out of Conceit with Pleasure than Greatness and Ambition calls 'em back to their former State as appears in the Case of Tiberius who after having given up the Empire to his Favorite that he might with more Quiet and Tranquillity tast the Excess of Sensuality is at length tempted to quit his Pleasures for the sake of the Empire the Cares of which he again finds fault with after the Death of Sejaâ—s being as much discontented at Rome as he was at Capreae always having an insatiable and restless Heart This Picture represents the Heart not only of Tiberius but of all Mankind who are in a perpetual and as it were necessary Tossing and Agitation whilst they fix themselves upon Worldly Objects God has endu'd Man with a Capacity proportionable to his Immortality Namely an infinite Capacity 'T is therefore impossible he should be satisfy'd with corruptible and transitory Goods what is finite can by no means fill him But perswade him once of his Immortality and give him Goods Eternal like himself and you 'll presently see him contented and satisfy'd Having endeavour'd to know the Nature Duties and the most powerful Motives or moral Force which naturally determine the Heart of Man 't will not be amiss in the next place to pass to the Consideration of his Irregularities the Spring of which we shall consider first in order to know the Rivulets that flow from it The End of the First Part. The SECOND PART Where we Enquire after the Source of our Corruption and Treat of Self-love of the Force of its Applications the Extent of its Affections and Irregularities in General and in Particular CHAP. I. Where we Enquire after the Source of our Corruption by handling the First of our Faculties which is the Understanding I Don't take the common School-Distinction oâ— Understanding and Will Mind and Heart Reason and Appetite to be proper for disentangling and clearing our Ideas but we must be forc'd to follow this too much receiv'd Custome We call Understanding Mind or Reason the Soul as it knows that is as it conceives judges reasons remembers reflects and methodizes its Knowledge We term Heart Will or Appetite the Soul as it has the Affections of Love Hatred Desire Fear Joy Hope Despair or any other of the Passions I think we shall not be much out of the Way if we define the Mind the Soul as it knows and the Heart the Soul as it loves For as Conceptions Judgments and Discourses are but different Modes of Knowledge so 't is certain that Desire Fear Hope and in general all other Affections are only Modes or different Manners of Love but this is not to be insisted upon at present Our Business here is to know Whether the Original Source of our Corruption be in the Mind or in the Heart Whether the first Spring of our Evil be in the Knowledge of our Soul or in its Affections We answer That 't is not in the Mind because then the Mind would have been order'd to conduct and regulate it self by the Dictates of the Heart whereas we see the Heart has been order'd to regulate it self by the Mind For 't would be unreasonable that what is less Corrupted should be guided by that which is more irregular and disorderly and that the Source of our Corruption should be the Rule of our Conduct and indeed were it so A Man would not be oblig'd to steer and guide himself by his Reason 'till he should have been assur'd that God had extraordinarily enlightned him and he must wait for an Enthusiasm and immediate Inspiration before he could have Right to act in the Quality of a Rational Creature Also the Holy Scripture always attributes the Offuscation and Darkness of the Mind to the evil Affections of the Heart If our Gospel be hidden says St. Paul 't is hidden to them that perish whose Understandings the God of this Age has blinded 'T is easy to conceive That by the God of this Age he means the Demon of Concupiscence And upon almost the like Account our Saviour said to the Jews How can ye believe seeing that ye seek for Glory one of another Certainly were the Mind the Original of our Depravation 't would always and in all Circumstances have its natural Obscuration and Darkness 't would be as blind in the Study of the Sciences as of Religion and 't would succeed no better in knowing such Objects as are indifferent to it than those which interess and concern it When an Eye is cover'd with a Web or clos'd up by an Obstruction 't is not in a Condition to see one Object more than another but when its Darkness proceeds from the Obstacle of Clouds Fog or any exterior Veil 't is easier for it to perceive distant Objects and 't will see very clearly when the extraneous Impediment is remov'd without receiving any Change or Alteration in it self So say we if the Understanding were in it self naturally darken'd 't would be as liable to Error in its curious and needless Enquiries as 't is in those which import and concern it for its Darkness would be Uniform and always the same But because 't is cover'd only with Fogs and Mists which rise from the Seat of the Affections no Wonder if its Obscuration ends so soon as the Heat of Passion ceases This is a common Matter of Fact One that has a Rectitude of Mind and Exactness of admirable Reason for apprehending what is most abstruse and intricate in the Sciences who knows when to doubt and suspend his Assent to things that are Dubious to affirm true Things and deny False to have a simple Opinion of probable Things to demonstrate those that are Certain who will not mistake True for False nor one Degree of Truth for another will no sooner have a Point of Interest to manage but his former Rectitude of Mind forsakes him his Reason bends to the Humour of his Desires and Evidence is confounded with Utility and Profit Whence proceeds this Darkness From the Objects No For these Objects are easier and clearer than those of the sublime and lofty Sciences which he so well-penetrated and understood Is it from any natural Defect of the Mind No From this much less than the other That has reason'd perfectly well touching Matters of Speculation and put it to Discourse of secular Concerns provided they be not its own but another Man's 't will reason about 'em with the same Exactness But if after you have carried the Mind of this Man from the Objects of the Sciences to the Affairs of Life you call it again from thence to the Consideration of the Truths of Religion you 'll perhaps find his Mind yet more obnoxious to Falshood and Illusions Because a greater Interest does also produce a greater Errour Such a Passion as Interest is of very great Prevalence and Force in obscuring the Light of Reason but yet those Passions which directly oppose Reason are more capable of producing this ill Effect For 't
transient â—nd finite Happiness For no less than an â—nfinite succession of Duration bears a proâ—ortion to this infinite succession of Percepâ—ions Thoughts and Desires of which Man â—nds himself naturally capable Let us then conclude That 't is in the Immortal Man that we discover the Nature the Perfections and the End of Man which make up his natural Dignity But as the Nature and Perfections of Man have given us a prospect of his End so his End informs us what are his Duties and natural Obligations which we shall consider in the following Chapter CHAP. II. Where we endeavour to know Man by considering the Nature and Extent of his Duties OUr Duties flow from Nature and owe not their Birth to Education as some Men imagine To make out this we need but suppose Two Principles The First is That we naturally love Our selves being sensible of Pleasure hating Evil desiring Good and taking care of our Preservation The Second is That together with this Propensity to love our selves Nature hath given us a Faculty of Reason to conduct and guide us We love our selves naturally this is â— sensible Truth We are capable of Reason this is a Truth of Fact Nature inclines us to make use of our Reason for directing this Love of our selves this most necessarily rises from the Principles of this latter it being impossible for us to love our selves really without employing all our Lights to search for what is agreeable to us Now from thence that Nature orders us to search for our own Good it follows that Man cannot be said without an evident Contradiction to be void of Duty and Law We must grant an Essential Difference beâ—wixt Moral Good and Evil since the former consists in obeying the Law of reasonaâ—le Nature the other in breaking it This natural Law in general may be diâ—ided into Four others which are its parâ—icular Species the Law of Temperance which obliges us to avoid Excesses and Deâ—aucheries that ruine our Body and injure â—ur Soul the Law of Justice which inclines â—s to render unto every Man his due and â—o by others as we would they should do by â—s the Law of Moderation which proâ—ibites Revenge knowing that we cannot do 〈◊〉 but at our own Cost and that to respect â—n this case the Rights of God is to take â—are of our selves and lastly the Law of â—eneficence which engages us to do Good â—o our Neighbour 'T is certain that the Immortality of Man â—akes the Perfection and Extent of these â—our kinds of Laws He who knows himself under the Idea of an immortal Being will not place his End in those Pleasures which the Author of Nature affixes to that which causes the Preservation or Propagation of the Body We shall not desire to injure other Men if we do not only fear a return of Justice in this Life but if moreover we dread the doing to our selves by that means an eternal Prejudice Whosoever is buisy'd as he ought about his Natural Dignity which undoubtedly raises him far above the Abuses he can possibly receive will be so far from satisfying himself at the Expence of God's Glory that he will hardly conceive any Resentment how ill soever he be dealt with Lastly if this Natural and Temporal Communion which we have with Men in Society be capable of producing any mutual Benevolence which is intended and encreas'd according to the Degree of the Temporal Commerce we entertain with them what Motives of Love and Beneficence do we not discover in the Idea of this Eternal Society which we ought and can have with them Thus the Natural Law is in Man but the Perfection and Extent of this Law is in the Immortal Man But these Four kinds of Laws do constitute what we call the Law of Nature which is the most Ancient most General most Essential of all and the Foundation of the rest 'T is the most Ancient Seeing that the Love of our selves and Reason are antecedent in us to all manner of Inclinations and Laws 'T is the most General For there have been many Men who never heard of Reveal'd Right but never did any come into the World without this Law which inclines 'em to search for their proper Good 'T is the most Essential For this is neither the Jewish nor Christian simply taken it is the Law of Men it does not belong only to the Law or simply to the Gospel but to Nature in what State soever it be Lastly 't is the Foundation of all the rest This plainly appears if we consider That all other Laws are nothing else but the Law of Nature renewed and adapted to certain Conditions of Men you discover the Natural Law in that which God gave to our First Parents The Legislator does there suppose that Man loves himself seeing that his Law is grounded upon Promises and Threatnings Good and Evil are set before him he is enlighten'd to know the one and the other He is engag'd to the Acknowledgment and Gratitude which Nature it self prescribes to us God requires an Homage of him in token of those many Favours he bestows upon him and this Homage consists in abstaining from â—he Fruit of One only Tree the Duty of his preservation is prescribed to him In the Day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye the Death As also the Law of Justice for what is more just than to yield to the Creator the Empire and Dominion over his Creatures and not to gape at the use of his Creatures whether he will or no. This then is the Law of Nature accommodated to the Condition wherein Adam was at that time placed Indeed he could not be as yet prohibited the use of Idols which were unknown to him nor Blaspheming the Name of the Lord when he had but just began to Bless it nor to rest one Day of the Week who was to rest always nor the Killing his Neighbour that was not yet in Being nor committing Adultery when there was but one Woman in the World nor Stealing when he was Master of all Things nor bearing false Witness when he could bear it against no one but himself nor Coveting since all Things were his own But when Men were multiplied upon the Earth as their Condition chang'd God from time to time made new Editions of this Natural Law and gave it to Men under another Form because it was to be proportion'd to their particular Circumstances for which Reason it must not be imagin'd that when we say the Decalogue contains the Law of Nature we mean that it includes nothing else but these simple and common Principles which are to Guide the Conduct of all Men. I confess indeed the Decalogue is the Natural Law renewed and fresh drawn to the Eyes of the Israelites but withal it is certain that 't is the Natural Law accommodated to the State of the Israelites at that time The following Observations will set this Point beyond all doubt The Israelites had been delivered from the Egyptian
is not as Men commonly imagine the Degree of Darkness which is originally in the Understanding that causes the Number of our Passions but 't is the Number and Vehemency of the Passions that cause this Degree of Darkness in our Understanding But were the Understanding originally Darken'd it would not be remedied unless by a new and extraordinary Infusion of Light which is contrary to Experience For the Understanding of a Sinner that betakes himself to a strict Repentance for his Transgressions is not fill'd with other Ideas and Knowledge than he had before I mean according to the ordinary Course of Things A Man indeed after his Conversion has the Ideas of God Salvation and Eternity he 's convinc'd of his own Mortality and the Frailty of Humane Things He looks upon Piety as a most proper Means for procuring Repose and Tranquillity in Life Consolation and Comfort in Death and a Glorious Resurrection from the Grave But yet he was fully perswaded of all these Truths before his Repentance For I suppose he Sinn'd not in Incredulity Wherefore he cannot be said to have acquir'd any new Knowledge but to have transcrib'd that Knowledge into Practice which before was meerly Speculative And our Saviour does partly testify this in declaring to his Enemies That the Degree of their Knowledge aggravated their Blame Indeed the want of Light excuses a Man from the Faults he commits when this Privation is necessary and voluntary For is any One to be blam'd for not seeing that which 't was impossible for him to see Nor can we excuse him whose Blindness we suppose to be voluntary and willful He that is deceiv'd and mistaken by reason of the Heart and not thro' any natural want of Light sees and not sees He has Knowledge enough to perceive that he follows not his own Light and this seems the only Means of reconciling two Expressions of the Holy Scripture which appear very Contradictory For one while it accuses the Sinner of Ignorance Folly Stupidity Blindness of walking in Darkness of not knowing what he does another while it blames him for Sinning against his own Light for resisting the Truth which enlightens him for being condemn'd by his own Thoughts and reprehended by his Conscience All these Expressions are true and only seem to be opposite The Sinner does both see and not see He sees by the Understanding which God hath given him capable of knowing and making use of the Truth he is Blind and does not see by his Heart which evaporates and sends up to the Seat of the Superior Faculties of the Soul continual Fumes and Clouds which obnubilate and darken the Understanding I am not ignorant that the Schools use to make a Distinction betwixt two sorts of Knowledge or Light that they may solve this Difficulty viz. Speculative and Practical they draw this Definition from their Effects Speculative Light which goes no farther than simple Contemplation does but â—loat as it were in the Understanding whereas what they call Practical Knowledge does not stop at the Mind but takes a farther Descent down into the Heart gains the Will makes it self Mistress of the Affectiâ—ns and inclines us to Practice whatsoever it orders and appoints But it must needs be own'd that this Distinction leads us not far in the Discovery of Things seeing it imports no more than this That we have some Knowledge that is operative and useful and other that is dead and inefficacious If we look narrowly into this Point we shall find That Knowledge is ordinarily either Speculative or Practical according as it concerns or not concerns our Heart When we consider Truth in the Sciences we have usually no more than a Speculative Knowledge of it but considering it in the Objects which interest and concern us as in the Affairs of civil Life or Points of Religion we hate it or love it according as 't is agreeable or disagreeable and it determines us to Action or Aversation according as it bears one or t'other of these Characters Hence you see that the Practical Truth of the School-men is that which has some Force and Efficacy but Truth draws its whole Force from the Heart The Case is much the same with the Light of the Understanding as with that we behold in Nature It enlightens all things but of it self moves not any thing It has Lustre and Brightness but no Strength It can conduct and guide but not support and hold us up When none but Reason speaks we shall look upon its Decisions as meer Dreams as dry and barren Truths which are good for nothing but to be plung'd into Oblivion we shall look upon 'em as the importunate Councels of a Pedant that wearies and vexes â—s with unseasonable Advices Were Men determin'd in their Actions by Reason Philosophers would be more prevalent in Perswaing than Orators For the former have a just and exact Reason a severe Judgment which weighs and examines and makes just Comparisons of all Things whereas the latter do often abound in Fictions Lies Figures which would be but pompous and splendid Impostures did not Necessity it self justify these Excesses of Speech and were not Men agree'd in mitigating and allaying their signification But because they are determin'd by their Affections it falls out quite contrary to Reason that Oratours are commonly much more successful in Perswading than Philosophers 'T is because the Soul does not balance and weigh the Reasons but it s own Interests and considers not the Light but it s own Utility and Advantage Good attracts our Love Evil our Aversion pure Reason does neither of these but only as it represents the Objects to us And here by the By we may see the Errour of those who place Man's Free-will in the indifferency of his Soul to pursue or not pursue the Good which is presented to it Certainly this Indifferency is no where else but in the Imagination 't is not in the Objects Good is not indifferent to its being Good nor is Evil indifferent to its being Evil nor is it in the Reason for this is not free to assent to that which seems False nor to reject what is True 'T is not indifferent to judge that what it apprehends to be Evil is Good nor that what seems Good is Evil. The Soul is not indifferent to love or hate what it apprehends as good and agreeable for if so 't would be indifferent to love or hate it self which is against Nature CHAP. II. Where we continue to shew that the Source of our Corruption is not in the Understanding IN saying That the Corruption of the Understanding proceeds from the Will we don't mean that all our Ignorances and Errours without exception are deriv'd from our Affections For as to the former of these certainly all Kinds of Ignorance are not to be look'd upon as Defects 'T is not the Property of Men or Angels or in General any Creature how Perfect soever to be Omniscient This is the Character of the Supream
Pursuit but this Joy expires with the Acquisition The greatest of temporal Goods after we have possess'd 'em but for two Days don't very much affect and please us This Happiness seems to consist in the Satisfaction of Desire which makes us not Happy either in Life or Death but only at the instant of Extinction or Annihilation The most excellent Wisdom of Nature thought fit to let us know that worldly Goods are not wholly to be neglected seeing it has affix'd Delight and Joy to the Acquisition of 'em But withal it would teach us that our Souls ought not to acquiesce in this Enjoyment since we no sooner commence the Perception of this Pleasure but it presently vanishes and cheats our Desire The Fifth Defect of Humane Felicity consists in this That our Happiness has always a mixture and allay of Misery Every Good brings some Evil at its Heels Impia suo Dulci melle venena latent Ovid. L. 7. Met. And I know not how it happens so consequent Calamities bear a proportion to precedent Blessings Vt rebus loetis par fit Mensura malorum Idem L. 1. Eleg. The last is that this Happiness does not fill the Capacity of our Soul nor answer the ardent Eagerness of the pursuit so that finding an extream Disproportion betwixt the Good we have obtain'd and the Ardour wherewith we pursu'd it we find our selves tantaliz'd and starv'd as it were in the midst of Plenty Tho' Self-love delights not in thinking of all those Things which may shew it the Vanity of its Applications yet certainly it has a Glimpse of all these Defects in the Happiness it reaches at 'T is conscious that sensual Pleasure is the Happiness rather of Brutes than of Men It owns that a solid and substantial Happiness must necessarily be durable It denies not that a certain Felicity is preferable to that whose Foundations are uncertain It perceives that in order to make a Man happy this transitory Pleasure which lasts no longer than the instant of Acquisition ought to be fix'd and stay'd in its Career It grants that true Felicity should be commensurate to the Appetite of our Soul Wherefore right Reason commands us to search for other Sources of Happiness But the present Delight which interests it and seduces the Understanding by tying it rather to the inquest of Pleasure than Truth takes it off from executing that Design it s own Illusions still serve it after the old Rate If they fail of Objects they take the Place of Qualities and set up themselves for Powers or Habits When Man can't obtain such a temporal Happiness as satisfies his Reason he makes his Reason knock under and condescend to satisfy his Pleasure The prejudic'd Mind gives an extravagant and undue Character to these false Goods and here 't is most of all admirable to see what a prodigious Ascendant the Heart has over the Mind For to disguise abstract and speculative Truths is no great Matter but to disguise sensible and experimental Truths is a Thing that gives us a special Evidence of the Force of our Corruption To see this we proceed in the next place by unfolding the most hidden Mysteries of Self-love CHAP. X. Where we consider the Cheats which Self-love puts upon it self to correct the Defects which it finds in the Happiness it aims at SElf-love perceiving that worldly Happiness is too gross and impure to satisfy our Mind and that indeed 't is not fit an Happiness enjoy'd by none but the Body should satisfy the Thirst of the Soul seeks how it may spiritualize and refine Corporeal Pleasures in order to cheat and impose upon us by making us think that they are equally satisfactory to the Soul and Body Hence Self-love has been pleas'd to tye unto this gross and carnal Felicity the Delicacy of Sentiments the esteem of the Mind and sometimes even the Duties of Religion by conceiving it as Spiritual Glorious and Sacred For as to the first of these who would not be amaz'd to see the prodigious number of Thoughts Opinions Fictions Writings Histories which sensual Pleasure has caus'd to be invented Muster up together all the Tracts that have ever been written about Morality which is the Science of Living well and compare 'em with those that have been made about the Pleasures of Intemperance and you 'll find a great Disproportion between their Number Considering these Actions in their natural Hue there appears in 'em a sordid Baseness which dis-heartens our Pride namely the vile and abject Conformity they have to other Animals Now what Course can be taken to elevate and render 'em worthy and becoming the Grandeur of Men Why the ready way is to spiritualize and refine 'em to present 'em for an Object of the Delicateness of the Mind make 'em a Subject of fine and delightful Sensations to make some sport of 'em to the Imagination and turn 'em agreeably to the Humour by the flourishes of Eloquence and Poetry And lastly to imploy all the Faculties and Lights of the Rational Principle to make the Delights of a Voluptuous Body go down glib and pleasantly into an haughty Soul I express my self according to the Vulgar Prejudice for truly speaking the Body has not in it self any Perception or Sensation Hence Self-love has also ty'd an Esteem and Respect to the most shameful Debasements of Humane Nature Pride and Pleasure are two Passions which tho' they spring from the same Original of Self-lovâ— yet for all that there is some Difference and Opposition betwixt ' em Pleasure humbles whereas Pride exalts us The former engraves us with the Image of Brutes the latter with the Picture of the Devil Also these two Passions have many a Combat and Duel in our Heart but the Heart can by no means approve of this Conflict being a Friend and Well-wisher to 'em both and all most equally sensible of the charms of Glory and Pleasure It must bestir its Stumps to make a Reconcilation and to bring this about it takes one of these Methods either it transports Pleasure if I may so speak to the Confines of Pride or Pride to the Region of Pleasure If it renounce sensual Pleasure 't will search for a greater in the acquest of Esteem and so Pleasure is wholly indemnify'd Or if we take a Resolution to satisfy its Thirst of sensual Pleasure 't will apply to it the Credit of Esteem and by this means Pride is solac'd at its loss Were there but one only Man of this Disposition of Mind he would not easily succeed in his Design but Men unhappily meeting together they understand one another and having the same Inclination they willingly agree to consecrate it This is a Ragoo to Pleasure which renders it much more exquisite than the Glory which Men's exorbitant Fancies have ty'd to it But 't is yet better season'd when we regard this Pleasure as an Ordinance of Religion A debauch'd Woman that would make People believe in the Heathen World that she had a