them notwithstanding they do not enjoy all the Methods of Sensation which Nature hath given to Mankind and I see no Reason why an Animal may not subsist without any of the Five Senses that of Touch only excepted which alone wou'd supply the bare Necessities of Life It is plain we live very conveniently with Five and yet perhaps there may be One or Two or Three more in Nature which we in no degree partake of But as I said this is more than we do or can know for each Sense is consin'd within its own Division and can make no Discoveties nor hath any Jurisdiction out of its own Compass A Man Blind from his Birth can never be brought to any Idea of Sight nor can he strictly speaking either desire it or be concern'd for the want of it 'T is true he will tell you perhaps that he wishes to See but this is spoke by rote and according as he hears other People express themselves for indeed he wishes he knows not what And all it comes to at last is that he wou'd be glad to have somewhat which he is told the rest of the World have and himself hath not The reason of all This is Because the Senses are the Doors See Note at which all our Knowledge makes its first Entrance and that which did not begin and is not let in that way cannot come in at all Thus a Man is not capable of forming to himself a Conception of more Senses than those Five which himself hath and consequently cannot persuade himself that there are or can be more in Nature but it does not follow from hence that there can be no more because he hath no Notion of any more Who knows whether the many Difficulties which still remain unaccounted for in many of the Works of Nature and the Operations of Animals that escape the nicest Enquiry and subtilest Penetration of Humane Wit may not be charged upon the Want of some Sense which we are not provided with to discern them What the World usually expresses by the Title of Sympathies Antipathies and Occult Qualities may have some Sensitive Faculties in Nature accommodated to perceive and make a competent Judgment of them and perhaps our Ignorance of them is owing to our being desicient in this Point Who can tell whether it be not some particular Sixth Sense which informs the Cock when it is Midnight and the first Dawning of the Day and by some secret Impulse puts him constantly upon Crowing at those times The same may be said of that Direction by which some Brutes are led to such Herbs as are proper for their Recovery when sick or surfeited and of many other such things as these which are notorious Matters of Fact but the reasons of them perfectly unknown This is a Case in which we are utterly in the Dark and no Man can be positively assur'd on either side of the Question Some indeed have undertaken to give a Reason
indeed the Seat of Trade and private Gain and therefore fit to be the Darling of Merchants and Artificers And it is the Place accommodated to Publick Administrations but this latter but a very small part of Mankind are call'd to or capable of And History tells us that heretofore excellent Persons were fetch'd out of the Country to undertake Affairs of the greatest Importance and assoon as they had finish'd these they retir'd again with wonderful Delight and made the Town not a Matter of Choice but Necessity and Constraint This was the short Scene of Labour and Business to them but the Country was the Seat of their Pleasure and more constant Residence CHAP. LVII Of a Military Life THE Profession and Employment of a Soldier if we respect the Cause and Original Design of it is very worthy and honourable for it pretends to protect the Safety and promote the Grandeur of one's native Country to preserve it in Peace and guard it from the Insults of Enemies abroad and turbulent Spirits at home than which nothing can be more just nothing more universally beneficial It is also noble and great in the Execution of this Design For Courage which is its proper Quality and Character is the bravest most generous most Heroick of all Virtues And of all Humane Actions and Exploits Those of War are the most celebrated and pompous insomuch that the Titles and Ensigns of Honour borrow their Names from and are assign'd as Rewards to Them It hath also many Pleasures peculiar to it the Conversation of Men of the first Quality in heat of Youth and full of Fire and Activity the being familiarly acquainted with strange Accidents and wonderful entertaining Sights freedom of Behaviour and Converse without Trick or Art a Masculine and hardy way of living above Ceremony or Form Variety of Attempts and Successes The moving Harmony of warlike Musick which entertains the Ears charms all the Senses warms the Soul and inspires it with Valour the Gracefulness of Motion and Discipline that transport and delight us with a pleasing Horrour that Storm of Shouts and Alarms which the louder it grows the more ravishing and animating it is and the roaring Ordinance of so many Thousand Men that fall on with incredible fury and eagerness But when all These and as many more Excellencies as its most zealous Patrons can attribute to this Calling have been allow'd every reasonable Man must acknowledge on the other hand that the Plundering Undoing Murdering one another and especially the making These a Matter of Art and Study a Science and a Commendation seems highly unnatural and the effect of Barbarity and Madness Nothing is a stronger Evidence against Mankind of their Weakness and Imperfection and foul Degeneracy for it sets us below the very Brutes themselves in the most savage of which the Original Impressions of Nature are not defac'd to this scandalous Degree What an infinite Folly what an execrable Rage is it to create all this Disturbance and turn the World upside-down to encounter and run thro' so many Hazards by Sea and Land for a Prize so very doubtful and full of Chance as the event of a Battle Why should we make Campaigns abroad and turn Volunteers to foreign Princes to run with so much eagerness and appetite after Death which may be found nay which of its own accord meets us at home and offers it self every where and that without proposing to our selves so much as decent Burial To fall on and kill Men that we have no Spite no Resentment against nay Men that are absolute Strangers and whom we never saw in all our Lives Why this mighty Heat and Fury to one that hath done thee no hurt given thee no provocation What a Madness is it to venture Loss of Limbs and Blood Wounds and Bruises which when they do not take Life quite away make it subject to Remedies and Pains a Thousand times more grievous and insupportable than Death Had you Obligations of Duty and Conscience it were another Matter but to do this for Breeding and Fame to sacrifice and destroy one's self for a Man that you never saw who hath no manner of Tenderness or Concern for you and only striveâ— to mount upon the dead or maim'd Body that he may stand a little higher and enlarge his own Prospect Nothing but very weighty Reasons and the necessary Defence of all that is dear to us can make such an Undertaking prudent and commendable And in such Cases all personal Considerations ought to be despised as much as otherwise they are fit to be valu'd And I hope too the Reader takes notice all along that I speak of those who choose the Trade for Mercenary Ends or out of false Notions of Gallantry and not with any intention to discourage the Duty of Subjects to their Prince whose just Quarrels they ought always to account their Own The Fifth and Last Difference between Some Men and Others taken from the Advantages and Disadvantages by which Nature or Fortune hath distinguished them PREFACE THis Last Distinction is abundantly notorious and visible to every Eye It hath indeed several Branches and Considerations included under it but all I think may be conveniently enough reduced to Two General Heads which according to the vulgar way of Expression may be termed Happiness and Unhappiness being High or Low in the World To that of Happiness or Greatness belong Health Beauty and other Qualifications and Advantages of Body and Person Liberty Nobility Honour Authority Learning Riches Reputation Friends In Unhappiness or Meanness of Condition are comprehended the Contraries of all These which without naming particularly we easily understand to be the privation or want of the foremention'd Advantages Now these Particulars are the occasion of infinite variety in Men's Circumstances and Conditions of Life for a Man may be happy in the Enjoyment of One or Two or Three of these Qualities and yet not so in the rest and even in Those he hath he may be happy in a greater or less Degree and those Degrees are capable of being so many that it is not easie if at all possible to express or conceive them But upon the whole Matter in the Distribution and Disposal of our Fortunes and Affairs Providence hath so ordered it that Few or None should be either happy or unhappy in every one of these Respects He then that partakes of most and particularly those Three Advantages of Nobility Dignity or Authority and Riches is esteem'd Great and he that hath none of those Three is reckoned among the mean Men. But several Persons have only One or Two of the Three and so they stand in a sort of middle Capacity between the two Extremes and are neither High nor Low We will speak very briefly to each of them As for Health and Beauty Chap. VI Chap. X and other Advantages that relate to the Body and Persons of Men enough hath been said of them already and so likewise of Sickness and Pain
and how fierce soever the Assaults may be yet He will suffer but little by them who feels all easy in his own Breast and hath the best Defensive Armour in the World to oppose against them a Good Courage because a Clear Conscience Adversity is of two kinds Either That which truly and in its own nature is such More particular Advice what we cannot continue Men and not be moved with such as Sickness and Pain and the Loss of those things which are very dear to us or else That which is not really such but falsly represented to be so and owes its being reputed such either to some general Opinion and Vulgar Error or else to the private Interpretation and Sense of particular Persons When This is the Case a Man hath both his Mind and Body at his own disposal just as before any such Afflictions happened And therefore in such Notional Calamities all that need or can be said is this That what you make such doleful Complaints of hath nothing painful or troublesome in it but all this is of your own creating who put on an unnecessary Melancholy resent things tenderly cry out when you are not hurt and fancy Misery where there is really none As for those which are Real and Natural the most Obvious Real Afflictions Remedies against them and Popular and Sound Advice is in this Case the most Natural and most Equitable and therefore without proposing nice and studied and uncommon Arguments I shall content my self with these few following Reflections First A Man will do well to remember that nothing of this kind which he endures is contrary to the Law of Nature and the Condition of Manking Since Man is born to Sorrow as the Sparks fly upward that is All such things as these are very ordinary and usual and from his Birth entailed and annexed as Incumbrances upon this State of Mortality into which he is admitted Therefore upon every Accident that uses to afflict us we ought constantly to consider Two things The Nature of what happens to us and our own Nature and when once we come to regard things as they really are and to behave our selves accordingly we shall then deliver our selves from any Vexation and Disquiet that can arise from them Vexation and Fretfulness are a Disease of the Soul a Distemper unnatural in it self and what ought by no means to be allowed by us For Nature hath been so bountiful and so very provident for our Ease that there is not any Accident possible to come upon us which She hath not already furnished us with a Faculty to bear and manage and convert to our Good and rendred capable of such Arguments and Considerations as may very reasonably prevail with us to be contented under it There is no one Condition of Life so destitute and deplorable but it hath some Interval of Refreshment some Solace some mitigating Circumstance to soften it There is no Confinement so close no Dungeon so dark but some Light will spring in some Comfort may be found to chear the Prisoner and drive the Sorrow from his heart Jonas we see found Leisure for Devotion even in he Whale's Belly and from thence poured out a Prayer which God graciously accepted and answer'd And sure This is a Privilege of considerable Value and a great kindness in Nature that she supplies us with Lenitives and contrives whys for the qualifying and asswaging of our Pains even in the instant of our labouring under them This ought no more to be forgotten for ou Consolation and Support than that other Reflection That our Condition necessarily exposes us to Suffering and we were born liable to all kinds of Misery For * Omnia ad quae gemimus ad quae expâ—vescimus Tributa viâ—ae sunt all those Grievances which we either groan under or tremble with apprehensions of their Approach are but so many Taxes or Rent-Charges upon Life Secondly It may be of great Advantage to consider that notwithstanding none of us are or can be absolutely exempt from the Power and Jurisdiction of Fortune yet we are far from being entirely under it and That by much the least part of us is subject to it The Principal and most valuable is still in our own hands no Attempts from without can subdue or wrest it from us nothing can lose it but our own Consent and Voluntary Surrender 'T is confess'd Fortune can reduce us to Poverty waste us with Sicknes harass us with Afflictions but it cannot debauch our Manners nor enfeeble our Spirits nor make us submit to base and unmanly immoral and dishonourable Actions And how happy is it that we are thus far out of her reach how incomparably better that she should tyrannize over our Riches or Successes or even Health it self than that she should deprive us of our Probity our Courage and our Virtue Let us support and please our selves with this Reserve for while we hold our Own nothing can render us truly miserable In the next place I must beg of Men that they will be Honest and act according to the Rules of Reason and Justice For the very truth is Men are frequently very injurious to Providence and complain without any Just cause For if at any time a cross Accident befall us shall we sit down under it full of Murmurings and discontented Thoughts No sure let us rather recollect how much oftener things have succeeded as we would wish and then compute and compare these and balance one with the other And I make no doubt to affirm If this Reckoning were fairly and impartially stated but the most Melancholy most Unfortunate Man alive might see greater reason to commend and be thankful for the Good the Successful Passages of his Life than to repine at any Losses and Disappointments he may have sustained in it 'T is a Reflection full of Eternal Equity Shall we receive Good at the hand of the Lord and shall we not receive Evil But it is enough to silence all our Grumblings and put all Complainers to the blush when improved with this Small but most True Addition Shall we receive Good more and oftner and shall we not be content to receive the Evil which is but little and seldom Nature hath taught us to shut or turn away our Eyes from all such Objects as are shocking or offensive to us to remove them from such Colours as hurt and strain the Sight and to six upon others more gay and agreeable There is the same Reason here and Prudence and Duty both oblige us to call off our Thoughts from melancholy subjects and to divert them with others more pleasant and entertaining But we seem to be of quite different Dispositions to feed upon the Worst and indulge our selves in Peevishness and Spight We are like Cupping-glasses that draw only the foul and corrupt Blood and let all the good alone like Misers that put off their best Wine and keep the worst for their own drinking like froward
nay sometimes against Reason It brings Notions in Philosophy in Religion in Politicks Opinions and Ceremonies Fashions and Modes of Living into credit though they be never so fantastical and extravagant never so uncouth and distant from what Reason and Judgment would teach and approve Nor is its Tyranny less formidable in the contrary Extreme for it as frequently does great wrong to things in themselves noble and worthy of universal Advantage by disparaging and lessening them and even bringing them into Neglect and universal Contempt So unreasonably does Custom and common Fame raise or lower the Market so precarious and uncertain is the greatest intrinsick Worth if it happen to be lodged in an Obsolete Opinion an Antiquated and Unfashionable Virtue For all these things have their Seasons of Improvement and Declension and the Sentiments of the World upon them will vary though the Reason and Nature of the thing be constantly the same * Nil adeo magnum nec tam mirabile quiequam Principio quod non desinant mirarier omnes Paulatim Lucret. L. 11. What we now with greatest ease receive Seem'd strange at first and we could scarce believe And what we wonder at as Years increase Familiar grows and all our Wondrings cease Creech Thus you plainly see the vast Influence and excessive Power of Custom Plato was once reproving a Youth for playing often at Cob-nut who replied in his own excuse Methinks Sir under favour you chide me for a very small matter No said Plato you are mightily mistaken for be assured Young Man that Custom is never a small matter A Sentence this which well deserves the Serious Attention of All who have the care of educating Youth Once more Custom is so very tyrannical in the Exercise of its Power and expects so unreserved a Compliance that it will not give us leave to struggle with it or retreat from it nay does not allow us so much as the Liberty to consider and reason with our selves whether what it imposes be fit for us to comply with or not It so perfectly charms our Senses and Judgment as to persuade us that every thing which is new and strange must needs be contrary to Reason and that there can be no Justice or Goodness in any thing which Custom hath not confirmed and made current by its Approbation We do not govern our selves by Reason but are carried away by 〈◊〉 whatever is most in use that we esteem most virtuous most becoming even Error it self when it is become Epidemical hath the Authority of Truth with us These Complaints of Seneca are but too true in every Age and Place and were only the Plain and Mean and Ignorant People concerned in them the Calamity were somewhat tolerable Because these Men are not really qualified to enter into the true Reasons and Differences of things they have not Sagacity enough to see nor Solidity enough to search an Argument to the bottom and Therefore 't is the best thing They can do since they are not able to distinguish and judge for themselves to pin their Opinions upon the Sleeves of Those that are able and let Them speak for them This is a safe and a peaceable way and the Publick sinds great Ease and Convenience from it But for Wife Men who are under a very different Character and have another part to Act to see Them led thus about by the Nose and enslaved to every Folly that puts on the Venerable Face of Custom is very much below their Judgment and Quality and may justly be allowed to move our Indignation that They should so far forget themselves and what they are qualisied for I do not mean by this that a Man who would approve himself Wife Advice with regard to Laws and Customs should be Singular and Precise and denounce War upon all Mankind and their Manners for my Desire and Advice is that he should be very observant of the Laws and Customs which are established and in present force in the Countrey where he dwells Yet that not with a Servile Superstitious Spirit but from a Manly and Generous Principle That he should speak of them with Deference and great Respect and conform his Actions and whole Behaviour to the Rules and Measures they prescribe And all this I would have him do not merely from a Conviction of their Agreement with the Principles of Justice and Equity and Reason but without regarding so much what they are in themselves and upon this Consideration only that they are Laws and Customs Then I desire he should be very cautious and considerate in his Judgment of Foreign Customs and Constitutions and not rashly condemn or take offence at them upon slight and superficial Pretences And Lastly I would have him with all possible Seriousness Freedom and Impartiality examine into both the Domestick and the Foreign and engage his Judgment and Opinion in the behalf of either no farther than Reason will bear him out These are the Four Instructions which I shall a little enlarge upon and they contain the Whole of what seems to me necessary under this Head In the First place All Wife Men agree that the observing the Laws They ought to be complied with and being governed by the Customs of the Countrey where we dwell is the Great and Fundamental Principle the Law of Laws because indeed it is This which gives Life and Vigor to all the rest All affected ways of living that are particular and out of the common Road give just Cause of Indignation and Jealousy betray a great deal of Folly or Conceitedness or Ambition confound the Order and disturb the Government of the World I add in the Second Place that This be done out of Reverence to Publick Authority Not merely for the Justice and Equity of them For strictly speaking these Laws and Custom support their Credit and ought to preserve an Authority not merely with regard to any inherent Equity or Reasonableness to be discovered in them but they are sacred upon this single Consideration That they are Laws and Customs though there be nothing else to recommend them to our Observance This is the Mystical Foundation upon which they stand and the great Secret of Government and properly speaking they have no other Motive but their Sanction to enforce them My meaning is not from hence That any Establishment though never so strong can derive a Right to our Obedience upon Laws and Usages manifestly Unreasonable and Unjust but that He who obeys a Law merely for the sake of its Subject-matter being just though he do the thing commanded by it yet he does it upon a wrong Principle For at this rate every Law must submit it self to the Judgment of every private Man and each Subject shall call it to account arraign and try it at the Bar of his own Breast bring all Obedience to be a Matter of Controversy and Doubt and by consequence all the Right of Administration and the whole Civil Polity must
value of the Widow's Mite and render'd one small piece of Money not equal only but far superiour to all the large Donations of the Rich Contributors And thus Heathen Authors have likewise concurr'd in their Estimate of good Works * In Benesieio Hoc suspieiendum quod alteri dedit ablaturus sibi utilitatis suae oblitus In every Benefit say they we are to have a more than ordinary respect to that which a Man by relieving his Neighbour streightens himself in and for the sake of another's Convenience and Advantage postpones and forgets his own On the other Hand where the Gift it self is large the Obligation may be very small and indeed in great Gifts there are some Circumstances which most commonly make it so For such are bestow'd frequently with Unwillingness and Reluctancy They expect to be much intreated and long attended for them and take time to consider whether they shall bestow them or not Now This hath too much of Pomp and Formality in it such a Man is desirous to magnifie his own Bounty and after all he gives more to gratifie his own Vanity and Ambition than to supply the Necessities of them that want and so Himself is the Giver and Receiver both But that which gives another very just Preference in the Case before us is That the External Benefit may be presently wrested from us again or if not by Fraud and Force yet it may be spent or lost it may decay upon our Hands and in process of time vanish quite but the inward Disposition with which it was conferred is permanent and firm The Liberty or the Health the Wealth or Honour or Preferment bestow'd upon us may by some fresh Accident be lost in an instant but still the Kindness and the Obligation remains entire Now the Directions by which a Man may do well to govern himself in the exercise of this excellent Virtue Rules for Beneficence are such as follow First With regard to the Persons who are the proper Objects of our Liberality and whether it be fit to extend it to All as their Wants and our own Abilities furnish Opportunities for it This is a very reasonable Enquiry and highly necessary to be resolv'd because by doing good to wicked Men and such as do not deserve our Kindness a Man may seem to be guilty of a great many Faults at once This derives Censure and an ill Name upon the Donor and exposes his Bounty to very vile Interpretations It hardens and supports such People in their Wickedness and Extravagance breeds Envy and malicious Thoughts takes away all Distinctions between the Good and the Bad by allowing the same Countenance and Encouragement to Vice which is due to Virtue and Desert For certainly those Assistances which depend upon our own free Choice and are the Effect of Grace and not any Debt by virtue of Obligation and Duty Worth and Goodness have the best Title to but yet extreme Necessity and the general Good of Mankind lay all in common In these two Cases none are excluded but even the Wicked and the Ingrateful have Right to come in for a Share if their Necessities are urgent and if they be so mingl'd and interspers'd with the Good that One cannot enjoy the Benefit without the Other partaking of it too And undoubtedly it is much better to do good to those who do not deserve it for the sake of them that do than to with-hold our Assistance from those that do deserve in revenge and for the discouragement of Them who do not Accordingly we see that God sets us a daily example of Universal Beneficence He causeth his Sun to rise on the Evil and on the Good and giveth Rain to the Just and to the Vnjust These are the Effects of a general Providence But then he bestows over and above these some special Blessings which are the Effects of a distinguishing Providence There he makes choice of his own Faithful and Beloved ones and that Rule mention'd by our Blessed Lord takes place It is not meet to take the Children's Bread and to cast it unto Dogs * Multum refert utrum aliquem non excludas an eligas There is a vast deal of difference says the Philosopher between not excluding a Man and making him your Choice In Cases of Extremity when Affliction and Necessity cry aloud for present Redress and Assistance we should extend our Charity without Distinction of Merit and it will not serve us to say that Men are unworthy †Hominibus prodesse Natura jubet ubicunque Homini beneficio locus Nature calls upon us to be serviceable to all without exception and the Consideration of his being a Man is sufficient to excite our Compassion when Opportunities of doing Good offer themselves to us Humanity bids us bear a tender regard and lend our Endeavours to those that seek and stretch out their Hands to implore our help not to pursue them who turn their Backs upon us And our Kindness is much more due much better bestow'd where we are able to do good than where They who receive it are capable of doing good to Us. It is an Act of Generosity to take the weaker Side to support those that are sinking to heal a broken Fortune and support a drooping Spirit and to rob the Conqueror of his Pride and Triumph by snatching the Spoils and rescuing the vanquish'd Prey out of his Hand Thus Chelomis is said to have done She was both the Wife and Daughter of a King These two Princes had a Dispute with one another in which while her Husband had the Advantage she shewed her self a dutiful Daughter and follow'd her Father's Fortunes never forsaking him in his greatest Distress but when the Chance of War turn'd and cast the Scale on the other side then She turn'd too and left her Father to enjoy his Prosperity and thought This a proper Season to exert the Affection and Fidelity of a Wife by sticking close to her Husband in his Calamitous Condition A Second Rule for the Exercise of this Virtue is to do it frankly and cheerfully Not grudgingly or of necessity says St. Paul for God loveth a cheerful giver And ₠Bis est gratum quod opus est si ultro ofteras The Kindness you do is doubly welcome when what is seasonable and necessary comes of its own accord without staying to be ask'd or press'd to it For so much of Entreaty and Attendance às it costs so much of the Value and Satisfaction is abated And * Nemo Iubenter debet quod non accepit sed expressit Non tulit gratis qui accepit rogans imò nihil charius emitur quà m quod Precibus No Man takes any great Joy in being beholding to a Man for that which he did not so properly receive as extort That which is gotten by Importunity is dear bought He that obtains by dint of asking ought not to esteem his Supply a Gift for Attendance and Address
hither for Shelter I confess such Advice is Ridiculous and a mere Jest for Remembring and Forgetting are not Things in our own disposal and all we can contribute toward this is not to torment our selves Industriously not to awaken the sleeping Lyon and when such Reflections offer themselves to soften and counter-Work them by Arguments for Patience and Contentedness But here our Advisers play the Surgeon's Part who when they cannot heal the Wound asswage the Pain and Skin over the Sore as well as they can Those that have advised People to dispatch themselves when their Sufferings are come to Extremity and all Hope all Possibility of Amendment gone are directly of the same Mind For what is Death but a State of Stupidity and Insensibility and those who seek a Refuge here acknowledge Ignorance to be their last and most effectual Remedy But now Wisdom is an Accomplishment of absolute Necessity and universal Use All Things fall within the Verge of its Jurisdiction and nothing can be exempted or conceal'd from its Cognizance It rules and sits Supreme in War and in Peace in Publick and Private nay it presides over our Frolicks and Feasts our Jollities and Recreations for All these ought to be managed with Prudence and Discretion and Sobriety And where Wisdom does not interpose all things run into Disorder and Confusion Secondly Learning is Servile and Mean and Mechanical when put into the Balance with Wisdom It is a borrowed Excellence and borrowed with great Importunity too A learned Man is like the Jay in the Fable tricked up and made fine with the Feathers of other Birds He sets himself off and entertains the World with his Reading but this is like making a Feast at another Man's Cost Whereas the Wise Man lives upon his Rents and hath an inexhaustible Fund of his own For Wisdom is a Man's proper Possession an Inheritance setled upon him by Nature but cultivated and made Fertile by Art and Industry and Exercise Thirdly The Qualities and Conditions of these Two are vastly Different more Graceful more Generous in the One than the Other Learning is usually Proud and Peevish Captious and Cavilling Arrogant and Presumptuous Peremptory and Bold Quarrelsome and addicted to Disputes Ill-mannerd and Indiscreet Wisdom is Modest and Reserved Gentle and Peaceable free from a Spirit of Contradiction and full of Respect Again Learning is commonly Forward and Affected Unseasonable and Pretending always thrusting it self in at every Thing and yet able to do Nothing For it consists not in Action but in Talk But Wisdom is full of Efficacy and Activity it Manages and Governs every Thing and is never Troublesom or Vain never Nauseous or out of Time Thus it Appears that there is a mighty Difference between true Wisdom and acquired Knowledge and how much the One is Better and more Valuable than the Other As much indeed as a Thing that is indispensably Necessary and of general Use Active and Vigorous and Substantial Noble and Virtuous and Becoming excels another which is Serviceable but in some Cases and absolutely Necessary in none Impotent and Unactive Mechanick and Mean Presumptuous and Positive Stiff and Humorsome Captious and Cavilling Let us Now proceed to the Other part of this Argument which undertakes to prove that these Two do not always go together nay that they are generally found single and asunder The Account of this so far as Nature is concern'd in it seems to be what hath been formerly explain'd at large that the Temperaments of the Brain which capacitate and dispose Men to these several Accomplishments are distant and incompatible For That where Memory excels which qualifies Men for acquired Learning is Moist and the other where Wisdom is Predominant and Judgment excels is Dry. This is also hinted to us by what the Scriptures mention to have befallen our first Parents for in the Instant that they fixed their Desires upon Speculative Knowledge Wisdom forsook them quite and the Advantages of this Kind which were included in the Original Perfection of Human Nature were withdrawn And constant Experience shews us that the Fate of their Successors is still in Proportion the same The Greatest and most Flourishing Empires and Common-wealths both Ancient and Modern have been and yet are govern'd by Wisdom destitute of Scholarship both in Civil and Military Affairs Rome was as Ignorant as any other Part of the World for the First Five Hundred Years and then was it's Acme both for Virtue and Valour when Learning came in Corruption and Vice Factions and Civil Wars entred with it The most glorious Constitution the World ever saw was that of the Lacoedemonians founded by Lycurgus The Gallantest Men in Story were bred under it and yet they do not seem to have made any Pretension to Learning or to express any great Esteem for it at that time This was the Famous School for Virtue and Wisdom and conquered Athens the most refined City in the World the Scene of Sciences the Seat of the Muses and Store-house of Philosophy These Examples are Notorious in Ancient Story If we descend down to our own Times All those large wealthy and flourishing Kingdoms in the East and West Indies lived very well and wanted neither Grandeur nor Plenty they never had Learning nor did they ever feel the Want of it nay they were Ignorant even of reading and writing and the Knowledge as they have now hath been purchased at the expence of their Liberty Besides that they have learnt to cheat and to be Vicious into the Bargain and several wicked Arts never so much as mention'd amongst them before But indeed where do we find an Empire for Glory and Success comparable to that of the Grand Signior He like the Lyon of the World renders himself Formidable to all his Neighbours and is a Check and Terror to the Princes and Monarchs of the Earth And yet in this whole Dominion Nothing Reigns so Universally as profound Ignorance of Letters No Professors of Sciences no Schools no Allowance to read for the Publick Instruction of others no not even in Religion it self What then hath contained this State in such excellent Order what hath procur'd all its Successes what indeed but Prudence and Discipline and Conduct Turn your Eyes now and observe those other Kingdoms where Learning hath been in Authority and Reputation That of France for Example which seems to succeed Athens in all its Glory The Principal Ministers of this Crown the Constables and Mareschals and Admirals and Secretaries of State through whose Hands all Business of Moment passes are for the most Part Persons of little or no acquired Learning And we know that several eminent Law-givers and Princes and Founders of Common-wealths have utterly banish'd all Studies of this Nature as the Poyson and Plague of a Nation So did Licinius and Valentinian and Mahomet and an ancienter and better Man than all these Lycurgus This is a sufficient Proof that there may be Wisdom where there is no acquired