were liable neither wou'd there have been any Place or possible Occasion for Bloody Offerings Expiations or Propitiatory Sacrifices This is a farther Evidence Secondly of our Weakness if we look at the Meanness of the Intention upon which that Usage grew and was encourag'd and That cou'd be no other than the Hope of Appeasing and Gratifying Almighty God by such Bloody Oblations I speak not now of the Reasons why God instituted Sacrifices but of that Notion which plainly appears to have been predominant in the Minds of Men who did not see into the Mysterious End of them which the Generality of the Jews themselves never did and much less cou'd it be expected that the Pagan World shou'd penetrate into it It is true indeed Almighty God in great Grace and Compassion to those more early and ignorant Ages of the World which knew no better did very favourably accept Good Men when they approached him with this sort of Devotion and the Apostle takes particular Notice of his having Respect to Abel and his Offering Heb. xi as the History of the Old Testament does of his testifying that Acceptance by visible Signs in the Case of Noah Abraham and Others There being this Motive to his Mercy that what was done of that kind proceeded from an Intention to serve and honour him and that the Understandings of Men were gross and heavy they were in their Minority and under a Schoolmaster as St. Paul expresses it of the Jewish People but at the same time honest and well-meaning And it is not improbable that this Opinion so universal at That time might represent Sacrifices to them as a Dictate of the Law of Nature and the only proper Method of Divine Worship There was it is confessed another Consideration which rendred Sacrifices very valuable and well-pleasing to God whereby they were made use of as Figures and Representations of that One truly meritorious Sacrifice to be offer'd upon the Altar of the Cross afterwards But this is a Mystery peculiar to the Jewish and Christian Religion And as it is a Common so is it an Excellent and Adorable Instance of the Divine Wisdom to convert what is of Human Institution Natural Usage or of a Corporeal Nature to High and Holy Purposes and make such things as the Ceremonial Law consisted of turn to a Spiritual Account But still This does not by any means infer that God took pleasure in these things as of any real Intrinsick Worth and Good in themselves For even before Grace and Truth set this Matter in its clearest Light by the Gospel the Prophets were not sparing to declare the Contrary and Those among the Jews of more enlightened Understandings saw this perfectly well and acknowledged it even while the Practice of offering them continu'd Psal li. Thus David Thou desirest no Sacrifice else would I give it thee but thou delightest not in Burnt-Offerings Psal xl Burnt-Offering and Sacrifice for Sin hast thou not requir'd And again speaking in the Person of God himself Psal l. I will take no Bullock out of thy House nor He-Goat out of thy Folds They call'd upon Men for Oblations of another kind more Noble and Spiritual more becoming Them to bring and more worthy and fit for a Holy Deity to receive The Sacrifice of God is a Contrite Spirit and the Offering of a pure Heart Mine Ears hast thou opened that I should do thy Will yea thy Law is within my Heart Offer unto God the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice And many other Passages to the same Purpose And at last to clear this Matter and put it beyond a Doubt the Son of God himself who was Truth and the Teacher of it and who condescended to come into the World that he might disabuse Mankind and rescue them from their Ignorance and Errours hath utterly abolish'd this way of serving God Which he wou'd never have done had there been any Essential Goodness in it which cou'd have recommended it for its own sake to God his Father But when He was come to be the End of the Law and the Universal Propitiation the use of Sacrifices was at an End too John iv 23 24. and then it is They that worship God must worship him in Spirit and in Truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him And without Question next to the Extirpating Idolatry This of abolishing Sacrifices is One of the most Glorious Publick Effects One of the best Reformations which Christianity hath wrought in the World And hence it was that Julian the Emperour its most professed most inveterate Enemy in Despight to it offered more Sacrifices than perhaps any other Man ever did and endeavoured to introduce This Way of Worship and Idolatry again as being both directly in Contradiction to the Christian Religion But of This we have spoken sufficiently and therefore let us now take a short View of some of the other considerable Branches of Religion The Blessed Sacraments when Adminished to us in Elements so common and of such mean Esteem as Bread and Wine and Water and not only so but in the very Act of Administration bearing Resemblance to the most Vulgar and Despicable Actions of Life as Wishing Eating and Drinking are plain Memento's of our continual Weaknesses and Wants our Miseries and Pollutions And as the marvellous Efficacy magnifies the Almighty Power and Goodness of God so the Need we have of them should humble us with mortifying Reflections upon our own feeble Condition Thus again Repentance is prescribed as the Necessary the only Remedy for our Spiritual Diseases and 't is plain This Considered in it self is an Act full of Shame and Reproach it upbraids us with our Faults and Follies afflicts our Souls with Grief and sad Remorse and shews us to our Selves in the Worst and most Deformed Figures that can be But however Evil and Uncomely this may seem in it self yet it is Necessary for reconciling us to God and That is enough to reconcile Us to it Another Instance may be taken from Oaths which are indeed Religious Acts when lawfully practised by Reason of the Name of God solemnly invoked in them But yet it is evident that the Common Use and Administration of these is a Scurvy Symptome a most shameful Argument how little Mankind are to be trusted What Monsters of Falshood and Treachery of Errour and Ignorance we are How vilely suspicious and distrustful the Person requiring them is and how liable to Jealousie the Person from whom they are demanded and what a mean Opinion those Law-givers who ordered them had of Mens Honesty and Truth when one's bare Word will not give Satisfaction nd as our Saviour says whatsoever is more than this Matt. V. 37. cometb of Evil. Thus you see not only how Weak and Sickly our Condition is but likewise what sort of Remedies Religion hath found it Necessary to apply for our Cure Since it may be said in some
give a lively Image of the Affections within For the Orator is the Representative of his Audience and must first of all in his own Person put on the several Passions which he labours to infuse into others * Si vis me flere dolendum est Primum ipsi tibi tunc tua me infortunia laedent Telephe Hor. de Arte Poet. â— We weep and laugh as we see others do He only makes me sad who shews the way And first is sad himself then Telephus I feel the weight of your Calamities And fancy all your Miseries my own Ld. Roscom It is in such cases with the Standers by as it was with Brasidas and his Enemy who drew the Dart out of his own Wound with which he stabbed him to the Heart Thus Passion is first conceived and formed in our own Mind then born and brought into the World by apposite Expression and afterwards by a subtle and quick Contagion conveyed into others and begets its likeness there By this short Reflection it sufficiently appears that Men of soft and gentle Tempers are not cut out for Orators Their Spirits are too sedate and sluggish to communicate any powerful Impressions They want the Force and Fire the Sprightliness and Activity that is necessary to animate what they say And when such Persons would display the most masterly beauties of Eloquence they languish and faulter by the way and drop short of the Mark. Thus Cicero reproached Callidius who accused Gallus with a sneaking Voice and languishing Action by telling him that his Coldness and Indifferency betrayed the falseness of his Charge But when a Man hath all that Vigour and Ornament touched upon before his Words will be as strong and compulsive as the Commands of a Tyrant with all the Pomp and Terrour of his Guards about him They will commit an irresistible Violence upon the Soul not only perswade and draw but drag his Auditory whether they will or no lead them in Triumph and establish to themselves an Absolute and Arbitrary Dominion over the Minds of Men. It may perhaps be objected in prejudice of Eloquence that all this Skill is needless since Truth alone is sufficiently powerful and perswasive and stands in need of no studied and artificial Practices to vindicate or to recommend it And indeed were the Minds of Men free and pure unprepossest with Passion or Interest or any other prejudicate Opinion the Objection must be allowed to have a great deal of weight in it But we are to consider and deal with Men according to the state we find them in a state of Corruption and Prejudice in which Art or Nature Misinformation or ill Habits have bribed and byassed their Affections and made them draw the wrong way and bent them violently against the Truth And thus they come to require a sort of Treatment very different from that which is most agreeable to their original Constitution As therefore we are forced first of all to soften and open the pores of the Steel by Fire that it may afterwards receive that Liquor which tempers it and grow harder in the Water so the warmths of Eloquence are necessary to put the Spirits in motion and by rendring the Minds of Men more supple and pliable to give them a stronger and more lasting tincture of Truth This is the true and proper design of Eloquence and the end it should constantly aim at is to fortifie and protect Virtue against Vice Truth against Falshood and Innocence against Calumny and false Accusation The Orator says Theophrastus is the true Physician of Souls and his business must be to Cure the Venomous Bitings of Serpents by the Charms of his Musick that is The poysonous Slanders and false Insinuations of wicked Men by the harmony of Reason set out to the best advantage But since there is no possibility of cutting off ill Men from the use of this advantage too since they will be sure to seize and usurp the Weapon for the more effectual Execution of their mischievous Designs we are the more concerned not to go into the Field Naked but to beat them at their own Weapon and with equal Industry and Skill to Counter-work them that so Virtue and Truth may not be circumvented or tamely lost for want of proper Preparations to defend it Several indeed have abused their attainments of this kind to very villainous purposes and made Eloquence the instrument of Ruin and Oppression to private Persons and whole Communities of Men. This is a melancholy Truth too manifest to be denied But then the Consequence of grancing it must be not to despise or set aside the thing upon the account of any ill Effects that have followed upon the misemployment of it No This is a Misfortune common to every thing that is useful and excellent for none of these are so necessarily confined to Goodness but that they are capable of being perverted to very great Evil. Nature hath provided them with an Aptitude and Efficacy but it will depend upon the Disposition of the Person that manages those Powers what sort of Effects those natural Abilities shall be applied and determined to For even that Reason and Understanding which is the peculiar Prerogative of Humane Nature and sets us above Brutes is most miserably abused turned against God and our selves and made the occasion of our more inexcusable Ruin but this is only an accidental Misfortune far from the natural tendency of so noble a Privilege And he who would argue from hence that Mankind had better want these Faculties may justly seem to have degenerated into Brute and to be forsaken of all that Reason which he so wildly and so rashly condemns FINIS ERRATA PReface Page 6. line 11. read Probity p. 23. l. 10. r. as well as In the Account of the Author p. 2. l. 15. r. improving Lib. 1. p. 97. l. 8. r. dipos'd p. 209. l. 9. r. the. p. 227. l. 5. r. deforms and defaces p. 315. l. 21. r. washing p. 332. in Note r. mers est binocentes
Mind if it be not set on Work and kept close to some particular Subject turns Vagabond wanders and floats among a Thousand Whimsies there is nothing so Foolish or so Extravagant but it will produce it And if it be not fix'd down it is lost for to be every where is in Truth to be no where Agitation is indeed the very Life and Beauty of the Soul but then this Agitation ought to be directed and prescribed found for it by another Hand but by no means left to its own providing Suffer it to go all alone and on its own Head it santers about and tires its self to no Purpose languishes and grows Feeble And yet the other Extreme is every whit as Dangerous for if you hold it too high and lay too much upon it This is keeping the Bow always bent Constant intense Thought is what cannot be born it strains and puts the Mind upon the Stretch till at last it cracks and breaks it This Agent is also Universal and in at every thing An Universal Agent No Subject whatsoever No Topick is out of its Compass let the Farce be what it will the Soul will have a Part in it though it be never so low or so extravagant The vainest and most trifling Matter will serve its Turn to work upon as well as that of the greatest Consequence and Weight Things which it knows not nor hath any Comprehension of as well as those with which it is never so well acquainted For even the being made Sensible that it is out of a Man's Power to enter deep and search things to the Bottom and that in many in most Cases indeed all the Knowledge we can have is merely Superficial and goes no farther than just the Shell and Out-side of Things The very Coming to this Sense I say is a very brave and bold Stroke and argues a Masterly Judgment Learning nay Truth it self may be found in a Man that wants Judgment and many may have a good Judgment too who are unskill'd in Learning and Books and under some Mistakes as to particular Opinions But for a Man to see and to acknowledge his own Ignorance and personal Defects to pretend to no more than he really hath and is this single Quality argues so much Judgment that there are few better Testimonies to be given of it A Third Character very considerable in this Agent is the Nimbleness of its Motions whereby it traverses the whole World and runs from the one End of it to the other in a Moment of Time Ready and quick in its Motions never standing still never at rest but fluttering about and peeping and medling every where * Mobilis inquieta mens homini data est nunquam setenet Spargitur vaga quietis impatiens novitate rerum laetissima Non mirum ex illo coelesti spiritu descendit Coelestium autem natura semper in motu est Man is endued with a busy active Mind that never keeps at home but expands and dilates it self wanders every where cannot bear any Rest and is never so agreeably entertain'd as with Novelties and fresh Objects Nor is it strange For this Mind of ours is descended from that Celestial Spirit above and Motion we know is so natural there that the Heavenly Beings are never out of it This mighty Quickness and Agility must be confessed in one respect Prodigious and one of the most Miraculous Qualifications belonging to the Soul But on the other ther hand it is very dangerous too For Spirits so exceeding subtle and refin'd are liable to great Inconveniences and an Excellence of this kind is observed to be a mighty Disposition to Folly and borders hard upon Madness as you will hear by and by Upon the Consideration of these Three Qualities it is that the Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul are usually grounded Since Matter which is corruptible by Nature hath none of these and what is not Material no reason in Philosophy can evince to be Mortal Now an Agent in perpetual Motion is very distant from Matter to which Rest seems natural since it neither does nor ever can move it self An unlimited and Universal Agent differs extremely from Matter which is cramped and confin'd in all its Operations and proper only for one or a few but always the same Matter can serve only some and the same determinate uses And That again which is sudden and instantaneous which is bounded by no Time no Place but carries its Thoughts to the most distâ—nt Objects with equal Swiftness as to those that are nearest This sure is most contrary to Matter whose Motions are local and gradual bound up by necessary Laws and proportion'd by the respective Distances of the several Objects Consequently This Mind is something above Matter and Mortality a Spark of Divine Fire and the express Image of that Active and Omnipresent Spirit which we call GOD. Now the Trade and constant Employment of this Soul It s Employment is to be perpetually upon the seek ferretting and doubling and hot in the pursuit of Knowledge as of its proper Food This Appetite and Hunger for the Truth makes Men eternally prying and curious and inquisitive which made the Greek Poets call Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sort of Creature whose Thoughts and Inventions are always at work Nor is there any End of our Enquiries for they are circumscrib'd within no Bounds nor regulated by any Forms and Measures Doubts and Difficulties are the Sustenance we live upon and the Principle within us is a perpetual Motion The whole World is our School and our Theme and which is particular to the Case now before us We labour for labour's sake The Chace and Pursuit is not so much our Toil or our Diversion as it is our Game and our Prey For the succeeding or not succeeding in our Disquisition is a thing of another and very different Consideration But still in the midst of all this busie Curiosity it is rash tumultuous and disorderly It s manner of working observes no certain Rules and Measures but is eternally roving and variable and inconsistent with it self 'T is a perfect Nose of Wax that bends every way stretches it self to any length is accommodated to all Forms more supple and yielding than Water or Air. * Flexibili omni humore obsequentior ut Spiritus qui omni Materiâ facilior ut tenuior Thus justifying the Character given of it that as a Spirit is more refin'd and subtle so it is likewise more flexible and yielding than any the thinnest Matter whatsoever Of this Theramenes his Shooe was the true Emblem which fitted Feet of all Sizes All it is at a loss for is only for some Contrivance how to turn and change with some Appearance of Probability for when This is once found it moves every way takes all sides crosses and contradicts it self and argues for Truth or Falshood indifferently Thus Reason sports wantonly and invents or
entertains Arguments for the widest and most distant Contrarieties Nothing so extravagant nothing so absurd but hath found its Assertors and Abettors And this not only in the fanciful Conceits of private Persons but in the more general Sense and Agreement of large Societies and Communities Thus History tells us that what is detested as Impious Unjust and Unnatural in one Country hath been receiv'd with Veneration and practised as highly Decent and a Duty nay even esteem'd an Act of Religion in another And there are not many Laws or Customs or Opinions which we can say have universally obtain'd or have been every where rejected The Marriages of near Relations Some condemn as Incestuous but Others have not only allow'd but recommended nay in some Cases even enjoyn'd them The Murdering of Infants and of Parents when old and decrepid and the having Wives in common are now and in our parts of the World lookt upon as barbarous and execrable but the Worshippers of Moloch we know thought their Children the most acceptable Sacrifice and if Herodotus and some other Historians say true the Scythians thought the other not only innocent but a Mark of Tenderness and Respect and never pretended to any Propriety in a Marriage-Bed When Dionysius offer'd Plato a rich Embroider'd Robe he refus'd it with this Reason for his denyal That it was not fit for a Man to be so effeminately clothed And yet Aristippus another Philosopher accepted it and he had his Reason for That too which was That no External Habit cou'd corrupt the Mind and that the Soul might still be Masculine and Chaste though the Body were attir'd in Clothes never so Soft and Effeminate The Dialogue between this last Philosopher and Diogenes each vindicating his own manner of Living and reflecting upon the others that differ'd from him is thus represented by Horace * Si pranderet olus patienter Regibus uti Nollet Aristippus Si sciret Regibus uti Fastidiret olus qui me notat Diog. If Aristippus patiently cou'd dine On Herbs he wou'd the Courts of Kings decline Arist If He that censures me knew how to use The Courts of Kings He wou'd his Herbs refuse Creech Epist XVII When Solon was mourning and full of lamentation for the Death of his Son a Friend advised him to moderate his Passion since Tears upon that occasion are unprofitable and to no purpose That very Consideration says Solon excuses my Excess of Grief for what can justifie a Man's Concern what can provoke Tears so much as the Thought that all our Sorrow is Fruitless and Vain Socrates his Wife pretended this Aggravation of her Grief that the Judges had condemn'd him unjustly Nay sure reply'd he if a Man must suffer it is infinitely more eligible to die innocent than to deserve Condemnation One Philosopher tells you That a Man is truly possest of nothing which he is not prepared to lose †In aequo enim est Dolor amissae rei Timor amittendae For the Fear that a thing may be lost is a Passion every whit as tormenting as the Concern for it when actually lost Another who passes for as Wise a Man as He comes and tells you quite contrary That the Uncertainty of what we have and the Apprehension of its being taken away from us heightens and gives a Relish to our Enjoyments by disposing us to hold the Blessings faster and closer to our Hearts and rendring us more affectionate and tender of them A Cynick begged of Antigonus that he wou'd bestow a Drachm of Silver upon him No says the King So small a thing is not a Present fit for a Prince to give Then Sir be pleased to give me a Talent Nor that neither says Antigonus For a Talent is a Summ as much too great for a Philosopher to receive A certain Person was extolling a King of Sparta for his exceeding great Goodness and Clemency and the Instance he gave of it was That he was kind even to the Wicked and Unworthy And this argu'd a great Degree of Goodness in him So far from that says another that according to this Account he is no Good Man for no Prince can be so who is not severe to the Wicked Thus you may observe how many different Faces Reason puts on and what a Two-edg'd Sword it is which with dextrous Management will cut both ways * Ogni Medaglia ha il suo riverso Every Medal hath its Reverse says the Proverb There is nothing said but hath somewhat to be said against it says the soundest Philosophy and a Man might demonstrate the Truth of it upon any Subject in the World Now this great Variety and Flexibility may be imputed to several Causes It may come from that perpetual Flux of Humours and variable Constitution of the Body which is so great so constant that a Man is never exactly the same in this respect at any two times of his whole Life It may be charg'd upon that infinite Variety of Objects that offer themselves to his Contemplation It may proceed from the Temper of the Air the Difference of Weather of Climates and Seasons for as was observ'd before †Tales sunt hominum mentes quali pater ipse Jupiter auctiferà lustravit lampade terras In each Man's Breast that Weathercock the Mind Moves with the Rack and shifts with every Wind. And a Thousand other external Causes may contribute to it But if we come nearer home and look within much may be laid upon the several sorts of Motion which the Mind is put into both by its own natural and constant Agitation and by the different Impressions which the Passions make upon it Much also may be argu'd from the different manner of the Object 's being represented to it according to the different Prospects taken of them For in this respect it happens to the Eye of the Mind as it does to that of the Body that no two Persons see the same thing exactly and in all respects alike Their Situation their Organs and infinite other little unobserv'd Accidents there are that make some though perhaps not so great a Diversity as to be discern'd in the Act of Vision Besides every thing we know hath different Glosses and Faces and is capable of being consider'd under different respects which was Epictetus's meaning when he said That every thing hath two he might very truly have said a great many Handles But after all nothing adds more to this Ambiguity and variety of Opinions than that Spirit of Contradiction and Dispute and a vain Affectation of Wit generally predominant in the World which lets nothing pass quietly in Conversation and accounts it a Reflexion upon one's Parts not to have somewhat to say by way of Repartee and Objection though never so contrary to Truth and sometimes even to the Person 's own Judgment too And hence it is frequent for such People to take contrary Sides for their Business is not so much to advance an
whereof the Rational Soul is composed To excel in it is not very necessary except for Three Sorts of People 1. Men of Trade and much Business 2. Those that are extremely Talkative for this is the Store-house from whence they must be furnished with Matter for Discourse and it is naturally more full and fruitful than Invention but he that cannot be supplied from hence must make it up by Stuff of his own forging and 3. Great Lyars for * Mendacem oportet esse Memorem These indeed ought to have good Memories The Want of Memory hath its Conveniences too For this will dispose Men to speak Truth to be Modest and talk no more than their Share and to forget the Faults and Injuries of other People A moderate Proportion of this Faculty will serve ones Turn and answer all the Ends of it very well CHAP. XVI Of Imagination and Opinion THE Power of Imagination is exceeding great This is in Effect the very Thing The Effects of imagination that makes all the Noise in the World Almost all the Clutter and Disturbances we feel or make are owing to it Accordingly it was observ'd before that This is if not the Only yet at least the most active and bustling Faculty of the Soul And in good Truth the Effects of it are Wonderful Unaccountable and almost Incredible For the Influences of Imagination are not confined to the Body or the Mind of that Person alone where it is born and cherished but extend and transfuse themselves far and wide and act very Strongly upon other People It is fitted for all manner of Operations and the most distant and contrary Passions are raised by it It puts the Man into all manner of Forms and the Face into all Colours and Complections Makes Men blush with Shame look Pale with Fear tremble and quake casts them into Fits of Raving and Confusion These tho' strange are yet some of its least Effects and gentle in Comparison of others It checks and enfeebles Men in their hottest Career balks their Pleasures and chills all their Spirits It Marks and deforms nay sometimes kills Embryo's in the Womb hastens Births or causes Abortions Takes away the Speech and ties the Tongue and sometimes enables the Dumb to speak as the Story of Croesus his Son assures us Makes Men Stiff and Motionless benumbs and binds up the Senses stops the Breath These are its Effects upon the Body Then for the Mind It robs Men of their Knowledge and Judgment turns them into Fools and stupid Sots as Gallus Vibius for Instance who having strain'd his Imagination too far in the study and practice of Polly and its Motions is said to have disturb'd his Understanding to that Degree that he turn'd a mere Natural and cou'd never return to sound Judgment and good Sense again It inspires Men with strange Presages of things hidden and future fills them with Enthusiasms and Fancies out of the common Road of Thinking throws them into Extasies and Raptures nay possesses them with the Thoughts and Expectations of Death till at last they die indeed as it did that Malefactor who when his Cap had been pull'd over his Eyes in order to Execution was found stark dead upon the Scassold when they came to uncover him again and read his Pardon In a word A great part of those unusual Operations which create such Amazement in the Vulgar Apparitions and Visions and Witchcrafts are to be attributed to the force of Imagination and what They think done by the power of the Devil or some familiar Spirits for I meddle not here with the Supernatural Operations of God's own Spirit is commonly no more than a strong Fancy either in the Person that does these strange things or of the Spectators that are deluded with them and think they see those Objects which really they do not And the great Care in these Cases is to distinguish wisely between Truth and Falshood and not suffer our Judgments to be captivated with vulgar Errours In this part of the Soul it is that Opinion keeps its Residence which is nothing else but a vain and easie a crude and imperfect Judgment of things taken up upon slight and insufficient grounds too credulous an Assent to the Representations of our outward Senses or common Report which rests in the first Appearances of Things and fixes in the Imaginative Faculty without ever going farther or referring the Matter to the Understanding to be throughly examin'd and digested there and so wrought up and finish'd into solid Reason Till This be done no true Judgment can be made and such as a Man may venture to abide by And accordingly we see the other is mutable and inconstant fleeting and deceitful A very dangerous Guide that makes Head against Reason of which it is only the Image and Shadow and that but an empty and false one neither This is the Source of all our Evils our Confusions and Disorders our Passions and Troubles the most and the worst of them rise out of a prepossest Fancy and heated Imagination So that in truth Madmen and Fools the Ignorant and the Mobb are blindly led by the Nose by it and follow this Leader and betray their Folly in doing so as Wise and Judicious Men distinguish themselves and approve their Prudence in suffering nothing but Reason to guide and govern them That thus it is The World is govern'd by Opinion we see plainly for as hath been observ'd long ago by one of the Ancients It is not the Reality nor the true Nature of Things but the Notion and Opinion Men entertain of them that disquiets and so violently Torments their Souls * Opinione saepius quam Re laboramus plura sunt quae nos terrent quà m quae nos premunt Thus we turn our own Executioners form Evils to our selves which are not and strangely aggravate those that are by frightful Idea's which belong not to them The Truth and Essence of Things never enters our Minds in its true Proportions nor works upon us by its natural Force and Authority for were it thus with us all things that are alike in Themselves wou'd be alike to Us and the same Object wou'd produce the same Affections and Resentments in all Men allowing only some small matter of difference in the Degree of them At this rate all Mankind would be of the same Opinion What is false wou'd be universally rejected and what is true as universally embrac'd for Truth can be but One and the Same and is always equal and consistent with it self But quite contrary We find that the Difference of Opinions is infinite Men do not only vary from but directly contradict one another And there are but very few Instances in which even Men of the best Natural Abilities and most eminent for their Improvements and acquir'd Learning are all of a Mind This shews sufficiently that the Idea's of things are compounded and mixt before we entertain them that we have them at our
upon us It is a very dangerous Enemy destructive to our Quiet and Comfort and if good Care be not taken of it in time wastes and weakens the Soul deprives us of the Use of our Reason disables us from discharging our Duties and looking after her Business and in time spreads a Rust upon the Soul adulterates and deposes the whole Man binds up his Senses and lays his Virtues to sleep when there is most occasion for rowzing and arming them against the Calamity that subdues and oppresses him In order to beget in us a becoming Aversion to this Passion and employing our utmost Strength and Abilities to resist and repel it we shall do well to consider seriously the pernicious Effects of it and discover how foolish how unbecoming and deformed it is how extremely inconsistent with the Character of Wise Men as the Philosophy of the Stoicks most truly represents it But This as Matters are commonly order'd is no such easie Undertaking for it hath learnt to excuse and vindicate and set it self off under the specious Colours of Nature and Affection and Tenderness and Goodness nay the Generality of the World are so far mis-led that they keep it in Countenance pay it Honour and Respect and think it a Duty and a Virtue as if Wisdom and Conscience never appear'd more beautiful than in a Mourning-Dress Now in answer to these vain Pretences in its Favour T is Unnatural we may observe first of all that This is so far from being agreeable to Nature as it wou'd fain be thought that on the Contrary it is rather a Matter of Formality and directly contrary to Nature Which it is very easie to demonstrate if Men will lay aside the Prejudices of Custom and consider it impartially As for those publick and solemn Mournings I mean not this to the prejudice of a real decent and affectionate Concern but for the Mournings which are practis'd with so much Ceremony and Affectation and were so by the Ancients heretofore as well as by the Generality of Mankind at this Day Where I say can we find a greater Cheat a grosser Sham and Banter upon the World How many industrious Impostures and Hypocrisies What artificial Constraints in our Behaviour are sought and counterfeited both by the Persons themselves who are interested in the Occasion of them and of all the rest that are taken in and bear a Part in this melancholy Pomp And as if all this were not enough we refine and improve the Deceit we even Hire Men on purpose to put on this Folly to stand as Mutes or to make dreadful Lamentations to move and heighten a Passion which ought to be supprest to give Groans and Sighs for a Price such as we all know are feign'd and extorted to shed Tears for the Entertainment of the Spectatours such as fall only when they are seen to do so and are immediately dry'd up as soon as the Company retires And pray Where does Nature teach us any thing like This What can there be indeed more absurd and vain what does Nature condemn what does it detest more than such Insincerity This is nothing but Opinion and Fashion the Cause and Cherisher of almost all our Passions the Tyranny of Custom and Vulgar Errour that instructs Men to indulge their Grief in such a formal manner From hence it is that if a Man be not deeply enough affected in his own Person and cannot furnish a sufficient proportion of Tears and hanging Looks out of his own Stock he is thought oblig'd to hire and purchase a Supply from others who make a Trade of it So that for the satisfying what the World calls Decency we put our selves to vast Expence which Nature if we wou'd take Her Judgment is so far from prescribing that She most freely acquits us of nay condemns us for it Is not this in truth a publick and study'd Assront upon Reason and Common Sense a Constraint and a Corrupting of Nature a Prostituting and Debauching of the Manhood in us a Mocking the World and making a Jest of our selves and that for no other purpose but merely to comply with the Notions of the absurd Vulgar which abound in nothing so much as Falshood and Mistake and admire nothing so much as Counterfeit and Disguise Nor are our Private Sorrows much better Private For These whatever they may seem are no more Natural than the former Did Nature inspire or dictate them they wou'd be common to all Mankind they wou'd affect all Mankind almost equally since All partake of the same Nature and differ only in some few some small Circumstances But here we find very different Resentments The same Objects which afflict and grieve some are Matter of Joy and Satisfaction to others and what draws Tears and bitter Cries from one Person and one Country is receiv'd with great Cheerfulness by another What One does Another disapproves and the Friends of Mourners think it their Duty to exhort to comfort to chide them to beg that they wou'd recollect themselves call in Reason and Religion to their Assistance be Men again and dry up their Tears Observe the greatest part of Them who take pains to afflict themselves hear what they say when you have given them this good Counsel They will make no difficulty to acknowledge that it is a Folly and a Weakness to be guilty of excessive Passions they will commend and call those happy who can stand the Shock of Adversity and have so much Goverment of Temper and such Presence of Mind as to meet an Affliction bravely and bear it steadily and set a gallant and Masculine Spirit in array against it Thus they excuse but they dare not justifie their own Concern They say they cannot help it and by that Apology lament if not condemn themselves for this implies they Wish and think it were better if they cou'd overcome their Grief And in truth the thing is very plain in these private Mournings too that Men do not so much sute their Sorrows to their Sufferings as to the receiv'd Notions of those among whom they dwell and converse And if we take a close and nicer View this will discover to us that Opinion is at the bottom of all our immoderate Melancholy That our Torment and Vexation proceeds from the false Representations of Things and that we grieve either sooner than we ought by Anticipation and Fear and sollicitous Apprehensions of what will come hereafter Which like so many false Perspectives set the Object nearer our Sight or else magnifie the Bulk of it to our Eye and so make us grieve more than we ought upon a Supposal of the Calamity being much greater than really it is But still all This is contrary to Nature Unnatural For Grief defarms and defoces all those Excellencies which are most Beautiful and Lovely in us These all are blunted and melted down by this corroding Passion like the Lustre of a Pearl dissolv'd in Vineger And really we are
up in contrivance for the Management of his Person the Affecting a particular Motion of his Body an Air of his Face a Singularity of Address odd Sentences and uncommon Pronunciations and This he is insinitely delighted with as a Thing extremely graceful and engaging and what other People must needs admire and be taken with too Then how prodigiously vain and foolish are we in our Wishes and Desires from whence spring our ridiculous Opinions and our yet more ridiculous Hopes and Expectations And This again not only at such times as we surfeit with Leisure and have no other Business to employ our Thoughts but it very often interrupts our serious and most important Affairs and breaks our Thread in the very heat of Action So Natural is Vanity to us and so prevalent over us that it Spirits us away and pluckâ— us forcibly from Truth and Solidity and real Substance to lose us in Air and Emptiness and Nothing But of all Vanities the most refined in Folly is that anxious Care of what shall happen hereafter Concern for Futurity when we are gone and cannot feel it We stretch our Desires and Affections beyond our Persons and Subsistence and are much concerned for things to be done to us when we shall be in no capacity of receiving them How importunately do we covet Praise and Applause after Death and how egregious a Folly is This What can be vainer This is not Ambition as Men may be apt to imagine for That desires a Sensible Honour such as a Man can enjoy and reap some Benefit from So far as our good Name indeed is capable of doing Service to our Children or Relations or Friends that stay behind I own there is use of it and am content Men should desire it in proportion to this Convenience But to propose That as Our Own Happiness which can never reach or in any Degree affect our selves is meer Vanity Such another Folly is Theirs who perplex their Lives with Fears of their Wives marrying second Husbands and passionately desire they would continue single nay are content to purchase the Gratification of this Whimsie at a dear Rate by leaving in their Wills great part of their Estates to their Widows upon this Condition What an insupportable Folly and as it sometimes falls out what horrible Injustice is This How directly the Reverse of those Heroick Spirits in former Ages who upon their Death-Beds advis'd their Wives to Marry again as soon as Decency and Prudence would permit and to render Themselves useful by bringing Children to the Publick Some again Conjure their Friends to wear such a Ring or a Lock of Hair or some other Relick as a constant Remembrance of them when they are dead or leave Directions for some Particular thing to be done about their own Bodies What can we make of all This hath it not a very untoward Aspect Methinks it looks as if Men could be content to part with Life but could not even then submit to part with Vanity at any Rate Another Vanity is This That the Generality of Mankind live for Other People only and not for Themselves We are not half so much concern'd what we really and truly are in our own Persons and Dispositions as what the World takes us for and how we stand in Character and Reputation abroad And thus we frequently Cheat our selves and cast away the true Happiness and Advantages of Life and do a Thousand inconvenient Things Tho' at the same time we Torture our selves to be agreable to the Standers-by and to put on what we know is most in Vogue And this is plainly so not only in our Estatesâ— and our Bodies The Table the Equipage the Furniture the Dress the Figure all adapted to the present Mode and what the World expects from Persons in our Circumstances But which is a great deal worse and more deplorable in the Advantages of the Mind the Observation holds too For even These are thought of no Use or Worth unless they draw the Eyes and Approbation of other People And Virtue it self is neglected and disesteem'd if it be not publickly acknowledged and commended As if the Testimonies of ones own Breast were no Satisfaction As if those Things which were given for our proper Use and Benefit had lost all their Efficacy and changed their Nature when Others do not see and share in them as well as our Selves Nor is our Vanity consin'd to simple Thoughts and Desires and calm Discourse Commotions of the Mind but it often rises higher puts both Body and Mind into violent Agitations and Pains Men often teaze and torment themselves more for Matters of little or no Consequence than for Those which are of nearest Concern and upon which their All depends Our Soul is frequently thrown into violent Disorders by little Whimsies a meer Fansie a Dream a Shadow and empty Amusement without Substance without Ground and works it self up to all the Excesses of Anger and Revenge Joy and Grief and Confusion and all This with building Castles in the Air. The Ceremony of taking leave the Idea of some particular Gesture in a parting Friend strikes us deeper and gives us more real Trouble than all the Reasoning in the World upon Matters of greatest Moment is able to do The Sound of a Name repeated some certain Words and melancholy Accents pronounc'd Pathetically nay dumb Sighs and vehement Exclamations go to our very Hearts Tricks which all your formal Haranguers Enthusiasts Buffoons and Others whose Trade it is to move the Passions know and practise in great perfection And this airy Blast sometimes surprises the most cautious and transports the most resolved unless they set a more than common Guard upon themselves So strong an Influence hath Vanity and We so mighty a Tendency to it Nay as if it were not Reproach sufficient to be agitated and tossed about with Toys and Trifles even Falshood and Cheat hath the same Effect and which is strange even when we know it is nothing but Falshood and Cheat. Such Delight do we take such Industry do we use to Bubble our selves with our Eyes open and to feed upon Fable and Nothing * Ad fallendum nosmet ipsos ingeniosissimi sumus How dextrous we are to deceive our selves We need no other Instances than Those that cry heartily and fall into violent Passions upon hearing dismal Stories and seeing deep Tragedies at the same time that they know the moving Parts of These to have been invented and composed for Entertainment and Diversion at the Discretion of the Romancer or the Poet Nay some of them meer Fables so far from Truth now that they never were true in any Circumstance at all Shall I mention one Vanity more That of a Wretch possessed fond and dying for Love of an ugly old Hag One whose Age and Deformity he knows and knows that she Hates and Despises him too and notwithstanding all this is bewitched with a painted Face and Colours well laid the
he says that the Weakness and Cowardice of Mankind first brought Religion into Practice and Esteem and that upon this account Children and Women and Old People were most apt to receive Religious Impressions more Nice and Scrupulous and more addicted to Devotion than others This I say is true of Superstition and mistaken Devotion but we must not entertain any such dishonourable Thoughts of true and perfect Religion This is of a nobler Descent its Original is truly Divine it is the Glory and Excellence not the Imperfection of Reason and Nature and we cannot be guilty of greater Injustice to it than by assigning such wretched Causes for its beginning and increase and drawing so scandalous a Pedigree for its Extract Now besides those first Seeds and general Tendencies to Superstition which are derived from Nature Cherished by Reason and Policy and Common to Mankind there are large Improvements and Additions of this Vice owing to Industry and Cunning. For many people support and cherish it in themselves they give it countenance and nurse it up in others for the sake of some Convenience and Advantage to be reaped from it It is thus that Great Persons and Governors though they know very well the Folly and baseness of it yet never concern themselves with putting a stop or giving any disturbance to it because they are satisfied This is a proper State-Tool to subdue Mens Minds and lead them tamely by the Nose For this reason it is that they do not only take good care to nourish and blow up that Spark which Nature hath already kindled but when they find occasion and upon some pressing Emergencies they set their Brains on work to forge and invent new and unheard of Follies of this kind This we are told was a Stratagem made use of by Scipio Sertorius Sylla and some other eminent Politicians * Qui faciunt animos humiles formidine Divûm Depressosque premunt ad terram Who by false Terrors Freeborn Souls debase And paint Religion with so grim a Face That it becomes the Scourge and Plague of human race †Nulla res multidudinem efficaciùs regit quam Superstitio Nothing keeps the Multitude under so effectually as Superstition But enough of this wretched People and that base Superstition An Introduction to the description of true Religion which like a common Nusance ought to be detested by that Scholar of mine whom I am now instructing and attempting to accomplish in the Study of Wisdom Let us leave them grovelling in their filth and betake our selves now to the Search of true Religion and Piety of which I will here endeavour to give some strokes and rude lines which like so many little Rays of Light may be of some use at least and help to guide us in the pursuit of it Now from the former Considerations it does I hope sufficiently appear that of the great Variety of Persuasions at present or any possible to be Instituted Those seem to Challenge the Pre-eminence and best deserve the Character of Truth and Religion indeed which without imposing any very laborious or much external Service upon the Body make it their business to contract and call the Soul home that employ and exalt it by pure and heavenly Contemplations in admiring and adoring the Excellent Greatness and Majesty incomprehensible of Him who is the First Cause of All Things the Necessary the Best the Original Being And All this without any nice or presumptuous declaration what this Being is or undertaking positively to determine and define any thing concerning that Nature which we cannot understand or prescribing too peremptorily how he ought to be Worshipped But contenting our selves with such large and indefinite acknowledgments as These That God is Goodness and Perfection it self infinite in all Respects and altogether incomprehensible too vast for human knowledge to understand or conceive distinctly And thus much the Pythagoreans and other most celebrated Sects of Philosophers taught long ago This is the Religion of Angels and that best sort of Worshippers in Spirit and Truth whom God seeks and loves But among all those less spiritualized Pagans who could not satisfy themselves with so refined a Principle as Inward Belief and the Exercise of the Soul only but would needs gratify their Senses and Imagination with a visible Object of Worship which was an Error all the World almost was tinctured with The Israelites chose a Calf but None seem to have made so good a Choice as those who pitched upon the Sun for their God This indeed excelling all other Creatures so vastly with regard to its Magnitude and Motion its Beauty and Lustre its wonderful Use and Activity and the many unknown Virtues and Efficacies of its Influences that it does certainly deserve nay command the admiration of all the World we cannot think too highly of it while we remember it is still but a Creature for look round this whole Fabrick and Man excepted your Eye shall discover nothing so glorious nothing equal nay nothing near or comparable to it The Christian Religion preserves a due Temper between these Extremes and by devoting both Body and Soul to God and accommodating it self to all Conditions and Capacities of Men hath mixed the Insensible and Internal Worship with that which is Sensible and External Yet so that the most perfect and Spiritual Persons employ themselves chiefly in the former and the weak and less exalted are taken up with that which is invisible and popular Religion consists in the Knowledge of God and of our Selves Some descriptione of Religion For This is a Relative Duty and these are the two Terms of that Relation It s business is to magnify God and set Him as high and to humble Man and lay Him as low as possibly we can To subdue and beat him down as a lost worthless Wretch and when this is once done then to furnish him with helps and means of raising himself up again to make him duly sensible of his own Impotence and Misery how Little how mere a Nothing he is that so he may cast away all Confidence in himself and place and seek his Hope his Comfort his Happiness his All in God alone That which Religion is chiefly concerned in is the binding us fast to the Author and Source of all Good the grafting us afresh and consolidating Man to his first Cause like Branches or Suckers into their proper Root For so long as Man continues firm and fixt in this Union so long he preserves the Perfection of his Nature but on the contrary when once he falls off and is separated from it all his Vigor and Powers are dried up and gone and he immediately withers and dies away The End and Effect of Religion is faithfully and truly to render their Dues both to God and Man that is to say All the Honour and Glory to God and all the Gain and Advantage to Man For these two comprehend under them all manner
of Good whatsoever The Profit or Gain which is a real Amendment and bettering of our Persons and Conditions is an essential and internal Benefit and This belongs to Man who is of himself and without this a Creature Impotent and Empty Indigent and Necessitous and miserable in all respects The Glory is not so much an Advantage as an Ornament an Additional and External Grace and This belongs to God only for he is the Fulness and Perfection of all Good so absolute and compleat that nothing can be added to his Essential Happiness and therefore Benefit is a thing he cannot receive And thus if you please you may understand that Angelick Hymn Glory to God in the Highest Luke II. 14. and on Earth Peace and Favour towards Men. Thus much being premised in general the particular Steps or Directions in this matter Piety explained must be these that follow First It is necessary that we apply our selves to study and in such a measure as we are capable to know God To know God For our Knowledge of Things is the Foundation and the Standard of the Honour we have for them The first thing then that we ought to be convinced and fully persuaded of upon this occasion is His Existence then That he created the World and that all other Beings whatsoever are the Products of his Power and Goodness and Wisdom That by these same Attributes he governs this Universe of his own making That his careful Providence watches over all things and even the least and most inconsiderable Events do not escape his observation That whatsoever his Dispensations to Us are they are all for our Good and that all our Evil comes from our selves alone For if we should account those Accidents which God appoints for us to be Evils this were to be guilty of great Prophanation and to blaspheme against his Government this were to tear up the very Foundations of all Piety and Religion because Nature teaches us to Honour and love our Benefactors but begets hatred and aversion to them that deal unkindly by us and do us mischief Our Duty therefore is to get a right Notion of God's dealings toward us to resolve that we will obey him at any rate to receive all that comes from his hand with Meekness and Contentation to commit our selves to his Protection and Care and to submit all we are and all we have to his direction and wise disposal The next Duty which follows upon our Knowing God To Honour him and which indeed results most naturally from it is the Honouring him And the best the most becoming and most Religious Honour we can pay him consists First of all In raising our Souls far above any Carnal Earthly or Corruptible Imagination and then exercising our selves in the Contemplation of the Divine Nature by all the purest the noblest the holiest and most reverent Conceptions that can be When we have adorned and represented this most excellent Being to our selves in all the most magnificent Ideas when we have given him the most glorious Names and sung forth his Praises in the most excellent manner that our Mind can possibly devise or strain it self up to we are still with all Humility to acknowledge that in all this we have not done or offered to his Majesty any thing suitable to his own Excellency or in it self worthy his Acceptance and to possess our selves with yet more awful and respectful Ideas of him by the profoundest Sense of our own Imperfections That it is not in the power of Human Nature to conceive any thing better though we plainly see that our most exalted Thoughts serve not so much to shew us his Glory as to reproach us with our own Weakness and Defects For God is the last and highest Flight which our Imagination is able to make when it would soar up towards absolute Perfection and in aspiring to this Idea every Man le ts loose his Mind and enlarges his Notions according to his own Capacity or rather indeed God is infinitely greater and higher than all the boldest and bravest Flights of poor feeble Man a Perfection more exquisite more bright than the Dim Eye of Mortals can receive the Lustre of or the most tow'ring Imagination make any approach to We must also serve this God Sincerely in Spirit and from the Heart for this is a sort of Service To serve him with our Spirit Joh. iv 24. which is most agreeable to his Nature God himself is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and Truth says he who best knew both what he was and what he expects from Us. This Argument the very Heathens could enforce for Inward Purity and a Sanctified Mind * Si Deus est animus sit purâ mente colendus This he will not only accept but it is what he seems desirous of and hath declared will be exceeding welcome and delightful The Father seeketh such to worship him V. 23. The Offering of a sweet-smelling Savour and what he values indeed is That of a clean free and humble Spirit The Mind is a Sacrifice to God says Seneca an unspotted Soul and an Innocent Life And thus others †Optimus Animus pulcherrimus Dei Cultus Religiosissimus Cultus imitari Unicus Dei Cultus non esse malum Lactant. Merc. Trism He that brings the best heart worships God best The most Religions Adoration is to imitate the Perfections of Him we adore The only way of serving God is not to be an ill Man The truly Wise Man is a True Priest of the most High God His Mind is God's Temple and the House where his Honour dwelleth His Soul is God's Image a Ray or Reflection of that Brightness and Glory above His Affections and Appetites like so many Oblations are all consecrated and entirely devoted to his use and service And his great his daily his most solemn Sacrifice is to imitate and serve and obey him You see how different this is from that absurd Notion of those People who make Religion consist in Giving to God Alas what can We give to Him All is his own already and the most we can possibly do is but to restore and pay back what his Bounty hath bestowed upon us But we are wretchedly mistaken if we imagine it possible for God to receive any Addition or be enriched from Men No he is above all That Our business must be to ask of Him to implore his Favour and Assistance for our Wants and Weaknesses It is the Character of the Great to give and of the Poor and Mean to ask And therefore we may easily discern which of these two parts belongs to an Infinite Almighty God and which to wretched indigent Mortals Acts xx 35. It is more blessed to give than to receive And however he may graciously condescend to interpret those Works of Mercy done for his sake yet in the way of Sacrifice and Worship of himself it is a