and by their Industry after it they make a publick indication how much they are inclined to her The little Infants that are hanging at their Mothers Breasts and whose reason as yet lies buried in the Flesh are fearful of Grief and in love with Pleasure bemoan themselves when the former touches them and are in an Expansion of Joy when the other gives a flattery to their Sences When a more ripen'd age has refin'd their faculties and the objects they entertain themselves with have discovered to them their Beauties their thoughts are wholly busied after their Prosecution their reason contrives ways how to acquire them and following the instinct of Nature they do what they can to satisfie their desires and give their minds contentment The Poets imitating the Oracles by their frequent hitting upon truths in their Verses have fained that Orpheus drew Beasts to him through the sweetness of his voice that those who shunn'd the sight of men were easily brought over by his elevations and cadences that their wild and savage dispositions was forgotten by his melody and that by this kind of mirth and pleasure he made those creatures become familiar which he could no wayes reclaim by his address The Politiâ—ians acknowledging this secret and Learning by experience the efficacy and power of Pleasure have made use of it in all their designs by it they have kept the people in Obedience put a stop to Rebellion in States and Kingdome and have kept off those dangers that have threatned Ruine The Republique of Athens owes its conservation to the divertisments of her Poets and their playes have won them over more subjects then the happiness and success of their Arms. For combating with the peoples passions they have preâ—tily stollen into their minds duty with Pleasure the same scenes which have diverted them have taught them virtue and they have carryed away that from the Theater which they could never get from Philosophy The Lawyers who are so expert in their decisions and ought to know the properties of every thing to determine our differences accord with the sentiments of nature in saying that Man is alwayes inclined to Pleasure that the privation of it is sufficient to cause him to break his promises and that he may permissively fail in his word to a young Lady when sickness has spoilt the body and left a visible deformity upon the face It seems a shock to the inclinations of this common Parent that a man should be obliged to marry her who ceases to be delightful to him and that she should unjustly exact the continuation of his love when she has lost that attraction which begat it in him Almighty God who prescribes an end in all his Actions and who often makes known his designs by those circumstances that are attended upon them has given us this assurance that Pleasure to a Man is natural since he created him in a place of Delicacies and afforded him a Paradice for his first Habitation If we may credit the ancient Fathers in their Descriptions of it the Earth did never bring forth any thing more beautiful since all things that was there plac'd conspired to his felicity 'T was the very Mansion-house of all imaginable Charmes the retrait in which all Happyness was circumscribed and the inchanted Castle of the Poets The Fountains that gently fell from the small declining Hills the Streams which made their intricate but pretty meanders over the flourishing Meadows charm'd his ears with the delightful and purling noise of their Waters the Trees did charge themselves with Fruits for the pleasing of his taste all things he could look upon ravish'd his sight the Beasts were no less his Domestiques then his Slaves and as the former was the agreeable supporters of his life so these respected his orders and shew'd their Obedience to his commands All the Seasons were in a delicate confusion with the Spring the Cold did never freez up his members the Sun warm'd but had no power to burn him and the Stars were to surround him with their most Benign influences The Earth from whose bosom He receiv'd his being gave him a share of all her Treasures She covered her self with Flowers to be a delight to him and in her Verdant and Forrest Tapistry invited him to his repose and if at any time she took away any of her Beauties it was only to present him with a greater variety far more agreeble In a word Pleasure and Man are born together it is the end of all his Operations and he may be said to have obtain'd it when once he comes to enjoy it It would be needless for me to make use of other Arguments to enforce this truth and as it would be to no purpose to prove the fire heats the Earth is heavy and all the Starrs are incircled with light so it shall suffice me to say that Pleasure is common to all creatures that Man seeks it as his happiness that Nature diffused it in all her parts and that God himself did give him his creation in an Earthly Paradice for his assurance that it was natural to him But as no Maxim is so sollid as not to meet with its adversaries and that even those themselves who love the truth yet do sometimes persecute it they give out that this Sentiment is an enemy to Vertue that it shocks Modesty and is not to be defended without bringing Confusion into the World For if Volupty be natural to us and if we are permitted to follow its motions who will not presently cry out and think that we may lawfully commit Whoredoms without any punishment carry away our Neighbors Wives and make Marriages the occasion of our Libertinage and Sensuality This Objection he that speaks much to will be Impertinent to very little purpose Nature does not oppose her self to the Laws of God she abhorrs whatever he forbids and as all her Light springs from him she adores his Will and observes his Ordinances All that displeases him is an offence to her and He has never yet forbid any thing which she has not inspired into us an horror for and aversion to do it Does He detest the Adulterer She looks upon him as a Monster and gives all the Nations in the world an abhorrence of him If he makes Pleasures unlawful She condemns them likewise She persuades all her Children to fly from them and as she is Obedient she observes all the commands of her Soveraign The third Discourse That Good Honest and Profitable is inseperable from Pleasure AS Qualities have their Oppositions so have they likewise their Resemblances Logick which seperates their properties can never divide their Essence and they agree in Unity although they are composed of different Species The Mistery of the Trinity which Astonishes all Theologie and has made all Ages sweat about the discovery of it concludes in one and the same nature a Pluralitie of Persons the Father is not the Son and the Holy Spirit is 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
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
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